Headlamps!
He cursed. Shoved himself forward, boots sliding in the now-muddy field. How had they found them? For a half-second he entertained the thought it wasn’t an enemy vehicle. But they were coming too fast and too direct.
Doing his best to fight the elements and get back, he quickly saw he wouldn’t make it. The vehicle would get there first. “Back! Inside!” he shouted as he struggled toward her.
She faltered, expression wild with panic beneath the driving rain and incoming threat.
Thank God they weren’t shooting at her, but he more than felt the bullets streaking past him. The one that seared his side. Felt his ear burn. Didn’t care. He wasn’t stopping.
The Toyota pick-up slid to a stop between him and Kasra, three yards away. Men rushed her.
Her scream seared his heart.
Only it wasn’t her scream. She wasn’t the type to do that. In fact, the men who moved on her found themselves in a fierce fight.
Range surged at the vehicle, only then able to see it clearly. Not ANP. And no uniforms. Mercs or black ops.
The driver aimed a gun out the window at him. Range threw himself at the arm, drove it back until he felt the sickening crunch of bones. Heard the man’s feral screams as his hand went limp. The weapon plunked to the ground.
AK-47 snatched up, Range whipped around. Slammed it into the driver’s temple.
Slowed but not disabled, the guard lifted a handgun.
Range fired a burst into the cab, and the driver went as limp as his arm. Verifying he was dead—didn’t want bullets in his back—Range grabbed the gun from him, too. Holstered it at the small of his back. Pivoted, saw a guard on the ground. The other had Kasra pinned to the wall, gun at her head.
Advancing, coming up on the guy’s left, Range squeezed off two rounds. When the guy froze Kasra flipped the guy’s weapon and fired it into his chest.
The thug crumpled.
Kasra shuddered her breaths, staring in disbelief at the body at her feet.
He saw it—the terror of what she’d done.
Range edged into her personal space. Caught her face. “Hey.” Wild eyes met him. “You did what you had to.” He nodded, waited for her to do the same. “We have to get out of here. Grab our packs and get them to the truck. Okay?”
“Ye—” Her throat convulsed. She nodded.
“Do it.” After nudging her toward the shelter and their packs, he dragged the nearest body into the stand. When she hurried past him with the gear, he grabbed the boots of the driver, then noticing a phone on the floorboard. Took it. Turned, surprised to see Kasra moving the third guy into the shelter. The woman impressed again. He placed the driver in front of the door and tugged his shirt as he eased out, so his weight would keep it shut. No accidental discoveries.
Turning, he found her close. Had to roll around her to avoid a collision. “Get in.” He hopped into the idling truck and swiped a hand over his face. Felt weird.
Clothes and hair drenched, Kasra shivered in her seat. “You’re shot!”
Range glanced to where she pointed and remembered feeling a sting there. He grunted. Palmed it. Felt the hole. No exit wound. Not good. “Just a graze,” he lied. She was traumatized enough. It was one thing to endure sexual abuse for years. Another to take a life.
They had to put distance between them and the bodies. Phone in hand, he pulled up GPS. Got a bead on their location. “Few hours to Wesh.”
“A–are we going to keep the truck the whole time?”
“Probably.” He put the truck inDriveand headed toward a main road. “We’ll dump the phones a few klicks up and then book it to Wesh.” Eying the gas gauge told him they’d need to gas up.
“H–how did they find us?” she balked, her eyes watering like the rest of her.
“No idea.” He huffed, theswump-swump-swumpof the windshield wipers grating on his nerves. “Figure we’ve got a couple of hours before someone notices them missing. Thankfully, this truck is old enough not to have GPS. Ditching the phone we found—”
Kasra sucked in a hard breath. Grabbed her satchel. She pulled something out, her eyes as huge as MRAP wheels, held it out to him. A flip phone sat in her hand.
His eyes widened. “Are youtryingto get us killed?”
