Asking For Trouble (35 page)

"You have to be alive to worry about
nutrition...just eat it!" Jazzie scolded him, then tore off a piece
of the tattered blanket on the end of the bed and went to the sink
to clean up a little bit. After she washed up, she removed the
bloodied shirt under the shirt Beau had given her and threw it into
a garbage bag they'd found under the sink. Her hair was hopelessly
matted and she didn't have a brush, so she just braided it again as
best she could.

Jazzie turned when the door opened expecting
it to be Beau, but it was Cole and Susan instead backlit by the
early morning sun. They looked tired, haggard and dirty, but came
in with smiles. "Luke's on his way to pick us up, he should be here
in thirty minutes or so," Cole told her in triumph, then added, "We
found an old farmhouse about four miles down the road, and the
farmer let us use his phone."

"Um, Cole?" Jazzie said hesitantly, not sure
how he would receive the news she was about to give him, after
they'd trekked eight miles to use the phone.

"Yeah?" he said with a lifted brow.

"Beau was worried that the bad guys would be
waiting out on the road to follow whoever was coming to rescue us
here, so when Gabe called him on his cell phone, they set up for
someone named Junebug to come and pick us up in a helicopter. He
should be here soon too."

"Oh, shit! I didn't think about those guys
waiting on the road, and that Luke might be driving into a bad
situation. Give me Beau's cell phone, I need to call him off," Cole
said frantically.

"It died, after Gabe called," she told him
with a shake of her head.

"Where's Beau?" Cole asked.

"Up on the roof putting out a signal for
Junebug."

His eyes moved around the room and he asked
in confusion, "Where did all these weapons come from?"

"We found them in the trunk of Hanson's car.
I found a first aid kit too, and fixed up Carlos," she said and
tilted her head toward her brother. We found some food too, there's
some left on the table if ya'll are hungry."

"We're fucking starving," Cole said and
headed for the table. "Looks like you guys survived just fine
without us," he told her with a chuckle and dug into the odd
buffet. Susan snorted then walked over to the table and sat down
too.

She picked up a cracker and shoved it into
her mouth whole, then chewed and said, "So we hiked eight fucking
miles for nothing?"

"Looks that way," Cole told her and laughed
then his smile faded. "I'm damned worried about Luke, he has no
clue those guys could be waiting for him."

"I'm damned worried about us too, because if
they follow him here, we're screwed," she said and stuffed another
cracker into her mouth.

"Not so much now that we have these weapons,
but I have no idea how many men they had with them, or if they've
called in reinforcements. I imagine they're desperate to tie up
their loose ends, meaning us, because the delivery is set for
tomorrow."

"Our Homeland guys are on the delivery,
they're not going to let it happen..." Susan said confidently, then
added, "And if we can get the info Dave recorded in that other van
to the agency, we have them cold. Not to mention the attempted
murder of a federal agent and kidnapping charges."

"The charges won't mean a damned thing,
until we get the hell out of here," Carlos told her from across the
room. His voice was stronger now, Jazzie noticed, and was
happy.

Beau walked through the front door smiling
and stopped short when he saw Susan and Cole at the table.
"Morning, ya'll," he said then shut the door behind him.

"I hear you've been very resourceful in our
absence," Susan said and popped a piece of Spam in her mouth and
grimaced as she chewed.

"I have my moments," he told her then
dropped the toolbox by the door, and walked over to where Jazzie
was standing and dropped an arm around her shoulders.

She looked up at him and gave him a soft
smile, "Did you get it done?"

"Yep, they can't miss it...that sun is gonna
make it shine like a flashing neon sign."

"Luke is on his way to pick us up," Cole
told him and frowned.

"Oh, shit...down the road we came in on?"
Beau asked with concern.

"Yeah, I didn't even consider those guys
might be waiting on the road for us, or our rescue party...he could
be in for some trouble."

"So could we, if they follow him," Beau told
him.

