by Kaylea Cross
Declan took his helmet back and pushed Ruby behind him. “Shane, get her back.” His brother took her by the arm and towed her away to the relative safety of a thick stand of trees a hundred feet away while the rest of them moved closer to the entrance.
Ryan hung back with Cam and Jackson while Declan and Wade set a charge on top of the door. Declan moved away a few yards. “You boys ready?”
At their collective affirmative, he blew the charge. A loud bang echoed through the forest, the flash of light illuminating the surrounding trees for an instant before everything went dark again, the landscape lit up in green by their night vision goggles.
Declan approached the steel door, weapon aimed at it in case anyone was waiting below. “Go,” he commanded.
Ryan and the others charged forward. Wade raced over as Declan shoved aside the damaged steel hatch and Wade threw in a flashbang.
The moment the diversionary device exploded, shots echoed from somewhere below in the darkened tunnel.
Candace stopped in the middle of giving instructions to one of the staff members when the fire marshal walked in through the front doors of the main building. The entire resort was crawling with first responders and FBI agents, and they’d corralled all the guests into the lounge and main dining room, on the off chance that the threat wasn’t over yet.
“Fire’s out,” the forty-something man said as he unstrapped and removed his helmet.
Good. “That’s great news. How bad was the damage?”
“Eastern end of the ground and second floors are pretty much a write-off, but the good news is the water and smoke damage to the rest of the building was minimal, and the upper two floors weren’t affected.”
“I’ll have the staff move everyone from the first two floors into other buildings. Any idea how it started?” Had to have been March’s men. They’d set it to flush her and the others outside and send them into the ambush.
“Arson investigator is en route, should be here within the hour. He’ll be able to tell you for certain once he does his report, but based on what happened here, I’m guessing they doused the side of the building with either gas or lighter fluid and then lit it.”
Bastards. Lucky no one had been killed tonight. “Is there anything you need from me right now?” She was already juggling several balls at the moment, but she could handle one more.
His lips quirked, his brown eyes kind. “Other than you going to the hospital to get that wound checked out? No.”
She smiled at him, even though smiling was the last thing she felt like doing. There’d been no word on the mission status. She’d refused to let his firefighters or the paramedics tend to her. Erin knew what she was doing, and had patched her up just fine until she could get to the hospital. The outer edge of her left shoulder blade ached, yeah, and she would go get it checked out by a doctor later.
“I will.” But not until Ryan was back safe and sound. Until then, she wasn’t budging from this resort.
He nodded once. “I’ll let you get back to work, then. Looks like you’ve got your hands full.”
At least being busy gave her something to focus on other than worrying about Ryan and her grandma.
After instructing the staff to move everyone from the damaged lower rooms to new ones and give the guests something to eat, she hurried to the lounge to inform everyone what was going on. Erin and Dev were both there taking care of the guests with the rest of the staff, serving coffee and tea and whatever snacks they’d managed to find in the kitchens.
“Any word on what’s happening?” Dev asked her quietly over in the corner of the room a minute later.
“Not yet, but I’m going to get a status update now. If I find out anything, I’ll let you guys know.”
“All right.”
Exhaustion pulled at her, the pain in her side making her even more edgy as she exited the main building and headed for the adjoining one to the west. The Feds had set up a command post of sorts in the grill restaurant.
She spotted Maya standing next to one of them, deep in conversation. Her friend’s gaze cut to her as Candace approached.
“Is there a status update?” Candace asked without preamble.
The stocky, middle-aged FBI agent beside Maya shook his head. “Not yet.”
She didn’t believe him, and glanced at Maya for verification. Maya shook her head and Candace tamped down her impatience. “Are they at the bunker yet?”
“Yes,” Maya answered. “But that’s all I know.”
Great. Expelling a deep breath, Candace raked a hand through her hair. “How long until we can expect an update?” she asked the man.
“I’ll let you know as soon as I can.”
