“How could I not?” Patton said, dumping the rest of the cards on the bedspread and standing up. “Allison! Seriously? Get down!”
Only a moment passed before another round of gunshots came from outside the hotel. Blam-blam-blam-blam!
“Oh my god,” Allison said, looking sick, but at least she scooted to the edge of the window. “Is someone shooting at us? I don’t see anything.”
“I don’t know,” Patton said, opening the room’s door and heading out. If they were under attack, there was only one thing to do. “C’mon, we need to get armed.”
Allison tried to stay out of the window’s line of sight and followed him out the door. Patton led the way and walked quickly to where Matthew kept the guns. When he saw the glass cabinet, he frowned. Most of the weaponry was gone. He realized that this was the reason why Wyatt and Jade had asked him and Allison to leave their gardening for later in the afternoon. The shotgun and most of the handguns were missing, but one rifle and a handgun remained. Without hesitation, he flung open the glass cabinet and took the rifle out.
Blam-blam-blam-blam! More gunshots came from outside the hotel. At least they sounded far away.
“Patton,” Allison hissed. “You’re not supposed to touch any of the guns. Remember what Mom and Dad said? You’re grounded.”
“I’m pretty sure at this point I’ll be forgiven. I’ll risk getting grounded again,” Patton said. He opened the rifle and checked that it was loaded. Then he grabbed a handful of bullets that were stashed at the base of the cabinet and stuffed his pockets full. For a fleeting moment, he thanked his friends at the gun club for teaching him how to use guns properly. Without their advice and teaching, he’d be a complete mess. He wouldn’t really know what to do. But now? He felt confident he could defend the hotel and keep his sister safe.
Allison was a different story.
Patton reached in the cabinet and took the handgun out. He handed it to Allison, who looked at the gun as if she were holding a poisonous snake. Another round of gunfire sounded from outside, but it sounded fainter, as if it was going in the opposite direction.
“I’m not a good shot like you are,” Allison said faintly. “I’m good at using a rake and a trowel, but Patton, you remember what I was like when Jade was teaching us how to shoot. I sucked.”
“You didn’t suck,” Patton said. A strange role-reversal was happening as Allison looked at him with wide, fearful eyes. Usually it was Allison supporting him. Usually she guided him or gave him confidence to complete something...or irritated him enough that he did the task out of spite. He needed to do the same for her right now. “Okay, sure, I’m more familiar with guns than you are, but you don’t have to be scared of it. You know how to use it. Just remember Jade’s training and you’ll manage it just fine. You don’t want to be unarmed, right?”
“No,” Allison said, and she looked green. Another blast of gunfire caused them both to grow quiet. Allison’s face hardened with determination. “I can do this. Let’s go find Mom and Grandma.”
“That’s the spirit!” Patton said, and together they hustled back toward the front lobby area. It was empty, but Patton motioned for Allison to stay away from the both the big picture windows and the ones that had been boarded up. They needed a spot where they could look outside without being spotted.
Allison snuck closer to another smaller window that was positioned higher on the wall. One of the large couches had been pushed underneath it, but there was enough room for the two of them to squeeze side by side behind it. They were bracketed by the wall on one side and the couch on the other. At the sound of gunfire, the two of them ducked down and Patton was pleased at their position. They had enough cover in case someone came through the front doors, and they could see out the window, even if it was a little high for him.
Patton grinned at Allison and tried to fight the rush of excitement flowing through him. Even though he knew they were most likely facing a horde of evildoers, it still felt cool to be this awesome with his sister. He knew she would have his back. He knew he would have hers.
Allison poked her head up and got onto her feet. Slowly, she eased up against one side of the window and peered out. “Crap,” she whispered.
“What is it?” Patton asked, keeping the rifle low as he raised himself up on his knees and finally his feet to look out the window. He wished he was taller, but he could still clearly make out the threat. Three men stood near the side of the hotel. Each of them had guns, and they seemed to be looking out toward the tree line as if waiting for something. Or someone.
