There was hesitation on the other end, and Jamie’s hand began to shake even worse. “You should be able to kill him,” Aaron finally replied.
“Should or can?” Jamie clarified. Alex was slowly moving toward the bike now, saying something about not wanting to hurt anyone but needing to be on his way. Aaron didn’t answer directly again, so Jamie demanded, “Aaron! Should or can?”
“Can. Can!” Aaron replied, and though Jamie knew the Guardian Leader had killed Camilla with a titanium bullet, that all of Christian’s tests had shown that Guardians could kill Hunters with said titanium bullets, he really didn’t want to find out.
“Alex, stop!” Jamie demanded as the Hunter stood directly across from him now in the middle of the road. “I’m not going to warn you again. I can--and will--shoot you. And if I’m going to shoot you, it’s not going to be a flesh wound. I will kill you.”
Alex smiled, “Jamie, this is all a grand bluff, and I appreciate the effort. I don’t want to hurt you. I have a lot of respect for you.” Over Jamie’s shoulder, Alex could see a vehicle approaching. At this point, he had to assume it was back up. “I won’t be taking any chances either. If I fire, you will die.” He glanced at the bike now and saw that he was only ten paces away.
Looking at the bike and back at Alex, Jamie knew he needed to do something now if he was going to do anything at all. If they fired at the same time, Alex could potentially hit him first, and he wouldn’t get a chance to prove he was right. “Alex….”
“Jamie….”
The gun came up then, and time was up. Jamie aimed and dropped backward at the same time, hoping his movement wouldn’t throw him off target. He felt the bullet whizz over his head, and saw Alex drop to the ground, firing off a second shot. This one grazed Jamie’s right arm, and he fired again as he fell to his left. This time, Alex did not return fire, and even from this vantage point, it was clear to Jamie why not. While his first shot would have been deadly, lodging in Alex’s chest, the second bullet left a trail of blood dripping down the middle of the Hunter’s face right between his eyes.
“Are you okay?” Aurora asked. She was at his side now, assessing the damage.
Nodding, Jamie gestured at Alex. “Go… make sure,” he said quietly.
With one more glance at her friend, Aurora hurried over to the other Hunter, knocking his gun out of his hand with her foot as she did so. She kneeled down beside him and felt for a pulse. “He’s dead, all right,” she said, glancing back at Jamie over his shoulder.
“I knew you could kill him,” Aaron chimed in over the IAC, though the fact that he was even saying it let Jamie know that he hadn’t been positive.
Jamie ignored the remark and turned his attention back to Aurora. While he was relieved to hear the threat was over, he took no pleasure in killing someone who should have been on their side. “I didn’t have a choice,” he muttered as Aurora came back over to him.
“It’s okay,” she said, dropping back down next to him. “You did what you had to do. He was helping Sam.”
“I know,” Jamie replied, pressing his left hand against the bullet wound, attempting to stop the bleeding with his healing powers, “but it never gets easy. This riff, it’s got to be over soon. I don’t think we can survive it, Aurora.”
The redhead had no words in response. Luckily for her, Cassie and Truitt pulled up behind them, and she didn’t have to say anything. “Come on, let’s get you out of here,” she finally said standing and attempting to pull him up with her.
“Give me a minute,” Jamie replied. “And when I do get up, I’m getting on that bike. This isn’t over yet.”
Cadence finally had Sam in her line of sight. She had caught up to Christian and Meagan a few miles back, and promptly passed them. While Sam was still at least a mile ahead of her, she had a target now, and she could see where he was going. There was an airport ahead, and that annoying little crop duster that had been spewing chemicals all over the place for the duration of the chase was parked next to what appeared to be a re-fueling station. “Can he fly that thing?” Cadence asked, hoping Aaron, or someone, would have some idea whether or not Sam was a pilot in a past life.
“I believe so,” Aaron assured her. “I think he may have had some experience flying way back around the middle of the century.”
“I take it you don’t mean the twenty-first century?” Cadence clarified--one of the risks of dating someone over a hundred years older than you.
“Right, as in World War II,” he confirmed. “And while that plane isn’t quite that old, it should be pretty similar to what he’s used to.”
Cadence could see that she was closing the distance between herself and Sam, but he was just about to the airport. “Great,” she muttered and then back to Aaron and the rest of the team she said, “So I guess I need to make sure he doesn’t get in that plane.”
“That would be ideal,” he replied, “but if he does, you’ll need to stay with him on the ground, and I’ll see what I can do from up here.”
The idea of Aaron getting into a dogfight with Sam at three thousand feet was terrifying, so Cadence hit the gas. However, she did not see the pothole in the road until a split second too late. Before she could avoid it, she caught the corner, spinning the bike out in a storm of gravel and dirt. Thinking only of avoiding another injury, she held on for dear life as the bike screeched across the road, coming to rest in a ditch a few hundred yards away from the hole that had sent her sprawling.
The wheels on the bike were still spinning as she paused to assess the damage. She didn’t seem to be hurt, though she had a mouth full of dirt and found herself choking. She cut the engine, righting the bike as she did so, flipped up the bottom of her helmet, and spit out as much of the debris as she could, wiping her hand on the back of her sleeve.
“You okay?” Aaron asked, his voice indicating that he could see that she was.
“Yes, just pissed,” she replied, hearing Christian and Meagan approaching.
“He’s not in the air yet,” the pilot reminded her, and adjusting her helmet, she continued her pursuit, hoping the pothole was a one-time deal because she was not pausing to look for more.
