Two ropes were tossed out the side of the helicopter. Paxton looked at Ahmed next to him. Nemi’s short tail wagged as she waited to go. She was attached to Ahmed’s harness and leaned against his leg. Paxton nodded and together they fast-roped down and onto the rooftop. The second they were clear, Bridget and Ryker began down the ropes. Bridget was down just as fast as Paxton, but Ryker was clearly the new guy. Paxton didn’t wait, though, and noticed that Ahmed didn’t either.
Paxton got his rifle into position as Ahmed unstrapped Nemi and got into position. Together they headed for the stairs as the helicopter was already taking off.
“Curtis, you coward! I came for you in Atlanta and I’ll come for you here!” Paxton simultaneously heard Cy scream over the coms and also from the end of the drive.
“Get that asshole!” Paxton heard Curtis yell below them.
Paxton heard boots on the ground as some of the men emptied out of the front of the bar.
“Water is in position,” Wade whispered into the coms.
“Road crew is engaging,” Annie said.
“Doorbell is in position,” the woman’s voice said instead of Granger’s.
Paxton looked over his shoulder to see the air group stacked up on the steps by the side door. He was in the lead. Ahmed and Nemi were right behind him, then Bridget and Susi, and finally Ryker bringing up the rear. “Air is ready. On the count of three, we go in. One. Two. Three.”
29
Tinsley started inching up her skirt as soon as the phones began to go off. Something was going on. She’d only gotten to Paxton’s made-up college years in the saga she was weaving for Curtis when they all heard three loud explosions. Curtis bounded up and Mark ran to the window. Then the phones began to ring. And then Curtis began cussing and kicking things.
“Curtis, you coward! I came for you in Atlanta and I’ll come for you here!”
Uncle Cy? Tinsley tried to hide her recognition of the voice, but it didn’t matter. No one was paying her any attention right now.
“Get that fucker!” Curtis yelled as men armed themselves and ran out the front of the bar.
Tinsley didn’t waste any time. She yanked up her skirt, grabbed Tina, and then used the long skirt to cover her hand with the gun in it. She waited, knowing Wade and Paxton were coming. Tinsley had twelve rounds and she was going to make each one count.
Curtis glanced over at her. “Mark, tie her up.”
No way was she going to let that happen. Tinsley waited until Mark was standing in front of her, ready to grab her hands. He sneered at her and she sneered back. Then she shot her leg up and connected with his balls. Mark went down at the same time the side and back doors were kicked open. Mark pulled his gun and crawled behind an overturned table to her right and took aim at the intruders.
“Paxton!” Tinsley yelled in a warning and then chaos erupted. She felt as if she were the point of a triangle. Paxton was the bottom left corner and the back door was the bottom right corner. She was closer to the front door at the top point of the triangle but felt a mile away from her rescuers.
The remaining twenty-five or so people in the bar opened fire and the people pouring in from the side and back doors did, too.
Tinsley couldn’t wait any more. She flipped the table to her left over, sending her candlestick and everything else scattering. She raised Tina, her hands shaking as adrenaline raced like wildfire through her body. She saw the men taking cover on her side of the bar and firing at Paxton, Ahmed, Bridget, and Ryker.
Tinsley held her breath and pulled the trigger. She moved her aim and pulled again, and again, and again. She didn’t wait to see if she’d hit her target before moving on to the next.
“You bitch! You brought them here somehow!” Mark yelled over the gunfire.
Tinsley glanced from where Paxton was fighting alongside her cousin Ryker, Ahmed, and Bridget. She couldn’t fathom how they got here from Atlanta so fast, but they couldn’t get to her fast enough to save her. Mark had a clear shot at her. Tinsley swung her gun around and fired. Click. She was out of bullets.
Paxton heard Mark yell at Tinsley and everything else was forgotten. He knew what he needed to do. He ran. He ran through gunfire to get to the woman he loved. He couldn’t see where Mark was behind an overturned table, but he fired as he ran, keeping the man pinned down.
He kept Tinsley in his peripheral vision but focused his gaze on the table where Mark was crouching. Paxton was only steps from Tinsley when Mark’s head appeared with the muzzle of a gun. That was all Paxton needed. He fired and Mark went down.
“Tinsley!” Paxton was so relieved to see her alive he almost dropped to his knees to hug her. The bullet that slammed into him stopped any thoughts of hugging the woman he loved as it sent him tumbling to the ground.
Tinsley ducked behind the table as Paxton fired. She looked up and didn’t see Mark anymore. “Tinsley!” Paxton called.
Tinsley opened her arms with relief. Paxton was here! Then everything changed. There was so much gunfire she didn’t hear the bullet that hit Paxton, but she did see it slam into him. Paxton was flung back and landed hard on the ground out of her reach. When he hit the ground, his gun skittered off beyond the safety of the table she was hiding behind.
“Paxton!” she yelled, hysterics threatening to overtake her.
A horrible feeling of helplessness and being frozen in fear tried to push
