Page 117 of Over the Edge

No! Trevor!

She screamed his name, but the roar of the fire ripped the sound away from her. The heat burned her face so badly she had to fall back. Ken shambled across the open space toward the compound wall looming ahead. He had the right of it. They had to keep moving. Get out of here before the next hellfire missile slammed into their position and vaporized them all.

But…Trevor.

She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t leave him behind.

Spinning around, she sprinted for Building Twelve’s lone door. She threw herself at it with all of her considerable speed and strength, which was no doubt supplemented massively by the adrenaline screaming through her blood.

She felt the beam behind the door slide a foot or so. She slammed into the door again. And again.

The opening was just wide enough for her to squeeze through, and she slipped back into Hell.

Trevor, blackened with soot and coughing violently was there, shoving at the flaming beam with his boots.

Bracing herself against the wall just inside the door, she planted the soles of both her boots beside his against the log and shoved with all her strength. All those miserable hours of four-count lunges, all the burpees, all the endless runs, paid off as the beam gave way all at once, sliding away from them.

Trevor grabbed her by the shoulders and all but threw her out the door. She fell to her hands and knees, retching and gasping.

A thud beside her.

Trevor was on his hands and knees beside her, coughing up what sounded like both lungs and all his guts.

She became aware of muzzle flashes, explosions, and shouting in front of her. It was a freaking war zone out here.

Something exploded nearby and Building Twelve gave up the ghost behind them, collapsing with a spectacular burst of sparks and flames over her head.

“Run!” Trevor shouted.

She ran for all she was worth to the huddled form of Kenny crouching beneath their egress ropes. Trevor was right on her heels.

“I tried,” Kenny panted. “No strength to pull myself up.”

“No problem,” Trevor responded tersely, glancing at her. “He and I will go up first. I need you to cover us. Once we’re up top, I’ll cover you.”

“We’llcover you,” Kenny corrected.

She smiled briefly at him. “Hooyah.”

She turned to face the compound. Women ran screaming across the middle of it. A gunfight was clearly under way, with Haddad’s men barricaded inside the central building and the Spec Ops team trying to force them out. The soldiers were lobbing grenades toward the building, Haddad’s men were lobbing Molotov cocktails out.

A bearded man in a long, white shirt burst around the corner of Building Ten, an AK-47 held at his waist, coming straight at her. She fired her Tavor, sending a spray of lead at the guy. He flew backward and his weapon went sailing. He landed on his back and didn’t get up. She scanned around her position quickly. The gunfire didn’t seem to have drawn any particular attention.

She glanced over her shoulder. Kenny was climbing off Trevor’s back to lie on the top of the wall. She backed up until her shoulder blades touched cold concrete. Trevor should be off his rope by now. She slung her rifle over her shoulder, turned, and grabbed her rope.

Using her boots to climb the wall and her gloved hands to haul herself higher, she climbed as fast as she’d ever climbed a rope. Never, ever, had she felt so exposed as she did, hanging on the side of that wall, up above the nearest building, with a raging gun battle only a hundred feet away. Her back felt cooked to a crisp from the fires burning nearby, and she anticipated bullets between her shoulder blades any second.

As she reached the top of the wall, a series of rounds whizzed past practically touching her face. The musical zinging was deadly…and coming inbound. What the hell? The shots missed her, and a pair of Haddad’s men dropped to the ground behind her.

Trevor dropped down the other side of the wall. Now to get Kenny down the wall. If he fell badly, he could get seriously injured. And in his current state, he might not have the physical strength to prevent himself from falling badly.

She was facing him on the wall. She reached toward him with both arms and he reached toward her. She grabbed his wrists and he grabbed hers. The weakness of his grip was shocking.

She nodded at him and he swung his feet off the wall. He hung there for a moment with his legs dangling, and then slid all the way off the wall. The strain on her arms was intense, and she almost came off the wall, herself. But then Kenny’s weight lifted off her wrists.

Trevor had grabbed Ken’s legs from below. She lowered Ken until all the weight lifted off her hands. Ken let go of her wrists, and she did the same.

The second she let go, she grabbed Trevor’s rope, which hung outside the wall, now, and slid down it in a fast, controlled fall. She dropped into a crouch beside the men.

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