“You look ready to drop,” Maya said, catching her right hand and towing her toward an empty table. “Sit. I’ll get you something to drink.”
She sat, glowering. “I don’t want anything to drink. I want a damn status update.” At least tell me they’re still okay.
“Yeah, you and me both, chica.” Maya shot the male agent a dark look, hands on her trim hips. “Unfortunately, we’re shit out of luck on that front for the time being.”
Pulling the steel door shut behind him, Eric loaded a fresh magazine into his rifle and paused at the entrance of his safe room. His hands were steady, his heart rate only slightly elevated as he waited in the darkness, not even a hint of ambient light filtering through his NVGs.
They were here, although he didn’t know how many. He’d known they were here even before they’d hit the entrance door with explosives and tossed in the stun grenade.
His perimeter alarm had alerted him of their arrival minutes beforehand, allowing him plenty of time to set the last of his surprises and retreat here. If the men coming after him were highly trained and experienced, then the booby traps wouldn’t stop them.
But they would buy Eric time.
Lyle had never reported back after the attack, so Eric had to assume he’d been captured or killed. He was on his own now, but maybe it was better this way.
His turf. His terms.
His way.
They could try to take him alive but he’d kill as many of them as he could first. And he wasn’t afraid to die.
They wouldn’t kill him though. That would only make him a martyr to his followers, fueling the momentum of the movement he’d begun. Keeping him in prison was equally dangerous, because he could recruit from within the prison system and his followers would continue to operate without him. His men were loyal to him, and to their cause.
No matter what happened tonight, he won.
A loud boom rent the air, shaking the tunnel so much that the walls and floor trembled around him.
He smiled in the darkness. His first diversion.
Surprise, assholes.
And there were more where that came from. They thought they had him trapped down here, but they were wrong. If he played this right, soon they’d be the ones trapped, while he escaped right out from underneath them.
He flexed his fingers around his weapon, ready for the coming showdown. “Now come and get me.”
Chapter Twelve
Ryan dove to the ground when the explosion from inside the tunnel shattered the stillness.
Ears ringing, right arm screaming in protest, he shook his head to clear it and looked around. All the others had hit the deck as well, but thankfully no one seemed to be hurt.
“Everyone good?” MacKenzie said.
“Yeah,” Ryan muttered, gritting his teeth as he pushed to his feet. Jesus, whatever that was had packed one hell of a punch. March had to be down there somewhere, must have triggered it somehow. Why else set booby traps if not to protect himself? “He’s waiting for us.”
“Let’s go.”
Ryan followed behind the others, carefully easing his way into the circular opening to climb down the metal rungs anchored into the concrete wall. He kept his right hand on his rifle, to stabilize his weapon and keep from moving his arm around more than necessary. Th
e patch job was holding for the most part but he could feel blood trickling down his side. Must have re-opened it when he hit the ground a minute ago.
When his boots touched the floor he turned and began walking down a concrete tunnel. The farther they moved away from the entrance, the less light there was for his NVGs to pick up.
Taking point, MacKenzie led the way down the corridor, their steps echoing off the walls. The place was damn creepy and Ryan couldn’t believe Ruby had spent time down here. They passed the spot where the first booby trap had gone off, the walls, floor, and ceiling peppered with pockmarks.
“Son of a bitch,” MacKenzie murmured, stopping a dozen yards or so ahead. “He’s got this whole section wired up to blow.”
“Wentworth and I can help you,” Wade said, stepping forward. Ryan stepped around Cam and Jackson, leaving them to provide over watch, and moved closer to the other two.
What he saw made his heart sink.
March or whoever was down here had crisscrossed wires across the width of the tunnel before them, like a massive silver spider web, punctuated with at least a dozen frag grenades.
“If he was ready to blow this up, then he’s either not here, or he’s got another tunnel to escape from.” And it was going to take them precious time to render this inert so they could get past it.
