35. Beau
Beau
If you can protect your family,
you’ve done the best anyone could hope for in this life.
A hunter leans out from behind his tree and pops off two more shots at Jasper , and I’m grateful. It makes it easy for that silent, deadly calm to take over, letting me shed the healer and become the killer I need to be right now.
Wrapping my hand over his mouth, I punch my knife between his ribs, angling precisely so I puncture his heart. He’s the third in the last fifteen minutes.
I felt for Eden , when she took that life— I understand her pain better than most. I’m not like Dom , who can focus on a job and not flinch at the fallout. I’ve had a lot of different blood stain my hands, but the blood from delivering death never washes out the same way as blood from surgery.
I was born to save lives, though—and while sometimes that means picking up a scalpel, other times it means the knife.
I lower the man to the ground, dismantle his gun and toss his ammo. It’s no use to me, not half so good as my own weapon and not easy to carry with the rest of my gear, but I’m not about to let some other opportunist pick it up either.
Hearing movement close by, I grimace and move quickly behind a large boulder, watching as three men jog through the trees.
Trying to get a better angle, I’m guessing.
I hesitate for a moment, then let them pass.
Three in close quarters is too risky; they’d have too much chance to alert others.
I need to pick them off—it’s the only plan we have right now—and if I’m caught. ..
Well , if I’m caught, I’m not going to have much to worry about anymore, I suppose.
I heard Jasper call out for Lucien earlier, and the blast that followed, but I haven’t had a chance to get a visual. I can only hope it was our damage.
Allowing myself a moment, I edge forward and look out at the massacre.
From this angle, I see Lucky lying between the truck and the burning barn.
Burning embers rain down on the ground around him, and the fire lights him up well enough that I can see the dark stain flooding his chest. My breath stalls.
He needs medical attention.
Now .
But , almost as bad, Jasper seems to have abandoned the truck—and his God -given common sense—and is out in the open, moving toward him. If I hadn’t just killed the hunter standing here, he would have had a short, clear shot to Jasper’s skull.
With sharp relief, I see Jayk’s head as he peeks around the shed. He shouts at Jasper , but I can’t make out the words. Bullets fly toward him.
Shit . This is bad. Some mighty kind of bad.
The shots are coming from these trees though, if I can just take the hunters out maybe they’ll have a chance to make it back to Bristlebrook and Dom .
“ Hey , you’re not—”
Heart thundering, I whip around and tackle the man to the ground before he can move from confusion to deadly force.
He’s a big bastard, but I’m not exactly light either, and he gasps as the breath is knocked from him.
I force my hand over his mouth, and he punches my ribs as we grapple in the dirt.
Grunting , I try to get my knife up, but the move unbalances me, and he flips me on my back.
Rather than going for the kill though, he pushes up. “ Where are they all?” he snaps. “ Where are all the women? Families ?”
He punches my ribs again, and I groan.
“ Sam said—”
My blade finds his throat in the next instance, buried to the hilt. His hands come up to meet it, his eyes wide in shock, and I twist before yanking it out. Blood spurts down, coating me, and I shove him to the side so his weight doesn’t pin me.
Families ? Women ? It’s been a long time since we had any here, but when we kicked Sam out... well, that was a different story. I wonder if he lied to them so he could get his revenge or if he genuinely doesn’t know everyone else cleared out years ago.
Wiping my face with my forearm, tasting thick copper on my lips, I push back up. I move toward the sounds of gunfire. The why doesn’t matter now. There’s no time.
Please , God , don’t let any of them do anything too stupid. Let me save them.
I don’t know if the brief prayer means much, but I figure it can’t really hurt either. My mama used to send up little prayers like that on the daily. “ Never hurts to show your respect,” she used to say. “ You never know who’s listening.”
We’re going to need someone listening to our prayers today.
I approach the shooters carefully—there’s at least four here, and who knows how many others nearby.
This probably won’t end well for me. I wish Jasper and Jayk were in kits the way Dom and I are.
If they were, I could let them know what I have planned on our comms and this plan would have a much higher likelihood of success.
But they’re not stupid. If I create a big enough diversion, they’ll take the opportunity to run. They’d better.
With a sting of regret, I think of Eden and how pretty she was as she lay nestled between me and Dom by the waterside.
I’m so sorry, darlin’.
Don’t see why I can’t pray to her too. Being with her is about as close to a religious experience as I’ve had in years.
Taking out my radio, I open the speaker and give my final words to Dom . My best friend. My partner.
I owe him that much.
I turn it off before he can respond and tuck it away, swallowing hard.
Then I tighten my grip on the knife, unholster my pistol, and move in.