Jacobs looked at his weapon. “I thought it looked familiar.” Jacobs held his hand out, and Joe put the gun in his hand. Jacobs then handed him the gun he took from the guard. “He’s not gonna like you doing this, you know. He’s not gonna forget you.”
“Well then, do us both a favor and take the son of a bitch out.”
“What are you planning after this?”
Joe shrugged and shook his head. “Just getting as far away from here as I can. New York, California, Florida, I don’t know. Anywhere but here.”
“If you really wanna take him out, an extra hand might be helpful.”
“Nah, this ain’t my fight. It’s yours. Like I said, everything here was just business for me. For you, it’s personal. I just wanna be somewhere else. Good luck to you. Hope you get him, and goodbye.”
“Well, thanks for the help.”
“You realize he’s probably killing the rest of your guys, right?” Thrower asked.
A somber look came over Joe’s face. “Yeah. I’m sorry about that, but… it can’t be helped. Everyone’s gotta look after themselves. Hope they’ll make it.”
“You see anything out there?” Jacobs asked.
“No, looks clean so far,” Thrower replied. “Mallette might have got startled and regrouped. He’ll fight another day.” He looked back at Jacobs, whose face had definitely seen better days. “You good to go or you need help?”
Jacobs wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt. He looked down at the blood on it. “I’m fine.”
Thrower shook his head. “Man, you are going to have one heck of a time explaining all this when we get back.”
Jacobs sighed. “Yeah. Let’s just make sure we get out of here so I actually have a chance to.”
“If you guys don’t mind, I’ll head out with you,” Joe said. “An extra gun won’t hurt any of us. Then when we’re on the outside, we’ll go our separate ways.”
“Sounds good.”
As soon as Jacobs gave him the signal that he was ready, Thrower emerged from the room, his eyes, head, and gun going from side to side as he scanned for signs of trouble. They’d only gotten a few feet when Thrower noticed a man standing at the corner of the wall that led into another room. Thrower immediately dove onto the floor, then rolled over as the man took a shot at him. The bullet lodged into the floor next to him. Thrower rolled back onto his feet and took aim at the man. With two shots fired and the man now on the ground, Thrower looked for his next target. There didn’t seem to be one nearby.
They kept moving through the house, though Thrower wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to go back the way they came.
“Maybe we should just go out the front,” Thrower said. “Going back to the fence seems like the long way back.”
“If Mallette’s still out there, they probably wouldn’t expect us to walk out the front either,” Joe said.
Jacobs nodded, agreeing. “OK. The front it is. Just keep your eyes open. Don’t be surprised if he’s got a guy or two stationed out there.”
Thrower led the group to the front door, then threw it open, getting ready in case they had visitors out there waiting for them. There were no bullets flying at them initially. That was a good first step.
“It’s a long way to the car,” Thrower said.
“Instead of all us running out there like our hair is on fire, let’s be smart about it,” Jacobs said.
“What do you have in mind?”
“We go forward smartly, deliberately, you take the lead, you see what’s in front of us. I’ll take the right side, Joe takes the left, and we both also keep our eyes peeled for anything behind us.”
Thrower nodded and looked at Joe.
“I’m good with it,” Joe replied.
“Let’s go,” Jacobs said.
Thrower led the group through the front door. Once they were outside, they cautiously moved toward the front gate like they were a well-trained military unit. Everything seemed clear up to that point.
“Think I just saw something,” Joe said.
“Keep moving,” Jacobs responded.
He didn’t want to stop or slow down unless they absolutely had to. He didn’t care what or who was out there. Mallette’s men could move all they wanted, as long as it gave them enough time to get back to their car and get out of there.
“Sure you don’t wanna drop anchor and fight?” Thrower asked. “Maybe get Mallette out of the way now?”
“Yeah, if you think Mallette’s actually out there,” Jacobs said. “He’s probably just left a few of his guys here to give him enough time to escape.”
“Probably right.”
“And I think we’ve been through enough for one night. Let’s regroup.”
“I hear ya.”
Suddenly, shots were fired. Joe let out a sound that was a mix between a scream and a grunt before going down. Jacobs and Thrower both turned and started firing in the direction Joe was watching. After firing, they heard what sounded like someone yelling, making them think that they hit someone, though they couldn’t see exactly who or how bad it was.
“Check on him,” Thrower said, standing in front of Joe. “I got you covered.”
With the gunfire at a lull, Jacobs looked down at their new partner. Joe was holding his thigh, his hand over the hole where the bullet entered. Jacobs checked his wound as thoroughly as he could, which really wasn’t much at the moment, considering the situation.
“Looks like it went through,” Jacobs said. He then ripped off a piece of Joe’s pants, tightly wrapping it around the wound. “That should probably be good enough for a while. You’ll need to see someone once we’re out of here.”
Joe took a few deep breaths. “Just help me get out of here, and I’ll worry about the rest.”
“Can you stand?”
“I dunno. Can you give me a hand?”
Jacobs stood up and lowered his hand, allowing Joe to grab it. He then helped pull Joe back to his feet.
“You good?” Jacobs asked. Joe started to walk, putting pressure on his injured leg,
