by Lexi Blake
Everyone was getting fired.
“You don’t have any time,” a soft voice said.
Theo turned, raising his weapon.
Fuck, his vision was finally clearing and he got to look at Hope McDonald standing at the bottom of the stairs in her crisp white coat. She apparently observed protocol even out here in the jungle. “Kill her.”
Theo had his weapon pointed at her head. “She doesn’t have a gun.”
“That bitch doesn’t need one.” Faith would be safer with her sister dead.
Hope’s hands came up. “Theo won’t kill me. He’s a gentleman. You should move. Father’s men will attack from behind and the Chinese will come up the road.”
“Why would you tell us anything?” Theo asked.
“Because it won’t change the outcome. I really would like for us to work together, Theodore. I find you fascinating. Even more now that I’ve read your records. Mr. Smith was a good subject, but you will be a masterpiece. You should hurry. They’re almost here.”
“Kill her.” Ten couldn’t remember everything that had been done to him, but it had started with her. His true agony had begun with that needle she’d wielded. She wouldn’t stop. She would keep her research going and others would hurt, too.
Theo started to drag him out into the night, leaving Hope at the bottom of the stairwell. “I can’t shoot an unarmed woman, Ten. You can fire me later, but I can’t.”
Ten could kill her. He could do it easily, but right now he couldn’t even grip a damn weapon.
Retribution was going to have to wait because none of his men had the sense to listen to him.
“Faith. Tell me Faith left the island.”
Brody stepped up, peeling away from the shadows. For a massive man, he blended well with the night around him. He was dressed all in black. “I’ll take him. And Faith is safe and sound back at the vehicles with Hutch and Erin.”
He found his whole world upending as the big Aussie tossed him over his shoulder. God, he was going to be sick.
“Why is Faith with Erin?” Erin would watch out for her. Erin wouldn’t let anything happen to Faith. “The last I heard she never wanted to talk to any of us again.”
“I needed her intel,” Theo said. He touched his earpiece. “We’re on the move.”
Brody took a couple of steps forward before stopping again. Ten couldn’t see anything but the big guy’s backside. “What’s wrong?”
“Are you kidding me?” Theo asked. “Fuck. Erin and Faith are on their way in. Hutch is firing up the van and coming after them. It looks like we’re going to have to squeeze into one vehicle. I’m going to have her ass.”
There was the sound of gunfire and a curse.
“I’m going to need you to stand for a minute, Ten. Or at least sit. Keep your head down. Des, Nick, what’s going on?” Brody no longer kept things quiet. It didn’t matter. Hell was raining down around them.
Ten was surprised to find himself fairly steady as Brody set him down. He flattened his back against the side of the building, his palms against the material. Steady. He was going to get out of here and then he would recover and kick everyone’s ass.
He would do it after they got home because this operation was over. He would find another way to take down McDonald.
“We’ve got incoming,” Nick shouted back.
“We’ll let them come in and sneak out when they raid the building. They can’t see us here,” Theo explained. “And Hutch just cut the power. We’ve got the cover of night on our side.”
“Here, mate.” Brody pressed a gun in his hand. “Try to hold on to it.”
He had to admit, he felt better with a gun in his hand. He thought seriously about going back in and killing Hope.
Up ahead, he heard the sound of tires pounding over pavement. Unfortunately, Hutch couldn’t cut the lights on the vehicles.
“Get back,” Theo ordered.
“I can cause some chaos,” he heard Des say. “Get ready to run toward the back. We can go up the trail to where we left the cars.”
She swung out and two shots pierced the night before the vehicle entering the compound lost control and flipped, rolling into another one of the outer buildings.
Des turned and even in the low light, he could see the look of triumph on her face. “Let’s get out of here.”
Another shot rang out and she fell forward.
Ten watched in horror as they lost one of their own.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Take the wheel,” Erin said as they approached the compound. “I’ve got to take care of those assholes coming up on his flank or Theo’s going to get caught in the middle. I’m going to kill him. I swear.”
Faith’s heart pounded in her chest. As far as she could tell, Erin was going to kill her and soon. She’d nearly taken off as Faith had jumped into the Jeep and she hadn’t slowed down. Lucky for her, Faith knew the roads or they would have been overtaken by those black SUVs. For all Erin was angry with Theo, it was easy to see she was running on pure panic.
Though she seemed calm and professional now, as though having someone to target gave her strength.
Faith moved into the seat as Erin popped up and started firing at the group of five men who were bearing down on the building everyone was certain Ten was being held in. These men moved in from the west, obviously trying to sneak up on the team pinned down at the storage building.
Torture chamber, according to Theo. That building her father claimed was simply there to store the gardening tools actually housed a place for him to torture his enemies. According to the plans Theo had provided there was an entire bunker under what looked like an ordinary storage building. It was a lot bigger than it seemed.
Had her whole childhood been a lie?
Erin fired, never losing control. Faith’s stomach turned as one by one those men went down. Erin wasn’t wounding them or trying to take them temporarily out of the fight. She was taking kill shots with the cool of a professional. Which she was. It was a good thing as Faith nearly lost control of the Jeep as they came out of the jungle. The horrible sound of metal screeching filled the air and then the ground shook as one of the black SUVs rolled and then exploded.
