Split-second decisions suck at a time like this.
Yanking the chrome .45 from my hip holster, I unleash half a clip into the back tire and window of the last car.
Shattering glass and a swerve send the vehicle slamming into another parked car.
Even now, in the moments of death and smoke, I feel the little dark-haired girl trying to pry my fingers from around her wrist.
“Stop it,” I growl to her as I pull her along with me.
“Let me go!” she yells as she slaps at my shoulder.
I gotta admit she’s got some fight in her, but she’s all mine and she had her chance to get away when she tried to kill me. Sucks for her that the gun was empty.
“I need a situation report for the front of the building, Gabriel,” Simon says over the comm piece in my ear.
Tilting my head to the side to activate my controls, I say, “One of two black Audis got away. I’ve immobilized the one that didn’t. Anyone able to come up and give me backup? I need to check who’s inside. I’ve also picked up the bride. Currently making sure she doesn’t try to put a bullet in me.”
“Oh, how I wish she would,” I hear Simon mutter through the comms.
“On my way,” Jude’s voice says in my ear. “I’ve got a priest with me in tow. Might be able to get some answers out of him.”
“That’s fucking funny, a bride and a priest. We just need a groom…” James laughs into the comms channel.
“On my way, as well. All Russian and Irish threats are down,” Andrew says.
“Any intel on them?” Simon asks quickly.
“Very little, except some cellphones and a few wallets,” Andrew responds.
“James, as good moral strengthening, I need the thumbs of each man there,” Lucifer says into the comms.
Aw fuck, poor guy. That’s a messy job.
Walking toward the Audi, I tug the girl behind me but keep a tight grip on her wrist.
Ignoring the whining and bitching of James, I say over my shoulder, “You had your shot at getting away, and there might be more bullets flying soon. Don’t fucking move from behind me, you hear that?”
“Why?” she stutters.
“Because I’m a shit ton bigger than you and I can take one,” I say before I put her hand on my leather belt. “These guys aren’t going to be happy you’re with me. Keep your hand on my belt and don’t fuck about.”
“Okay,” she says quietly, and I feel her wrap her fingers tightly about my belt.
Releasing her wrist, I pull a new clip from the band on my hip and change them out.
“Oh yeah… You run, you’ll most likely die. I’m your only option,” I say as I move us toward the car.
Inside I can see a figure slowly turning around in the backseat. A barrel moves into view, but my finger pulls the trigger a microsecond before his. His shot goes wide as my two shots slam through his head. Another head moves in the vehicle and I blow four more shots into the back window, stopping all movement.
“Two down inside. Doesn’t look like any movement,” I say into the comms.
“Coming up behind you, Gabriel,” Jude says loudly from behind me to make sure I don’t accidentally shoot him.
“Driver and front passenger aren’t moving. Can you check ‘em?” I ask.
“Moving into position,” Jude says as I pull both me and the lady in white behind a car for protection.
“So…” Lucifer drawls over the comms. “Any sign of Alexei or Brady Callahan?”
“Negative in the back. Both got into the cars,” Andrew says. “Heading forward, I’ll assist James with the thumbs. We need to get moving.”
“Who has the priest?” I ask over the mic as some thought deep in the back of my brain lights up with an awfully interesting idea.
“Left him pissing and quivering inside the front doors,” Jude shouts back to me as he puts two bullets through the men in the car’s front seat.
“Why?” Simon asks through the radio.
Looking down at the little bride-to-be beside me, I notice the ample cleavage that’s been pushed so far up her dress it looks painful. Dragging my gaze back up to her face, her deep blue eyes are almost too intense for me. It’s like she’s looking so fucking deeply into me she can see all the shit that’s wrong inside me. She can see all the horrible things I want to do and will do to people.
She’s not backing down though, and I like that. I’ve got at least a foot on her in height, and I can’t even begin to guess what her weight is compared to mine. She’s tiny…
Tiny, but her body has curves… like holy fucking stripper curves.
“Seems like a perfectly good day for a wedding, is all,” I say, and pull the girl by her hand as I walk toward the front of the church.