Page 99 of Deadfall

He threw another punch, but I managed to block it and clocked him between the legs. He released me with a curse, and I crawled through the dirt toward the discarded gun. I reached it just in time.

I rolled over and shot him. He fell at my feet just as the heavens opened and rain poured down. I needed to gather my breath, but I heard shouts down the path and knew the gunshots had probably been heard. I checked the mag of the gun I held and climbed to my feet. I took a step and pain shot up my leg. Fuck—I’d done something to my ankle. It hurt to put a ton of weight on it, but I could limp if I only put weight on my toes.

The next few corners were clear, but as I rounded another, I immediately stopped. Ahead, the mist looked—strange. It wasn’t a hugely noticeable difference, but I thought it held a greenish tint. I tilted my head and wondered if it was just a reflection off the hedges. But, it also sat lower and heavier than the fog around it did. My instincts screamed not to take another step. I was inclined to listen, but when I turned around, I ran straight into a man.

“Gotcha,” he said.

The butt of his gun slammed into my temple and darkness closed in.

The rain increased in volume as I returned to consciousness. I quickly registered that I was being dragged by the man who had a firm grip on my ankle. I looked up at the dark grey sky as lightning flashed and thunder rolled. We were close to the edge of the maze near the forest, and I could see the tree limbs reach out and creak in the wind where they encroached along the top of the hedge line. I was about to make a move when suddenly, we were both lifted into the air. He let out a shout as his ankle caught in a trap and he was lifted up, up, up—

He dropped me and I landed with a splat in the mud about eight feet below him. I snickered because he looked comical dangling upside down. He didn’t find it funny and immediately cussed me out. I stood up and stepped back to really admire the view and noticed he’d also dropped his gun.

“Don’t mind if I do.” I checked the mag and shook my head. “Only four bullets left?” I tsked in disapproval.

“Bitch—” The man hauled himself up to reach the knife on his leg.

“Oh that won’t do—damn.” I hadn’t wanted to waste a bullet, but I couldn’t allow him to cut himself free. I aimed, pulled the trigger and he fell limp against the rope. I sighed in disappointment. Unfortunately, he was too high up to go for his extra mag.

“Three it is then,” I grumbled unhappily.

I tried to get my bearings, but there wasn’t much to go on, so I picked a direction that felt instinctively solid and crept away.

46

GABRIEL

“She’s injured,” Seven said, rather unnecessarily because even I could follow a blood trail.

We’d found the clearing with the obsidian statue and Seven had laid out the scene. Now, we stared up at the dead man that hung in the middle of the trail by his ankle. She’d obviously shot him. Seven moved on down the path and studied her footprints.

“She’s limping,” he said.

We increased our pace after that, the urgency to catch up to her intensified. Another few twists and turns and when we rounded a corner, there she was. She had her back to us and didn’t know we were there yet. She had just about reached the far corner, when two men appeared. She backtracked, but when she turned and saw us, she dove for a small path cut into the hedge wall.

Seven raised his gun. “Left.”

We both pulled the trigger and the two men dropped. I squeezed myself through the narrow gap in the wall where Emersyn had disappeared, and when I emerged I saw a flash of blonde as she ran down the path. We took off in pursuit and reached her just as she rounded a corner.

I had time to register it was a dead end before instinct made me react. The only thing that saved me from a dagger meant for my neck was my fast reflexes. The mist swirled around our bodies as her momentum slammed us into an obsidian statue that sat in a small rounded out area of a dead-end path.

I vaguely realized it was my own fucking knife at my throat. She’d somehow grabbed it as I’d rounded the corner.

“What are you waiting for?” I growled as the blade dug into my neck.

We both noticed Seven shift in our peripheral vision, and Emersyn let the blade nick my skin.

“Don’t fucking move,” Emersyn snarled.

Seven’s soft laugh filtered through the damp air.

“Oh, I’m not gonna stop you, darlin’,” he said smugly. “G happens to like this kind of thing. I was just getting a better view.”

“What do—”

Without warning, I grabbed her wrists, and with a twist brought her crashing down into the soft dirt. My hips settled between her legs and pressed her down into the mud. The small gasp that escaped her parted lips, as I rendered her immobile, went straight to my dick. One of my hands grasped her wrists above her head and pinned the offending blade, while the other settled on the curve of her hip.

“If you’re going to kill me,” I growled. “Don’t hesitate.”