I opened my mouth, trying to hear myself, but I couldn’t. It was as if someone had thrown a veil over me. I could see out, but I couldn’t hear, not fully. Everything was muffled. Then pain exploded inside my head, and as the ringing started to dull, I could hear again. I could hear too much now.

“Cart-” someone yelled. That sounded like Mike, was it? My heart was pounding.

I started to move closer to the door.

Bang! Bang!

I swayed to the side as someone flew against the car. Then, with a low grunt, he pushed off just as quickly.

“Carter!”

That was someone else, maybe Gene?

My heart was pounding in my ears as I moved even closer. My fingers grabbed onto the leather exterior, but I couldn’t get a good grasp. I was still kneeling on the floor and moved over until I was at the edge of the opened door—bang! Bang!

I jerked back, eyes wide. My heart jumped up into my throat. It was right there, ready to burst out of me, but then I gritted my teeth. I was a part of this. I was the reason for this. I had to see.

As I stuck my head out of the car, three pairs of legs blocked my view. They had formed a living wall to my opened door, and I fell to the ground. A burning sensation registered with me, but it was so far away. I barely felt it. I would deal with it later. As I knelt there, I peeked between their legs. They had them planted with their arms raised and guns pointed outwards.

I saw Carter in the distance. He was behind a car that had stopped behind us. Another was left abandoned to the side. All of its doors were open and a fire had started from inside. As the flames leapt higher, smoke filled the night sky. It was becoming overwhelming, but I couldn’t look away from Carter. A streetlight glowed above him, and I watched him lift a man to his feet, hit him with the butt of his gun, and let him fall to the ground, unconscious. Then he looked around. He looked calm. He wasn’t alarmed like me. But no, he wasn’t calm. He was enlivened. I sucked in my breath. His eyes narrowed. He raised his gun and thumbed off two bullets. A body fell against the front of the other car and slid to the ground. A gun scattered on the ground next to him. It slid all the way to our car and underneath. It was behind the tire closest to me and I reached for it.

I didn’t know what I was doing. I just knew that I needed to help. I needed to do something.

As I gritted my teeth, I stretched my arm out farther. The tips of my fingers brushed the metal. It was hot and burned me so I knocked it to the side to get a better hold. When my hand closed around the handle, I felt myself being lifted back to my feet. The gun came with me.

Mike was startled as he held me in the air. My feet dangled and skimmed the ground. His grip tightened on my arm and I knew it would bruise, but nothing mattered except the gun in my hand. And Carter. Where was Carter? I looked again.

He was fighting another man. This one was twice his size. He threw a punch. Carter dodged it and jammed his elbow into the guy’s face. As he stumbled back, Carter kicked at his knees. The man fell down, but Carter wasn’t done. He raised his gun once again and brought the back end of it down with all his strength. The guy fell backwards.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

More shots rang out.

Carter looked over. His eyes widened when he saw me, now clasped against Mike’s chest. Then he jerked his gun up and pointed straight at me.

I watched, in almost sick fascination, as his thumb pulled the trigger.

“Agh!”

Mike whirled. I went with him. We both saw a man behind us on the ground. Carter had shot him. Blood seeped from his forehead and his gun fell to the ground.

“Get her out of here!”

“Sir?”

Carter had sprinted back. He waved us off. “Get her out of here. Now.”

Mike threw me inside and flung himself next to me. I was pushed to the ground before I realized what was going on and the car sped off.

“No!” I tried to get up. “Carter!”

The hand on my head tightened. I was held in place. He had half of his body over mine and he yelled in my ear, “He’ll be safe.”

“Carter!”

Mike shook his head next to mine. His voice softened. “He’ll be safe, Emma. He wants you to be safe more than him.”

“No!” I tried to claw at his arm. I needed to get free and get back to Carter. “We left him behind.”

“No.” He shook his head again. Both of his arms came around me now. “There’s another car. He’ll come with that car.”

We had gone too far. I knew I couldn’t get back to him so I listened to what he said. Carter would come with the next car. He had to. Everything would be fine, but as we went back to Carter’s home, I looked down. The gun was still in my hand.

Carter watched as two cars sped away with Emma in the back. She was safe. He kept telling himself that. She was safe. He needed to make sure there were no others and he was one of the best. He was needed there, not with her. Not yet.

There was a third car, and he sprinted over to it. The driver had been shot and slumped over the steering wheel, sounding the horn. Carter pulled his body back to silence it. Then he sensed movement in the back seat and ripped out a struggling man. The man swung his arm around, trying to aim his gun at Carter but it was knocked away. The man kicked out. That was blocked as well. He swung his other leg at him, but was pinned to the car. He couldn’t do a thing but glare at his captor.

Carter stared at him. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t blink. His eyes were blank. They were ice-cold blue.

Gene hurried over. The taller, older man stopped and glanced around. He stroked his jaw. “That was the first hit.”