Loud barks cut only by ferocious growls filled the acoustics.
Her target’s head snapped toward one hundred pounds of charging beast. He didn’t see the blow from behind. Natalie’s fist connected with the base of his skull, and she watched as the man crumpled accordion-style. She yanked the cuffs from her belt, cinched them around the man’s wrists, and then released her knife from its sheath.
Behind her, skin smacked against flesh. Boots shuffled.
Renee screamed and shrank into the fetal position against the front wheel of the dirt-crusted truck. Zeppelin lunged. His loud bark caused hearing loss, yet the animal didn’t attack. Just as McCabe had said, he held her at bay.
Natalie cut the straps of the AK-47, yanked it off the unconscious man, and slid it far under the line of cars next to them.
The door of the dirty truck hung ajar ever so slightly.
Thuds of punches and the umphs of impact continued.
It twisted her stomach, but she’d trust McCabe and stick to his plan. After all, she’d never known him to lose a fight.
She jumped onto the step and peered in the window while sheathing her weapon. Grime coated the glass, but through it, she saw something far more disgusting.
Converted into a tiny cell, a laundry bin had barbed wire twined into a mesh screen covering the top. Through it, a woman hunkered in much the same position as Renee; only, she didn’t scream or cry. Her body lay still. Eerily so. No fighting or flailing like the motions of the truck had suggested only minutes ago.
“Hier!” McCabe’s voice cut through Natalie’s revulsion. She turned. Her heart fell out of her chest, pulling her lungs with it.
Gaping chest, she watched the driver lift his free hand to the pistol grip, whose barrel wavered back and forth between McCabe and the leader. The two large, muscled men exchanged blows and knotted into a cluster of fury.
Zeppelin’s growl changed direction. His paws propelled him forward, toward his master and best friend.
The driver’s barrel shifted from the men to the dog’s chest.
“No!” McCabe roared.
The plea broke her heart and shored her resolve.
Natalie leaped toward Zeppelin even as the dog ran full bore toward a well-placed bullet.
Chapter 10
“No!” The word rang in his ears. The bullet spat out the end of the pistol. It sailed toward the two things he loved more than anything else.
One above all.
McCabe drew his knife and shoved it into the leader’s throat, directly through his brain. Before his body hit the ground, McCabe drew his sidearm and fired three shots into the driver’s head.
Natalie and Zeppelin landed in a heap ten feet away.
Why hadn’t he just killed them to start? Fuck justice. Fuck leads.
Neither Nat nor Zep moved.
Renee screamed. She crawled back to the wall, covered her face, and screamed more.
Rage, sorrow, and stupid hope drowned out the shrill noise. He shuffled forward on numb feet.
One of them moved.
His eyesight blurred too much to tell who.
McCabe tried to swallow his heart. He gagged on it.
He drew a full clear breath into his lungs to clear his mind. He was a former officer in the Army. He was a trained soldier and medical technician. No fucking way would either of them die today.
McCabe ran to them, shoving his sidearm into its holster. He skidded on knees next to them.
“Motherfucker.” Natalie groaned.
“Natalie?” His voice quaked and cracked.
“Ugh.” She rolled off Zeppelin and onto her back. A breath wheezed into her lungs and then out.
He couldn’t see the blood.
“Where are you hurt?” His fingers searched her head and neck, praying he didn’t find an entry in those critical areas. Though, in this part of the world, any wound could be fatal.
She hissed another breath and arched off the ground.
“Your back?”
Christ. Her movements didn’t show signs of paralysis, but transporting a back shot in these conditions could change that in an instant.
“Your dog,” she choked.
Zeppelin lay in an unconscious puddle of pup.
Again, McCabe couldn't find the blood. His hands roved over the pup’s coat to under his legs. A strong heartbeat knocked against his fingers.
“He’s alive. I can’t find a wound on him or you.” McCabe raked a hand through his hair and leaned over Natalie.
“There isn’t one.” She ripped at the straps of her vest.
McCabe pulled the thing from behind her back and froze. A small circular divot from the bullet marred the fabric and metal plate between the shoulder blades.
“Holy motherfuck.”
“Yep.” Natalie rolled onto her side and assessed the three men laying on the ground. “At least we can question one of them.” She laid on her back and eyed Renee, who’d quieted save for her intermittent sobs. “Two.” A smile curved Natalie’s lips.
