The Girl Who Kicked Ass (Death Fields 3)

“What’s going on down there?” Jude asks.

“Trucker Hat followed us.”

“Oh hell,” he breathes. ”It may just give us time to get out of here.”

He’s on his feet and we move to the second door. This time, he takes it down and we find Parker in the same position. While he takes care of her, I run to the final room on the hallway, where I pray Cole will be behind the wooden door.

It takes me three tries and my knees ache from the impact when the wooden door finally bursts open. I nearly cry when I find Cole safely bound on the other side. His blue eyes fill with relief. There’s a bruise on his cheek—he must have fought back, and I wonder if Wyatt gave it to him. I take a brief moment to touch his chin before helping him get loose. Within minutes, we’re all in the hallway.

“We can go out the window,” I say, although it’s quieted down to nothing but boots shuffling on the ground on the first floor. I can’t tell who came out the winner of the fight, but I’m not sticking around to find out. “Or we can check on Trucker and Josie.”

“We didn’t uphold our end and there’s no way we’re going to get in that Med Center now,” Cole says.

I feel the weight of my father’s gift, the vaccine case, in my pocket. “We don’t have to.” They look at me in confusion. “I’ll explain later.”

“Then let’s go out the window,” Parker says.

The others nod and I lead the way. It’s still open from my earlier attempt. I crawl through, slipping into the dark. The shingles are old and slippery. I bend and get on my knees, feeling for the trellis over the edge.

“I’ll go first,” Cole says, coming up behind me. “Let me make sure it will hold.”

“I’m lighter.”

“I don’t care,” he says. Before I can go, he’s already down the side. I peer over and find him wobbling on the shaky, wooden structure until he tumbles a short fall to the ground. He rolls and is on his feet quickly and looks up with a sheepish grin.

“Go,” I say to the others, and one at a time they head down the trellis. Just as Parker’s head dips below the gutter I hear a noise in the bedroom. I look back and Trucker’s dirty beard appears in the window.

“Trying to sneak out, sweetheart?”

“Get out of here. Hide. Don’t let them find you,” I say in warning. There are forces at play here that he doesn’t understand. My father gave me a mission greater than anything else at the moment. A shadow moves behind the man in the window and Wyatt’s face comes into view.

“Who the hell are you?” Trucker asks him in a thick accent. I don’t stay for the answer, climbing over the edge of the porch while I have chance.

My toes find the trellis and I take one last look, just in time to see Wyatt clasp a hand around the other man’s neck. I don’t wait to see more.

The trellis shakes under my feet, and once it nearly pulls away from the side of the house, but I recover and jump the final section, landing on the soft, grassy yard. Strong arms, steady arms, hold on to my waist and I turn to face Cole. Brushing the hair out of his eyes, I ask, “Is everyone okay?”

“All accounted for.”

“Then let’s get out of here.”

Jude smiles. “Definitely.”

The night is cool, autumn is coming, and the cloud cover is enough for us to move stealth-like around the side yard. I hold up a hand and say to the breathless group, “We’ve just got to get to the highway and back to Davis and Paul. Anyone got a map?”

I wait for someone to make one magically appear, because God knows I need it right now. Instead, I get three blank-faced reactions, all looking over my shoulder.

My heart sinks.

I expect Wyatt. I have no doubt he could kill a man in one second and get down here in the next. But it’s not him. What I don’t count on when I turn around is Josie, cheeks wet with tears.

“They’re dead,” she says, wiping her face.

“Who?” But I know only one man was going to come out of that room alive and one is a mercenary ninja. The odds are definitely not in Trucker’s favor.

“All of them. Everyone that came with me.”

I tighten my grip on the handle of the knife. “I’m sorry.”