“Come on, Chica.” Ortiz pulled her up. “We must fight.”
Cora retook her position and started firing. This time she didn’t tune everything out. Ortiz continued to fire next to her and hit the button on the remote. Cora had to squint as explosions erupted and tampered her vision,but she kept firing. Charlie and Daniel “Bear” moved off the porch and were sneaking around the grounds trying to take out the enemy from behind. Cora became nervous she couldn’t tell who she was shooting at. She feared she would hit Charlie or Daniel by mistake. Cora turned to her right and fired at a new group of men trying to sneak up on them from the side of the barn next to the trees. She firedher last shot and was grabbing more ammo, and watching a new group of men come in through the trees, when she heard it before she saw it. A loud whistle growing louder by the second, a small object became larger as it flew towards her and Ortiz on the roof. It was a missile.
“RPG!” Ortiz yelled before he grabbed Cora and pulled her to the trap door just as it hit the roof. The house shook,and debris rained down around them Ortiz the brunt of the impact then turned to lay on top of her, shielding her from the debris raining down on them.
When it was over Cora wiggled out from under Ortiz. She worried about him because he didn’t move or say anything. Once free she saw that a piece of wood was protruding from his shoulder and part of his hair was singed. With shaky fingers, Corafelt his neck and sighed in relief when she felt a strong pulse. She tried to pull him towards one of the bedrooms, but he might as well weigh a ton. Hoping he’d be alright, Cora made her way down the stairs. Her body protested the movement having fallen through the trap door, but she had to keep moving. Her head was spinning, and there was a ringing in her ears. Probably from the explosion. Coramade it down the stairs, but didn’t see any signs of Charlie or Daniel. She started heading for the basement to make sure Hannah was okay, but stopped when she heard footsteps behind her and the cocking of guns.
“Don’t move,” one said with a heavy accent.
Cora froze, and her breath caught. Where were Charlie and Daniel?
“Put down the gun and turn around,” he commanded.
Cora bent herknees and slowly dropped the rifle before turning around. There were three of them surrounding her. She couldn’t overpower them. They would either capture her or kill her. Either fate didn’t appeal to her. The glimpses Hannah shared with her were enough to make her want to avoid such a fate.
The one to her right started talking in Spanish to the one in the middle. The one in the middle eyedher up and down and said something back. Cora didn’t like the way they were looking at her. She didn’t understand what they were saying toeach other but she knew it couldn’t be good.
“You come with us.” The one in the middle told her.
Like hell she was going anywhere with them. But what could she do? Ortiz was passed out upstairs, and she didn’t want to draw attention to him. She didn’tknow where Charlie and Daniel were. She couldn’t hear any gunfire outside, and she didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It meant the fighting was over, but it didn’t tell her who had won.
Tired of waiting for her compliance the men advanced on her. If these men were going to take her, she wasn’t going to make it easy. She couldn’t lead them towards Hannah either. Cora pivotedto the left and was about to lead them towards the kitchen, where she knew there had to be a few weapons she could wield, when three quick shots rang out. Cora screamed out in shock and felt over her person to see if she had been shot. She didn’t feel any pain, nor did she see any blood. She turned back towards the men, but they were lying dead on the ground, and a new group of seven men ran inside.Cora felt her knees buckle when she saw Liam in the front running up to her. He was dressed head to toe in black. Had he just come straight back from his mission? It didn’t matter. He came. He came back to her and not a moment too soon.
“You alright, Amazon?” He asked her, looking her over from head to toe.
“I am now.” She said before leaning forward and kissing him. She had to know he wasreal. He tasted real. He smelled and was covered in dirt and grime, but she didn’t care. He was alive and here. That was all that mattered to her.
“Where’s Hannah?” A frantic Ben asked her.
“I had her barricade herself in the computer room,” Cora assured him. Without a word to anyone, Ben took off down the stairs to the computer room.
“And why weren’t you down there with her young lady?”Liam tried to sound stern but his relief that she was alive and well was palpable.
“There was an army out there and only three people to protect us. I had to do something.”
“It was fine,” Charlie said behind them. “She at least didn’t hit any of us, so I won’t complain.”
It wasn’t exactly praise but coming from Charlie, it might as well be. She looked over at Charlie confused.Hit any ofthem?“When did you arrive?” Cora turned back and scowled at Liam.
Liam looked away uncomfortably for a moment. The guys seemed to sense his distress and went off in different directions to secure the house. “We arrived back early yesterday. Bulldog called and told us that an army was headed for the house, so we snuck back and laid out some booby traps and waited in the tree line for them tocome.”
Cora was raging mad. She had been worried this whole time he wasn’t going to make it back from his mission to help Charlie and his teammates and here he had been back since yesterday. It wasn’t half as bad as the fear she could have shot him from the roof and had no idea he was down there.
“Cora,” he reached for her, but she stepped away from him. She needed time to think. She thoughtthey were past the secrets. His job secrets were fine. She expected them. But to keep something like this from her? What had been the purpose?
“I need to check on Ortiz. He took a hard fall from the roof when we fell, and he also has a piece of wood lodged in his shoulder.”
The sadness in Liam’s eyes of Cora’s rejection of him quickly turned to anger. “You were on the roof with him? When theexplosion happened?”
Cora glared at him. He was angry, good. Maybe if he had informed her he was there on the property she might not have been on the roof trying to protect everyone. “I thought there were only three people guarding the property. I had no idea when you would get back. I had to do something. I thought the roof would be one of the safer places to be.”
There was a tick in Liam’sjaw, and he dragged his fingers through his shaggy hair. “What were you thinking? You had no business being on the roof. Even with there being only three of them, they could have defeated those guys without batting an eye. We did it before, and we obviously did it again.” He wasn’t being cocky or arrogant he was only stating a fact.
Cora knew Liam was upset over her endangerment and so was lashingout, but it still didn’t stop his words from cutting her like a knife. She had only been trying to help. No, she had helped. She wouldn’t allow Liam to take that away from her. If he had wanted a complacent woman who hid in a corner while her man went off to war, he picked the wrong girl. “I did what I had to, and I won’t apologize for it. If you can’t accept that then to hell with you andget out of my life.” Cora spoke calmly, but her tone was icy.
Cora turned away from him dismissing him and went upstairs to check on Ortiz who was already being looked over by Carter, a fellow member of Ben’s team whom they all called Doc. As Cora approached them, she could see Ortiz on his back with his eyes open. Cora dropped down next to him and smiled in relief.
“Is he going to be okay?”She asked Carter.
