Condemn (BUNKER 12 Book 2) (42 page)

In the new quiet, Finn heard the
stumbling gait of hooves at the ridgeline, and he swiveled the
rifle there. A horse appeared. Its side was wet with blood. The
rider was gone. Bix had succeeded. Now there was only
Luke.

And Adrian. Where the hell
is he? Is he in the back of the truck?

Finn lifted his head to look to the
horizon. The glint from before was still there, a little more
pronounced. He thought he could see a cloud of dust rising up
behind it, but they were still too far away.

"Give it up, Reverend!" Bix shouted
from his hiding place. "Four of your men are dead. In just a few
minutes, you're going to be surrounded!"

A figure appeared around the other
side of the truck. Finn thought it might be Adrian, but it wasn't.
It was Luke again. He held someone tight against his chest. "Go
ahead and shoot," he cried up at the hill. "But you better not
miss!"

"No!" Bren shrieked. "Please
no!"

Luke waited. "Yeah, I didn't think so. Come out and let's
talk."

"Oh, I'm good right here," Bix yelled
back.

"Why don't you tell the reverend to
come out," Finn called from his hiding spot. "We'll talk with
him."

Luke spun around and tried to locate
him in the trees. He didn't seem to realize that Finn was a lot
closer. "No, you talk to me. Father Adrian is . . .
a little busy right now."

"Tell Luke to let her go, Reverend!"
Finn shouted. "Take me instead. Leave everyone else."

Luke's eyes turned to the sign. He
smiled. "I see you hiding there."

"Stay cool, Finn!" Bix yelled. "It's
all of us or nothing!"

"Bix!"

"Stay right where you are,
Finn!"

Luke laughed at their disagreement and
pulled Bren tighter against him. She struggled and let out a soft
cry. She couldn't do much, as her hands were bound behind her
back.

"If you hurt her," Finn shouted, "so
help me God, I'll—"

"What?" Luke snapped. "God don't help
sinners."

"Look up the road," Bix said. "Our
friends are going to be here in less than five minutes. You'll be
surrounded. There's no way you'll get out of this alive once they
arrive."

"Then we all die. Y'all got till the
count of five to come out, unarmed. Or else I put a bullet in this
pretty little lady's brain."

"Wait—"

"One two, buckle my shoe!" Luke
shouted in rapid succession. "THREE FOUR CLOSE THE FUCKING DOOR! I
swear, I will shoot her!"

"No! Okay! Stop!" Finn stood up and
stepped to the side of the highway sign. He held his hands up to
show that he didn't have a gun. "I'm unarmed. Don't hurt
her!"

"Finn!" Bren yelled. "No!"

"Tell the other one to come out,
too!"

"I'm here," Bix said, appearing at the
top of the hill. He was fully exposed in the sunlight, silhouetted
against the sky. But from that distance, Luke had little chance of
hitting him, especially with Bren struggling beneath him. Finn was
the easier target. "Stay cool, Finn."

"Hands up where I can see
them!"

Bix raised his hands. "Where's the
reverend? We talk to him only!"

"You talk to me!" Luke shouted
back.

"Why are you doing this?" Finn asked
again. "What did we ever do to you?"

Bix started to descend the hill. Luke
raised the pistol and screamed at him to stay right where he was.
"Don't come any closer. Y'hear?"

He began to drag Bren toward the back
of the truck, keeping her between him and the boys. The motorcycle
rider on the road was beginning to stir. Finn realized that Luke
had shot him only with a stun gun.

Why shoot him at
all?

"Get up!" Luke grunted at
him.

But the man just groaned and didn't
move.

"Useless piece of sh—" He kicked the
man again, then whipped the pistol around and shot him.

A small spray of red appeared in the
air. The figure jerked and grabbed his leg. Bren screamed, but it
was drowned out by a louder cry of anguish from the back of the
truck. A body fell out and onto the road, hitting the hot pavement
with a sickening crunch.

"Why are you doing this?" Finn yelled,
as Luke holstered the gun and replaced it with a knife.

The fallen person struggled upright,
still keening. Finn saw that it was Maria Caprio, and with a
sickening feeling in his stomach, he knew before Luke cut her
bindings that the motorcycle rider in the helmet was her husband,
Vincenti.

It sickened him to realize that Luke
had sent one of their own ahead to scout ahead, perhaps suspecting
an ambush. Whether luck or intuition, Bix hadn't set off the
claymore to kill him.

But now Vincenti lay on the road
writhing in agony and cursing.

Luke pulled Maria up by her hair,
separating her from her husband, and ordered her to start walking
toward the approaching pickup truck. "Make sure they stop! I don't
want them to get any closer."

"No! I won't!"

Another shot rang out, and Vincenti
screamed again and clutched at his other leg.

"Oh no!" Maria shrieked. But Luke
pushed her brutally away.

The pickup truck was clearly visible
now in the distance.

Luke watched her limp up the road
before turning and pushing Bren toward Finn.

