35. Chapter 35
Chapter 35
“We’re on it,” Curly replied. “We’re less than five minutes from there.”
It was the longest five minutes of my life. Fully armed and armored, we were met outside by the head of security, a guy named Carter, who debriefed us.
“The bastard started out on the first floor,” he reported, leading us through a side door and into the security office. “Two civilians have been injured, and he took out three of my guards. One is dead and two are alive but have gunshot wounds.”
“Where is he now?” I asked quickly, a red haze curtaining the edges of my vision.
Carter pointed to a monitor with a map on it. “Last spotted on the second floor. The first floor has been cleared of all shoppers and employees except for the injured.”
My eyes instantly went to the largest store on floor two, the one dead center. Dewitt Sporting Goods.
Fuck me.
“Are you sure it’s a single shooter?” Curly asked.
“Yep, a guy with a long brown ponytail. He's in full body armor, including a helmet, so if you want to take him out, it’s got to be a headshot from the front.”
“Who were the civilians?” I asked. Carter looked questioningly at me, and I specified with a bark. “Men or women?”
“One man, one woman,” he answered.
I cleared my throat, preparing for the answer to my next question. “What did the woman look like?”
“Um.” Carter glanced around at our group before landing back on me, probably trying to figure out what the hell was going on. “She has blue hair, shaved on one side.”
I guessed Curly saw my shoulders sag with relief, and he stepped directly into my space and snapped, “What the hell is going on, Estrada?”
“My girl is here. In this mall,” I admitted.
“Fuck,” he bit out, massaging the spot between his eyebrows. “Do you need to sit this one out Estrada? I really can’t afford to lose anyone. We need all hands on deck, and the next team is at least twenty minutes out.”
“No, I swear to god, I can do it. Please.” Desperation wrapped around every word like a vine.
His eyes narrowed on me. “Fuck almighty,” he mumbled. “I’m trusting you, Estrada. Your priority here is to do your fucking job. You are not a boyfriend right now; you’re a machine. Understood?”
“I’ve got this, Curly.”
“Christ, don’t make me regret this.” He swiveled and began barking out orders. Chris was to stay on the first floor to provide protection for the medical first responders who were coming in to help the victims. Kai, the best sharpshooter, was sent to the third floor so he would have an elevated position and the best chance to take the guy out.
Me, Curly, Maverick, Jayden, and a guy called Radar were sent to the second floor. I didn’t know Radar all that well because he didn’t hang out with us after work, but he was a damn good teammate.
Carter was synced to our comms so he could keep us updated if he spotted the shooter on camera. The suspect was apparently using the employee hallways behind the stores to travel between locations because security cameras were sparse back there.
The entire debrief and Curly’s orders took less than four minutes, and then we were storming the second floor from all directions. Curly and I took the central stairs, our heads on a swivel and our eyes taking in every detail.
As we encountered civilians, we quietly hissed orders to them to head downstairs and out the main door, where they would be met by uniformed officers and any necessary medical personnel.
I counted at least fifty that made it safely down the stairs behind us, but none were a curly blonde with gray eyes. Jesus, where are you, baby?
With my H&K MP-5 held confidently in my hands, I motioned to Curly that we should enter the sporting goods store first, and he nodded. We entered, him going left and me going right to cover more ground.
Fuck, this store is huge. The space seemed empty, hopefully because all the customers and employees had gotten out safely.
Taking cover behind a free-standing wall with athletic shoes lining the shelves, I peeked around the corner and almost fell to my knees when I spotted a blonde head poke out from a circular rack of athletic pants.
Lehra!
It was as if she could hear my silent scream, and our gazes locked. The fear in hers broke me, and I started to step around the wall and go to her when a movement from my right caught my eye. With a quick flick of my hand, I motioned for her to hide, and she immediately pulled her head back into the rack of clothes, concealing herself once again.
Good girl.
The shooter was making his way across the floor at an angle.
Motherfucker. He’s right between us. Stay hidden, Lehra. Please, for the love of god, do not move an inch.
I prayed she was somehow catching my silent messages.
The suspect was going from rack to rack, separating the clothes with the barrel of his Uzi, looking for… what? Survivors? Someone else to kill?
God no. Please keep her safe.
He was dressed all in black, much like our team, complete with Kevlar vest and helmet. My mind assessed the situation. His back was to me, so any shot I took wouldn’t do any damage to his body armor. I was a damn good shot, but if I missed, a stray bullet could hit Lehra, who was hiding just on the other side of the fucker.
Not an option.
He was two racks away from her now, and I glanced at Curly—who was hidden behind another wall to my left—in a panic. He nodded and pointed up and behind him, indicating that he’d notified Kai of the shooter’s location.
