Chapter 15 #2
“Fuck.” Lynch grimaced as he asked, “What about Widow? Where is he?”
“No sign of him or Timms and Duggar.” We could hear random gunfire continue across the building, but none of us had a clue who was doing the shooting so Hawk suggested, “There’s a good chance that Widow has phone with him. Send him a message and see if he answers.”
Menace nodded, then whipped out his phone.
He punched a few keys, then we all held our breaths as we waited for him to respond.
We were all relieved when seconds later, Menace’s phone lit up, signaling that he’d gotten a response.
Menace read the message, then told us, “He and Duggar are on the opposite end of the building. They have eyes on Kiersten, too. Just waiting for their chance to make a move.”
Hawk motioned his head towards Menace’s phone as he asked, “Is it clear on their end?”
“Not sure.” Menace sent Widow another message, then waited for his response. “No. There two, maybe three, more of these guys, and they’ve got Widow and Duggar cornered. And to make matters worse, both Widow and Duggar are running low on ammo.”
“Fuck.” I was still trying to piece all the facts together, so I asked, “What about Timms? Where is he?”
“Didn’t make it.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, Widow didn’t go into detail about what happened. Just said that he was dead.”
“Damn.” Hawk glanced back at us as he asked, “So, how do you wanna play this?”
“I say we just bust up in there,” I answered. “Use the element of surprise to our advantage.”
Clearly disagreeing with my plan, Hawk shook his head and grumbled, “And what happens when one of them shoots Kiersten or Braylon?”
“We kill them before they get a chance to pull the trigger.”
“There are no guarantees that we can make that happen.”
“Then, what the fuck are we gonna do, cause we can’t just stand here with our thumbs up our asses and wait for these motherfuckers to kill them.”
“We could always go back outside and come in through the hallway door where Widow is.” I thought Lynch’s idea was absolutely senseless until he continued, “If we can take the heat off of him and Duggar, then maybe they can get to Kiersten and Braylon and end this thing.”
“That’s not a bad idea, brother.”
“No, it’s not.” Hawk eased the doorway closed. “But we need to move fast. Send him a message and let him know we’re coming. Need to know where these motherfuckers are before we go inside.”
Menace messaged Widow, letting him know the plan.
Once we’d made it around to the other side of the school, Menace sent Riggs a message, letting him know that we’d be needing him to open a second door.
By the time we made it outside, Riggs had replied and was waiting to trigger the door.
Widow warned us that one of the men was standing close, so Hawk had his weapon drawn as he eased the door open.
As soon as he spotted him standing in one of the classroom doorways, he pulled back on the trigger and fired, killing him instantly.
We’d barely made it through the door when the other two men immediately turned their attention away from Widow and Duggar and started shooting at us.
I was done dealing with these motherfuckers.
I knew we had to get them out of the way if we were ever going to get to Kiersten, so I continued charging forward as I fired off one round after the next.
I didn’t even stop when a bullet plowed into my chest. Even with the bulletproof vest, it hurt like a motherfucker, but I kept pressing forward until I hit the asshole closest to me.
Just as Lynch had done earlier, I shot him again to make sure he was down and stayed down.
Until then, the other shooter had been focused on Menace and Lynch.
They were both positioned inside one of the classroom doorways, using it as a protective shield as they tried to take him down.
Hawk was behind me, doing everything he could to cover me until the shooter turned his attention to us—forcing us to both out of the hall and into one of the old classrooms. The guy either got really fucking brave or just downright stupid and stepped out into the open, giving Widow the opportunity he needed to take a shot.
As soon as the asshole hit the floor, the shooting stopped.
Hawk and I immediately came out of the classroom, and with Lynch and Menace following close behind, we went over to join Widow and Duggar.
Widow gave us a thankful nod as he said, “Don’t know who came up with the plan, but we sure appreciate the help back there. ”
“You can thank Lynch for that,” Hawk replied. “It was his idea.”
“Well, it worked.”
I felt like we were finally making some ground until Widow motioned his head towards the office. “We can’t do shit. At least not while he has that fucking gun pointed at Kiersten’s head.”
I looked through the crack in the door, and my chest tightened the second I spotted Kiersten.
I knew she had to be terrified, especially with the asshole pointing his goddamn gun at her, but she was putting on a brave front.
She wasn’t crying or trembling. Instead, she stood tall as she stood there trying to talk to him.
While I couldn’t hear what she was saying, I had no doubt that she was trying to put an end to this whole fiasco—and she was trying to do it without costing Braylon his life.
I was only concerned about her and getting her away from those men.
I looked around, searching for a way to get close enough to help, when I noticed that the explosion had created a gaping hole in the office wall.
“I’ve got it.” I turned to face the others as I said, “I know what we’ve gotta do.”