Patton and Allison ducked back down. The couch cast enough of a shadow to make it seem like they were hiding in a den. If the men decided to look through the window, they wouldn’t be able to see them, where they were squashed between the wall and the back of the couch. At the moment, they were in the best possible spot to defend the hotel.
Patton stared at his sister. “We have to take them out,” he said in a low voice.
“We don’t even know who they are,” Allison protested.
“You think some friendlies from the gun club waltzed up here with guns drawn?” Patton demanded. “You think Wyatt’s men would simply wait by the hotel while there’s gunfire in the distance? I’ve never seen either of them before in my life!” Patton shot her an incredulous look. “What do you think is happening, Allison? They’re trying to take over the hotel!”
He clamped down on the fear in his voice. His mind was full of images that threatened to build up the fear into absolute terror. He remembered what it had been like to be kidnapped. He remembered the terror he’d first felt when Samuel West had held him and Grandma captive. He remembered how useless he felt, how out of control.
Whoever was here at the hotel—armed, without announcing their presence—clearly showed they were not allies. They were enemies through and through. Patton had learned the hard way that if someone needed help from the hotel, they wouldn’t ask for it by flashing all the weapons they owned. At the gun club, Wyatt had cultivated a strict kindness. There was always careful peace.
No, these guys were here for nothing good.
“What do you suggest we do?” Allison hissed, and it broke the spell that had almost taken Patton over.
“Well, we can’t very well ask them in for tea, can we?” Patton shot back. “They’re probably waiting for reinforcements. We need to take them out as soon as possible.”
“Patton, you can’t kill them!” Allison whispered. She sounded shocked.
“I’m not going to,” Patton said, and he laid a hand over hers. “You are.”
Allison stared at him as if he’d sprouted an additional head.
“You’re taller than I am,” he whispered. “You can manage to get the handgun pointed out the window and aimed better than me. I can’t use the rifle unless we push the couch right up against the wall and I stand on it. With things being so quiet, they’ll hear that.”
“I can’t kill them,” Allison said. “I can’t do it.”
“Then maim them,” Patton said. Time was slipping away. Each passing moment was another moment when they could be attacked. “We’re losing time. Those guys could walk in here and blast us all to pieces. They don’t care about us, Allison. Do you want that to happen?”
“No,” Allison said slowly. “But remember I’m the bad shot out of the two of us.”
“You’ll be fine,” Patton said. “They’re close enough you’ll be able to hit them. Just take out a leg or an arm. Something to scare them off that shows we aren’t messing around.”
Allison closed her eyes tightly and then nodded. “Okay. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but okay.”
“Atta girl,” Patton said with a wide grin.
Allison scowled. “Don’t try to sound like Dad.”
“Sorry,” Patton said as he double-checked that the rifle’s safety was on. He slid it underneath the couch and then slowly eased himself upwards. He unlatched the window and pushed it up and open without a sound. Pat
ton congratulated himself on oiling the windows after Samuel had smashed the broken picture window out front. It felt like a lifetime ago.
He lowered himself back down and saw that Allison was clutching the handgun tightly. Her eyes were screwed shut and her lips moved silently. She wasn’t the praying type, so he wasn’t sure what she was saying, but if it helped her find her courage, he wasn’t going to interrupt her.
“Okay,” Allison finally said. “I’m ready.”
She still looked as if she might vomit, though. Allison thumbed the safety aside and stood up, keeping to the side so that she wasn’t in plain view of the window. She poked the handgun out the opening. Patton watched from his crouch on the floor as her breathing slowed.
“Just take your time,” he whispered from below. “Remember what Jade taught us? Your stance looks great. Don’t jerk the trigger, and you’ll be able to hit your target. Remember this handgun shoots a little high, so make sure you aim a little low.”
He expected her to respond with some kind of snarky comeback, telling him to shut up, but instead she just gave a slight nod of the head. Patton covered his ears and braced for the gunshot. Allison widened her stance a touch. He wondered what the men outside were doing. What idiots! They’d think twice about invading the Rileys’ home again.
