Page 65 of Lone Star Rescue

“No,” Davy muttered. He repeated it a couple of times. The pain of reliving this was in his voice, his expression. Seemingly in every part of him. “The bullet hit a thick silver locket she was wearing, and bits of the silver shattered and cut her. She was bleeding, yes, but very much alive when I saw her. And very much pissed off.”

Tessa shook her head, obviously not believing this. “But she didn’t move.”

“Sandy Lynn told me she pretended to be dead so you wouldn’t shoot her again. She said she was going to the cops tohave you arrested for trying to murder her.” He squeezed his eyes shut a moment. “She became hysterical, and I tried to stop her. I lost it, just lost it.”

“You killed her?” Tessa asked, her voice all breath now.

Davy nodded. “Uh, I…did. I rammed her against the door and didn’t stop until she…stopped.”

Hell. Rafe wanted to demand why Davy had kept something like that secret all this time. It’d turned into a FUBAR with him trying to protect Tessa and then maybe trying to protect himself by burying Sandy Lynn.

“Well, what a perfect shitstorm,” Buckner announced. “Why didn’t you spill your guts before I confessed to a double murder?” His voice was a shout by the time he finished.

And Rafe knew what had to happen next.

Buckner had probably intended to kill, or rather try to kill, Bree, Tessa, Wade, Davy, and him. But now, there was no reason for the man to keep them alive.

Nine minutes, four seconds on the timer.

And Buckner still held the detonator that could erase even that meager amount of time. Of course, if he did let go of it, he’d be blowing up himself as well.

Rafe was ready to make his move when there was a swooshing sound followed by a grunt from the rafters. He glanced up and saw the goon there with a bloody head tumbling off the beams where he’d been perched. He spotted Jericho, too, also in the rafters on the other side. Apparently, the slingshot had come in handy after all.

The man thudded onto the floor. Not dead. But he’d likely broken something, and he staggered to get to his feet.

Then, all hell broke loose.

The thug who’d brought in Davy and Wade lifted his gun, ready to start killing. Rafe kept hold of his human shield butmanaged to kick the gun so the spray of gunfire went into the ceiling. Away from Tessa, Bree, and Jericho.

Rafe didn’t manage to get to Buckner though before the man took aim. At Rafe. Buckner shot right through his own man, through the human shield, and if Rafe hadn’t been wearing Kevlar, the shots would have almost certainly gone through him, too.

The thug that Rafe had kicked recovered and took aim at Jericho again. He fired and hopefully missed, but Rafe wasn’t able to check. That’s because the doors flew open, and more gunmen came flooding in. Three from the entrance. Then, three more from the side.

They all converged toward Rafe.

“Kill them!” Buckner shouted.

Rafe had no choice but to let go of the dead weight of the man that Buckner had shot. He heaved the guy right at Buckner, and Rafe dived to the side, scrambling to get behind an old oil drum.

Buckner didn’t waste any time. He clicked the detonator, hopefully disarming it, and he did that so he could fire at Rafe.

Of course, the bullets blasted right through the metal of the oil drum. Rafe also heard some of the shots ricocheting, and he prayed none had hit Bree or Tessa. They couldn’t get down, couldn’t get out of the paths of the shots.

When Buckner had to shift his aim, Rafe shifted, too, and sent two shots right at Buckner. He was also wearing Kevlar, but one of the shots slammed into his chest, causing him to drop behind his dead comrade for cover.

Rafe made a sweeping glance around the room. Taking it all in. The seven hired guns and Buckner, all behind some form of cover. Davy and Wade on the floor behind one of the beams. Bree and Tessa struggling with their ropes to free themselves. And the timers ticking down too damn fast.

Six minutes, twelve seconds.

Rafe caught the scent of blood and had to fight the images so he wouldn’t be yanked back to the desert. To the night when he’d failed. Still, some of the images got through, not enough to cause him to fail again.

He hoped.

Since he couldn’t just stay put and trade shots with Buckner and the gunmen, Rafe leaned out and sent a spray of gunfire at Buckner. This time, he made sure he didn’t aim for the vest. Rafe went for the upper thigh, fired, and then he immediately started moving toward Buckner.

Buckner howled out in pain and toppled over, holding onto the exact spot Rafe had intended to hit. Blood spewed from the wound, and Rafe figured the asshole had even less time left than the timers.

Just in case though Buckner wanted to try to take them all with him, Rafe snatched up the detonator and scrambled back to the side to be out of the direct line of fire from the hired guns. Since it was a simple device, he disarmed it. But stopping it didn’t stop the timers. He could still see those ticking down.

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