AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Silence.
“You can willingly answer our questions, or we can force you to answer.”
I had no problem torturing someone to get intelligence from them, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend the time doing that here. If I was going to concentrate on getting everything I could from him, we needed to take this party back to our place. It would be dangerous to move him through the city streets, but not nearly as much as it would be to stay here. It was possible that more men could come back here.
The man hadn’t spoken a word yet, that I was aware of. He was going to be a stubborn one. That was one thing about Roj and The Holy Order. Hired hands or not, their men were loyal and they hated anyone they didn’t consider their own. We may not know what their ultimate goal was, but it was clear that they were dedicated to that goal, and Roj.
I opened my mouth to recommend to Keller that we get out of here when the door burst open. Chaos ensued as the man who’d charged through the door put a bullet through our prisoner’s head.
We all dove for cover, not bothering to try to rescue the man tied to the chair. Keller dove and tackled Zinnia, shielding her with his body as we returned fire. The man in the doorway fell, dead before he hit the ground. His job was done. He’d killed his friend before he could give us any information.
More gunfire came from outside the house. “How many do you think are out there?” I asked.
“At least five,” Keller said from where he was hunched over Zinnia. He had a nearly clairvoyant way of assessing a situation based on sound. “Only one way to find out for sure.”
Our eyes met and the grim look in his matched mine. It was damn risky going out into the open, but these guys liked to fuck around with bombs. For all we knew they were already rigging something to blow up. Shit. They could already have the house rigged for just such an occasion. We had to get the fuck out of here and the front door was the only option.
“Rush.” Keller nodded to Zinnia and Rush returned the nod. “Alden, Torque, on me,” he said, standing. He held out a hand and helped Zinnia to her feet.
She opened her mouth to say something and he just shook his head. “Don’t. Not here. Not now.”
You never said things like goodbye or thank you. Not until you were out of danger. It was a steadfast rule in our unit. There were no heat of the moment admissions.
Keller led the charge out the door, as he always did. He was our leader and he assumed that meant he needed to be the first into every situation. He got as much of a thrill from it as I did, hell we all did. It’s why we joined the special forces.
Glass shattered around me as I threw my body through the window, at the same time that Keller went through the door. It would confuse our attackers and draw fire from the door, breaking the funnel point and giving the others a chance of getting out.
We returned fire as we ran, the night lighting up around us as we exchanged shots with our enemies. It seemed there weren't enough men hiding in the shadows to overwhelm us, and for that I was grateful. There was a half-wall about fifty feet from the front door, standard architecture in this area. Keller and I took up positions on either side, laying down fire on our attackers.
The citizens living in this small village would have heard the gunfire, but no one would be coming out to investigate. Whatever passed for police in this area wouldn’t come by until long after the gunfire stopped. The only people here who were stupid enough to be on the street tonight were Roj’s men and our team.
Rush was back in the house with Zinnia. As soon as there was an opening, he’d be carting her off, out of danger. She was going to be furious, but there was only so much Keller was going to allow. She was a part of our team, but she wasn’t a Green Beret. Our feelings for her aside, we wouldn’t let a CIA asset be harmed in an ambush like this.
It was our duty to keep her safe, keep her protected. To make sure she came out of every encounter alive. The shots filling the night air finally died down. We were crouched down behind cover and I popped my head over the top of the crumbling brick wall we were stationed behind. No one shot at me. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Rush and gave him a nod.
The three of us took position and began shooting. We had no targets, no one was moving, this was just to lay down cover fire while Rush hauled Zinnia off. I half expected to see him carrying her, but I knew that she would never tolerate that. Instead he emerged holding his rifle out with one arm, his other pulling her close behind him.
I saw her pause from the corner of my eye as she looked our way, then she spun and ran off with him, the darkness swallowing them. The tension in my chest eased. We could concentrate fully now on taking out the gunmen.
It didn’t take long to figure out that they’d stopped shooting so they could converge on our location. It started back up as they got into their new positions. Torque slipped down a back alley to try to come around from behind and box them in while Keller and I kept them distracted.
Popping my head up again, I squeezed the trigger on my rifle and heard a man scream. I wished we knew for sure how many were out there. Taking cover behind the wall as a hailstorm of bullets flew my way, I looked over at my cousin. His face was grim in the moonlight. This hadn’t been the way we’d hoped to end the night.
We took turns exposing ourselves in order to pick off a shooter here and there until we heard rapid fire gunshots. Then the night went silent.
Keller peered out into the darkness. The moon only helped so much. He lifted his rifle to look through the scope. The night vision allowed us to see farther. “Damn it. I can’t see anyone,” he muttered.
He was worried about Torque. Silence was never a comforting thing in these situations. But I trusted Torque. He was a true predator. I tried not to worry about Rush and Zinnia. None of us liked splitting up the team, but it’d been necessary.
“Come on out!” Torque called from somewhere in the shadows. “I killed the last of them.”
Blowing out a breath, I hopped over the wall and loped over to him. We clasped hands in greeting. “How many?”
“You both managed to take out two. There was one left.”
Keller frowned. “I would have guessed more than that. It seemed like rounds were coming from everywhere at first.”
“Let’s find the others,” I said, unease slithering over my skin. Keller was almost never wrong when he estimated the number of our enemies. “Some of them might have gone after them.”
