Second Chance Gold (Buck Reilly Adventure Series Book 4), John Cunningham [polar express read aloud .txt] 📗

swung it back and forth between each group. I realized she could potentially mortally wound all four of us with just two shots.

Truck was creeping up behind her, but sensing the presence or hearing his foot scrape on loose gravel, she swung the gun towards him.

“On the ground! You too, Jerry!”

“Caterina!” I said. “Help us free Nicole and Gisele and we’ll keep you out of this—and cut you in on—”

BOOM!

The distant shot from the boat stopped my heart.

“No!” Jerry screamed.

I couldn’t bring myself to look.

Blue was breathing heavy and had a purple lump below his right eye. He’d weathered a wicked punch from Gunner, not something many could do. He once again cradled the gun in his hands, Caterina standing beside him. I wondered whether the shots could be heard from Flamands. Hopefully the authorities had been alerted.

The shot from the boat below had just been Black’s warning. I had a fleeting hope that maybe he’d had a change of heart and wouldn’t shoot the women. More likely, though, he’d seen Caterina back in control and wanted to emphasize his readiness. Either way, Jerry, Truck, and I had less brawn and firepower than either of our adversaries. As far as I was concerned, the Dominicans could take the trunk and get the hell out of here. Jerry didn’t need the money and I didn’t want to risk the women getting hurt.

The five of us stood in a line, shoulder to shoulder, facing Blue and Caterina.

The trunk lay open, full of brilliant gold bars that were almost luminescent as the sun hit them. There had to be a hundred pounds of gold there, easy.

Blue slammed the lid shut and licked his lips. After seeing that, there was no doubt he’d shoot anyone who got in his way.

“We were going to let you go,” Blue said. “But I can’t trust that you won’t come after us, so I’ll be taking the women hostage and blowing your plane.”

“Betty!” I took a quick step toward Blue. He swung the gun on me.

Gunner chuckled. He didn’t give a rat’s ass about Betty—no doubt either Gutierrez or Sanchez, director of the Cuban Secret Police, had sponsored the restoration of my old Widgeon before they allowed Gunner and Jack to use it for this treasure hunt.

Jerry’s knees buckled and he fell to the ground, his hands clutching his chest. I took a knee next to him.

“You okay?” I said.

“Left … arm … numb. I can’t … can’t catch … my breath.”

Good Lord!

“This man’s having a heart attack! We need to get him back to Gustavia, pronto.”

Nobody responded.

“Now, guys!”

I turned my attention back to Jerry—his eyes were closed and his chest wasn’t rising!

“Shit!

I began CPR, pressing on his sola plexus and started mouth-to-mouth.

“He’s going to die!” I said between breaths.

“One less witness,” Blue said.

Gunner laughed out loud. These two were made for each other.

“Everyone down to the plane!” Blue said.

“What about Jerry?” I said.

“Leave him!”

“We can’t—”

The gun was back in my face. “Now!”

Bastard!

I smashed a fist down on Jerry’s chest one more time—did he gasp?

Blue put the gun to my head and forced us all to walk side by side down the ravine between the two steep hills. A commuter plane flew out from around Anse de Cayes. I prayed the pilot would spot us and alert the gendarmes. Flamands beach was a white gash across the turquoise sea. My eyes followed it until I found Jerry’s house. His kids could lose both their parents.

Before losing sight of one another, Blue yelled for Black to wait for them. My breathing was shallow. Jerry was dying up the hill, and they were about to blow up my Betty.

Blue had left the case of gold a quarter of the way up the hill, having had Truck use his one good arm to help him drag it down that far.

“Why don’t I fly you and your brother back to the Dominican Republic with the gold?” I said. “No use shooting up a perfectly good plane.”

“Nice try, Reilly. Everybody wait here!”

Blue stood about thirty feet away from Betty. She was anchored, her belly flat on the gravel—Jack hadn’t deployed the landing gear—but she looked majestic.

BOOM!

Blue had fired a shot into the middle of Betty’s starboard wing, and fuel began to spew from multiple holes. He glanced back at us and his eyes opened wide.

“Hey!” He lifted the gun.

Gunner had taken off.

Blue aimed the gun, but the distance was already too great for the wide spray of a shotgun. I had to draw their attention away.

“If Jerry dies, that’s murder, Caterina. There’s not enough treasure to go around to make it worthwhile—”

“Shut up,” she said.

Blue’s teeth were gritted as he watched Gunner disappear into the scrub. “Dammit.”

“What about the women?” I said.

“No more foolish heroics and we set them free.” He paused. “You try anything crazy, my brother shoots them both. Understood?” He narrowed his eyes. “And then we’ll come back and shoot all of you, too.”

He turned back toward Betty and raised the shotgun toward the other wing.

BOOM!

I took off in the same direction as Gunner, my feet sliding in the gravel.

BOOM—WHAP! Some buckshot hit my right shoulder—I stumbled but kept going—not enough of a wound to slow me down now. My chest heaved as I ran, but no more shots were fired. I made it to the same scrubby vegetation Gunner had disappeared into, stooped down, and looked back.

Fuel was spewing out of both wing tanks. With steady streams draining from each side, I tried to guess how long it would take. Then realized I couldn’t since I had no idea how much fuel there was to begin with.

Blue and Caterina ran up the hill toward the trunk. Jack and Truck were lying face down on the ground.

Damn!

“Followed my lead, Reilly?” Gunner had crept up behind me as I watched Blue and Caterina pick up the trunk. “We’ve got to get out of here before