Natalia continued hurrying across the large space to offer whatever assistance she could. But then?—
“Oh, fuck!” Julian shouted.
She and Keith shared a wide-eyed look as their teammate’s terrified face reappeared in the doorway.
“There’s a bomb!” Julian’s arms flailed in the air as he motioned for them to haul ass out of the room. “The hostage is dead with a motherfuckin’ bomb strapped to his chest!”
Oh, God!
Natalia’s stomach dropped and her pulse spiked as she spun around and started back the way they’d come. The abrupt change in direction sent the ends of her long, dark ponytail smacking against her face, but she ignored it and kept on running.
“Everyone evacuate, STAT!” She used the comms to relay the danger to the rest of the highly trained group. “There’s a bomb inside the building. I repeat, this is Alpha One, and there is a bomb inside the building!”
“Copy that, Alpha One,” a man she recognized as that group’s leader responded. “We’ll repel down to avoid a collision.”
Everything around her began to happen in slow motion. Natalia, Julian, and Keith ran like hell while the men on the roof were hopefully escaping to safety by roping down the building’s exterior wall.
The sound of the choppers’ blades whirling through the air grew louder. Their rides out of this hellhole were almost there. Praying they made it out of the compound in time to be saved, Natalia passed by the previously cleared rooms on her way back down the hallway.
Keith was still behind her, but when she glanced back to make sure Julian was on their six, Natalia spotted him still too far away.
“Move it, Miller!” she shouted in her best I’m-in-charge voice.
It was a miracle the command hadn’t come out all high and squeaky for the fear threatening to consume every cell in her body. But she refused to let it show.
You are not dying today, Foster! Not here, and sure as hell not like this. Just a few more yards and we’ll be back outside. You just have to?—
“Keep runnin’!” Julian hollered out to them. “I’m almost there!”
She risked a glance back, relieved to see Julian had almost made it to the middle of the hall.
“Go!” Keith yelled unnecessarily as they approached the damaged door.
Beams from the evening sunlight were like bright beacons of life guiding them to safety. The muscles in her legs burned as Natalia pushed her body to its very limits.
You’re almost there. Only a few feet to go. You’re almost…there!
She crossed the mangled threshold of the structure’s main entrance but didn’t dare stop running. Keith appeared in her peripheral, and together they sprinted as far away from the compound as they could get.
Natalia made it three more broad, frantic steps, and then…
The world around her exploded.
1
Present day…
“Beer?”Jagger Brooks dipped his dark brows as he expertly weaved his way through Chicago’s thick traffic. “It’s not like we’re just comin’ over to your place to watch the game, Cutler. You’re getting married in less than a month, remember?”
The other man had damn wellbetterremember he was engaged. Forgetting something like that could put a real damper on the whole bachelor party vibe he had going on. Not to mention the happy couple’s upcoming nuptials.
“It’s bad enough you nixed my offer to get you a stripper,” Jagger continued. “Now I have to risk someone seein’ me buy that nasty shit you like to drink, too?”
Truth be told, he’d buy Liam Cutler a sippy cup full of chocolate milk if that’s what the guy wanted. Man of the hour and all that.
“First off”—Liam’s retort filled the car’s top-of-the-line speakers—“you’re the only one on the team who wanted a stripper. Second, just because my preferred drink of choice doesn’t come with some fancy assed label and cost an arm and aleg doesn’t mean it tastes like shit. And third…” The tech genius paused, his voice growing softer as he made his final point. “I’m well aware of the fact that I’m marrying the love of my life in a few weeks. And trust me when I say, it can’t come soon enough.”
That happened a lot, the voice-softening bit. Every time Liam spoke about his soon-to-be-wife, in fact. The smitten man’s voice lowered, and his words came out all gentle and smooth.