He leaned over her and pressed a kiss to her mouth.
“Why’s Zeppelin out?”
“Because he knocked himself unconscious, ramming the air from my lungs. Powerful bastard.” She petted the dog’s sleeping head.
The lump—aka his heart—hiked itself up his throat again. McCabe gathered Natalie into his arms and pressed her heart to his. “Why the fuck did you do that?”
Zeppelin groaned. He stood like a shot, teetered, and then landed his hind quarters on the cement. His gaze roved left and right until it settled on them.
“Good boy.” McCabe scratched his chest and jaw. It seemed to center him enough that he stood again and assessed the scene. He growled at Renee, and the woman’s crying started again. He let her cry. Zeppelin was the least of her worries.
“You scared ten years off my life, woman.” He pressed his forehead to hers and rubbed them together. “Why, Natalie?”
“The possibilities, McCabe…what were the possibilities?”
“There were never possibilities for me. The possibilities were for you. For me, there were only certainties; the certainty that you were worth more to me than any fucking promotion, the certainty that I’d give anything to be with you.”
“And now?”
“Do you still not see the possibility that I have never stopped loving you?”
“I see it. I feel it because I’ve never stopped loving you, Dixon McCabe. I just didn’t know how to. Now, I do.”
“Point proven, crazy ass woman. Can you promise never to prove it again?”
“I promise to prove it every day from now, always.” She yanked his collar, and he battered her mouth with a kiss.
“How about small gestures?” he begged.
“I like my gestures big, just like my man and my dog.” Her grin lit his world.
“Oh Christ,” he groaned.
“Natalie McCabe. It has a nice ring to it, no?”
“Natalie Motherfucking McCabe. Hell, yes.” He squeezed her to his chest and peppered her with kisses. “I plan to marry you as soon as we get this girl back to her family and Renee in custody.”
“And the K-9 assholes shut down,” she added.
“Whatever my woman wants, my woman gets.”
“Promise? Because I have an insatiable appetite for you.”
“Hell, yes! With all kinds of possibilities.”
ENEMY MINE
A BASE BRANCH NOVEL
When friends become enemies and enemies become lovers.
Born in the blood of Sierra Leone's Civil War, enslaved, then sold to the US as an orphan, Base Branch operative Sloan Harris is emotionally dead and driven by vengeance. With no soul to give, her body becomes the bargaining chip to infiltrate a warlord's inner circle. The man called The Devil killed her family and helped destroy a region.
As son of the warlord, Baine Kendrick will happily use Sloan's body if it expedites his father's demise. Yet, he is wholly unprepared for the possessive and
protective emotions she provokes. Maybe it’s the flashes of memory … two forgotten children drawing in the dirt beneath the boabab tree… But he fears there is more at stake than his life.
In the Devil's den with Baine by her side, Sloan braves certain death and discovers a spirit for living.
FOR ALL TO SEE
A BUREAU NOVEL
Pristine waters and purified evil.
Two by two, dark-haired beauties vanish only to reappear as hanging, plundered corpses. The Virgin Islands boast diamond-white beaches, lush green mountains, a rich cultural heritage—and a brutal killer.
Three years on the “Field-Dresser” case and Special Agent Nathan Brewer is days away from catching the bastard—if he can convince a certain brunette to trust him. Only the woman is more likely to take a casual stroll on the surface of the sun.
After fleeing her troubles in the United States for the quiet life of a school teacher on the island of Tortola, Madelyn Garrett never imagined she’d be fixated upon by pure evil.
In a fight for her life—with a dwindling number of friends—she must rely on her cunning and Nathan’s skills for survival.
Megan Mitcham was born and raised among the live oaks and shrimp boats of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where her enormous family still calls home. She attended college at the University of Southern Mississippi where she received a bachelor's degree in curriculum, instruction, and special education. For several years Megan worked as a teacher in Mississippi. She married and moved to South Carolina and began working for an international non-profit organization as an instructor and co-director.
In 2009 Megan fell in love with books. Until then, books had been a source for research or the topic of tests. But one day she read Mercy by Julie Garwood. And oh, Mercy, she was hooked!
Megan lives in Southern Arkansas where she pens heart pounding romantic thriller novels and window-steaming erotic romance. For information on releases and giveaways subscribe at meganmitcham.com!
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The Omega Team: Furiously Mine (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Base Branch Series Book 12) Page 8
