Page 55 of Defending Our Ever After

“We know what you’ve been up to, in town, and all across this country. You drop your weapons and leave everything behind, understand?” I can’t imagine what Mike hopes to gain with that statement, until I see him slightly tilt his head and quietly speak to the others close to him. Time, he needed a little time.

Considering how fast Dylan takes cover behind him, I get the jist of what he relayed.

Just then two snowmobiles come charging forward, heading straight toward the front gate, barely missing their comrades as they aim to run Mike over and that’s when Max guns his vehicle, hitting one of them hard enough that they lose control and veer into the other one.

With that, Tyton throws himself into the footwell of the Humvee, screaming at the driver to reverse. It takes my mind a moment to process the spray of blood that I suddenly see, just as the driver falls to his right, an arrow sticking out of his left temple.

The passenger side backdoor of the Humvee opens and I shoot the man who tries to crawl out, spraying his brain against the tire. Unfortunately, I belatedly realize he was a distraction and miss getting a shot at Tyton.

I know being able to recover a military grade, working Humvee would be huge for us, but I think the world, currently as fucked-up as it is, would be better off without the likes of Tyton running loose. Keeping my eyes out for him, I almost miss the two men who are stalking me. Luckily, movement on my right side catches my attention and I turn, taking aim on one of the men approaching me.

But our girl, Julia, is watching my back and an arrow hits one of the two, so I shift to take out the second man. The others have been busy as well, I see as I scan the area with my scope, trying to figure out who needs help.

Lee, not having a clear target for his Bazooka, is letting loose with a fully automatic rifle. The vehicle he had loaned us is now blocking the road and providing cover for Dylan, Max, Lee, and Mike. Seeing movement where it shouldn’t be, I gently pull the trigger and take out another of Tyton’s men.

A head pops up just feet from that corpse, and I nearly grin when I see Javier frowning in my direction—apparently he was planning on taking that guy down. I nearly yell out, but quickly adjust my aim, killing the enemy that was, in turn, sneaking up on Javier.

As I continue my sweep of the area, I try to figure out where Tyton went, and also, where Aiden and Russ have gotten to.

Suddenly, a loud whistle cuts through the sound of gun shots and after everyone briefly pauses, I hear a snowmobile moving further away. At least it sounded like a retreat, but then there’s the report of a gunshot, a loud crash, and just when the trees all seem to be shaking the snow off their limbs, I see men sneaking back down the mountain.

Occasionally, a shot rings out and one of them falls, unmoving, to the ground, but I also notice that not one of them stop to cover the others retreat. That tells me, there may be an army camped out at the base of the mountain, but they sure as shit don’t care about the men in theirunit.

“Sound off,” Mike’s voice comes through my earpiece.

I hold my breath as everyone says their name, slowly starting to relax when it’s confirmed that Dylan and Julia are alright.

“Russ. I’m shot.” His breathless voice relays the pain he’s in and while I want to turn to see where he is, it’s more important that I keep my eyes on the road right now—just in case the men who retreated try to make another push.

The only movement I see is Julia, popping up to run uphill from the location she had been assigned. Gaging her trajectory with my scope, I eyeball the fallen bodies in her path, making sure that none of them still have any life, or fight, in them.

“Aiden. I’m almost to him. Max, can you pick us up? We’re on the opposite side of the road, up near the curve.”

“Max here. Let me see if I can get a snowmobile running. This thing has one flat tire and a body jammed under it.”

“Dammit, Max. Not going to let you play with my toys if you gonna do them that way,” Lee replies, and I snort with laughter.

“Sir, yes, sir,” Max snaps back, and I can almost hear his accompanying smirk. “Eddie and Banks, I’m going to ask you two to stay on look out a while longer. Aiden, report on Russ?”

“It looks like one bullet went through his thigh. I don’t see an exit wound for the one that hit him in the back. Julia’s here. He can wiggle his hands and feet, but she doesn’t want him walking.”

“I’ll be there in a second,” Max responds and I hear a snowmobile roaring to life again. “Javier and Mike, can you two start checking the bodies? I’ll be back once we get Russ to the house.”

“Aye-firmative,” Javier casually responds, sounding bored.

“Eddie, I’m going to check on something. I’ll be moving from your two o’clock to your one o’clock. Confirm,” Banks’s voice is barely above a whisper when she tells us her plan.

“Understood,” I reply, shifting to try to catch a glimpse of her.

Other than the insistent report of her gun, I haven’t seen her since this whole thing started, but I finally see movement about a half mile down the road from where I am. She’s on her belly, moving steadily forward. It’s when I see her pause for the briefest of moments that I shift my scope, trying to figure out what she’s looking at.

Ever so slowly, she slings her rifle over her back and unsheathes a K-bar before continuing to inch forward. I find myself holding my breath, adrenaline flooding my system, not when I see her target, but when I see the man standing, unnoticed, just beyond her.

He must know she’s completely focused on the man on the ground; feeling confident, he leans out from the wide base of a tree, lifting his own weapon.

Knowing that I don’t have but a few seconds to take a shot, I line up my sight and exhale.

Either I jerked, or he did, at the sound of shot because it hits his neck, instead of his chest. The crimson spray against the tree tells me that I at least hit something vital. The body that Banks had been silently stalking lurches upwards, but she’s ready with her blade; sinking it first in his calf, until her second swing lands in the small of his back.

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