Page 57 of Falling Fast

Jamie’s right foot hit the hard-packed ramp, inches above the rising tide of concrete. Easton grabbed his shoulder, pulled hard to help him get onto the ramp, then planted a hand between Jamie’s shoulder blades and shoved him forward. Jamie caught his balance and scrambled up the steep earthen path, Charlie’s frantic voice floating up to him.

“Easton! What—”

“Don’t talk, just run! Logan’s got us covered.” The sweet sound of an M4 firing punctuated his words.

Jamie’s chest heaved as he finally reached solid ground, his legs burning. He rushed straight over behind the truck cab and crouched down next to Logan.

“You okay?” his teammate asked over the noise, just before pulling the trigger.

Jamie couldn’t answer, his gaze pinned to where Easton was shoving Charlie over the lip of the pit. The moment she made it behind the cover of the truck’s front tires he closed his eyes, his entire body sagging in relief.

Then Easton was behind him, cutting his hands free with a KA-BAR he pulled from his vest. Jamie ripped the fucking tape off his mouth and instantly reached for Charlie. She was on her knees beside him as Easton cut her wrists free.

Jamie took her face in his hands, forced that wide brown gaze to his as he wiped concrete from her cheeks. “Are you okay?” Logan fired another burst, keeping Baker’s men pinned down.

Her face crumpled, her eyes flooding with tears. But she nodded. “Are you?”

“I’m okay. The bullet missed me.”Barely. He turned to Easton, amped, every cell in his body dying to fight back. “Give me a fucking weapon.”

Easton reached beneath the truck and dragged out a duffel. “Got you both covered.”

Jamie fished out an M4 and slammed a mag into place, handed it to Charlie before readying his own weapon. Her hands shook but she took it without a word and put the sling around her body. God he wanted to kiss her. Hold her, squeeze her so tight she’d never feel scared again.

But first he was going to help take down the bastards who had almost killed them.

“Sitrep,” he said to his teammates, moving at a crouch toward the front bumper while Easton and Logan maintained their sights on the enemy.

“Two down, Baker and two others still hidden on the far side of that second car,” Logan answered, sighting down the barrel of his weapon. “Hamilton and the rest of the boys are en route and we’ve got a response team on the way. You good to go, or what?”

Chances were their backup wouldn’t arrive in time to be of any real help in taking down Baker, but the four of them armed with rifles against three men with pistols? Baker didn’t have a prayer of making it out of here. “Yeah, I’m good to go. And Baker’s mine.”

“Baker belongs to whoever gets the best angle,” Easton fired back, moving to Logan’s right. “Helo landed about a hundred yards to our two o’clock a few minutes ago,” he added.

Baker’s getaway vehicle. “Let’s make sure he doesn’t reach it.” The bastard was going to do serious time and spill every last one of his ugly secrets to investigators.

“Roger that.” Easton ducked back as a bullet pinged off the bumper.

“I see him.”

At Charlie’s announcement Jamie spun around to look behind him. His bravepequeñawas lying flat on her stomach to her brother’s right, peeking beneath the undercarriage of the truck at Baker’s car, rifle to her shoulder.

“Baker?” he asked her, inching closer while Logan and Easton maintained their positions.

“Yeah, he’s working his way toward the trunk. I don’t have a clear shot, not even of his legs.”

More bullets slammed into the side of the concrete truck. He stayed low, crept toward her while his teammates maintained their positions. “He’s gonna make a break for the helo.”

“We’ll stop him.” Her voice was so full of conviction, he couldn’t help but smile.

“We’re a great team.” He ran his hand over the length of her hair, the ends caked in concrete. “But I want you to stay here with Logan and your brother.”

Charlie turned her head to look up at him and nailed him with the most pissed-off look he’d ever seen from her. “Not a fucking chance. I’ll go with you and we’ll get him together. That asshole is going to pay for what he did, and I want to help take him down.”

The volume of fire from Baker’s men suddenly increased. The argument ready on the tip of Jamie’s tongue was drowned out by a barrage of bullets slamming into the side of the truck, and into the ground. He grabbed Charlie’s upper arm and hauled her to her feet behind the second set of tires just as rounds punched into the dirt mere feet from where she’d been lying.

“Baker’s making a break for it,” Easton shouted over the noise, ducked down behind the cab for cover. His gaze shifted from Charlie to Jamie, and he gave a nod. “You go after him. We’ll cover you.”

Jamie nodded. “Roger.” He studied Charlie’s face for a moment. “Sure? You’re barefoot.” Not to mention she’d been through hell already. But he trusted her ability and didn’t want her to feel like he didn’t see her as an equal.

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