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Curses filled the air The Hurasped the wheel desperately with his left hand to keep control He punched his right hand back, trying to hit her in the face, but she dodged and then sank her teeth into his wrist

She gagged as the taste of blood filled herat her with his left hand As soon as his hand left the wheel, the Hue bump and the world went crazy around her

Up becaue sensation that she was in deep shit, and then she closed her eyes and prayed

Her head cracked against soh her hand And then suddenly everything went still

Though her head throbbed, she cautiously cracked her eyes open The Huhted She looked over at To wheel Blood splattered the windshield in front of hi down the side of his head

Her hand hurt

Oh God, she was losing it Was that all she could coazillion tiistered was that her fingers ached like a son of a bitch

She looked down to see her pinkie and ring finger already swelling The angle of her ring finger looked off, but her brain was so fuzzed all she could do was stare dumbly at her hand

Out Get out, Sophie

She reached across her body with her left hand to open the door Let it open Please She didn’t want to have to crawl out the

It popped open a few inches and stuck stubbornly

She bued toin frustration, she rotated her body and leaned back toward To the whole tiainst the door and pushed with all her strength

The ed to pry it open enough that she could get out Eagerly she scooted forward until her legs stuck through the opening When she automatically reached for the door frame to brace herself, she hissed in pain and yanked her injured hand back

She shook it to try and assuage the horrible ache, and finally opted to rest it firain," shethe vest was in the way and that she had a better chance of squeezing through the opening without it, she fus until she loosened the vest enough to shrug out of it Then she sucked in all her breath and eased her way between the door and the truck fraainst the beat-up Hu exhale

Son that soing spirits, and she stared out over the rocky terrain They’d driven severalto do would be to retrace that path

As she pushed away from the truck, she heard the sound of a vehicle in the distance She put her uninjured hand to her forehead and scanned the horizon

A chill went up her spine when she spotted the other Huo down Half the side of his head was gone He was dead This wasn’t hi fiercely She took one step forward Her knees shook, and her mouth went dry She took one more step when the truck hurled over a rise about fifty yards away It fishtailed, then ca halt The doors flew open, and she heard her name shouted

Relief poured over her soul like a waterfall

Sam

She wanted to run to him, but she was rooted to the spot where she stood like some statue Sam and Garrett piled out and Donovan and Ethan jued from concern and relief to horror

She frowned

"Sophie!" Sam yelled

Saun from his belt and aimed at a point beyond her

Stunned, she turned to see what they were seeing She recoiled when she saw Toe He looked like hell, blood covering most of his face and head But he took jerky steps toward her, and worse, he had the gun in his hand, and it was pointed directly at her And she was no longer wearing her vest

There was a hollow-eyed, vacant expression hovering over hiloom Sophie wasn’t sure he had a clue who he here he was or what the hell he was doing, but he had that gun pointed at her, and he seehten and she hunched in on herself, covering her belly as she tried to drop to safety The shot exploded across the space just as a blur of ht her eye and Garrett exploded past her

He flew, literally flew, through the air, arms outstretched as he threw himself in front of her body

The sound of the bullet s his flesh was a sound she’d remember for the rest of her life

"No!" she cried

She dropped over his body just as a second shot exploded through the air And a third She didn’t look up

"Garrett Garrett!"

She raged at hiet hiroaned and rolled to his back, holding up his ar to finish e suffused her face until her cheeks burned with heat

"Why did you do that? Are you an idiot?" she yelled "You don’t even like me, Garrett How could you throw yourself in front of me? What if you die?"

She broke down as sobs tore painfully froe body as close to her as she could, while she wept on his neck

"Why?" she whispered "Why would you do soh her hair, and then he gathered the strands in his fingers and pulled carefully until her head came away from his chest and he could look her in the eye

"Because that’s what family does," he said in a soft, pain-filled voice

CHAPTER 31

SOPHIE stared down into Garrett’s eyes--eyes that were glazed with pain and beginning to fade Warmth spread under her hand, and she looked down to see her palers and over his shirt

No No, no, no The bullet had struck him where he wasn’t protected

She shook her head in denial as tears coursed down her face

"Sophie, honey, stop looking at ruffly "You’ll haveto die"

"You’re not?" she asked in a quivery voice

"I hurt like a son of a bitch, but I’ vital was hit That’s what the vest is for"

She lifted her hand and sed in horror at the sticky blood that covered her pal to her?

"Sophie, move away, letat her arrim orry She allowed him to pick her up, and then she stumbled away as Donovan bent over Garrett

I Saht? Are you hurt? Talk to me, Sophie Are you and the baby okay?"