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“I think I got shot in my butt,” Laura Lee answered.
“You’re hit?” Dupont called. Why hadn’t she told him?
“Yeah. I don’t think it’s bad though.”
“Police have been called,” Dupont yelled. “I don’t know what’s taking them so long.”
“There’s a riot at the Walmart they’re all at,” Burke said. “Thanksgiving sales frenzy got out of control.”
“Let’s get Laura to safety in the house,” Dupont said. “Burke, we’ll cover her. Laura, can you move?”
She hated to admit it, but she was too afraid to come out from beneath the car. She’d be in the open. “What if he’s still there and has a shot at me?”
“We’re covering you. Burke, I’m moving to the car.” Dupont kept his weapon ready as he ran from behind the fort to the front of the car, ducking behind the hood of the car. No shots were fired. He circled the passenger side and pressed his body against the door. He saw the bullet holes and the flat tire. “Fuck, my car!” Whoever the shooter was, he’d shot up his fucking car.
Laura Lee heard his voice and saw his feet alongside the car. She crawled out right beside him. Gazing up, she saw him, his .9mm held at the ready. His alert gaze swept the area. He’d never looked sexier to her than at that moment.
“Are you okay, babe?” he asked. He examined her butt, and the bloodied rip in her jeans. Thank God it was a clear night. The moon and stars gave him ample light besides the outside house lights from her mother’s house to see the wound. “It looks like it’s just grazed.”
“Let’s get her into the safety of the house,” Burke said.
“And after, I say, let’s go find this fucker ourselves,” Dupont added.
“I’ll cover you. Move to the house,” Burke ordered.
“You ready?” Dupont asked her.
She pulled herself up onto her feet maintaining a crouching position, even though it hurt her butt to do so.
“We’re going to move to the front of the car, then to the fort, and then into the house. I’ll take a better look at your injury. If it’s not bad, you’ll stay in the house and lock the door. Burke and I will go see if we can find this fucker.”
“He’s probably long gone by now,” Laura Lee said.
“We’ll see,” Dupont said. “Come on.”
Keeping his body flat to the car, he moved back to the front of it. She followed. No shots were fired their way, and they made it into the house. Without thinking about it, she undid her jeans and dropped them at his command. She leaned over the couch while he pulled down her torn panties and he examined the nasty wound.
“Yes, it’s just a graze, but it took a good inch of flesh with it.” He ran to the kitchen and brought back a kitchen towel. He pressed it to the wound and then pulled her panties back in place. “Pull your jeans back up. This will hold it until we can get you to a hospital. You may need stitches.”
She pulled her jeans up. “Shot in the ass. I can’t believe it.”
Dupont pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “Lock up after me and then check your mom.”
“Be careful,” she implored.
He nodded and then moved to the door.
After she locked it, she peeked out the window and watched Brad and Rich move across the street until they were shrouded in the shadows between the houses. She heard the creaking of the loose floorboard in the upstairs hallway. Her mom must have heard them. She mounted the stairs. As she reached the top, she came face to face with a familiar face. Intense stare, Asian features, longish black hair, dressed entirely in black. Jin Ma.
She was momentarily stunned, her breath leaving her lungs.
He raised his gun, aQSZ-92 - 9 mm semi-automatic. Her weapon was holstered at the small of her back. She fisted her hands and struck with all her strength, putting all her weight behind the punch as well. There was a sick sound of collapsing cartilage followed by a gurgling sound as her fist made contact with his throat. She followed up with a strike to his arm that held the weapon. It hit the wall and then bounced down the stairs. Not satisfied that he was disabled yet, she grabbed hold of him and pulled him, throwing him off balance so he fell down the stairs face-first.
She moved after him, as fast as she could with the burning of her butt cheek. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she found him in a grotesque position, his neck bent at an unnatural angle. His eyes were wide open and staring at nothing.
Three Days Later
Standing by the rental car in front of her childhood home, Laura Lee set her backpack onto the only spot left on the backseat. Brad and Rich had loaded the trunk and the backseat with the many items she was bringing to Brad’s house.