A mix of voices take over, whispering as loud as they can to wait for someone, and not to go alone.
“We don’t have time. I’ll stay hidden.” Her eyes dart from the floor in front of her back to the open spaces she walks through. Every step is slow and deliberate. The door leading out is shattered, leaving just a metal frame that clearly has not moved in a while.Perfect. The men out there must have gotten in another way, leaving this way open for her to sneak through. The overgrown brush gives her enough cover to commando crawl her way over.
“Six people, and they all have guns. I don’t know what they are doing, but it seems like they are looking for something. I’m going to try and get closer.” She drags her body through the dirt, crawling along the outer wall, moving impossibly slow to minimize noise until she can hear them more clearly.
They’re speaking Russian, so she can’t understand a word of it, but she can understand the tone. They are scared, panicked even.
She worms her way behind the impossibly tall bushes, stuffing her gun through the leaves, and peers through the scope. What she sees has her sick all over again.
All the blood drains from her only to be replaced by an anger she has not felt since the day her brother took her family from her.
There, in the center of the small expanse of mud and shrubbery, is Riley, strung up by the skin of his back, hanging like a mutilated puppet.
CHAPTER 11
Trying her best to remain calm, she pushes herself back, not stopping until she is on concrete. The moment she is, she takes off into the building, trying to move as quietly as she can into the hall where she empties the contents of her stomach.
Silent tears stream down her face. Hands grip onto her, turning her around before she has the chance to vomit again. Mikey scans her face with wild eyes, and he can see the pain she is trying to push past. There is only one person who can cause that.
“Alex, call the fucking chopper in, now! he’s here,” Mikey says into his microphone, calm and collected as he fidgets with his radio. “Everyone get here, now. Courtyard on the first floor. Alex is on the right, we’re on the left. Lauren, get your team to the front. If you’re not with one of us, get to the back and find a way in.”
“You have two minutes to get into position. Helicopter is fifteen minutes out. Take these assholes down and keep Corson safe until it gets here; that is your only priority,” Alex adds through the comms.
Liz is pulled into a tight hug before she has the chance toregister everything unfolding around her. The only thoughts bouncing around in her head are finding out if he is alive, and killing the ones who put him there.
“He’s safe, darlin. You need to breathe. He is here, and we are getting him out. Everything is going to be okay,” Mikey coos while rubbing her back. His hands drop abruptly, replacing her body with his gun. Their two minutes are up. She picks her own weapon back up, staying ready, following Mikey to the door.
The moment the first shot is fired, he kicks the frame open, rushing through with Liz close behind. She fires at the first man she sees, downing him instantly. The courtyard quickly delves into chaos. The rest of Dmitri’s men try to hide while their team floods the area. Her eyes go to Riley, and everything else fades away.
Liz takes off across the space, getting to Riley only moments before Mikey and Alex. He is breathing. She doesn’t try to stop the tears cascading down her face. Scanning everything holding him in the air, she tries to figure out a way to get him down without causing him more harm. The guns firing all around her make it hard to think. Each one has her flinching, knowing she won’t be able to defend him from a bullet while he’s strung up in the air. So focused on her own thoughts, she missed Tyler crawling into the machine
The blood curdling scream that tears from Riley brings her back to the present. Inch by inch he descends toward them, until his limp body is placed on the ground, blood oozing from his wounds. Liz throws herself next to him, rolling him into her lap to allow them to remove whatever is attached to his back
“He… did… it,” Riley says through strained breaths. His eyes flutter open, his empty stare crashing into hers. “He… killed me.” A smile spreads across his cracked lips. “Now––” His hand moves to her cheek, cupping it the same way he had done so many times before. Her own hand cradles his, holding it against her so he doesn’t have to. “Now I get to see you again.”
Their reunion is cut short by another scream from Riley. His arm goes lax, head flopping into her lap.
“I’m here, baby. You’re safe. We are taking you home.” Liz peppers his head with a mix of tears and delicate kisses, not willing to risk causing him any further pain.
She holds him while the guys work on getting whatever is in his back, out then bandaged enough to move. The gunfire finally ceases. Silent tears turn into chest wracking sobs the moment she hears the whirring of helicopter blades in the distance.
They stay there, Liz holding Riley in her lap until the helicopter is hovering above, lowering a gurney to the ground. Only then does she let him go, watching every movement Mikey and Alex make to get him strapped onto it. A harness lands at her feet. Without question, she climbs into it. Tyler makes his way over and explains how she is going to get strapped to go with him and Mikey. She has no time to question it before she is pulled into the air.
Safely in the aircraft, Liz and Mikey are forced to sit on a bench, watching while a trained team evaluates Riley. Her head falls on Mikey’s shoulder, unable to look away. The sight of him lying with an oxygen mask covering his face while I.Vs are shoved into his veins, or the needles crudely stitching up his back, tears her heart into shreds. It’s like watching a car crash. Tragic, but you just can’t seem to look away. He is here, he is safe, and none of that stops Liz from the crushing fear that if she looks away for even a moment, he will disappear again.
“Hate to pull you from your dutiful watch, honey, but you need to prepare for what comes next,” Mikey says, letting his cheek drop onto the top of her head.
“Another helicopter should be picking up the rest of the teamany minute now. They will meet us at the airstrip to go home. You can stay with him while they get the seats taken out and litter installed, but when we move him and take off, you need to be out of the way,” he says softly, knowing how much it is going to kill her to leave his side.
“When we get back, I don’t know what is going to go down. Alex will call in and tell them we need medical, and they will meet us when we land to take Ry to the infirmary. The general is going to tear us all a new one, so I don’t want you leaving the infirmary. The three of us are the superiors, and we will take full responsibility for what happened. I love you, but you aren’t the best at controlling your smartass comments.”
“I’m not that bad,” she argues. “Lucky for you, even if I did have to stay with you, I wouldn’t. I can’t leave him, not now that I just got him back. I need to know that he is going to be okay first.”
When the unit reaches the airstrip, everything seems to move impossibly fast. Liz sticks close to Riley, going wherever they take him until he is loaded onto the plane. A special stretcher was brought in for him and secures him comfortably, replacing a small chunk of seats. Seeing how distraught she is, and how much she is trying to hide the pain of leaving him, Alex has the crew leave a few seats across from where Riley is positioned, letting her stay by his side for as long as she is able, only moving her while their combat medic checks his vitals.
Liz holds out until the second stop for fuel. With exhaustion, and the adrenaline now gone, she finally drifts off to sleep, her hand firmly entwined in Riley’s, neither one able to let go.
CHAPTER 12
