“No!” Naomi shrieked.
“Get down!” I roared.
The second Gordon’s forearm twitched, all hell broke loose. I dove for Naomi, trying to knock her out of the way. The problem with that was Trooper had the exact same idea in mind, and we collided just shy of Naomi’s arm. She lunged toward the madman as Trooper and I slammed into one another, tangling ourselves up and trying to figure out our left from our right. Not our finest motherfucking moment, I can assure you. But, when I saw Naomi knock that gun clear out of Gordon’s hand, I’d never been so impressed in all my fucking life.
“Dutch!” I bellowed.
“I see it!” he exclaimed.
“Stop this! Now!” Naomi shrieked.
As Gordon’s gun hit the floor, it went off, splintering the wall and causing Naomi to yelp. Dutch kicked off, running toward Gordon and slicing the backs of his thighs open as the man tried leaping to get to his gun. Naomi was quick, though, and she darted her foot out in order to scoot it further away from him.
And when Gordon hit the floor on his stomach, Trooper leapt through the air and brought his knee down straight into the fuckwad’s back.
Before pointing both of his guns at the back of the man’s head.
“Goddamn it,” Gordon groaned as he wiggled around. “Get off me, you son of a bitch!”
FWEET!
I pressed my tongue to the back of my teeth, letting out a high-pitched whistle. I peeked over at Naomi, clocking her wide eyes and her frozen stance. She seemed suspended in space, unable to look around, or move, or damn near breath. Had it not been for the rising and falling of her shoulders, my want to shake her back into reality would have taken over.
But, maybe it was better that she was frozen in time rather than panicking up a storm.
“You summoned me?”
Gordon peered up before his face paled. “Sheriff Barnes?”
I smiled as the suited man approached my side. “Sheriff Barnes. Not a moment too soon. How are you this afternoon?”
The man harrumphed. “Wondering why the hell you interrupted a private luncheon for my daughter’s engagement.”
Despite Trooper holding two guns to the back of his head, Gordon scrambled to get to his feet. “Sheriff Barnes, I’m so glad you’re here. These men, th-th-they—they captured my fiancée. They took her, right from her father’s home.”
“Did they, now?” the man asked.
“That’s the story,” I said.
Gordon circled his pointed finger around in the air. “These men, all of these men, they’ve had their hands on her. Raping her. Brainwashing her. She doesn’t even recognize me as her fiancée right now. I’m shocked she even knows my name!”
The sheriff turned to face Naomi. “Is that true?”
The question pulled her out of her trance. “I took off my engagement ring when these guys were kind enough to reveal the true nature of this man. Did you know he’s in bed with the mafia, Sheriff?”
“What!?” Gordon exclaimed.
“See, that’s my concern here,” the sheriff said as he walked toward Gordon. “I’ve seen some very interesting video footage. Great audio, too. And I’m wondering why you’re talking with Tommy Gun in the first place while using the exact language you magically decoded for me in order to receive the promotion that I just gave you.”
“Wow,” Troop said with a snicker, “hell of a coincidence if you ask me.”
“Sir,” Gordon said as he lowered his voice, “these men are trafficking weapons. You know as well as I do--.”
“You got any proof of that?” the sheriff asked as he got into Gordon’s face.
The man’s jaw pulsed. “No, sir.”
“Interesting,” the sheriff said as he stalked around the man, “because I’ve got plenty of proof of you working with the assholes that fill our streets with drugs, and death, and blood.”
