by Kaylea Cross
The pressure around her arm let up even more as the guy leaned over to grab his fallen weapon.
A wave of anger tore through Bryn. They’d gagged her and bound her hands behind her, but she was still far from helpless. She had a fucking black belt, and Dec and Ben had shown her other handy tricks as well.
Sucking in a big breath of air through her nose, she whirled, bringing her right leg back and then snapping her foot forward with her full power behind it. The roundhouse caught the bastard in the back of the head just as he was straightening.
Pain radiated through the top of her foot and up her shin as he slumped forward. Bryn immediately adjusted her stance and lashed out again with her other foot, aiming for his face this time.
The blow never connected. He caught her shin and wrenched her leg upward, throwing her off balance. She twisted as she fell, hitting the ground on her shoulder. She rolled to one knee and pushed to her feet to bolt for cover as more shots echoed around her.
A foot caught her in the thigh, mid-step. She hissed in a pained breath as she went down again, rolling to her back just as her attacker lunged for her.
Bullets were still flying but she was too focused on getting free to worry about anything else. Baring her teeth beneath the gag, she reared both feet back and kicked out hard.
She nailed him in the chest, knocking him backward. Before he could recover, she leaped to her feet and stomped on the hand holding his rifle. He howled and shot out his other hand toward her, his face a mask of rage.
Bryn dodged it and spun to deliver a solid back kick, catching him in the side this time. He stumbled. She switched her stance, leaned her weight back on her rear foot, then slammed her dominant foot into the back of his skull. He collapsed.
Sucking in air through her nose, heart pounding so hard she felt sick, she kicked the fallen rifle out of his reach in case he regained his senses and took off across the courtyard as fast as she could. The shooting was behind her and to her right now, the reports echoing off the walls, mixing with the roar of the rotors.
She glanced over her shoulder to see the helicopter lifting, easing into the air as she tore across the open ground toward the shadows made by the far fort wall. She ran into a darkened bay formed by the interior brickwork and took a knee, panting, trembling as she took in everything before her.
She could see a few men lying on the ground, not moving, including the one she’d taken down. Others were moving around toward the shadows on the opposite side of the fort from her. She couldn’t tell if they were friend or foe.
Dec, please be okay…
Wrenching her attention back to the helicopter, her heart sank as it rose into the night sky. Even if she and whoever was attacking the bad guys made it out of this alive, how were they going to save Sam?
****
She was trapped in a waking nightmare.
Sam’s heart lurched as the helicopter lifted. The gunfire outside was intensifying. Muzzle flashes lit up the darkness below as the aircraft climbed into the air.
Hanes released her with a little shove that made her slump sideways, and scrambled to the far side of the open sliding door, a rifle in his hands as he scanned the ground. Sam’s whole body trembled from a mixture of fear, shock and cold as the night air flowed in through the open door.
What was Hanes doing? Where was he taking her?
She couldn’t see the people below them well enough to discern whether it was Ben and some of the other guys, but there was no way the police could have dispatched a tactical team this fast. She had to believe Ben had come for her.
She struggled to her knees, despair ripping through her as the helicopter cleared the wall of the fort. They were still low, still flying slowly. The water glistened below them in the moonlight, dark and deep.
She glanced at Hanes, who was still manning the door. He fired two rounds at someone below.
Rage punched through her that he might be shooting at Ben or one of the others.
He would kill her at some point. Whether when it was once he got clear, or when his men found the coordinates and key on Luke’s desk. Right now, she was just his ticket to freedom, because he was banking that the rescue force below wouldn’t try to take the helicopter down with her inside it.
The pilot began angling them higher.
Sam’s gaze shot back to the water. It was a long drop already, and getting longer with every thudding heartbeat. But from where she was sitting, it was her only chance at surviving.
She looked back at Hanes. He still had his rifle to his shoulder, his attention on the ground.
Sam shifted her weight, easing forward even as terror flooded her. She didn’t know how far up they were now.
Maybe the fall would kill her. With her hands bound behind her, maybe she’d drown. Maybe Hanes would shoot her before she made it out the door.
But jumping was the only way she could think of to save herself.
She glanced back at the fort, the lump in her throat all but choking her. If Ben was down there, she prayed he was okay. That he would make it out.
He would want her to do this. Would want her to do everything in her power to try and save herself.
I love you, Ben.
Tears blinding her, she reached down deep for all her courage, then lunged forward. Her shoulder barreled into Hanes, knocking him aside.
Then she was falling, her scream muffled by the gag as she plunged toward the inky water beneath her.
****
Ben tore back through the short tunnel that led to the exterior door they’d entered through, his heart in his throat. The guys were taking care of the remaining tangos inside. He was going after Sam.
The blood roared in his ears as he ran, his footsteps echoing off the concrete walls. He’d almost had a clear shot at Hanes when they’d first emerged through the door, then that fucker had pulled Sam in front of him and used her as a human shield so he could slink off to his helo, taking her with him.
Ben couldn’t let him take her. Couldn’t bear the thought of losing her, of living without her. All he could see was the look on her face as Hanes dragged her toward the helo. Terror and heartbreak.
