Nobody liked to admit people they trust would betray them. My shock at being ambushed turned to anger.
I reloaded my Sig, took aim, and fired again.
Ten more minutes ticked by. I estimated three or four men were left firing at us. At the first break in the shooting, I rushed the remaining shooters. I nailed two of them, and Jess, who’d followed, took out two.
“I’ll check on our guys. You take care of these bastards,” Jess said, pointing at the dead men.
“Will there be a reward for my good behavior?” I tease. “Like maybe sex?”
“Oh my God, Tommy. That’s so inappropriate.” She laughs and winks at me. “When we get home, that’s the plan.”
Yeah, inappropriate, but I wanted to see one more smile from Jess before this nightmare gets worse. Our team members are likely dead, and she’ll take it hard.
I kicked one of the trafficker’s boots.
Dead.
Before Jess took two steps, she turned around and gave
me a thumbs up. That’s when another one of the dead bastards rose, pointing his gun in my direction. He’d had a fucking Kevlar vest on.
Jess knocks into me, at the same time firing her weapon. She nailed the shooter’s forehead, dead center. He dropped like a sack of bricks, a look of shock blanketing his face. Next to me, Jess hit the dirt.
I offered her a hand up. “Dammit, Jess, you’ve got to be careful. I was ready to fire when you knocked into me. I could’ve shot you.”
She looked at me, her eyes glassy. “Couldn’t take a chance, Tommy. I could never live without you.”
Her voice was weak, and I couldn’t pull her to her feet. “What the fuck, Jess?” My heart began to beat harder. I could feel and hear the blood rushing faster through my veins.
2

That’s when I saw blood running though the fingers of the hand she held over her belly. The woman I loved more than anything in the world had been shot trying to protect me while I’d been too busy making jokes about sex to notice what was going on around me.