Page 17 of Callow

“Yeah, I get it. The product?” he asked as Perish took the cash over toward the front passenger seat.

But he only got halfway there when we all heard it.

Gunshots.

I swear, I was so accustomed to guns now that I heard the swooshing sound of it cutting through the air even after the explosion from the barrel.

My hand went to my gun as my head went on a pivot, checking the other crew, but finding them just as shocked as my crew was.

“Eyes!” I shouted, making Sully scan the area from his better vantage point.

A bullet whizzed past my ear, sinking into the brick building behind me.

“There!” Sully called, pointing through the trees.

In fucking unison, the twins took off into the woods even as there was another hail of bullets.

I watched in horror as Perish’s body jolted as he took one or two or fuck-knew how many bullets before his body fell to the ground.

Sully abandoned his path toward one of Bon’s men who was down, rushing instead toward Perish along with Nave.

As a new horror filled my system.

Gunshots.

By the car.

Where Daphne was hiding in the floorboard of the backseat.

“Fuck,” I hissed, running behind the SUV.

I ripped the passenger door open, finding Daphne crying on the floor with her arms covering her head.

“Get out,” I demanded, tone hard. There was no time for softness.

Daphne kept crying, and I had no choice as the glass behind her cracked as a bullet shot through it, then sliced through my arm, but to grab her and yank her out, pulling her with me toward the front of the car, hiding us behind the engine block. It was the safest spot to hide behind during a shooting.

I still turned her, pulling her back against me as I sat against the car, figuring a bullet would have to get through the car, the engine, and me before it got to her.

“Shh. I need you to be quiet,” I said as she sobbed.

Daphne turned her head, pressing her mouth into her arm to muffle any sounds as I listened to what was going on around us.

All I heard then was heavy breathing and the yells of instructions from Bon’s crew and the curses of, I imagined, the wounded being pulled toward cover.

The bullets had stopped.

At least for the moment.

But experience told me that a cease in firing was often a way for the attackers to lure you out, thinking it was safe, then gun you down.

“Wait. We have to wait,” I told Daphne as she tried to move away only to find her sleeve snagged by me.

“Get out of here,” Rune called, sounding winded. “Give me the bike keys,” he demanded as the car suddenly jolted as, I imagined, Sully and Nave shoved Perish inside.

“It’s clear, let’s go,” Sully said, running around the front of the car to jump into the driver’s seat.

That meant I had to drag Daphne up into the backseat, pressing her down into the floorboard again as I squeezed in next to Perish.