He was trading himself.
For her.
Akilov studied him with open curiosity. “You volunteer?”
Wyatt didn’t look at Akilov. His eyes stayed on Jen. “This ends here. You let them go. You take me.”
Her chest seized. “No. You don’t get to do this.” Jen fought against the men holding her.
“Already did.” His eyes never left hers.
Akilov smiled as if the outcome still belonged to him. “How noble. And how very unnecessary.”
He raised his hand. “Kill him.”
Crack.
The guard restraining Wyatt jerked violently, then collapsed, blood streaking through his hair.
Akilov spun. “What the?—”
“Contact! Contact!”
Gunfire erupted.
Another guard on the helipad jerked, crumpled.
Men clad head to toe in black surged onto the deck from multiple access points, moving with lethal precision. They didn’t fire wildly—tight pairs, clean angles, covering each other as they advanced.
Jen’s gaze snapped back to Wyatt.
Not Akilov’s men.
Wyatt was back on his feet, lifting the gun that had been at his head seconds before.
SEALs. And they were early.
Akilov’s people broke, releasing her—returning fire, scrambling for cover—as the newcomers cut through them with surgical efficiency.
Wyatt fired low into the deck around Akilov’s men, sparks and ricochets forcing them back.
“Jen! Move!”
Jen took Caro’s good hand and sprinted, feet skidding as gunfire cracked overhead. She hit the ladder and slid down fast, hands barely catching each rung as adrenaline turned her limbs to water.
Gunfire ricocheted overhead like fireworks. She clenched her jaw and kept moving.
She hit the deck, spun, searching for an exit. “Where?—”
Caro jumped the last foot to beside her. “Oh God. Oh God. This is fine. Totally fine. Definitely dying.”
Wyatt vaulted off the helipad, sliding down the ladder rails to keep weight off his injured leg. He landed with a grunt, stumbling for a second before righting himself and jabbing a direction with his weapon. “Take cover. The lifeboats.”
He turned, placing himself between them and the terrorists.
Jen ran with Caro to the orange capsules tilted toward the ocean. She wrenched the nearest hatch open, hustled Caro inside, then ducked down behind the door as bullets gouged holes.
Wyatt checked the angles once, then ran toward them and dropped into a controlled slide.
