Read Fury of the Six (The Preston Six Book 5) for Free Online Page B

onto him and took careful steps in her platform shoes. Their feet sunk into the sandy bank and the sand found the small air holes in Hank’s shoes to infiltrate. He walked, trying to stay on top of the sand for the rest of the way down the sandstone cliff butting up against the shore. Walking around the last sandstone wall, he spotted the Alius stone.
    He half expected another person waiting there, but it was empty. Some tree branches and a few rocks had fallen into the circle from above. The firm ground in the circle felt good under Hank’s feet; if needed, he could rush the man following them.
    “Don’t move.”
    Hank and Gladius raised their hands in the air and turned toward the voice. A man with a cloak covering his face, stood at the top of the sandy bank. He pointed a gun at them and took a step down into the sand, heavily favoring one side.
    “Marcus?” Hank asked.
    “No.”
    “Well, before you kill us, why don’t you show yourself?” he asked.
    “You won’t like what you see.”
    “I sort of have to insist on this one point.”
    “Fine, you should bear witness to what your friend did to me.” He pulled back his hood and revealed his face.
    Gladius gasped and covered her mouth.
    Hank grimaced but didn’t pull his gaze away. Half of the man’s face looked as if it had been crushed in and then healed back over. Hank squinted and tried to find the man in there. “Emmett?”
    “What’s left of him,” Emmett said, staggering down the sandy hill. “Neither of you look all that surprised.”
    “We had our suspicions,” Hank said.
    “How long have you been on our trail?” Gladius asked.
    “I caught up with you about two towns back. When you look like I do, people want to tell you whatever it takes for you to leave,” Emmett said. “This,” he pointed to his damaged face, “is because of Joey and I mean to do the same to him. Now, where is he?”
    “You’re after him ?” Gladius clarified.
    He kept his gun pointed at Hank, while he limped closer, staying just outside of the circle. “Marcus wants the little one, but I have been given Joey.”
    “We aren’t going to give up our friends,” Hank said.
    “I didn’t think so.” Emmett sighed and pointed his gun at Gladius.
    “No, you can’t shoot me, please,” she cried out.
    “I’ll be doing the world a favor, ridding the world of a renowned whore such as yourself,” Emmett said.
    “No,” Gladius begged. She held up her hand as if that might protect her. “Please, you don’t need to do this.”
    “Hank, tell me where they are and I’ll let her live.”
    Hank’s heart pounded in his chest and everything in him wanted to tell Emmett what he knew to save Gladius, but he stuck to the plan. “No.”
    “What?” Emmett said. “I will kill her and then use you to get to them. You know this, right?”
    “I do. I’m sorry, Gladius, but I can’t give up my friends.”
    “You . . . how could you?” She glared at Hank.
    “Fine.” Emmett fired three shots into Gladius.
    She screamed and grabbed her gut, swaying in a large circle while continuing to yell. “Oh no, you got me.”
    Emmett stepped into the circle, confused by Gladius’s strange behavior. He fired three more shots and she fell to the ground.
    Hank didn’t watch Gladius as much as he watched Emmett’s feet. Once they were well within the boundary, he jumped to the stone and typed into it.
    “What are you doing?” Emmett fired his remaining bullets into Hank’s back.
    “Here we go,” he whispered, thinking of Lucas’s catch phrase. They shifted from a cliff-side beach to a partially charred forest on the mend. Hank turned to Emmett.
    Emmett staggered backward and pulled the trigger on his empty gun. “You should be dead. What is this?” He jolted in a seizure, his gun falling out of his hands and onto the forest floor. Behind him stood Trip, holding a Taser gun. Trip kicked Emmett’s gun away and tied him up.
    “Hey, Dad,” Hank greeted.
    “She okay?”