“Shit!” Erin dropped back into the cab, hanging on as Faith regained control of the vehicle.
Faith forced herself not to panic. Ten was somewhere in that mess of smoke and fire and men with guns. She couldn’t think about the killing part now. She wasn’t naïve. She knew it was necessary at times, but it went against her nature. So she focused on what she could. Find Ten. Get everyone out as quickly as possible.
“Stop the Jeep,” Erin ordered. “Hutch is on his way. You stay here.”
She leapt out of the Jeep before Faith could stop it.
Faith’s hands shook as she put on the brakes. The night was dark, but now it was illuminated by the fiery wreck that had been one third of the bad guys. That had to be a good thing.
Unfortunately, it looked like the other two thirds were taking exception to losing their men as the sound of gunfire split the air again.
She’d come around the back and had to reorient herself. The main storage building was to her left, the dirt roads through the jungle behind her. Up ahead was the road that connected the storage units to the main house. To her right were two secondary units, small in comparison to the one she was parked next to.
She nearly jumped out of her seat when she heard a car slam on its brakes behind her.
Hutch was out of the van in an instant. The happy-go-lucky hacker looked very comfortable with a couple of guns in his hands. He was firing before he got more than a few feet from her.
That was when she saw it. A figure stood out from the side of the building. She was illuminated by the light of the fire burning from the SUV. Faith was sure from the slightness of her frame that it was a she.
A big man started to reach out, to pull her back to the shadows. Her body stiffened, head snapping forward, and then she slipped to the dirt.
A masculine shout was heard and she saw a big figure move toward the body before another one hauled him back.
Faith hopped out and started running. She was the only person who could do what needed to be done. Gunfire erupted around her, but it wasn’t her first time in a warzone. If she could do her job, maybe some of this would make sense.
Erin and Hutch were laying down fire as she made it to them.
The Aussie was holding the Russian. “Not losing you, too, Nick. Get it together, mate.”
“We have to get to her.” Theo sounded unsure all of the sudden, as though he knew what he needed to do, but couldn’t stand to say it.
“She’s gone,” Erin argued. “That was a headshot. We get the fuck out of here before we lose someone else. Nick, I need you to remember your goddamn training.”
“Faith?”
She stopped in her tracks. Tennessee Smith was leaning against the wall. They had so little cover, but Ten reached out and dragged her in, shoving her to the wall and covering her with his body.
“We have to get you back to the car,” he said, his voice low. “I understand there are two. You’re going to drive as fast and as far away from here as possible. We’ll take the other one. Is that understood?”
Well, he was right back in Dom mode. She couldn’t take that from him. Not now. “I have a patient.”
“No. You don’t. She’s dead.” Ten’s voice had gone cold. “Erin’s right. That was a headshot. The Chinese don’t miss. We have to leave now.”
Theo moved back, his eyes never leaving the targets. “I can’t leave her body. We don’t leave men behind.”
“Cut the naïve bullshit, Taggart,” Ten said. “If you take a step out from behind that wall, we’re all dead. Des proved that. This is a clusterfuck situation and I assure you that we leave men behind when they’re corpses and getting them back would produce more corpses. You’ve been in charge up until now. I’m back and we fucking retreat. Do you understand me?”
Theo’s face was ghostly in the moonlight, lines forming that hadn’t been there only moments before. He aged right in front of her. “Yes, sir. This is my fault, sir.”
“There’s time for recriminations later. Let’s get our people to safety now.” Ten sounded so much more solid. His hand found hers, fingers curling around tightly as though he was scared to let her go. “Markovic, we’re leaving.”
The Russian stood, his face turning smooth and bland. “Yes, sir.”
What was it going to take for the man to leave his teammate behind? Worse. She was fairly certain the two were lovers.
Ten moved out. “Stay behind me.”
“Can you walk?” Theo asked, moving to the front. “Brody, take our six.”
“I’ll make it and if I don’t, you better leave me the fuck behind and get Faith the hell out of here. We’re going to have a long talk about bringing her on this clusterfuck of an operation,” Ten shot back.
“Why wouldn’t you be able to walk?” Faith followed behind, shuffling to match their cautious movements. He looked grim and he wasn’t wearing shoes. She wasn’t sure why he was in scrubs, but she couldn’t see any wounds on his body.
“Later, Doc. Move now or your father’s men are going to cut us all down. They won’t be able to tell who you are. They’ll put a bullet in you with the rest of us. And watch your back. Your sister is still in that building.” He glanced to the storage building, his eyes on the door as they passed it. The lock looked like it had been blown and there wasn’t a handle anymore, but the big door had swung shut.
She clung to his hand. “I can handle it.”
“Keep your head down,” Ten commanded. “I think we got most of them, but I promise reinforcements are on the way. We need to move and quickly. You’re lucky you came up the back or they would have torn you apart.”
