Page 92 of Crooked Crows (Boys of Briar Hall 1)

Don’tdo it,I mouthed, eyes fixed on the guy with his sights set on Corvus. I slipped a blade from my ankle and held it loosely in my palm, turning to flatten my back against the rough bark of the tree, positioning myself. My phone was forgotten, slipped into my pocket with the video still recording.

I hesitated, my hand jerking with my own indecision.

If Corvus was killed, there was a good chance my problems would be over.

With Corvus killed, the remaining three Saints would stand even less of a chance against the seven Aces.

Once the first shot was fired, and the first man fell, I had no doubt it would be a bloodbath.

If I let that greasy motherfucker shoot him, I could be kissing my problems goodbye. I could delete the videos, slip out of here and go back to a boring life of books and a future of freedom.

I tested the weight of my blade, lifting it over my shoulder, pinching the edge of it, at war with myself. My pulse pounded in my temples until all I could hear was the rush of blood in my ears, making every other sound distant and garbled.

I couldn’t hear what Diesel and Lenny were saying, not really. I couldn’t even hear my own breathing, though I knew it would be shallow and slow, measured as I lifted from my knees, my sweater catching on the bark as I uncurled to my full height.

Sweat beaded at my brow.

All you have to do is let it happen,I told myself.Just close your eyes and let nature take its course.

My stomach turned, and I swallowed back acid, my teeth grinding.

The man with the black hair bared his teeth, and Grey noticed, squinting at him, but he couldn’t see what was hidden at the guy’s side. It was too late.

I saw the moment the Ace made his decision, jerking forward, his arm snapping up like a whip, his gun trained on Corvus.

My heart stopped.

I threw.

The bone-chillingpopof gunfire ricocheted through me, the sound coming only a split second before the Ace’s shriek of agony. My blade speared through the meat of his palm. His gun thudded uselessly on the ground.

The shot went wide, and I sighed loudly, my breath leaving me in a painful gush when I found Corvus alive.

Guns raised all around.

Grey and Rook were fast enough to grab what looked like fully automatic rifles from the bucket of an old bobcat. Corvus and Diesel had their guns drawn, too. Safeties clicked off. Hammers were drawn back. Fingers rested on or next to triggers.

I waited for the bloodbath with bated breath, but it didn’t come. The standoff held until Lenny broke it. They must’ve known that one more bullet would spell all of their deaths.

“Shut the fuck up, Carl!” he snarled, shouting at the hunched form of the black-haired man clutching his hand to his chest and whining obnoxiously loud. He was lucky I didn’t aim for his thick skull. If I’d had the time to, I would’ve. As it was, the best option I could think of was to make him drop the gun or at least alter the trajectory of his shot.

Lenny side-stepped, keeping his sights trained on Diesel as he kicked Carl’s gun far out of his reach. “Idiot,” he hissed and then chanced a look into the trees. I ducked down, crouching in tight to the tree again, trying to shrink into the shadows, cursing myself for not beginning the quiet retreat straight away. For being too damn curious.

“What the fuck was that?” Lenny demanded. “Who do you have out there?”

Diesel’s face betrayed nothing as his lightning-quick eyes flitted toward the trees and away again.

Corvus held his gun high, but his face visibly paled and his chest heaved.

Rook smirked, and my spine tingled when I realized he had a grenade clenched in his left hand while the rifle was butted to his shoulder and held with his right.

Grey was a study in mute power. His sights fixed on the injured Ace and nowhere else. Murder in his eyes.

“It’s not ours,” Diesel admitted, though I was willing to bet he hated owning to it. An honest man, I’d give him that. I wondered if he thought the next blade might be meant for him.

“Not yours?” Lenny hissed. “Then who the fuck—”

“Get out of here,” Diesel barked right back. “We’ll handle it.”

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