by Elise Faber
“Wait,” Jess said, and I watched her face change.
This wasn’t a woman who would ever make herself small again, wouldn’t back down from a fight, or run scared.
“I have an idea.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jesse
“Careful,” I breathed as we carried the bomb toward the front of the house.
Leo slowed, and we continued to cautiously make our way into position.
Then just as carefully set it down onto the plastic car, red and small with yellow wheels, the kind a toddler would ride in, and Lily secured it in place with a cord she’d torn from a lamp. Leo glanced at me when we’d released it, after ensuring it was steady and the cord had done its job.
“You ready?” he asked.
I nodded.
He turned, studying the interior of the house, and my eyes had adjusted enough that when I followed his gaze, I could easily see Lily as she returned to stand next to the door, Dan and Ryker there, too, preparing to move the armoire that was currently blocking the fuckers outside from barreling their way in through it. Laila was directly in front of Leo and me, the final two of my homemade flash-bangs in her hands, her thumbs poised over the red buttons that would start their countdowns. I could see Hannah crouched near a window to the side of us, her final magazine inserted in her gun. Ava was behind us, lying on the floor near the back door, her rifle set up in front of her, Olive and Linc standing next to her and ready to remove the blockade there.
Bullets continued to hit the side of the house. They’d never really stopped, and the bright flashes from their guns paired with the lights from the ATV and the vehicles outside continued to wreak havoc with my night vision. It made it difficult to dodge those that still made it through the windows and frames, sinking into the furniture and putting us all at risk.
I met Hannah’s gaze, hoping to fuck that this plan would work. She nodded, grinned like we weren’t all about to do something that was incredibly dangerous and possibly—no, actually—quite stupid.
But no one had come up with a better plan.
So mine—the one with a snowball’s chance in hell of getting us out of here alive—was what we were going with.
Because . . . fuck it all.
I was either going to die getting hit by a stray bullet, killed by the fuckers outside when they realized we’d run out of ammo and decided to force their way in, or worse, I’d have to watch my teammates get taken down, see Leo get hurt.
We had no way of contacting base.
We had no way of knowing if they’d get here in time, if they’d even be able to get beyond Daniel’s men if they did make it.
And . . . I proposed the only thing I could think of, even though it was risky, and I could only hope that we would all be in one piece at the end of this because I wanted my friends to live, and because . . . I really, really wanted to have Leo’s cock inside me.
Such an inappropriate thought, but at least it relieved the tension heavy on my shoulders, the responsibility bearing down on me that came from coming up with the plan. So, I was going with it.
If aching for Bone Town focused me enough to get us all out of this, then so be it.
“Jess?” Leo asked. “You ready, baby?”
I found his hand, squeezed it tight.
Leo smiled, as though he could see the need for him in my eyes. And maybe he could. Despite the flashes outside, my night vision had adjusted enough that I could study the fierce lines of his jaw, the stubble on his cheeks.
And before I gave the signal to commence this suicidal plan, I knew I needed to say something else. To tell him—
“I love you, too.”
The air around us froze. Leo’s jaw dropped open, his hands coming to my cheeks.
Then Hannah began to chuckle. “A hell of a time, Jess. A hell of a time.”
I only had eyes for Leo, and I could see the emotion in the depths of his gaze, see what my words meant to him. “The perfect time,” he said, brushing his mouth across mine, a fucking bomb strapped to a child’s toy between us, and knowing that our life would never be normal.
But it would be whole.
Pulling back, he ran the backs of his knuckles over my cheek. “Ready, now?”
My lips turned up. I nodded once.
And then I rolled my shoulders and said, “Let’s do this.”
Leo pulled back, crouching near the toy car as Laila began counting down. “Three, two, one . . . go!”
Hannah began firing, drawing the eyes outside her way, just as Dan and Ryker moved as one, sliding the armoire back enough for Lily to open the door a couple of inches. Laila pressed the button on the devices, slid into the gap, and tossed them carefully across the porch so they rolled toward the contingent of men in front of the house.
Then the door was shut silently again, the armoire back in place as we all counted down. Hannah stopped firing, saving her bullets.
Fifteen seconds passed . . . and boom.
The flash-bangs exploded and Dan, Ryker, and Lily moved. The armoire was dragged back, the door pulled wide, then the armoire shoved forward, the three of them pushing it hard enough so it toppled onto its front, forming a ramp over the stairs and toward the men out front.
“Go!” Leo said as smoke began filling the house, and I knew we had to act fast before the fog got too thick and Ava lost her chance at a clear shot.
Laila and company sprinted by us, Hannah following them just as a hail of bullets flew toward us, not aimed, but fired in panic. Which made them easy enough to avoid as we stayed low, darted forward, and—
Shoved the bomb down the makeshift ramp.
Leo grabbed my hand the moment it was rolling down the armoire, the bomb flying toward Daniel and his men. He yanked me toward Ava and the rest of our teams. The blockade had been removed from the back door, the wooden panel open, and cover fire was being laid down. We sprinted for the retaining wall, jumping behind just as I heard the bang from Ava’s rifle.