I’m coming, sweet thing, hold on. Please hold on…
He burst out of the doorway and into the shadows on the other side of the wall. The helicopter had cleared the fort and was starting to ascend. He put his weapon to his shoulder, aiming at the open doorway. But he couldn’t see Hanes.
A wave of sickening helplessness crashed over him. He couldn’t take out the pilot without killing Sam in the ensuing crash. He was literally powerless. Literally unable to do anything to help Sam, even with all his skills.
A shattered scream of denial rose up his throat.
Movement from the helo doorway caught his attention. His muscles tightened. He sharpened his aim, finger on the trigger.
A figure flew out of the door. In the moonlight, he caught a flash of red hair.
His heart stopped. “Sam!” Her name tore from his chest in an animal roar of anguish.
He slung his weapon around his back and raced for the water, his legs like jelly. He saw the splash as she hit the water, then she went under and he lost sight of her. Someone inside the helo fired at her.
Ben reached back for his weapon, fury obliterating the fear. He took aim at the helo’s open doorway, and the second he saw part of his target through it, he fired two shots in quick succession.
A figure toppled forward and fell into the water not far from where Sam had landed.
Sam. She had surfaced, but she was struggling, her head popping clear of the surface for a second, then going back under.
“Sam!” Ben dropped his weapon. She was eighty yards out or so. The water was cold and dark and she wasn’t a strong swimmer.
He lunged for the edge of the rocks, his muscles bunching, ready to spring and launch him headfirst into the water.
“I got her!”
Ben jerked his head around just as Rhys flew past him and knif
ed into the water in a shallow dive. Ben raced after him, was steps from the water’s edge when he heard the running footsteps behind him.
On instinct he turned, reaching for the rifle that was no longer there.
A man emerged from the doorway. Ben watched the muzzle of a weapon being turned toward him.
He reached for the pistol holstered on his hip just as the muzzle flash lit up the darkness. A bullet tore deep into his chest.
Ben jerked, his foot slipping, his right hand no longer responding to his commands. The pistol fell to the rocks.
A bright burst of light, the sharp crack of a rifle. Another burning pain exploded through his ribcage.
He hit the ground, agony slicing through him. There was no air. He grabbed at his chest with his left hand, a terrifying, cold paralysis taking hold.
Two more shots rang through the darkness. If they hit him, he didn’t feel it. And then all was strangely silent as he lay staring up at the moonlit sky, a strangled cry of anguish leaving his lips.
Sam…
****
Hanes had Sam on board the helo, and it had just cleared the fort wall, on its way back to shore somewhere. But the fight inside the fort wasn’t over yet.
Dec stayed crouched behind the end of the visitor’s center, scanning the battlefield in front of him. Luke was across the fort on the opposite end from him. Ben had just disappeared into the tunnel they’d entered from earlier, followed thirty seconds later by Rhys to track the helo.
Leaving Dec and Luke inside do deal with the surviving tangos. Dec liked those odds.
His gaze snagged on something moving to the right and snapped his head toward it, weapon to his shoulder and ready to fire. His NVGs caught a figure racing the last few yards across the old parade ground.
He sucked in a breath and removed his finger from the trigger. Bryn.
Only the discipline honed over a lifetime of service in the Teams kept him in place as he watched her run and duck behind cover, tracking her every move while guarding her six. A measure of relief slid through him when she was safely behind cover.
I’m here, baby. I’m coming for you.
As soon as he thought it, a tango emerged from around the end of the wall sixty yards in front of him. Dec waited. The man straightened and started sprinting toward where Bryn was hiding.
Dec squeezed the trigger, hitting his target in the neck. The man dropped where he stood, unmoving, his cervical spine severed.
He glanced toward Bryn’s hiding spot. She peeked around the edge of the brick structure. No, he begged her silently. Don’t move.
“Got a visual on Bryn,” he murmured to Luke via his earpiece. “I’m going after her.” They still didn’t know how many tangos were left, but it didn’t matter. He had to get to Bryn.
“Copy. I’ll cover you.”
Afraid she would bolt and expose herself to enemy fire if he waited any longer, Dec broke from his position, weapon up as he ran across the open parade ground.
A body emerged from behind another brick structure yards from Bryn. Dec swung the barrel of his weapon toward it and fired just as a shot ripped past him. More shots rang out behind him but he didn’t stop, kept running, his sole focus on getting to Bryn so he could protect her and get her the hell out of here.
He was almost to the brick structure. A rifle shot cracked behind him, then silence.
Dec veered behind the bricks and skidded to his knees, stopping feet from Bryn. She sucked in a ragged breath and reared her foot back to drive it at his chest.
Anticipating the move, he leaned forward and caught her leg with both hands, taking away her leverage. “Bryn. It’s me,” he said in a low voice, flipping up his NVGs so she might be able to see him in the near darkness.
She cried out, sat up and threw herself at him. Dec caught her and held her tight to his chest. “Are you all right?” he demanded, running his hands over her, checking for injury.
