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“You thought you were going to come into my house and steal from me!” Benicio’s angry voice echoed from the second floor. “You’re dead! You’re all dead!”
“I bet that pint of blood is sounding real good right now, huh?” Edison grumbled.
Charlie didn’t answer. There wasn’t a chance. Gunshots echoed off the marble across from West, and Charlie caught a blur of color from the corner of his eye. He didn’t question it. Swinging around, he aimed with practiced ease and squeezed off two rounds, putting both bullets square in the guard’s chest as he lifted his gun.
Yep, sneaky was now a thing of the past.
Benicio continued to shout for their deaths like a petulant three-year-old denied his favorite toy, but he was easy enough to ignore. Perez wasn’t the type to actually descend the stairs to put his life in danger or bother to get his hands dirty.
“Clear,” West barked, and they followed him a few feet to the next turn in the hallway that offered them some cover from the bodyguards firing on them.
Charlie’s heart thudded painfully, and his brain tried to conjure up images of Will. Had the van been discovered? Was that why the communications had been knocked out? Kairo was plenty capable of protecting himself and Will, but he was just one guy and it was clear that Perez had enough money to buy himself a private army.
“This seems like way more than the ten guards he was supposed to have on hand,” Ed grumbled as he took out two more men with well-placed shots.
“He was waiting for us,” West snarled.
Charlie couldn’t argue with that. It was something they’d expected considering the fact that it hadn’t been that long ago that Perez had made an attempt on Will’s life. Unfortunately, they’d been confident they could sneak through all of Perez’s precautions and get what they wanted.
“Tedious,” West muttered as he shoved both of his guns into their holsters. It was their only warning.
“Shit!” Edison shouted. Charlie could just barely make out the sight of West diving forward toward a dead guard, while Ed provided cover fire.
Charlie killed one more guard at the rear and turned his attention to helping Ed fight the guards clustered in what appeared to be a large entertaining area. Fluff leaped into the air as bullets tore through the various chairs and couches that filled the long room. More bullets pockmarked the deep-red walls and tore through the paintings so that their massive frames crashed to the floor.
West hit just ahead of the dead man and came up holding his submachine gun. Bullets flew out of the weapon, peppering the air like angry bees and slicing through their attackers. The spray might have been relentless, but West was still frighteningly accurate. Men fell and didn’t get up.
“Clear!” West shouted.
“Fucking madman!” Edison cackled as they followed West through the room toward a wall of glass doors that looked out across the inground pool and vast spread of green for the back lawn. From here, they had to cover only a couple of acres to reach the rear gate. Climbing the wall was an option, but they had to get rid of the guards. Otherwise, they’d be targets waiting to be cut down.
They trailed behind West as he jogged across the room. He dropped the gun he had and picked up another. He cradled it in both leather-gloved hands as if it were his favorite child. Edison took a step ahead of him and kicked the first set of double doors open.
The trio exploded into the chilly night air, welcomed by a new hail of gunfire.
A cry of pain from West cut through Charlie as he watched the sniper fall, gripping his left thigh.
“Ed! Cover!” Charlie shouted as he grabbed West’s left arm to haul him to his feet. Ed stood over them, laying down enough answering fire to buy them precious seconds to get West moving again.
“It’s just a scratch,” West bit out. “Let’s move!”
Charlie got a good grip on West and started running across the concrete and tile patio, past the pool and the scattering of remaining guards who had taken refuge behind trees. Unfortunately, with West pressed to his right side, Charlie was left to return fire with his weaker left hand. West caught on fast enough, though.
“You keep us on our feet. Let me do the shooting,” West ordered between clenched teeth as he swung the gun in his free right hand around to take out a couple of guards.
Charlie didn’t argue. He just kept them moving.
“Fuck! Rat bastard limp dicks!” Ed roared in pain behind him. Charlie stopped and started to turn toward the other man. He caught sight of Ed holding his left shoulder for a second. “Keep moving!” he shouted.
Charlie didn’t question it. Ed was still on his feet and running in their direction. That was enough for him.
