Ravaged River: Men of Mercy, Book 6: A Military Romance Series

by Cross, Lindsay

  Jared snorted. “We’ll see how long that lasts.”

  Hoyt checked his weapon. The M107 .50 cal was heavier than his MX2010, but perfect for taking down vehicle-born explosives. A well-aimed shot could blow an engine block and stop a VBIED nearly a mile out, protecting soldiers from losing limbs and their lives.

  Although he never enjoyed taking a life, he would do anything to protect his men. And he’d take out an entire army to protect Hayden. Hoyt loaded a clip and chambered a round.

  Hoyt narrowed in on the turn off from the highway a little over a half mile away. It was early, about six p.m., and the sun would set in the next hour. “Christ, it’s hot.”

  Jared finished adjusting his scope. “This Mississippi heat isn’t a joke.”

  Hoyt flipped the safety on his rifle, pressed his shoulder against the stock and got ready. “Where did you stash Sparrow’s grandpa, Squirrel?”

  “Stash? You don’t stash that man anywhere. It took me and Sparrow both to keep him from slipping into the woods. Finally set him up with a 12 gauge at the front window. Lord help anyone stupid enough to actually try to come in through the front door uninvited.”

  “What you want to bet Hunter had the same problem with Evie’s grandpa, C.W.?”

  Jared chuckled in response to that, but beneath their laughter was a bedrock of respect. Both of the older men were as tough as nails and they would defend their family to the death.

  Hoyt’s comm crackled to life. “Command to over watch.”

  Hoyt pressed the button and responded, “Go ahead.”

  “Recon team has an unidentified vehicle heading south on Highway 1. Be ready. Driver is male. Black hair. Blue Explorer SUV.”

  “Roger. Tracking.”

  “You get that, brother?” Hoyt said.

  “Got it. Hold.” Jared pressed his eye to his scope and Hoyt did the same. Both of them watched the turn off for the vehicle.

  The gravel road leading from Hank’s property had about a twenty-foot clearance on either side, where it was flanked with thick pine trees that reduced much of their visibility, but it would be easy for Hoyt to take out the vehicle.

  “Target acquired,” Jared said.

  Hoyt spotted the SUV as soon as his brother spoke. The car slowed, and Hoyt tensed and lowered his finger to the trigger. Then the vehicle accelerated and continued straight on the highway.

  “Christ.”

  “Tell me about it. What do you think about this guy, Malik?” Jared asked.

  I don’t trust him; his presence is too convenient. He knows too much.

  “His arrival feels too coincidental. But Mr. K has him on lock down. He’s watching his every move while he tracks these social media channels. The worst thing he can do is give us mis-information.”

  “Like just now?”

  Hoyt nodded. “Yeah, but now we’re ready.”

  “You gonna fill me in on what’s going on with you and Hayden?”

  “When did you get so interested?”

  “You scared to answer the question?”

  Actually, he was. Jared and Hoyt’s relationship had been strained ever since Jared rescued him from his torturers. His big brother was usually the dark one, the one people shied away from. But after Hoyt’s physical recovery, they’d switched roles, and neither brother was comfortable in his new position. But now, with Hayden by his side, Hoyt was starting to feel more like his old self again.

  Jared rolled to his side and faced Hoyt. “I’m happy for you, brother. You deserve happiness.”

  Hoyt blinked his eyes a few time, holding back the tears that wanted to fall, before turning to face his brother. The emotional speech was entirely uncharacteristic of Jared. “Thanks.”

  “I never really said this, but I should have—a long time ago.” Jared cleared his throat and stared down at the roof beneath them, presenting Hoyt with the top of his black hair instead of his eyes. “I’m sorry for not being there that night. It should have been me. Not you.”

  Hoyt sucked in a breath, his veins locking down on his blood flow. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “I mean I should have protected you that night. They should’ve taken me instead of you. I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

  Hoyt struggled to comprehend Jared’s words. Is that what this new distance between them had been about? Not the fact that Hoyt had lost his shit, but Jared’s guilt? For one of the first times since his torture, Hoyt reached across the distance separating them and touched Jared’s arm. “I would take that torture a thousand times over before I’d ever let them harm you. It’s not your fault. I’ve never thought it was your fault. And if anything ever happened to you, I don’t know how I would handle it.”

