Page 52 of Her Guarded Hero

Not good. Not good at all.

A barefoot man came out, followed by Gray who immediately picked him up and started to run to the left side of the building. Men swarmed out fifteen seconds behind them. Dalton started shooting.

One down.

Another down.

Then a third.

He saw more going down. It was either Aiden or Griff.

“What’s the status on transport?” Gray demanded. For once their lieutenant sound stressed. Wyatt must be in bad shape.

“Still waiting for a response,” Dex answered over the comm.

They needed to get the hell out of there. The hurricane was a blessing and a curse. There were two helicopters positioned meters from the compound. One of them was already tipped so that the rotors were embedded in the sodden dirt. What was once a road leading up to the huge stronghold ten hours ago, was now a muddy river. There was no way that anyone inside was going to be able to follow them except on foot.

Dalton was going to make another bet that the Black Hawk helicopter they were supposed to take out to the aircraft carrier was not going to be able to land at their extraction spot.

“Black Hawk is cancelled,” Dex communicated. “We’re hoofing it to the coast.”

“I’m staying,” Dalton said into the mic.

“Roger that,” Gray responded. “We’ll give you an update on Wyatt ASAP. Let us know when you think it’s smart to follow.”

“Will do,” Dalton responded.

He lodged himself tighter against the tree branch. Was the rain letting up?

Dalton gave a bitter laugh when a wave of water hit his face. Served him right for thinking that things were getting better. He raised his scope and scoured the back and roof of the compound to ensure that nobody was moving. There was no way he was going to let anyone get by on his watch.

He looked at his watch. It had been two hours since his team had left. It should take them three hours to get to the extraction spot in ideal circumstances. Lightening lit the sky, exposing eight dead bodies. Still no word from his team and it was killing him. Why couldn’t they at least give him an update on Wyatt?

More thunder, but then he heard something else. Dalton realized it was the sound of an engine grinding. Someone was trying and failing to start a car. He shimmied down the tree and took off at a dead run for the front of the building. He rounded the perimeter of the huge compound but stopped before he got to the courtyard gates.

The loud grating noise was clearer, then he heard shouting. He thought it might be Spanish, but who knew over the rain? Thunder boomed, then lightening flashed and Dalton took that moment to move. He dove into the mud and pointed his rifle into the flagstone courtyard. He saw the problem. The four gigantic decorative palm trees that were in massive pots had toppled over onto the two Land Rovers.

He saw three men. Wait, was there a fourth bent under the hood of the SUV?

What the hell were they thinking trying to start the SUV’s? They wouldn’t be driving anywhere, anyway. He kept trying to apply logic, and realized it was useless.

Dammit, it would be best if all of them were clear, so he could just rapid fire on the bunch of them.

Thunder boomed again. An instant later the sky lit up with lightening.

One of the men froze as he spotted him. He yelled, and Dalton took the shot. The three men went down. The man who had been dicking around under the hood was gone. Dalton was done with this happy horseshit. He was taking him out, then clearing out the rats’ nest inside. He didn’t want one more person following his team, especially when Wyatt was injured. He wanted his friends safe.

He gave a feral grin when the man started shooting his way. He saw the muzzle flashes. Perfect. Now he knew where he was. It was just a waiting game.

More bullets came his way. Dalton crawled backwards in the mud on his elbows and lodged himself behind the terra cotta wall of the hacienda. He adjusted the muzzle of his rifle and scope so just a little bit was showing as he took aim and fired shot after shot at the Land Rover’s gas tank.

Score!

He watched with satisfaction as a fireball of flames burst up and out. He heard a scream, then the man launched himself toward the middle of the courtyard. Metal fell from the sky and landed on him and he joined his compatriots, sprawled in dead silence.

Dalton was not going to rush things. This explosion was a perfect time to wait and see if more people were going to join the fray.

Fifteen minutes passed as rain bombarded him. It felt like he was in the ocean, not on Terra Firma.