“Go, Dad. Get Mom to the hospital. We’ll be right behind you.”
“Oh, Jimmy,” Mom sobs.
Dad acknowledges the table but is clearly distracted. He slings Mom’s purse over his shoulder and walks, protecting her injured side. “Come on, Honey. I’ve got you.”
The wide-eyed waitress arrives with the drinks. “Is everything okay?”
“Can I pay out please?” Strider says as I lift Mom’s margarita and lick the salt from the rim, downing too much tequila.
This day isn’t getting better. In fact, everything that happens feels like a storm cloud is brewing. And it’s sitting right on top of me.
My brother pays the tab and stands, but I give him a look and he retakes his seat.
“Sam, I admire you.” I extend a hand.
She looks at it as if it’s a trap to ensnare her but eventually puts hers in mind. I squeeze.
I turn to her husband. “I’m sorry. Do you want to tell us about it? Or have you had enough for one day?”
Liam
Half a tank of gas was enough to get me within a mile of the golf course clubhouse. It was also enough to avoid me being shotagain.
Turning my phone on, I verify I’m on the right course to meet the guys but am later than I estimated. I risk what battery I have left to make a call.
“Liam?” Christian’s voice is wary.
“Yeah. Half a mile out. How fast can we get out of this valley?” I flip to speaker phone and send a pin with my location in case the phone dies. One percent battery life is all that remains.
“As soon as I know you’re okay, we can make the flight plan.”
“Make the plan. I’m slow but?—”
One percent? A phone call, map, and texting mean no percent, and I look to the brick in my hand that may have saved my life. That and obscure literature reminding me being left to rot inside a wall is a fate I cannot accept.
I slide the phone into my pocket realizing my tablet is gone. It should’ve hard wiped upon the second failed login attempt but I’ll need to ensure that as soon as my phone can hold a charge.
“Poe, you’re in for the ride of your life. I have a feeling you’ll tell me all about it.”
I glance down at the feline furball with his nose tucked into his chin, one ear aloft, appearing sound asleep.
The club house comes into view the moment I crest the hill. So do the two men with Armalite rifles holding Christian at gunpoint.
Dropping to my belly, I grunt and fight to keep a scream inside. I managed to avoid crushing Poe but that means I also hit the side with the bullet still lodged.
Two men, dressed in all black with ski masks, gesticulate wildly with the barrels of their rifles far too fucking near my brother-in-law’s head. I will not watch my sister become a widow. I will not have my goddaughter grow up without her overprotective dad.
I could circle around to come at them from the back, but that would take two miles and fifteen minutes at full strength. I’m not at full strength, not even close. So my only choice if time is of the essence, is to walk straight down the hill. It will draw attention. Attention I do not want. But maybe, just maybe, it’ll give Ren or Fitz a chance to save the man who’s repeatedly stepped up for our family.
I’m not looking to die, but if I have to, doing it to protect Ayla and Sophia would be a good enough reason. Popping up, I holler down the hill, “What the fuck is going on?”
Shots are fired, my brother-in-law drops, and a burning I’ve never known hits me until darkness overtakes my mind.
43
codename badass
Lorien
