Chapter 26
Raeleen
My heart sank as one of the men barked out something and pointed back to where Owen had been lying.
They all scanned around, staring into the encroaching darkness, searching for him.
I patted his belt, looking for more magazines.
I was going to need more bullets. I stuffed the three that I found into the pocket of my jeans.
Pulling some branches over him, I did my best to hide him.
Taking a deep breath, I ran parallel to where the men were now starting to search the side of the road where I’d dragged Owen into the grass. I had to take action or they were going to find him.
I stopped next to a tree and aimed at the man closest to me.
He wasn’t too far away, and it was dark now, but they’d turned the headlights on so they could search.
That gave me enough light to see them skulking around in the shadows.
Aiming, I held my breath and squeezed the trigger.
I was starting this fight. Going on the offensive had to be better than waiting to be discovered.
I’d never shot anyone before. So when my bullet hit the man in the thigh, I was equal parts proud and revolted.
This was life and death, though. I didn’t have the luxury of feeling sorry for the men who were trying to kill us.
Ducking behind the tree, I came out the other side and aimed again.
The men were scrambling for cover, but my aim was true and one of them fell when I shot him and didn’t move.
Gasping, I ducked behind the tree again as bullets flew past me, an answer to my aggression. Bark ripped off the tree, spraying me as they shot at me. Now they knew where I was. I had the remaining three’s attention.
Good.
That meant they’d leave Owen alone while they chased me.
Oh. Crap.
They were going to chase me. I looked around, trying to keep the panic from overriding me. Where could I go? I couldn’t stay behind this tree. I was going to run out of ammunition.
Waiting until there was a lull in the shooting, I searched the area.
I couldn’t stay on the road. They would just run me down in their vehicle.
Plus, it was too open. The tree line was too far away to make it now that they knew I was here.
Hopefully they thought I was Owen so they wouldn’t be searching for him.
He was alone, unconscious, and vulnerable.
I couldn’t fight them and protect him at the same time. I couldn’t even protect myself.
The river.
It was my only chance. Maybe I could find some large boulders to hide behind.
The cracking of a stick made me realize I was out of time.
I had to move now, or risk getting caught.
I bolted out from behind the tree, running as hard as I could toward the slope that would take me down to the river.
I fired blindly behind me, hoping that the rounds might scare them.
My lungs were burning, but the sound of gunfire and dirt kicking up all around me encouraged me to keep moving.
I didn’t want to die. I wasn’t equipped for this fight, but all my survival instincts were jangling inside my head.
Move or die. Fight or die. I tripped and tumbled down the embankment, head over heels.
It was steep enough that I had too much velocity to stop myself.
The rock was exactly what I was hoping to find.
Only, I found it with my head. Slamming into the boulder, I groaned as my head bounced off it.
If I was in a cartoon there would be little birds circling me right about now.
Instead, I struggled to my feet as the world dipped and swayed.
I searched frantically in the dark for a few seconds, looking for the gun.
I’d dropped it somewhere in my fall and now I couldn’t find it.
As frustrated as I was about not finding it, I had to give up. I had to keep moving.
What was that sound?
I took the chance and glanced over my shoulder and up the embankment.
Headlights. More people were arriving. Sucking in a breath, I prayed it was the deputies.
Really, I was hoping that maybe Pyre had come for me.
But how would he even know I was in trouble?
For all he knew I was cuddled up with Penny in my arm chair, reading a book.
Funny that even now my brain made time to think about him.
Shivering as the night air began to cool and my adrenaline began to wear off a bit, I crept behind the massive rock. There weren’t any gun shots. I frowned. Why wouldn’t there be any if those were the deputies? Maybe the remaining men had run off?
I yelped as a bullet glanced off the rock. It’d been far too close to where I was peeking out for comfort. I jerked back fully behind the rock. So much for my back up being here. If those guys were still shooting at me that meant…
“Spread out! Find the fucker! I’m not letting some back woods fucking sheriff make us lose this goddamn shipment!”
