Page 19 of Gage

Anger pulled the man's attention past Elena for half a second. She dropped her full weight and struck his gun arm with both hands, knocking the barrel away from her body. He bent to keep hold of her, and his head cleared her shoulder.

I fired once.

The bullet took him high in the chest. His grip disappeared, and Elena drove herself sideways as he hit the floor. I caught her with my free arm and moved her behind me before the pistol left his hand.

“Church,” I told her.

“There's another man on the floor.” Her voice shook, but the information was clear. “I hit him with the extinguisher.”

“Saw him already.”

The injured attacker near the inner door was trying to push himself up. Elena picked up the extinguisher before I could reach him and brought the metal cylinder down across his forearm. His hand opened and a knife clattered onto the boards.

“He had that before,” she said.

“Good call.” I kicked the blade away and shoved the man flat with my boot between his shoulders. “Stay behind me now.”

This time she moved without argument. She had bruising along one side where the gun had been held against her, and every breath looked painful, but she was upright and thinking. I needed my hands on her. Men were still shooting outside. She would have to wait.

Gunfire cracked beyond the service entrance. Shade answered twice. I passed the man on the floor to him as he came back through the doorway.

“Third man's still behind the boom,” Shade said. “Javier's at the lane with one truck. Thinks he's getting inside.”

“He isn't.”

I sent Elena into the church room and stopped at the threshold. “You want the door shut?”

She shook her head. “I want to see you.”

I left it open and took position in the corridor where I stayed in her sight.

Javier appeared beyond the ruined service door with a gun in his left hand. The side of his face had swollen where I hit him earlier, ruining the polished look he had worn to the meeting. One of his men held the truck door open behind him while the shooter at the tow truck kept Shade pinned from the lane.

“Look what you made this into,” Javier shouted.

“You brought guns through our gate.”

He tried to sight down the corridor. I fired into the doorframe beside him, forcing him back before he found Elena. Shade put a round into the dirt near the second Mora man, and the return fire shifted toward the yard.

Javier leaned around the broken frame and fired blind. Wood kicked from the wall above my shoulder. I moved closer, using the thickness of the union-hall wall for cover, and waited until frustration brought him forward again.

“Don’t come closer or I’ll shoot,” I yelled.

He stepped into view with the pistol extended. I shot him through the thigh.

“I fucking told you. Stop, or it’ll be worse next time,” I yelled again.

Javier folded against the back step, his weapon skidding beneath the tow truck. He reached for it, saw me coming and stopped. The man beside the getaway truck fired once in my direction before Shade hit him in the shoulder. He fell behind the open door, and the driver started the engine.

I crossed the distance and put my boot on Javier's injured leg. His face went gray.

“You heard her answer this afternoon,” I said. “This is what it cost you to ignore it.”

The truck reversed toward us. Shade raised his weapon, but Preacher's voice carried from the corner of the clubhouse.

“We've got men down and fire in the garage. Don't chase them blind.”

The surviving Mora man dragged Javier by the back of his jacket. I stepped off his leg and let him be hauled toward the truck because Preacher was right and because Elena was still behind me breathing too carefully. Javier left a dark trail across the dirt before his men got him inside. The other man Elena had struck with the extinguisher dragged the man I’d put the bullet in out before hauling what was left of him into their vehicle.