He drew his hand away and stared down at his bright red palm while red bloomed across his chest soaking his gray shirt in an instant. His legs gave out and he crumpled to the ground, sprawled out on his back. A terrible whistling sound came from his chest with each attempted breath.
The entire thing seemed to happen in slow motion, as though hours were passing when in reality it couldn’t have been more than five seconds.
Toni dropped to her knees beside him. “Shit! Ken? Please hang on.” She patted her pockets. “Where the fuck is my phone?”
“Run,” Ken rasped out, the sound gurgly and muted.
Toni shook her head as tears started to fall. “No. I’m not leaving you.” She pulled off her sweatshirt, completely impervious to the chilly night air. After balling it up, she jammed it against his chest and put her full body weight into it.
“No u-use. I’m fucked.” Ken said, his eyes closed and face pale as a ghost already. “Th-they’re com-coming. Run.” His voice was barely a whisper.
“No, no, no. You’re gonna be fine, Ken. Focus on something good. Think about all the ladies who still need to experience your talents.” Oh my God, she couldn’t do this. Couldn’t watch a man die. A man who she’d been joking with and driving crazy just seconds before. A sob lodged in her throat, coming out like a wounded animal sound instead.
Ken coughed making blood erupt from his mouth and trail down his cheek.
Another rapid clip of gunfire sounded and this time a bullet whizzed by her head.
Toni shrieked and tried to keep pressure on his wound and inch toward the car at the same time.
The heavy trod of footsteps crunching over gravel sounded way too close for comfort.
“Run, woman.”
“I c-can’t just l-leave you.” She was sobbing now. How could she leave a dying man on the side of the road? One who was dying because his job was to protect her.
“The o-others…” He coughed one last time then his body went limp.
Toni’s breath seized in her lungs. The others! Shit, if Shark knew they were coming, they’d be walking into an ambush. Without thinking about the fact that she barely knew which way to point a gun, Toni pulled a pistol from the holster on Ken’s hip and stuffed it in the waistband of her jeans. It was hidden by the oversized T-shirt she’d stolen from Zach.
As the footsteps grew closer, Toni sprang to her feet and ran about fifteen feet before a male voice shouted. “Stop running, or I’ll shoot you in the fucking head.”
Her feet stopped so abruptly she nearly toppled ass over head.
“Hands up!” the voice barked.
Trembling like she was naked in a snowstorm, Toni stuck her hands in the air. Her eyes drifted closed and she tensed, waiting for the pain of a bullet to rip through her skull. When the barrel of a gun was rammed between her shoulder blades, she couldn’t help but screech in shock.
“Walk into the woods.”
Into the woods? At night? With no light, no jacket, and all kinds of hungry darkness-loving creatures? No way. No how. Her legs were shaking so hard she’d probably fall flat on her face with the first step.
Her captor nudged her forward with the gun. Inside her chest cavity, her heart pounded so fast she felt lightheaded. It took everything she had to keep from hyperventilating. She had to get herself under control. Zach’s life and the lives of his brothers might depend on her ability to keep her shit together.
With a stuttered breath, she took small steps toward the woods. At least there was a chance the animals in the woods wouldn’t kill her. The guy behind her had already proven his willingness to end a life.
She whimpered as she thought of Ken.
Running would never work, so without any smart alternative, Toni tromped through the woods. The hike seemed to last forever and she tripped and stumbled in the darkness more times than she could count. Without light to guide her way, Toni smacked into trees, and branches ripped at her bare arms. She’d be a bloody mess of scratches by the time they reached their destination. For some reason, whether it was cold, shock, or the fact that her mind was clogged with fear, the pain of tearing flesh didn’t even register.
After another few minutes of trudging through the growth, some distance up ahead, through the dense mass of trees, the forest suddenly flared up with light. What would she find when she reached the light? Would Zach and the rest of the men even be alive. Suddenly paralyzed, she came to a complete stop. Her stomach churned and she swallowed down the need to vomit.
“Keep moving.” The gun hit her between the shoulder blades yet again.
The lighted area grew closer and closer until she could finally see what was waiting for her. And then she recognized five of the men she’d traveled with standing in the center of the clearing, guns aimed at the building.