Matt had no more made his way over the broken door and into the hallway when two of Bukhari’s men came running around the corner to his right.
With rapid succession shots, he took the first man out. Several bullets penetrated the asshole’s chest as they hit center mass. Behind him, Gabe’s gun let loose with the same, tight shots, killing the tango before the man could even reach his trigger.
“Thanks, brother.” Matt gave his team leader a nod.
With a friendly tap to Matt’s helmet, Gabe said, “Come on. Let’s go find your girl.”
At last count, that was six tangoes down, three to go, and one amazing woman to save. But when Matt’s team headed down the hallway to his left, he saw the bastard responsible for it all.
Rajif Bukhari was standing in a doorway. The son of a bitch was yards away, not paying attention to them in the least. His focus was on something else entirely.
Matt saw red as a primal, murderous rage from everything this man had caused seeped through his pores.
The deaths of Thomas Marsh and Detective Holloway. Nearly killing Zade. And—for Matt, at least—the worst of it all…
Bukhari had tried to have Kat killed before ordering her kidnapping. Who knows what the bastard had done to her since?
As much as he wanted to toss down his rifle and kill the bastard with his bare hands, his training wouldn’t allow it. Instead, he went for the next best thing.
Burn in hell, asshole.
Matt put the fucker in his sights and slid his finger to the trigger. He’d barely started to squeeze when he saw something that made his head spin.
Bukhari bent forward, howling out in pain before flying backward, as if someone had clocked him. They must have done a hell of a job, too, because the son of a bitch was out cold.
“What the hell?”
From behind him, Derek’s words mimicked Matt’s thoughts exactly.
“Your girl?” Kole asked.
God, he hoped so. If Kat had done that to Bukhari, it had to mean she was okay. Right?
Keeping an eye on the unconscious man, Matt picked up the pace. Covering the distance to the open doorway, Bukhari’s still form was now blocking, he held his breath and sent up a quick prayer before peeking into the small room.
The whirl of a bullet flew past his head before slamming into the wall behind him.
“Shit!” Matt jerked his head back. It took his brain a couple seconds to catch up to what he’d seen.
Putting his hand out to signal his team to stand down, he kept his head back and hollered into the room.
“Katherine! Baby, it’s me. It’s Matt. I need you to put the gun down.”
There was a beat of silence before he heard her quivering voice. “M-Matt?”
“Yeah, sweetheart. It’s me. Can you put the gun down?”
Matt knew in his heart she would never intentionally hurt him or any of the other guys, but fear and adrenaline played all sorts of nasty tricks on the mind. After what she’d been through, he needed to do this by the book.
Otherwise, she may do something she didn’t mean. If that happened, she’d be forced to live with it for the rest of her life.
“O-okay.” The telltale clang of a gun hitting concrete sounded from inside the room. “I-I dropped it. I dropped the gun.”
With a cautionary glance, Matt stepped over Bukhari and rushed into the room.
“Holy fuck.” He hauled her into his arms. “Oh, thank God. I thought I’d lost you.”
“You’re here.” She began to sob against his chest. “You’re really here. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”