She made a muffled sound and nodded, pressing closer. The bastards had bound her hands behind her and gagged her with duct tape.
He reached down, unsheathed his KA-BAR and sliced through the ties holding her wrists together. She grabbed hold of his shoulders, her eyes wide as she stared at him.
“Hold on. This is gonna sting,” he warned, then grasped the edge of the tape and peeled it away from her mouth.
She winced, her fingers digging into his shoulders. “Hanes has Sam. He’s got her in—”
“I know. Ben and Rhys have gone after her. Now come on. I’m getting you out of here.” He bent to scoop her up in his arms.
“No,” she protested, pushing at his chest. “I’m okay, I can run on my own. I’d rather you have your weapon ready.”
He could easily use his weapon with her across his shoulders, but he trusted her to know her limits. “Stay right on my six.”
“I will.”
He crouched down behind the edge of the barrier, pulled down his NVGs and waited a few moments. It was quiet. Too quiet. “Bryn’s okay. I’m bringing her out.”
“Roger. No visual on any more targets currently. I’ll cover you, then check the perimeter and meet you at the mouth of the tunnel.”
“Copy.” He turned to Bryn. “Ready?”
She nodded, the determination on her face making his heart swell with pride. His wife was a fucking badass.
Shoving to his feet, he picked a mental path back to the tunnel entrance and broke from cover. He could hear Bryn right behind him, his gaze scanning for any more threats standing between them and their only exit.
Another shot sliced through the quiet.
“Contact right, two o’clock, moving away from you,” Luke said in his ear. “You got him?”
Dec couldn’t see past the edge of the visitor’s center yet. “Negative.”
He stopped and pushed Bryn to her knees behind the corner of the wall, then brought his weapon up and ducked around the corner just in time to see a man reach the door to the tunnel. “Got him,” he said to Luke, and broke from cover to pursue the final tango.
He had just entered the tunnel when he saw the tango at the other end raise his weapon to fire and race past the mouth out of view.
Shit.
Dec put on a burst of speed, emerging just as shots ripped through the air. He fired at the shooter, taking him out in a clean kill to the neck. But it was too late.
Ben was already lying motionless on the rocks.
Chapter Fourteen
The water was freezing, stabbing her like a thousand icy knives.
Sam flailed in the water, kicking hard, her restrained hands making it impossible to swim or keep her head above the surface. She managed to thrash enough to break through for an instant, dragging in a ragged, choked breath before she went back under.
Everything was cold and black.
Trapped beneath the surface, she craned her head back, eyes wide as she stared at the moonlight rippling across the surface above her. Miraculously she was still alive, had survived the jump and the fall and the bullets that had sliced through the water nearby. But she was tiring fast and she couldn’t tell which direction the fort was.
Dimly she heard something hit the water close by. She kicked hard, propelling herself toward the surface, fighting with everything in her. She hadn’t gone through all of this just to drown.
She had to get to shore. Ben might be there.
Her head broke through the water at last. She heaved in a breath of cool, sweet air, then rolled to her back, hoping to float.
A small wave washed over her head. She choked, panicked, her body automatically switching over to autopilot as her legs thrashed.
Something touched her calf. She almost screamed, barely remembered not to open her mouth as she kicked out.
Fingers clamped around her ankle, gripping tight.
Sam wrenched it free and struggled to the surface. She cleared it, coughing, managed to suck in a little more air before the hand grabbed her again.
Hanes. Still alive.
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His other hand locked around her calf. Pulling her down with terrifying strength.
No! She lashed out with her other foot, her fingers curled into claws as she shoved them downward and raked them across the skin she met.
Hanes jerked and eased his grip. She lashed out with her heel this time, striking him hard.
The restraining hands fell away. Sam turned her face upward and kicked with all her might, terror flooding her as she broke the surface.
A sob ripped free, fear and desperation colliding. She couldn’t see Hanes. Didn’t know where he was, and she was still too far away from shore.
Please, someone help me!
This time she managed to roll to her back and keep her head above the water long enough to glance around at her surroundings. Overhead the helicopter was still climbing, flying away from her. She glanced behind her, managed to make out the shape of the fort, too far away.
She swam toward it, her movements jerky, expecting Hanes to grab her again at any moment. Her heart slammed against her ribs in a bruising rhythm, pounding in her ears.
Faster, Sam. Faster. She had to make it to shore.
Choking back another sob, she flattened out on her back once more and began kicking with all her might, hopefully heading toward the fort. Something splashed in the water nearby.
Her head snapped up, her heart careening in her chest. Someone popped through the surface twenty yards or so away. The moonlight caught on his face.
Hanes.
His head twisted toward her. Her heart stuttered as his gaze locked on her, then he slipped back under the water. He was coming after her again!
Sam immediately flattened out and kicked harder, desperate to get away from him, craning her neck every so often to make sure she was still heading toward the fort. Her limbs were already numb from the cold, her whole body shaking.
Fingers brushed the back of her thigh. She screamed and reared her leg back to slam her heel into Hanes. The solid contact vibrated up her leg, her skin crawling as she swam for her life, desperate to put distance between them.
