Beside her Kell was steady as a rock. Firing at targets with precise accuracy and calmness she’d always admired.
She watched in horror as the battle wore on, men dropping like flies. Villagers and bad guys alike. Blood flowed like water in the dirt.
“I’m out,” Kell shouted, tossing his M-4 aside and grabbing his Glock.
Shea was nearly out. This battle would end soon if they ran out of ammunition.
“Cover me,” Kell said.
She nodded, swinging her weapon around and laying down cover fire. Kell shot to his feet and started running in a low crouch toward the firefight. Her heart pounded in her chest when she saw him dive for cover behind the wall of a home that probably wouldn’t make it through the fight. Bullet holes riddled the walls, the windows shattered.
Her magazine emptied and she tossed the M-4 aside, pulling her 9mm from her waistband. In front of her a nightmare unfolded as the villagers fought for their lives. Making sure the bad guys didn’t make it to where the women and children were hiding.
Shea watched in horror as Gulbanu took a bullet and fell to the ground. He wasn’t dead, but soon would be if someone didn’t help him.
Someone did.
Kell darted out from his safe place, shooting with one hand while he skid across the ground, grabbed Galbanu by the shoulders and tossed him over his shoulders. Shea fired at the bastards determined to destroy the village, seeing red. Using the rage, she bolted out of her spot, arm extended, firing at whomever was unlucky enough to step in front of her bullet.
Kell had dragged Galbanu to safety and was shouting at her, but his words couldn’t be heard over the blood surging in her ears. All she could hear were the screams of innocents being mowed down because of her.
Something hit her shoulder, knocking her off balance. She didn’t let it stop her. Just kept going, daring them to finish her.
Suddenly Kell was there, snatching her off her feet and running to safety while returning fire. They hit the ground hard behind one of the houses. She felt the fabric of her pants rip, her skin abraded by the rough landing. Kell was still returning fire around the corner.
He would run out of ammunition soon. Leaving them with nothing but a couple K-Bar knives. Shea fell back against the wall, her breaths coming in pants. She reloaded her 9mm, slapping a magazine in and tossing the expended one.
The gunfire had begun to subside. She didn’t want to think about what that meant.
“They’re coming our way,” Kell warned. “We have to move.”
A man came around the back of the house, followed by three more. Shea squeezed the trigger, taking down two of them. The third got a shot off that embedded in the wall above her head. Instinctively, she ducked.
“No good,” she shouted as more men spilled out from behind the house.
Kell grunted and she knew he’d been hit. Warmth seeped down her arm and she could smell the coppery scent of blood. He wasn’t the only one who’d taken a bullet.
Realizing they were outnumbered and outgunned, she smacked Kell on the shoulder to get his attention. Eyes on the men advancing on them, she held up her gun and set it on the ground. Kell had stopped firing too. Which could only mean one thing.
They were surrounded.
Kell rose to his feet, feeling Shea rise with him, her back against his. He looked behind him to see a small army advancing on them from that direction too. He couldn’t tell how many of the villagers had been lost or who was left. If any. All he knew was that he needed to come up with a plan and fast.
Back to back, they faced the enemy who had formed a circle around them, weapons raised.
“We come for the woman,” one of the men said in broken English.
Kell felt Shea go rigid against him. No way in hell was he giving her up. It would be over his dead body that he let them take her.
Shea spun around, gripping his face in her hands. What he saw in her eyes made his gut clench.
“Kell,” she said softly, calm now. “We can’t fight them. We’re outnumbered and out of ammunition.”
“No. Shea. No.” Dammit. He wasn’t letting her do this. There was another way. He would find it. Fuck.
She smiled so achingly sweet he felt it in his bones. “Just know that I loved you and everything I did wasn’t meant to hurt you. And, I’m sorry. For everything.”
NO. NO. NO.
“Shea—”
She covered his mouth with hers, pulling away too quickly. Then stepped away before he could stop her. She turned to the army of men, hands lifted in surrender.
