California Schemin' - Kate George [70]
A silver Sentra appeared around a curve coming toward us, causing me to slow down. No sense getting another vehicle involved in our debacle. I heard a grunt from the back, but I didn’t dare turn around to see who was getting walloped on.
A flash of pink caught my eye as the Sentra passed, and a pair of startled blues eyes took us in as we passed.
“Madison!” I stomped on the brakes and glanced around in time to see her spin the rear of the Sentra around and screech to a stop behind us. She was out of the car and pulling a gun from her hip before my thought processes kicked in. Beau was under Guy, blocking blows with his forearms. They were jammed into the little cargo space, and there wasn’t enough room for either of them to get a good hit on the other.
Madison came up behind the Jeep. Her hair was short now and spiked straight up. “This one?” she mouthed at me. I nodded, and she placed the barrel of the handgun up against his head. Guy froze and shifted his eyes in her direction. His hands dropped to his thighs, and I scanned for a weapon, but he appeared to be unarmed. Guess he didn’t feel the need to pack while we were just hanging around the house.
Madison reached out and pulled a gun out from the small of his back, hidden by his sweatshirt. She felt around his ankles and pulled a knife from his boot on one side and a tiny handgun from the other. So much for my powers of observation.
“Why didn’t you just shoot me?” Beau asked. “Wouldn’t that have been a lot easier?”
“I only use weapons as a last resort. Hand-to-hand is much more …” Guy paused, “personal.”
I had the feeling the word he really wanted was “satisfying,” but I kept that thought to myself.
“And I had orders not to shoot anyone,” he added as Madison cuffed his hands behind his back and hauled him out of the Jeep. He was pretty agile, but even so he ended up on his ass in the dirt. He got to his feet without saying anything, which surprised me.
“Are you all okay?” I asked Beau and the two girls. Paris and Wendy nodded. Wendy was trying to unfasten the seatbelt, and I thought she wanted nothing more than to get out of that Jeep and never get in again. I hit the release button for her, and the girls sprang apart and tumbled out onto the road.
“I’m fine.” Beau climbed back over the back of the seat and propped his leg up. “But I think I’d better get this leg re-casted. Does she know she looks like a pink hedgehog?”
His lip was bleeding, and he had a bruise on his cheek and another on his forehead. His cast was in worse shape.
“She thinks she’s a shape-shifting alien. I don’t think looking like a hedgehog is going to faze her. Oh, hey, that sounds like a pun. Get it? Shape-shifting, phasing?”
“There’s something wrong with you.” Beau shot me a disgusted look. “Seriously wrong.”
While Madison locked Guy in the back of her car, I got out and stood on the road. My heart was racing, and I leaned against the Jeep, which wasn’t all that easy as there was more empty space than there was metal. I leaned into the back seat, giving Beau the once over.
“We’d better get you to the hospital,” I said. “You’re a mess. Are you sure you’re all right?” I dabbed at the blood on the corner of his mouth.
“That hurts.” Beau jerked his head away from my touch. “Nothing irreparable, but I’d rather not have to fight off any more bad guys for you.”
Madison appeared at the side of the car, speaking into her cell phone. She flipped it closed and looked at Beau. “You should get out of here. Take him to the hospital in Grass Valley. I’ll deal with this guy.”
“Be careful, you’re outnumbered if they show up from the cabin.”
“I’ve got back-up coming, and Hambecker is in their camp, although to be truthful, I’m not really sure whose side he’s on. We’ve been saying he’s FBI, but I don’t rightly know who he’s with. The intel is he’s an agent of some sort, but he doesn’t show up on the rosters in any of the regular agencies.”
“MIB,