Page 90 of Rescued

They waited, Breanna biting her lips. It seemed like an eternity. “Twenty seconds,” said the radio. There was another explosion, and the ceiling above them started to buckle.

Sanchez grabbed Breanna and half-dragged her to the exit, as the hall collapsed behind them. As soon as they were outside, bullets from enemy troops strafed the courtyard in front of them.

Sanchez jumped in front of her, grunting when a bullet hit his vest. There was nowhere to go, and Sanchez was going to die defending her.

Then she heard the beat of a helicopter rotor, and a bright beam of light swept the courtyard as the helo swooped out of the sky. Boomer was hanging out of the open door with a machine gun, spraying the enemy troops with bullets.

The helicopter landed. “Come on!” Boomer yelled. Just as they started to run, Quentin burst out of another door, suit in tatters and streaked with soot, holding a gun. He ran towards Breanna like a crazy person, shooting as he came.

Sanchez dove on her and they both hit the ground, rolling over. Then there was a feral howl, and Breanna looked up to see a black wolf bound out of the helicopter, still wearing his vest, and shedding the rags of his pants.

Switch. He leaped on Quentin and bore him to the ground, biting and tearing at him. Quentin screamed.

Breanna turned her head away. Sanchez scooped her up and ran for the helicopter, where Boomer was wrestling with the controls and swearing.

Moments later, the wolf jumped through the door and turned into Switch. Boomer gave him the pilot’s seat, and he and Sanchez jumped out the far door and disappeared into the darkness.

Switch hit the controls as Breanna slid into her seat. The rotor roared to full power, and the helicopter took off. Once they were above the building, he slewed sideways, and then they were skimming across the night sky.

Safe.

Chapter 38

For a minute, all Breanna could do was sit in her seat and breathe. Then she put on her headset. Switch had already put on his. “Are you okay?” she asked Switch anxiously. She still couldn’t forget the image of those bullets throwing him backwards.

Then she saw that the bandage on his shoulder was glistening with fresh blood. A lot of it.

“You’re not okay,” she said. “You’re bleeding. Dammit, why didn’t you say something?”

“Because people were shooting at us?” But he was smiling, even though he couldn’t spare her more than a glance because he was navigating.

Without thinking, she gently hugged his arm, trying not to hurt him. “I was afraid you were dead. But you came for me.”

“Nothing could have stopped me. You know that.”

She hugged his arm again, then realized what she was doing. “Oh, I’m messing with your flying. I’m sorry.” She let go.

His smile got bigger. “Yeah. Isn’t this how we met?”

“I guess it is. I’m going to try not to barf this time.”

“If you need to, I’ll hold your hair, Doe Eyes. I got you.”

They set down in a field about ten minutes away. Breanna was surprised to see a fleet of half a dozen vehicles parked there, including a panel truck with lights on inside.

She looked around. “How many men did Thanatos send? I thought the ground team was scrubbed, because of not having the coordinates in advance?”

“Apparently, one of his possible leads panned out after all, and he sent a ground team ahead without telling us. Because he’s good like that, the fucker. Dealer’s in the truck, manning the comms. And I bet he’s got coffee. And food.”

The first thing Dealer said when they walked into the command vehicle was, “Dude. Where the fuck are your pants?”

Switch looked down at himself. Naked from the waist down. “I had to go wolf. Any spares in the back?”

“Bottom left locker. ASAP. Please. I do not need to sit here face to face with your junk.”

Switch winked at Breanna and went to grab some fatigue pants. Then he got Breanna some coffee and a doughnut, grabbed some for himself, and sat down with her, listening to the mission updates.

Dealer said, “It’s basically over. They’re mostly mopping up.” To Breanna he said, “Taking prisoners, deciding what to do with the dirty FBI agents. We blocked any calls to the local fire department, but that can’t last long. The team will have to pull out any minute, before the first responders get there.”