The glare he cast her should’ve scorched her skin. “Do you honestly believe your skinny ass will stop this bullet?” A visible drop of sweat fell from his brow onto his lashes and the involuntary reflex was the opportunity she’d been waiting for.
She lunged.
The gun went off.
The cave erupted into a ball of fire.
The explosion echoed through the chamber so loudly, Sun thought her ears would bleed, but it did propel her forward. She rammed into Carver with everything she had, but it wasn’t enough to take him down. He stumbled but kept his footing as they fought for the rifle.
Then she was airborne. She flew back and landed on the cavern floor. The air left her lungs in a pitiful whoosh.
Levi had dragged her off him so he could have Carver all to himself. Enraged, he wrapped a powerful arm around Carver’s neck and dropped back, taking him to the ground. Their struggle lasted all of five seconds and Sun was worried he’d break his neck before Levi’s choke hold began to take its toll.
Carver’s kicks slowed. His face crimsoned and his shallow breaths came in short, choking wheezes. Sensing the inevitable, he raised the rifle and aimed it at Sun.
Their date must have gone so much worse than she’d thought. She scrambled back, but the flash of a blade caught her gaze. Before she could order him to stop, Levi struck.
Two lightning-quick slices, as smooth and clean as a shark through water, and Carver’s arm went limp. The rifle fell to the side and his eyes rounded in disbelief.
Sun scurried closer as Carver lost consciousness. She took the rifle out of his grasp and tossed it aside.
Levi let go and pushed the man off him as though disgusted. He’d sliced through the tendons under Carver’s arm first, obliterating his ability to pull the trigger. In the process, he’d severed the man’s brachial artery. Next he’d severed his femoral artery. So fast Sun barely saw it happen.
Carver’s tactical khakis were soaked instantly, the blood-red pool spreading fast.
Sun pressed into Carver’s wound and spared a quick glance over her shoulder for something to help stop the bleeding. The chamber was empty of children, thank God. Zee and Quincy had gotten the boys out, but Quincy eased back inside, his movements wary, his gun drawn.
“Sunshine?”
“Clear,” she said loudly, then pointed to the boys’ blankets. “Hand me one!” That was when she noticed the propane tank spewing a bright blue flame. It hadn’t exploded.
Quincy hurried over and tried to turn the handle, but it was too hot. He grabbed a dirty T-shirt off the floor and twisted. The flame shut off. “The bullet bounced off,” Quincy said, gesturing toward the scuff mark. “The spark must’ve set off the gas.”
It must have. She’d been thrown from that direction. Not back, which was what would’ve happened if the gun had set it off. “Blanket.”
Quincy grabbed one and rushed forward, handing it to her before giving her a doubtful look.
Levi straightened to his full height. “He’s gone.”
“I need your belt,” she said, putting all of her weight into the task of suppressing the blood loss.
“Sun,” Quincy said.
She looked at Carver’s face. His eyes were open and his breathing had stopped.
Quincy bent to help her up. “He’s gone, boss.”
It all happened so fast, Sun sat stunned for a solid minute before she heard Elliot’s voice.
“Is he dead?”
Sun hurried to cover Carver with the blanket, then let Quincy help her up. She rushed to the boys. “He is, honey. Are you guys okay?”
Zee had let them come back in. “Sorry, boss. They got away from me.”
Sun summoned her best mommy frown and planted it on them. “I can’t imagine how.”
Elliot gave her a sheepish grin, but Adam’s gaze was locked onto the body. They both had black residue on their faces and scorch marks on their T-shirts.
She knelt in front of them, turning them this way and that and lifting their shirts to get a better look. “Are you hurt? Were you burned?”
When she lifted Elliot’s shirt where most of the scorching was, he grinned at his little brother. “What’d I tell you? Chicks dig me.”
His skin was red. He was burned worse than his brother, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could’ve been had the tank exploded.
Then she heard it. Someone else coming down the tunnel, but the newest visitor was having a hard time trying to navigate the narrow opening while running. All Sun heard was an occasional, “Son of a bitch,” and a “What the fuck?”
After a few seconds, Rojas emerged, a little bloody but no worse for wear.
He skidded to a halt in the chamber, his sidearm drawn, and watched as Zee knelt to officially check Carver for a pulse, noting the time of death for the ME. He braced an arm on the cavern wall to catch his breath.
Sun no longer cared what her attentions would do to the boys. They would be traumatized regardless. She gathered them in her arms and hugged, making sure to avoid the scorched parts of their shirts. To her eternal joy, they hugged her back.
Adam visibly shook, but either Elliot was amazingly well-trained or he was in shock. He wasn’t shaking at all, but he did hold on to her for dear life.
Then he turned and hugged Levi.
“What do you say we get you to your mom?” Sun said.
Adam nodded and wiped at his eyes.
She stood and nodded to Levi. “Thank you.”
He didn’t respond. He stared at her neck instead before walking closer and doing some checking of his own. “He got you.”
“No. That’s not my blood.”
“It is.”
Sun felt and realized the bullet had grazed her before ricocheting off the propane tank. “Oh.” She drew her hand back for a look. “It’s not bad. I’m fine.”
The worried expression on his face confirmed he wasn’t so sure. It left her warm and fuzzy inside, but she had to stay focused. She turned to Quincy. “How did you and Zee know Carver was up here?”
“Carver?” he asked, gaping at the assailant. “That was your date?”
“My parents set me up with an assassin.”
“Told you,” Rojas said, still panting. “Sociopath.”
“If you didn’t know he followed us up here, why did you run all that way?”
“We figured out that the third guy staking out the town wasn’t at the hotel. We thought maybe he’d slipped past us on the trail.”
A soft groan echoed off the rock walls around them.
Elliot cringed and looked at his brother. “He woke up.”
“Excuse me?” Sun said.
“Thank goodness he didn’t die,” Adam said. “Mom would be so mad.”
Elliot grabbed the charred lantern, eased around Carver’s body, and ducked back through the alcove. “Careful,” he said, stepping gingerly toward the edge of a very large, very dark hole bordered by a layer of rocks. He held the lantern over it and Adam shined a flashlight.
Sun, Levi, and Quincy looked over the edge. At the bottom of what looked like a mile-deep hole lay a man in a suit. He raised an arm against the light.
“Our third man?” Sun asked Quincy.
“I’d say so.”
“And the money?” She looked at Elliot.