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The first guy managed to recover and came at me. I dodged the first punch, but the second caught me in the jaw. My head glanced off the rock behind me, but I was able to stay on my feet. I heard a gunshot go off and realized it was the third guy, the one I’d taken the shot at. Clearly, my bullet hadn’t done enough damage to keep him down. I lunged forward and grabbed the guy I’d been fighting and turned both of us so his body took the next shot. I fell backward, the injured man lying on top of me, but his buddy had hit him square in the chest. The guy on top of me jerked again when another shot went off. I could tell by the sound that the shooter was moving closer to me and I knew I had just seconds to do something.
My eyes fell on the ankle holster of the guy on top of me. I managed to shove him off me and grab the gun in one move. The shooter was in the middle of reloading when I aimed at him and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit him in the leg and he went down screaming in pain. I climbed to my feet, intent on taking another shot at him, when another gunshot pierced the air. I expected to feel a bullet rip through my body, but there was nothing, and I quickly realized why.
Because it wasn’t any of my three attackers who’d taken a shot at me.
And there’d been no actual shot at me.
No, the fourth man hadn’t aimed his gun at me at all. He’d simply shot into the air to get my attention. And then he’d lowered his gun back down.
To the temple of the man he was holding in front of him.
Oz.
My eyes met Oz’s big blue ones as he whispered, “I’m sorry, Jake,” and then a single tear slid down a huge bruise forming on his cheekbone.
Chapter 31
Oz
Jake dropped his gun even before the guy holding me ordered him to. Between my shoulder and the blow to my face, it was hard for me to focus, but I managed to take in the sight before me. One of the guys was clearly dead, because he was lying at Jake’s feet, eyes open and sightless with blood draining into the snow from several gunshot wounds. The guy just behind Jake was rousing, and I saw him reach for a gun as he stumbled to his feet. He viciously hit Jake in the head with it.
“No!” I screamed, but the guy holding onto me used his free hand to pinch my injured shoulder hard, and I groaned as the pain nearly sent me to my knees.
“Shut the fuck up!” he snapped. “Lyle, knock it off! The boss needs him alive,” the guy behind me said as the man hit Jake again. Jake fell to his knees as the guy, Lyle, kicked him one more time.
“Fucker,” he bit out, then stepped back as he ran his fingers over his jaw, presumably to check his own injuries. Jake was bleeding from a wound above his eye. The third guy–the one Jake had shot–climbed to his feet.
“Just fucking shoot him, Cass. Barton will buy that we couldn’t take him alive.”
“Shut up,” Cass, the one holding me, muttered.
“Please, I’ll do whatever you want. Just… just let him go,” Jake said, his voice sounding strangled. He spit out a mouthful of blood. I couldn’t stifle my sob. It was my fault he hadn’t gotten away. As I’d been running toward the cabins, I’d been so focused on trying to look over my shoulder to see where Jake had gone, I hadn’t noticed the figure step out behind a tree in front of me until his fist had connected with my face. The blow had knocked me backward, and then I’d been dragged to my feet and had a gun put to my head. Boo had struggled in my coat, but I’d managed to keep my hands over her to keep her still so she wouldn’t give away her presence. I had no doubt the guy would have killed her and tossed her aside like garbage.
I’d panicked when I’d heard the gunshots in the distance. But as we’d cleared a cluster of trees and I’d seen Jake standing there, alive and well and gun in hand, I’d wanted to die. If I’d just been more careful. If I’d just run faster…
“Jake, no,” I said softly.
“Please, you don’t need him,” Jake implored as he put out his hands. “Tell Barton he won.”
“Your little friend isn’t going anywhere,” Cass sneered. “He’s insurance.”
“For what?” Jake snapped, his despair turning to anger. “He’s not part of this!”
There was a crackling sound, and then one of the guys was talking into what looked like a walkie-talkie.
