Page 87 of Jackal

We made it about a quarter of a mile when something whizzed past me and bark flew from a tree nearby. They were close enough to shoot at us, which meant they were close enough for us to shoot back.

We all scattered, leaning against the nearest tree we could find. I poked my head around, gun in hand, when I saw movement. I popped off two shots in that direction but couldn’t be sure I hit my target.

More shots came toward us, and suddenly we had a full-on gunfight.

Hawk yelled, “I’m going.”

“Fuck,” I said before I took off after him.

We darted through the trees, only firing when we saw a target. We were doing figure eights as we closed in on them.

“Fuck!” Hawk yelled as he stumbled but didn’t stop.

“Prez!” I yelled.

“I’m okay! Go!”

Then it sounded like fireworks. I had to swap clips but did so with speed and precision. There was an eerie calm in my mind as the soft sounds of rain and footsteps on the wet ground mixed with the sharp sound of steel flying through the air. As soon as I reloaded, I pointed both guns in front of me and fired at will as I saw two guys running the other direction up ahead.

Three bodies splayed out as we ran deeper in the woods.

“The one on the left, take him out,” Hawk ordered through labored breaths as he caught up to me, keeping pace with my sprint.

I stopped to get a better shot and aimed, hitting him in the back, then again in the knee. The knee is what took him down. As he tried to right himself, I got one right to the head, and his body crumbled to the ground.

The other guy kept running, but Hawk took a shot, and theman tripped, falling forward. We kept running, guns trained on the last one still moving.

He scrambled to turn over and started shooting. I got him in the foot, trying to make sure I didn’t get a head-shot, but he was laying down so it was the best non-kill shot I had.

We both ran up on him as he cried out, recoiling from the shot. Once close enough, I kicked his gun from his hand, then pointed mine at his face. “Don’t fucking move.”

“My foot! You shot my fucking foot!” The man’s dark hair was soaked and nearly in his eyes, stuck to his forehead and cheeks. He reached for his ankle, so I kicked his ribs, sending his hands there instead.

“I said don’t fucking move.” I’ve been known to carry a knife in my boot, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see someone pull a gun from under their jeans.

Hawk gripped the man’s hair as he bent down. “Where’s Butch?”

The man’s jaw was tight, his lips even tighter. His breaths were labored and ragged.

“Where is he?” Hawk asked through clenched teeth.

Thunder rolled, but there was no lightning this time. The storm was still holding up.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

Looking down at it, my heart stopped. My breath stopped. It was as if even the rain around me stopped.

“Jackal!” Hawk’s yelling snapped me out of my freeze.

“Shivana.”

Chapter 48

Shivana

It was raining, the occasional thunder and lightning startling us from our silent daze. The champagne was gone, but honestly, who stocks two bottles for six women? It was gone in ten minutes. Which is about how long we’d been driving.

We didn’t seem to be heading back to the clubhouse, but I wasn’t familiar with the area. We were in the country. Nothing but long stretches of road and fields as far as I could see. I got the appeal of being so far off the beaten path, especially for the clubhouse. It wasn’t like you could do what they do and be right off the highway.

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