Page 40 of Saving Meri

Meri crouched low next to Reyna, her breath steady, the Glock cool against her palm as she watched the compound through a pair of night vision binoculars. The night air was thick with the promise of violence, but she didn’t flinch. Not anymore.

They had positioned her and Reyna at the ridge, providing them and a few other team members with a perfect viewpoint over the courtyard. She wasn’t supposed to engage—just provide backup, monitor movement, and call out threats to the team. That had been the plan.

But plans changed. She was tracking Bear’s movements as he and the Cerberus team advanced through the darkness, silent as death itself. They moved with ruthless efficiency, sweeping through the outer perimeter, taking down guards before DeLuca’s people even knew they were under attack. Fitz took point on the south entrance, Archer flanked left, and Bear…

Bear was a goddamn force of nature.

He moved so fast that she could barely follow him through the binoculars; his massive frame sliced through the compound as if it were his natural habitat. He didn’t hesitate. Every movement was precise, every strike brutal. She had heard someof the other Cerberus people talk about his abilities, but she’d never seen him—not like this.

This didn’t appear to be merely combat to him. This was destruction. She realized he was intent on making them pay for every moment she had suffered, every nightmare she had lived, and he was doing so without mercy.

Her pulse hammered as she shifted her focus. The courtyard was crawling with DeLuca’s men. The fight was loud now, gunfire erupting from every direction. Fitz barked orders over the comms, Archer’s gun cracked from somewhere on the ground level, and Bear continued to move through the chaos like he owned it.

“West tower,” Meri murmured into the comms, spotting movement. “Two guards repositioning.”

“Got ‘em,” Archer replied. Two more shots rang out, followed by silence. “Down.”

“You’re good at this,” quipped Reyna.

Meri shifted her binoculars lower, scanning the bodies littering the ground, searching for the one face—the one bastard—she had been waiting for.

And then she saw him—the man who had held her down. The one who had whispered threats against her ear, his breath hot with whiskey and cruelty. The one who had laughed as he had fastened chains around her wrists, yanking them too tight just to watch her flinch.

He had a gun raised, covering the retreat of another man—one who Meri recognized immediately. DeLuca. He was slipping through the back entrance, heading toward a vehicle parked outside the compound.

Bear was on the other side of the courtyard, fighting his way through three men at once. He wouldn’t make it in time.

Her heart pounded. This wasn’t a dream.

“Reyna, look behind the mansion. There’s an exit that wasn’t on the plans.”

Reyna looked to where she was pointing. “Oh goodie. Sometimes we get the money shot.”

Meri didn’t like that it would be her to end their lives.

Reyna must have realized what she was thinking. “No one saved you, but you. I’m just in the best position to ensure it never happens again, and I wouldn’t have spotted them without you.”

Meri watched as Reyna’s finger curled around the trigger. Slowly, she squeezed.

The rifle kicked against her shoulder as the bullet slammed into the man’s skull, dropping him instantly. Blood sprayed against the vehicle he had been covering, his body crumpling to the dirt like the nothing he was.

The shot sent DeLuca scrambling, his panic evident as he shoved the driver aside and lunged into the vehicle.

“Meri,” Bear’s voice crackled over the comms, his tone sharp, assessing. “Status.”

Her breath hitched, but she steadied herself, watching DeLuca fumble with the ignition. “Reyna took the shot. DeLuca is about to escape through an exit that wasn’t on the plans.”

There was a beat of silence. Then, “Good girl.”

The words sent something fierce through her. Pride. Validation. A deep, resounding satisfaction.

“Don’t you just love when they say that,” said Reyna, covering the mic to her comms unit.

Bear was moving now, closing in on the vehicle as DeLuca tried to peel away. Fitz and Archer were flanking him, cutting down anyone who was trying to reach them. This time, there would be no escape.

Meri charged past Reyna and the others, heading down to see for herself. Her breath burned in her lungs as she reached them standing over the body. The distant echoes of gunfire andthe sharp orders of the Cerberus team securing the compound drowned out the rough scrape of her own breathing.

It was over. The bastard who had touched her, the one DeLuca had told to break her, lay sprawled at her feet, a bullet hole between his lifeless, vacant eyes. Reyna had pulled the trigger. No hesitation. No second-guessing.

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