Oliver repeated the command, and the gunfire stopped.Turk sprinted toward the back of the house, barking like mad.Faith followed as fast as she could, drawing her own weapon and reaching for her earpiece.Before she could ask Jessica if Patricia was out of the building, a bloodcurdling shriek came to her ears.
Faith’s blood froze, and she picked up the pace, sprinting so fast she could barely remain upright.She heard Turk snarl and rounded the corner just in time to see him leap into the air and snap his jaws shut around Caldwell’s wrist.
Jessica was barely a yard away from Caldwell, standing protectively in front of the hostage.Patricia Houston was on the ground shielding her face.
Caldwell screamed in agony, and Faith watched Turk pin the big man’s arm to the ground where his handgun remained useless.Caldwell lifted a massive fist to hit Turk, and Faith aimed her gun at him.“No you don’t!Hit my dog, and I’ll shoot you.”
Caldwell looked around, recognized that it was over, and collapsed.He closed his eyes and burst into loud, heavy sobs, shaking and coughing with the force of his emotion.Faith stared at him, disturbed by the vehemence of the killer’s reaction.
“It’s not fair!”Caldwell gasped.His voice was hoarse and breathy, like the tail end of a scream.“I just wanted him to live!I just wanted him to live!It’s not fair!It’s not…”
He stopped speaking after that.He just wept, big body jerking with each wracking sob.Faith kept her gun trained on him while Jessica handcuffed him.He didn’t resist, and when Jessica took his gun, he let it slide from his limp fingers.
Faith watched the display, not sure whether she felt sympathy for him, disgust, or some combination of both.She said nothing as Sergeant Oliver led the weeping man to a SWAT van while paramedics rushed onto the scene to take care of Patricia Houston.
Turk trotted to Faith, giving her the same uncertain look she wore on her own face.She reached down and stroked him behind his neck, managing the only words she was sure she believed right now.
“Good boy.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
David’s head pulsed, each beat of his heart sending throbbing waves of red across his vision.He opened his eyes, but there was no change to the pulsing waves.He swallowed, and pain followed the movement down his neck.
He groaned, but he wasn’t sure if the noise he heard was his groaning or the last few spins of his Subaru’s destroyed engine as it wound down.
A touch of clarity came to him.He was in a ditch.He had been run off the road by a truck right after spying on the 93rdTesting Brigade.All of Faith’s warnings were valid.All of her fears were coming true.They really were coming to kill him.He was going to die here, and no one was going to rescue Sierra.She was going to be tortured, and Faith and Turk were going to be without him.
Grief washed through him, powerful enough that there was no mistaking the sob of anguish he heard next.He was a fool, and he was going to die like a fool.
But he wasn’t dead yet.
A burst of strength ran up his spine, enough that he turned his head left and right, trying to take stock of his situation.He could barely see the outside past his vehicle, but he knew that the Subaru was lying on its roof, and he was upside down.The airbags had gone off, but the force of the crash and the shards of glass and metal along with several roots and branches kicked up by the rolling car had punctured the bags, which now hung limply around him.
He was held upright by his seatbelt, but if he could get that unhooked, he could crawl through the window to safety.He could call for help after that, assuming his phone wasn’t damaged.
He reached for his phone, then realized it had fallen during the rollover.Of course it had.He had it laying on a charging pad like anyone else who drove a modern vehicle.A touch of panic coursed through him at this realization, but he quelled it.One step at a time.He needed to get himself loose and get out of the vehicle.Then he could look for his phone.
He unclipped his belt and fell hard onto the roof.His neck wrenched, and a light burst behind his eyes.He gasped as fresh pain roiled through him.For a frightening moment, he thought he had broken his neck, but when he used his hands and elbows to move himself toward the window, he was able to move his head without causing himself more pain.
He had gotten lucky.Verylucky.He realized that now.His car was totaled, and he had probably earned himself a few days in the hospital, but he was alive, and he really shouldn’t be.
Damn, Faith was going to be pissed.
He chuckled a little at that thought, not because it was funny but because the fact that he would think about that right now seemed hilarious.Typical married man response.
He shimmied carefully toward the window.It was tedious and awkward work.The front of his car had crumpled completely during the accident, and his legs were wedged in between the twisted interior panels.As he carefully extricated himself and pulled himself through the opening, glass shards tore through his shirt and sliced through his back.He winced and cried out, feeling the needle-like points rip through his skin.
He pushed through.The cuts to his back were superficial compared to the damage he would receive if he remained upside down.Already the blood pooling in his head was causing serious headaches, a sign of extreme pressure on the arteries and veins in his head.If one of those blood vessels burst, he could suffer severe damage: loss of eyesight, stroke, memory loss, and death.
Finally, he pulled his legs out through the window.He kicked free of the car and lay still, head elevated above his legs.He stared up at the night sky, watching the stars swim in his vision while the pressure in his head receded.
He had made it.
A shadow fell over him.He blinked, and the shadow coalesced into that of a burly dark-skinned man in the uniform of a Marine Corporal.David’s eyes widened when he saw the gun in the man’s hand.
Everything came together.This was the driver of the truck that had run him off the road.Intentionallyrun him off the road.That wasn’t an accident; that was an attack.
The pieces fell into place.This was probably the man who had broken into his office earlier tonight and taken pictures of him the first time he came here to spy on the testing brigade.This wasn’t Colonel Chastain but a lackey of his assigned to rid them of David once and for all.
