Cold Day In Hell by Michaels Monette

Author:Michaels, Monette [Michaels, Monette]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Liquid Silver Books
Published: 2012-01-28T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Callie blinked against the brightness of the sun after the dark interior of the hotel lobby. As she gingerly stepped onto the uneven packed stone and dirt of the square, the sound of automatic gunfire sounded from above. She momentarily froze and watched as dirt and branches went flying as the crowded plaza was inundated with bullets and panic. People shouted and screamed and dove for cover. Some men began shooting back at the men on the hotel roof, the men who had started the carnage.

Risto yelled and grabbed at her arm. Callie’s focus tunneled and all her senses fixed on the woman who’d smiled and exchanged conversation with her earlier. The older woman was on the ground, her body in a fetal position, surrounded by an ever increasing puddle of blood.

“No!” Tossing her to-go soda to the ground, she broke away from Risto’s grasping hands with a strength she hadn’t known she had. Then she stumbled the eight or nine feet separating her from the injured woman. She fell to her knees and touched the woman’s back. “Señora? You need to get up.” The only response to her urgent words was a pained moan.

Bullets hit near them, rock and dirt spraying them both. “Shit, shit, shit.” Her fight or flight response finally kicked in with a vengeance, fueled by adrenaline, sugar and caffeine.

Slinging her tote over her shoulder, she got to her feet and found the strength to drag the woman toward the relative safety of the hotel. Something sharp and hot hit her high on the back near her shoulder, close to where her tote’s handles lay. She ignored the stinging pain. Her arm still worked so she continued to tug the woman inch by inch as chaos surrounded them.

It seemed as if she’d been in the battle zone forever, but it could only have been mere seconds when she heard Risto yell, “Goddammit, Callie. Fucking get your ass in the hotel.” He tore her away from the woman and flung her toward the hotel. As she half-ran, half-tripped into the hotel, she sensed him on her heels, carrying the woman and shouting words which she couldn’t process above the sounds of gunfire and the frantic pounding of her heart.

“Come, come.” Dario met them at the door and pushed her ahead of him, toward the back of the bar area into the kitchen. She prayed the kitchen with its metal equipment would give them some safety from flying bullets. “Put the injured woman on the prep table,” Dario instructed Risto. “Teo called. The ELN guerillas landed. The FARC guerillas are shooting at them. My brother has moved your boat to our mother’s house. You know this house, yes?”

“Yeah.” Risto placed the seriously injured woman where Dario indicated then turned to locate Callie. “You okay?”

She nodded, breathing heavily. “I think so.” She glanced at the counter. “The woman needs a doctor.”

“The desk clerk is EMT-trained,” Dario told them. “He’ll see to her.” The bar owner walked to the rear of the hotel kitchen and looked outside.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.