Page 120 of Over the Edge

Crap. She rolled to face forward and brought up the muzzle of her Tavor to spray the team of inbound soldiers.

But as she aimed, the soldiers swung their weapons to the left and fired over her head, loosing a volley toward the east corner of the compound. What the hell?

“They’re friendlies!” Trevor shouted over the noise of the return fire.

One of the soldiers in front of her spun to the side, hit by incoming fire. But the guy righted himself and forged onward toward her, Trevor, and Kenny.

“Reapers inbound!” someone in front of her shouted.

That sounded like Cal.

Sonofagun.

The five running figures closed the remaining gap and took up defensive positions around them as she and Trevor jumped to their feet. Many hands were there to reach down and lift up Kenny.

“Back the way we came,” Cal ordered tersely.

As a cluster, they moved off to the north. The seven of them created a defensive perimeter with Kenny in the middle. They moved like a human crab, scuttling away from the worst of the battle, low and fast.

They hit the slope and kept going until they reached a cluster of boulders. As they rounded the outcropping, Anna spotted camo netting propped up on sticks. Enough netting to hide the entire team. Thank God.

They dived under the nets, all breathing hard.

“Damn, I’m glad to see your ugly faces,” Ken panted.

Anna watched as Cal wrapped Kenny in a surprisingly gentle hug. He must have registered how debilitated Ken was.

“Let’s get another coat and some decent shoes on Ken,” Cal ordered.

In short order, the team had bundled up Ken, laid him on top of a sleeping bag, and Axe and Leo had lain down on either side of him, sandwiching him in their body heat.

Lily checked out Jojo, who’d take a stray round on his Kevlar vest. She declared that he was going to have a good bruise, but no ribs were broken. Not that a few cracked ribs would have slowed him down much, if Anna knew Jojo.

“Have you guys got an egress plan?” Trevor asked Cal.

“Got a truck about three klicks up the mountain behind us. You?”

“Crappy little pick-up truck about six klicks east.”

“Our truck it is,” Cal decided. “Seems like we’re clear of the fireworks, up here. We’ll hunker down until the worst is over and then hike out. And then we’re all going home.”

Anna looked over at Trevor, who looked back at her. He nodded, a single dip of his chin in acknowledgement of her help and support. She dipped her chin back.

There was no need for words between them. Not tonight.

Trevor reached for her shoulders and dragged her close to him, laying a big, passionate kiss on her right there in front of the whole team. And by God, she kissed him back.

Exultation burst forth in her chest. They’d done it. They’d gone into the mouth of the beast, rescued their brother, and made it out alive. And Trevor Westbrook had finally shown his feelings for her. He might not have said the words, but that sizzling hot kiss said it all.

CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE

Trevor slipped out of Ken’s hospital room quietly so as not to wake his brother, who’d fallen asleep again. The guy was conked out about twenty hours a day, right now. Kenny was still hooked to IV’s as the docs gradually increased his calorie intake and dumped vitamins, minerals, and massive antibiotics into the guy.

The look of being a walking skeleton had eased, and Ken was starting to get a little color back in his cheeks. But life wasn’t coming back to his eyes the way it should. Whatever had happened to him in Haddad’s clutches had not let go of him, yet.

“How’s he doing?” Anna murmured, falling in beside him to walk out of the hospital.

“I’m worried about him. He seems…broken.”

---