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A Glock, she was grateful that it was at least familiar. God, how long had it been since she’d been to the firing range? Too damn long. And her hands were shaking, the aftereffects of the rolling vehicle taking its toll on her nervous system. Steadying her hands, she cocked the weapon, placed the butt in the palm of her left hand and aimed in the same place Adrian was looking. Duncan positioned himself to her other side, drawing a weapon of his own.
“We’ll never hold them off,” Adrian said. Harlee looked at his grimacing face, realizing they’d never escape this.
The only thing keeping them from discovery right now was the thick smoke from their damaged vehicle.
“We’re screwed,” Duncan said.
Harlee bit her lip, wanting to leap up and flag down the government, tell them to stop shooting, that she was human. But then what? Duncan and Adrian would be taken, or even worse, killed on the spot. Her stomach rolled at the thought.
When the smoke cleared enough to see the black SUVs, Harlee spotted at least four men, weapons drawn and searching the smoke-soaked field for them.
But she couldn’t see faces, couldn’t tell who they were, only shadowy bodies, though they seemed to be looking right at her. One drew his arm back and threw what appeared to be a canister of sorts in their direction. An explosion of white light turned night into brilliant day, temporarily blinding them.
“Sonofabitch!” Adrian shouted. “They’re using light laser grenades!”
Suddenly the sound of buzzing exploded near her ear as bullets whizzed past near her. They used the light to begin firing on them.
Duncan and Adrian began firing back as a spray of both bullets and bright laser fire flew at them.
God, what kind of weaponry were these people firing at them anyway?
She heard Duncan grunt but had no time to see what he wanted. She aimed her weapon and fired, peppering the ground in front of the SUV with bullets. Instinct spurred her to defend her life. She couldn’t think about the fact she was firing at her own people, though she was careful to aim in front of them, not at them. They didn’t know she was there, and short of standing up and waving her arms around, they weren’t going to know. She wasn’t about to be shot trying to identify herself, and despite the mixed emotions it caused, she wouldn’t put Adrian and Duncan in jeopardy.
All three of them fired nonstop, Adrian tossing her another clip when she went empty. But the others had more firepower, the smoke was rapidly clearing and soon they’d be sitting ducks again.
Just then the whirring noise of an approaching helicopter and the screeching tires of fast-moving vehicles captured her attention. Through the haze of smoke she saw the men jump into their vehicles and go speeding off.
“It’s Dark Moon security!” Adrian shouted, then half-stood in the tall grass and looked overhead. The whistling sound of a descending rocket made her cover her ears. The impact of the explosion rocked the ground underneath her. When she looked up, she saw a ball of flames where one of the black SUVs had been.
“The others are taking off.” Adrian took out his cell phone to make contact with the helicopter, instructing his men to chase down the remaining SUV. It whirred off in a hurry.
Adrian rushed toward the road, yelling at Harlee to stay put. She did as she was told, too confused and dizzy to want to move. Instead, she laid her head on her arms and fought for control over her breathing. When she managed her riotous emotions, she looked up to see the road clear with the exception of two bodies lying on the ground and an SUV engulfed in flames.
“It’s all clear!” Adrian shouted. “Let’s get out of here!”
“Let’s go,” she said to Duncan, urging him with her elbow as she stood. But when she turned around, he was still face down on the ground. Panic sent her heart hurtling to her stomach and she dropped beside him. “Duncan, are you hurt? Can you hear me?”
No response, no movement. She turned him over, searched his body looking for a wound, reaching underneath him until she felt the warm, sticky wetness at his abdomen.
Shit. With as much care as she could, she turned him over. Bright crimson spread from his chest to his midsection. Despite her shaking hands and upset stomach, she ripped the shirt away, using it to clear away the blood.
The wound was huge, and near his heart. Quickly balling up the shirt, she pressed it hard to his chest to staunch the flow of blood, not daring to leave his side to go for Adrian. But it didn’t take Adrian long to come looking for them. His eyes widened when he caught sight of them and came running down the slope toward her.
“What happened?”
“He’s been shot or wounded in some way. I can’t tell whether it’s a bullet or something else.”
Adrian took a close look at the wound, his face grim as he met her gaze. “The bullets were probably laced with silver. Otherwise he wouldn’t be down. We have to get him back to the lycans. They’ll know how to care for him.”
And just where the hell were the lycans anyway, Adrian wondered. They were much closer to lycan territory than vampire, and even with Dark Moonusing the chopper the lycans should have arrived first. So where the fuck were they?
The answer came seconds later as six dark SUVs appeared around the curve and came to a screeching halt. Lester and William flew out of the lead car and ran over. Adrian hurried up to meet them.
“What the hell happened here?”
“Not now. Get your man down there to pick up Duncan. He’s been shot and there’s silver on the bullets.”
Lester signaled for four of his men to retrieve Duncan, but he and William stayed with Adrian. “Now explain what happened.”
