“Did someone go ahead to help Rae and Owen?”
“Like who?” he asked. “We’ve got our whole fucking force right here. Bastards ambushed us as we came in.”
“They were waiting for you?” I asked, eyes narrowing.
“No. Came up on our asses and forced our hand. We had to stop to take care of them or risk them fucking following us to the bridge.” He gave me a grim look. “There’s too many of them. If we led them there, we would just bring more danger Rae and Owen’s way.”
That was pretty much why I’d stopped. I wanted to keep going but if these fuckers joined the others, it was going to be too damn dangerous. I just had to hope Rae was holding her own while we helped clear the rest of these fuckers out.
“Cypher and the others are on the way,” I told him. I popped up over the hood, aimed, and fired three times before ducking down again. Someone had screamed so I was sure my shots had landed.
“Not sure how I’m going to explain this one to the sheriff,” Shane told me.
“Tell him you deputized us in order to save his ass.”
He made a face. “Yeah, I don’t have that authority, but whatever.”
“Cavalry’s here,” I told him. “I’m going after Rae and Owen.”
I ran back to where new headlights were pulling in. “Give me a rifle and more mags,” I ordered Demo as I ran up to his vehicle.Dust spit up all around me as the fuckers across the road shot at me.
Demo handed the weapons out the window while Jury, Torque, and Cynic fell in behind me to grab more weapons as well. I’d just gotten back into the vehicle when Warrant and Ainsley climbed into the front seat.
She sat on his lap, scowling over at me. “What are you waiting for?”
Nothing.
I turned the vehicle on and cut the wheel hard to the right. Gripping the steering wheel, I floored the gas. Cypher, Scythe, and the others would stay behind and help the deputies take care of the fuckers pinning down the deputies.
“Go around the other way asshole!” Warrant barked as he wrapped his arms around Ainsley and pulled her down as much as possible.
Bullets pinged off metal and one of the back windows shattered as I drove around behind the Iron Circle. “Then I can’t do this,” I told him as I mowed down two men in a row. Hitting them was like hitting pot holes and it jostled all of us in the SUV as we ran over them. There wasn’t time to turn and keep running them over though, so I cut back onto the road as soon as I cleared Shane’s cruiser and the last Iron Circle rig.
“Okay, that’s not fair,” Jury said from the back. “I want to run over shit bags too.”
“You’re all insane,” Ainsley said with a shake of her head. “But I’m so damn glad you’re on my side.”
We were quiet after that. There were six torturous miles to go, hitting ruts and washboard that caused the others to hit their heads on the top of the roof because I refused to take it at a gentler pace. My woman was out there and I wasn’t fucking stopping until I got to her.
CHAPTER 26
Raeleen
My heart sank as one of the men barked out something and pointed back to where Owen had been lying. They all scanned around, staring into the encroaching darkness, searching for him. I patted his belt, looking for more magazines. I was going to need more bullets. I stuffed the three that I found into the pocket of my jeans. Pulling some branches over him, I did my best to hide him.
Taking a deep breath, I ran parallel to where the men were now starting to search the side of the road where I’d dragged Owen into the grass. I had to take action or they were going to find him.
I stopped next to a tree and aimed at the man closest to me. He wasn’t too far away, and it was dark now, but they’d turned the headlights on so they could search. That gave me enough light to see them skulking around in the shadows. Aiming, I held my breath and squeezed the trigger. I was starting thisfight. Going on the offensive had to be better than waiting to be discovered.
I’d never shot anyone before. So when my bullet hit the man in the thigh, I was equal parts proud and revolted. This was life and death, though. I didn’t have the luxury of feeling sorry for the men who were trying to kill us. Ducking behind the tree, I came out the other side and aimed again. The men were scrambling for cover, but my aim was true and one of them fell when I shot him and didn’t move.
Gasping, I ducked behind the tree again as bullets flew past me, an answer to my aggression. Bark ripped off the tree, spraying me as they shot at me. Now they knew where I was. I had the remaining three’s attention.
Good.
That meant they’d leave Owen alone while they chased me.
Oh. Crap.
