Page 33 of Beacon

“How can you even ask me that?” he bites out, movingthe quad fully clear of the trees. “I’m not letting you do this without me.”

He starts off before I can answer, but I wouldn’t have any words anyway. My heart is hammering, and my pulse is throbbing, and the entire world is starting to close down to nothing more than each single step, the way it always does when I’m purposefully walking into danger.

I’ve done things like this before, but they were mostly when I was with Maria and her crew, so I was one of a group and never a principal actor.

“Don’t start shooting until I say so,” Mack mutters just before he revs the engine. Then we accelerate with a jerk and begin driving down the slope toward a long-forgotten pickup truck as fast as this vehicle can go.

The world has turned into a vague blur except the feel of the gun in my hand and Mack’s big body in front of me. When he says, “Now!” I start shooting, aiming at the backs of the men closest to our location.

They have no idea we’re behind them. I hit three of them—and watch their bodies drop one by one—before any of them even manage to turn around.

Mack gets some of them too. I can’t focus on what he’s doing enough to count numbers, but I know he’s shooting with one hand and doing his best to steer and drive with his other.

When some of the men finally start returning fire, Mack moves his body in an attempt to block me fromtheir bullets, but it’s only for a few seconds because we’ve made it to the pickup.

I jump off quickly and take a position behind the truck bed, staying low so I can fire and not get hit at the same time.

I’m not sure I actually kill or wound anyone else, but it doesn’t matter. Mack is beside me doing the same thing, and our approach broke the line of the assault, giving Maria’s women the chance to regroup.

Soon they’re moving forward in practiced formation, and in less than five minutes every single bad guy is either dead or disarmed.

I’m winded and rather disoriented when the shooting stops. Mack and I are still crouched behind the pickup.

He puts a strong hand on my shoulder to keep me down while he straightens up to check things out. Then he helps me to my feet.

My knees buckle slightly—I often get weirdly dazed like this after an intense, violent altercation—so I grab for Mack’s shirt to steady myself.

He takes the pistol from my hand gently and wraps an arm around me.

He doesn’t say anything. Maybe he would have, or maybe I would have myself, but we don’t have the opportunity. Rose has seen me and lets out a whoop. A couple of the women nearest us are ones I know from when I was part of this group, and they run over to give me hugs.

It’s only a couple of minutes before Maria herselfwalks over after she’s ascertained that none of the men on the ground are further threats.

She’s several inches taller than me—fit with sleek dark hair, tan skin, and striking dark eyes. She smiles broadly and extends a hand to me. I grip hers with genuine appreciation and a warmth of affection and familiarity in my chest. It’s been more than a year since I’ve seen her and the others.

She says, “Excellent timing, Anna, and very good shooting. It’s nice to see you haven’t gotten soft since you left us.”

“It was purely an accident we stumbled on you, but I’m glad we were here. It looked pretty bad.”

“It was.” Maria turns to face Mack, who has taken a step back. “Thank you for your help too. It’s good to see you again. You were missed.” She reaches out to grip his hand too.

Mack’s shoulders relax as he returns the handshake, and I realize he was afraid Maria might reproach him. She’s never afraid of telling men to their face exactly what she thinks of their behavior, even those who are on her side. I’ve seen her do it again and again.

But I was right this morning in what I said about the people who care about Mack. I was right, and he was wrong.

He gives a brief inclination of his head and mutters, “Thanks. Glad you’re okay.”

She’s searching his expression in a genuinelyunnerving way. “I’m glad Anna was able to find you. I hope this means you’re back.”

She doesn’t give Mack an opportunity to respond one way or another because she’s already shifting her focus to Rose and requesting a report on injuries and losses.

After a brief conversation, she turns back to meet my eyes and then Mack’s. “We’ve been hearing talk of trouble out this way, so we’ve been scoping out this region for almost a month now. It’s not good. Too many criminals in this one area, and someone has started to organize them. We can’t let it stand.”

I nod slowly, licking my lips as I think about what she’s said. That’s what the folks in the farming community nearby have been worried about for months now. In the past, the thugs and ruffians hung out in the general vicinity of the border but didn’t act with any unified purpose, so they weren’t a threat beyond their area. But they’ve been encroaching farther for months now, starting with the attack on Jimmy and Chloe that ended up traumatizing Mack. And this attack on Maria was clearly planned and organized because she’d become a threat to them.

We’ve seen in the past that, whenever the bad sort get too entrenched and too powerful, Maria feels compelled to take them out. Only a couple of years ago the same thing happened much farther east in western Virginia.

I should have known Maria wouldn’t let this situation lie. Not when it’s in her range and ability to act.

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