Chapter Six #4
He wedged the open radio in the crotch of a tree and kept on walking toward the peak where he knew the SUVs were still parked.
He could see them now. It was necessary to slip through the woods without moving a single leaf or fern.
The first vehicle was parked right up against the cliff.
The second was in front of it, facing downhill toward the mud-slick road that led back into the forest. The motor was running, unlike with the first.
Waylon and Silas stood just outside the second vehicle, Waylon with his radio to his ear. He was attempting to get Keys to answer him back.
“You believe him?” Silas asked.
Jared and Wells stood at the bumper in front of the SUV closest to the cliff. They were looking over the edge, but at Silas’ question, they both turned to hear what Waylon had to say.
Waylon hesitated. Keys didn’t blame him. He wouldn’t want to spook his crew. Finally, the man shrugged. “Doesn’t matter who he is, we took a job and we got to do it.”
Keys lifted the gun he’d taken off Koda and first shot Jared in the face and then instantly shot Wells.
Both men flew backward over the cliff. Keys switched targets, but Silas and Waylon were already in the SUV and tearing down the road, fishtailing, hauling ass, Waylon leaning out the window to fire shots at him.
Keys didn’t bother to return fire; instead, he took off across the deepest wooded area, running parallel to the road the SUV traveled on. Suddenly, the vehicle spun around and took a faded road covered in grass and brush leading away from the stream and game trails straight toward the small cavern.
Heart in his throat, Keys ran flat out. What had tipped them off?
He hadn’t been over that road, so there were no tracks to give them away.
Something else, then. Not smoke or he would smell it.
He’d been careful to put out the fire. That’s when he spotted the small herd of deer running away from the area.
They’d caught the scent of something or someone that didn’t belong, and they were heading to safety.
Shit. He knew exactly what had happened.
Lyric. He couldn’t remember exactly his instructions to her, but he had placed water close to her and told her to stay hydrated.
Drinking water meant relieving oneself. For Lyric, that meant going outside.
There was no doubt in his mind that she had spooked those deer.
Waylon and Silas were hunters. They would know that if the deer were running, there was a reason.
The little herd had been the one thing he couldn’t plan for, hadn’t considered.
Silas and Waylon had the advantage in their four-wheel-drive SUV.
They could cover ground far faster than he could. That didn’t stop him from trying.
He sped up, uncaring that he might be spotted running through the trees. Better he take a bullet than Lyric.
He heard the sound of cursing. The snap of a tree and a howl of pain. He blew past Silas, who hung upside down by one ankle. He’d dropped his gun and was frantically trying to get to his knife to cut himself free from the trap. As Keys ran, he scooped up the gun and raced toward the cavern.
Then the sound of gunfire erupted from the direction of the tiny cave and he ran full out, his heart in his throat.
It was a lot of gunfire. Too much. Too many bullets.
Inside that cave, there was no cover. No place for Lyric to hide.
Nothing to shield her. Keys may have killed Waylon’s entire crew, but if he killed Lyric, he took Keys’ life. He took his everything.
He burst through the trees and skidded to a halt. Waylon was down, his body covered in blood; Lyric, tears running down her face, stood with a two-handed grip and kept pulling the trigger. She sobbed, really cried, an anguished sound that tore his heart out.
Keys approached her from the side. “Give me the gun, Wildfire.” He reached for it, his movements slow. His voice gentle. She was in shock. It hit him then that the amount of blood had to trigger that fateful day in the park when Miles had stabbed her repeatedly.
His Lyric wasn’t suited to the life he led. She might never be. He would have to learn to protect her soft, vulnerable side as fiercely as any wolf.
He took the gun from her and wrapped her in his arms. “You did good, Wildfire. You did what I asked you to do.”
“But I killed him. What if he has a family? He could have a wife and children. I just killed him. I couldn’t stop pulling the trigger.”
“You did what I asked you to do. You made me a promise, and you kept it.”
“But I don’t have a family, Keys. Look what I did. I’ll have to try to find out…”
He hugged her tight, pressing her body into his.
“I’m your family. You’re mine. I would have been left alone.
I asked you to do this for me, even though I knew it would take a toll on you.
Killing is hard to live with. But if you hadn’t, he would have killed you and I would be alone again.
” He reached down to get an arm under her knees.
“Let’s get you inside. There’s still another hanging from one of our traps.
I’d like to keep him alive so my brothers and I can ask him a few questions. ”
He carried her back inside and immediately noticed the bullets stuck in the thick dirt wall. She would have been killed had she not defended herself. He didn’t want to think too closely about that, not when one was still alive.