Page 73 of Enemy of the Heart

My breaths are coming faster now, and I twist, firing one round into the knee of the man just before he pulls his trigger. Sean finishes him off with a shot to his forehead.

I meet Digs’s gaze as we wordlessly communicate that we’re grossly outnumbered, at least twelve to four, possibly more. Based on the uniform and the way they move as one, I’d bet all my money that this is the Fifth Special Forces Group.

Mercer is the last to arrive, wearing nothing but a pair of sweats with a gun in each hand. I wonder if his bandaged, missing ear is going to affect him. That would mess with your equilibrium, right? I don’t know.

Viktor is still fully dressed, with the cuffs of his white shirtsleeves rolled up to expose his forearms. When he fires his .44 Magnum, it sounds like a fucking cannon blast. I start to roll my eyes but stop short when a round lodges itself in the drywall to the left of my head. Shit.

Lou moves as swiftly as a soundless wind, reaching into her shirt and removing something metal with four protruding ends like a star. It even twinkles in the light as she throws it. It nails the soldier entering through the open front door. He screams as it embeds itself in his eye. Ouch.

I raise my SIG P320 and fire two shots at the maimed man, splattering the plaster with his blood and brain matter. Lou grins at me and I nod, lost in the pulsing adrenaline and chaos unfolding around us.

“Who wants to make a wager on whether or not someone will piss themselves tonight?”

My head whips in Louhi’s direction hard enough that I suspect it might be sore tomorrow. Now that I’m about to turn thirty-three, my body feels like it’s beginning to rebel. Or maybe that’s from the years the army spent beating my body to hell with combat, brutal trainings, and sleeping on the ground and in shitty cots.

With my hands slick with sweat and blood, I nearly lose my grip on my handgun. I recover quickly enough, trying to get my heartbeat in check.

“That’s the dumbest bet ever,” Sean snarks at the same time I call back through heavy pants, “I’ll take that. How much?”

Louhi’s smile is brighter than a damn glow stick as she throws another star, and the soldier it hits jerks back, giving me time to assist her again. Her exposed skin is covered in crimson streaks and a bit of brain matter, but she doesn’t appear to care. When he crumples to the floor, she titters. “A thousand US dollars.”

“Done,” I confirm, spinning to see Mercer smirking, shaking his head as he dodges a thrown blade. It lands in the wall. He removes it and hurls it back at its owner. He misses. His bum shoulder and missing fingers are obviously an issue.

“You’re broke,” my best friend reminds me in a strained voice, now that we stand back-to-back, covering each other. “How the fuck are you going to pay her when she wins? Jury says she’s absolutely going to be pocketing your cash.”

Ignoring the adrenaline coursing through me, I spare a glance over my shoulder. “Who’s on that jury of yours? They seem biased.”

A shot rings out, and blood mists over my face and torso as though I’ve been sprayed by an aerosol can of red horror.

Sean’s puff of air says he finds me amusing, even if he doesn’t outright laugh. Before Louhi, I’m fairly sure I was his only source of true entertainment. I don’t mind sharing the gold cup for Funniest Person in the Room with Lou now, though. She’s definitely not going anywhere.

I’ve had a front-row seat to Sean’s heart absorbing Louhi in a way someone could only dream of experiencing. I want that. Someday, I’ll have that. I’m nothing if not determined. First, we have to live through this attack.

Across the room, Mercer is dragging a sharp blade over the neck of a man who looks vaguely familiar. Were we at Basic together? I shouldn’t think about that. It doesn’t matter. He’s dead now anyway.

The rush of war is a nice distraction. I don’t necessarily want the time to analyze just who I’m firing at. It’s in my best interest to think about these men I’m fighting as little as possible.

With my back to her, I don’t see what Lou is doing, but she giggles. Fuck knows with that woman.

A grunt to my left has me stalking down the short hallway by the back door to find Viktor nearly overwhelmed. He’s outnumbered four to one, and I pull the trigger six times, only missing once. I swear I glimpse relief in his gaze, but I don’t have time to analyze it. I smoothly replace my clip with the one I left in my pocket last night.

“Digs,” I hear Lou call out from across the house, followed by a low grunt. She doesn’t even sound out of breath. “My clit is sore, and this activity is making it worse. I shouldn’t have worn pants.”

Christ. I snort. Next to me, Viktor mutters something, and while I don’t speak Russian, I’m pretty sure it’s a similar sentiment.

When this is over, I’m going to need to get my own place so I can make my own woman shriek and wail without having to listen to Lou scream as though she’s being tortured to death. Knowing Digs, she probably is, except he’ll leave her alive and bandage her wounds when it’s over. Will I? Only one way to find out…

A pop sounds at the same time Viktor jolts, his body slamming against the wall behind him. A deep red stain spreads just beneath the collar of his pale-blue dress shirt. The SIG Saur in my hand lifts of its own accord, and I plant two bullets in the assailant’s head.

“I’m going to get the bazooka,” Lou shouts from somewhere, but I’m distracted by sparing a quick glance at Viktor and find fury blazing in his irises and his lip peeled back in a snarl. I bet that hurts like a bitch.

“You good?” I call out to him over the sudden cacophony of bangs and clatters that erupt from behind us. The living room, maybe?

It sounds like additional troops are entering the house from the front just as more soldiers spill into the small hallway. I grunt as I plunge my tactical knife into the neck of the man nearest me. Warm blood sprays across my face and chest.

“It’s through-and-through.” So, is that a yes? I don’t know how he can be sure of that either, but we have bigger problems.

Based on the pandemonium coming from elsewhere, Viktor and I need to vacate this hallway before we become worm food. It’s too easy to get overwhelmed here.