Page 118 of Over the Edge

Cripes. It was a raging mess out here, too. Part of the Spec Ops contingent was engaged in a firefight out here with more of Haddad’s men. How the three of them were supposed to cross that battlefield without getting killed, she had no idea.

It wasn’t just that the Spec Ops team might mistake them for hostiles. With her and Trevor geared up like the special operators they were, Haddad’s men would kill them on sight.

“Let’s slide around the north side of the compound,” Trevor instructed.

Crouching awkwardly, they made their way around the corner. It was slightly quieter, here. The worst of the fighting was centered on the southeast side of the compound where the lone road came to the front gate.

“Gimme a sec,” Ken panted.

Trevor gently pushed Ken down to a prone position and laid half over him. Anna did the same, covering the rest of Ken’s body with her own.

He was shivering beneath her, whether from cold, exertion, or sheer, overwhelming emotion, she couldn’t tell. But she quickly stripped off her field jacket and wrapped it around him. When they stood up, he could don it properly.

Lord knew, her adrenaline was running so high she didn’t feel the cold at all. She scanned around them. She heard a helicopter hovering somewhere nearby but didn’t see it. The distinctive buzz-whine of a drone was also audible, but she didn’t see it, either. It was probably hovering over the battle in the compound, feeding real-time intel to an observer who was passing on information to the special operators on the ground inside.

“Can we approach the helo?” she asked Trevor.

“I’m afraid they’d shoot us because we wouldn’t be pinging the right Identification Friend or Foe. In this mess, they’d likely think we’re suicide bombers coming for them.”

She ducked and slapped her hands over her ears as the scream of an inbound missile deafened her.

The largest explosion by far rocked the ground she lay on and shook the wall at her back. The sound of a large structure collapsing became identifiable.

“They’re bringing in the big guns to level the place,” Trevor bit out. “We’ve got to get away from here. Kenny, brother, do you have a little low crawling in you?”

“Yeah. Those energy gels are hitting. I feel good.”

“Promise me you’ll tap out when you’re at the end of your strength,” Trevor said grimly.

“I promise.”

“Anna, take his left side. I’ve got his right side. You set the pace, Ken.”

Inch by inch, Kenny dragged himself forward on his elbows, using his feet to dig into the ground and push. As they drew away from the cover of the wall and emerged into the open, the full extent of the battle happening around them became visible. A pitched fight was taking place on the west side of the compound as well.

How in the world were they going to crawl under all this madness to safety without getting hit?

But as another missile streaked down out of the sky and slammed into a building inside the compound, sending up a shower of dust and debris that rained down on them, it was clear they had no choice but to try to crawl out of Hell.

Cal sworeas he heard a chopper in the distance. No. Make that multiple choppers. He knew the sounds of those rotors. An Apache gunship and at least one Blackhawk. What the hell? Ronan’s text hadn’t said anything about a full-blown air assault on this compound. Cal had envisioned a few truckloads of soldiers or maybe a Special Forces team rappelling out of a helo.

Trevor and Anna were still inside! They would be blown to bits if they didn’t get out of there before the aerial attack package arrived. He knew full well that Predator drones loaded with Hellfire missiles would undoubtedly accompany those inbound choppers.

Swearing in a continuous stream, he watched the tiny building Trevor and Anna had disappeared into. Surely, they heard the inbound birds. Trevor was an experienced enough operator to know exactly what those sounds meant.

“C’mon already. Bug out, you two,” he pleaded under his breath.

“No sign of our operators,” Jojo reported. “But I have an Apache and two Blackhawks, flying heavy, inbound.”

If the Blackhawks were heavy, that meant they were carrying full loads of soldiers in addition to a maximum ammunition load and enough fuel to return to home base.

Dammit. Those inbound troops would likely have no idea two American operators were on the ground inside the compound rescuing a third operator. Crap, crap, crap.

Did he dare use an emergency radio frequency to warn the inbound attack force? Thing was, if he tipped off Haddad that even more firepower was inbound, the guy might try to escape instead of standing and fighting—and dying.

But, if Trevor and Anna were on the verge of egressing the battle, they could still get away from the compound before they were discovered. They had another minute or two.

Maybe.

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