Page 5 of Counter Attack

Alex nodded.

“Need a ride home, Lexie?” Kayla asked, eyeing the man at Alex’s side.

The gun pressed harder into her side.

“No, I’m good, Houdini, but thanks.” Maybe calling Kayla by the nickname of the rude man at the Lemon Tree would be enough for Kayla to realize Alex was in trouble and call 911.

Kayla gave her a thumbs-up, then turned back to her car. “My low-tire light came on. I need to check it out.” Kayla squatted beside her car.

The waitress hadn’t understood, and Alex held her breath as the man prodded her past the car. In her peripheral vision, there was a flash of black as Kayla sprang from beside the car.

There was a thud and the man screamed, loosening his holdon her. Alex jerked free. The sharp crack of a bullet exploded the quiet into a thousand shards.

Alex stumbled forward, pain burning her side. She caught herself and turned toward the man. He pointed his gun at Kayla.

The world spun out of control, darkness creeping over her as she fumbled for the Sig at her back.

Stop! Police!The words didn’t make it past her lips.

She had to stop him. Alex swung her pistol toward the man, the gun heavy in her hand. He fired, and the gunshot echoed in her ears. Kayla dropped to the ground and rolled.

Alex fought the dimness as he aimed at the girl once more. The last thing she remembered was pulling the trigger.

6

Nathan turned the corner two blocks from the street where Alexis lived, and the scene unfolding in front of him almost stopped his heart. The woman he’d never stopped loving fell to the sidewalk. A man with a baseball cap pulled low clutched his chest and pitched forward. Like lightning, a girl dressed in black kicked away the gun he’d dropped and knelt beside him.

Nathan slammed on his brakes and threw the car into park. He jumped out with his service revolver in his hand.

“Keep your hands where I can see them,” he yelled at the girl.

She raised her hands and turned to face him, tears streaming down her face. “I can’t find my phone. Thought he might have one. Call 911. He shot her. Then he tried to shoot me, but Lexie saved my life. I ... I think he’s dead.”

Nathan knelt beside Alexis while he kept his gun trained on the other two. The girl could be telling the truth, or she could have been a partner in the crime.

Dark red circled the thin blouse Alexis wore, but it didn’t look as though the wound was pumping blood. Didn’t mean internal bleeding wasn’t going on, though.

A faint pulse fluttered on her wrist, and he yanked his phone from his belt, thumb-punching 911. When the operator answered, he identified himself and gave their location. “I have a female victim with a gunshot wound to the right side and a man who appears unresponsive. Need first responders dispatched ASAP. And the police.”

The operator instructed him to stay on the line, and Nathan punched the speaker on and laid his phone on the sidewalk as he felt for Alexis’s pulse again.

The girl knelt beside them. “Is she alive?”

He nodded. Up close, she seemed older than she first appeared. “Who are you?”

“Kayla Jackson.” Her voice hitched. “I work at the Lemon Tree. That’s where I met Lexi.”

She must mean Alexis. The girl seemed harmless enough, and Nathan had a vague recollection of her from the bar. “What happened here?”

Kayla hugged her arms to her waist. “I was checking my tire and they walked by, but he didn’t seem like someone she’d be with, you know what I mean? Then she called me Houdini, and I knew something was wrong. That’s when I drop-kicked him. But when I did, the gun went off, and now she might d-die.” Kayla burst into tears again.

“She’s not going to die.” She couldn’t. He wouldn’t let her. Nathan jerked his head toward the man on the ground. “How’d he end up dead?”

“Lexi shot him. She saved my life.” A fresh round of tears rolled down Kayla’s face. “Why’d she have a gun?” Then she gasped. “Is she a cop?”

Nathan didn’t want to blow her cover if Alexis was indeed working undercover. “Do you know him?”

Kayla glanced toward the man. She started to shake herhead, then she frowned. “Maybe ... I’ve seen him in the bar a few times, but not tonight.”

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