The vehicle, a red sedan, powered through the swing door, tires squealing. The driver must have yanked on the parking brake because it slid across the warehouse floor side on. The man was a blur, but Lock saw enough to know who it was.
The Red Tiger had made his entrance. It was a one-man cavalry charge that had come too late.
Tang Bojun bailed out of the sedan before it had come to a stop. He tucked in behind the car, using it as moving cover. A second later he popped up from behind the trunk, and took aim with what looked to Lock like a Mossberg.
He squeezed a shot off at the back of the Suburban, blowing out the back windshield. Glass fragments flew everywhere.
Lock, meanwhile, was already on the move. His SIG was drawn, and pointed toward the MS-13 heavies, who were clambering out of the Suburban, guns in hand, and beginning to return fire at the Red Tiger.
Orzana had flung himself to the ground, and crawled under the hulking SUV—a wise decision, assuming no one moved it, in which case he’d be squashed like a bug.
Declining a conventional shooter’s stance that would narrow his body, Lock spread himself out, trying to get as much of his body between the fire zone and Emily and Charlie. He held fire, his finger ready on the trigger of the SIG. In the wild early exchanges of a gun fight, firing drew return fire.
He glanced up at the gantry. Ty was nowhere to be seen. Then he spotted him working his way down the metal steps. Lock put out his free hand and waved Emily and Charlie to the rear as he started to back up.
With all the action at the other end, and shots still being exchanged between the Red Tiger and MS-13, their best bet, maybe their only bet, was an exfiltration via the loading dock where he and Ty had come in.
He twisted his head round so he could look at Emily and Charlie without sacrificing the cover he was offering them. “We’re going out that way,” he said, jabbing a finger toward the loading dock.
Neither of them moved. They seemed frozen.
The sound of the gunshots echoed at ear-shredding volume around the empty warehouse. Lock turned back to see one of the MS-13 gang members take a shotgun blast straight to the chest, blood blossoming in a crimson flood.
One down. Three to go, including Orzana, who was still hiding under the Suburban, a gun drawn, desperately belly-crawling in an attempt to get an angle on the Red Tiger.
The Red Tiger racked the Mossberg again and took aim at another of the MS-13 escort. Lock was struck by the sheer calmness of the man as he pulled the trigger and found his target for a second time.
The round struck the man’s throat. His arms frantically windmilled, his hands clasping at what was left of his neck, blood spraying.
Ty cleared the last few steps in a single leap. Lock backed up a few more steps.
He caught movement from underneath the Suburban just in time to see Orzana aiming his pistol toward them. Lock squeezed off a single round. Ty hunkered down and did the same, their two shots making Orzana’s round go high and wide.
Lock risked another quick glance behind him. Charlie had his hands clamped over his ears and was hunkered down in a near-fetal position.
“Get him up on his feet, and start moving back there,” Lock shouted at Emily.
She grabbed her cousin’s arm and hauled him upright.
Ty scrambled over to them, a fresh shot from near the Suburban whizzing so close to Lock’s head that he felt it pushing through the air. If they stayed any longer it was only a matter of time before one of them caught a round.
The Red Tiger moved out further from behind the sedan. He was shouting at Emily. Lock couldn’t understand the words, but the tone, the plaintive plea, was unmistakable.
Orzana had broken cover. He was at the side of the Suburban. He popped open the door and seemed to reach down into the footwell.
Lock kept backing up. Now both he and Ty were standing in front of Emily and Charlie as the four of them backed towards the loading dock.
All they needed to do was make it outside to the street. There were no sounds of sirens yet, but Lock had to believe that gunfire so close to downtown would draw some kind of a response. If it didn’t, one of them could make the call to 911 as soon as they were clear of the kill zone.
The Suburban’s door slammed. Orzana reappeared hefting a rifle. He fired an immediate shot toward the Red Tiger who dove for the ground, kissing the concrete just in time and crawling back toward the sedan.
Lock grasped the moment, turning his back on the gunfire and grabbing Emily as Ty swept up Charlie. Together, they ran for the loading dock.
As they made it, Lock saw Orzana heading for them with another of the MS-13 men. Orzana stopped, and raised the rifle.
Lock grabbed Emily around the waist and took her down to the floor, falling on top of her as the shots rang out overhead. He spun round, staying on top of her, making sure that his body covered hers, punched his arm out and took aim.
