“Shit,” Knox said and backed up a step, but it was too late.
Another man stepped out from between two parked trucks. Then another. My pulse hammered in my wrists and chest so loudly I swear Knox probably heard it.
The man by the light pole moved over the sidewalk. He removed his hand from his pocket, bringing out a small, black gun.
“Knox!” I yelled.
A gunshot—one loud crack—smacked through the air.
7
*KNOX*
“This is crazy!” Emerson screamed as I backed her up against a car and shielded her body with mine. “What do they want?”
I jerked my head in her direction. Clearly, they wanted one of us dead. Me probably.
Unless Rex had suddenly grown a desire for necrophilia, they didn’t want to shoot his next target.
“Who knows?” I lied. Emerson was strong, but no one needed to hear this much truth while bullets blew past them. “We’re not sticking around to find out.”
The longer we stayed braced behind the old white Ford Focus I was using for cover, the closer the guys with guns would be able to creep in on us.
“How come you don’t have a gun?” Emerson asked and then screeched as a bullet hit the front door of the Focus three feet from us.
I widened my eyes. We had bigger issues. I pulled my gun from the small holster on my back, hidden by my shirt.
She waved her hand at me. “Then why aren’t you using it?”
“Because I don’t want to leave evidence here. We’re running, not engaging.”
Did she really think I could take on the six men Rex had circling us? I appreciated the vote of confidence, but if I blew our cover to take a shot, we’d both end up dead in the long run.
“Well, can we not engage elsewhere?”
“Sure, babe.” I laughed and shook my head as another bullet took out the car’s front tire. Sirens cut through the otherwise quiet morning. “Turn around and run fast right toward the trees behind us.”
“What?” she screeched.
I shrugged. This is what we had to do. “You want to live or find out what kind of guy Rex is?”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “I don’t like you.”
“I’m okay with that. Now get to running. Get past the trees and then make a hard right. Stick behind the building and keep on the sidewalk in case you see someone. Once you see the vehicle, rush for it. I’ll be right behind you.”
She hesitated.
“You got it, or do you need the directions again?”
Another scowl. “I can understand simple directions.”
“Then go!”
Emerson jumped but did as I asked and shot off toward the trees.
As expected, no one shot at her. They wanted me. Putting distance between us kept her safer. We had less of a chance of a stray bullet hitting her.
I counted to ten and watched two men take off after Emerson as the others made their way closer to me before turning and making the same run for the trees. Then I took a different route to the car. Two bullets whizzed through the trees, knocking off pieces of bark.
