Page 44 of Her Chosen Protector

“What happened?!” a woman was screaming in English. “Are they going to kill us?”

Asher kept his flashlight on, night vision goggles wouldn’t work since light was still coming through the windows. “To the left, we’re avoiding Suzanne’s office.” He whispered the words directly into her ear. She nodded.

“Be quiet,” another woman said in Spanish. The situation was going to hell, fast.

“What are you saying?” the woman screamed back at her in English. She had a British accent.

“I take it that’s Sharon?” Asher whispered.

Eden nodded.

“You need to calm down, Señorita.” A man entered the fray. Sharon continued to shout.

Obviously, his soothing was having no effect, as she continued to yell in fear.

Asher pinpointed where the conversation was coming from—one of the cubicles near the men’s restrooms. “Ezio, do you have eyes on this?” he asked into his mic.

“Yeah, they closed the office door as soon as the lights went out. I’m looking over the balustrade and I’ve got eyes on the screamer. She’s surrounded by a suit, a guard, and another woman.”

“Ezio, how many in the office?” Asher demanded to know.

“It’s changed since my last report. Still the doughboy, then there’s Heinrich, Carlson and Kaito.

The woman and Leland left as soon as the lights went out and the screaming started. The muffin man is squeezed himself under the desk, babbling in French, I think.”

“That’s Schlessinger. We’re going to need a crane and an éclair to get him the hell out from under there,” Eden said disgustedly.

“French?”

“Swiss, but he really only speaks French. I think I can talk him out from under the desk, and I can help with Sharon.”

“Ezio can get Sharon, I already saw him in action with Rafa’s girlfriends at the food truck. He’s a natural. She’ll be putty in his hands.”

“Okay.”

“We’ve got a problem,” Max said urgently. “Big. The jeeps are moving out to make way for the tank. Get those civilians the hell out of there, now!” Asher knew that everyone on the transmission got the message.

“Ezio, you heard your job,” Asher told his teammate.

“Yep, go charm the screamer. Easy, I’ve got this. That means I’ll be scooping up at least four civilians. Probably a guard or two by then.”

“Eden and I are going to the office. That will give us four.”

“That leaves us eight who are scattered,” Raiden said. “If we get them, then we’ll come help you and Eden.”

“Negative,” Asher answered. “There will be three of us—Leland will be a calm head helping us.

You go to Ezio first.”

There was a pause. “Agreed,” Cullen and Raiden said at the same time.

Because of the slippery lobby floor, Eden fell on her ass when the first blast hit. She scrambled to get up, but Asher covered her body.

“Stay down,” he hissed.

She stilled. Another concussion hit, followed by crashing sounds and shattering glass, but Asher’s body kept her from moving.

“So now I know what a tank hit feels like,” she tried to tease. But truly she was beginning to get scared. She hated scared. Mad. Pissed. Angry. Those were acceptable feelings. Not scared. Being scared was for pussies.