As if his words were prophetic, Jazzie heard
the roar of a truck engine and a few pops of gunfire. Beau ran over
and grabbed one of the bigger guns and slammed a load of bullets
into it. Jazzie had never seen a gun so big, and he handled it like
he knew exactly what he was doing, so that gave her a measure of
comfort. Cole and Susan grabbed similar weapons and loaded them,
then Cole said, "We need to get out of this cabin, so we're not
fish in a barrel. Grab what you can and let's go," he said and
flung open the front door.

He cursed when he saw Luke's huge black
pickup bouncing over the rutted road like he was running from the
devil. "Hurry!" Cole shouted then headed out of the front door.
They all grabbed more weapons and ammunition, then followed him
outside. Luke slid out of the truck and ran for the cabin, and Cole
tossed him a weapon and a clip then they took off running for the
woods.

Jazzie heard Luke shout in a high-pitched
voice at Cole, "Why the fuck didn't you tell me they'd be waiting
for me?"

"I didn't think about it, Slick!" Cole
replied breathily as they ran hell-bent-for-leather toward the tree
line.

"Cassie is gonna kill your ass when we get
home," Luke told him and Cole chuckled.

"Junebug is on the way with Gabe, we'll be
fine," Cole shouted.

"Lord, I'm having flashbacks...you sure love
the drama, man," Luke told him when they made it to the trees.

"Let's spread out," Cole said and turned
left and ran further down the tree line away from the rest of
them.

Jazzie and Beau turned right and ran into
the trees, then took a position behind some undergrowth. He grabbed
one of the smaller weapons she'd picked up and shoved some bullets
into it then handed it to her. She looked at it like it was a
snake, because that's what it felt like she was holding. Jazzie
hated guns and violence. "What the hell do you think I'm going to
do with this? I don't know how to shoot!"

"That one is point and shoot, babe...just
aim away from me and pull the trigger. Even blind squirrels find a
nut now and again," he told her with a snort.

Two vans pulled into the yard in front of
the cabin and about ten armed men piled out, then ran directly
toward the cabin. When they figured out there wasn't anyone in
there, they started firing toward the trees.

"That's our cue, baby...shoot!" Beau told
her, then his gun roared and one of the guys fell to his knees,
then pitched over in the dirt.

Jazzie swallowed hard, closed her eyes and
pulled the trigger. The gun kicked against her shoulder and knocked
her on her ass. "Holy, shit!" she said and rubbed her sore
shoulder, but got back up on her knees and aimed toward the bad
guys again.

"That's it, sugar, you're doing good. Just
keep shooting," he told her then took aim with the rifle he was
using and squeezed the trigger. Another of the bad guys dropped his
gun and grabbed his shoulder. She glanced over and saw Beau
grin.

"You're pretty damned good at that," she
told him.

"I'm the best, baby...don't miss much," he
told her smugly and aimed again.

There were gun blasts coming from down the
tree line from where Cole and Susan had hidden, and she saw one
more of the bad guys fall, then they all scattered, some in front
of the cabin, others behind the vans, and a couple ran for the
woods. Beau fired at one of the guys who'd headed for the woods,
leading him with his gun, and the guy howled, and grabbed his
thigh, then fell down and dragged himself into the trees.

"You keep firing, Jazz...I'm going find that
guy. We can't let him sneak up behind us," he told her excitedly,
then grabbed a pistol and a shotgun, and loaded them quickly, then
stuffed more ammo into the pocket of his jeans. "If you see anyone
coming this way, shoot 'em!"

Fear shot through her and Jazzie said in a
terrified tone, "Don't leave me..."

"I'll be right back, I promise," he told
her, "You keep your head down and keep firing."

"I love you, Beau...be careful," she said
and felt tears burn her eyes.

