Page 51 of Tactical Revival

My brother is here. He’ll keep us safe.

Michael’s face comes into view on the driver’s side. He squats down, and tears blur his eyes. “Reyna, no, no.” He checks her pulse.

She groans.

“Thank God,” Michael breathes a sigh of relief. “I’m going to get you down, okay?”

“Sure thing, gorgeous,” she groans. “What happened?”

“We’ll figure it out.” He wraps his arms around her and cuts her seat belt with his pocket knife, then carefully pulls her from the car.

Since whoever grabbed me dragged me most of the way out, I manage to make it all the way out of the car before Michael is around to my side, setting Reyna down and coming to me.

“Are you okay? Where are you hurt?” He looks me over.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. Someone ran us off the road and—Matty! He’s out here somewhere. He needs help.” I try to get up, but Michael pushes me back down.

“Easy. Matty is fine,” Michael says. “He and Jaxson were playing chess all night. They should be here any minute?—”

Sirens wail in the distance, and another set of headlights pulls up beside Michael.

“That doesn’t make sense. He called me.”

“Reyna texted me as soon as he did, so I called Jaxson for backup. He said Matty was sitting right across from him all night. I don’t know who called you, but it wasn’t him.”

More dread coils in my gut, and my body begins to shake, the adrenaline wearing off. With it, excruciating pain in my hands, knees, and the side of my head returns.

“Mom!” Matty screams.

“She’s over here!” Michael calls out.

Seeing my boy racing toward me, his eyes wide with panic, soothes my soul. He’s okay.

My son is okay.

Which means I will be, too. He kneels beside me and I reach for him, needing to wrap my arms around my boy. He’s gentle as he hugs me back, then pulls away, tears in his eyes.

“Are you okay, mom?”

“I will be,” I try to smile, but I know the pain must be visible on my face.

Jaxson drops to his knees beside Matty. “Where are you hurt? Any large wounds?” He looks me over, and I show him my hands.

“Baby, can you go see Aunt Reyna? Check on her please?”

He hesitates a moment, looking between me and Jaxson, but then nods. “Sure, Mom. I can do that.” He smiles at me, then gets to his feet and heads over toward Michael and Reyna.

“What is it?” Jaxson starts looking me over in more detail, clearly worried I have a life-threatening injury I didn’t want Matty to know about.

“Someone tried to drag me from the car.”

“What?” His tone changes instantly, going from worried to angry.

I meet his gaze, doing my best to focus on him and not the pain. “I think someone was trying to kill me.”

CHAPTER 15

Jaxson

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