Free Endless Flames (Surviving Ashes, Book Four) by Kennedy Layne Page B

yell at them to get out of the vehicle. He was waving his weapon around, but Berke didn’t move a muscle. He sat still and ready, already five steps ahead of how this would unravel. It was very much like a chess game and checkmate was closer than anyone on the opposing team imagined. The man in white stepped away from the two still looting the dead man’s car and tentatively pointed his S&W Model 586 .357 Magnum revolver toward the passenger side of the truck.
    “Get out! Get out now!”
    Berke could have sworn he heard a few curse words being mumbled underneath Maxie’s breath, but it was covered at the first sound of a loud cry. Jacob didn’t like the headphones and was no doubt trying to get them off of his head. She was going to have her hands full making sure they stayed in place if he wanted to hear after this was all said and done. The sound of two weapons firing inside this small truck cab was going to be deafening. He had to trust that she was alert to what was coming their way.
    “Two o’clock,” Berke muttered, drawing his pistol out of his shoulder holster. He wasn’t left-handed, but he could still shoot better than these fools. He aimed his two weapons in opposite directions. The man wearing the blue shirt raised his AR style rifle and fired it into the air once more, wasting more rounds in his magazine as if that would convince Berke to open his door. Not a chance in hell. “He won’t come too close and the other two are too busy loading up supplies from the other car. Make sure your aim is on target.”
    “I was hoping you’d say it wouldn’t come to that,” Maxie whispered, although she hid her fear rather well. There wasn’t a tremor in her tone and she wasn’t hedging as far as he could tell. He could hear the slight scuffle between her and Jacob, but at least his cries had somewhat subsided. “I’m really not liking this end of the world shit as much as I thought.”
    “Last warning! Get out!”
    Berke didn’t blink as the man in blue came rushing toward the driver’s side door, trying to advance the situation. He kept a steady gaze as he timed raising the barrel of his Sig 1911 perfectly, so that there was no mistaking the message he’d just sent. He spoke before the man could lower his weapon and do something they’d both regret.
    “This is how the next minute is going to go,” Berke advised, his voice carrying through the window. He kept his voice even so this son-of-a-bitch understood who was in charge. “You and your group are going to lay down your weapons and walk away as the people behind me go around the carnage you created up ahead. You’re going to return to wherever you came from and you aren’t going to look back or I’ll drop you where you stand. Is that clear?”
    “What did you just say?” the leader asked as he let his weapon fall until the forehand grip rested in his left hand. There was a wild look in his eyes that Berke had seen quite a few times during his combat tours. Berke’s index finger pulled up the slack in the trigger, but he didn’t fire. “You have balls, man. But you won’t have them for long if you don’t get out of that truck.”
    “You start shooting in this direction and we’ll all be blown sky high,” Berke advised, wondering if this idiot could decipher when someone was telling him the truth. “The supplies I have in the bed will light this place up like it’s the Fourth of July.”
    “It sounds like I might be interested in what you’ve got, man,” the man called out, displaying even more stupidity. “Does it look like I’m playing around with you? Does it? You’ll end up on the side of the road just like that one over there if you don’t get out of that truck right now.”
    “Well, we have the attention of the other two,” Maxie said softly as she leaned forward. Berke bit back a reply, needing her to sit back and not draw attention to herself. The woman on the side of the road was now running, weaving in and out of