Ripple Effect (The Extractor Series Book 5)
Page 17
As Bridge was sitting there, thinking of an alternate plan, he thought he heard a noise behind him. It almost sounded like a twig snapping in half underneath someone’s foot. He turned around only to see a man coming at him, trying to walk slowly to avoid being detected. The snapping of the branch gave him away, though. The man fired, just as Bridge dropped to the ground and rolled over a couple of times. The bullets flew over Bridge’s falling head and lodged into the back of the vehicle as Bridge returned fire. Four bullets to the man’s stomach were enough to cause him to drop his rifle and clutch his stomach as the blood started pouring out of it. He then dropped to his knees, and a second later, to his stomach as he perished.
“You OK over there?” Nicole asked.
Bridge got to a knee and looked around for any more visitors. “Yeah. Just had a surprise guest come from nowhere.”
“You all right?”
Bridge took a few deep breaths and looked down. “Yeah. No new holes.”
“Hope there’s not any more of them lurking out here.”
“Yeah. That was a little close for comfort. Lucky for me he had big feet.”
“What?”
“Nothing. The car’s shot. Getting out of here is not gonna be easy either.”
“First things first.”
Bridge peeked around the car again, trying to think of a few alternatives to their current situation. “Hey, Hatch!”
“Yeah?”
“Got any more surprises for me out here? ‘Cause that last one didn’t work out so well for you.”
“Maybe I do! Keep looking around!”
“C’mon, let’s end this. We’re not coming in and you’re not coming out. Looks like we’re at a standstill.”
“Works for me.”
“Except the police are coming soon. I can’t help you after that.”
“You ain’t trying to help me, anyway. And I don’t think the police are coming. If they were, I think they’d have been here by now.”
Nicole continued looking through the scope of her rifle. “Luke, somebody’s gonna have to make a move soon. We just can’t sit here in a tiebreaker all day.”
“I’m honestly at a loss,” Bridge replied. “I’m pinned down here. If I make a run for it somewhere, I don’t think I can make the trees without them seeing me.”
Nicole looked down at her bag, getting an idea. “Hey, I have two cans of tear gas.”
“You’ll never make it. You’re too far away to throw it through a window, and you don’t have a gun to launch it that far.”
“I don’t need to. I just have to get in front of the doors and windows to disguise my movements.”
“What movements?”
“With all the smoke in the air, I can get in close without them seeing me.”
“No, that’s too dangerous. They could start firing blind and nail you. No.”
“Luke, it can work.”
“It can also fail miserably. I’m not taking that chance.”
“I’m taking the chance.”
“I’m not risking your life on this.”
“It’s my call.”
“Nic, please just listen to me for once.”
“I listen to you all the time.”
“I know you’re impatient and you wanna end this quickly, but sometimes it just can’t work out that way. If we wait them out, eventually they’ll get tired.”
“Or we will. Then they’ll wait until night and slip past us or kill one of us ‘cause we can’t see them.”
“Nic, there are too many things that can go wrong here.”
“But there are also things that can go right.”
“Please don’t do it. I’m asking you, please don’t.”
“It’s my call.”
“Nic, hold off. Hold off and I’ll give you sex four times a night for a week after this is all over.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“That’s very tempting.”
“It was meant to be.”
“I can probably get it, anyway.”
“Nic.” Bridge continued calling his girlfriend’s name over the next minute without getting a response. She either took her earpiece out, turned it off, or was completely ignoring him. It all worked out to the same thing, though. She was going through with it, whether he agreed with it or not. He just hoped it would work.
“Hey.”
“Hey, did you turn me off?”
“No, just ignoring you,” Nicole answered.
“Why would you do that? Do you know if—”
“Just shush for a second and let me talk. I’m gonna throw these grenades at the back of the house. Once you start seeing smoke, start firing to give me some additional cover.”
“Nic…”
“It’s already decided, Luke. You can either sit there babbling away or you can try to help me by laying down some cover fire and keeping them busy.”
“Fine, fine, but if you get killed, I’m gonna kill you myself.”
“Uh, yeah. Anyway, you ready?”
Bridge sighed, but got his weapon ready. “No, I’m not ready. But I guess I am, anyway.”
“OK. Going in now.”
Nicole threw one can at the back of the house, landing only a few feet from the back door. She then launched the second one in the same direction, landing a couple of feet from the first one. As soon as Bridge started seeing the smoke, he lunged from the side of the car and fired at the house. He didn’t stop until he had run out of ammunition in his magazine. He was peppering that house with bullets, shattering windows, ripping up the wood siding, just to create as much damage and chaos as he could to give Nicole the time and space she needed to get to the house.
Bridge stopped and got behind the car again to reload. As he did, he heard more gunfire, sounding as though it was coming from the back of the house. It wasn’t Nicole’s weapon.
