“Stay down!”
Slade’s shouted order came as he instinctively moved in to provide cover. Another shot rang out, and splinters flew all around them as the bullet struck one of the dresser drawers to his left.
He pulled the Sig Sauer P226 Mk25 pistol from its holster at his hip while keeping his body protectively hovering above hers.
“Friends of yours?” she yelled, though her steady tone was as surprising as the woman herself.
Funny. He was about to ask her the same question.
“Don’t move,” Slade bit out sharply. Moving quick and low, like a rock-and-roll roadie, he hurriedly made his way over to the fractured window.
Keeping his back to the wall and his head out of the shooter’s range, he used his free hand to move the very edge of the curtain slightly to the side. With a set of well-trained eyes, he scanned the area he could see.
The dark of night had fully set in, making it difficult to spot whoever the hell was trying to fill them with holes. Lucky for him, difficult wasn’t the same as impossible.
There you are, asshole.
Backed in directly across the small lot was a dark SUV with no front plates. And crouched down low behind the driver’s side of the vehicle’s rear bumper was a man dressed in head-to-toe black.
Slade watched as the dickhead raised his pistol and prepared to shoot again.
“Stay down!” Slade shouted a second time, hoping like hell Shadow was following his orders to a fucking T.
He spun and dropped to his belly to avoid being hit, his gaze instantly sliding over to where she still lay. Relief mixed with fear when he saw her lying face-first on the floor, and he found himself praying she hadn’t been hit.
She couldn’t get hurt. Not on his watch. Or better yet…
Not fucking ever.
“You good?” he asked because he suddenly needed to know.
“Been better,” she quipped. “You?”
His lips twitched with the urge to smile, throwing him momentarily off guard. He rarely smiled on a good day, let alone while someone was shooting at him. Only this time, the bastard wasn’t shooting at him.
He’s trying to kill Shadow.
An inferno of rage filled his gut as another succession of bullets began cutting through the room. Slade wanted nothing more than to jump to his feet and end this shit once and for all, but the deadly projectiles that kept coming forced him to remain in place.
Shots meant for the woman lying a few feet away struck the bed where she’d recently slept. From the corner of his eye, he saw the small eruptions of feathers and other soft materials as they exploded into the air.
He needed to get her the hell out of that room, and he needed to do it right the fuck now.
Can’t go through the front…
Slade’s sharpened gaze slid toward the open doorway at the back of the small room. Thanks to his earlier due diligence, he knew the bathroom had a window overlooking the narrow alley behind the motel. It was a risk for sure, but at this point, they really had no other choice.
“Bathroom window,” he shouted as the gunfire continued. “Soon as this asshole stops firing, I want you to run!”
“What about you?” Shadow asked as she lifted her head just enough to meet his gaze. The concern in her eyes was touching but unnecessary.
“I’ll be right behind you,” he promised. “But something happens to me, you keep running until you’re someplace safe.”
“I’m not leaving you behind, Digger.”
“Dammit, Shadow, this isn’t a fucking debate. He stops shooting, I want you to keep your head down and run.”
A few seconds later, the room grew eerily quiet, and he knew the time had come.
