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Kalina laughed.
“That made no sense,” she said.
“Which is exactly what Evelyn would want you to think,” he joked.
She slapped his arm.
“Get your head in the game,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied.
“I feel like the father of two idiot children around you two,” Kane barked.
“Damn, dude,” Rafe said.
“That was really rude,” Kalina agreed.
Kane laughed.
The moment they’d let their guard down – that split second, they’d taken to crack jokes and ease some of the tension in the air—that was all the time it took for madness to set in. The earth shook beneath their feet as an explosion rocked the ground. Smoke and fire and screams sounded off from far down the beach where people had wandered in search of a calmer area to celebrate away from the hectic crowd. It wasn’t near the main festivities, but close enough.
“It could be a diversion,” Rafe said. “It’s too far from the thick crowd for it to be Evelyn’s primary target.”
The cops weren’t aware of Evelyn’s evil ways and had immediately raced down the beach on foot, in cars, and in other wheeled vehicles, leaving the main area way too vulnerable.
“If she were going to attack by water, now would be the time,” Kane said. “I wonder if Thane has sent the sharks toward the explosion.”
Rafe wondered the same and wished he could speak telepathically on dry land. At close distances, it was possible, but not from where they stood. The sharks would be far enough out in the ocean that they wouldn’t accidentally scare any tourists, which would put them way beyond Rafe’s telepathic range.
Moments later, the real threat arrived. It came in the form of a gunshot followed by a scream. Then another shot and more screaming. Within seconds, everyone on the beach was scattering. Men wearing black pants, vests, and bandanas walked through the crowd with shotguns and pistols pointed in every direction. A few of the guys held only knives or axes or baseball bats. Everywhere was chaos as the hammerheads marched forward, taking out humans twenty at a time…and they were doing it on foot. On dry land.
Fucking brilliant.
A college boy ran for his life and then flew through the air as a shotgun blast smashed into his shoulder, spinning him around and sending him face first into the sand.
A teenage girl ran from one of the knife-wielding sharks.
A baseball bat flew through the air and hit a grown man in the back of the head.
A SWAT team of death was making its way down the beach and Rafe could do nothing to stop them. He froze in place. Kane’s voice sounded off beside him, but he couldn’t make out the words. His trance-like state lasted only a second. In that brief moment, he couldn’t figure out what to
do. If he ran at the guys in human form, they’d mow him down and he’d die right there on the beach. The sharks were useless out there in the water while the hammerheads had full reign on the sand. Evelyn’s plan was genius. She’d kill humans where humans played. On the beach instead of in the water. Where sharks had no business and could do nothing to stop her. But where was she? Had she only sent these guys to do her bidding?
One guy scooped up his little girl and ran toward the hotel, but a bullet caught his leg and he fell to the ground. His daughter bounced off the sand and screamed for her father. That was the moment Rafe snapped out of it. Kalina screamed behind him, telling him to stay back, but it was all reactionary at that point. The little girl, perhaps only five years old, was trying to pull her dad’s arm. He was alive and trying to get to his feet but was struggling. Rafe picked her up and ran to put her behind the bar at Bugle’s.
“Stay here,” he said.
“Daddy!” she screamed as tears streamed down her face.
A bottle shattered overhead, and glass rained down onto him and the child. Wet liquor ran down his forehead. The hiding place wasn’t ideal, but it would have to do.
“I’ll get your dad,” he said. “but you have to promise you’ll stay here.”
She nodded and kept crying, but she remained where he’d placed her, sitting on the floor with her knees tucked under her chin.
“And be careful with all this glass. Don’t move at all.”
She nodded.
