Page 57 of Senseless
"Okay, be careful."
I didn't know who moved first, but our mouths crashed together in a rushed, clumsy kiss, and then I was crawling up the stairs while Shadow slid down. He was barking at the terrified women to hide and diving behind the bar for his weapons before I fully realized what happened.
The pressure and taste of his mouth still lingered as I finished scrambling up the stairs, crouching low under the hallway windows on the way to my room. I went inside crawling on the floor, trying to stay hidden as I reached for my gun and the holster zipped into my bag on the bed. Wearing it was bulky and cumbersome for me, and I hadn't percieved any danger when I first got here. I was far from making my gun a daily part of my outfit like my men.
I checked to make sure my little .40 caliber was loaded and clicked off the safety, listening hard as I crawled my way around the bed to the window.
I heard shouting and commotion, and what sounded like footsteps running down the hall as more girls surely went to hide. It was impossible to tell if the majority of the male voices were coming from inside or outside the building.
Once I crawled directly under the windowsill, I squeezed my grip on my gun as I dared to take a peek outside.
"Shit," I muttered under my breath. I couldn't see the front door at all from this angle.
It took less than thirty seconds, and more gunshots and screams, for me to make a decision. I slid the window open and popped my head out to see better.
A section of the dining room's roof was directly below my window. It wasn't terribly steep, and the corner of the building would give me enough cover to shoot at the assholes trying to storm through the front door.
I rose to stand, stepping one leg over the windowsill and testing how it held my weight before I brought my other leg to join it. A single loud shot startled me, and I grabbed the windowsill for support.
"You're a fucking Steel Demon," I muttered to myself, pressing my back to the building as I walked carefully along the roof shingles. "Keep your shit together."
Shots volleyed back and forth, likely Shadow and Doc battling the traffickers from inside. With my heart feeling like it was going to beat itself out of my body, I reached the corner and dared to peek around it.
Six men were positioned at the front, the windows already smashed and the door still partially barricaded. They used this to their advantage, using the walls and partially obstructed door for cover as they shot inside. Two of the traffickers lay dead already, bleeding out on the front porch. Shadow's work, mostly likely.
Their vehicle was a pickup truck with a wire cage fitted like a camper shell over the truck bed. A single, dirty blanket was spread out on the bed, with chains attached to the sides of the cage, complete with collars at the end of the chains resting on the blanket. Like they were farmers coming to pick up their livestock.
I thought such a sight would churn my stomach, but an eerie calm settled over me instead.
Mindful to keep out of sight, I raised my gun and braced my arm along the side of the building for stability. The traffickers’ backs were turned so they wouldn't see me. Shadow was a great shot even with all the obstacles, but these assholes were clear, open targets for me.
I waited until three of them ducked to reload, the other three taking aim while I did the same. Lining up my sights, I aimed between the shoulder blades of the closest man to me, who was aiming a rifle through the window, and fired.
"Gahhh!"
"What the fuck?!"
I pulled my arm close and turned out of sight, flattening myself against the wall as I tried to listen over my pulse roaring in my ears.
"Petey, d'you get shot in the fuckin' back—Ahh!"
The man's distraction with his friend's mysterious wound cost him his life as two more shots rang out, and I heard the slump of a body falling on the porch.
"Spread out and head for side doors and windows! Cover your fuckin' heads, someone's tryin' to snipe us."
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I tried to run back to the window while keeping against the wall and not slipping on shingles. But no amount of roof balancing would make me faster than men running on solid ground, two of which were headed straight toward me.
My body froze while my mind raced. The window was a good fifteen steps away--I'd never reach it before they saw me. They'd see me regardless within seconds, and then I'd be dead, or worse, thrown in that truck and having a collar forced around my neck.
The only advantage I had was if I caught them off-guard. My element of surprise was quickly slipping away, but in these few precious seconds, I still had it.
Forcing a deep breath of air into my lungs, I raised my gun and aimed it at the men running toward my wing of the building. The two of them stuck close to the side of the building for cover, but never bothered to look up at the roof.
When they paused next to a support column almost directly under me, I opened fire.
"Fuck!"
