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“That will filter them out through the front exit here where the rest of our force will be waiting,” I added, practically knowing the whole damn spiel word for word now. “Now can we go?”
“There’s one last thing.”
We waited, chomping at the bit to go outside with the others packing the vans full of everything we needed.
“Ava Jade, I’m going to need you to stay back with the other snipers.”
“What?” I demanded, my voice dripping venom.
“Look,” Diesel said, raising his hands in a placating gesture. “Before you go biting my head off, hear me out.”
I looked to my guys for help, but it didn’t look like I was going to get any.
“I’d bet my left nut that you’re a better shot than any of the others on your worst day. You’re a natural. I need that kind of skill at my back. I need someone up in the nest who isn’t going to take my head off trying to take out the enemy beside me.”
“And you trust that I won’t?”
“Well, if you keep looking at me like that, I might reconsider.”
“I don’t want to be way up on the hill, Dies. I need to be down there. With them,” I gestured to Rook, Grey, and Corvus. I shoved Rook next to me. “Say something.”
“It would be more fun if she was with us.”
Diesel pinched the bridge of his nose. “Rook, that is such a shit argument I don’t even know where to start.”
“Corv? Grey?” I tried, but Corv was chewing his lips and Grey was toeing the carpet. “Seriously?”
Corv scratched the back of his head, where sandy blond hair had begun to grow back, covering the scars a little better. I’d give him new ones if he didn’t pipe up. “Sparrow, it’s not a bad idea. You are a crack shot. Just yesterday you hit a rolling barrel at two hundred fifty yards and still managed to hit within the second ring of the bullseye. You’re the best we have. Even better than Grey.”
“Especially now,” Grey muttered, and I knew he was thinking about how his ability with the sniper had taken a hit with the loss of his eye. He had to handle the weapon on the opposite side, needing to learn it all over again.
“Not what I meant,” Corv said to Grey before turning back to me. “Think about it for a sec. If you’re up there, you can eliminate any threats that come at us before we can ever see them coming.”
“And if it gets too messy and you can’t get a clean shot on any of them, then you’re not so far away that you can’t run into the action,” Rook added with a wink. “I’ll save you a few.”
“I don’t like the thought of her being alone up there, though,” Grey said on a breath.
“She won’t be,” Diesel argued. “There will be two other snipers with her.”
I groaned inwardly, breathing deep to suppress the wrath building in the shape of my darkness as I thought it through.
Fuck.
I’d hit Lenny Ace straight through the heart at two hundred yards despite the wind rolling in off the lake. It really was a beautiful shot. And honestly? I’d bet Diesel’s left nut and his right, that I could do it again if I needed to. Being able to watch over my guys while they were down there wasn’t a half bad idea, either.
“You have the comms, still?” I asked Grey, and he grinned up at me, digging in his black pack for them.
“Thought you said they’d be too distracting.”
Grey scattered the little ear pieces on Diesel’s kitchen table, and I lifted one up, inspecting it. “I did. But if I’m going to be watching from above, then it might be helpful to warn you if trouble’s coming your way.”
“You’ll do it, then?” Diesel asked, trying to confirm as the screen door banged closed and Pinkie appeared in the hall.
“We’re all packed up, boss.”
“Yeah, I’ll do it. But if it looks too hairy down there I’m leaving that fucking thing on the hill and I’m coming down.”
Diesel offered me a rare grin. “Deal. If the other’s come down with you just ditch all the ammo first, yeah? Don’t need our enemies using our own hardware against us.” Diesel’s brows drew, his gaze flicking back to Pinkie. “What is it, Pinkie? Why are you hovering?”