  Suddenly Hoyt understood everything. He’d struggled with his guilt over not being there for Hayden when she was shot, and Jared had been suffering from the same sort of struggle for a lot longer.

  “I’ve always protected you–”

  “Yeah, when we were kids. But in case you missed the last ten years or so, I went through the same training you did to get here. Which means, brother, I’m pretty badass myself.”

  Jared’s head jerked up in astonishment and then his lips cracked into a smile. “Don’t go getting a big head on me. I’ll have to take you down a notch.”

  Hoyt rolled back onto his stomach and pressed his eye to the scope. “Give me another few weeks to put on some more muscle first.”

  Jared chuckled and resumed position, and the last wall around Hoyt’s heart crumbled. He hadn’t realized how much tension he’d been carrying around.

  Now he had a chance at a future with the woman of his dreams, and his brother would be there beside him. Hoyt found it hard to channel the fury that had been at his fingertips for so long. It was like someone had strapped a rainbow on his ass or something.

  33

  The sun sank low on the horizon, casting long shadows across the road between Highway 1 and Hank’s front gate.

  “This would be a lot easier if we had streetlights.”

  “Yeah, good thing we brought these.” Hoyt pulled out his clip-on AN/PVS-29 night vision sniper sight and clicked it onto his weapon.

  Jared fit a night vision adapter over his spotter scope. The sun made its final descent, casting the men in total darkness. Ethan had disabled all of the street lights on Hank’s property to make it more difficult for the enemy to locate the houses on the property. They’d blacked out the windows with trash bags. The sliver of moon provided the only light.

  “I was hoping to get this shit settled before nightfall.” And go back to resume what he’d started with Hayden.

  “You and me both, brother. But we got a long time before shift change.”

  “You think Squirrel has been driving Merc and Cord crazy?”

  “I’m sure he has,” Jared said.

  It felt like they’d been perched on this roof for days, and the knowledge that Hayden was stretched out in bed waiting for him made him want to run to her. Hoyt suppressed the groan. Three more hours.

  “We got a possible bogey headed your way, boys,” Ethan said through their comm system. He was set up directly below them in headquarters, monitoring the cameras and satellites for movement.

  “Description.”

  “Black four-door SUV, windows blacked out. Traveling at seventy miles an hour.”

  Hoyt pulled the stock of his rifle to his shoulder and sighted in the turn off. Someone was booking it out there on the old highway, going way over the speed limit.

  About a minute later, a shiny black SUV cut a hard right, its tires squealed off the pavement and throwing up dust as it transitioned to gravel. The SUV accelerated instead of slowing down. “Ready.”

  Jared looked through the scope. “Vehicle approaching at approximately seventy MPH. Hold low one mil. Right half.”

  Hoyt adjusted his scope to halfway between the cross hairs and the millimeter dot on the right, leaving him right below the right headlight of the vehicle.

&nbs
p; “You see through the windshield?”

  Jared paused and then said, “I’ve got a definite target in the passenger seat. He’s armed.”

  Hoyt pressed the call button on his shoulder. “Commander?”

  A second later, Gray answered his unspoken question. “Cleared to fire. Confirmed enemy combatant approaching with possible IED.”

  “Roger.”

  “Adjust down half a click. Target’s speed increased to eighty MPH,” Jared said.

  Hoyt took aim at the right headlight. He sucked in a deep breath, exhaled, and then pulled the trigger in the natural pause between his next inhale. The .50 caliber rifle exploded with a deafening roar.

  The car’s engine made a loud whine and then started decelerating, and a few seconds later, the SUV rolled to a stop off to the right of the road. The doors exploded open, and three men jumped from the vehicle and ran for the cover of the woods. The driver got out last, and he turned and lifted a RPG. Hoyt’s heart rate slowed. His vision focused. Exhale. Squeeze the trigger. The driver hit the ground. He took in a breath, got the passenger in his sights, blew out his breath and fired. Another combatant down.

  “Command, we have two combatants. One heading east, the other west, straight out from the car.”

  Rowdy’s voice came through the comm. “Got ‘em.”

