like a blanket, then…Whack! I hit a tree trunk and fell with a thud. Something hot licked my side, and I fought to keep my vision clear.
I rolled onto my back and began to go through my mental checklist. I slid my hand down my body, thankful that it didn’t seem too bad. It hurt like a bitch, but it was just a deep graze.
I twisted hard and, with a heave, stood to locate my team. Three bullets hit a tree, and bark went flying around me. I hunched down and raced through the shrubs to where I’d spotted Cole. Mark and Mike joined us while Keith checked in a few feet away.
“Good?” Cole asked, and I gave a nod. I knew adrenaline alone would block the pain. “Good,” he repeated and pulled out his map and started to give orders.
With a new plan of action, we pulled ourselves together and split up. We knew how to do this; we were Blackstone. We began using the technique we were known for and started to pluck the bastards off one by one. We ambushed each of the bastards. We were shadows in the night, unseen and deadly.
The boys disappeared into the brushes when I had to stop to reload. Suddenly, something hard hit me between the shoulder blades, and my gun was cut free from my body. My breath shot from my lungs. I swung around and blocked the next hit from one of them. I rammed my knee up and inward into his chest. He fell back, and I took another hit to the upper arm.
Damn! There were more of them.
Again, I whirled and blocked the next blow, but this time with my elbow. Blood and rain mixed together as my attacker’s cheek split. He fell back, and another two approached. I sagged to find my footing and wondered why they were going for hand-to-hand combat and not using their weapons.
“Keep this one alive,” one of them muttered. “We need to film it.”
I snapped my knuckles and held my hands out, ready to fight. They both launched, and I did my best to stay alive.
I popped one in the face, twisted, and broke two ribs on his left. I got two punches to the gut while that happened, but I still had enough energy to break the asshole’s arm and drive the palm of my hand in to snap his nose.
Pop! Pop! I ducked but slipped on the wet ground and fell backward down a steep cliff. I tried desperately to claw at the mud for something to hold on to, anything that would stop my race toward God knew what. I hit a rock and started to flip rather than skid. Colors blurred together with the sounds, and my head raced to keep up. Automatically, my hand went for my gun in my thigh holster. Shit, it was missing.
Something smacked into me hard, and I came to a screaming halt. I whipped out my calf pistol and swung around, jamming it in someone’s face. I blinked as I too was staring down the barrel of a gun. A millisecond later, the fog cleared, and I focused on the face behind it.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
Chapter One
John
His chest rose and fell and, given his ratty look, I guessed he’d been in the woods for a while. I lowered my gun but didn’t tuck it away.
My mouth flexed uncomfortably as I did a check on my body. Everything seemed to be working.
“The fall got you pretty good,” he huffed.
“Yeah.” I squeezed my eyes shut as a jolt of pain plowed through my skull. I sighed and forced myself to focus on him. “Wanna tell me what you are doing in the middle of the desert, Brick?”
He shrugged. “Deal went south. Just using the woods to hide until morning.”
“Seems convenient.”
“Could say the same about you.” He tried to light a cigarette, but it was too wet. “Fuck!”
I knew there was definitely more to the story, but I left it alone.
We lowered our voices when we heard someone talking.
“We need to get moving.” I checked my clip as we kept low and started to make our way around the hill. We needed to find higher ground.
The mud was thick, and Brick’s sneakers were slowing him down. This painful pace wasn’t going to cut it. We needed to get higher now.
I pressed my fingers to my comms. “Fox Two to Raven One.” I waited for Cole to come in as Brick took