“I’ll come peacefully under one condition,” she said. “You let everyone else go free.”
“No conditions,” the leader snapped.
Kell knew Shea would do it. She would sacrifice herself to save his life and those that still lived. Well, too damn bad, because he wasn’t letting it happen.
Before anyone saw it coming, he grabbed his knife, reached out and sliced the throat of the terrorist closest to him. He grabbed the man’s gun with his other hand and began shooting. All he could hear was gunfire as he took out the army in front of him.
Sharp pain shot up his arm. More in his leg. His ears began to ring, his vision dimming. Shea was no longer behind him and he didn’t have time to look to see where she was.
He heard her hiss out a breath. Thank God, she was alive. He didn’t have to turn to know she was fighting with him.
Suddenly more gunshots rang out. Men started falling around them. Kell pulled his K-Bar out of the chest of one man and let him crumple to the ground. Their saviors in robes and sandals advanced on them, bleeding and battered, but alive.
He turned to see more villagers behind them. They looked terrified, shocked.
But it was Shea who he ran to. Blood covered her from head to toe. Or so it seemed to his addled brain. He couldn’t think straight. Could barely stand. Something was wrong with his legs.
He watched Shea crumple to the ground and reached out to catch her. He did, but his strength had sapped away and he dropped to his knees, Shea in his arms. He stared down at her white face, willing her to open her eyes. But, she didn’t.
Terrified he’d lost her he pulled her to his chest and toppled over as everything went black around him.
28
Cedar Falls, Michigan
“Gear up. We’re going to A-Stan.” Quinn cast a glance at Nate. “You’re staying here. Macy needs you.”
Nate nodded, putting up no argument. They all knew about Macy’s struggles since their return from A-Stan. Warranted, but now wasn’t the time for Macy to be alone.
He pinned Chris with a hard stare. “You, drink a pot of coffee and meet me at the jet in fifteen.”
Chris flipped him off and rubbed his head. He looked like shit. His hangover didn’t help matters. It only served to piss Quinn off.
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Chris muttered, his fowl mood showing.
“What other choice do we have? Savat said he’d get us in country through one of his old military buddies. We haven’t heard jack from Kell and we can’t get ahold of him. Savat is our only option at this point.”
“And when we get there? How the hell are we supposed to find him?”
“Avery.”
Chris’s brows flew up. “Explain.”
“She has contacts from her humanitarian aid work. People she trusts to keep our cover while we search for Kell.” He paused. “We’re going in undercover with Doctors Past Borders.”
Chris laughed. “You’re serious? You know they’re evacuating all humanitarian aid workers.”
“Yes, but the process takes time. We’ll attach ourselves to a unit closest to Kell’s last location.”
Chris rose to his feet and strode for the door of Wolff Securities HQ. “Sounds like fun.”
His sarcasm followed him out the door. “He’s going to be a pain in the ass,” Nate said.
Quinn glared at him. “As of late he’s been nothing but.”
Nate ros
e. “He’s grieving too, brother. Cut him some slack.” He clapped Quinn on the shoulder on his way out the door. “I’ll run point from here. Watch your six.”
Quinn looked around the empty war room. He hadn’t been on a mission since he rescued Avery. Hell, he hadn’t left the country since and had no desire to. The drive to take every mission that crossed his desk had subsided. He still felt the itch to go into the field on occasion, but it wasn’t as strong. Having someone waiting at home changed things. Although, he’d sworn it never would.
He shook his head to clear it. From here on out he thought of nothing but finding Kell and bringing him home.
Before the country completely fell apart and the window of opportunity closed.
Tatar, Azbakastan
Kell forced his heavy eyelids open. Slowly, things came into focus. A tall figure standing over his bed. Not a bed. A narrow cot. Noise all around him. Slightly chaotic. Someone barking orders. A doctor?