  “Another bogey, this one approaching fast.” Ethan’s voice sounded urgent.

  Hoyt sighted in the turn off again and waited. “Ready.”

  “Come on, fuckers, give us all you got,” Jared said.

  Another car came tearing down the road at high speed.

  “Sedan. Sitting low, adjust a click down.”

  Hoyt sited the incoming vehicle and fired. His entire body rocked backwards with the force of the recoil.

  The hood on the old sedan popped up and smoke poured from the engine. The vehicle slowed to a stop. One man jumped out from the driver seat. Hoyt stared through the scope. “Christ, it’s the gas station owner.”

  “He’s got a kill switch. I think he’s loaded.”

  Hoyt found the guy in his scope. His shirt billowed back behind him as he ran toward the front gate. “Explosives confirmed.”

  “Clear.”

  Hoyt squeezed the trigger. The bomber dropped, the switch falling to the ground beside him. “Shit, I knew something was off with that guy. We got any more headed this way?”

  The darkness sat heavy on him and Hoyt felt weighed down and tired, so very tired of fighting. He just wanted some peace and quiet and to be alone with Hayden.

  Rowdy spoke through the comm. “Suspects down. All clear.”

  Hoyt turned to Jared. “I didn’t hear any shots.”

  “I don’t think they used their guns.”

  The night sky lit up. Machine gun fire erupted in a deafening tat-tat-tat. Hoyt’s heart rate shot off, hammering against his sternum and he dropped to the roof. “Get down!”

  Jared ducked beside him and threw his hands over his head. “Shit, where’s it coming from?” Jared shouted over the loud barrage of fire.

  Bullets screamed all around them, thumping into the sandbags surrounding their hide. Red hot streaks from the bullets rained overhead like a meteor shower across the inky black sky.

  Whizz, thump. Another bullet hit too close to Hoyt’s head. Hoyt hit the comm. “Ethan, you got eyes on? I can’t get up to spot their position.”

  “Two-hundred meters out from your position. East,” Ethan answered through the comm.

  Bullets pinged into the metal building beneath them. Hoyt dragged his rifle over to his shoulder, keeping his head down.

  Ethan came on over the comm, “Team one and two, get your asses to position alpha and bravo. Got a breach team headed to the south fence!”

  “Can’t move, we’re pinned down!” Aaron yelled through the comm.

  “Somebody’s got to take out that team before they cut the wire.”

  “Shit. Jared, cover me. I’m gonna lay down some heat on them.” Hoyt clutched his rifle to his chest and rolled to face the south. The gunfire from the east seemed to shift.

  “Now!” Jared lifted his own rifle and fired off rounds toward the machine guns.

  Hoyt hugged his rifle stock to his shoulder. He took a breath and lifted. Four body’s appeared through the night vision on his scope. He squeezed the trigger, a round exploded from his gun. The guy cutting the barbwire dropped.

  Another one took his place.

  Hoyt hit the comm, “Providing cover fire, team one and two, move into position.”

  Hoyt chambered a round, sighted in the next guy and fired. He dropped.

  “Moving into position!”

  Ethan came on, “Assault team moving in! Got at least ten enemy combatants.”

  Thank god they’d put up the thermal cameras on the perimeter. Hoyt fired another round and a third guy on the breach team dropped.

  “They’ve breached!” Riser shouted through the comm.

  Suddenly, the south side of the property lit up with gunfire. The assault team came in hot and fast, firing as they ran.

  “Jared, got a breach,” Hoyt yelled.

  He sighted in the target closest to him and fired off another round, dropping the guy before he moved to the next.

  “Holy crap, they’re everywhere,” Jared rolled to Hoyt’s left side and started firing.

  Combatants swarmed the yard in an overwhelming force. Hoyt saw team one and two firing from their foxhole below him. Bullets flew everywhere. Hoyt’s heart raced so fast it was a constant buzz in his ears.

  He chambered a round. Sighted in a combatant. Fired. Boom! Chamber, sight, fire. Boom! Men dropped like flies.

  He and Jared set up a rhythm. Lock. Load. Fire. So that there was no pause between rounds from over watch. The men in fox holes alpha and bravo laid down a steady stream of gunfire.