Next to him, Ty was doing the same, protecting Charlie with his own body as he fired back into the warehouse.
The Suburban’s engine started. One of the other remaining MS-13 heavies piloted it slowly toward the loading dock, as Orzana used the open passenger door as cover. At the back of the Suburban another masked man fired toward the sedan, keeping the Red Tiger pinned down.
Lock’s heart sank. They were outgunned, and the Suburban was good cover.
The SUV inched forward, getting closer to them by the second. Orzana kept pace with it from behind the door, a boxer walking down an exhausted opponent, closing the distance, ready to deliver the final knockout punch.
They were trapped. Lock knew it, and so did Orzana.
Stand up and make a run for it, and they’d be shot in the back. Stay where they were and the result would be the same.
“What you wanna do?” said Ty.
Lock looked around. “I’m not seeing many options here. Make the call,” he told Ty.
Ty dug out his cell. Fresh fire split the concrete in front of him and he ducked his head back down. He tapped at the screen and waited for the call to connect.
Lock glanced up. He could see the grille of the Suburban looming larger with every second that passed. He took aim at the portion of Orzana’s lower legs that he could glimpse between the bottom of the vehicle door and the ground and fired. His shot fell short, skittering up from the concrete and into the door.
The Suburban picked up pace. It was maybe forty feet from them now.
Ty was screaming their location into his cell phone. He looked up at Lock. “They’re going to be here, just not fast enough.” His expression wasn’t one of fear so much as resignation.
“Listen we gotta make a move here,” Lock shouted to Ty. “Back down there,” he said, waving his hand at the loading dock behind them.
“There’s no way, man,” said Ty.
“That’s all I’ve got,” said Lock. “We can’t stay here.”
“Okay then,” said Ty. “On three?”
The Suburban rolled forward another foot. Orzana’s head popped up. He had a smile plastered over his face. “Thanks for the cash.”
A voice from behind the Suburban. The Red Tiger had broken cover again. He was walking toward the rear of the Suburban, the Mossberg tucked in against his shoulder.
He and Lock made eye contact. The Red Tiger flicked his head, indicating that if Lock and Ty were going to make a run for it then now was the time.
The Red Tiger began screaming at the Suburban. He fired at the masked man standing at the back. His shot found him, hitting the man in the leg.
He broke into a jog heading straight toward the SUV.
“Three,” shouted Lock.
Both he and Ty hauled Emily and Charlie onto their feet. Lock grabbed Emily’s collar and spun her round so that they were back to back. He backed up, still facing the Suburban. Ty did the same. They alternated shots as they crested the dock and began to edge down it.
Lock watched as Orzana moved toward the back of the vehicle. The Red Tiger was still jogging, heading directly for it, out in the open, with no cover.
Orzana waited for him to fire. As the Red Tiger threw the Mossberg to the ground and reached for his hand gun, Orzana took his chance. He lifted his rifle and calmly took aim.
With Orzana no longer aiming at them, Lock turned and scooped Emily up into his arms. He sprinted down the dock, Ty next to him, both of them making a mad dash for the street.
Behind them, he heard Orzana’s rifle fire. There was a mangled scream and the sound of a body hitting the concrete.
Lock didn’t look back. He didn’t have to.
They kept running, reaching the street. A patrol car was headed toward them. Lock swiftly holstered his SIG and waved it down as it came to a stop and the two officers bailed out.
Lock put Emily down, his arms and legs burning from exertion as the adrenalin dump subsided. More LAPD units were headed into the street.
Lock and Ty raised their arms, palms open, making clear they weren’t a threat to the responding officers. Two hundred yards down the street, the Suburban appeared suddenly, driving in the opposite direction and immediately drawing fire. It kept going, clipping a patrol car and sending it spinning out of the way.
Emily was standing next to him, hands on her thighs, gasping for air, as cops rushed toward them.
“You hurt?” Lock asked her.
She shook her head.
“It’s okay,” he reassured her. “It’s over.”
She reached up, swiping her hair from her eyes. “Who was that back there?” she asked.
He knew whom she meant. The avenging angel who had arrived out of nowhere and bought them just enough time to get the hell out of there before they met the same fate he just had. The man who had sacrificed himself, not for Lock or Ty but, Lock knew, for her.
He wanted to tell her. That was your father. Your real father. It wasn’t his place.
“I don’t know who that was,” he told her, as uniformed bodies swarmed in around him and Ty, and he was taken to the ground.