She made a quiet noise in her throat, situated her rifle in front of her, and started fiddling with the scope on the top of it. She seemed incredibly capable and steady while I, by contrast, felt like I was going to throw up or pass out as the minutes ticked by. I’d never been so stressed out or afraid in my life. It made all the bad things I was always worried about happening seem trivial and stupid. I understood what a real catastrophe was now, and that there was no way to prevent chaos when outside factors were involved. The only way to live a life that was controlled and secure was to have no life at all . . . exactly what I had been doing before Cyrus Warner and his wild, wild west blew it to smithereens.
Ten’s elbow tapped mine and I heard her exhale long and low. “I have a bead on Cy and the older guy. They’re on the back side of the forest about twenty feet from the tent where the horse is. I hope the horse doesn’t catch a whiff of Cy and throw up a racket. That’s a sure fire way to give their location away.” She lowered her index finger to the trigger of the long rifle and breathed out again. “I’m going to count to three. On three, light the sky up.”
I nodded silently and settled in next to her. I didn’t need to aim or brace for recoil. I simply had to pull the trigger several times while the bright discharge shot into the air and exploded in a fall of fire.
We both stopped breathing as she whispered, “One.”
I closed my eyes and said every prayer I could remember and a couple I made up as she uttered, “Two.”
I peeled my lids back open and focused on the camp where my best friend was suffering through nightmares I could only imagine, as every single muscle in my body tensed waiting for the final number. My nerves felt like they were electric and charged with the tension coursing through me.
Ten’s lips twitched, barely, as the number three floated toward me on a puff of air.
I pulled the trigger and set the sky in front of us on fire. Since it was daytime, the explosion and pop as the chemicals ignited weren’t as brilliant as they could have been, but the noise echoed and bounced loudly off of every surface of the mountain. It rolled through the valley as a boom shook loud and clear through the trees. It was loud enough it felt like the ground should be moving and vibrating with the noise.
It didn’t take long for the racket to have the desired effect. Soon bodies were pouring out of the tents. Men of all shapes and sizes and in various states of dress rushed into the clearing, eyes pointed upward as they tried to locate the unseen threat. All of them were armed and they all looked furious at being rattled away from their typical activities.
“Shit. There’s a lot of them.” The words slipped out unchecked, but I could tell by the way Ten’s shoulder’s tensed that she agreed with my assessment.
“Cy’s at the back of the tent. It looks like he’s trying to cut his way through the fabric.”
I watched as the men at the camp started wandering around with their eyes on the sky, waiting for another blast. They were restless and anxious so it was no surprise when several random shots were fired at nothing, and nowhere near where we were hidden.
“Fuck. It’s not the right tent. They’re moving on to the next one. I hope no one sees them.”
I couldn’t imagine how anyone could miss someone as big as Cy was, but I kept my fingers crossed that he was moving like smoke and ash through the camp.
“Oh no. They’re splitting up to search the area.” Ten snatched up the radio and called to Webb. “I don’t know what your plan for distraction is, city boy, but it needs to happen right now. The bad guys are on the move.”
“Copy that. I’m about to make a whole lot of noise.”
“Hurry up. Cy and your agent went into the second tent and haven’t come out yet.” Her words were rushed and I hated that all I could do was lie there next to her, unable to help the guys on the ground.
Ten went rigid next to me and lifted her head up and then put her eye back to the scope. “Two of the guys are headed to the tent that Cy went into. I’m going to have to start firing if he doesn’t get them to stop in the next . . .”
She couldn’t finish the rest of the sentence because the world below us combusted. The dirt bikes and four wheelers parked by the tents exploded in a burst of flying metal and soaring shrapnel. The detonation made the noise and the blast from the flares look like a puny sparkler next to a Fourth of July fireworks show. Webb had done exactly what he promised and made a distraction big enough that there was no way the men at the camp could ignore it. Unfortunately, he’d had to get really close to do it, a fact that had Ten cussing up a storm and suddenly popping off shot after shot as the armed men rushed toward the part of the forest where Webb was running.
Hell broke loose and bullets were flying. I held a hand to my mouth as I watched it all unfold like something out of a pulse-pounding action movie in front of me. The sound of the rifle next to my ear was muffling all the sound from down below, but it couldn’t stop the screaming coming from my soul and the erratic thud of my heart as I caught sight of Cy scampering through the trees with a limp, dark-haired form over his shoulder. He had Em but there was no sign of Grady or Sutton. That couldn’t mean anything good.
“Fuck! Get your head down!” Her hand shot out and slapped the top of my head down and shoved my face into the rock, as tiny bits and pieces suddenly broke off and flew up in our direction. “Get back. Scoot down the other side of the rock. They know I’m shooting from up here and they’re firing back.”