  Two men left. Hoyt sighted in the one on the right. Boom!

  Ethan came on the comm, “Guys, got three enemy combatants moving in from the west. Fuck. They’re fifty yards from house three.”

  Hoyt’s heart stopped. That’s where he’d set up Hayden, with Merc and Cord. “Dammit!” Hoyt crawled to the west wall of his hide and sighted in his yard. He caught the glow of three men running in a fast crouch to house three. His house. Hayden.

  Hoyt took a deep breath and chambered a round. They were twenty feet from the front door. He sighted center mass on the combatant closest to him, blew out a breath and squeezed the trigger. “One down.”

  Hoyt heard a pop, saw the burn behind a bullet coming from the house and another guy fell. “Two,” Merc said through the comm.

  The third guy disappeared around the corner of the house, out of Hoyt’s line of vision.

  “Got a breach,” Cord yelled through the comm. Hoyt heard Hayden scream in the back ground and before he knew it, he slung his rifle over his shoulder and abandoned position.

  “Hoyt, where the hell are you going?” Jared asked.

  “Hayden.” Hoyt skimmed down the metal ladder, hit the ground and hoofed it over to his house. He rounded the corner. Glass shattered and a man flew out of the front window.

  Hoyt ripped his rifle around to his shoulder, ready to blow the fuckers head off.

  Merc dove out after him, his huge body covering the enemy’s. There was a struggle, the guy flashed a knife. Hoyt held him in his sights. As soon as he had a clear shot he’d take him out.

  Merc locked arms on the guy’s hands and Hoyt watched as his teammate slowly turned the knife on the combatant on the ground. A second later, the enemy stopped moving. Merc fell sideways and lay out flat on the ground.

  “Merc.” Hoyt ran for him.

  “I’m good. I’m good. Check on Hayden.” Merc panted but gave him a thumbs up.

  Hoyt took off through the open front door and down the hall to the safe room he’d set up for her. The door was shut.

  Their orders were for Cord to fall back and protect her in the event of a breach. Breath sawing in and out of his ch
est, Hoyt said, “Cord, it’s me. We’re clear.”

  Silence followed. No gunfire. No speech. No nothing.

  Fear hit him hard and fast like a damn eighteen-wheeler and Hoyt grabbed the knob. “I’m coming in.”

  Locked. Shit. He pulled back and lifted a foot, ready to kick it down. The door clicked open and Cord stood in the doorway, pistol raised, his expression fierce.

  “It’s me. We’re clear.” Cord was breathing harder than Hoyt and staring at Hoyt like he didn’t recognize him.

  “Cord, the fight is over. Lower your weapon.”

  Cord blinked, his pistol wavered and then dropped. He nodded and stepped out into the hall, “I thought – “

  “Where is Hayden?” Hoyt cut in.

  “Right here.”

  Hayden sat on the floor, knees to her chest, her eyes wide. Relief screamed through him and he went to her and put his arms around her. Her whole body shook.

  “Is it over?”

  “Yes, honey.”

  Ethan’s voice came through the comm. “All clear.”

  Colonel Grey’s voice followed, “Maintain 100% security.”

  Hoyt glanced at Cord. The guy wavered in the doorway like he’d seen a ghost. “Hey, can you take my position at over watch?”

  Grey wouldn’t understand Hoyt’s need to stay with Hayden or his decision to leave his position in the middle of a fire fight. As a matter of fact, Hoyt would bet his commander would chew his ass out. But he didn’t care about his job right now. All he needed was in his arms. Safe.

  “Yeah, I’m on it.” Cord disappeared.

  Hoyt leaned back and took Hayden’s face between his palms. “You okay?”

  She nodded, her lip trembling. “I never imagined anything like that. Is this what it’s like overseas, when you go on missions?”

  “If we go into a combat situation, yes.”

  “What am I going to do?” Tears filled her eyes and she latched onto his wrists.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Now I know what you’re doing every time you leave me; I’ll never be able to function when you’re deployed.”

  “Tonight isn’t usual. I promise. We are usually doing recon and helping out locals when we go on missions.” Tonight’s raid wasn’t the worst he’d experienced, but he wasn’t about to tell Hayden that. Not when she looked ready to pass out at any minute.