Chapter 9 #2
Either the shooter was still mobile or someone else was dragging him. No matter what, he couldn’t have gone far.
Ducking around the tree he was hiding behind, Ryan jerked back when a bullet struck the trunk, sending up a hail of splinters.
Wade immediately fired from Ryan’s left. “Got him.”
Good. Two down. “See anyone else?”
“Nope.”
“Anything?” he called out to Cam and Jackson.
“Negative,” Cam answered.
There could be more than two remaining shooters out here, but if they were lucky, maybe not.
Then, in the distance, came the sound of an engine roaring to life. He eased around the tree trunk and scanned the terrain with his scope. A flash of movement caught his attention.
Zeroing in on it, he saw someone driving away on an ATV. “One target on an ATV moving northwest. Can’t get a clear shot through the trees.”
“I see him,” Wade muttered. “No shot though.”
And it wasn’t like they could catch up to him on foot either. Dammit.
“Contact, ten o’clock,” Jackson said to their left.
Ryan swung the barrel of his weapon toward the new target and caught sight of a man running between the trees. He was cradling his arm, seemed to be struggling. “I got him. Cover me.”
Stepping out from behind the relative protection of the tree, he rushed forward. Behind him he could hear Wade following. On silent feet he moved over the short-cut grass and into the trees, knowing the others had his back.
He lost sight of the target for a moment, then the wounded man burst out from behind a stand of trees. He stumbled, went down on one knee, and it was the break Ryan needed.
Ryan raced straight at him. “Drop your weapon and put your fucking hands up!”
The man grabbed his weapon and whipped around, trying to raise it in time to get a shot off.
Ryan’s hands were rock steady, the pain barely noticeable now as he aimed the barrel of his rifle at the target and fired.
The man shouted and dropped to his back, his weapon lying on the ground. Ryan’s boots pounded over the carpet of fallen leaves as he ran for the man. When he reached the man he kicked the fallen rifle away, aiming his own at the guy at point blank range.
The shooter had half turned onto his side, his breathing ragged and uneven. “Don’t...don’t kill me,” he rasped out, grimacing as he struggled to bring his hands up.
Wade moved in like a deadly shadow to search him for weapons, then grabbed the guy by the front of his camo fatigues and shook him once. “Who the fuck are you and why did you attack us?” he growled.
“Or...orders,” the man said, voice weak.
Ryan wasn’t exactly sure where he’d hit the guy, but from the raspy breathing it sounded like he’d gotten the guy in the lung. If they didn’t get what they needed to know out of him now, they probably weren’t going to. “Whose orders?” he demanded.
“Boss...”
Wade let him drop back to the ground with a dull thud and leaned over him. “March?”
Something flared in the man’s eyes at the mention of the name, then he closed them. “Orders...”
Wade shot Ryan a hard look and pushed to his feet.
“You get him?” Cam’s voice called out.
“Yeah, we’re good. Any other targets?”
“Just the one on the ATV.”
Ryan stared down at the nearly unconscious man. “Let’s get him back to the resort. If we can stabilize him, the cops might be able to get more information out of him.”
“I got him.” Wade handed Ryan his weapon and bent to hoist the wounded man over his shoulders.
“Let’s get back,” Ryan said, anxious to get back to Candace and report what they’d found.
When he rushed into the resort’s main building and through the lobby to the lounge ten minutes later, all sweaty from the run and a little chilled from blood loss, he found all the guests huddled together there. Maya and Devon were standing guard with two male resort employees. Where was Candace?
His heart squeezed when he spotted her off to one side of the room with her grandma, still wearing that blood-stained T-shirt, his pistol in her hand. A staggering wave of relief hit him, then she gave a little smile and started toward him.
He met her halfway and caught her around the back in a tight, one-armed hug, careful not to touch her wound and totally ignoring her grandma, hovering at her side. “Sweetheart, you all right?” He buried his sweaty face in her hair, breathing her in. She was safe. That was all that mattered.
She nodded and hugged him with her right arm. “Yes, but you’re bleeding pretty bad.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Jackson said, coming up beside him with a first aid kit. “Hold still and let me at least patch you up for the time being.”
Ryan stood still and let Jackson do his thing, biting back a wince as he probed at the wound. “Did it go through?”
“Yeah. Right through your tricep and then along your side for a few inches.”
That would explain why his arm and the spot just under it burned so bad, from all the torn-up tissue.
Candace dragged her gaze from the wound and up to his face, her expression pinched with worry. “You’re not okay.”
He kissed the bridge of her nose, her mouth. “I’m good. More worried about you.”
