Page 120 of The Souls We Claim

Everything in me wants to panic. I don’t want this gun in my hand. I don’t want to be trapped in this room. I don’t want anything to happen to the men outside.

“When Niro gets the code, you’re going to need to load the bullets.” She props her phone on her bike and pulls out her own gun. “You point your weapon in a safe direction. Then you keep your trigger finger flat to the side of the gun. It’ll stop an accidental firing.” She does whatever she does to remove the magazine from her gun. “You want to hold it like this, the round end of the bullet facing in the same direction as the gun.”

She demonstrates what I’m supposed to do so efficiently.

“It’s zero nine one seven,” Niro says. “Said it was his mom’s birthdate. He’s also got everyone headed towards the cabin, but the quickest backup can get there is forty minutes.”

I fumble with the lock, then give it a tug, and it opens. “I’m in. I see a bunch of magazines. How do I know which one fits?”

“Just try them all,” Catalina encourages. “Take a breath, Ari. Nice and easy. You rush this, you could hurt yourself.”

I finally find one that slips in. “Done,” I say.

“Good. Now you need to drop your slide to chamber that first bullet. Like this.” I copy what Catalina does. As it clicks, Catalina nods. “It’s now as live as a weapon can get. Point and fire, Ari. Straight for the torso. Not arms and legs so you don’t kill them. You’ll miss. Be brave. Help is on its way. You need anything else?”

I shake my head. “Torso, right?”

Niro’s face appears next to Catalina’s. “Empty the magazine into any fucker who comes within a foot of you, Ari. I swear to God, I’ll clean up any mess it makes, yeah?”

I nod. And with that, Catalina hangs up.

I look down at Lola. Her eyelashes are fluttering, which tells me she’s going to wake up any minute.

Prayers rarely replace action, but I offer one up anyway.Keep Lola asleep so they don’t hear her, and she doesn’t see anything that might scare her. Give Jax courage and protection to deal with whatever happens. Give the rest of the Outlaws the speed they need to get here. And Bates and Switch the strength to help.

I can hear absolutely nothing outside. There is no movement on the video feed. The pressure inside the room seems intensified. Like sound is only a dull thud with no reverb. It’s as if I’m underwater.

I never thought I was claustrophobic, but maybe I am.

Twenty minutes pass. There is no sign of Jax. I see Switch run by the front door in almost a blur, only recognizing him by his outfit.

Thirty minutes.

The Outlaws are ten minutes away.

Sweat beads on my forehead.

Maybe Bates, Switch, and Jax are holding West’s men off.

Or they could already be…

Tears sting my eyes.

God, I can’t lose it.

Ten more minutes. Lola wakes up. She has no idea she’s stuck in here, but she smiles. Happy to see me and with no concept of the danger we’re all in.

I glance up at the monitor and see Jax dragging…Switch. It’s Switch, unconscious, his hair matted with more blood than I have ever seen. Jax looks bloodied too. But he lets himself into the cabin, drops Switch to the floor, and heads back outside.

“No. Wait,” I cry, frantically putting the key code into the door.

I don’t want him to go back outside. And Switch needs help. Likely more help than I can give him.

But I owe the man who is so injured because he helped us.

I look to the screen. There is no one by the front door. At the first sound of anyone trying to get into the property, I could hurry back to Lola and lock us in.

So, I step outside the safety of the panic room and hurry to Switch. He’s still, blood pooling on the floor beneath his head. With a bit of rearranging, I can fit him in the panic room with us.