Page 8 of Her Ruthless Protector

“No shit,” Cullen muttered. “I’m using my scope.”

That meant Cullen had removed his night vision goggles and was relying on the little light that the scope of his rifle would give him.

Which is next to nothing!

Another explosion.

“I saw that,” Nick whispered.

“Close the trapdoor. I don’t want al Fadi to know that you’re waiting for him.”

“It’s closed.” Nick said. “I cut into the wood of the trapdoor, I have my sights on the ladder, and I just saw the flash, so I know our target is close.”

The rapid fire of an automatic weapon shrieked through the comm. Kane heard a jumbled mix of Arabic and English epitaphs being shouted. Finally, he heard the glorious sound of Cullen Lyon’s voice above the fray.

“You move again, motherfucker, and I will cut your balls off and make you eat them,” he bellowed in Arabic.

“Nick, open the trapdoor. I want to make sure it’s our guy.”

There was a moment of silence as Nick must have been complying with Max’s order.

“It’s him,” Cullen said with a wealth of satisfaction.

“Kane, can you get the truck to meet us at Zed’s location?” Max asked.

“We’ll be there by the time you get there,” Kane assured him. “I’m getting Raiden, Marty, and Leo first.”

“Affirmative. Let’s get the fuck out of Dodge.”

Kane pinged Raiden. “Can you and Marty get back here?”

“We’re already on our way,” Raiden said.

“Good.” Kane jumped out of the back of the truck and went to Sweeney, who was now in the driver’s seat. On his computer he showed him the front gate of the compound where they would need to pick up Leo, and then where they would need to go around the back to pick up the rest of the team.

“Piece of cake,” the skinny marine said. Marty yanked open the passenger seat door. “Raiden’s in the back, let’s get moving,” Marty said.

“Hang on, let me check on Raiden,” Kane said. He swept around to the back of the truck. He swore as soon as he saw his teammate grappling with the rucksack that was propped up against the back of the truck. He saw the blood streaming down his arm.

“Sit your ass down, I’ll get the first aid kit,” Kane said.

“No, you sit your ass down Kane,” Raiden bellowed as blood splattered onto the floor of the truck when they lurched forward. “Watch the team. Make sure Leo’s where he’s supposed to be and get us all the hell out of here.”

Raiden was right, he could triage himself. Kane planted his happy ass down, and looked down at his comp. Leo was halfway to the compound gate. “Did any of the hostiles slip past you? Is Leo going to have a problem?”

“I didn’t get this scratch for nothing,” Raiden said as he shoved a wad of gauze under his sleeve. “Those guys are toast. Marty had mowed down a bunch before I got there. Oorah to the Marines.”

Kane grunted. He preferred the Navy Hooya, but it sounded like the big Marine deserved his Oorah. “Leo, you’re in the clear, but put some speed on, we’re there in less than thirty seconds.”

Kane grinned when he saw Leo’s avatar shoot across the compound and hit the gate. The truck screeched to a halt and Leo was climbing into the back almost as soon as Kane stopped talking.

“Hey,” he said as he dumped his rifle. Leo quickly assessed the situation and grabbed the bandage from Raiden as the truck pitched forward. “Give that to me. You’re bleeding like a stuck pig.” Leo had Raiden’s arm wrapped in no time. “Is the bullet still in there?” he asked.

“No bullet. A hunk of cement took a hunk of me. No bone. No muscle. I’m good.”

Kane shrugged. Raiden was right, it would bleed, but it wasn’t a big deal. Kane looked down at his monitor.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.