Shortage (Best Laid Plans Book 2) by Nathan Jones Read Free Book Online Page A

turned and yanked the can of bear spray out of the hand of the surprised thug standing behind her, stumbling backwards even as she aimed it up at his face and pulled the trigger. He staggered away cursing and screaming before his breath faded away to choking coughs, and Sam turned to help Matt.
    Razor was still caught completely unprepared by the tall, wiry man's attack, but the other thug reacted quickly to lumber forward and direct a brutal kick right at Matt's face. He saw it coming in time to duck away, but the kick still caught him in the shoulder hard enough to throw him off the bandit leader.
    Sam hurriedly raised the bear spray and aimed it at the large thug's face, but unfortunately he saw her and ducked aside in time. She had to keep spraying as she readjusted her aim to hit him, and only managed to connect with a short blast before the can emptied and the spray petered down to a fizzing mist that barely shot a foot. The man still fell back coughing and swearing, but she didn't think it would distract him for long.
    In the meantime Matt had managed to roll over and come to his feet, backing away defensively as Razor also sprang to his feet and yanked his namesake weapon out of his pocket, swiping at his bloody mouth with his other hand. The nondescript man had looked furious as he stood, but now he was smiling broadly.
    Sam screamed at the sight of the sharp blade, helpless to do anything as Razor lunged towards the man she was quickly coming to love. Guided by pure desperation she turned the bear spray upside down to try to get anything that was left, but it barely released a dribble that just dripped down to the ground. She could only watch in horror as events unfolded.
    The bandit leader swung his razor at Matt's face with blinding speed, and Matt barely managed to yank his head back in time. He tried to reach out and catch Razor's arm, but the bandit leader yanked his weapon back towards his chest and without hesitation slashed at the back of Matt's hand.
    Again Matt barely managed to avoid being cut, but while he was focused on defending himself from the weapon the thug who'd taken a short blast of pepper spray lumbered in blindly and backhanded him with a heavy fist to the face. The blow knocked Matt to the street with a jarring impact, and Sam screamed again.
    Smile widening to a snarl, Razor dropped to his knees straddling Matt and pinning his arms out to the sides, then brought his straight razor around for a precise cut.
    Before it could land a deafening gunshot from behind Sam froze everyone where they were, even the thug she'd sprayed first who'd been rolling on the ground. Sam slowly turned her head to see a FETF soldier approaching with deliberate steps, M16 pointed at Razor's chest. “Drop it and back away, now!” he barked.
    The bandit leader reluctantly complied, tossing aside his weapon and stumbling to his feet as he swiped his hand across his bloody face again. His noise was bleeding like a faucet from one or more of Matt's punches. “Did you see what these two did to us?” he demanded.
    “Are you kidding?” Sam shouted incredulously as Matt stumbled to his feet and hurried over to put an arm around her shoulders. It was part comfort, part protective, and for Sam completely welcome.
    The soldier shot her a warning glare before turning his eyes back to the three refugees. “I'm not stupid, man,” he said with just the slightest Spanish accent, which fit his classically handsome Latin features and dark hair and eyes. “I didn't think you were stupid either. At least not stupid enough to come into town when everyone knows who you are.”
    Razor slowly held out his arms as if to demand the world acknowledge his innocence. “You've got this all wrong, uh . . .”
    “Private Gutierrez,” the soldier barked. “You going to tell me your real name, Razor?”
    The nondescript man ignored the question. “You've got this all wrong, Gutierrez. I was just talking to this cute girl here when that