"The good Lord don't tolerate
unrepentant sinners, boy," he said.

He came to a stop about thirty feet
away. Bren was shaking terribly beneath his arm, which he'd wrapped
tight around her throat.

"And you, my boy, are about as
unrepentant as they come. That's what the reverend
says."

"He has a twisted idea of what those
things mean," Finn spat.

He had taken the opportunity of Luke's
distraction with the Caprios to grab the rifle. He now had it
sighted on Luke's head. But he was shaking and unsure he could even
pull the trigger.

"Why doesn't he come out and tell me
that himself?" Finn asked, his voice rising. "Or is he a
coward?"

The muscles in Luke's arm rippled as
his grip on Bren's neck tightened, choking her. She tried to
struggle, but he jammed the pistol hard into her side. "That's
better, honey," he said into her ear when she stopped
fighting.

"Let her go," Finn said. He tried to
keep his voice steady. He had to do something soon, or else Bren
would die anyway. She was turning blue. And the pickup truck had
stopped too far away to be of any help. It was up to him. But what
could he do? "Take me instead. It's me you want."

"Yes, it is." Luke jerked his head to
the side. "Drop the gun before you hurt someone. Start walking. To
the truck."

"Leave her here."

"No, I don't think so." He brought the
pistol up to her neck. "Drop it or I'll put a bullet in
her."

"Then you'll die, too."

The smile on Luke's face twitched. But
at least the color was returning to Bren's face. He started to back
away. "Let's go."

Finn followed, keeping the rifle
trained on Luke's head. "Tell Adrian to come out!"

They were getting closer to the back
corner of the truck. Finn knew he'd have to act soon. If he
didn't—

Gunfire erupted to Finn's left,
somewhere near the top of the hill. He almost turned to look. Luke
did, however, jerking the pistol in the direction of the ongoing
shots. It was all the distraction Finn needed.

At the same time, as if sensing that
it was her only chance to escape, Bren ducked out from under his
arm. Luke spun back, opening his mouth to yell, but Finn had
already centered the site of the rifle on his temple.

The bullet entered the man's head just
above the left eye. He stood for a moment with his mouth agape,
then he fell.

But so did Bren.

The gunfire on the ridge abruptly stopped. Finn barely noticed. He
fell to his knees beside Bren, calling her name and pulling at her
body, rolling her onto her back to find the bullet wound. There
were cuts all over her arms and face, but he couldn't find the one
that had sent her down.

"Fihhhn...?"
she whispered.

Her eyes fluttered open, but her gaze
was unfocused. A heartbeat passed before it cleared. Then she was
in his arms, sobbing. He clutched her to him, realizing she'd only
fainted.

But then he was pushing her away,
getting to his feet.

Adrian!
his mind screamed. He'd somehow gotten ahead of
them. That was the gunfire! But who was he shooting at?

Bren pulled him back. She wouldn't let
him go. She scratched at his arms and legs and sobbed.

"I have to finish this!" he said, and
stripped her hands from him. He ran back to the rifle and picked it
up. "It's over, Reverend!" he yelled, and aimed at the ridgeline.
Bix was gone. Finn angled for the back of the truck. "Or do you
want to die, too?"

He swung around, backpedaling on the
tarmac so he could see inside the canvas covering. But Bix was
already there, standing on the bumper and leaning in. He turned and
yelled at Finn not to shoot. "He's not here."

Finn froze. "But—"

"How about pointing that thing
somewhere else, Ace?"

"Whuh— Where is he?" Finn spun around
and scanned their surroundings. Next he checked underneath the
truck. "Where is he? Where did he go?"

Bren grabbed his arm. "He's not here,
Finn. He never was."

"What?" He swiveled the rifle to the
ridgeline again, expecting to see the man and several others coming
over it. "I heard gunshots."

"That was me, Finn," Bix
said.

"How?"

"First things first. Let's get the
others untied and Mister Caprio's legs bandaged up." He whistled at
the retreating figure of Maria in the distance and waved her back.
The pickup had reached her by then. They stopped to bring her
back.

Finn turned back to Bren. He couldn't
believe it was over so easily. She was still alive. They were all
still alive.

She hugged him tight again, then bent
down to attend to Mister Caprio.

The road beneath him was wet with his
blood. The pool spread, looking too big. But Finn knew it could've
been worse. He also knew he'd survive. He might not walk again. Or,
if he did, it would be with a limp. But he'd live. He had those
things inside his body, fixing him.

Bren tore a strip from his tattered
shirt and began to bind one of the wounds.

Bix appeared out of the back of the
truck again, Mister Largent by his side rubbing his wrists. Finn's
eyes widened. "Are Sammy and Mia—"

"Fine," Mister Largent said, his voice
a croak. "They're all fine. Scared, but unhurt."

Together with the men from the pickup,
they managed to lift Mister Caprio into the bed of the army truck
and out of the sun. They gave him water from one of the
packs.