MacKenzie nodded and contacted Shane to confirm with Ruby. “She says there were five different exit routes when she was here.”
“Great,” Ryan muttered, hunkering down and fishing a pair of wire cutters out of his vest while Wade aimed a penlight and helped him figure out where to cut. Even with the three of them working feverishly it took almost ten minutes to undo everything and set the grenades aside where they wouldn’t pose further threat.
MacKenzie waved them forward. They found two more booby traps, and had to stop and dismantle them before moving on. Ryan’s entire upper right arm ached, the trickle of blood sticky against his side. The tunnel forked right, then left, then right again. Zig-zagging its way under the mountain.
At a pile of rubble blocking one side of it, they stopped. “Another tunnel?” Ryan murmured.
“Yep,” Wade confirmed.
Looked like what Ruby had said before might be true. Maybe the government had destroyed part of the complex or filled some of it in, but since then someone else had cleared part of it back out again.
Twenty yards down the main tunnel, they found the entrance to another. Ryan’s heart rate picked up as they checked the door and eased inside. He, Wade, and MacKenzie went in to check it out. They hit a dead end a hundred and fifty feet in and retraced their steps.
“Keep going,” MacKenzie told them all, and continued down the main tunnel.
In the glow of the penlight Wade aimed ahead, they saw the end of it. The entire forward section of the tunnel was caved in, rubble obliterating the entrance from floor to ceiling. But there was one final door a few feet away from it to their right.
MacKenzie waved them forward, stopping to check the door. Ryan flexed his fingers around the grips of his weapon, the butt snug against the front of his sore shoulder. The door didn’t look rigged, but opening it was a gamble.
Ryan stayed to the right of it as MacKenzie moved to its left and reached for the lever. He strained to twist it, the groan of metal on metal echoing in the tunnel, scraping over his nerve endings.
It opened slightly. Wade tossed in another flashbang. It exploded with a bright flash of light and a loud burst that pulsed against his eardrums. Then, nothing but silence.
Wade went in first this time, then MacKenzie and Ryan. Nothing but empty black space lay ahead of them. Then came the faint sound of footsteps from somewhere behind them.
“Shit, someone’s moving the other way,” Cam said.
Ryan rushed back out of the side tunnel with the others, the sound of someone running fading ahead of them in the distance. “He’s going for the main shaft.”
“And he’ll try to bury us all down here if we don’t stop him before he gets there,” MacKenzie muttered, saying exactly what Ryan had feared.
Fuck! The grenades. They’d left the goddamn grenades lying there. March could use them to pin them all down here, maybe even take a few of them out, then blow the tunnel entrance shut.
He ran back the way they’d come, right on Wade’s heels, MacKenzie behind him, then Cam and Jackson. They had to stop this fucker before he reached the grenades.
The darkness hampered them until Wade switched on the tac light on his weapon, flooding the tunnel with a beam of light. Ryan’s pulse thudded in his ears, the pain in his arm disappearing under the rush of fear and adrenaline. They were literally in a race for their lives and couldn’t afford to lose.
His boots thudded on the concrete floor with every step. Shots exploded down the tunnel. Bullets sprayed the floor and walls, bouncing all over, making them draw back into a huddle behind the bend in the wall for cover.
Then something metallic pinged off the floor up ahead. His heart seized.
“Grenade!” He dove to the ground, climbing half on top of Wade out of instinct to shield his teammate an instant before it detonated. Bits of concrete and dust pelted them but there was no sharp, hot bite of metal.
A vision of Candace appeared in his head. Laughing at something he’d said, her head thrown back, dark eyes dancing. Then he thought of her beautiful face crumpling with grief if he died tonight. He was not going to be buried alive down here.
Ryan lifted his head, surged to his feet, and ran headlong after Wade, determined to get the son of a bitch waiting up ahead. Just as they came to the last bend in the tunnel, another grenade rattled and rolled its way toward them.
They hit the ground again. Ryan bit back a howl of pain as red-hot agony swept up his right arm.
