Page 74 of Covert Vengeance

Ty’s guttural cry of rage and despair rang in her ears when she didn’t respond. She kept her gaze locked on the approaching light, getting ready to make her final stand.

The light beam bobbed slightly as the man holding the flashlight came closer. She stayed still as the cone of light it emitted grew wider on the damp walls, squinted as it grew brighter and prepared for the moment her first target appeared.

The high-pitch squeal of metal on metal startled her, breaking her concentration.What…

She glanced over her shoulder.

The lever. It was moving.

“Megan. God dammit, comeon,” Ty barked in her ear.

She turned and raced back to the hatch, shoving her weapon in her waistband as she gripped the lever with both hands. The water was nearly up to her knees now. She gritted her teeth and pulled down, using her body weight, the whiplash of adrenaline giving her added power.

The lever turned even as the light grew brighter around her. Then something groaned and the hatch gave way slightly.

Oh, God.“Hurry,” she blurted, now frantic to shove it open wide enough to fit through. She put her shoulder to the hatch, helped Ty force it open inch by painful inch.

A hand shot through and grabbed her by the strap of her ballistic vest, dragging her through the small opening. It was tight, and Stanislav’s men were almost to the last turn.

She angled sideways, sucking in her ribs and stomach, using every trick she’d learned to contort her body and make herself small enough to squeeze through the opening.

Just as she got her upper body past the restriction Tyler wrenched her through to the other side, the force of it flinging her to her knees in the water when he let go. A tide of relief washed through her.

Immediately Tyler turned back and put his shoulder to the hatch and began pressing it shut, his face contorted with the effort in the beam from his flashlight lying nearby in the water.

Megan scrambled to her feet and rushed to the bag of weapons stored by the hatch. She grabbed a grenade from it then helped Tyler, adding her strength to his, her heart clattering against her ribs as shock coursed through her.

“She’s there! Quick!”

“Fire in the hole,” Megan muttered, then pulled the pin and lobbed the grenade through the opening. Take that, assholes.

The steel door groaned as it slid shut. Ty grabbed the lever and grunted as he turned it the last few inches, trying to slide the locks in place.

A heartbeat later bullets slammed into the far side, then came the deafening explosion of the grenade echoing through the tunnel, pressing against their eardrums.

Panting, Ty released the lever and grabbed her, crushing her to his chest, his arms like iron bands around her back. “Christ.Christ, that was way too fucking close,” he muttered against her hair.

Megan couldn’t answer, busy willing her heart back down her throat.

He reached up to touch his earpiece. “Amber, we’re through. You copy?”

A familiar voice responded. “Yury! I’m right here, asshole, come and get me.”

Megan gasped and automatically reached for the lever Ty had just locked.

Amber was trapped on the other side and facing Stanislav alone.

****

Amber stopped where she was and aimed her weapon at the turn in the tunnel wall about sixty feet away. Several shots sounded from overhead, near the manhole opening she’d just come through.

Jesse engaging the last of Yury’s men.

That left Stanislav and up to two others down here.

She forced herself to block out the shooting above, along with the worry for Jesse’s safety. She had to trust that he would be okay; she couldn’t afford to have her concentration split.

Her back was pressed to the wall, her gaze trained on the corner of the wall. Water lapped at her ankles, announcing her every move to the enemy hidden out of view ahead.

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