“It will be, but who will be the winner?” Aleah whispered.
“Shane,” Shelly said, “it will be Shane.”
And, at that, a man almost beside them said, “You’re right. It’s over. But Shane winning? Not happening.”
She gasped and tightened her grip on Aleah. The branches were pulled back, and she stared up at a Middle Eastern man with a rifle pointed at them. Shelly looked up at him and said, “Hi, apparently you’re the one who wanted this woman for your wife.”
He snorted, then looked at Aleah and back to Shelly in disgust. “Women. Too much trouble.”
As he raised the rifle in their direction, Shelly immediately bolted forward, hitting the barrel of the rifle up high into the air, as it fired harmlessly again and again. The gunman smacked her hard across the side of her face, and she cried out from the blow. She fell haphazardly to her knees and then turned to see him holding the rifle on Aleah. She was terrified, as she held the tiny baby close against her chest. When the baby cried, Shelly reached out, put her hand against him. “Don’t. They don’t deserve this.”
He glared at her. “You all die now.”
She shook her head, seeing Shane coming up on the side, his weapon drawn. She looked at him and recognized he was discreetly motioning, telling her to step away.
Smiling up at the gunman, she said, “You’re wrong. But don’t believe me.” With that, she threw herself down in front of Aleah, and immediately a shot rang out. She turned to see the gunman standing there, a shocked look on his face, as he stared down at the women, then slowly sank to his knees and fell over sideways. Aleah burst into tears, and Shelly could only hold her tight, the baby crying in her arms.
Immediately Shane raced toward them. “Are you two all right?”
“The three of us are fine,” Shelly said, looking up at him. “Is it over?”
He nodded. “I think so. But I need to do another round to make sure there are no other gunmen.”
She motioned at him. “Go then,” she said. “Make sure they’re all dead. I’ll keep his weapon here.”
He nodded and asked, “Do you know how to use it?”
“No,” she said, “but believe me. I’ll figure it out in a pinch.”
He gave a hard laugh and said, “That’s my girl.” And he took off.
Shelly sat here, with Aleah trembling at her side, the baby tucked up against her mother, now happily nursing.
“Just hold that baby,” she said. “This will get better now.”
“How do I ever thank you?” she said. “To be forced to be with him would have been—”
“Not fun,” she said. “But he’s gone now.” Shelly stared at the man and shook her head. “You know what? I’ve seen more deaths in the last few days …”
“I’m sorry,” Aleah said. “You didn’t deserve to be brought into this mess. This is my family’s fault,” she said, shaking her head.
“Was your family,” Shelly reminded her. “Listen, Aleah. I’ve waited to tell you, but, well, your father’s dead too.”
“Good,” she said passionately. “I’ve never had anything much to do with him. He treated my mother so terribly. Then to find out that he actually sold me, just a child, and promised me to a man like that. All these years he’s acted like such a mighty and powerful man, but it was all a lie, and he’s been living off the fruits of that betrayal. No wonder my mother died so young.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Obviously a lot of changes are about to happen in your world.”
“After what I’ve been through already,” she said, “bring it on.”
Shelly laughed. “That’s the spirit,” she said. “We’ll need to get you some legal status here in England and make sure you have a place to live and that the baby will be fine,” she said. “But, for right now, we just need to sit here, until it’s all clear.”
Sure enough, both Diesel and Shane returned within minutes. They helped Aleah to her feet, and, realizing she had no shoes on, Diesel quickly picked up her and her baby and carried them around the burning house.
Hearing sirens approach in the distance, Shelly looked at Shane. “Do we need to get out of here before they arrive?”
“Absolutely,” he said. “Mavericks don’t stick around for explanations if they can avoid it.” Quickly they climbed into a black vehicle and drove off, traveling several blocks, before seeing the emergency vehicles. Shane looked at Shelly. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said, “just damn glad it’s over with.”
“Me too.”
Shelly glanced at Diesel. “Did you get hurt?”
“Nope,” he said, “that was a clean run for me.”
“I don’t know how you guys can do this all the time,” Shelly said, yawning. “I’m exhausted.”
“Well, we’ll find a hotel,” Shane said. He looked at Aleah. “Are you doing okay?”
Aleah nodded. “Now I am,” she said. “Now I know I’ll be fine.”
“Maybe we’ll find a surprise at the hotel.”
Aleah just looked at him and said, “Honestly I don’t need any more surprises. I just want a calm, quiet place to raise my daughter.”
“Yep,” Shane said but didn’t elaborate.
“I wouldn’t mind a surprise,” Shelly said. “Like maybe a hot dog or something. I’m starving.” By the time they got to the hotel, a good forty minutes away, Shelly was tired but keyed up. There had been far too much adrenaline, too much pain, too much shock, too much everything, and she was just wired. They got out slowly, and she felt her body groan and complain with the movement. When she stood, Shane looked at her, smiled, and said, “You look like you could use a hot shower.”
“How about a hot dog?” she asked.
“Right,” he said, “we’ll see about that, after we get you ladies settled.” They got Shelly and Aleah up to their rooms, which had adjoining doors. He spoke to the tired young mother and said, “We already ordered some basic supplies for the baby. We’ll bring them up when they get here.”
She nodded her thanks. “I just need to get some sleep.”
“Yeah, maybe so,” he said. At the knock on the door, he walked over, turned, looked at her, and said, “You might also need this too.”
He opened the door to reveal a young man of maybe twenty-six or twenty-seven, standing in the doorway, looking at Shane in surprise and frowning.
He said, “Sorry, I was told to come here.” Then he turned and took one look at Aleah on the bed, holding the baby. His facial expressions went through myriad emotions but finally settled on pure unadulterated love, as he raced across the room to gather the two of them in his arms. Aleah immediately broke into tears and buried her face against the side of his neck, sobbing with joy and relief.
Shelly walked over and wrapped her arms around Shane and said, “That was a good thing you did.”
“Well, we do have pull in some high places,” he said. “They’ll have to work things out on their own going forward, but this is what we could do for them now.”