The world seemed to go still, and every muscle in my body tensed as I waited.
A flash.
I glanced behind me and saw fire and light before the house shuddered, its roof exploding, shards of wood and glass and metal flying in all directions, seeing Ava and Dan sprinting toward us, diving over the lip of the retaining wall . . . just as the force of the explosion hit us.
Illuminated by the fire behind us, I saw their bodies fly forward, landing in a heap on the ground, and neither moved. I crawled toward them, seeing Ava’s eyes closed and blood dripping down Dan’s temple just as the sound wave hit.
The boom was loud.
Louder than anything I’d ever heard, making my ears ring before everything went silent.
I knew the world hadn’t grown quiet, only my ears from the explosion, and I turned back to Dan and Ava, saw that Olive was already next to them, smelling salts under Ava’s nose, her lids fluttering open. Linc pressing a bandage to Dan’s temple.
My ears were ringing now, sounds slowly ebbing back in.
Dan sat up, Ava brushing off Olive to do the same beside him.
Their mouths were moving, but I couldn’t yet discern the words.
The earth shook, taking my focus from them, and I turned, just in time to see the house collapse in on itself.
A hand clamped onto my shoulder, and I stood next to Leo, feeling everyone else do the same. We all knew that we had a limited window to get back to the front of the house. Daniel would expect us to run, would be able to chase us down.
But we were done running.
Today, we were going on the offensive.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Leo
We all split up, relying on hand signals from Hannah and Laila to stay organized because our hearing was still shit, though it was coming back enough for me to hear the splintering of the wood as the house continued to crash down, the trees surrounding it that had been caught up in the blast crackling with flames.
I bent to grab a gun from one o
f Daniel’s men that we’d taken down in our run for the retaining wall, saw the others gather what they could as we rounded the house and prepared for a firefight.
The metal was warm in my hands, different from the composite material our weapons were composed of, and whether it was from the man’s body or the blast, I didn’t know. I also didn’t care. Not when we were approaching the front yard and none of us had any idea if the bomb had been effective against Daniel’s shield.
Jess was behind me at my right shoulder, Hannah was even with me, Lily trailing. Linc had joined with Laila’s team, keeping an eye on Ava and Dan as they circled around the other side of the house.
We crept forward, taking as much cover as we could as we moved, slowly making our way toward the front of the now-destroyed home.
But I don’t think any of us were ready for the sight that greeted us.
The utter destruction.
Trees were broken in half, every leaf torn from their branches, resembling toothpicks more than resilient hardwoods.
The yard was scorched, no greenery in sight, just dirt and blackened earth . . . and bodies all around. I caught a flicker of movement, saw it was Laila and company emerging from the other side of the house. She and Hannah communicated briefly via hand signals before we all took off, going over the space that looked like a war zone, checking for survivors, for enemies that might still be in a position to harm us, who would be looking for an opening.
I found no survivors.
And neither did anyone else.
Just prone, unbreathing bodies, the ATV in a twisted heap of metal, and behind them, at the far end of the clearing, the other vehicles were blown clear off their frames, tires in shreds, windows shattered out.
Jess had crouched to pick something up from the crater where the bomb appeared to have detonated when I saw movement.
Not from our team.
But from behind one of the destroyed SUVs.
A flash of metal. A shadow drifting between trees. A gun being lifted.
“Get down!” I yelled, and I was running before I registered moving, sprinting toward Jess. But I wasn’t loud enough, or her hearing hadn’t yet cleared enough to heed the warning. She started to rise, some piece of metal in her hand, when I heard the gun go off.
Or rather, felt the bullet penetrate my side, beneath my outstretched arms that had been reaching for Jess.
Pain burst to life.
Jess screamed as I tackled her to the ground.
The world went dark.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jesse
He was dead weight on top of me, pinning me to the ground.
Dead. Weight.
Fuck.
Fuck.
I shoved him off me, rolling him onto his back, searching for the source of his bleed. It was coming heavily, soaking through his clothes and into mine, coating my skin. Finally, I pulled enough fabric and saw his vest had been dislodged, exposing his side. Finding the entry wound, I pressed down hard, cursing and crying and trying to reach into my pack.
“Here.”
The voice was near enough to make me jump, having not heard Olive approach.
She handed me a bandage, started tearing into her kit and pulling out supplies. Linc was with her, checking Leo’s pulse, taking over for me on the pressure after I’d slammed the covering onto the bullet wound. I didn’t want to back up, to let go, was afraid that if I did, then I wouldn’t ever get to hold him again.
But I trusted Linc and Olive and knew I had to allow them to do what they were good at.
So, I crouched there with Leo’s blood on my hands, willing his chest to continue rising and falling, praying his breaths would keep emerging from his mouth, praying that his eyes would open, and he’d toss that casual, sexy grin in my direction.
Those lids didn’t peel back, no matter how hard I silently begged them to.
I stood, glanced back when Olive took my hand, reading her lips more than hearing the words, “He’ll be all right.”
It was too noisy with the trees blazing, with the ringing in my ears, with my own breathing, and the pounding of my heart drowning out so much else.
