Page 39 of The Hitman
He shouts, and the world tilts just before I’m dropped to the ground. My face and swollen lip smack against the unrelenting earth. The gun clatters from my hand, and when I hear Leo’s panicked scream, I blindly scramble for it.
“I’m going to enjoy gutting you.”
The approaching steps of the man who was carrying me has me frantic. I don’t care what they do to me as long as I can spare Leo enough time for Jaxon to find him.
“Yo, boss. I got the kid, but I suggest we get out of here before we finish them off.”
“We’re not going anywhere,” he grunts before kicking my side.
My stomach clenches as I cough into the dirt. I try to breathe and end up inhaling it through my nose before coughing some more.
Leo’s little grunts sound like he’s attempting to fight back, and in my head, I’m screaming for Jaxon despite already fearing the worst.
“What?” The second guy sounds like he might actually shit his pants. “No, that wasn’t part of the plan. We’re supposed to kill these two to fuck with The Reaper’s head. We’ll take him down soon, but if we stay any longer, we won’t make it out of here alive.”
“You and everyone else think this fucker is the boogeyman.” He cracks his knuckles, then his neck. “But I don’t believe in fairytales.”
“Callie?” Leo’s tiny voice breaks through the fog.
My heart thunders with adrenaline, but determination blocks out the pain in my pounding skull.
“Come on,” I mutter, desperately swiping my hand through loose dirt and pebbles for my gun. “Where are you?”
Got it.
I flip onto my back and swing my arm toward the assailant.
Three synchronized safeties click—mine, the stranger’s, and a third.
With my assailant in view, I pull the trigger before tucking in on myself and rolling away from him. There’s a sickeningly wet thud, followed by a groan, and then more gunfire.
Leo cries out, and as the smoke finally starts to thin, the shadows of the men attacking us become increasingly more clear.
“Leo?”
The figure holding him collapses, dropping Leo before falling onto his back. His head lolls toward me, gaze turning glassy and hollow as Leo scrambles on his butt away from him.
The larger man drops next, crumpling to the ground as he clutches his chest. His mouth opens like he wants to speak, but nothing comes out, and I scoot back, stunned, as he lands just in front of me.
Through the fog, another figure empties his clip into the already lifeless body. I flinch at each shot, every blast ricocheting in my ears.
And then, I see him…
Jaxon, in all his fierce glory, glaring down at the dead man like he regrets giving his soul a quick exit.
A sob tears from my chest when he holsters his weapon and turns for Leo. He takes him by the hand, checks him for injuries, and then tugs him over to where I’m sitting.
When Leo reaches me, he drops to my side, clinging to me, and the dirt-caked tears streaking his cheeks rip my heart out.
Hasn’t this little boy been through enough?
“W-why did they want to hurt us?” he sputters, terrified.
I hold him tighter, wondering the same.
This attack wasn’t random. Those men knew exactly where to find us, and that troubles me the most.
“Callie,” Jaxon breathes, tipping my chin up to him. “Are you all right?”
