Emrys and I finished our coffee and then made our way around the camp shaking tents and getting everyone up and ready to go for the day. The rest of the group grumbled about the ridiculous hour, but by the time Cy finally made his appearance looking rumpled and still tired, the horses were packed and ready to go, minus my tent. Lane shoved a granola bar at his brother while they discussed the best course of action to get us all back to the ranch.

Em and I were working on getting the fire out and properly covered when the first pops sounded. I wasn’t really sure what was happening but all of a sudden the horses were freaking out, rearing up on their hind legs, neighing loudly as they pulled at the tethers holding them in place. Evan screamed and wrapped her arms over her head as her mother grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the closest tree away from the wide open riverbank we were camped on. The girl’s father took a flying leap to land behind a tent while everyone else scrambled to find safety.

Sutton dove across the fire pit and took Em down to the ground. They rolled when he hit her and he made sure to keep her covered as more loud shots filled the air, sending pieces of earth chunks of bark flying as bullets pinged and popped all around us. Cy grabbed my arm and pulled me with him as he bolted for the tree line, as well. Lane was hot on our heels pushing Evan’s little brother in front of him, stopping and pulling the young boy up when he stumbled.

The two men stood in the center of camp while Sutton barked at them to take cover. The older one ignored him while the younger one dashed to his horse. He struggled to dig something out of the pack hanging on the side while the horse tugged and pulled to get free in its panic. The older man seemed to be scanning the dense forest line in search of where the shots were coming from, unconcerned about the bullets zipping past him. The gunshots continued to pepper the open camp but I was more alarmed with the fact that something warm and viscous was sliding down Cy’s arm and over my fingers where I held him as he kept me trapped between his body and the trunk of a large pine tree.

“What the fuck is that idiot doing?” The words were growled in my ear as more of his weight pressed into me. I craned my neck as far as I could to see what Cy was swearing about.

Webb and Grady were both standing in the center of the temporary camp, now armed and returning fire at the invisible assailants. The sound of gunfire was deafening as it echoed off of rocks and trees. I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed as close to Cy as I could. I tried not to worry too much about the blood dripping over my fingers since he didn’t seem overly bothered by it. I became startlingly aware that although this man seemed impenetrable, he wasn’t actually bulletproof.

No Easy Way Out

Both the men were scarily proficient with the weapons in their hands returning fire, so the campsite quickly turned into something that resembled a warzone. The gunshots from the faceless attackers continued to kick up rock and sand while chunks of bark peeled off of the trees all around us. The initial shots were probably meant as a warning, another tactic to scare us. It was clear whoever was doing all of this wanted to get us to move along. My best guess would be that they wanted us as far away from the hidden field of narcotics as they could get us. As soon as both Grady and Webb started shooting back, the threat from those returning fire became more real. A hunk of tree tore off right above where Cy was covering me and I heard him swear as the wooden shrapnel tore across his scalp. A brilliant red drop of blood trickled over the center of his forehead and across the bridge of his nose before he reached up with his injured arm to swipe at it.

I made a noise low in my throat and asked him if he had a pocket knife somewhere on him. Since he was proving to be more of a cowboy than I originally pegged him for, he produced a tiny folded blade from his front pocket. Ducking my head, I wiggled enough space between the two of us so that I could saw off part of the tail of my shirt and wrap the haphazard bandage around his oozing bicep. I knew it must have hurt because he didn’t protest the silent fussing or tell me to stop. I tore off another piece to dab at the wound on his head, which didn’t look as bad but was sure as hell bleeding a lot.

“What are we going to do?” I hated that my voice shook but I was scared and it didn’t sound like anyone was going to stop shooting anytime soon.

Cy grunted and pulled me down lower behind the tree as a branch from a tree next to us took a hit and broke off.

“I wish I had an answer to that question, Sunshine. Right now all we can do is lay low and wait to see what happens when the bullets run out.”

“This is bad.” I tucked my head under his chin and prayed that Em was okay. I couldn’t see much of anything beyond Cy’s chest and slivers of forest surrounding us.

He snorted and his hands tightened on my hips where he was holding me to the tree. “It sure as shit isn’t good. I knew those two oddballs weren’t who they said they were.”

I nodded and my hair brushed across the scruff on his face. “Why would they have guns and ammunition with them on a trail ride in the middle of nowhere?”

“That’s a good question. One I hope I get the opportunity to ask.”

“Son of a bitch!” The scream came from the younger of the two men and had Cy peering carefully around the trunk of the tree into the center of camp. Before I could ask if the man was hurt, all the popping and pinging of bullets stopped.

“You okay, Webb?” That was the older man hollering the question as Cy eased away from me and took a step to the side. I wanted to pull him back behind the tree just in case there was someone still hiding in the woods ready to take aim. I put both my hands on his injured arm and looked at him with pleading eyes.