“You think they know you’re here?”
“War thinks not, but we need to be careful.”
He turned and walked away. For a big guy Hustle could tread lightly. He pulled his hood up over his head so I did the same thing, doing what we could to try and blend into the darkness. There were supposed to be Devil’s along the path we were going to take towards the meeting zone, but we were moving in the opposite direction to where they were hiding, and they’d be focusing on getting themselves out without being spotted.
I hadn’t been the one to deal with the cartel, because I never trusted them. I thought it was a mistake to work with them. Nytro and Mad Hog were always happy to take the lead. They thought they were hot shit making deals with a Mexican drug gang, regardless of the fact they were fucking animals who didn’t care who they worked with, fucked with or killed. I knew Mad Hog was getting his own personal supply of cocaine from them. Because he was a fucking idiot.
We moved in silence for at least ten minutes. I hadn’t realized how far we’d come into the woods, but then again, we could have been going in an entirely different direction to the one we’d used to get in. I didn’t have a clue which way we were headed but Hustle knew this place well enough that he wasn’t lost. He paused and stepped behind a tree, waving quickly for me to follow. I moved behind him without question.
Hustle held up his hand, two fingers raised then pointed off to the left-hand side of the trail we’d been moving along.
I watched as he took his gun out of a holster under his cut. Fuck, I didn’t have a weapon. I don’t know if he’d actually seen two guys, or he heard something or was just being cautious. His hand was clenched tight around the gun as we stood in complete silence. I wasn’t sure how he knew it wasn’t one of his guys, if there actually was anyone out there.
Then I heard a twig snapping. My heart rate spiked, and I glanced around to see if there was anything I could use but we were in the middle of a wooded area, there was not even a rock in sight. Hustle looked back at me, I didn’t know him well enough to be able to read what he was trying to say but if I had to guess, it was keep fucking quiet and hope these guys walked on without realizing we were here.
I held my breath, trying to remain calm and stop my heart from thudding too fast. My adrenalin was spiking and from the way Hustle was tensing up, I could see his was too. If we alerted these guys we were out here, and they got word to the others, we’d be in a whole heap of shit.
The distant sound of gunfire split the air. Hustle didn’t flinch but I moved slightly and knocked into a bush. The sound of movement and hissed words in Spanish alerted us we’d been spotted.
“Fuck,” Hustle lifted his gun and aimed just as a man came out from his cover. His shot hit the guy in the throat, completely avoiding all of his armor. He fell to the ground with a short grunt but the bullet had done its job.
There was a prolonged burst of spitting sounds and the trees and branches around us exploded as they were hit by silent bullets. Hustle dropped to his knees, covering his head, and I did the same.
We both looked up in time to see a dark figure moving through the trees opposite us. He was looking all around like he wasn’t sure where we were hiding even though his spray of bullets had torn up all of the foliage around us. It was a fucking miracle neither of us was hit.
We couldn’t stay here forever, we only had one gun between us. These guys had fucking semi-automatic weapons. There was more gunfire in the distance and the pained look that crossed Hustle’s face had him wondering if it was his men under fire. This guy had a silencer on his weapon so it made sense the gunshots were fromthe Devil’s or Kingsmen. The sound of shouting filtered through the trees, it was hard to discern words but it definitely sounded Spanish to me.
We were sitting ducks here. Didn’t matter what the rest of them were doing where those guns were going off. We needed to get out of here. Hustle looked at me. He nodded at my feet and I glanced down then back up at him. He started twirling his finger, pointing to the guy, then to me, then he held up the gun.
Christ knew how I understood that, but I did. He needed a diversion to draw the guy out. There wasn’t much light out here but there was enough. I’d be a real fucking target if he got me lined up in his sights. I had to rely on Hustle. The fact he’d shot out that guys throat while he was moving gave me a little reassurance he knew his way around a gun, but still.
Fuck. I nodded to him. There was at least enough trees and foliage around that I could make myself less of a target. Hustle readied himself holding the gun up.
There was a really big oak tree about ten yards from where I was crouched. I was fast. I could make it. I fucking hoped. I rocked on the balls of my feet, putting my fingers down on the ground, like I was about to run a sprint. Hudson nodded at me. Then again and I realized he was counting down. On the third nod, I burst up from the ground and threw myself at the tree, falling against it like a fucking wrecking ball, slamming the whole side of my body as I twisted to make sure I got behind it.
I didn’t hear a fucking thing, my ears were pounding, my heart racing but I did know I was alive and not shot. I glanced up to see Hustle rising to his feet. He glanced over at me lying on my back then walked over and held out his hand.
“He hit you?”
“No,” I let him help me up and brushed the debris off my clothes.
“Pity,” Hustle grunted.
“Fuck you,” I muttered. “You hithim?” The second cartel guy was lying on the floor.
He half laughed. “Come on, we need to get out of here.”
We walked out from behind the tree as another masked man stepped out right into our path, a gun pointed at Hustle’s face. He didn’t havetime to bring his gun up, I didn’t even have time to get a shout of warning out before the sound of the gun firing filled the air.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Fuck me,” I breathed out.
The man who had just had a gun pointed at my face fell sideways, his head snapping unnaturally hard before he hit the floor. My heart had stopped beating in my chest as I stared down the barrel of that gun, knowing my life was over. I hadn’t had an epiphany, or seen my life flash before my eyes, I’d just known in a second it would all be over.
“You stupid bastard. I’ll fucking kill you if you get yourself killed.”
I looked up at War after he hissed that nonsense at me. Despite the stupidity of what he just said I could see the fear and panic in his eyes as he stared at me. I was seconds from getting my head blown off. If my best friend hadn’t come back for me, that would be me down there.
