Page 25 of Nothing Special X: The Last Stand

“Delta and Charlie teams hold your positions! Alpha move to combat response!”

Green stayed still beside a stack of equipment crates and watched as absolute chaos unfolded.

Security scrambled everywhere. One of the motherfucking guards actually ran with the crowd, another shouted into a dead cellphone while spinning in circles, and a third nearly collided with a catering cart.

Nobody established perimeter control, secured exits, or attempted to identify threats.

“Jesus Christ,” Steele muttered through comms.

“Charlie team hold your motherfuckin’ line!” the unseen commander barked again.

Nobody listened.

Free killed the cell towers.

Green’s eyes landed on a young woman sprinting past in full-on panic.

“Blue jacket,” Tech blurted. “Grab her.”

Green moved fast.

One second, she was running. The next, his arm was locked around her waist while he pressed his Smith & Wesson to her temple in a perfect hostage hold.

The woman screamed as nearby crew members lost their minds.

“Oh my god!”

“Let her go!”

“Someone help her!”

The studio workers were reacting more forcefully than security.

Several guards continued to try to get through on their dead phones while others yelled conflicting orders at each other near the locked gates.

“Cut the lights,” God ordered.

The lights flickered violently before going dark beneath the now overcast sky.

Screams erupted louder, wilder and frantic, until Free cut the alarm and the silence that followed felt more dramatic than the noise.

Green remained calm, gun against his hostage’s shoulder while she sobbed, clutching his forearm across her chest.

He never said a word.

Too many minutes dragged by.

Finally, there was movement from above—snipers.

About damn time.

Green glanced upward before his attention shifted back in front of him.

A man was approaching slowly. He was big, serious, measured…and exuded danger.

Cassidy Morrison.

Even from a distance Green could spot the Marine in him.