One of them laughs.
A fifth guy ambles out of some shadowy back room, and I can’t believe it.
I take several steps closer in spite of myself.Evan stays with me.We land in a pool of light, and so does the fifth guy.
It’s Mountain Man, from the ring.
He has a scar on his face.I’d bet anything that’s from me.
“You?Are you fucking kidding me?”
His eyes brighten with recognition.“Well, isn’t this a nice surprise.It’syou.I’ve been waiting to get even.”
One of the other guys moves.
I don’t see what he does.It happens fast, out of the corner of my eye, and Evan shoots.
He crumples, clutching at his knee, and I run.
Straight toward them.
In the ring, you have to be within arm’s reach to do any damage, and that’s the instinct I go on.Bullets fly.They’re shouting.Evan picks off another guy, a bullet scraping against his calf.He turns and runs, his gait unsteady.
One of them fires at me.Shot goes wide.Then I’m too close.These might be violent assholes, but they’re not top-tier violent assholes.I get him with a hard left hook and turn around to shoot Mountain Man, who has to be—
Not here.
Something’s not right about that.
Evan stands over the fourth guy, zip-tying his arms behind his back.He looks up at me, face set.“Where the hell are the kids?”
He reaches for his phone next.Presses one button.
“They must be in the back.”
Mountain Man reappears in the doorway.
He’s not by himself.
He has one big hand on Mia’s shoulder, and one on Ben’s, and he pulls them out into the light.Bristol’s dad stumbles out after them.
“Will.”Mia’s voice sounds so small.I want to put a bullet through Mountain Man’s head, but she’s standing too close.They’re both standing too close.
“Let them go.”
“Why?”Mountain Man smiles.“We could have so much fun.”
His voice rises at the end of the sentence.Evan curses under his breath.More guys appear in the doorway, and from the way they move,theseare the violent criminals Bristol’s dad was talking about.
Five of them.Six.Seven.There could be more.
And now Mia and Ben are in the line of fire.
5
BRISTOL
All I can do is watchthe guys by the warehouse entrance.