Page 53 of D-Day

Ziad inclined his head, and the man on either side lifted him up and dragged him down the corridor. They dropped him onto the concrete floor with a grunt, then one of them punched him in the face, and the other kicked him, blood filling his mouth.

They dragged in a chair and Ziad went to a table filled with gruesome instruments. D-Day prepared himself for what was going to happen next. Ziad picked up and hefted a ball peen hammer, then turned to him. “First chance to tell me where the woman is, or the triggers.”

“You might want to ask Lando that information.” He refused to sell them to me. I don’t know what happened to the woman. Ifucked her unwilling body and left.” He shrugged. “Look for her, don’t look for her, kill her or not. She is nothing to me.”

“We shall see,” he murmured, his smile almost fiendish. D-Day was never going to give up Helen. He’d endure any pain, walk into hell, and spit in the devil’s face. He would die for her, and that looked likely. Deep in his chest, he felt a devastating, hard pain. He held her face in his mind as the hammer dropped onto a small table in front of him. Whenever he went, it would be her face he saw until the last. “Let’s go for another swim, shall we?”

Carefully Helenand DL ran across the lawn behind the mansion. It seemed that DL’s instincts were sound. They encountered two guards. Helen killed one of them, and DL used a knife, throwing it at the second guy, hitting him in the throat. They stepped over the bodies as they made their way to a metal door.

“It’s locked,” DL said, sounding grumpy.

“Use your operative skills and get it unlocked,” Helen said, watching the woman’s back as she knelt with an annoyed expression. In seconds, the lock snicked as it released, and DL pushed the door open.

DL pulled a handgun from the base of her spine and started moving inside. “Wait here and let me see what’s going on.”

Helen nodded, turning toward the door, determined that anyone who came through it was going down. She was worried sick about D-Day, and she wasn’t going to stop until he was safely back in her arms.

After several long moments of excruciating waiting, the sounds of someone under duress echoing down the corridor, DLcame back, making no sound at all. “God,” Helen groused, “how do you do that?”

“Tricks of the trade,” she murmured. “There are two men being held in a cage in the back.”

Helen stiffened. “Two men? What do they look like?”

“They were your SEAL’s backup guys.”

She sucked in a hard breath, her voice breaking in deep pain and fear. “One of those men is my brother.” She was suddenly filled with a cold-killing rage.

DL’s mouth thinned. “All right, there are three guards watching them.” She released her clip and checked the load. “I can take them out. Your man is being water-tortured in the room down that hall.” She pointed. “There are also three men in there, too.”

Helen nodded. “I’ve got it.” Pushing her innate fear down, trying to still the shaking of her body. She needed to be steady when she took her shots. She was the only thing standing between D-Day and death. That sent her feet moving forward as DL veered off heading to the back of this dank, dark, horrible prison smelling like old and…new…blood.

She moved through the shadows, the sounds coming from the room where wan light spilled out were guttural, filled with gasping, excruciating pain.

She slipped to the doorframe, took a hard, even breath to calm her nerves, then filled the doorway. Two of the men had D-Day by the arms, and another man had a ball peen hammer in his hand as he advanced.

“Where is the woman?!” he shouted.

“I’m right here,” she answered. All four of them turned toward the door at the sound of her voice, and D-Day’s borrowed weapon retorted three times in quick succession as she tagged them all with head shots.As they dropped, he fell back against the trough, his breathing labored.

Suddenly, someone stepped up behind her, and she turned to find an automatic muzzle in her peripheral. She brought up the pistol.

But someone grabbed her wrist, and a familiar voice said, “Stand down, Helen. We’re the good guys.” Joker. She turned to find him, Gator, and Blitz standing in the doorway.

Gator popped his head inside and saw D-Day. “How’s it feel to be saved by a girl?” he taunted. Helen made a beeline for D-Day, passing Gator, and she skidded to her knees beside her battered warrior.

Gator walked to the bad men she’d shot, and his mouth dropped open. For a long moment, he stared down at one of the men and did a doubletake. “What the fuck? I’ll be damned. She bagged herself a terrorist, LT,” he scoffed. “Way to go,chere.”

Unable to speak, Helen sobbed his name against his neck, and dragging his hand free, he wrapped her up in a powerful, enveloping embrace. Cuddling her tightly to him, blood and water soaking into her clothes, he tucked his head against hers and began to stroke her back, groaning softly.

Helen tried to shift her position to absorb more of her own weight from causing any more pain to his already brutalized body, but he tightened his hold on her, his voice strained when he whispered against her temple. “Don’t. Just let me hold you.”

Too emotionally raw to make a response, Helen tightened her arms around him, tears matting her eyelashes.

Inhaling unevenly, D-Day leaned his full weight against the trough, and she looked at him, cupping his beloved jaw, peppered with bruises. “You were supposed to run, Helen. Get away from here, not fucking kill three men, including one of the most notorious terrorists in the world.”

She absorbed the wonderful tenderness in his eyes. So thankful that he was here with her. “So, I hear. All I know is thathe was beating and drowning you, and no one treats someone I care about like that.”

“Time to go, lovebirds,” Gator said as he and Blitz slipped their shoulders under D-Day’s armpits and helped him to stand. “Good to see you almost in one piece.”

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