Dan turned to Colby. “I think it’s time you all leave, while you can.” Dan called out to his guys at the far end of the hallway to ensure they had a clear passage out. “No one is to touch them.”
“And Paco?” Colby asked.
“He stays. I will handle it. Go now!”
He exchanged an icy look with Evans.
There was hesitation.
Colby took a few steps forward, gun still raised. Dylan followed, his gun covering his six. Martha made Zeke go next. The militia was ordered by Dan to move out of the way. Some listened and pulled back into an open space farther down the corridor, others stepped to one side. An influx of deputies had to get between the rest who refused to move up against the far wall. As the Rikers slowly moved down the hallway, Martha had just passed Lieutenant Hale when he grabbed her from behind and pulled her back into him, bringing a knife up to her throat.
Guns were lifted again, though this time it was toward the cops.
“Go, boys! Get out of here,” Martha yelled as she elbowed Elijah in the gut and drove a heel into his shin. She had made it but a few steps before she was pulled back by her hair. “Get your brothers out of here!” she yelled, fighting back with everything she had until someone struck her and she dropped into the thick of bodies pushing forward down the corridor.
If it hadn’t been for the quick actions of the cops around them, they would have been dead. Several cops shielded them the way Secret Service was trained to do with the president, placing themselves in the line of fire and pushing them toward the staircase while the others held back militia. Fists were thrown.
“What the hell are you doing!” Dan yelled at Elijah. Colby turned just in time to see the captain step forward and strike Dan in the back of the head with the butt of a rifle, knocking him out. It was pure pandemonium. Cops reacted, surging toward the militia, but then a round erupted, killing one of them.
That’s when all hell broke loose.
Two more gunshots. And everyone scattered for cover.
Colby double-timed it up the steps to the main floor, his brothers close behind him.
“We can’t leave her,” Dylan said.
The two cops behind them dropped. Colby shot one of the militia before all three of them were driven back behind a corner as a flurry of rounds peppered the wall. None of them wanted to leave her but going back down would have been suicide. “Colby, let’s go!” Zeke pulled on his arm.
“No. We’re not leaving her,” Dylan said, opening fire and killing another soldier.
“We’ll come back. Dylan. If we don’t leave now. We are dead,” Colby said.
“I don’t care. I’m not…”
Colby grabbed his face. “She wouldn’t want this. We can’t help her right now but we can get others. Come on.”
The echo of gunfire was deafening as cops turned on the militia, and militia fought back. Had it not been for the cops, they wouldn’t have made it out onto the streets. As soon as they did, a round zipped past Colby and struck a soldier off to their right.
He had his brother Asher to thank for that.
As they were coming out, more cops were running in.
Colby tried to tell them of the threat but they didn’t listen.
It was too chaotic. Too noisy.
Dylan and Zeke raced down the street toward the ATVs while he untethered the horse and mounted it, snapping the reins. “Go girl, go!”
He hadn’t made it across the square when two bullets speared the horse, sending it down and sending him flying off. He landed hard, rolling across the ground. An engine roared. He turned in time to see Zeke barreling toward him on the ATV. He swerved and put out his hand. “Get on!”
More rounds followed.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
From across the street, they could see militia opening fire on them even as cops tried to stop the soldiers. Many of them were cut down doing their duty. Colby climbed on the ATV and held on for dear life as they took off at a high rate of speed.
It was clear from the get-go that Captain Evans had anticipated they might try to make a break for it. As soon as they swerved out of the street they were on, onto L Street, they encountered a roadblock. “Hold on tight,” Zeke said as the ATV bounced up onto the curb, and he navigated it back the way they came and exploded out of the corner back onto Redwood Highway.
Dylan hadn’t even taken the corner yet so he surged ahead past them.
Ahead of them, neither of them saw the soldier until it was too late.
One of the militia had positioned himself on the rooftop of a Shell gas station. As Dylan came tearing over the intersection, a round struck him, sending him off the back of the ATV. As his body rolled, and they continued to head toward him, Colby lifted his rifle and took out the guy who had raised from a crouched position, unaware that they were moments behind.
Zeke swerved to a stop and Colby hopped off.
Dylan was alive and groaning. The round had struck him in the shoulder. There was no time to see what the damage was. He grimaced in pain as Colby helped him onto the back of the ATV and wrapped his arms around Zeke. “Hold on to him.” Zeke helped by clutching Dylan’s good arm. “Get him back to the farm.”
“What about you?”
He nudged toward Dylan’s ATV which was on its side. “Go!”
The engine growled as they peeled away and Colby jogged over to the downed soldier. He took off him a long-distance radio and listened for activity. There were more coming. He’d alerted them. Given them the intersection.
“Cartwright, come in, Cartwright, over?”
Nothing but static.
Colby hurried over to the ATV and brought it upright again. His eyes frantically scanned
