Disavowed(93)

Georgia’s jaw flexed once, blood dripping off it from a wound near her hairline. After a long moment she exhaled and lowered the pistol. “Fine. But I—”

Two closely-spaced shots rang out from behind them, followed by two more in rapid succession.

Briar whirled, pulse skyrocketing as she searched for Matt in the trees beyond the buildings across the road. “Matt!”

He didn’t answer.

Shit.

Briar took off with her heart in her throat, running as fast as she could toward where those shots had come from. She could hear Georgia charging behind her, didn’t slow down or bother ordering her to stay back. All she cared about was reaching Matt and making sure he was okay. If Balducci hurt Matt, she’d kill the fucking asshole herself.

She passed the rear of the closest building, headed for the trees. Matt!

Another shot echoed from the trees up ahead, slightly to the right.

God, if he died she didn’t know what she’d—

She skidded to a halt when she made out two shadowed silhouettes a few dozen yards ahead. They were on the ground rolling together, male growls and grunts ripping through the air.

Briar circled around to take them from behind and watched in horror as they took a sudden roll down an embankment. They tumbled one over the other, still locked in a death struggle, finally slamming into a tree with a bone-jarring thud. The figure on top rolled to the side and rested on all fours, breathing hard. The man on the ground groaned and shifted slightly but didn’t get up. She couldn’t tell which one was Matt as she rushed toward them.

Then the one on his hands and knees pushed to his feet and there was enough light filtering through the trees from the distant streetlamps for Briar to see his face.

Balducci.

Rage like she’d never experienced tore through her, obliterating every thought, every feeling. She charged at him. He whirled, saw her and bent to pick up the pistol on the ground at his feet. Briar fired, hitting him twice in the chest. He grunted and fell to his knees but didn’t topple over.

Kevlar.

In reflex she aimed at his leg and fired, hitting him in the thigh. Balducci howled and grabbed his leg with both hands as he toppled over and tried to crawl away.

Briar wasn’t done.

She was barely in control, her brain functioning only enough to keep from firing at his head as she sprinted forward and dove at him, a feral snarl tearing from her throat. Her shoulder slammed into his back, knocking him to the ground. Immediately she twisted around to lock her right arm around his throat and wrenched it up and back, squeezing to cut off his air. Her muscles shook with the effort, squeezing as hard as she could. He’d shot Matt.

His hands clawed at her arm, fingers desperately trying to pry her forearm away.

She didn’t let go.

With a terrible wheezing sound he flung a hand up and got her in the face, nails raking across her cheek and jaw. She barely felt the sting, didn’t care as she squeezed for all she was worth, focused solely on choking him out, trying to steal a glance at Matt to see how bad his wounds were. He was stirring, trying to sit up.

She turned her full attention back to Balducci and put everything she had into the chokehold. Janaia’s face, laughing and smiling with her kids, flashed in her mind. She thought of the explosives that assassin had planted on the house in Lake Placid, and of the murders she’d been framed for.

Someone shouted at her but it sounded so far away it barely penetrated the fog of rage engulfing her. Balducci clawed the side of her neck this time, fingers digging into her windpipe. Briar twisted her body to the side to break the hold, heard the bones in his forearm snap and felt his body arch, his mouth opening in a nearly soundless gurgle of agony as she squeezed the life out of him.

How’s it feel? How does it fucking feel to suffocate to death the way Janaia did, you bastard?

She felt him begin to weaken, start to sag in her grip. She wasn’t letting go. She—

Strong hands grabbed her shoulders and ripped her backward. She lost her grip. Balducci fell to the ground as her back hit the damp earth, heaving in a desperate breath. She rolled, intending to launch herself back at him but another hand grabbed her upper arm and swung her around.

“Briar.”

The urgency, the command in that familiar voice, froze her. She stilled and looked into Matt’s strained face. Belatedly she realized she was shaking all over, the sound of approaching sirens growing louder by the second. His expression was tight with pain, blood on the left side of his face. In her peripheral vision she saw Georgia standing before Balducci, her pistol aimed at his head. But she didn’t fire.

Briar gulped in a breath of air and put her hand on the blood on Matt’s face, unable to stop shaking. “You’re hurt. Where are you hurt?” Fear coursed through her when he grimaced and shifted slightly. She could see the blood glistening black against his left shoulder, immediately pressed her hands over it but he jerked back. He swore and shut his eyes, his whole body tensing.