Page 156 of Cruelest Contract
Fort, almost as sharp a shot as Getty, has climbed up to the trailer roof to play sniper while Tye has jumped down in time to hear our conversation.
“Can’t leave me behind,” he says cheerfully.
“Now what should I do?” Caleb asks, full of adrenaline and ready to point his gun somewhere.
“Stick with Johnny and Artie,” I tell him. “And cover us when they start shooting.”
The first snowcat is less than a quarter of a mile away now. They are staying close together instead of strategically branching out.
This is good. And bad.
Their bunched position makes them vulnerable. However, at first all their fire will be aimed at the targets they see. And that target will be me.
I motion to Sonny and Tye to separate to either side of me as we come around the far side of the stables and get closer to the burning clubhouse. This fire is still raging but the shed looks to be burning out. As long as the wind doesn’t act up again, the snow ought to help keep the flames confined.
The first bullet sails directly over my head before I’m ready. From here, the fleet of oncoming snowcats look as ominous as military tanks.
Crouching lower, I keep trucking forward through the snow. I want them to move closer before we act.
A flood of rage is almost blinding in its intensity. These bastards are here to burn my home and destroy my family. They are here to kill me. My brothers.MY WIFE.
They’ve been here before. Different men with the same purpose. It matters not at all that none of them could have possibly participated in my mother’s murder. My mother’s killers are all dead. They are dead because my father slaughtered them all painfully and personally.
This time they won’t succeed. They won’t get to lay a fucking hand on my wife. These men are just as dead as the last invaders who came here for blood. They simply don’t know it yet.
Unleashing a war cry of fury, I charge forward through the snow, running in a haphazard zigzag pattern to interfere withtheir aim. Sonny shouts my name but I don’t stop until I hear a volley of gunshots and then I instantly drop into the snow.
I’m still assessing whether I’ve been hit when answering fire comes from my brothers. Our assailants might have the manpower advantage but we have more to fight for. We know every inch of this place. They can withdraw or get cut to pieces.
This is far from the first time I’ve been in the middle of a gun battle. The first time was on a summer day when I was seventeen. I had no weapon then, no means of fighting back. All I had to offer was the protective shield of my own body and I used it without hesitation to save a young girl I barely knew.
If I were presented with that exact scenario a thousand times over, I’d do the same for her in every timeline.
Cecilia and I had yet to learn how that moment would always cement us together. Time had to pass and we needed to grow to adulthood before we could begin to understand.
We belong to each other. We always will.
I love you, Cecilia.
None of the bullets have hit me. Shots continue to echo from all directions. Behind me, ahead of me, to my left and to my right. I’m lying in a cocoon of snow and it’s time to fire back.
The snow covers me so completely that even as I sit up, I’m confident the only visible sign of me is the barrel of my gun.
One of the snowcats is already on fire. Excellent. A couple of men run clumsily toward the trees. They’re more likely to freeze to death out there than escape. Others are shooting chaotically and some get cut down before my eyes.
But suddenly one of the vehicles lurches forward and begins barreling in this direction. I wait until it’s less than twenty yards out and then fire a series of shots at the windshield. The snowcat sputters, turns sideways and comes to a halt.
A man jumps out of the passenger seat and I aim for his head. I don’t miss.
Another man, clearly wounded, is screaming and running in the snow. Shots ring out from my right. Tye doesn’t miss either.
The remaining riders try to turn the snowcat around while we keep firing. They give up, hopping out and running the other way.
There are now two snowcats left and they don’t even wait to collect their brethren before making desperate turns back to the road.
They can run for now. We’ll find them anyway.
As the enemy retreats, howls of victory from my brothers echo in the cold night but I can’t join in, not yet. Not until I’m holding my wife again.
