Prologue
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Bullets slammed into the dirt inches from Delaney Hart’s face.
She hit the ground hard, her shoulder jarring against dry limestone as she rolled behind the rusted frame of a cattle trailer. Another burst of gunfire cracked through the air, sharp and too close.
“We’ve got company,” she shouted.
“No shit,” Eli Tarrant called back. His voice was steady, but she didn’t miss the tension beneath it. “You hit?”
“Not yet,” she ground out, pressing flatter to the dry earth.
The girl’s call had been frantic, her voice shaking as she described the barn she’d escaped to. Delaney and Eli had raced out thinking they’d beat any pursuit. But they hadn’t expected a full tactical response waiting for them. Not this many guns. Not this kind of setup.
This was no random team of hired muscle. Someone had anticipated the girl’s escape.Someone had known exactly where she’d run.
Eli was crouched near the hay shed, rifle up, back to the sun-bleached barn wall. His expression hadn’t changed since the first round was fired. Focused. Calm. But his eyes never stopped moving.
“I’ve got three on the ridge,” he let her know. “One behind the propane tank. Two flanking wide. That’s six.”
“Minimum,” Delaney muttered.
She spotted the shimmer of glass through the brush. A scope. And probably a long-range rifle attached to it.
“They’ve got full perimeter coverage,” she let him know. “That ridge line is giving them a field day.”
“Waiting for us,” Eli said.
“Or waiting for the girl,” she countered.
The girl had screamed shortly after the first shot had been fired. Which meant she was still in the barn.
Still alive.
Eli’s jaw clenched. “They’re not letting us leave with her.”
“Not unless we punch a hole big enough to drag her through.” Delaney looked at the barn, then back at Eli. “You go in. I’ll draw their fire.”
He locked eyes with her. “We stay together.”
“We get her out,” Delaney corrected. “That’s the mission. This is the only way.”
He didn’t like it. That much was obvious. Heck, she didn’t care much for the plan either, butthey were out of time.
Delaney gave the rubber band on her wrist a quick snap. The sting cleared the edge from her thoughts. No room for panic. No space for ghosts.
“On your mark,” she said, already crouching.
Eli nodded. “Three.”
“Two.”
“One.”
They moved.
Gunfire erupted like thunder.
