Page 18 of Covert Vengeance

“I’ll take point.” Amber rushed past him and stopped inside the doorway to check. “Let’s go.”

Jesse stayed right behind her as she hurried down the hall to the other side of the warehouse. The back door crashed open behind them.

Men shouted. Running feet approached.

Jesse waited while Amber opened the west door.

“Clear, but we have to hurry,” she said, then burst outside into the darkness.

Three shots ripped through the quiet as Jesse ran outside, Amber’s muzzle flash exposing them momentarily. He could just make out her shadowy silhouette as she took cover behind a low stone wall across from him.

“Go,” she urged him.

Trusting that she wouldn’t risk getting her friend killed, he ran toward her.

Bullets whizzed past, slamming into the concrete building beside him. Two men ducked around the far corner, weapons up. Jesse aimed at the first one and fired just as Amber did. Both men crumpled to the ground.

“Clear,” Amber whispered after a moment.

Time to get the hell out of here.

“This way.” Jesse turned and ran for the van he’d left in a back alley nearby, confident that Amber would follow now that he had her friend.

The woman on his shoulder hissed in a breath at being bounced around and braced her hands on his back.

“Sorry. It’s not far. Hang tight.” His and Amber’s footsteps thudded on the pavement as they ran.

The van was still there, parked behind a row of garbage cans, the sickly sweet smell of sun-warmed garbage filling the air. Holstering his weapon, he pulled out his keys and hit the unlock button. “Get in,” he said to Amber, ripping the back door open to slide the other woman inside as gently as he could.

Amber climbed into the front passenger seat as he jumped behind the wheel, started the engine and took off. She was scanning the road in front and back, her weapon still in her hand. He hoped she wasn’t considering shooting him after all the trouble he’d gone to. “I don’t think anyone’s following us,” she said after a few seconds.

Let’s hope.He’d had more than enough excitement for one day.

“I have to get my gear,” she said. “I can’t leave it behind.”

All her electronics, he guessed. “Where is it?”

The address she gave him was a few minutes away. The drive out of the neighborhood was tense. No one spoke as he turned back and forth through the winding streets, heading for the building where Amber had left her stuff. It took her less than two minutes to grab it and get back into the van.

“Any signs that someone was in the room?” he asked as he drove away.

“No, it was secure,” she said, reaching into the back to cover her friend with a blanket.

The woman’s mouth was compressed into a thin line, her hands pressed to her side. “You can sit back there with her if you want.”

“Nope.” Amber eased back into her seat.

He lifted an eyebrow. “Still don’t trust me?”

“Nope. And I broke cover to contact my sister about you while I was inside getting my stuff. I’m waiting to hear back from her. If she doesn’t vouch for you, you and I are gonna have a serious problem.”

One side of his mouth pulled up in amusement at the thinly veiled threat. “What more does a guy have to do to earn your trust?”

“Dunno. It hasn’t happened yet.”

She was quiet, keeping watch around them until they finally reached the highway without incident. As soon as he merged onto it and there was still no one following, she fixed him with an intense stare. “All right, who are you.” A demand, not a question. And if he thought she was attractive on paper, she packed one hell of a punch in person. She had a magnetic presence that was impossible to ignore.

“Jesse Cordova. And if I’d wanted you dead I would have killed you already.”

---