Page 66 of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

“Bastard is still out there, head of the table,” Blue says around a mouthful of food. He wiped at his chin when a bit of gravy dripped from his fork.

This is the brotherhood, the part Liv never understood growing up because they never showed her. She gets it now, though. That this is our family.

We retired early to bed. Even if too soon to make love to her again, I wanted some private time before the bullshit of the evening started.

Our plan was to secretly follow the women and strike at the right time. That simple.

Boss, he’s strung so tight. Having to stand back and watch his wife walk out into that clearing and not do a damn thing about it. It goes against every instinct for a man to leave his woman swinging out on the ledge alone. Especially for a man like Boss.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are…”

Oh, goddamn. The man knows Liv is there. Of course he knows—he’s not stupid. And now I find myself exactly where Boss is, strung tight, watching the best thing to ever happen to me in my life walk herself out of the tree cover to stand next to Elise. Totally exposed.

He says something to Elise I don’t hear. The blood is rushing so loud through my ears.Pound,pound, pound. In my ears. In my chest. Sweat beads my forehead. He’s gonna die tonight.

Then, shit—Elise pulls her piece and aims. Houdini aims at her and Liv. My gut just drops. Boss has had enough. He looks to me, I nod. Then look to the next man over, Duke. The three of us step from the forest, a wall. We got each other’s backs. The other brothers see us and step free as well.

Houdini pops off a shot at Elise, and she drops to the ground. An arm around a stunned Liv, he uses her as a shield. The coward uses my woman as a fucking shield. Boss goes running, but Elise rolls to bring her legs around and pulls them up. She kicks out hard, catching Houdini in the calves. His knees buckle.

Blue launches himself at Liv, tackling her to the ground as the clearing lights up with gunfire. So many bullets flying, I can’t tell if anyone is hit. Then Liv screams. Boss and I reach the women at the same time. He checks Elise over. I roll a bleeding Blue off of my woman.

Jesus, there’s so much blood. “Blue, buddy…” I slap one cheek, then the other. “Blue, stay with me.”

Houdini, the bastard, lays motionless on the ground. Caity, Dr. Brennan, rushes from the tree line to drop down next to Blue. She assesses the situation, then begins emergency protocol. She brought a patch-kit in the backpack she wears.

Duke drops down next to his wife. “Careful,” he warns.

“The baby’s fine,” she assures him. “I can’t guarantee the same for Blue.”

“Stay with us, boy. You been a good brother. My wife’ll take care ’a you. Yeah.”

Blue winces but doesn’t respond. Tears roll down the man’s eyes. Fuck.

“I can’t give you pain meds yet,” Caity talks in a real calming tone to Blue. “We need to get the bleeding under control first.”

There’s nothing more I can do there. We’re just getting in the way. I tug on Boss, who shoves Elise at Hero. The two of us walk the few steps over to a still-unmoving Houdini and kneel down next to him.

“Itishim, right? I mean for sure?” I ask. Goddamn we have to be sure.

Boss nods. His face drops. “Dammit, Logan.” He punches his cousin’s shoulder. “You had everything, man. Didn’t fuckin’ have to end like this, you stupid fuck.” Then he wipes at his eyes, a move I don’t expect, but I give him that moment without chiming in. Houdini hurt a lot of people; still, I get it. The loss for him would be no different for me if Blood went off. The men grew up as close as brothers. It’s got to be hard.

“Right,” Boss says again. “Let’s do this.”

Houdini, the blood pooling around him makes that sticky squelching sound when we peel his body from the ground. I take a leg and shoulder, and Boss takes a leg and shoulder, then we walk him over to the cabin. The door is open. One light burning, a kerosene lamp.

There’s another body slumped on the floor in the corner opposite the door. We drop Houdini on the sofa and I walk over to check it out. Using the toe of my boot to move him, I’m no doctor, but he’s pretty stiff, so I’d say he’s been dead a while.

Probably the old man who owned the cabin. My guess, one of those recluse types. Shot. Hell of a way to go, all alone.

Boss and I take separate sides, using the kerosene lamp to set the cabin ablaze, disposing of the men. My phone chirps with a text. I look to Boss. “They’re moving Blue down to the main road. Easier for the ambulance to get to him. The drive’s pretty hard to locate in this dark.”

It’s time to get the hell out, anyway, with the cabin heating up good now. Flames licking at the walls, the curtains. The old wooden furniture goes up like kindling. Smoke chokes the air and us. My eyes just start to sting and water. I keep low as I back out of the house.

We stand outside a moment longer. The cabin’s far enough from the trees that they shouldn’t catch fire. At least I hope not.

Hero, when he texted me, was right about the drive being hard to locate in the dark. It’s hard for me and Boss, and we follow it from the cabin. Not too long, but definitely winding.

Then there’s those damn nocturnal animals tracking us. I feel their eyes on us. Hear the owls. The rustle of leaves from whatever’s on the ground. I might be carrying, but that doesn’t mean I’m creaming in my jeans for the chance to tussle with a big cat, big foot or Mothman.

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