“Nic, you OK?” He waited a few seconds before trying again. He didn’t get a response. “Nic, you OK?” Still nothing. His heart started racing, hoping he hadn’t lost her. He wiped a small tear from his eye. “Nic?”
“I’m here.”
Bridge closed his eyes and tapped the back of his head against the car. “You OK?”
“Yeah, just got to the house.”
“You inside?”
“Negative. Just outside. Going silent.”
Bridge peeked around the side of the car again. He didn’t want to fire at the house anymore, in case one of his bullets went through and struck Nicole by accident. He couldn’t take that chance. There was nothing else he could do at that moment. Nothing except waiting. And hope. And pray. A few seconds later, Bridge heard more gunfire. It sounded like Nicole’s weapon.
Nicole was now inside the house and had just taken out the remaining guard that Hatch had hired. Now it was just Hatch and Ava left. Hearing the commotion from the back of the house, Hatch turned and started firing in that direction, not even having a clear target. He just kept firing and hoping that he’d hit something. But he knew his enemies were in the house. They were getting closer. And his help had dwindled.
Bridge, continuing to peer around the car, saw Hatch moving through the shot-out window. His back was moving away. That was Bridge’s chance to move. He was taking a risk that Ava didn’t have a weapon fixed on him, but Bridge was assuming that either she wasn’t armed, or she was a bad shot. There was nothing in her background that indicated she knew anything about guns. He just had to hope that was still the case.
Bridge sprinted to the front door, thankful for not having to duck any bullets on the way there. He got there without incident. He stood to the side of the door for a moment, listening to gunfire. It was back and forth. Nicole and Hatch taking turns. Bridge put his hand on the knob of the door and slowly turned it, hoping it would open, but it was locked. He knew if he barged in, he was likely going to be on the receiving end of gunfire right away. But it was going to have to be another chance he had to take.
Bridge
took a few more deep breaths and waited until Hatch started firing. If Hatch was firing at the time Bridge broke through, it would give him an extra second or two to locate Hatch before he could do the same to him. Bridge listened closely, hearing Nicole fire. Then, as Hatch returned fire, Bridge took a step back and kicked the door open. As soon as he did, he saw Hatch at the corner of the room, firing into the hallway. Hatch immediately turned around to shoot at Bridge. Bridge dropped to his stomach and fired several rounds at Hatch, four out of the five shots finding their mark. Hatch dropped to the ground immediately.
“Nic!”
He heard her voice from the back of the house. “I’m good!”
“Hatch is down.”
“I know, I see him.”
Bridge stayed on the ground, keeping his rifle pointed in the air in case he had to use it again. “How are we looking?”
He then saw Nicole’s pretty face step over Hatch’s body. She had Ava walking in front of her, pushing her along. “Looks like we’re good.”
Bridge let out a sigh, thankful it was finally over. He stood up and walked over to them. Before saying anything, he looked around, seeing Hatch’s lifeless body on the floor.
“Look around. Was it all worth it?”
Ava looked down, refusing to meet his gaze. “It was all my father’s fault. If he would’ve just left me alone.”
Bridge snickered and shook his head. “Well, where you’re going, you’re gonna have a lot of time to think about it.”
“What about the car issue?” Nicole asked.
“They got one on the side. We’ll have to make do.”
Nicole pushed Ava out of the house and to the car, with Bridge following them. Nicole went and got her bag of stuff, then took out a few things they’d need for the long drive back home. She put tape over Ava’s mouth, then tied her hands and feet behind her. Then she and Bridge put Ava on the floor of the back seat of the car.
“Think we might be overdoing it here?” Bridge asked.
Nicole looked down at their prisoner, remembering the shot she took to the back of her head at Ava’s hands. “No, I don’t think so. She deserves it.”
Bridge smiled, then took out his phone and called Happ. “Hey, just wanted to let you know we’re on the way if you can let everyone know we’re coming.”
“You sure this time?” Happ replied.
“Of course I’m sure. When have I ever led you wrong?”
“We don’t have time for me to list it.”
“Well, we’ve got her and we’re on the way.”
“What about the others?”
“All deceased. It was the only way.”
“You do what you gotta do. So you’re sure there'll be no other problems?”
“There’ll be no more issues. I guarantee it.”
Also by Mike Ryan
Continue reading The Extractor Series with the next book, The Hostage.
The Silencer Series
The Eliminator Series
The Brandon Hall Series
The Cain Series
The Ghost Series
The Cari Porter Series
The Last Job
A Dangerous Man
The Crew
About the Author
Mike Ryan is a USA Today Bestselling Author, and lives in Pennsylvania with his wife, and four children. He’s the author of numerous bestselling books. Visit his website at www.mikeryanbooks.com to find out more about his books, and sign up for his newsletter. You can also interact with Mike via Facebook, and Instagram.