She shook her head. “I was lucky, Erin says it only hit skin and muscle. She got the bullet out, give me a few stitches, and bandaged me up. I’m not even bleeding anymore, just sore.” She reached for his left hand, her cold fingers wrapping around it tight. “Can you still use your arm?”
“Yeah, it’s fine.” He didn’t tell her about the numbness or loss of grip strength because there were more important things to worry about at the moment. “Love you.”
“Love you too.” She cupped the side of his face in her hand. “Did you get them?”
“We got three of the shooters, but the fourth got away on an ATV.”
Wade waved them over, tucking his cell phone back into his pocket. “Taylor almost here, and apparently he’s got a big lead. We’re supposed to meet him on the front lawn in two minutes.” He glanced at Jackson as the PJ shoved something into the wound.
Ryan sucked in a breath and gritted his teeth, his vision wavering for a second at the swift, sudden burn.
Wade frowned at him. “You still good to go?”
“Yes,” he said between his teeth.
Leaving the rest of the guests behind with the resort security, who were scrambling to secure the scene, Ryan took Candace’s hand and walked with the others to the front entrance and out onto the lawn where the resort security had set up a perimeter.
He didn’t want to let her out of his sight even for a moment.
Cops and fire trucks were just showing up on scene.
Then a familiar pulse overhead broke the silence. All of them stopped and looked skyward.
“I’d know that sound anywhere,” Devon said, craning her neck to search for the approaching helo.
Yeah, they all would.
Moments later the unmistakable outline of a Blackhawk appeared overhead. It circled the wide north lawn once, then touched down in the center of it and two men hopped out. Jeb Taylor and someone Ryan didn’t recognize.
They jogged over, in full tac gear. “Satellite feed just showed the fourth shooter heading by ATV in the direction of the location you guys found in the mountains,” Taylor said to them over the noise of the rotors. “Intel says it could be Eric March’s second-in-command.”
“You think he’s headed for the bunkers?” Ryan asked, aware of the way Candace had tensed beside him. He stroked his thumb over the back of her hand in reassurance.
“Maybe, and if we’re lucky, March will still be in the area.
This is my brother, Craig, by the way. Former Marine, now works ops with me,” he said, motioning to the black-haired, dark-eyed man next to him, who nodded at them.
“I’ve talked with my FBI contacts. There’s no way they can get a team here in the next hour.
So they’ve given us the green light to go after March and his men before they can make it out of the area. You guys up for a night mission?”
Fuck yes. They were going after those assholes. “You got gear for us?” Ryan asked, releasing Candace’s hand to wrap his left arm around her shoulders and pull her into him.
“On the bird.”
Perfect.
“Wait a second, what about us?”
Ryan and Taylor both glanced at Maya, who was staring at them with a furious expression. Candace was glaring at them too.
Maya raised a dark eyebrow at them, her stare burning holes through them all before narrowing on Taylor. “You need operators, then I’m in.”
Taylor watched her a moment, then nodded. “I’ve got gear on board for four. You guys need to figure out in a hurry who’s coming.”
Ryan whirled to face Candace. “You’re not going,” he told her flatly before she could say anything. “You need to stay here and talk to the cops, and help guard the other guests—”
“But—”
“No.” There was no fucking way he was allowing her to come.
It had nothing to do with not trusting her ability, and everything to do with wanting her safe.
She was wounded and in pain, still coping with the trauma of what had happened in Afghanistan, and he just couldn’t deal with the thought of putting her through anything else.
He wrapped his left hand around her nape, squeezed as he stared into her eyes.
“I need to know you’re back here, safe.”
“I—”
He cut her off by sliding his left hand into her hair and bringing his mouth down over hers in a hot, hard kiss before raising his head. “Please,” he murmured.
She relented, but she didn’t look happy about it, and her eyes were troubled. “You better not come back with any more holes in you,” she warned.
His wife rocked. “I won’t.”
Maya came over and wound an arm around Candace’s waist. “If there’s only enough equipment for you guys, then I guess I’ll stay and help get the place locked down, keep my eye on her with Dev and Erin.”
Ryan nodded once. “Thanks.” He kissed Candace once more and left her with her friends, relieved that she was in good hands. Any one of those women would protect her with their life.
“So you know where the bunker location is?” Wade asked Taylor as Ryan and the other guys headed for the bird together.
“Not exactly, but March’s 2IC will. And just in case he doesn’t go quietly and tell us what we want to know, we’ll take along a little insurance.” His gaze swept past them to Candace’s grandma, standing with the other women. “Ruby,” he called out. “You game for a little recon mission?”
Her eyes lit up like she’d just been offered a private tour of a rye distillery. “I was born ready, young man. Someone help me onto that chopper.” With that she swept past the other women and headed for the waiting helo.