He came awake and tried to sit up but a hand on his shoulder pushed him back down.
“Hold on there, brother. You’re not going anywhere.”
Quinn?
Kell’s gaze snapped to his brother’s face looming above him. He looked pissed. Definitely not a hallucination.
“Where am I?” he asked. “And what the hell are you doing here?”
“You’re in a Doctors Past Borders hospital.” Quinn looked around. “A tent. And I’m here to bring your ass home.”
Kell tried to think past the cotton clouding his head. “Shea. Where’s Shea?”
He tried to sit up again as memories flooded in. The village. Bad guys shooting everyone on site. Shea taking a hit. Bullets piercing his flesh. Shea crumpling in his arms.
His chest tightened. He pinned Quinn with a hard stare. “Where is she?”
“They had to transfer her to the nearest hospital.” Quinn met his stare directly. “She lost a lot of blood. One of the bullets nicked an artery.”
Kell cursed and sat up. He swung his legs over the edge of the cot, swaying slightly as all the blood rushed to his head. Quinn held him down with a hand on his shoulder.
“You took two bullets. You’re goddamn lucky to be alive.”
That penetrated his addled thoughts. That explained the bandages he felt beneath his clothes on his shoulder and thigh.
He looked around him. People were running in all directions. Some patients, some aid workers. It looked they were packing up.
“Take me to her,” he said. Shea was unprotected and out in the open. If they had found her in the village they would find her in a hospital. And she had no-one watching her back.
A cold sweat washed over him. He couldn’t lose her now. They had unfinished business. Dammit, he wouldn’t lose her again.
“Chris is on his way to the hospital already,” Quinn said.
Kell shoved Quinn’s hand off his shoulder and rose unsteadily to his feet. “Take me to her. Now, bro.”
A muscle jumped in Quinn’s jaw. The only sign he was still pissed. Kell couldn’t think about the repercussions of his being shot in this goddamn country. The same country that stole their brother away from them. Therefore, giving his brothers a reason to panic and worry that they had lost another brother.
Shit. He hadn’t meant for that to happen. Was pissed himself that his brothers had risked their lives to come get him. The whole reason he’d come alone was to avoid exactly that.
“This way,” Quinn said, leading the way through people and cots and medical equipment to a white SUV parked outside. It had a red symbol on the door, marking it as a humanitarian aid vehicle.
“We can’t take that,” he said when Quinn opened the driver door.
“It’s all we have. Get in.”
Frustrated, Kell climbed in the passenger seat and closed the door. “They are targeting American aid workers.”
“That’s why they’re closing down and getting out.” Quinn backed out of the spot and tore off down the road, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Of course his brothers knew the dangers of being here. And they’d still come. As much as he hated them being here, he was relieved to have his brothers watching his back because he wasn’t anywhere near one-hundred percent. Whatever pain meds they had given him were wearing off. But, his head was clearing with the pain that set in.
“How did you find me?”
“Avery called in some favors. Allowed us to come in undercover. Savat used his connections to get us in country.”
Savat. Their pilot who preferred planes to people. He was damn good at what he did and had saved their asses more than once.
“How long have you been looking for me?”
“Twenty-six hours. If we hadn’t heard about the village that was attacked and the Americans who were brought to an aid center we would still be looking for you.”
The villagers. They had brought him and Shea here. Which meant Shea’s injuries were too much for the healer to fix. Damn. Damn. Damn.
“Drive faster.”
Kell’s heart pounded as he walked down the hallway to Shea’s room. The hospital hadn’t been attacked, as well as many parts of the city. Yet, anyway. They had beefed up security though.
He limped only slightly, ignoring the sharp shreds of pain in his leg with each step. Quinn trailed behind him, taking inventory, checking every corner for signs of danger.
Chris sat outside Shea’s room reading a magazine. He looked up when he saw them and shot to his feet. He grabbed Kell in a bear hug, nearly lifting him off his feet.
