Thank you so much for the reviews! I'm keeping the chapters a little shorter for this story, compared to my other Magnificent Seven fics to make it easier to update, but I'm still story about the lag time between updates!
Chapter 3
"Don't move!"
Buck's order was loud enough to carry over the fight in the bar. Not that it did much good. Morgan's lips twitched in a rebellious smile.
Chris shot Sam a look. Sam's mouth thinned into a line that clearly said she didn't appreciate the unspoken command.
Sam moved first, not that it took much to convince Morgan to go with her.
Chris heard Buck's curse next to him as they both shoved their way through the bodies that were between them and the pool table, trying to keep an eye on the girls who were quickly jumping down from their perch, aided by two men who Chris decided instantly he didn't like.
Realizing they didn't need to go to the pool table their sisters had been standing on, Chris changed course, intending to get between them and the front door. But he should have realized how resourceful Sam was. She knew there was a back door. He briefly considered the gun at his side as he watched his stubborn sister make a beeline away from him.
"Buck!" Chris yelled.
Buck looked at the change in course, the two men—one whose face Chris still hadn't seen—still with the girls, and adjusted his route as well.
They were never going to get to Sam and Morgan before they made it out the back of the bar, not with the crowd they had to go through. Buck was heading toward the front door. Chris ran out into the night air after his partner. They made it around the front corner of the windowless building. The front of the building had been busy, a crowd milling around, cops getting the rowdier patrons under control. The back parking lot was dark, no signs of movement.
"You see 'em?" Buck asked quietly in the dark.
Chris scanned the rows of dark cars. He strained his ears to hear something besides the steady beat of the music that was coming out of the bar and the sounds of the barely contained crowd out front.
The gravel crunched beneath his shoes as he started going through the rows, eyes alert for any movement, listening for any sound.
Then there was an engine roaring to life at the back corner of the lot. Chris took off in that direction. The headlights flipped on then, obscuring his view. The high beams in his eyes kept him from seeing who was getting into the car, who was at the wheel. The car engine roared to life and he felt Buck's shoulder hard in his side when the car veered toward them and Buck shoved him out of the way while the car careened past.
He caught a glimpse of Morgan at the wheel, Sam leaning over her shoulder from the back seat.
His hand went to his gun.
Buck gave him another push, this time to get him moving toward their squad car. "You want your radio, Larabee, not your weapon," he said.
No. Chris definitely wanted his weapon. If there wasn't so damn much paperwork involved, he'd shoot out the tires on the car Morgan and Sam were making their getaway in.
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"GO!" Morgan said, pushing at the guy who was with her, trying to get him out of their way. Instead he kept by her side, glancing back over his shoulder at Buck and Chris, at the other cops who were struggling against the crowd.
"Come on," called the guy who had been with Sam, tossing aside a pool cue that had clearly met up with at least a couple heads.
He opened the back door for them and Morgan burst out into the dark parking lot behind the bar.
"What now?" she asked Sam.
Sam's jaw was set in determination and she looked enough like Chris that it should have warned Morgan.
"We aren't going home until they cool down," Sam said. Then she held a finger to her lips and crouched down between the row of cars.
"That's your plan?" Morgan demanded, her whisper straining at her throat. "To just wait them out?"
The guy who had been with Sam was keeping his eye on the back door of the bar and Morgan had to admit he didn't seem that bad if he was going to pull his weight.
The blue eyed guy who was still at her side was looking over the hood of the car they were ducked behind.
"There they are," he said under his breath.
Morgan risked a look and saw her brother and Chris, just enough light to glint off their badges, hands on hips as they looked over the lot.
"You in trouble with the cops?" the guy asked.
"With those cops," Morgan specified. She looked over at him and he was close enough to stir a little heat in her stomach. He didn't flinch from her direct look or proximity. She leaned a little closer.
"Morgan," Sam hissed, clearly seeing the direction Morgan's thoughts were heading.
"Might as well have some fun while we're stuck in the dark," Morgan said. She saw the flare of response in the guy's eyes, but he ducked his head and moved back slightly.
The guy with Sam's mouth twitched in amusement as he watched the scene.
"Come on," Morgan said to the blue eyed guy. She wasn't going to sit around and cross her fingers that Buck and Chris didn't find them. And she definitely wasn't going to let them drag her home tonight and find out she was grounded for the next decade.
She heard Sam's quiet protest behind her, but ignored it. She made her way farther into the rows of cars across the gravel lot, thankful for the chaos out front that covered any noise they made.
In the last row of cars she found what she was looking for. An older car that would guarantee no alarm. She tried the handle and the door opened with a creak.
"Sam," she called quietly.
She ducked into the driver's seat and pulled at the cover of the steering column.
The guy had got into the passenger seat and was looking at her.
Morgan chewed her lip, glancing across the sea of cars to see Chris and Buck still there, heading toward where they had come out of the bar.
The wires didn't make any sense to her. It had seemed like it would be self-explanatory when she saw someone hotwire a car in the movies.
The guy in the seat next to her reached over and grabbed two of the wires, yanking them free and twining them together, starting the car with a roar of an engine that had seen better days.
The sound brought Sam over and she jumped into the backseat. "What are you doing?" she demanded.
Morgan threw the car into gear.
"Are you kidding me, Morgan?" Sam yelled. She lunged forward from the backseat like she was going to try to take the wheel.
"Hey, careful!" the guy with Sam yelled, jumping in the car after her as Morgan slammed her foot down on the accelerator. He grabbed at Sam, pulling her away from the wheel. The car fishtailed, heading right for Buck and Chris.
Morgan heard the guy in back slam the door shut, felt Sam at her shoulder yelling in her ear to slow down. But she was in too far now.
She saw the alarm on Buck's face as she drove toward him, tightened her grip on the wheel to veer past him. The look of fear reminded her of his face in those last days in the hospital. When they knew the cancer was winning and their ma was going to be leaving her body. The stark terror Buck had when their ma had said he would have to take care of Morgan.
Hot pressure burned the back of Morgan's throat. She wanted her ma back. She didn't want to be Buck's burden.
There was no way she was turning back. And they were all in this together now, whether any of them wanted to be in the car with her or not.
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