He’d saved me.
Like I’d saved him.
I turned in the direction of the trees, where the bullets had flown from, and saw the cluster of my teammates hauling someone out from the shadows.
They dragged him toward me, ignoring his groans of pain, and I saw it was Daniel, his leg clearly broken, blood covering one side of his face.
“You fucking bitch,” he spat when they dumped him in front of me.
I kicked his foot.
The one attached to his broken leg, and I didn’t feel the least bit guilty when he cried out in pain, the sharp sound cutting through the ringing. This man had spent the last years going after everyone I cared about, going after my family. And he’d shot Leo.
He was lucky I didn’t immediately put a bullet into his head.
I still had a couple of them left in my gun.
I pulled it out, crouched next to him. “Can you hear me?” I asked.
He smirked, reached up and pulled out an earpiece, chucking it to the ground, doing the same with the other ear. “Yes, I can hear you.”
“I’m going to kill you,” I murmured, tugging out a knife from my sheath. I jabbed it into his thigh, ignoring the short scream, the trickle of blood, the way his face went pale. “Slowly and painfully and inch by inch by inch.”
A hand gripped mine, tugging the knife out of his leg. “Enough,” Hannah said. “We need to get him back to base, and then I’ll let you have a turn with him.”
I inhaled, tried to control the rage swirling inside me.
He’d hurt the man I loved. He’d betrayed us. He’d—
My fingers cramped on the knife I still held and though it was tempting to see what I could do to get him to spill his guts about who he’d been working with, I knew Hannah was right. Hands shaking—from controlling that fury rather than terror—I wiped the blade clean on his leg.
His broken leg.
I took a page out of his book and just smirked, even as his scream filled the clearing.
Then I shoved my knife back into the sheath and turned away, knowing we needed to get Daniel under lock and key, needed to use anything in our arsenal to get him talking.
And we needed to get Leo back to base.
That meant I had to find us an exit.
Reaching into my pocket, I yanked out my cell, and though the screen was shattered, the bomb must have taken out whatever had blocked us before because I had a signal.
I called into the base’s S.O.S. line, got the chopper en route for Daniel and Leo, a new rendezvous for us with a second chopper, and turned away from the bastard in front of me, of the man I wouldn’t hesitate to kill if he didn’t prove to be useful.
Laila, Ryker, and Hannah had set up a perimeter with Dan and Lily.
Ava was standing guard over Daniel.
There was nothing left to be done for the moment, so I went over to Leo, and I held his hand, breathed a sigh of relief when I stared down at the man who’d made himself at home in my heart, the man whose eyes were now open, though pain was written across his face.
“I love you,” I said.
He smiled, let his eyes slide closed. My pulse skipped a beat, but I just held tight because his chest still moved, his heart was still beating, and his grip on my hand didn’t loosen as the minutes crawled by.
The sound of the chopper reached my ears.
But I didn’t relax, not until Leo and Daniel were loaded on board, Hannah shoving me on alongside Ava, Linc, and Olive before the rest of the teams left for the second rendezvous point.
I didn’t relax until we’d reached the base, Leo was in the infirmary, Daniel was locked up in the brig with Ava to keep guard.
I didn’t relax until the second chopper landed and Hannah, Laila, and everyone else had made it safely back onto base.
I didn’t relax until
Leo was out of surgery, almost twelve hours later, Linc and Olive and the rest of the infirmary staff having seen him through the other side of internal bleeding and a bullet tearing through his insides.
I didn’t relax until he was out of critical care and sleeping peacefully in a hospital bed.
Only then did I finally collapse.
But I still didn’t relax.
We’d be okay.
Thank God, we’d be okay.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Leo
I woke slowly, a heavy weight on my legs, a bright light shining in my eyes.
Linc was the source of the bright light.
Jess was the source of the weight on my legs.
She looked horrible, black circles marring the space beneath her eyes, her freckles seeming abnormally dark against her pale skin. Her ponytail was askew, hanging shaggily down her back as she slept propped forward in her chair, leaning against the bed with her arms crossed over my shins.
Linc’s voice was quiet as he pocketed the flashlight. “First time she’s slept in near on three days,” he said. “I’d nearly restrained her and drugged her to force her to rest, but then she finally passed out.”
“Three days?” I rasped.
Linc helped me drink some water, and the fire in my throat abated.
“You had to get shot where you didn’t have any body armor, didn’t you?”
“Apparently,” I said, shifting slightly against the bone-deep ache.
“Shit bounced around in there,” Linc said. “We had to do some serious work to get you patched up.”
“Jess was okay?” I asked. “Not hit?”
“Scratches and bruises, nothing serious. No one was seriously hurt besides you.” A beat. “Well, besides you and Daniel. I set the fucker’s leg myself.”
I jerked, pain lancing through me at the action, but that wasn’t what had me immediately freezing. No, I went statue because my lurching had Jess shifting on my legs, and the last thing I wanted was to wake her when she’d finally found sleep. I met Linc’s eyes. “Daniel’s alive?”
