Page 5 of Christmas Trouble

People die in the woods of California, Azrael had wanted to point out, but he stayed silent, not wanting to get in the middle of the brothers.

After several minutes of going over what measures to take in case of an emergency, plus getting all the teenagers’ agreements on the steps, Seven appeared satisfied and turned the conversation to something lighter.

Azrael looked at the man with the gun. The customer, and he was using that term lightly, had toy guns in packages sitting on the conveyor belt.

But the gun the man pointed at the cashier was very fucking real.

Why people weren’t screaming and running was weird.

Maybe they didn’t want a bullet in the back?

The cashier opened her drawer and slipped money, Azrael assumed, inside of a red and white shopping bag.

Keeping his voice low and almost inaudible, Azrael shot Joshua an annoyed grimace. “No text to your brother? Why haven’t you walked out?”

“At first he was just holding toy gun packages, but he pulled out a real one just a second ago,” Joshua whispered back, pointing a cell phone at him.

The text message sent a few moments earlier simply readhelp.

“Go, now. Get outside,” Azrael said and without hesitation Joshua took a hold of Travis’s hand and pushed Aaron ahead of him as they started for the door.

Several customers eagerly scooted up in line because that meant they’d get through checkout more quickly.

Fat chance of that, Azrael thought.

“You, too.” Azrael shot a scowl at Tyler.

“I’m not leaving,” the sixteen-year-old offered him a tight smile.

Azrael flipped his eyes to the man with the gun. The guy wasn’t looking around and that was his first mistake. Azrael planned on it being his last.

“Watch my back,” he murmured to Tyler and slipped through the adjacent lines. He was skinny enough to do it, and Tyler was skinny enough to follow him.

He figured since Tyler lived with Link and Eagle, the kid probably knew his stuff inside and out.

But there were always risks.

And that was not his problem. If Tyler didn’t want to listen to him, there wasn’t a damned thing he could do about it.

Azrael hoped that Link and Eagle would see it that way, too.

But he wasn’t going to bet on it.

Right now he had bigger fish to catch or fry or whatever the hell that saying was that Dave often spouted.

The robber had picked the wrong day for a stickup.

Azrael was one line away from reaching the gunman when the man suddenly glanced over.

Their eyes locked.

It wouldn’t matter because with him this close, it was too late. Azrael didn’t hide the fact he had a knife in his hand. He always carried a blade, never left home without one, and his habit served him well at the moment.

The robber swung his gun away from the cashier and toward him.

The people who saw the weapon bolted away. Two of the front display stands crashed to the floor beneath the sudden scramble. One woman gave a terrified-sounding scream.

Azrael didn’t hesitate nor did he stop even when the gun pointed at him.

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