Page 70 of Beautiful Vengeance

She risked a look over her shoulder to find Marcus giving her hand signals. Telling her to get up and move past him while he laid down covering fire. She flashed him a thumbs up then placed her palms flat on the ground, ready to spring up as soon as he began shooting.

The deep bark of a sniper rifle sounded off to her left. Brody.

Higher-pitched rifle fire answered, but not in her direction. Then Marcus fired a burst.

Kiyomi shot up and ran in a crouch, leaping over a fallen tree trunk in her path. Marcus fired another burst, then another as she darted to the right, moving toward where Trinity and Brody were hidden somewhere in the tangled underbrush.

Finding a broken, rotting trunk to hide behind, she zipped behind it and hunkered down on one knee. The damp, sweet smell of the rotting wood and fallen leaves filled her nostrils.

Marcus was still somewhere out ahead and to her right but she couldn’t see him. She put her weapon to her shoulder and scanned the forest in front of her, her pulse beating fast in her ears. He wasn’t falling back. Why wasn’t he moving?

Someone fired a rifle to her left. Closer now. She thought she saw something moving in the shadows. Her finger stayed on the trigger but she didn’t fire, waiting to get a positive ID because she couldn’t risk shooting Trinity.

She jerked the barrel of the rifle to her right at a sudden flash of movement. Man. Light gray T-shirt.

Marcus. She switched her focus beyond him, tracking his movement through the trees as he came toward her. Someone fired at him. He grunted and went down.

She shot to her feet, her heart rocketing into her throat.No!

More movement in the same vicinity. She aimed and fired twice. The shooter dropped out of sight. Had she hit them?

She couldn’t see Marcus. She had to get to him.

Breaking from cover, she raced toward where she’d seen him fall. Splinters of wood exploded near her left shoulder. She flinched as they peppered her face and neck, fired blindly toward where the shot had come from as she raced for Marcus.

A branch as thick as her wrist landed five feet in front of her. She skidded to avoid it, darting behind the nearest tree trunk wide enough to hide her. Marcus lay on his belly to her right, watching her. He shook his head at her, thrust a finger behind him, his expression set.

“Are you hit?” she whispered, loud as she dared.

He lowered his brows in warning and thrust his finger in the direction she’d just come from.

No freaking way she was leaving him.

Kiyomi didn’t move, scanning him from head to toe. She couldn’t see any blood, but he was in visible pain as he pulled himself to one knee. And then she glanced up as a muted, rhythmic thumping came from overhead. Helicopter rotors.

Shit, what if the shooters had more reinforcements on board? She couldn’t see it through the dense treetops.

Looking over at Marcus, she shook her head.Not leaving.Too bad if he didn’t like it.

His expression foreboding, he stared back at her, his eyes promising hell if she didn’t do what he said. “Go,” he mouthed.

Torn, she hesitated, then whirled when something moved behind her. Marcus fired two rapid shots at whatever it was. A soft grunt answered, then something hit the ground with a thud.

Her gaze darted back to Marcus. He was definitely hurt. She needed to help him up and get over the wall beyond the trees.

He nailed her with a livid look. “Go,” he mouthed again, his expression all kinds of pissed off.

Satisfied he at least wasn’t in imminent danger of bleeding out, she reluctantly turned and ran in the direction he’d ordered. The distinctive crack of the sniper rifle boomed off to the right as she ran.

Soon the trees began to thin out slightly. The light changed, the drab gray brightening a bit, and she got her first glimpse of the stone wall standing beyond the trees.

“Kiyomi!”

She whipped her head around to see Trinity running toward her from the right.

“This way! Come on!” Trin waved her over.

The thump of the approaching helo was growing louder now. Kiyomi angled toward Trinity and kept running while more gunfire broke out behind them. The urge to stop and go back to protect Marcus was overwhelming.

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