Allison’s first shot seemed to suck out any other sound in the room. Even though Patton had plugged his ears, he still heard the cry of shocked pain cut through from one of the men from outside. A wave of pride filled him. Nice going, Allison!
“Keep going!” he whispered up to his sister. They couldn’t stop with just one man down. She needed to hit the rest of them.
She popped off another round and then he heard her hiss a curse. “They’re leaving, Patton,” she said as she shot off another round. “I got one but not the others.”
Patton popped his head up to see that one of the men was rolling on the ground clutching his leg. Two other figures sprinted for the woods, and Patton let out a hoot of success. “Nice going, Allison.”
“Shut up, Patton, just shut up,” Allison said in a shaky voice. “Get down. They might return fire once they’re out of range. If you get shot I will not be responsible.”
Patton ducked behind the window and leaned against the back of the couch. He grinned up at his sister. She looked so cool standing there with the gun and her hair pulled back in a ponytail. Like a badass mix of Lara Croft and Jade. “You did it, Allison!” he whispered up at her. “You did it!”
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Patton frowned at the sound of Nikki’s harsh-sounding voice. Allison whipped around and Patton saw her face drop into one of shocked betrayal. Patton’s stomach clenched with new fear. From his position sandwiched between the wall and the couch, he couldn’t see what was happening. He knew something was wrong when Allison stepped firmly in front of him and kept her legs closed so that he would be hidden from view.
“Me? What are you doing?” Allison said and Patton swallowed the need to stand up and see the new dangers for himself. “Why do you have my mom and grandma at gunpoint?”
Patton’s heart leapt into his throat. He scuttled back as far as he could and Allison gave a small kick of her foot as if commanding him to stay hidden. Then she stomped her foot down in front of him and he knew that she was telling him to shut up and be still. He tried to ease the rifle back out from under the couch, but stopped. It would make too much noise and Allison wanted him to stay hidden
Why would Nikki threaten his family? She was supposed to be one of the nicest people at the gun club. When she was caring for Grandpa, she’d taught Patton some gross-out medical facts that Patton had delighted in. Why would she do something like this?
“What are you shooting at?” Nikki demanded.
“You answer my question first,” Allison said. “Mom, are you okay?”
“I’m okay, honey.”
Kathleen sounded shaken. Patton put his hand over his mouth to contain his heavy breathing. His mother only ever sounded like that when Patton got himself kidnapped or something else was really wrong.
“Where’s your brother?” Nikki demanded.
“Outside,” Allison said. “He went to investigate the gunshots.”
“That stupid little...” Nikki cursed at the same time as Kathleen said, “Allison, you let him go alone?”
“I couldn’t stop him, Mom!”
“Just…put that gun down and come with me,” Nikki said. “Slowly.”
“No way,” Allison said.
Now’s not the time for heroics, Allison! Patton thought.
“If you don’t do as I say you can say goodbye to your mother,” Nikki growled, but even she sounded terrified of the words coming out of her mouth.
Tears filled Patton’s eyes at the thought of someone harming his mother. Allison had to cave. She would cave. He knew she’d never push so hard that it got their mother hurt.
“Fine,” Allison said, trying to sound tough. She slowly put the gun on the ground and slid it over to Nikki. Patton heard it clatter over the hardwood floors and the rug.
“Who did you shoot outside?” Nikki demanded.
“Some scum waiting to take over the hotel,” Allison said. “Scum like you.”
Patton’s heart galloped and for a moment, he wondered if Nikki was going to do something terrible to Allison. God, as much as his sister drove him crazy, the thought of losing her nearly made him leap to his feet and put himself between her and Nikki.
“Get over here,” Nikki commanded, but any authority behind it sounded more like Nikki was slowly breaking.
Allison took a couple of steps forward. Nikki leaned down and picked the gun up. Patton saw her hand before Allison ran into the couch and scooted it closer to Patton, completely obscuring him from view.
