He leaned in close, trying to speak over the infant’s cries, surprising me when he pushed back my hair. “I think it’s an ambush. Do you have more weapons? Ammo?”
I snatched my hands back and nodded, eyes lifting to the seats above our heads. “They’re compartments.” No sooner had the words left my lips when gunfire erupted from outside.
And everything descended into madness.
Kai and I reached for the stash beneath the seats, tossing guns and magazines to Derek and Eva.
“Take the baby and keep cover behind the cars.” Derek pushed a Glock into his wife’s hand and pulled her in for a brief kiss.
“Derek, please…please be careful. Don’t you fucking die on me. You hear me.”
He held her close by the back of her neck. “I can’t make any promises, angel. I’ll do whatever it takes, as long as you two are safe.”
I looked away, feeling almost as if I was intruding on an intimate moment.
That’s when I caught sight of an embankment just outside the driver’s side window where Felipe’s unconscious body lay just feet away. I didn’t know if he was alive or dead or if he’d been shot or died in the crash. I couldn’t afford to mourn his death, not if I wanted to get out of this car alive. At the very least, save that little girl.
“This way,” I said, then finally exited the overturned vehicle. Kai followed, extending his hand to Eva and the baby.
Now, with a clear view of the freeway, I was horrified to see the extent of the carnage. Flames engulfed two SUVs, and twisted metal scattered across the pavement. Pieces of what used to be one of my girls, along with them. I looked away for a brief second, squeezing my eyes closed and sucking in a long breath before cocking my gun. Ready to spill blood.
Men in dark coveralls I didn’t recognize were blasting their way toward us and dodging bullets from the remaining cars.
Charging forward, I sent relentless rounds into the group, with Kai and Derek on either side of me. Several of the men hit the ground while others dove out of our line of fire. Disregarding his safety, Derek broke away, sprinting toward two wounded men. I didn’t care to see the fate that awaited those bastards. Their pained howls were enough.
“Amalia! You need to take cover.” Kai snatched my wrist and tugged me behind the front end of a mangled car.
“What are you doing? Your brother is out there risking his ass, and you’re hiding?”
“I’m not hiding. And Derek can take care of himself.”
Ripping my arm from his grasp, I dropped my mag and reloaded, never once breaking eye contact. “So can I.”
I motioned to get to my feet, and again, he reached for me, only this time, I was ready. The barrel of my Glock pushed against his forehead, yet he didn’t flinch.
“You want to be a hero, Cain?” I asked, motioning toward the embankment where Eva and the baby were hiding. “Go find your fucking damsel because I’m not the one.”
As if the world around us wasn’t crumbling, we found ourselves in a stare-down, and I could have sworn I saw the whisper of a grin.
High-pitched screams pulled my gaze behind him, where Cassandra, one of my best, dragged herself along the pavement, her left arm visibly broken and bent into an unnatural position. I bolted toward her, stopping dead, when two bullets pierced the side of her skull.
A man in a black ski mask stood over her and unloaded two more rounds before I could stop him. By the time he noticed me, it was too late. He collapsed face first, and like Derek, I didn’t think, didn’t rationalize the possibility of becoming a target. All I saw was red, all-consuming rage and spilled blood on concrete. Cassandra’s. Felipe’s.
I stood over the man’s twitching figure, making sure to put a round through the back of his head at close range.
“Fuck! Cassie!” Falling to my knees, I placed a hand on her shoulder and pushed back her blood-soaked hair. Tears blurred the vision of her lifeless body until I caught a movement in my peripheral. Kai had his gun on me. At that moment, I thought about how easy it would be for him to kill me. Blame my death on whoever had orchestrated this ambush and be rid of his brother’s debt. I couldn’t blame him. Maybe I would have done the same had I been in his position.
Gripping the handle of my Glock, I figured I’d get a shot in before I was dead.
But he was faster. The bullet exploded out of the chamber, and I closed my eyes, waiting for the impact…
But it never came.
The heavy thud of a body behind me had me twisting around where a bald man lay bleeding from a wound to his neck. I snapped back toward Kai, and he nodded before dashing out to join his brother.
More gunfire broke out around me, serving to fuel my fury and join my soon-to-be husband in kicking some ass.
Between the three of us and my girls, the echoes of gunfire died down quickly.
