They jumped into the storm drain and he took up a lot of the space. He turned and, to her surprise, kissed her hard on the lips. “Couldn’t resist,” he said. “Not after watching your butt wiggle inches from my face.”
“You’re one crazy man,” Amber said, shaking her head. They were far from being safe and he still wanted to banter. The crazier thing was, she felt perfectly safe with him, for no apparent reason. “Come on, Hot Stuff, before they realize we aren’t coming out from behind the bushes.”
The base of the wall was very thick, constructed centuries ago, with newer walls built on top of it. A natural sound barrier, the trench was strangely quiet compared with the noise from a few minutes ago, and this time, Amber’s worry grew as she really heard Hawk’s hitched breathing as they made their way out on the other side.
She jumped up and pushed out of the drain, cautiously looking around in the darkness. It was a side street, on the west side of the compound. The two main front and back driveways were in the north and south. She knew from checking that a car driving out from inside the compound would take at least five minutes to turn into the alleyway.
“My car is down the end of the road,” she told Hawk.
“Okay. I think they’ve discovered where we went down, by the way. I can hear them behind us.”
“We have a five-minute head start if someone’s smart enough to run and get a car,” she said. Her concern grew as she watched Hawk getting out of the deep trench. She knew a healthy person would easily push off with his hands and climb out; instead, he was using his elbows.
They barely reached the other side of the street when two cars turned into the road from opposite ends, their headlights shining straight at them.
Amber looked to the left, then right. “Shit. They’re smarter than I thought,” she said. “And we’re out of grenades.”
“Where’s our target route?”
“Down that way, then a side alley.” She pointed in the direction of one of the oncoming vehicles. “Either way, we’d have to start shooting our way out of here.”
Hawk pulled at the duffel bag strapped to her. “Time for the toys, sweetheart.”
This was Hawk’s arena. Running teams, moving into position, and executing firefights. But he didn’t know how experienced Amber was. He started running back into the shadows and she followed quickly. He knew weapons could only buy them some time because Dilaver’s men would be coming from all directions once shots were fired. He deliberately placed himself in front of Amber.
He aimed at a headlight of the closest oncoming vehicle and pulled the trigger, then sweeping the weapon left to right to get both of them. The high-pitched shatter of glass mixed with the rat-tat-tat sound of machine gun fire cut through the air. He aimed lower. The smell of burning tires was immediate as the car zigzagged out of control.
Hawk turned to the other vehicle. Amber nudged his elbow. “Wait,” she yelled into his ear. “It’s signaling. Cover me from the rear!”
Before he could ask what the hell she was doing, she started running toward the oncoming car. Fuck. There was no time to think, just do as she ordered. He ran behind her, turned, and fired again at the first vehicle. It had finally come to a stop, the doors flinging open as Dilaver’s men jumped out. They ducked as Hawk started firing his weapon.
Amber had better know what she was doing because they were in the direct line of fire. Hawk became aware of the other oncoming car screeching to a halt right behind them. Someone killed the lights. Someone was shooting at Dilaver’s men, besides him.
“Am I glad to see you!” he heard Amber say.
“Got your message. Can’t miss the action. Hop in.”
It was Lily. Hawk turned to find her behind the driver’s door, using it as a shield, as she shot at their pursuers. He ran toward Amber, who had pulled open the back passenger door. She aimed and popped off a few shots before sliding inside.
Hawk went behind the door. “I’ll keep them down while you get back in,” he yelled to Lily.
“Yeah.”
Hawk pulled the trigger again and found his weapon out of ammo. “Fuck!”
Amber stuck hers out of the car. “Here, Hot Stuff. Mine’s still loaded.”
Hawk grinned. “I have something to show you later,” he promised as he turned his attention back to the thugs. He discharged a series of shots as Lily jumped back into the car. He did the same, slamming the door. “Go, go, go!”
20
Amber looked at the pile of clothing on herbed. By now Lily and Hawk would be halfway to the safe house. Lily had dropped her off so she could get her vehicle out of the alley and come back to the house. Amber would meet them later.
Hawk hadn’t liked the idea one bit, but it was the only logical thing to do. Dilaver was going to show up looking for Hawk, and Amber didn’t want them tearing the place apart. There were things there she needed to take care of first.
“Call Sun,” Hawk had ordered gruffly. “Let him show up if Dilaver drops by. Promise me, Amber.”
“All right,” Amber said. She looked at Lily. “He’s injured.”
