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Lennox readied her gun, intending to shoot anyone or anything that came close to them. Both men had disappeared in the thick brushes, but she could see the cell phone’s flashlight from one of the phones. She drew in a deep breath. She wasn’t used to this. In fact, she still hadn’t absorbed the fact that she’d killed a man. But knowing what he’d intended to do to Callie assured her that he’d deserved it.
“Got you!”
Suddenly Lennox was grabbed from behind. When the man grabbed Callie, she bit him. That made him yell out,cursing, and loosening his hold on Lennox. She pushed Callie away from him and when he raised his gun at them, Lennox fired.
The sound he’d made when Callie had bit him sent the second guy running in their direction. Unfortunately, he was shooting in the air, as if to notify his cronies in the cabin that something was amiss. He ran back toward the van, as if intending to drive off, but Lennox fired at him. The bullet caught him in the leg, but that only slowed him down.
“Stop or I’ll shoot again,” she shouted out to the man.
Instead of taking heed to her warning, he kept going and made it to the van. He was about to open the driver’s door when she fired again, hitting him in the side, making him fall. She waited and when he didn’t move, she took Callie’s hand and ran to the other side of the van, then opened the door. There were three girls inside--all of them frightened…and all of them younger than eight.
Knowing the man’s gunshots had likely alerted the others and Roland might be in danger, she knew what she had to do. She looked down at Callie. “I’m going to leave you here with them while I go help my friend,” she said, indicating the three little girls who were now crying. “Let them know they’re safe and we’ll make sure all of you are returned to your parents.”
“And will you bring my sister back?” Callie asked, a pleading look in her eyes.
Lennox hugged the girl. “I promise. Now, lock the door behind me.”
She quickly got out of the van. Once she heard the lock click in place, she moved toward the cabin, determined tohelp Roland any way she could. And of course, to keep her promise to Callie.
• • •
Blood chilled Roland’s spine when he heard gunfire in the woods--it had come from where he’d left Lennox and the girl. Lennox’s gun had a silencer, which meant someone had fired at her. Several times. Had others stumbled across her and the girl?
A part of his stomach dropped at the very possibility. He was about to rush off back in that direction when the cabin door was flung open and the remaining adults--a woman and two men--rushed out with their guns.
Snatching a small hand grenade off his belt, Roland pulled the pin and threw it in the woods on the far of the cabin. When it exploded, the two men took cover and began firing randomly, as if they weren’t sure where the attack was coming from. The woman rushed back inside the cabin and slammed the door shut.
He had to handle these three rather quickly, free the girls and then go check on Lennox. Crouching around the side of the building, Roland released another grenade, tossing this one in the opposite direction, to make it seem as if an attack was underway from all sides. When both men raced back to the cabin, assuming that was their safest bet, they discovered the woman had locked them out. Realizing getting back inside the cabin was hopeless, one of the men ran toward the van while the other ran around the building.
As the man frantically searched around for a hiding spot, Roland emerged from the shadows. The man lifted his gun to fire, but Roland did a quick karate kick and sent him sprawling to the ground. Only he surprised Roland by getting back to his feet in a flash. When the man raised his gun again toward him, Roland maneuvered another kick and sent the weapon flying out of his hand.
Finally, the man charged at Roland. Knowing he didn’t have a lot of time, Roland decided to duke it out, connecting his hard fist with the man’s jaw and sending him flying. When he made a move to get up, Roland shot him in the thigh with his dart gun and the man grunted, then passed out.
Roland raced back to the front of the cabin. The second man was in the van, speeding away and leaving a trail of dust in his wake. Roland raced after him--he was headed to the place where the SUV parked and where the shots had come from earlier. The last thing Roland wanted was for the bastard to team up with anyone else. Or worse, get away.
Appreciating the lights around the cabin, he knelt on one knee, held his Glock steady and fired at the back window, aiming for where the driver would be. He then shifted his gaze slightly downward, took aim and hit two of the van’s tires.
The vehicle spun around, totally out of control, a couple of times before smashing into a huge boulder and then flipping over. The sight of the man’s bloody arm hanging out of the van’s window either meant he was dead or severely injured. At that moment, Roland didn’t give a shit which it was.
Coming to his feet, he was about to rush in the direction of where Lennox was when a woman’s voice stopped him. “Put your gun down now or I will kill her. At this point, I have nothing to lose.”
He turned around and saw the woman standing there with one of the girls. She had a gun stuck to the girl’s side. “Let her go,” he growled.
But instead, the woman jerked the girl closer, then aimed the gun at the temple of the girl’s head. “Put down your gun or I’ll blow her brains out.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Roland saw a movement in the bushes and realized it was Lennox. Relief rushed through him that she was alive and apparently not harmed. He kept his gaze on the woman, not to draw any attention to Lennox and hoped she didn’t draw any to herself.
Then, all of a sudden, what looked like a missile was launched through the air. It hit the woman on the side of the head, knocking her to her knees. That was all the opening Roland needed--he shot the gun right out of the woman’s hand.
Roland and Lennox rushed forward. He went to the woman and Lennox to the girl. That was when he realized that the missile had been one of Lennox’s stiletto shoes. The long, narrow heel had left a huge gash in the woman’s head that was bleeding and staining her hair. Not that he cared. Evidently though, she did. Because she began cursing and attacked him, going for his face.
That was when Lennox took her other shoe and clobbered her with it. The woman fell flat on her face in the dirt. Of all the things he’d ever thought about, whenever he saw Lennox wearing those sexy-looking high-heel shoes,the fact that she could use them as a weapon hadn’t even made the top twenty.
“Good throw,” he said.
She pulled the crying girl into her arms and smiled. “I knew all those years I spent playing softball would come in handy one day.”
Then, taking her hand firmly in his, they headed into the cabin to check on the other girls.
