Pushing himself up with a groan, Lennox took off running toward the shed. He’d barely made it a dozen steps before the ground around him was ripped apart by automatic weapon fire. Since he hadn’t had a chance to reload his rifle, Lennox pulled the handgun from his back pocket, relieved it had stayed there throughout his trip through two different windows.
Spinning quickly, Lennox took careful shots at his two pursuers. Both of them stumbled, though he had no idea if they’d be staying down in any permanent way. But there was no one on his tail at the moment, so he’d take what he could get.
Lennox sprinted in the general direction of the shed, shoving the Glock in his back pocket again so he could reload the assault rifle with his last magazine as he ran. He should have searched that first guy for more ammo, he thought, kicking himself for the newbie mistake. This last magazine wouldn’t last long and then he’d be down to the pistol.
He sighed in relief when he finally saw the outline of the big maintenance shed off to the left, with bright lights shining through the windows. He turned that way, slowing as he heard voices vibrating through the metal walls. But he started moving faster a moment later when he realized that one of those voices was Talia, and she sounded like she was in trouble.
Moving fast, Lennox rounded the building and hurried to the front door, slowing only when he had a hand on the knob and was ready to go in. Then he took a second to ease open the door a crack, taking a quick peek. What he saw had his hand tightening on the doorknob and his rifle coming up as he readied himself to charge into the building.
Two men with assault rifles had pushed Talia and Katrina up against a big green tractor, weapons trained on them. They were seconds away from executing them.
Normally, the idea of throwing himself into the middle of a hostage situation wouldn’t even make Lennox bat an eye. But this was Talia they were talking about. The idea of getting this wrong—of her getting hurt—almost froze him solid. But he took a deep breath, shook himself to clear his head, then shoved open the door at a dead run.
The first man went down without ever knowing Lennox was there. The second reacted faster, lunging forward and getting an arm around Talia, pulling her in front of him as a human shield, awkwardly twisting his assault rifle around so he could shove the barrel against her head.
Lennox cursed silently but on the outside, he kept his face completely calm as he continued moving toward Talia and the man holding her. The guy twisted his body keeping Talia in front of him, preventing Lennox from getting a clear shot.
“Back off or I’ll shoot her!” the man warned.
Being at an impasse in the shed was the worst possible situation, especially since the guy’s backup was almost certainlygetting closer by the second. He needed to end this before anyone else showed up. But he couldn’t take the shot, not without putting Talia at risk.
Talia caught his eye and he saw something there on her face that scared him. Whatever she was planning, he knew he was going to hate it.
Gaze still on Lennox, she jerked her elbow back, smashing her captor in the face. It wasn’t a stunning blow, but it was distracting, and she used the opportunity to throw herself to the side.
Lennox lifted his rifle a little tighter to his shoulder and took the shot.
Then he raced forward and slid to the floor beside Talia. His heart pounded even harder than it already had been when he saw how still she was.
“Talia, are you okay?” he asked urgently, sweeping her with his gaze for signs of injury as he rested a hand on her shoulder. “Please be okay.”
She rolled over, catching sight of the two dead bodies on the floor before swinging around to gaze up at him in surprise. “You came!” Her eyes filled with alarm. “He took Maria and Beverly! We need to go after them!”
Talia jumped up and ran for the door. Lennox was so startled that it took him a second to push himself to his feet and by then, she was already out of the building.
Cursing, Lennox chased after her, Katrina on his heels.
“Keller said something about taking them back to the vehicles to use Maria as leverage against her father,” Katrina told him.
“Shit.” Lennox picked up his pace the moment he was outside, but Talia was already out of sight. “Katrina, stay here where it’s safe.”
“No way!” she said from behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw her running hard to keep up. “Beverly is my responsibility. I have to help get her back.”
Lennox would have stopped to argue, but he couldn’t waste the time. Talia had too much of a head start and there was no way he could let her confront Keller or any of his people by herself.
“Just stay behind me,” he said. “And don’t put yourself in a position where I have to stop what I’m doing to save you.”
Lennox expected to hear some grumbles at that, but Katrina never got a chance to voice them before a man leaped out of the shadows and started shooting at them.
Shoving Katrina out of the way, Lennox threw himself in the opposite direction, hoping to draw fire his way. It worked—probably better than he’d intended—as rounds tore up the ground around him.
He returned fire but the man was fast, even with the noticeable limp which meant he was probably one of the guys Lennox had injured earlier. Every time Lennox pulled the trigger on his assault rifle, sure he had the man in his sights, the idiot would dive, duck, or roll away. It was infuriating as hell. And Lennox had to blaze through his entire magazine and waste precious time before he finally got the agile POS.
“We have to move!” he shouted, dropping the assault rifle and turning to look for Katrina. “If we don’t hurry, we might be too late to save Talia and the kids.”
When silence met his words, Lennox realized with a sinking feeling that Katrina must have gone after Talia while he’d been distracted.
Cursing, he took off running at full speed toward the front of the house.
