by Mary Calmes
“Agreed. The sniper, he’s good, right?”
“He’s hit everything he’s aimed at,” Ian said, meeting my gaze. “And he’s using a big-ass gun with API rounds. The hole it left in the car was an inch wide.”
“So you think we have military guys out there?”
“I dunno. So far there’s only one shooter, but either way, we’re pinned down.”
“Okay, so, out the back like you said.”
“Yeah. At least that way, the house will provide us some cover. The shooter’s out front—that’s what the trajectory tells me—and we’ve taken no fire from the woods. We have a small jump on them as far as timing, but that’s it. We need to move.”
I nodded.
He tugged me toward him. “We need to get our packs out of the chief’s car first, though. I have ammo in there.”
“We just got through talking about the deadly accuracy of the man—or woman—shooting at us,” I said flatly. “Neither one of us is going out there.”
“Miro,” he began softly. “We need the bullets.”
“We have Jenner’s rifles and our guns, but getting more ammunition for your Glock, which won’t do shit against the fuckin’ sniper, is stupid.”
“We need—”
“No,” I snarled, staring into his pale blue eyes. Funny that they had lightened during our trip, and even this, imminent death, was not darkening them. Sex had, but not this. “I will not allow you to go out there. Do you understand?”
He shrugged, giving up as the boys called from the kitchen.
“Marshal, we got most of the stuff.”
“We’re all out in five,” Ian directed.
I nodded before he scuttled away.
Lifting up on my elbows, I focused on the two men close to me. Outside, I could hear the men on the porch returning fire. “Chief? Mr. Jenner? Are you coming with us or staying here?”
“I’m with you,” Holley said, grabbing hold of my shoulder. “But are you certain this is the best course?”
“They have a grenade launcher. Maybe the rocket one is up next. They can torch the house and then we’ll fry. We need to move.”
I heard a yell from outside and then glass shattering, then watched Ian race across the room, lean out the front door for a second, and then charge back to where the boys huddled together.
“I don’t think you have any idea about the terrain you’re headed into,” Jenner said, his voice cracking. “It’s very dangerous.”
“We’ll be fine,” I placated him. “Are you coming or not?”
“Yes,” he snapped.
We all rushed across the room after Ian, and when we were in the hallway beside the kitchen, I noticed that I couldn’t hear anymore gunfire.
“Because everyone outside is dead, at least from what I could see.” Ian said frankly, shoving a heavy parka at me. “Put this on.”
It was too big—all Jenner’s coats were—but we all pulled one on, along with knit hats, scarves, and gloves. Ian kept his military boots, I kept my hiking boots, Holley was okay as well, but Jenner and Drake both changed. Cabot had on Ugg boots, but they were going to have to do. He had a heavy fur-lined parka as well.
I was a good shot with my Glock, but I was not as good a marksman with a rifle. Looking at the two hunting rifles on the table, I made a decision. “How you feel about carrying the second rifle, Chief?” I asked, glancing over at Holley.
He agreed, and I picked up the gun and passed it to him, as well as the two boxes of bullets. Ian had the other of the two Remingtons, both 700 models. Shouldering the backpack, Ian stuffed two boxes of shells in another bag before putting the rifle under his arm.
“Let’s go,” he ordered.
I put on my pack, and so did Drake. Jenner wrenched the one that Cabot was going to carry out of his son’s hands.
“It’s too heavy,” he barked, and I saw Cabot wince and cringe. Hard to miss that he’d been abused, probably for years. The shrinking recoil was a dead giveaway.
“Follow him,” I directed Cabot, gesturing to Ian, and when Jenner tried to go after his son, I grabbed his arm, holding tight, and directed Drake to watch over Cabot.
“I will,” Drake said, smiling at me and then trailing after Cabot.
Jenner wrenched his arm free but fell into line, with Holley next.
We moved silently though the house, Ian leading, me bringing up the rear, and once we were all outside, Ian ordered everyone to wait as he darted back to me.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t lose me,” he ordered. “Whatever you do.”
“I won’t.”
He grabbed the back of my neck and took a breath.
“It’s gonna be all right,” I soothed.
“Yeah, I know, just stay close.”
“Please, buddy, I’ve got your back.”
He nodded fast and then rushed to the front and led us down the back stairs from the deck and away from the house. It was dusk, the perfect time to try to escape, and I really hoped we’d be lucky. I wasn’t ready to lose Ian or have him be without me. My life was just getting started—having it end was not in my plans.
WE JOGGED until we reached the tree line and then, because there was a six-foot incline, slowed as we all scaled the snow-covered slope.
Drake held Cabot’s hand, walking in front of him, making sure he didn’t fall, and telling him, over and over, how great he was doing.
“Mr. Jenner!”
We all turned to see one of his men—who had managed to live after all—come running after us, rifle in hand. “We need to hand Drake over!”
I drew my gun and leveled it at him.
“Abernathy,” Holley snarled. “This is all your—”
“Now, Jenner!” the ex-deputy ordered, raising his weapon.
“Drop it!” I demanded.
It was like he was so focused on Jenner that he didn’t hear me, even from so close.
“Drop your weapon!” I shouted again when Abernathy didn’t obey.
