Page 17 of Covert Vengeance

“Four. I took one down already.”

Footsteps sounded over their heads. Then raised voices came from outside the stairwell door.

“Get behind me,” Amber said, pushing Kiyomi back. She raised her weapon just as the door burst open and fired at the first man through it, catching him low in the chest. He cried out and toppled down the stairs.

Amber was already moving sideways toward the far wall, herding Kiyomi backward as bullets ripped down the staircase. Legs appeared in her line of sight. She fired at the thighs, was rewarded with another guttural cry as the next man tumbled down, but more rushed onto the steps before she could kill him.

She got off four more shots at the approaching men, hitting two more in the chest, then a large shadow detached from the steps and came hurtling at her.

A huge, heavy weight slammed into her side, taking her to the floor. She braced and grunted as her back hit the cold concrete, driving the air from her lungs.

Chest burning, she shoved the man off and rolled away from him. As soon as she was free she aimed her weapon at him, but Kiyomi leaped into action. Though it must have been agony for her the other Valkyrie lunged up and wound the chain binding her handcuffs together around the man’s neck, then twisted.

His eyes bulged and he clawed at the chains strangling him as Amber got to her knees and changed the angle of her aim. But Kiyomi didn’t let go, her teeth bared in a feral snarl as she choked the life out of him. They fell forward and hit the ground with a thud, Kiyomi still pulling on the chains.

Struggling for air and almost out of ammo, Amber reached for a fresh mag and shifted to one knee, turning to face the stairs as more shouts and running footsteps reached her from above. Three more men appeared in the open doorway at the top of the stairs.

She whipped her weapon up to fire but before she could pull the trigger, shots rang out from behind the men and they started falling. She watched in astonishment as they all slid down the stairs one by one, dead or dying, smearing blood all over the stairs.

Staggering to her feet, she blinked to clear her hazy vision just as another figure appeared at the top of the steps. She jerked her pistol up to aim at his center mass, then froze when his face came into view.

Amber stared up at him in astonishment, her pulse roaring like the ocean in her ears.

No. Fucking. Way.

Chapter Six

“We’ve got under two minutes to get out of here,” Jesse told her, holstering his weapon as he came down the rest of the stairs. He hurt all over and his back and legs were stiffening up. But he’d wind up hurting a hell of a lot more if the rest of the security squad showed up and put some bullet holes in him.

“Who are you?” Amber demanded. She hadn’t moved or lowered her weapon. Her expression was full of mistrust, borderline hostile, and he didn’t blame her.

He also didn’t have time to explain everything here. “Megan said to tell you Carly sent me.” He wasn’t sure what it signified, but the message worked, because her expression changed instantly, her face going blank with shock.

“What?”

No time to explain further. A glance past her told him Hannah Miller was dead in her cell.

He went straight over to crouch in front of the other woman, who’d choked one of the guards to death with the chains they’d bound her with. One look at her and he decided she was too beat up to get out of here on her own. “Come with me,” he said to her.

“No, I—”

“I’ll get you outta here.” Gritting his teeth, he put her over his shoulder, straightened while every throbbing muscle in his body screamed in protest, and started for the stairs.

“Wait,” Amber protested, trailing after him.

“No time,” he answered, his muscles and bones screaming as he took the stairs. “There are more guards coming.”

She followed right on his heels. “How do you know that?”

He stepped over the bodies and climbed the stairs, one arm locked around the injured female’s waist, his pistol in his right hand. “We’ll talk once we’re back at the safehouse,” he said, his voice low.

“What safehou—”

He stopped abruptly, two steps from the top, pausing to listen. The woman over his shoulder tensed and Amber fell silent.

From outside, the sound of a speeding vehicle approached.

“They’re here. We’ll go out the west side.”

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