Page 35 of Four Calling Birds

Shit. Shit. Shit.I couldn’t see them clearly in the dark. I couldn’t warn her. My pulse pounded in my ears. My heart was about to leap out of my chest. I couldn’t get to her without giving us all away!

They were almost on top of her, and…

There was the white of a muzzle flash. Griff had fired, breaking the silence. One of the hostiles went down.

“Shit!” Taz yelled, before her pyrotechnics lit up the riverbed. I bet she was cussing up a storm, getting pissed that Griff had firedbeforeher signal.

She rigged a projectile in front of her guys, splattering light, and shrapnel towards the river. The flash of light illuminated the gorge, as a second explosion happened in front of me, blasting over the same kill zone.

Seven of them were down, rolling on the riverbank, or screaming at the tree line. She had effectively evened out our numbers. There were only five of them left. The kid had done her job.

Smoke wafted over the kill zone like a mist, drifting over the water and the rocky shore.

The second man who had escaped the line of fire was almost on top of Taz, and she was busy trying to keep her explosions going, as she prepped her second volley. She was relying on her teammates to have her back. But shit, there were trees and other things in the way. I couldn’t get a clear shot or angle without maybe hitting her at the same time. I was ready to move, to bolt, to shift, todo somethingto protect her. But then I’d be a fucking target too. Then we’d be down two people, and our numbers would be fucked.

The other bad guys jumped, hustling around, running like chickens with their heads cut off. I fired twice, and one went down. “Four left!”

Goose echoed my call, and everyone swiveled, eyes peeled, as the overhead clouds plunged us back into darkness.

“Here’s the sequel!” Taz called, her feminine voice echoing around us, bouncing off the trees. The river bank lit up for a second time, first in front, casting Taz, Griff and Goose in shadow. Then an explosion in front of me. This time, the light lingered, holding a flare after the shrapnel so that we could see what we were working with.

Lotte screamed. “Taz!”

She came to her feet and ran down the ridge, not caring that she could be seen by everyone. All heads turned to her. The man on top of Taz raised his rifle, pointing it right at my wife, ready to fire. I felt my heart stop as the sound of a single shot rang through the air.

21. Magnus

Lotte

Shootme,fuckers!The words went round and round in my head as Taz set off her explosives, her eyes focused on the task at hand as a Scorpio scum got behind her. I knew him. Arvid. One of Magnus’ compatriots. The two of them had broken their formation, leaving the rest of his guys in the kill zone.

Arvid had snuck behind Taz in the darkness, his platinum hair blindingly white in the moonlight. He raised his rifle over his head, ready to bring the butt down on Taz’s skull.

So, I screamed. I got up, yelled, and ran down the ridge.

“I’m over here, you son of a bitch! I’m the one you want!” I bellowed, my rifle at the high ready, my eyes trailing down the sights of the M4 in my hand. But I couldn’t get a shot. The trees, the fucking moonlight, the shadows and Taz’s smoke from all her pyro that was meant to obscure our team was obscuring Magnus and Arvid too. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t get a shot, so I needed them to take a shot at me. Not at her. At me.

I didn’t see Griff break formation. But Iheardit. He let out a growl like a bear and charged towards Taz’s position. Griff fired, the muzzle flash announcing the direction of his target. Arvid got off two shots before his head snapped back, popping open like a pomegranate you pry apart with your thumbs, spraying red, hot liquid all around. Griff’s bullet had not embedded in his skull. No, it had gone right through his soft cranium, splitting it in two.

Griff fell to one knee, his hand coming down on his thigh.

“Fuck, I’m hit!” he yelled. Taz was done with her fireworks and ran to Griff. She went to his face first, assessing for bleeding as her bare hands wiped over his head, his neck, and down his torso.

“Three!” I yelled. “Where the fuck are the other three?”

The flares seemed to answer me, as they got brighter in their final death throes.

“I can’t see shit!” Goose said, looking around. The flares and the pyro had killed our night vision, and now the trees were plunged in darkness to our eyes. Unbelievable. The final three were not supposed to be outside the kill zone. But damnit… Magnus…

“Griff is hurt!” Taz hovered over him, her right hand on his thigh. She was doing something with her left hand, adjusting her clothes. As if she was answering my silent question, she screamed, “Tourniquet!” She pulled off her belt with a snap and started to wrap it around his thigh. “We need cover!”

Griff gritted his teeth in pain, as he brought a pained fist to his mouth.

“I’m coming!” I said, bounding over, hoping that Mack had my back.

He did. I heard his voice bellow “I’ve got you covered!” before I sprinted to the river, right across from where the kids were.

I set myself in position by a tree, using it as a bullet catcher in case the leftover hostiles had their rifles trained on me.

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