The second floor of the Jenner cabin suddenly exploded into flying wood and glass and steel, and only the fact that we were a good hundred yards away saved us from getting hit with flying debris.
It was a big yes on the rocket launcher.
The blast startled Dalton Abernathy, and in his confusion, I bolted forward, grabbed the muzzle of his gun, wrenched it from his hands, and used the butt of the rifle to hit him in the face. He fell back into the snow, out cold.
The crappy rifle Abernathy was using had an attached strap, so I slung that over my shoulder. I ran past Holley to stop at the top of the slope and waited for him and Jenner to climb down ahead of me. Once they were safe, I holstered my Glock and checked around, not wanting to turn my back on any more men.
Ian stood below us in a ravine, on a fallen tree in the middle of a shallow creek. “Hurry the fuck up!” he bellowed, and I could hear the frustration and anger in his voice.
“Go!” I called out.
He turned and ran with Cabot following, then Drake, Jenner, Holley, and finally me. A succession of explosions boomed through the woods as we scrambled over loose rocks, dirt, and ice, to climb the embankment. Once we got out of the ravine, the terrain changed. There was no gradual slope and no place to simply stand. The ground underneath me was solid with no give at all, and when I punched through the frozen soil, my boots kept slipping. It was slow going as we trudged through snow that was calf deep, with no open space, just pine trees growing one on top of another.
“Why didn’t your fucking partner ask me if there are any ATV paths or—”
“Because we don’t want anything they can move fast on,” I took the time to explain. “We need to make it difficult for them to reach us.”
We went silent after that, zigzagging our way up the side of the steep hill, slogging through, the men between Ian and me grunting and puffing with exertion. I was in better shape, but my jeans were soaking wet and doing nothing for the cold.
The sun had set, and between
that and the higher elevation, the temperature fell even more. When the freezing rain started, Ian stopped and had everyone huddle together as he climbed one of the trees to look down at the house from our new vantage point.
“When will the missus start missing you, Chief?” I asked Holley.
He shook his head. “Divorced.”
“Sorry,” I muttered. “What about wives or girlfriends of your people down there?”
“It’s Kershaw and Lautner back at base,” he told me. “They’ll start wondering where we are in another hour.”
“Okay,” I said gently, taking hold of his shoulder. “I’m sorry about your men.”
He covered my hand with his. “Thank you.”
“There was nothing you could have done.”
“M!” Ian said sharply.
Moving over directly under him, I peered up through the branches.
“There’s a lot of lights moving around down there.”
Meaning men with flashlights. “Shit.”
He looked down at me. “We’ve got, what, another forty minutes or so before our two hours is up and we’re supposed to check in?”
Kage. “Yeah.”
“Okay, so once we miss it and he can’t get us on either of our phones, we’ll have state troopers here in another hour.”
“Let’s say two to be safe.” I stepped back as he jumped down, landing in front of me. “And then how many will come? Like how many cars?”
“I dunno,” he huffed, and I couldn’t miss the worry on him: the crumpled brows, pursed lips, corded muscles in his neck all spoke to his concern over our present situation. “More than one, because it’ll be reported as an emergency.”
“All right, two at the least, maybe up to four.”
“And then it’ll take them another few hours to get backup out here, search chopper and everything else.”
“We’ve got the whole night up here,” I surmised. “We need to find cover.”
“Unless they have night-vision goggles and dogs, we’re okay as long as we use no light and stay quiet.”
“We have to use the flashlights or we’ll walk off the side of this hill.”
“No, we—”
“Missy Frain,” Jenner said suddenly.
I turned to him. “Sorry?”
“Missy Frain,” he repeated. “Her family has a cabin halfway down the other side. It’s right on Kingman Creek that runs through the hills.”
“Which is how far?”
“Up to the top of this and down the other side,” Jenner replied. “Three hours easily, though I can’t vouch for the state of the cabin. It’s been years since I’ve been there.”
“It’s as good a plan as any,” Ian agreed. “Cabot, did you find rope?”
“Yeah.”
“Give it to me.”
So we all had water, Ian and Holley checked the rifles—I didn’t bother with the one I was carrying—and then all tied together, with my partner leading, we continued to scale the side of the hill as light rain became a deluge.
Never had I been so cold, and when I realized the clicking noise I was hearing was actually my teeth, I started chuckling like a crazy person.
“Marshal?” Holley asked.
“Sorry,” I said cheerfully, nearly walking into a tree, branches scratching my face. “I can’t feel my feet anymore, and this rain—I feel like we should be looking out for an ark.”
I got a quick pat of encouragement as we trekked on.
Thankfully, the cabin was nowhere near as far down the other side as we were led to believe, and really, descending was so much easier than ascending that I couldn’t stop smiling. The rain let up as well, changing from a raging downpour to a shower to a drizzle and finally to a gentle fluttery snow that was actually really pretty in the sky when the moon came out from behind the clouds.
Ian was amazing. Between the moonlight and keeping the flashlight beam down at his feet, he was still able to lead us without incident to the small clearing where the Frain cabin was. Or, more correctly, to the scene of what looked like had probably been a fire.
