“Take cover!” Collins skidded around the rocks.
Miles was hot on his heels. “What the fuck? Where’s our support?”
At least her hearing had returned.
Gunshots splattered the night. They’d been far too close, like the high-pitched cries spoken in the local tongue that followed.
“They’re at the top of the ridge!” Miles reached for his belt and withdrew his Beretta M9.
As medical personnel, they were considered noncombatants and forbidden to engage in a firefight unless one of two things occurred: their lives or the lives of their patients were at risk. Those lines blurred at times, but one thing was certain; they could only defend, not attack. That meant, whoever walked over that ridge had to shoot first. She didn’t like that. Not one bit.
Miles peeked over the boulder. A bullet ricocheted off the rock not two feet from his head.
“Get down!” Collins shouted.
If the shooters hadn’t known where her team was, they knew now.
Miles crouched beside them, placing his back to the rock. “What do we do?” Fear tinged his voice, and his finger stroked the trigger of his gun.
The ass was likely to shoot himself or one of the team if he didn’t calm the fuck down.
Collins shrugged out of his pack. There was no need for the encumbrance now. Warren gave her a look; steel determination girded his eyes. He shrugged out of his pack and gripped his M9 tight. With a flick of his eyes, he indicated she should do the same. Collins placed a finger over his lips, and they listened for the tread of approaching feet. Gunfire continued to be exchanged on the other side of the embankment, picking up in intensity as barrage after barrage volleyed between opposing forces.
Miles gripped his weapon and lifted again to peek over the top of the rock. Tia cursed and leaped up to yank him down. Two shots ripped through the night, and then unbearable pain, hot and sharp, slammed into her shoulder and stole her breath. Miles’s body crumpled to the ground, taking her with it.
“Holy shit!” Warren rolled Miles’s lifeless body off her while she struggled to breathe.
The ass had taken a bullet right between the eyes. She’d taken a hit to the chest, right where her body armor gaped.
“We need to move,” Collins said, his expression grim.
Only there was nowhere to go. Agony tore into her as she gripped her gun. She took the safety off her weapon while several more shots fired in the darkness, much closer than before.
Gravel crunched behind their barricade of rock. Collins, Warren, Drummond, and Marks all had guns out, safeties off and aimed into the impenetrable dark.
A heavy weight stole her senses, making it difficult to piece together what was happening.
Dizziness gripped her, and the world spun. Her stomach clenched. Then, her thoughts slowed, and her brain turned sluggish. Somewhere in the distance, gunfire ricocheted in the night. A steadybeat sounded nearby, but it was slowing down. Its rhythm becoming muted and weak.
Was that her heartbeat?
Darkness crept in, and silence smothered all sound. She blinked and blinked again, fighting to push the nothingness back. The last thing she saw before the world disappeared was a tiny pebble pressing against Miles’s cheek and his dead eyes staring back.
FORTY
Loss
RYKER
Ryker yankedat the roots of his hair.
Shot!
Tia had been shot.
He was in motion, racing toward the hospital and picking up speed with each pump of his powerful legs.
Get to her. Now!