“I need him to turn around,” Kai’s soft voice said through the earpiece in my left ear. Right. He needed to see his face to get a clear shot since the guy was wearing an armored helmet.
The suspect was now one rack from the one Lehra was hiding in. She had only seconds before he would find her.
Fuck no. Not going to happen.
Stepping out from behind the wall, I yelled, “Drop your weapon!”
The man whirled around, pointing his Uzi at me, and I saw brown eyes widen behind his black ski mask. Then he opened fire on me.
A split second before I was knocked onto my back, I saw a small red circle appear on his forehead.
And Kai instantly became my favorite teammate.
I blinked through the haze floating through my brain.
My first thought was: get to Lehra.
And my second thought was: ow, fuck.
I grunted through the pain—because even while wearing a bulletproof vest, getting shot fucking hurts—as I rolled over and army crawled toward the clothes rack.
My beautiful Tink busted out, scattering clothes everywhere as she ran to me and dropped to her knees. I’d never been so grateful to see anyone in my entire life.
“Cruz!” she screamed.
Hauling her beneath me, I covered her body with my own and glanced over to where Curly was kneeling beside what I hoped was a corpse. “Curly?”
“Dead,” he replied, giving me a curt nod.
“You sure?”
“He’s missing the back of his head, so yeah. Pretty sure.”
My adrenaline was so thick in my veins I was surprised they weren’t all hemorrhaging. I focused my attention back on the woman beneath me, clenching my teeth when I saw the tears streaming down her face.
“Are you okay, Lehra?”
“He shot you!”
“I’m wearing a vest. Are you okay?” I enunciated the question, syllable by syllable.
“I’m… not hurt. Just freaked the fuck out.”
Now that I knew she wasn’t physically injured, there was only one thing on my mind. The words were practically burning a hole in my tongue in their effort to escape my mouth.
“I love you,” I blurted out. “I have for a while, and I should have told you before, but I love the fuck out of you, Lehra Kincaid.”
Her tears came even faster, wetting her face and dripping down into her hair. “I love you too, Cruz Estrada.”
The absolute sweetest words I’d ever heard.
My vision blurred with my own tears at her admission. “You love me?” I asked, because I wanted to make sure I’d heard her correctly.
“Of course I do. God, I was so scared I’d lost you.”
“I’m right here, baby. Not going anywhere.”
And then I kissed the ever-loving shit out of her. As our tongues twisted together, I could practically feel our hearts binding themselves to each other as well.
Her mouth was warm and delicious as our lips moved slowly, trying to get their fill of each other. My hands cupped her face, and I deepened the kiss, wanting to remove the ugliness of the afternoon for Lehra and replace it with my love for her.
She let out a little moan, and I pulled back with a soft suck. “Please stop making those sexy noises or you’re going to give me a boner while I’m at work.”
“You’re killing me with the romantic talk, Estrada,” she giggled.
“What do you mean? I talked about my boner after professing my love for you on the floor of a sporting goods store, after we’d both had about ten years frightened out of us.” Not to mention we’re next to a dead body, I wisely refrained from saying.
“If this was supposed to be one of your role playing scenes, it was a tad too extravagant for my tastes,” she informed me, lifting an eyebrow.
I laughed and kissed the tip of her nose. “Absolutely not.” The gravity of what had happened was finally sinking in, and I rested my forehead against hers. “I’ve never been more scared in my life.”
Lehra’s chin trembled. “You saved me.”
I stroked my thumbs over her cheeks, wiping away the fresh round of tears. “Always, Tink. I’ll always protect the woman I love. I couldn’t live without you.”
And then I kissed her again for good measure, losing myself in her. Until…
“Jesus Christ, is Estrada mauling a civilian?”
I heard Curly’s low chuckle. “Don’t worry about it, Jayden. She’s his civilian.”
Damn right she is.
“Cruz, I told you, I’m fine. There’s no need—”
I shut my woman up with a hard stare. There wasn’t a single thing in the entire world that she could ask for that I wouldn’t give her, but I was absolutely adamant about this one thing.
Softening my glare with a kiss to her forehead, I dialed a number and pressed the phone to my ear, tucking her into my side with my free arm as the chaos of police and paramedics surrounded us.
“Dude, are you seeing this shit at the mall?” Monty asked in the way of a greeting.
“I’m here.”
He let out a harsh breath. “Shit. You okay, man? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine. Lehra was in the store where… where it all went down.”
“Oh my fucking god. Please tell me she’s—” His voice broke before he could finish.
“She’s safe, but I don’t want her to be alone. It will be a few hours till I get out of here.”
“I’m on my way. I’ll stay with her until you get home. I won’t leave her for a second.”
Relief flooded my body. Other than myself, there was no one I trusted to take care of Lehra more than… my brother.