It turned out Jenner had been really generous with his use of the word “cabin.”
Since all four walls were no longer intact, the cabin didn’t really qualify as a structure anymore, but as most of the roof was still on, it would keep some of the rain and snow off us.
Ian untied everyone one by one, and when he reached me, he stepped close, leaning into my space.
“You all right?”
“Aren’t you cold?” I croaked.
“We’ll get a fire going,” he promised.
“How?”
“We just needed to get away from those guys, and there was only one way to go.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, coughing.
“I mean, we didn’t have enough guns to repel any real numbers, and not knowing how many they had and since our first priority was to secure our witness—”
“We had to go up, I get it.”
He crowded in, his lips against my ear, the warm puffs of air down the side of my neck making me shiver. “But by now, there are probably troopers on site, and I saw no evidence of anyone coming after us. There have been no lights on the side of the hill, so I’m pretty sure we’re clear.” I opened my mouth to say something, but he fisted his hand in my jacket. “If I’m wrong and there’s guys in cold-weather gear coming up behind us with night-vision goggles and machine guns—I’ll deal with it. But I’m gonna build a fire so you don’t freeze to death.”
I smiled. “Damn nice of you.”
His grin was wide and his hand slid around the side of my neck. “Stay—”
“—right by you,” I finished for him.
“Yeah.” He clipped the word before turning around.
“This is so cra-creeepy,” Cabot stuttered, having trouble walking, as wet and cold as he was. “Can I have a gun too?”
Drake picked him up, slung him over his shoulder, and walked toward what was left of the dilapidated cottage.
Ian went first, testing the strength of the rotting boards, and once he was confident the floor wouldn’t give, we all followed him up the four steps into what had once been the great room. The stone fireplace was all that remained on one side, with the stone chimney and large pieces of what had been a roof.
“I bet this was a great little cabin,” Ian said as he gathered pieces of wood into a pile.
I got up to help, but a cramp in my right calf made me sit back down hard. Ian was there beside me, fast.
“What?” he asked.
“My muscles are clenching up. I’m fine.”
He barked at Holley and Drake to help him and then pulled the matches from his pack. Bending over, he did the blowing and cupping his hands around the flame and tried to get something going, but the wood was too wet.
“Maybe there’s some dryer wood under the debris piles,” Drake suggested.
“Not with the rain,” Holley assured him.
“I’m so cold,” Cabot whispered.
“Drake, you need to get his jacket off and get him in yours with you.”
“I can do that,” Jenner barked at Ian.
“No,” he snapped back. “I want them wrapped around each other. The temperature is dropping fast, and even though it won’t drop much below 25, we’re all wet and it’s windy and we could all get hypothermia.”
I noticed Cabot was just sort of watching Drake.
“Oh crap,” Ian grumbled, getting up and going over to Cabot. He stripped him out of his jacket and then shoved him at Drake, who grabbed Cabot and tucked him against his chest, wrapping his arms and jacket around him.
“Hold on to him,” Ian ordered, grabbing both sides of the parka and zipping them up together. “Keep him as warm as you can.”
“Absolutely,” Drake promised, leaning his head on top of Cabot’s.
“That’s disgusting,” Jenner spat. “How can you let my boy be touched by that pervert?”
“I see two kids in love, y
ou homophobic prick,” Ian snarled. “And if you don’t want to look, go over on the other side of the cabin. Hope you don’t fuckin’ freeze to death.”
“I’m going to have your—”
“Miro,” Ian said suddenly, rounding on me. “Are the road flares in your bag?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Get them out,” he directed. He turned to Holley. “I need kindling, small branches off the trees, pull them off, like you’re making a Christmas wreath.”
“Yes,” Holley said, letting Ian know he was listening.
“Keep watch,” Ian told me before he took the stairs and left.
I found the flares in my bag and waited, listening to Cabot whimper, watching Jenner glare at the two younger men, and keeping vigil.
When Ian returned, he ignited two of the four flares and stacked the branches and the smaller pieces with the needles on top of them. It seemed like it took forever, but in reality, probably only thirty minutes, give or take. Once the branches underneath caught fire, the twigs ignited, and the flames got bigger and bigger as Ian added more and more wood.
“Road flare,” I said, clapping him on the back.
“Forgot my training for a second there,” he rumbled, his voice brittle as his eyes flicked to mine.
“Which is very human.” I sighed, leaning against him, the warmth from the fire almost orgasmic. “Holy fuck, make it bigger.”
He laughed softly as Drake and Cabot got close, thanking him over and over. They were able to unzip the parka, and Cabot sat between Drake’s legs as they faced the fire. Ian got up and he and Holley went to fetch more branches, this time taking the hatchet Drake had carried in his bag.
I was surprised at how quickly my jeans dried out as I sat cross-legged beside the fire, and between that and the water, I felt okay. Starving, but I’d live. When Ian returned, his gloves covered in sap and smelling like pine, I took his hat off and put it on the ground beside me before taking off mine and shoving it down on his head.
“What’re you doing?”
“That one’s wet and covered in crap. Wear mine until you warm up. I’ll go cut branches next time.”
“You’ll chop your hand off, I know it.”
