Page 15 of Russian Rescue

Footsteps echoed in the tunnel, and now I knew that Brooks had alerted her that we were being followed. My heart rattled my ribs as I watched her pull out her knives. I lifted my gun, hoping that I didn’t miss and send a bullet bouncing off the arched tunnels and back at us.

Three shadows stretched past the doorway shortly before the first body appeared. I slid my finger to the trigger and prepared to take my first life.

It’s just like in video games. Line up your sight, finger on the trigger, and squeeze.

The first man passed the doorway, and it didn’t feel anything like the video games I’d mastered seeing the man’s face at the center of my sight. Prepared to make my first kill, I let out a soft breath.

But a millisecond before I did, Piper lifted her hand to stop me. Only a split second later I saw a black blur of motion as she snaked her hand out and grabbed the man by the neck. He flew into the room with us, and her body moved like she was in fast forward as she spun herself up onto his neck. Like a whirlwind of movement my eyes couldn’t even process, I watched in awe as she twisted her body, her long legs wrapping around him as she slipped her knife across his throat.

So fucking hot.

His two companions appeared in the doorway with guns drawn.

Pop, pop, pop!

Their three silenced shots amplified through the tunnel, but they landed in the torso of their friend instead of Piper from the way she maneuvered the corpse into a human shield. As his body went limp, she flipped to the cement, grabbing the second man’s gun and dropping the magazine. It clanked on the hard surface as she took out his legs and sent him onto his ass.

Using a quick swipe of her hand, she deflected the blow the third man sent at her. With speed to rival a snake, she landed several kicks to his head and then spun her body around him, gripping him like a spider monkey as she went to plunge her knife into his neck.

He shrieked as he struggled against her. His startled companion jumped back to his feet, lifting his gun and aiming it at Piper. My heart pounded as my finger slipped to the trigger.

No. Fuck no. No one is killing my Piper.

With my heart racing at light speed, I put the man directly between my sights and squeezed.

Bang!

The man dropped his gun then crumpled to his knees, falling forward onto his face. Piper finished off the man she wrestled with, and when her knife finally got past his defenses, it slid into the soft hollow of his neck. His eyes widened as they locked with mine, and I watched the life drift out of them.

“Clear,” Piper said as she stood, swiping the back of her hand across her forehead.

“Jesus, you’re fast!” I gaped at her. “That was crazy!”

With a smirk, she slid her blade along her thigh, wiping off the blood. “You’ve been on enough ops with me that shouldn’t surprise you.”

“True.” I chuckled. “But it’s different seeing it in person.”

“You weren’t so bad yourself there, Wes. Nice shot.” She pointed to the body I’d taken out. “Although, I would have been fine. I had a plan.”

“I couldn’t let him kill you,” I said, remembering the fear I’d felt seeing her in his sights.

“He wouldn’t have,” she answered with certainty. “But thanks. You okay? That’s your first kill.”

My first kill.

Holy shit. I’d killed someone. That little morsel of info just started to sink in. I mean, my intel and instruction had meant the death of more people than I could count, but I’d snuffed this life out with my own two hands.

“Wes? You good?”

I nodded, inhaling a stilling breath. “Yeah. These guys were bad motherfuckers. They deserved their fate.”

“Good. Glad you see it that way. Helps with the guilt.”

“I don’t feel guilty,” I answered, surprised by the accurate statement. I didn’t feel guilty in the slightest.

She smirked. “Maybe you were cut out for special ops after all.”

“Yeah?” I arched an eyebrow. “You think I have what it takes to do what you do?”