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“She dropped her weapon in the lake. She’ll be unarmed,” Roth advised.
Briana cringed. That sounded terrible. She lost her gun. Jeez, rookie!
Roth activated the compass app on his phone. He opened the door and the cold air hit them both. They stepped out into the night. The snow had stopped, and the clouds had parted. The brightness of the heavens illuminated the snow. They’d have no problems seeing their path as they made their way to the rendezvous point.
Roth relocked the door. He’d find a way to get the items they’d borrowed back to the owner. They headed out, making their way first along the edge of the lake. Then the compass told them to head into the woods. It was quiet, and they moved as soundlessly as possible. All the while they kept alert for signs Elsworth was nearby. The trees and underbrush became more tangled and compacted the further they proceeded.
“Jax is about a hundred yards due north of your location, Crash,” BT advised.
Roth’s eyes scanned the wall of tree trunks and evergreens in front of him. They were dense. They may not see Jackson until they were on top of him. “Roger that, BT.”
“We’re almost at the meeting point with Jackson,” he told Briana, who kept up with his pace well. He held her hand with his left as his right hand led with his weapon. All his senses were on alert, listening for any sounds where they shouldn’t be, his gaze searching each shadow all around them, even his nose smelling the air for any hint a human was nearby.
They came to a steep vertical rise that climbed at least five feet before it leveled out. There didn’t look to be a good way to get around it and they were so close to Jackson that Roth didn’t want to detour around it and delay the rendezvous. He knew he could make it up, but he wasn’t sure Briana could. He could help boost her up if needed.
“Can you get it up there?” he asked her, coming to a stop in front of the steep incline.
She flashed him a sexually suggestive smile. “Freudian slip?”
It then occurred to him what he’d said. He chuckled. “Oh, you know I can.” He pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. “I’ll show you again as soon as possible. But the question was, can you climb it?”
“I think I can make it,” she said, her eyes scrutinizing the potential hand and foot holds.
Briana handed the black bag containing their wet clothes to him and then she easily mounted the face of the wall in front of them. Roth tossed her the bag and followed her up after she’d pulled herself onto the top of it. He climbed up beside her and surveyed the path while checking his compass. He pointed the direction they needed to go, which wasn’t the smoothest of paths. A lot of downed trees were in that direction.
They walked around several large tree trunks and climbed over several more. It was slow going. To the left, there was a steep grade down into a ravine. Along the right, the hill climbed higher. There was no good way around the tangled mess of downed branches, overgrown brush, and massive tree trunks before them.
“It looks like this hill got hit by a tornado or something,” Briana remarked. “There are not many trees left standing.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Roth said. He pointed ahead of them and to the right. “That’s the underside of the roots of what looks like a big tree.” They couldn’t see the trunk from their view, just the unearthed root system which formed a roadblock taller than they were.
As they neared it, the sound of a branch breaking and the crunching of boots sinking into snow drew the attention of both of them to their left, to the man with the pistol raising into firing position, his left hand gripping the hand and wrist of his right hand. Sebastian’s hand was by his side. Out of the corner of her eye, Briana saw him start to raise it. She also saw the intent on the Sheriff’s face. She turned her body into Sebastian’s, turning her back to the Sheriff. “Down!” she yelled as she wrapped her arms around him and threw her body to the side with all her might.
The Sheriff’s gun exploded, a deafening bang that reverberated through the night. The .9mm round struck the bulletproof vest dead center on Briana’s back, knocking the wind out of her. But she was with it enough to realize Sebastian had to be able to return fire. When Briana and Roth hit the ground, she let go of him and rolled aside to give him room to fire. He didn’t hesitate. He immediately recovered into a firing position and squeezed three rounds, striking the Sheriff center mass. The Sheriff didn’t get off another shot as all three rounds pierced his heart.
Briana gasped to catch her breath. Her back was on fire. She silently prayed the vest had stopped the round. She was still conscious, so she had to guess it protected her from being penetrated by the bullet. She knew bruising and pain were expected when you took a round in the vest, not that she ever had before.
“Bree, you okay?” Roth called as he brought himself to a crouching position. His eyes scanned the area, looking for the second man who’d been with the Sheriff.
Briana couldn’t force enough wind past her larynx to speak. She was still trying to inhale.
“Bree?” he yelled again.
“Yeah,” she finally managed to say.
“If you’re out there, the Sheriff is dead. Federal agents, give yourself up!” he called out loudly.
Through his comms, he heard Jackson.
“I’m almost to your twenty,” Jackson transmitted. “I heard the shots. What’s your status?”
Roth could hear that he was moving quickly as he spoke. “One man down, the other unaccounted for.” Then he heard the trees rustling and someone or something approaching fast. He trained his weapon on the area that signaled the approach. He calmed his breathing as he waited.
Jackson and two men in flight suits plowed through a stand of pine trees. They all carried M-4s.
“Cover the area!” Roth said. He rose and rushed to Briana, who still lay face down in the snow. “Bree, talk to me.” He saw the hole in the back of the vest. Without moving her, he peeled the Velcro straps back to loosen the vest on her.
“Fucking hurts,” she moaned.
