Erin already had Candace’s sweater up and was examining the wound just under the edge of her shoulder blade.She’d worked as a nurse at Craig Joint Theater Hospital at Bagram for multiple tours, and had seen every kind of trauma case imaginable.“It’s still in there, buried under the edge of her scapula.Must have been a ricochet.”She looked up into Candace’s face.“Do your ribs hurt when you breathe?”
She shook her head.“Not really.”
Erin nodded.“Anywhere else hurt?Your shoulder blade?”
“I said I’m fine.”She thrust out her right hand toward him.“Now give me a damn weapon so I can shoot back at these assholes.”
Ryan slipped a hand around her nape and leaned in to plant a hard kiss on her mouth.“You got it.”
Erin glanced at him.“She’ll be okay.I’ll try to get the bullet out and get the bleeding stopped as best I can until we can get clear.”
Ryan nodded, shrugged off his pack, and dug out his pistol.After slamming in a fresh magazine, he handed it to Candace.If the shooters maintained their distance, it wouldn’t do her much good, but at least she’d feel better being armed.
Now that he wasn’t frozen with terror that his wife was going to die, he scanned the others, all hidden behind this low retaining wall running the length of this side of the building.
Wade was on his phone, probably talking to the cops, rifle in his free hand.Ryan grabbed ammo from his pack and loaded his rifle.His right upper arm and the back of his hand were numb, the bullet wound burning like fire.
Rolling to his belly, he crawled his way over to where Jackson lay near the end of the protective wall with his own weapon trained toward the shooters.Maya was right next to him with her service pistol, searching for a target.
As he neared them, the back of Ryan’s neck prickled.All eight of them were now pinned down behind this low rock wall with an unknown number of shooters out there, making them one giant, fat target.
They couldn’t stay here.He and everyone else with a rifle had to lay down covering fire while the others spread out and found a better defensive position.
Ryan bit back a grunt of pain as he nestled the stock of his weapon against his right shoulder, pressing his right cheek to it to stare through the scope.The night vision device would enable him to see a potential target in the darkness, but it wasn’t as good as having NVGs.
“See any muzzle flashes?”he asked the others, aware of the blood that continued to run down his arm, puddling on the flagstone beneath his bent elbow.
“A couple at one o’clock a few seconds ago,” Maya answered.Then to Jackson, “I hit one, but I don’t think he’s down.Got anything?”
“Not yet,” he answered, his Texas drawl making his voice seem even calmer.
Wade made his way over to crouch on one knee beside them.“How we looking?”
“No targets yet,” Ryan answered.Who the hell had fired at them?
“Cops are on the way and I just got off a call with Taylor.He’s alerting the local Feds and is on his way here with his brother.Said he’s bringing backup.”
Until then, they were on their own.“We gotta get the hell out from behind this wall,” Ryan muttered.Who knew how many shooters there were, and what kind of weapons they had?It made his skin crawl to stay here another second.
“Yeah,” Wade muttered, putting his eye to his scope.
Quickly they came up with a plan.Candace still held the pistol tight in her right hand, her expression intent as Erin did what she could to stop the bleeding.
Ryan wanted to haul her into his arms and not let go but he couldn’t until this threat was neutralized.He loved his wife so damn much, respected how strong and brave she was.He couldn’t stand to lose her.She waseverythingto him.
“You and Erin get to cover while we divert them,” he said to her.“Maya and Dev, you’ll cover them while we head out.”
Both women nodded once, gazes trained on the darkness beyond.“Got it,” Maya answered.
“Ready?”he asked the guys.They all nodded.
On his three count, Ryan and Wade burst out from behind the wall, firing spaced shots across the patio toward where the shooting had come from.Cam, Jackson, and Maya laid down covering fire for them as he and Wade sprinted to the relative protection of the water feature on the opposite side.
Flashes of light burst in the darkness and rounds slammed into the rocks in front of them.Bleeding and royally pissed off by this point, Ryan ducked around the corner of the fountain and caught sight of one of the shooters in his scope.He aimed and fired two shots, hitting him center mass.
The guy cried out and fell.
“One shooter down,” he said to Wade, wishing he had comms with the others so they knew what was going on.
