Tristan and Xavier both look okay, but Tristan is rubbing his knee and is covered in glass, and Xavier is gently brushing it out of Tristan’s hair. He has a rather large, bloody gash on one arm that looks like it could use stitches.
“God, Tori, I knew you were hardheaded, but I didn’t know it was that hard,” Tristan jokes weakly as I look out the window. My heart starts to race even harder when I see a vehicle scream up behind the two that wrecked our limo and armed, masked gunmen pour out.
“Fuck, we’re in trouble. Sage, stay here and protect these guys, and I’ll deal with them.” I shake his hand off my arm and reach for the gun in the small of my back.
“We can help,” Xavier says, narrowing his eyes as the men approach us. “You’re outnumbered on your own.”
Colton groans, and his eyes flutter open. “Oh, thank God.” Vienna sobs. “You protected me, you idiot, and got hurt.”
He smiles gently at her. “I’ll always protect you, my love.” My heart aches at his declaration, but I’m focused on the incoming enemy. I push the hidden door on the gun cabinet and pull out two more guns and some ammo, then I pass them to Tristan and Xavier. They quickly load the weapons as Sage uses his feet to kick the crumpled door open.
“Stay in here. The limo is bulletproof and should protect you from any stray bullets. Just stay away from the broken windows,” I tell Colton and Vienna. “Do you know how to use this?” I ask Colton who nods but groans in pain.
“I’m not sure I could hit the broad side of a barn at the moment, but I can try.”
I hear the men shouting to one another. “The driver’s dead. Kill the bitch and grab the chemist.” I frown in response. I guess they don’t know that there are four others in the car with us. That seems like poor planning.
I open another hidden storage area and pull out the other gun we have stored for emergencies.
“Holy shit, is that an AK?” Tristan whistles as I slip a magazine into the slot and slide the bolt back, chambering a round.
“I’m going to lay down some cover so you can move toward the trees and take the shooting away from the vehicle. Colton, don’t hesitate. Point at center mass and pull the trigger,” I snap, and all seem to listen.
“I can help,” Vienna says, her voice shaky.
“It’s fine, you look after Colton’s head wound. There’s a first aid kit in there.” I point to where I pulled out the semi-automatic. “And you can pass me new magazines when I need them.”
Without waiting for a response, I struggle to my knees and take a steadying breath. The men are getting closer, moving around the wreckage of the vehicle. If I don’t go now, then we’re going to be surrounded.
Securing the gun against my chest next to my armpit, I pop out of the skylight and bend my knees slightly, leaning my body against the car frame to absorb some of the recoil. I flip the safety switch to full automatic. These guns aren’t legal in the US except for the military, but hey, we’re a mafia family, and legality has never been an issue for us. Thankfully, they haven’t noticed me up here yet, so I place my finger on the trigger and, with a thunderous burst of sound, spew a full round of bullets out at their feet, spraying chips of asphalt all over the place.
They shout and race for the trees on either side of the road. “Go,” I yell, and Sage finally slams the open door with his feet, and he, Tristan, and Xavier exit the vehicle, ducking and running for the opposite tree line on our side of the limo.
I breathe a sigh of relief that they are out of the way. I can now pick off our enemies one by one without having to worry about them.
I press the lever on the gun and eject the magazine. It drops to the floor, and I hold out my hand for Vienna to pass me another. I don’t look away from the enemies in the tree line, but I feel her slam one against my palm. I quickly slide it into the gun, making sure it’s in properly before slamming the bolt back and chambering the first round. I flick the safety to semi-auto, wanting to have better control over the bullets this time. Automatic is fine for cover, but its accuracy is limited, and I want to have better consistency than a damn storm trooper. Our lives depend on it.
“Fuck, there are other people in there,” I hear one of our enemies shout in the silence that seems deafening after the loud burst of gunfire. “We were told there were only two of them.”
“Who fucking cares? Kill them all, but not the chemist.”
“Which one is the fucking chemist? We were only told there would be one male and one female. It was easy then.”
I don’t think these guys realize their voices are carrying, but it gives me time to work out where they are standing in the trees, so when one pokes their head out to look, I’m ready. Before I can fire, there’s a sharp sound of a gunshot, and a body falls from behind one of the trees face down.
“One down, five to go,” I mutter, not looking away. I don’t know which of the guys took that shot, but they were effective. I didn’t see where they went when they ran for the trees, and I can’t let myself get distracted by looking for them.
I scan the dense forest. We need to get this done before anyone else drives this stretch. I’m actually surprised no one has come along yet. I wonder if they have buddies putting up roadblocks to ensure we aren’t interrupted.
“Vienna, reach into my pocket and pull out my phone,” I whisper quietly, and it doesn’t take her but a moment to do as I instruct. “The code is 090524. Scroll through my contacts and find the listing for ‘the crew,’” I tell her. “Call them, give them the code word ‘salamander,’ and tell them we need a cleanup and for them to GPS my location. Tell them there might be hostiles in either direction on the road leading to us.”
I know the crew was disposing of our previous bodies, but hopefully they are almost done and can be here to clean up quickly after we get done with these, because I can’t accept any other outcome but us being victorious.
I hear her doing as I instructed, her voice, although she’s trying to keep her shit together, sounds panicked in the sudden stillness.
Movement off to my right draws my attention, and I know the others went left, so I shift, aiming my gun toward it. Before I can fire, there’s another loud shot, and a bullet pings off the roofof the limo. I duck slightly, not taking my eye off the target, and squeeze off a round once it’s lined up. It’s not the most accurate, but at this point, I just want them immobilized and unable to fire at us. The man screams as the bullet tears through his knee, a spray of blood and bone fragments misting out around it. He falls to the ground, his shouts of pain loud and distracting. I go to aim again, but before I can, another few shots bounce off the limo’s surface, and I duck out of the line of fire.
I’m breathing heavily, and my chest hurts. I must have bruised my rib cage when we were hit. I check on Colton to make sure he’s still conscious and find him looking at me with a slightly dazed grin.
