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Seth did the same as he hollered up again. “Nice shot, River.”
“It’s not my first rodeo.” Raine’s brother snorted.
Around them, Hammer, Liam, Adam, and Dean continued pelting the Saint Squad with their triangulated fire. Beck heard his mother scream out. A baffling mixture of relief and wretchedness sliced him as he watched Esther crumple to the ground, clutching her side. Blood stained her fingers as she wailed.
“Look around, you idiots,” Jed railed. “They’re hiding in the trees!”
Suddenly, the frontal assault stopped, and bullets began pelting the foliage on either side. Panic slammed through Beck. They hadn’t planned for this contingency. Though Dean and Adam were high up in the branches, neither had any way to shield them from oncoming bullets.
As if also realizing their strategic mistake, Seth stood, torment etching his face. “No!”
Jed’s army fired rounds gleefully. Almost immediately, the caretaker screamed. Beck watched helplessly as the man clutched his heart. Blood spurted from between his fingers. Then the older man crumpled, plummeting to the ground.
“Hold on, Dean. Stay with me, man,” River yelled frantically. “I got you.”
But before the former soldier could lob another grenade, the Saint Squad turned all their firepower on Dean. Seconds later, he let out a strangled howl before he tipped from the deer stand and cartwheeled toward the ground. His cry was cut off with a sickening thud.
Beck’s heart clutched. Terror wrapped icy hands around his throat. A gnawing pit of guilt followed.
Dean and Adam were dead. And there wasn’t a goddamn thing Beck could do now to help them.
Ngaire had lost her husband, her soul mate. Dean was gone from River’s life forever, negating any chance the two could find their magical one, the way he and Seth had with Heavenly.
It was his fault. Their blood would stain his soul forever.
He should have fucking left before his demented family caught up with him, before they’d had any chance to steal his friends’ light and happiness.
Beside him, Seth let out a curse.
From the roof, an inhuman howl of rage resounded, echoing off the mountain. River shot another grenade. Beck barely had a moment to take cover again before one of the trucks and all the cowards hiding behind it exploded in a thunderous fireball of annihilation.
When the smoke cleared, half the Saint Squad lay dying or dead.
Beck watched, dazed, as the half dozen remaining members of Jed’s army began to dart and skitter from behind the last deuce-and-a-half, weapons pointed toward the ground.
Were they so afraid of suffering the same fiery fate as their fallen comrades that they’d decided to give up?
“What are you doing?” Jed shouted. “Don’t let Satan beat God’s army, you cowards! Fight!”
“Yeah. I’m not done with you, cocksuckers,” River spat. “Look at me. Up here.”
The soldiers half-heartedly lifted their eyes—and their weapons.
“In Afghanistan, I watched hundreds of good men die protecting your right to believe in whatever twisted bullshit you call God.” Fury dripped from River’s voice. “I never imagined that here, on US soil, I’d be forced to watch someone who’s like a brother to me be mowed down by the same zealots I risked my life to protect. So I’m going to tell you what I told every terrorist asshat I took down in that godforsaken desert…” River pointed his weapon at the wide-eyed men below. “Time to let whatever God you sick motherfuckers believe in sort you out.”
“Kill him!” Jed screamed.
River pulled the trigger first, mowing down the rest of the Saint Squad with one wide sweep of his AR.
Beck’s stomach pitched at the violence. He clutched his weapon tighter as Jed appeared, dragging a bleeding, crying Esther out into the open and shoving her to the pavement at his feet. She whimpered as her blood began to pool around her.
Jed picked up one of his soldiers’ discarded weapons and aimed it. “You might kill me, Gideon, but with my last breath, I cast thee into the bowels of hell!”
Beck lifted his AR and stepped from his cover, meeting his unhinged nemesis halfway. “Really?”
“What the fuck are you doing, Beck?” Seth barked.
“Get back,” Hammer vowed. “We’ll end him.”