Patton tried to breathe slowly so that no one would hear him. He was the last one standing. He had no idea where his father was, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Matthew was somehow involved in the distant sounds of gunfire.
It was up to Patton to make sure everyone at the hotel got out alive.
32
Matthew tasted metal in the back of his throat as he sprinted out of the heavily forested woods and hightailed it for the hotel. He kept remembering how Samuel had peered into the tree line, and he wondered who else might be waiting to ambush him out here. He decided to skirt the edge of the woods around the property, making sure he kept himself out of sight as he approached the hotel. He didn’t want anyone who might be allied with Samuel to see him, especially if they’d succeeded in taking over the hotel. He knew that Samuel would stop at nothing to get the hotel and its people under his control. He would go to any lengths to secure that, and Matthew refused to put any of his family in harm’s way. He wouldn’t let his family be used as hostages.
He had finally made it to one side of the hotel and could just make out the garden plot that Allison and Patton had been working so hard on. He skidded to a halt when he saw the dark figure of a man on the ground, clutching his leg and rolling around on the grass in agony.
There were more of Samuel’s men here!
Terror filled Matthew. He crouched behind a thin copse of trees for cover. From this distance, he couldn’t recognize the person, but he saw the familiar shape of a gun just out of the man’s reach. Whoever this stranger was, he must be part of Samuel’s crew. Somehow, he had ended up with a gunshot wound to the leg. Which meant that the fight was already underway for control of the hotel.
Matthew furiously tried to decide what to do. He stood up, determined to rush for the man and interrogate him, but before he could, he saw Kathleen, Ruth, and Allison round the corner of the hotel. Nikki followed behind them, holding all three of them at gunpoint with a handgun. Matthew’s jaw dropped in disbelief. Nikki? Nikki was the one that had betrayed them?
Had she been behind this coup the whole time? A new flash of rage made Matthew see red for a moment. Had she tampered with David’s recovery, and was
that the reason he had died?
Whatever the case, Nikki had the women of his family at gunpoint and by the set of her mouth, it looked like Nikki was on the verge of losing her cool. Why would she do such a thing?
Before he had a moment to think, he saw Samuel emerge from the direction of the well with the shotgun up against his shoulder. He lumbered across the empty space as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Hatred filled Matthew. He despised Samuel. After everything Matthew had done to try to make nice with him, Samuel had betrayed him yet again. Because of his greed, Samuel had probably gotten Wyatt and Jade killed. And now he was holding Matthew’s family hostage.
Samuel waved as he got closer to Nikki, and Matthew watched as Nikki smiled at Samuel. The two were obviously friendly with each other. God, how could he have been so blind? Wyatt had sworn up and down that the gun club wasn’t responsible for all the accidents that had happened around the hotel. It looked like the Marine had been deceived as well. Somehow, Nikki and Samuel had plotted to infiltrate the hotel. Nikki had gained their trust and they had let their guard down. She struck just when they least expected it. When they were at their weakest.
Nikki said something to Samuel, but Matthew couldn’t make out what it was. He was too far away, but he heard the soft muffled tone of her speech. Samuel grinned in response and made the same wide sweeping gestures he had before when Matthew had visited his auto yard commune, as if everyone were his subjects and this was his kingdom. He gestured to the fallen man on the ground who called out for help, but Samuel ignored him. Nikki pointed the gun at Allison as if accusing her, and it took everything in Matthew’s power not to sprint into the fray to protect his only daughter.
Whatever conversation was passing between Nikki and Samuel, it made Allison scrunch her face up in revulsion. She seemed to be concentrating on the injured man. Matthew wondered if Allison was the reason for the man’s leg wound. If that was the case, did they have Patton somewhere inside? Were they keeping him hostage to ensure that the women obeyed and didn’t try to fight back? Matthew hoped his son was safe somewhere. Samuel laughed at Allison’s expression and clapped her on the shoulder before leering at her.
EMP Catastrophe | Book 3 | Erupting Chaos Page 21