Rayla dragged her down with her as she ducked beside her car.
"Those bastards!" She said in fury as she patted her body as if anything could be hidden in her skin-tight one piece suit.
She seemed to realise that her guns had been handed to someone else and she swore, long and hard. Profanities that Serena was sure would make her mother develop migraine and probably make Eugenia drop dead.
"Illinois!" She hissed at one of the men returning fire to the men shooting at them with guns fitted with silencers.
"Yes, miss" Illinois, a lanky young man that couldn't be more than in his early twenties replied her even as he ducked behind the car and returned fire.
"How many are they?!" She yelled.
"About…." He shoot back as another silent ping hit the car, rocking it with a jarring sound that made Serena flinched "...Ten this time, miss"
"Shit! Who are these people? How dare they…scoot down more, Serena! How dare they do this on Aslanov land?"
"No idea, miss but they seemed intent on taking us all out. Damn!" He swore.
"What? What?" She snapped at him when he did not give her an instant reply.
"More are coming, miss. Kev is down!"
"What?! He is what?! He better not be down because I will kill him myself!" She yelled agitatedly, her composure all gone now that Serena suspected there was more to Kev than him just being her bodyguard.
"Tell me he is back on his goddamn feet! Illinois!" She shouted as she moved from where she and Serena were seated with their back to the car as the gunfight raged around them
The intruders might be much but Kincaid's men were holding their own and they have not allowed them to get to the other side.
The side where Rayla and Serena were open to any attack that might come from that side.
Serena could hear shouts of the men as they gave instructions, she could pick out Kincaid's voice in the melee but none was more penetrating than the low, anguished moan of Rayla beside her.
Serena realised that she had tuned her out while trying to pick the men's voices. Illinois must have given her a negative feedback because her eyes had grown luminous from unshed tears and she seemed to have come to a decision by the time Serena looked at her.
"Cover me!" She shouted at Illinois.
Serena could hear the man swore before he shouted "Miss, don't do it, please. The boss would…" his shots rang out. "....kill me"
"You had best be sure that I would kill you myself if you don't do what I say right now. Whether you do it or not, I am going out there to drag that allowed himself to be taken down here!"
Serena tried to calm her down even though calm was the last thing she felt at the moment herself. She laid her hand on her arm "Rayla…"
Rayla cut her off with an anguished look "Sorry, honey. I have to do this. I can't just…" her voice broke before she firmed it "I can't just leave him there. If he was not dead yet, another shot would do that to him! I have to…"
She ran out of their cover towards where Kev lay unconscious.
"Shit!" Serena heard Illinois shouted "Seth, cover the lady!"
Serena's heart almost thumped out of her chest as she heard Kincaid's voice "What the heck, Ray?! Cover her! Cover her!"
She crouched as she turned to where the fearless lady she had only met minutes ago ran towards the man that Serena was sure was her lover on the floor.
Serena felt tears came to her eyes as she saw her shook him with a cry of anguish
"Kev! You bastard!"
"Get back! Ray!" Basset shouted as he sprayed bullets at the men shooting at them from behind the hills that lined the road where their car had been ambushed.
Yells of agony could be heard as Kincaid came out, moving towards Rayla as he shouted for the men to surround her.
"Leave him, Ray" he cried as he rushed towards her.
Rayla paid them no heed as she dragged Kev's body towards cover. The men moved towards her to form a barricade around her as they fired back. They were unable to get a good shot at the men using the hills as their cover.
"Rayla, please leave him" Serena said, not knowing if she shouted it out or she simply said it in her head.
Rayla paid them no heed though as she continued dragging the body with her. Serena could see tears streaming down the face of the beautiful lady, anguish tightened her heart even as apprehension tightened her frame from the danger of her action.
Rayla had thrown caution to wind in her pain. She was not crouching as she had done when she ran out to Kev, she was standing straight as she dragged him back.
They were all too late. All of them.
The men behind the hill must have noticed the attention directed at the woman dragging a body amidst the gunfight because the next moment, Serena saw Rayla's body jerked.
Almost as if she couldn't believe what just happened, she raised her head towards where the assailant was and turned slightly even without dropping Kev's arm.
Serena could see her face now, the shock, the pain, the disbelief. Right before her body jerked again and twin crimson points blossomed on her chest. The blood showing stark on her pink leotard.
For one excruciating moment, she seemed suspended in space, then she was falling, right beside her man with her hands still entangled beneath his arms.
Serena screamed and screamed.
Shot rang out continuously over and over again. In time, it was all over, as if nothing had happened.
Nothing, except for the bodies littered around the hills and the pathway.
Nothing, except for the beautiful woman with her limbs entwined with that of her lover on the dusty road.