Victoria went to a knee, too, but she pressed up against a tree for more steady aim. As she zeroed in on her first target—a woman—a rifle fired from nearby on her left and the woman fell. Another shot followed and another of the Grubbs gang fell, this one a man.

Only one assumption worked. “Caleb!” she shouted. “We’re here! Keep your head down!”

The woods lit up with return fire, all directed to the rifle on her left. All directed at Caleb.

“I’m shot!”

Victoria went to work. “Shoot at the muzzle flashes, Luke!” If she had a target that looked like a human, she was more than happy to shoot it. But if the people don’t show themselves, you always knew that there was a face about three feet behind every muzzle flash.

She picked her targets individually. Grubbs’s gang was all about spray-and-slay, but her instructors had taught her to aim her shots. Better to hit with one kill shot than miss with ten poorly aimed ones.

Victoria knew that she’d hit a few, and she suspected that she’d hit others, but within thirty seconds, the woods had fallen silent.

“Caleb! Are you all right?”

“I got shot in the ass!”

Luke laughed in spite of himself.

“Mike and Ty!” Victoria called. “Come up here.” She kept her eyes ahead, scanning for a trap. If any of them were still alive, the smart move would be to wait till Victoria and the others exposed themselves and then pick them off.

She heard the others approaching from behind, but she still didn’t look at them. “Check the people on the ground.”

“What if they’re just wounded?”

“Kill them.”

“And if they want to surrender?”

“Kill them anyway.”

They hesitated. Mike said, “Mrs. Emerson, I don’t think—”

“Do what you’re told,” she snapped. “My son has been shot because of you. Now, please. Grow a set and go make sure this is over for good.”

For a long few seconds, they didn’t move. Then Ty said, “C’mon. Let’s do this thing.”

“Luke,” Victoria said. “Check on your brother.”

Getting shot in the ass sounded like a laugh line, but the gluteus maximus was the largest muscle in the body, and if it’s too badly damaged, the consequences could be life-threatening.

As Ty and Mike examined the fallen, Victoria rose from her spot to check on her sons. With Mike and Ty wandering without cover, she’d know if a threat remained because the threat would shoot them.

Hey, if they couldn’t step up and be brave, the least they could do to help her protect her family was to step out and be stupid.

Concentric circles. They’d ceded their place in hers.