Page 67 of Unlikely Guardian

Jason knew he couldn’t do that. “No way. You’ve already said you won’t leave any witnesses.”

“Go ahead, Jason,” Lilly said. “Shoot him.”

“If he does, you’ll die,” Klein reminded her.

“And then Jason will kill you,” Lilly countered.

Jason must have conveyed his displeasure about that because Lilly nodded, as if trying to convince him that she was doing the right thing. “This way, one of us will survive,” she told him. “Do it for Megan.”

It was dirty pool. And it was a useless plea. Because if Lilly had her way, that plea would get her killed.

He had no plans to let her die.

Jason quickly went through the possible scenarios; he didn’t like any of them. The risks were sky-high, but they were risks he couldn’t do anything about. Doing nothing was just as risky. So he said another prayer and hoped like the devil that he could pull this off.

He shoved Erica forward, slamming her into Lilly. It had the domino effect that Jason hoped it would. Both Lilly and Erica flew back into Klein. All three went backward onto the floor.

Jason didn’t waste even a second. With his gun aimed and ready to go, he launched himself at Klein so he could kick the gun from the man’s hand.

He failed.

Jason heard the sound. Not a blast. But a muffled slash of noise. It didn’t have to be loud, though, for it to be deadly. Because Jason knew that Klein had just fired the gun rigged with the silencer.

LILLY KNEW that sound.

A gunshot.

It instantly fed the terror that was already snowballing inside her. That bullet could have hit Jason. Or Megan. God. She couldn’t lose them.

She came up off the floor. Or rather, she tried to, but a punch to her jaw sent her sprawling. Lilly felt the warm, wet sensation on the side of her face but ignored it so she could launch herself at Klein. She couldn’t let him fire again. No matter what the cost, even if it meant dying, she wasn’t going to let him shoot Jason or Megan.

In the darkness, she saw the tangle of their bodies. Hers, Jason’s, Klein’s and Erica’s. Erica and she were on the floor, and Klein and Jason were standing, more or less, and were about to square off in what looked to be a gun battle.

Except Jason was no longer armed.

Somewhere in the scuffle, he’d lost his gun. Oh, God. That meant Klein would no doubt try to kill Jason.

Lilly ignored the stinging pain in her jaw and reached out. She managed to grab Klein’s leg, and she tried to drag him to the floor with her. She wasn’t successful, but for a split second, she’d distracted him.

Klein looked down.

Aimed his pistol right at her.

And he would have shot her point-blank if Jason hadn’t rammed his body into the man. Somehow, Jason stayed on his feet, and it became a struggle for control of the gun.

Lilly decided to put the odds in their favor. She spotted Erica’s weapon on the floor and scrambled toward it. Her legs suddenly felt like a deadweight, and she cursed her lack of mobility. It was no longer just an inconvenience. It was a handicap that could get them killed.

If she let it happen.

She wouldn’t.

She fixed the image of Megan and Jason in her mind, and she used that image, her love for them, to force herself to move forward. One inch at a time.

Behind her, she could hear the sounds of a struggle. Fist against muscle. Did that mean that Jason had somehow managed to get the gun away from Klein? Or, heaven forbid, had Erica joined the fight?

With her heart pounding and her breath so thin that her lungs felt starved for air, Lilly stretched out her hand and scooped up the gun from the floor. She came up and was face-to-face with Erica.

“I can’t give up Megan,” Erica said as if it would change what Lilly was feeling.

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