“They’ve got a sniper somewhere,” Brody shouted out. “That shot at Des didn’t come from the ground.”
“He’s likely on the roof of the main house. It’s well within range and if I had planned a meeting with MSS, I damn well would have had cover. It would have been easy to switch positions and start picking us off,” Ten explained. “Where are the vehicles?”
“Erin had me park on the side of the building,” Faith explained.
“Good girl. More cover.” Ten hunched over, obviously trying to make his tall body into a smaller target.
“Tennessee, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know about the handoff. I didn’t think about snipers or any of this,” Theo said.
Ten was obviously not in the mood for apologies. “No. You were thinking about being the hero in front of your girl and showing big brother that you can handle yourself. Expect to be scrubbing the floors at McKay-Taggart with your fucking tongue after this.”
“Ten, he was trying to save you.” They had all been trying to save him.
Theo shook his head. “Don’t. He’s right. I fucked up and now Des is dead.”
“Suck it up, buttercup,” Ten shot back. “You can deal with the ramifications of your decision making when we’re all off this fucking island. The op is over. We get the hell out. I’m not losing anyone else. Am I understood?”
He tugged Faith along. He wasn’t moving with his normal grace. Something was wrong. He seemed to force his limbs to go where he wanted them to go. Then she felt his arm spasm, his fingers tightening on hers and jerking. He immediately let go and cursed under his breath.
“I’m going to need someone else to take the front. I can’t move fast enough,” Ten admitted.
“What’s wrong?” Faith watched as a muscle in his face jumped.
“Later, Doc.” He nodded to Theo, who moved ahead of him. Ten put a hand on the younger man’s arm. “If I fall, you leave me. That’s an order. You get her out of here. You get them all out of here. I am not worth this. Do you understand me?”
Theo nodded and then moved ahead. Gunfire splattered around them and the lights came back on suddenly.
“Shit,” Ten said as he hit the ground. “Down.” He turned back to her. “The shooters are behind the front wall, but they’ll figure out that we’re retreating so they will come over that wall and enter the compound. I want you to stay low and close to me.”
She nodded.
“I got her back,” Erin said from behind Faith. “When we get out in the open, head for the van. It’s got the most cover. I’ll drive since I know the road. Hutch can follow in the Jeep and Brody can keep everyone off our ass from the back.”
“I will join him.” The Russian’s voice was bitterly cold, his eyes narrowing as he seemed to understand everyone was looking at him. “I will do my job.”
Ten nodded, accepting the plan. “Brody, pop up and give us some cover. We go on three.”
Her heart was racing, adrenaline pouring through her.
She glanced back, but she couldn’t see Des anymore. Her body was lying somewhere about a hundred feet to her right, but just outside cover, just where they couldn’t get to her. Had there been anything she could have done?
These people had lied to her, but it seemed like that was something everyone did. She didn’t want them to die. No one had lied to her more than Tennessee Smith, but she wasn’t sure what she would do if he’d been the one lying out there in the dirt.
Tears blurred her eyes. She had to stop that shit. She couldn’t bring them down anymore than she already was. She had to do exactly what Ten had said so they could move. Then she would have a part to play.
“Go,” Ten said.
Theo stepped out and there was the sound of a gun popping off. Theo raised his weapon and returned fire. “We’re clear. Go.”
But she watched as Theo looked down at his chest. He put a hand over his heart and when he pulled it away, it was covered in bright red blood.
“No!” Erin screamed the word and she was running toward Theo.
“Motherfuck.” Ten stepped out, giving her cover.
The world seemed to slow. She could hear them yelling, heard the gunfire cracking through the air around her. The door behind her came open and then slammed shut again. They’d said her sister was still in the building.
Her sister was a brilliant surgeon. Better than Faith. Faith was more of a GP. Hope had done things in the operating room that could be called miracles. It had been a shame that she’d gone into research, but that was where the money was. Hope in a battlefield theater could have saved god only knew how many lives.
Now Faith only wanted to save one. Just one.
Faith turned and pounded her fist on the door. “Hope! Get out here. He’s been shot.”
She tried to pull at the door, but the way it had exploded had left nothing but a jagged mess where the handle had been. She needed someone to push it open from the inside. She tried to look through the hole that had been left, but the lights were off inside. She couldn’t see anyone.
She hit the door again, so hard her fist ached. “Hope, please. Please. You know you can save him. Open this fucking door.”
She needed someplace clean. Someplace to lay him out. Blood. She might need blood. God, where was she going to get blood?
Calm. Faith took a deep breath. Her sister wasn’t coming out. She was alone and they were under fire and Theo had been shot. He didn’t need her panic. He didn’t need her insecurities. He needed the doctor, not the woman.
Erin dragged him back, Ten giving her cover fire.
Faith was on him, sure that the others would protect her. There was no question of protecting herself. She had a job to do and those fucking bullets flying her way meant nothing.
“It’s bad, Doc.” Theo looked up at her.
Assess. It was the first thing she needed to do. Evaluate the injury. She tried to view him as a patient and not her friend. Not half of Erin’s heart.
“What can I do?” Erin asked.