Night vision in place, we didn’t hesitate.
Gunfire from inside.
Audrey out of view.
Two targets acquired: Rhett and his girlfriend.
And one voice shouting the only word I wanted to hear from inside the plane after Alpha Team took their shots: “Clear!”
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Audrey
I was disoriented, unsure what the heck had just happened. One minute, Rhett was burying his fingernails into my side, holding a gun to my head; then the lights went out and I’d taken the chance to wriggle free of his hold and drop down.
All I knew now was that I was free of him and there weren’t any holes in my body.
“Audrey, you okay?” a voice called from behind me. Male, unfamiliar.
Still on my knees, head cradled between my arms as if I could stop a bullet to the head that way, I blinked into the darkness, seeing nothing.
I searched around, locating a motionless body to my right. The girlfriend.
But the groaning man to my left, the one now reaching for me—
“I got you,” the voice said again, this time closer, more urgent.
Strong arms hooked under mine and dragged me from the cockpit into the cabin. I bumped into another unmoving figure and felt metal beneath my fingers.
“You helped me,” I whispered as the realization hit. Had to be the guy I’d hoped to turn.
He didn’t answer, just shouted, “Clear!” as the cabin door creaked open. “Sounds like Rhett’s still alive in the cockpit,” he muttered to someone outside.
“Audrey?” Alejandro’s voice.
“Audrey!” Ryder that time.
“Audrey ...” And my best friend.
My name echoed from all sides. Music to my ears. They were here. We were alive.
The man guided me through the darkness toward a figure waiting at the base of the ramp. He had to be using night vision to see me. I couldn’t make out anything.
But the moment I reached him, he pulled me into his arms without hesitation.Nota friendly, brotherly hug. No, this was—
“Alejandro,” I cried as he held me, squeezing me tight.
“I got you,” he rasped in confirmation, voice thick with emotion. “Never letting go.”
At the feel of a hand at my side, I knew who it belonged to. “Glad you’re okay,” my brother said. “Well, more than just glad ...”
“Everyone okay? Eden? Trevor? Echo?” I asked them, still clinging to Alejandro for dear life.
“Safe and secure,” Ryder answered, and relief filled me. “Get her into the hangar. Be right over.”
Behind us, Rhett moaned. Somewhere nearby, someone reported, “Shoulder wound. Ear clipped. But he’s alive. We keeping him that way?”
I didn’t hear Ryder’s answer because Alejandro picked me up, clearly remembering I was barefoot, and carried me to the hangar, which was still lit up, glowing ahead like salvation.
