Page 66 of Beautiful Vengeance

“Not sure,” Trinity answered in a tense voice.

Marcus had his vehicle parked just inside the open gate. He stood behind the open driver’s side door, a rifle to his shoulder as he faced the oncoming vehicle, waiting for it to come within range.

“Behind us too,” Brody said, racing for the driveway.

Kiyomi glanced behind them, and sure enough, another SUV was hurtling after them. “They’re going to try to box us in.” They had to get through the gate and close it, buy themselves what little time they could to get back up to the manor. It was made of solid wrought iron and should withstand a good ramming.

Brody swore and swerved as a bullet hit the front of the hood. Kiyomi faced front. Ahead, the passenger side windows of the SUV in front of them were down, two rifles pointed at them.

Two rounds slammed into its windshield a moment later. Marcus.

The SUV lurched to the side for a moment but kept coming, its bullet resistant windows still intact.

Kiyomi gasped and ducked as the rear window shattered behind her. They were almost at the driveway. She could hear the sound of Marcus returning fire. She popped back up in time to see the SUV behind them veer toward the ditch, one of its front tires damaged.

“Hang tight,” Brody muttered, and hit the brake for a skidding turn into the driveway. Gravel flew everywhere as the vehicle fishtailed before Brody regained control.

Kiyomi caught only a glimpse of Marcus returning fire as they neared him, then jumping into his vehicle as they raced by. “Let me out,” she ordered.

“No.” Brody floored it, roaring toward the manor.

She spun to face the shattered rear window, heart in her throat. She couldn’t see through the shattered glass. Couldn’t see what was happening to Marcus. “But Marcus—the gate—”

“It’s already closing and he’s hauling ass up the driveway,” Trinity said, watching anxiously in her side mirror.

Kiyomi closed her eyes a moment, trying to take everything in. “Why the hell does she wantme?”

“I don’t know,” Trinity answered, “but she’s not getting you.”

“Pull around back,” she told Brody, rolling down her window to look back now that they were out of range of the shooters. Marcus was reversing after them, and the SUVs were just pulling up to the gate. The first one rammed it, but the wrought iron held. The SUV reversed and tried again.

“They’re going to be through it any minute,” Trinity muttered. “We need to get to the loadout room.”

“He’s got one in the house?” Brody asked in surprise.

A secret arsenal tucked away beneath the study. “Yeah,” Kiyomi answered. “But I doubt he imagined using it because of an attack like this.”

Brody wheeled around the side of the house and came to a lurching stop near the west garden wall. Kiyomi leapt out and ran the opposite way as Trinity and Brody raced for the back door of the manor.

Marcus roared up a moment later and jumped out. His face was taut, his gaze burning with intensity as he rushed toward her in a limping run and grabbed her to him. “You all right?”

“Fine,” she promised, and hurried with him toward the house.

“I counted at least seven in those two vehicles, and there are probably more coming around to the eastern entrance.” His tone was as grim as his expression. “We won’t be able to hold them off long, so we’re going to have to figure out a way to buy ourselves the time we need to get out of here.”

Chapter Nineteen

Janelle stepped out of the SUV and reached up to activate her earpiece. All around her, rolling hills in various shades of green spread out in every direction. A beautiful spot for a mission. Her forces were already deployed and closing in on the targets.

Now, it was finally her turn to take action.

“I’m on scene.” She strode through the gate on the east side of the property, flanked by two female bodyguards. The op in Coventry had failed. Megan and Amber were both still alive. But that didn’t matter for the moment, because this op was her priority, and it was going perfectly so far.

Thirty yards into the field she stopped and took her toy out of her ruck, placing it at her feet on the damp grass. “Activating drone now.”

Stepping back, she started up the battery and piloted it into the air using the small remote control. Within seconds they had a bird’s eye view of everything they needed.

The two other elements of her force had deployed exactly as ordered. One was positioned to the north of the house, the other to the west. All her operatives were encircling the front and back of the main house, awaiting her word for the attack.

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