Saturday night, a car a block from the bar had been T-boned. The horn had blared for over ten minutes until the cops and EMTs got it disabled. For everyone else it had been a dull hum in the background, totally ignored. For me? I’d had to go into my office and wrap my ears in dish towels. It seemed so fucking loud, it gave me a migraine. By the end of that night, I was totally exhausted. My body was going through so much that even with full nights of sleep, I didn’t feel completely rested.
Felipe walked me out to the car. It was nearly three in the morning, and all I wanted was to go home, put some damned earplugs in, and pass out. Felipe took a few steps in front of me to open my door. My senses were completely overloaded and raw, like an exposed nerve.
I heard the creaking sound and tilted my head. My senses told me what it was even though I’d never heard it before—the sound of a ligament twitching, flexing. My eyes widened in surprise when I heard the next sound. A click, the sound of a trigger being slowly pulled back.
I grabbed Felipe and yanked his body to the right just as a bullet smashed through the window, where he’d been standing a moment before. The sound of the shot burst across the parking lot as we tumbled to the ground.
“Shit!” Felipe pushed me to the other side of the car as bullets started punching into the tires and metal of the car. A hunk of pavement burst up out of the ground as a bullet slammed into the asphalt.
“Call Nico!” Felipe shouted as he pulled out his own gun and returned fire.
I did exactly as he asked, hitting the speed dial. Nico answered groggily. “What’s happening?”
“They’re shooting at us!” I screamed, trying to be heard over the gunshots.
“I’m coming,” Nico sounded fully awake now. I took heart in knowing he’d be there soon. But would it be soon enough?
Felipe fired back at the shooter. We’d been the last people to leave the bar. I’d sent everyone else home, and Felipe and I had finished mopping and locking up. We were alone.
Fear tugged at my gut, making goose flesh rise up on my arms. Felipe got up on his knees and glanced over the top of the car, scanning the woods on the other side of the highway. A bullet pinged off the hood six inches from his face. He dropped and cursed.
“Well, I’ve got five shots left. Probably would have been a good idea to bring more bullets. Oh well,” Felipe said, sounding astonishingly calm given the situation.
“What are you gonna do?” I asked.
“My best.”
Without another word, he took his shirt off and flung it to the right. The flash of white must have drawn the shooter’s eye. There were two quick shots toward the front of the car, where the shirt had now fluttered to the ground. During the two shots,Felipe stood and braced his gun on the hood of the car. As soon as the second shot rang out from the highway, Felipe fired three quick rounds toward the muzzle flash we could both see.
When his third shot was out, Felipe dropped down again. We waited in silence for a few seconds, then we heard it. Screams of pain. Felipe grinned and looked at me. He stood quickly and dropped back down twice, trying to draw more gunfire. Nothing came. He inched around the front of the car and snatched up his shirt, he waved it over his head, and there was still no shot. He pulled the shirt back on and waved for me to follow him.
We stayed low and continued to run and hide for cover as we made our way to the highway. The screams of pain were getting increasingly louder. Once we were sure there was only one shooter and we were safe, we stood and jogged the rest of the way to the road.
Headlights appeared over the hill, and I could hear the screaming engine of Nico’s SUV. He pulled up next to us, tires squealing. He leaped from the truck and scooped me into his arms, checking me for injuries.
“Are you okay?” he demanded, looking more terrified than I’d ever seen him.
“I’m fine. I think Felipe got the guy who was shooting at us.”
Nico growled and looked at Felipe. “Where?”
Felipe gestured toward the woods. Nico went with him, and I followed closely behind, not wanting to be left alone. The underbrush gave way to a small clearing. Even in the dark, I could see the man’s set-up perfectly. My night vision was already getting better. He had a big fallen log that had been fitted with a tripod for a rifle. The gun had fallen over the side of the log. The man was thrashing on the ground, screaming and clutching his leg. I almost gagged seeing it. Felipe’s shot had gone right through the man’s knee. It looked like the bullet had torn straight through his knee cap. The leg hung down like there wereno bones connecting the lower portion of the leg to the upper. He was in so much pain that he didn’t even try to go for his weapon when he saw us enter the clearing, just continued to clutch his ruined leg and scream.
Felipe jumped forward and yanked the man’s sidearm out of the pistol holster at his waist. Nico quickly patted the stranger’s pockets and searched him for more weapons, finding a wicked-looking six-inch curved knife from a holster at his back. Nico looked at Felipe. “Grab his fucking arms.”
I had no idea what Nico had planned, but Felipe didn’t hesitate. He put his own pistol into his waistband and put his hands under the would-be assassin’s armpits. Nico stepped down to the guy’s feet and looked the man dead in the eyes. “You’ll probably want to be asleep for this.” Nico kicked the man’s ruined knee. The shriek that burst from the man’s throat sounded like death. It was high, keening, and full of pain. He stopped screaming long enough to vomit on the ground, then passed out from agony.
“Holy shit,” I whispered.
Nico grabbed the guy’s legs and lifted. “It’s what he deserves for trying to kill my mate,” he snarled as he and Felipe hauled him through the forest.
Once we got to the highway, we checked to see if anyone was around before hustling the body to the back of the SUV and tossing him inside. Felipe took the driver’s seat, and Nico huddled in the backseat, holding me close and stroking my hair. Felipe pulled away. “Where to?”
“My shop. We’ll try to get some answers there. It’s far enough from anyone that they won’t hear if he tries screaming for help.”
Felipe nodded and drove straight to Nico’s shop. Once we were there, Felipe and Nico carried the stranger inside and strapped him to an office chair, then tied a rope around his waistand his good leg to hold him down. Once he was secure, Nico and Felipe stepped back and looked at the man.
Felipe pointed at the guy’s face. “Doesn’t look like he’s from around here, does he?”