Well, that was good news. They still thought they were chasing Owen. I looked around frantically, eyes straining in the dark. Maybe I could circle around, get back up near the road. Though I wasn’t sure how many men were out here now, or where they were.
The crunching of rocks under shoes dashed my hopes. I couldn’t stay hiding here. Moving was going to be the only way I could potentially get out of this mess. I ran away from the sounds coming toward me.
I only made it about seven steps before I slammed into someone and was knocked onto my back. A flashlight clicked on and blinded me. Raising my arm, I blocked my eyes, trying to allow them to adjust to the light.
“It’s a fucking woman.”
“Where’s the cop?” another man asked.
“No clue,” replied the guy I’d run into. “What’d you want to do with her?”
“Kill her. Then we’ll find the cop and do the same. We need to search those vehicles up there, find the shipment, or Dolan’s going to have our asses.”
“Lemme play with her a bit before killing her.”
“Kill her, then play with her, just find the fucking goods first.”
Ice skated down my spine at their words.
This couldn’t be the end. I wasn’t going to go out dying at the feet of some criminal sicko.
It wasn’t graceful, but I lunged at the man who was closest to me and hit him right around the knees.
It was enough—they weren’t expecting me to fight back—to take him down to the ground.
I was hitting and kneeing him, doing everything I could to keep him from raising that gun toward me.
And I was losing. Without even a grunt of exertion, he flipped me so that I was once again on my back in the rocks.
This time I was staring down the barrel of his weapon.
It was close enough to see in the darkness.
I swallowed back the fear. I’d done my best. Maybe Owen would wake up?
Only to discover his gun missing, thanks to me.
What could he do to help? I just hoped that Owen made it out of this alive.
That they wouldn’t find him before the others arrived.
Two gunshots in the dark rang out. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the pain. Waiting for the cold that would inevitably seep over me as I died.
Instead someone grabbed me by the t-shirt and yanked me to my feet. The moon was finally starting to come out. It was just a sliver, but enough light was creeping out from behind the nearby mountain to show that the two men who’d found me were lying face down on the ground.
I looked up, expecting to see a law enforcement officer.
Or Owen—maybe he’d woken up. Or even Pyre or one of his brothers.
This man was none of those people. My eyes widened.
I didn’t recognize him, but I was familiar with that look in his eyes.
Pyre had the same look. The one that said he wasn’t afraid to kill, and rather enjoyed doing so.
“Who the fuck are you?” the man asked. He said it in a low voice, his face shoved right into mine as he kept a hold on me.
He had short hair, a five o’clock shadow, and looked like he could belong to The Berserker's Rage MC. He was wearing a t-shirt—though I wasn’t sure how he wasn’t freezing because I was wishing for the coat that was in my car—jeans, boots, and had tattoos down one forearm.
Only, I didn’t know him and I knew of all the Berserker’s Rage men.
He shook me when I stayed quiet, rattling my brain around in my head. “Spit it out, Lady. Who are you?” He just shot two men in the back for me, and now he wanted to know who I was?
“I’m…Rae.” I should probably lie, but the little birds were still flying around my head, making it hard to think straight.
Maybe he was a friend? “The medical examiner. I was called out here to look at the b-body in the SUV.” I hated that my voice had broken in the middle of that.
I didn’t want to show fear, even though I was scared to death. “Who are you?”
“Forge! What were those shots?” someone called from the top of the embankment.
“Nothing,” he called out. “Greene and Deekes thought they saw something. They went to check it out. Idiots shot at it, then chased.” His grip on my shirt tightened as he waited for an answer.
I didn’t know who this man was, but he wasn’t giving me up, so I remained quiet and still.
“Finish searching the riverbank, then you three get up here and help us check the woods. This asshole’s got to be around here somewhere.”
“Alright.” Forge looked back at me and said in that low voice again, “Stay here. Don’t move or they’re going to find you.”