Page 39 of Brody

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No. That didn’t make sense.

If he was a member ofThe Tamed Soulsthen why would he hide the key from them, and why would he have been running from them in the first place?

A crucial piece of information was still missing, locked away in Ellis’s missing memories.

Before I could demand any more answers, I was interrupted by one of the other customers unexpectedly shouting.

“Oh my god! Look! Someone’s truck is being stolen!”

Several people clustered around the diner’s windows, pressing their noses to the glass for a better view of whatever action was happening outside. Curiosity got the better of me, and I looked over as well.

Only to see the tail end of my own truck, with the rear lights flashing in time to the wailing alarm.

I jumped up, shouting as I knocked over my chair and raced for the door. The diner was small, yet it felt like it spanned miles as I pushed people aside to get to my truck. I felt like an idiot for not recognizing the sound of my own emergency alarm. I’d bought the truck just before moving here, so I hadn’t had it long enough to hear the alarm very often, but some instinct still should have alerted me that something was wrong.

My irritation at Deputy Hillard must have distracted me. I was such an idiot. I should have known better than to let my guard down and not take the situation seriously. When I was on active duty, this kind of oversight would have gotten me killed.

Now, it might be someone else’s life that paid the price.

When I finally pushed my way outside, I stumbled right into a nightmare. Several armed men surrounded my truck, and the passenger side door was open. Right before my eyes, Ellis was pulled out of the truck, kicking and screaming all the way. He put up a decent fight, until one good punch to the face dropped him to the ground.

I saw red.

It was just like being back on the battlefield. My instincts were still nearly as sharp as they had been, and barely a heartbeat passed before I smashed my fist into the nearest assailant’s face. My body moved without thought, and in that moment, I felt like I was twenty years old again. Before the first assailant had even hit the ground, I was already grabbing the gun out of their hand.

It was just a handgun, so it lacked the precision and power that I usually preferred from my weapons. But it would do.

Standing in the middle of the sidewalk, I aimed and put two bullets into the next assailant. There wasn’t even time for them to turn around, so I ended up shooting them directly in the back. It wasn’t an honorable kill, but it was effective.

Behind me, I could hear the faint sound of screaming. People inside the diner were panicking, as what they thought was simply a carjacking turned into a lethal shootout.

That was fine. So long as they didn’t get in my way, they could scream all they liked.

I managed to kill one more of the assailants before the rest of them noticed what was happening and started firing back, forcing me to take cover behind my truck. As bullets ricocheted off the truck’s frame, I was glad that I’d decided to go with such a sturdy model. This was the truck’s second gunfight in just a few days, and it was holding up surprisingly well.

There were too many bullets flying for me to make my way around the front of the truck, but luckily, I’d left the windows down for Ellis when I went inside the diner. I refused to think about how the lowered windows were probably how the assailants got Ellis out of the tuck in the first place and focused only on the opportunity it provided me.

Aiming my gun through the open windows, I managed to get one assailant in the leg, and clip another’s shoulder.

They would survive, but the injuries were severe enough that they weren’t able to continue to participate in the fight. I should have been happy about that. Ending a conflict with minimal casualties should have been a good thing, but all I could feel was disappointment.

I wanted them dead. I wanted everyone who dared to hurt the people I cared about—hurt Ellis—to bleed out on the concrete.

Just as I was trying to figure out my next move, the gunfire suddenly stopped. Dread washed over me. There was no good reason for the assailants to let up their assault when they still had the upper hand.

Keeping my finger on the trigger of my gun, I peered around the front of my truck.

There were only three assailants left in fighting condition. Less than I originally thought. Two of them stood with their guns firmly pointed in my direction, flanking the last assailant who was clearly the leader. All of them wore masks over their faces, so I couldn’t see them, but that didn’t stop me from glaring directly into their eyes when I saw what had caused them to stop shooting.

The leader’s gun wasn’t pointed at me. Instead, they had one arm wrapped around Ellis’s throat, and their gun pointed directly at his head.

Ellis groaned and tugged at the arm around his throat, but he was still dazed from the blow he’d taken earlier. He may as well have tried to fend them off with a feather for all the effect hisstruggling had. Blood dripped down his face from a gash on his forehead and matted the thick hair on the side of his head.

I clenched my gun so hard it shook, but I didn’t press the trigger. As much as I wanted to kill them, I couldn’t take the risk.

The assistants said nothing. They made no threats or demands. They simply kept the gun pointed at Ellis’s head as they dragged him toward the back of a waiting van.

I’d been wrong. When Ellis and I were attacked before, I’d assumed that they were after me and that Ellis’s involvement was just collateral damage.