He vaguely saw Wade tossing his own grenade before hitting the floor on his belly. The two weapons detonated at almost the same moment, the combined concussion ringing his head and compressing his lungs.
“Think I hit him,” he heard Wade say, and clambered to his feet once more to give chase. The pain made his vision waver but he shook it off.
In the beam of light from Wade’s weapon, Ryan saw March up ahead. Just a blur of motion as he started up the metal rungs in the concrete wall.
Everything slowed down to a fraction of normal time. His gaze locked on March’s hand as the man reached for the pin in another grenade.
He raised the muzzle of his weapon at the same time Wade did, aiming center mass before firing. They hit him dead in the chest, knocking him off the ladder. He fell, hitting the ground with a solid thud.
MacKenzie raced past them, weapon up. “Don’t fucking move, asshole,” he warned.
Ryan was right behind him, kicking away the man’s rifle as MacKenzie searched him for other weapons. Their bullets had hit March right in the center of his ballistic vest. He gasped for breath as MacKenzie rolled him over and secured his hands behind him.
It was only then that Ryan realized how fast he was breathing, how amped up he was. He wanted to smash March’s face in with his bare fist for what the man had done. For wounding Candace, for wounding and almost killing him and his teammates down here.
“Mother fucker.”
Jaw clenched, he slung his weapon across his back and began climbing up the metal rungs of the ladder anchored into the concrete wall. Near the top he paused. “Shane, how we looking up there?” he murmured into the mic.
“All clear. You guys coming up?”
“Affirmative.” Without the adrenaline masking the pain, his arm was now aching like a bitch. He grimaced as he climbed his way to the top, and by the time he got there he was covered in sweat. Biting back a groan, he crawled over the edge of the opening and stayed on one knee to catch his breath.
A solid hand landed on his left shoulder. “You good?” Cam.
“Yeah. Just need a second.”
“I got movement outside the tunnel entrance,” Shane reported, voice sharp. “Single heat si
gnature, lost it in the trees to the southeast—”
The rest of what he said was lost under the roar of blood in Ryan’s ears.
He was already dropping to his stomach, rolling behind a slight knoll to take cover. As soon as he was in place he aimed at the far tree line, and a bullet punched into the metal hatch two feet in front of him with a loud ping.
“Fucker,” Cam snarled under his breath, flat on his belly beside Ryan.
“You guys got him?” Declan said over their comms, still inside the tunnel.
Ryan lay unmoving, eye to his scope, every muscle tense as he scanned those trees. “I got nothing. Shane?”
“Moving around to get another look.”
“Ruby—”
“She’s good.”
Was it Coventry out there shooting at them sniper-style? Or was it another of March’s men? “Any other heat signatures?”
“Negative, just the one.”
For now, anyway. Ryan eased the barrel of his weapon farther to the right.
A flash of movement caught his attention through the trees. “I got him. Hundred-and-twenty yards, two o’clock.”
“You got a shot?” Wade said, inside the tunnel with the others.
“Negative. We’re gonna have to flush the bastard out,” he muttered.
“Roger that,” Declan answered. “Shane, you cover the left flank. Ryan, you and Cam take the right and we’ll come up and take the middle.”
“Wilco.” The right side of his undershirt was stiff with blood. More of it pooled warm against his ribs. Sooner you get this bastard, the sooner you can get that plugged again.
“Ready?” Cam whispered.
“Yeah. I’ll cover you.”
Cam shot up and ran to the right while Ryan watched the trees for more movement. Another shot rang out. Cam cursed but kept running. “To my left,” he reported, dropping behind the cover of a big boulder.
Ryan used his left arm to push to his knees, waited for Cam’s soft go before racing after him. No more shots echoed in the silence, but Ryan glimpsed a tiny shift in the underbrush ahead and to the left as he ran. “I got him.” Dropping onto one knee, he took aim, fired. Then he waited.