He swallowed a couple of times and nodded
then took off running through the woods. Jazzie focused on what she
was doing and aimed toward one of the vans and closed her eyes then
squeezed the trigger of the gun and a bullet exploded from the
barrel, and she wound up on her butt again, then scrambled back to
her knees and repeated the process. She wondered how Carlos was
doing, he was a little bit down from them, and had weapons too.

Surely, he was handling this better than she
was. Her whole body was shaking with fear and adrenaline, and the
blood was pumping so forcefully through her, she felt kind of
lightheaded. Jazzie aimed and pulled the trigger again and the gun
didn't do anything, and she looked at it then tried again. She must
be out of bullets, she thought and laid it down, because what other
option did she have? Beau hadn't shown her how to reload it.

A little down the tree line, near where the
bad guys had gone into the woods, she heard two gunshots and she
swallowed hoping it was Beau taking down the bad guys and not the
other way around. There were two more shots in that area, and
Jazzie didn't like the sound of that. Suddenly, she saw two of the
guys who were hiding behind the van, peel around it from either end
firing their weapons. Bullets pinged off of the trees above her
head and Jazzie ducked down and curled into a tight ball and
prayed.

A minute later, she heard someone charging
through the brush behind her and gasped turning to see who was
there. It was Beau and he was clutching his shoulder, his face a
mask of pain, and blood was seeping through his fingers to run down
his arm.

"Oh, god, Beau you're shot!" Jazzie
whimpered and got up to help him sit down. She heard a strange
whoop, whoop sound coming from the sky above and hoped it was the
helicopter coming to rescue them.

"We've got to go, sugar...let's head toward
Cole and Susan," he told her then pushed back up to his feet. "June
doesn't know we're taking fire, and I don't want him to get shot
down," Beau groaned and started run walking through the trees and
she followed.

When they neared Susan and Cole's position,
Beau yelled out to them, "It's us!"

Jazzie assumed he did that, so they didn't
shoot them. "June's here," Cole said once they got to his position.
"I think he's looking for somewhere to land...I'm worried they'll
shoot the bird," he said.

"I'll lay down fire and you take Jazzie and
run for the helicopter," Beau told him, then added, "Take Susan
with you." He undid his vest then pulled it off and slid it over
Jazzie's head then reattached the straps. She started to protest
and he shushed her. "You need this, you'll be out in the open."

"What about you?" she asked softly.

"I'll be fine...just go, I'll be there in a
minute," he told her, not sure if that were true or not, but he
needed to get her the hell out of here.

Cole took Jazzie's arm and dragged her
toward where Beau assumed Susan was positioned. He had to get out
in the open, between them and where the helicopter landed, to cover
them while they ran. Once he saw where Junebug was trying to land
the bird, he looked around and found a mound of weed covered dirt
that he could probably duck behind and shoot over, so he grabbed up
some of the weapons Cole left behind and slung the straps over his
good shoulder, then stuffed more ammo in is pockets.

Now, he just had to get to that mound
without getting shot again. Pain shot through his shoulder and he
flinched. It was a flesh wound, but it stung like a mother, and it
was bleeding pretty good. Beau moved a little farther down the tree
line and saw Jazzie, Carlos, Susan and Cole all together. He looked
at Cole and then nodded and slammed a magazine into the AK in his
hands.

As soon as the helicopter started to set
down, he took off running toward the mound, firing toward the cabin
and then the vans as he ran. Bullets kicked up dirt around his
feet, and he zigzagged to avoid getting hit. He breathed a sigh of
relief when he dove to the ground and rolled behind the mound. More
bullets whizzed around him, and he stayed down, then when they
stopped he laid his weapon on the top of the mound and started
firing.

He couldn't see if Cole and the rest were
running for the bird, he was focused on shooting anything that
popped out from behind the vans or cabin. He picked up the
long-range rifle he had used earlier and exchanged it for the
automatic, and took aim. Like a groundhog, one guy stuck his head
around the corner of the cabin and Beau fired. The guy fell to the
ground and Beau smiled, then swept the area again with his
eyes.