“Murphy. Wait.” I don’t dare raise my voice. If I weren’t so worried about Wyatt, I’d find a tree and try to climb it. Not that I know how. “Where is he?” Those luminous eyes lock onto mine for a moment before he stares in the direction of the louder shots. “You better be right.”
Murphy stays at my side, herding me in a roundabout fashion toward where I hope Wyatt is. I think he’s protecting me. Making sure I don’t run right into Simon’s men. At least, I hope he is.
Another shot rings out. This one can’t be more than fifty feet away.
Oh, God. I can see him. Sitting behind a tree, the rifle braced on his bent leg. His right arm hangs at his side, blood dripping from his fingers.
At Murphy’s quick, low yip, Wyatt whips his head around. His eyes widen. “I told you to stay put,” he growls.
“You’re hurt.” Kneeling next to him, I hold out my hand. “Give me the pistol. I can help.”
Wyatt
What the fuck?
“You know how to shoot?”
Shards of tree bark pelt my arm as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dude Ranch Wannabe try to get a clean shot.
“Yes. And blame Murphy for me being here. He’s the one who came to get me. Thank God, because I heard two guys upstairs as I was crawling out the doggie door.”
My jaw drops open until another shot grazes my wounded arm. It’s barely a scratch but comes way too close to Murph for my liking. “I told you,” I shout and pull the Glock 19 from the holster, “if you hurt my dog, there’s gonna be hell to pay!” One of the assholes is close enough I can probably get him with the handgun. “Cover your ears, darlin’.”
She rolls her eyes, but does it. The agonized groan as my bullet finds its mark is satisfying as fuck.
“We have to get out of here. Head towards the highway. Sampson should be close.” As much as I hate to ask, I don’t have a choice. “You any good with a rifle? It’s gonna be damn near impossible for me to hit anything with it on the move.”
“Probably better than you are right now. But I never touched one outside of the gun range.” Despite her words, she picks it up. “What about the memory card? We can’t leave it.”
“We didn’t.” Getting to my feet makes the pain in my shoulder flare white hot, and I lean on the tree for support until the world stops spinning. “You stick to me like glue.”
“Promise.” She’s terrified. I can see it in her eyes. But this Hope? She’s not the scared, timid little mouse I pulled out of that SUV. This is who she was meant to be. A fighter.
And I want the chance for a future with her.
“Murphy.” The dog looks up at me, and I point in the general direction of the highway. “Exfil.”
He takes off like someone just lit his ass on fire. We’re going to need a fucking miracle to get out of here alive. Two of them at the cabin. At least two more—in addition to the one I killed—close by. How many others?
Murphy stops short and growls. A twig snaps, and a man steps out from behind a tree ten yards in front of us.
“Hold, Murph!” I draw down on the guy, but he’s smiling. Six-feet two-inches of burly asshole in a thousand-dollar suit. Grinning at us.
At my side, Hope sucks in a sharp breath. “Brix…”
“You have been a very bad girl,” Brix says. “Simon knows what you did.”
Fuck this. I’m about to pull the trigger when two black-clad thugs flank us. One presses the barrel of a Sig Sauer to my forehead, and the other aims at Murphy.
“If I were you,” Brix waves his hand in my general direction, “I would toss the pistol behind you. Before Matteo gets twitchy.”
I don’t have a choice. Not if I want to live more than another few seconds. The gun lands on the mossy ground with a dull thud, and now that my left hand is free, I link my fingers with Hope’s. “Happy now, shitstain?”
“Hardly. I won’t be happy until I return to civilization. With Ms. Raines in tow. Or rather, tied up in the trunk of the car. Simon wants her to have a very painful ride back to Salt Lake City.” He arches his brows. “Come quietly, and maybe I won’t shoot the dog.”
“Touch him, and I’ll—”
Asshole Number Two slams the gun against the back of my head. Stars explode in my field of vision, and my knees buckle.
