Page 31 of Harmless
We reached the picnic table and I dove underneath, blocking the view of the Hunter and Paige from one side. I figured Tezca would go around to block the other end while I assessed the damage.
“Where’d she get hit?” The big gladiator was curled so tightly around the woman, I could barely see her.
“Her leg. Outside of her thigh. Shhh…” He petted her hair and soothed her with the arm that kept her protectively to his chest. His other hand was already stained dark red from putting pressure on her wound.
I took my shirt off, hating to use such a filthy thing, but slowing her bleeding was the number one priority. We’d have to worry about infection later.
“Let me tie this around her injury. You’re gonna lift your hand when I say, just enough to put this over the wound, then you’re gonna apply pressure again. Got it?”
“Yeah.”
The barrage of gunfire continued all around us as we worked, the smell of gunpowder burning my nose. With an errant glance over the Hunter’s shoulder, I realized Tezca wasn’t blocking the other side. Where the hell was that jaguar?
Once Paige’s tourniquet was secure, I ventured a peek around the canyon and was struck dumb by what I saw.
Tezcatlipoca was running laps through the canyon, drawing gunfireawayfrom us. The cat wasn’t so much a blur as it was a shadow, at times appearing flat and two-dimensional. But then I’d blink and he looked normal again, just fast as hell. It looked like the shots were hitting, but the jaguar never lost a step as he zig-zagged around the open, exposed floor.
“Damn, the Butcher has that cat well-trained,” the Hunter remarked.
“Yeah.” I fought to keep my head in the game, shaking off the jaguar’s complete disregard for the laws of physics. “Listen, can you carry her and run? We’ll be better covered at the wall.”
“Yeah, of course.” The gladiator tenderly shifted his arms around Paige. “I’m gonna put your legs over my arm, okay, hun? Tell me if it hurts.”
Paige only made a few soft whimpering noises as the Hunter maneuvered her. Shock and adrenaline had probably set in now. Once they were ready, I turned my focus to the situation outside of our little picnic table bubble.
“Wait for my signal.”
Tezca completed another loop around our end of the canyon, the jaguar practically levitating as he moved through space. Like a hornet colony swarming an attacker, all the guns on the rim swung to follow the shadow on four legs. For the moment, at least, we were forgotten.
“Now, let’s go!” I scrambled out from under the table, staying nearby to guard the other two coming out.
Driven by some instinct or compulsion, I didn’t know which, I pulled out Rori’s borrowed gun from my waistband and pointed it at one of the distracted attackers on the ledge. My finger curled around the trigger and a shot rang out an instant later, the man crumpling to the ground.
“What the fuck?” I whispered.
It wasn’t my shot that hit him.
“Torr, getthe fuckover here!” Rori’s hoarse screaming finally got through to me, and I sprung into action, heading for the canyon wall. The Hunter and Paige were already there, protected by a little alcove.
“You are going to give me a fucking heart attack—”
“There’s someone else up there.” I cut off Rori tearing into me and rendered her speechless. “One of them got shot, and it wasn’t from me.”
“Was it someone down here returning fire?”
“I don’t think so. It looked like they got hit from behind.”
“Carter?” Rori turned to her cousin. “Are any of your people still up here?”
“No. The ones posted at the elevator jumped down here to start hurrying people up. We’re all down here.”
Santos voiced the conclusion that all of our brains were struggling to comprehend. “Someone else is up there? Helping us?”
“We don’t know that,” Carter muttered. “It could have been an accidental friendly fire. Or worse, a competitor.”
“Oh my God, look!” Rori pointed, forgetting all about her own rule of keeping arms out of sight.
More of our attackers were being taken out with extremely precise shots, to the point where their comrades were looking around as if confused. Most were even turning their attention away from us down in the canyon.
