A shotgun fired. The deafening boom of the weapon pounded my ears.
Anna stood near the opened doorway, shouldering the shotgun. She popped off two more shots, then came in after us with Shadow by her side.
I swept the empty space, favoring my left leg. I turned toward the entrance of the room, noticing the closed door.
Gunfire hammered the motel room door from the room we’d just left. Anna hugged the wall near the doorway and waited for the men outside to breach.
I advanced through the dark motel room toward the entrance, skirting past the king-sized bed. A thin bead of light shone through the narrow opening between the curtains that covered the window. I looked at the door, then back to the curtains.
My shoulder pressed to the wall. I pulled the edge of the curtain back and peered through the window to the parking lot. I caught flashes of movement from McCone’s men moving around the vehicles parked in front of the building.
Anna’s shotgun barked its harsh report. She ceased firing and ducked inside the motel room we stood in.
The door next to me shuddered. I flinched, then turned toward it. Two sharp reports popped off from right outside the room. Bullets punched through the door near the doorknob.
I turned away and shielded my head. Shadow barked. Cindy screamed.
Wood splintered, the door flew open, and a gust of cold air and ash rushed into the room. Shadow ran toward the open doorway with her ears lowered and fangs visible. I glanced at the entrance and spotted the barrel of a gun breaching the room, then a black- gloved hand.
I shoved the man’s arms toward the door. He squeezed the trigger, firing a single round that punched the TV on top of the dresser against the wall.
Shadow lunged at the masked man. I released his arms and got out of the way. She latched onto his forearm, sinking her fangs into him. The German shepherd thrashed her head from side to side while tugging on his limb.
The gunman’s heater fell from his hand to the floor. His mask muffled the screams of agony. He wrenched his arm, trying to free it from the canine’s maw.
I placed a round in the side of his skull. Brain and bone splattered the door, hitting like wet cement. His legs gave and his body fell to the floor.
Anna fired one more round before the shotgun clicked empty. “I’m out.” She tossed the shotgun, pulled the pistol from her waistband, and continued firing.
Shadow chewed on the man’s arm a minute more before letting go.
I peered around the corner with the Smith and Wesson up and at the ready. A swarm of incoming rounds hammered the outside wall near my head. I ducked, leaned away, and took a deep breath.
Cindy sat hunched near the bed. She looked at me with wide, fear-stricken eyes and trembling lips.
I waited for the gunfire to ebb, then took another look. A man materialized from the other side of the wall. He grabbed my gun and shoved it down. My finger pulled the trigger. A single round fired, punching the walkway near the parking lot.
The gunman ripped the piece from my hand, then punched me in the face. My head snapped back. I stumbled about, reeling from the blow.
My sore knee buckled, sending me to the floor. Shadow barked and growled, snapping at the armed man from the foot of the corpse near the door. He grabbed the rifle that hung from his shoulder and brought it to bear at the canine.
I slammed my foot into his knee, knocking him off balance. He squeezed the trigger.
Fire flashed from the muzzle.
The rounds punched the door and wall near Shadow’s head and back. She lowered to the ground, looking up at him with glistening fangs. Shadow stepped over the dead man’s legs and attacked, grabbing the off-balance gunman’s hand.
The gunfire from behind me ebbed, giving way to shouting and hard pants. Anna grunted, then popped off another round before her heater clicked empty.
Shadow thrashed her head, pulling at the gunman’s hand. He punched and kicked at her large, muscular body, trying to get the German shepherd off him.
“Go to hell,” Anna shouted.
I sat up and got to my feet. I grabbed the dead man’s piece from the floor, then trained it at the gunman Shadow had pinned to the walkway.
A single shot fired from the back of the room. Cindy yelled. The bedlam ceased. Anna snarled, sounding more animal than human.
I peered over my shoulder, keeping the piece trained at the threat Shadow chewed on.
“That’s enough,” Stocky said, loud and stern. He had Anna wrapped up in his arm with his piece pressed to the side of her skull. “Drop it or I’ll paint this room with your friend’s brains.”
Anna thrashed a moment longer before stopping. Her teeth gnashed in anger as she stared at me. Blood ran from her temple and down the side of her face.
Cindy stood from the corner of the bed and raised her hands in the air. More of Stocky’s men funneled inside the room behind him and took positions near Cindy, then closed in on me.
I lowered the pistol, then tossed it to the floor.
Shadow released the man’s arm, then turned and faced the armed men standing inside the motel room. She bared her fangs and hunched toward the ground next to the man she’d just mauled.
“Will someone take care of her,” Stocky said to the men standing before me. “Perhaps we can tame her once more. We’ll take her back to the boss and see what he wants to do with her. Doesn’t seem like she’s too keen on us anymore since she ran away, but it’s his call.”
“Don’t
