Page 20 of Outlaw Ridge: Hayes

Jemma hoped that meant they would stay out of the line of fire.

“What about the workers?” she pressed.

“Not sure. I’ll try to get to them now,” Aiden assured her.

“You had me come to an unsecure scene?” Duane snarled. He didn’t wait for a response. Good thing because Jemma wasn’t giving him one. “And that thug outside took my weapons. I have no way to defend myself.”

“Shut up and get down on the floor,” Hayes ordered. “Molly, you get down, too,” he added in a less gruff tone. “Are you armed?” he asked her.

The tech gave a shaky nod and drew a snub-nosed .38 from the back waist of her jeans. It wasn’t a lot of firepower, but Hayes and she both had Glocks. So did Reed as he came running out from the dining room.

There was another spray of gunfire, the bullets pelting the east side of the inn. She heard the sound of breaking glass and figured at least one of the windows had been broken.

And she realized something else.

“The shooter could be using the smoke screen to move closer. To come in here after us,” she muttered.

Hayes made a quick sound of agreement and snatched up the helmets that they’d left on the floor next to the desk. “Put this on and get down. I’m going out to take a look.”

“No,” Jemma couldn’t say fast enough. She didn’t want him out there in the line of fire.

But he was going there anyway despite her objections. Hayes yanked on the helmet and headed for the door.

She put on her helmet as well and looked at Reed and Molly. “Can you make sure Duane stays put and doesn’t assist whoever’s trying to kill us?”

Reed didn’t immediately comply. He looked at Hayes, maybe wanting to see if that plan worked for his fellow operative. It didn’t. Hayes’ scowl conveyed that. But Jemma tapped her badge again.

“I can’t take the safe route here,” she reminded him. “And I can’t allow everyone outside to be at risk because someone is gunning for me.”

Hayes looked more than ready to argue about that, but Aiden spoke through the earpiece again.

“We’ve got a man down, one of the workers,” Aiden blurted, coughing from the smoke. “I can’t see shit out here, but he’s alive and bleeding. He needs help now.”

Oh, mercy. Not again. Not another life at stake.

“Take cover as best you can,” Jemma managed to respond. “And tell everyone to hold their fire.”

She heard Aiden shout out her orders, and she thought of the woods. Of the proximity to town and any other residences. Thankfully, there wasn’t anything nearby those thick oaks, but it would still be a risk to return fire by shooting low. She had to hope that the sniper was still up in one of the trees. Hayes and she could direct her shots there, and the stray bullets would hopefully be far away from any innocent bystanders.

“Stay low and get in front of the cruiser,” Hayes snarled, clearly not pleased that she was going with him. “The cruiser’s bullet resistant, and we’ll use it for cover. Aim high and keep firing.” He looked at Reed, who was in the process of putting in an earpiece. “Get the drone to fire some laser lights into the trees.”

Jemma had no idea that a drone could do that, but she hoped it would distract the shooter or better yet, temporarily blind the sonofabitch so he couldn’t fire. She didn’t want anyone else shot.

“Move fast,” Hayes ordered just as he threw open the front door.

Of course, he put his body in front of hers. Protecting her, again. That got her hurrying even more because the sooner she got out of the line of fire, the sooner Hayes could as well.

She ran to the front of the cruiser, dropping down as the bullets pelted the roof of the vehicle. Seconds later, Hayes dropped down beside her, and they both began to cough and curse both the smoke and the gunfire. Jemma cursed the visibility problems with the helmet, too. She couldn’t see nearly well enough to do what she needed to do. Still, she had to work with what she had.

“Fire,” Hayes told her a split second after he levered himself up and began shooting into the trees.

The sound was deafening, vibrating through every inch of her body. Combined with the smoke and the tightness in her chest, it created a smothering effect. She couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t breathe. But she could certainly feel, and one of those feelings was the sickening dread that someone wanted her dead. Someone willing to kill lots of people to get to her.

Jemma had to stop firing to reload, and without the blasts from her own gun, she could hear Reed through the earpiece. “The drone had located two gunmen,” he said. “Both wearing ski masks. One is in a tree at your two o’clock. The other is on foot, threading his way toward the trees and shrubs to the inn.”

Jemma cursed because that meant the one on the move would be able to take out more of the workers. She recalled there were at least a half dozen on them, and they were on every side of the building.

“What’s the location of the one on the move?” Hayes asked in between sending gunfire into the trees.

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