“I’m goddamn happy to see your face, brother,” Chris said, letting him go. “You look like shit.”
“I feel like it. How is she?”
“Sleeping. She’s been out of surgery a couple hours now, but she hasn’t come to yet. No-one besides hospital staff has been in her room.”
Good. Maybe the CIA hadn’t located her yet. But they would. And soon. If his brothers had found them, the CIA would too. Or, Dan’s hitmen.
“We have to get her out of here,” he said. “It’s too dangerous for her to stay.”
Chris glanced at Quinn. “I don’t think she’s ready to be moved.”
“Too damn bad. We don’t have a choice.”
“What’s going on?” Quinn asked.
“Long story. I’ll tell you later. Right now, I need to get Shea on a plane for home. Please tell me you have an evacuation plan.”
Quinn nodded and some of Kell’s tension eased. “I can’t carry her with my leg and shoulder.”
Chris stepped up. “I’ll do it. She’s nothing but a buck-o-five.”
“You have medical supplies?” he asked Quinn.
“Stocked. As long as she doesn’t need a blood transfusion we should be good.”
Kell nodded, remembering the reasons she’d needed a transfusion before. Anger ripped through him. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Not only the hospital, but this damn country. He’d had enough of A-Stan. Didn’t care if he never returned.
They managed to get Shea out of the hospital without too many raised eyebrows. In truth, the staff was so busy with an influx of patients they barely noticed three men carrying a woman in a hospital gown out the doors.
Kell glanced at a patient being wheeled in, covered in blood from what looked like a gunshot wound. He heard the paramedics mention a riot as they rushed past.
“We have to hurry,” he said. “Violence is getting closer.”
They piled into he SUV with Kell in the backseat holding Shea’s head in his lap. She hadn’t awakened yet and her skin felt clammy.
Quinn drove, Chris manning the passenger seat, guns in his lap.
“How far away is the jet?”
“Not far. Savat is on standby.”
Kell tried to quell his anxiety but until they set foot on American soil he wouldn’t breathe easy.
Then all they had to do was battle the CIA.
Piece of cake.
29
Shea opened her
eyes slowly and looked around her. Small room. Neutral colors. Moving. A plane?
That couldn’t be. The last place she remembered being was in the village, watching innocent people fight to keep her safe. Kell taking hits. Bullets hitting her.
She looked down to see she was in a hospital gown, covered by a warm blanket. Not in a hospital room. The sounds around her, the way she felt weightless, the popping in her ears. Definitely a plane.
Kell?
Panicked, she sat up, hissing out a breath when pain exploded in her side. She clamped a hand down on her waist, feeling thick bandages there.
The door opened and Quinn Wolff strode in. She’d recognize that clamped jaw anywhere. Of all the Wolff brothers he was the biggest and broadest. And most intimidating.
Never mind that, what the heck was Quinn Wolff doing here?
“You’re awake,” he said.
“Where’s Kell?” She didn’t try to stand, could feel the swelling in her foot was still there. Besides, her head was spinning like a top.
“In the room across the hall. He’s recovering from his injuries also.”
Her heart dropped to her feet. Recovering? Oh, God. What had happened? She’d never forgive herself if anything happened to Kell. This family had lost enough already.
“Is he okay?” She sounded breathless, like she’d run a ten k.
“If he’d listen to me and stay put then yes.” Quinn scowled.
Shea wanted to smile. If Kell was being stubborn and not following his brother’s orders then he would be fine. Relief flooded through her. Thank God.
Quinn put a hand on her shoulder and gently forced her to lay back down. “Same for you. You need rest. We’ll be in Michigan in a few hours.”
Michigan? They were on their way home? Well, their home. She didn’t have one. Not since her sister died. Work had become her solace.
She couldn’t refuse the relief that overcame her. They were no longer in that God forsaken country. If she never returned it would be too soon.
Worth the Risk (Book 3, Wolff Securities Series) Page 16
