Diggs went completely still, listening for any shift of the floorboards or break in the fabric against the wall to indicate where the man inside would be located. For the longest stretch of seconds, there was nothing, and then a floorboard creaked and a man coughed. Diggs slowly lowered his pistol, unhooked his rifle from over his shoulder, and took a step away from the wall. This old house was nothing but chipped siding and rotted-out walls—perfect for what heplanned.
Diggs took aim at exactly where the sound had come from on the other side of the wall and fired his rifle. The force of the blast from his .308 penetrated the rotted-out siding and nonexistent insulation, sliced through sheetrock on the inside, and thumped satisfactorily into the man’shead.
Diggs slung the rifle over his shoulder and took off running, knowing the gunshot would draw their attention to the back of the house. His targets were narrowed down to two, and two was something he could do in his sleep. As he neared the front door he heard one of the men say in a harsh, panicky voice, “Holy shit, he took out Steve, straight through thewall.”
“Stay calm, we’ve got the girl; she’s obviously what he wants,” the other man said in a hushed voice, and although he tried to sound at ease, there was definitely tensionthere.
Good. He wanted them frayed and panicked; they’d be easier to take out thatway.
Diggs picked up a rock and tossed it across the front yard, straight at the pickup truck where it clanged into the metal with a loud crack. One of the men fired off a barrage of bullets that whizzed through the open front door and jumped into the front walls and broke the glass of thewindow.
Diggs waited until he heard that last satisfying click, indicating he’d emptied his magazine. He had his gun in his hand, leapt onto the front porch, lifted his pistol, and fired a satisfying triangle. One. Two. Three. Chest. Chest. Head. He’d been the one who’d been kicking Trigger, and Diggs wanted to make sure that fucker wasdead.
Then he turned his attention to the last man in the room. He was the one with the towel, now crouched behind the still unconscious Audra, his face pale and sweaty. His hand was shaking, even as he held a knife to her throat. “Drop the gun, asshole, or I finish her rightnow.”
Diggs relaxed into a stance, holding his gun steady and straight out in front of him as he took aim at the man’s left eye. “I don’t thinkso.”
The man gulped and pressed the blade tighter against the pale unmarred skin of her throat. “I’ve given you one warning.I’ll– “
Diggs squeezed the trigger, hugging it like his favorite toy. Completely confident. The bullet launched from his barrel, whizzed across the room, and embedded in the man’s lefteye.
The knife fell from his nerveless fingers and clattered on the ground. He dropped on the floor behind Audra, his one open eye loosely fixed on the cracked and crumbled ceilingoverhead.
Diggs didn’t spare the man another thought. He knew they would have signaled an alert to whoever they worked for that they were under attack, so he only had so much time to get them out of there before more mencame.
He raced to Audra, using his knife to slice free the bonds binding her wrists together, catching her before she slumped onto the ground. He cradled her for a moment in his arms, feeling the warmth in her body and savoring the thump of her heart signaling she was still alive. Injured, tortured, butalive.
He pressed a kiss to her forehead and felt a twitch in his chest that he’d never felt before now. But he didn’t have time to analyze it; they had to getout.
“Audra, wake up.” He shook her as gently as he could in hisarms.
Her head lolled on his shoulder and the fresh blood from her mouth stuck to his shirt. A black ferocious swirl of violence unleashed inside him seeing her hurt like this, and he wanted to bring the asshole on the floor back to life so he could kill him all overagain.
“Audra, come on, baby, open those big green eyes for me,” he said against her hair, praying she’d regainconsciousness.
After a moment she groaned, the sweetest sound he’d everheard.
“That’s it, baby, open your eyes. Look at me.” Diggs tilted her head back so he could see her face. Her lashes, long and thick, fluttered against her pale cheeks. Then her eyes creaked open, and she stared up at him in what he knew was a haze of pain. “That’s it, I’ve got you now. You’resafe.”
“Diggs?” Her voice came out hoarse. Then she glanced around the room, taking in the dead bodies. Her eyes widened, a horrified expression covering herface.
Diggs put his hand up and blocked her view. He didn’t have time to explain. “Listen, we have to get out of here. There will be more coming. Can youwalk?”
He knew that if he allowed her to dwell on the death around her, she’d probably go into shock. He’d seen it happen on enough trained men to know that an inexperienced civilian couldn’t handle that type of horror in one huge blow. He needed to distract her and get her moving. He’d let her breakdown later when he had her safe in his arms at his house and could protecther.
“What—” she began, but he cut heroff.
“Audra, can you walk?” he repeated more forcefully, hoping the authority in his voice would drag her out of that almost glazed look that was starting to cover her features. “I can’t carry you and thedog.”
