No Ordinary Day by Tate, Harley (best large ereader .txt) 📕

gun, I can do it. I’m a good shot, it doesn’t need to be close range. I can pretend he’s just another mark.”

Emma pressed her lips together. The handgun belonging to the man she killed dug into her hip bone, wedged beneath the waistband of her dirty dress pants. While John had been inside the bedroom, Raymond insisted she take it. She’d protested, arguing that the last thing she wanted was to shoot another person, but Raymond refused to budge.

She reached for the weapon now, hesitating as her fingers grazed the cold metal. “Are you sure there’s no other way?”

John shook his head. “I can’t kill him with my bare hands. It isn’t right.”

Emma pulled the gun free as the door to the cabin swung open.

“That won’t be necessary.” Raymond stepped forward and plucked the gun from Emma’s grip before John took it.

“Why not?” Emma stared up at him in confusion.

“Because he’s dead.”

Emma’s eyes widened. “Did you?”

“Can’t say I had the honor.” Raymond glanced back toward the open door. “Think the poor guy’s stomach wound was worse than we thought. Internal bleeding most likely. Died in his sleep, the lucky bastard.”

John spun around, hand on his head. His shoulders heaved and Emma turned back to Raymond. “You need to lighten up, Ray. He was John’s friend.”

“I don’t care if he was a long-lost brother. He tried to kill Gloria. Almost succeeded. He deserved worse.”

John spun, anger flaring behind glassy eyes. “So, Nick’s no good because he tried to kill your wife, but all those people in the Walmart, the ones who are already desperate? Those are just helpless souls you can try to save?”

Raymond lifted a brow. “I don’t see how the two are connected in any way.”

John rolled his eyes. “You wouldn’t, would you? Give those people another week or two, let the real pangs of hunger set in and they’ll be ten times worse than Nick or Simpson or even me. They’ll come for you any way they can, and it won’t be a bullet to the brain. It’ll be a hell of a lot worse.”

“I know you have no faith in humanity, being a hired killer and all, but I don’t share your same analysis. Most people are good, even when faced with a bit of hardship.”

“It’s easy to think that way when times are plentiful. But when everything goes sideways, it’s not the neighbor who mows his lawn every Saturday and lends you a cup of sugar when you ask that you want by your side. It’s men like me.”

Raymond stepped closer. “I will never want men like you by my side. No matter how terrible it gets. As far as I’m concerned you should be bleeding out just like your friend in there.” He jerked his thumb toward the cabin.

John grumbled a curse and stormed past Raymond to duck inside.

Emma pinned Raymond with a disapproving glare. “You didn’t have to be so excited the man was dead.”

He shrugged. “Can’t help it.”

“You should try.” Emma pushed past him, irritated and annoyed at his continued inability to give John a chance.

While they had talked outside, Gloria and Holly had made their way to the kitchen where cuts of meat lined the counter. Gloria stood over a metal smoker as she wiped it down with paper towels. She smiled as Emma walked in. “We’re about to fire this up and start preserving this meat. Want to join?”

Emma opened her mouth to agree, but John cut in. “It’s not safe here.”

Gloria glanced at Emma. “What do you mean?”

John tore a hand through his buzzcut. “You might have neutralized the threat today, but Dane won’t quit. He’s going to keep sending men until no one’s left. The payoff is too high, and the client is too important.”

“What are you saying?”

John exhaled as Raymond stepped inside the cabin. “I’m saying we need to leave. Today.”

Chapter Ten

John

“What do you mean, leave? We have everything we could possibly want here.” Raymond tapped his fingers as he ran off the list. “Food, water, energy, seclusion. If we pack up and leave, half of our supplies have to stay behind.” He shook his head. “It will be suicide.”

John didn’t respond right away. He didn’t know how to make sense of anything. He didn’t know how to convince these people what was in their best interest. He turned to Emma. “You know I’m right. If you stay here, more men like Nick will come. They won’t stop for anything. Dane will make sure of it.” He stepped closer to her. “I might be able to fight the first few off, but at some point, one of them will win.”

He spun on his heel, taking in the hardened scowl on Raymond’s face and the doubt coloring Gloria’s cheeks. He threw up his hands. “Is that what you want? You want to stay here in your little compound, ticking down the minutes until someone puts a bullet between your eyes? Because that’s what’s going to happen. You’re sitting ducks.”

Raymond began to protest, but John talked over him, throwing his arms out for emphasis. “If Nick and Simpson tracked you down here within hours, someone else will be sure to follow. Someone who won’t be so easily conquered. Dane will call in the big guns.”

The more he thought about everything that had happened, the more Nick’s words rushed through his head, the more adamant John grew. “This isn’t a minor hit anymore. The stakes are too high and the payoff too great for Dane to give up. He won’t stop until Emma, Gloria, and anyone who defends them are dead.”

John’s breath came hot and hard as he sucked air into his lungs. A tirade hadn’t been his intention, but it’s what came out. He was done holding back to protect his precarious situation. If they refused to listen…

Raymond gripped the back of the kitchen chair, nails digging into the lacquered wood. “Everything we’ve worked for is here. What we’ve assembled can sustain us for years. I can’t