Page 28 of No Vow Broken

To my surprise, Finn answered. “Agent Flax is unavailable. We’re to hold tight for another seven to ten minutes.”

Damn. The weather was obviously slowing down our rescue. Fortunately, or not, the bad guys wouldn’t know that. Since Finn was manning the radio, I presumed Agent Flax was no longer conscious. Thankfully, Finn had anticipated that need and was in communication with the counterassault team. “Roger that. Stay in position.”

I’d just reached the entrance to the dining room when another projectile smashed through a window. I had the presence of mind to close my eyes and hit the floor as a flash-bang exploded. The explosion was immediately followed by multiple burps from an automatic weapon splattering the walls of the dining room.

I rolled over and looked at the window and through the smoke. Gio stood and fired several short bursts in response.

He immediately dropped down beneath the sill. There was a pause, then another burst of fire from outside that targeted the wall under the window. I heard a grunt and knew that Gio had been hit.

I quickly skittered along the side wall toward the window and my brother. “Are you okay?” I asked sliding him away from the wall.

“Yeah, just got hit in the arm. Shallow, I think, but it hurts like hell.”

“Prepare to move,” I hissed. I fired a short burst from the SCAR that I carried. That must have been confusing to our attacker, since the SCAR sounded different than a P90 to a trained ear. Anything we could do at this point to keep them off balance was critical. We immediately moved our position eight feet to the side after I fired. Incoming rounds again peppered the wall where we’d been moments before. At least my firing meant the outside attacker would think we were still fully operational.

It was the only thing slowing him down.

I fired some more and then eased us along the far wall of the dining room, bringing Gio with me. He gripped his arm, blood seeping through his fingers.

When we were in a relatively safe position, I pulled off my dress shirt. I ripped it in half, winding it around the wound on his arm.

“Definitely shallow,” Gio said between gritted teeth as I pulled it tight. “But it’s my firing arm, so that sucks.”

“We just need to convince whoever is outside that we’re still holding our ground here.”

I moved backward and nearly stepped on someone lying on the floor behind me. I whirled around, pointing my gun at the form.

“Ow!” came Xavier’s unmistakable voice.

“Xavier, what are you doing here?” I said shocked. I’d almost shot him, as I’d been certain we’d cleared the dining room.

“I…I was in the bathroom but came out to see if I could help.”

I had to take a moment to accept and appreciate he’d knowingly walked into danger. My first instinct was to tell him to get upstairs, but then I reconsidered and decided putting him to work was worth the risk.

“Youcanhelp, Xavier. We’ve got three Secret Service agents down, and Gio, who’s been holding the dining room entrance, has been hit in his shooting arm. We can’t let the attackers know he’s out of commission. I’m going to get additional help, but we need to occasionally fire out that window so that they won’t storm it before I get back. That means I need you to take Gio’s gun and shoot out the window for the next minute or so.”

“Me? Shoot a gun?” I could hear the shock in his voice. “But I don’t have a gun, and I don’t even know how to use one.”

“You’ll use Gio’s. He’ll walk you through it. Here’s what I want you to do.” I moved away a bit and then, while staying low, fired one short burst out the window. Then I slid back to the guys and held out the gun to Xavier.

“You don’t have to look to shoot or even try to hit anything. In fact, it’s better if you keep the gun barrel below the level of the sill so he can’t see your muzzle flash. Just use short bursts of less than a second. You don’t have a lot of rounds left. Then move sideways and fire again from somewhere else. Fire about every fifteen to thirty seconds if you can, and Gio will help you on the timing. Randomize it. I’ll send help. Can you handle it until then?”

He sounded doubtful, but to his credit he took the gun. “Okay, but what if someone comes in through the window?”

“If you can see him, shoot him. Aim for the head. Gio will give you the rundown. Just don’t touch the barrel. It’ll be hot.”

As I turned to go away, I had one more thought. “And don’t shoot anyone who comes up behind you, because it will most likely be Beau or me.”

FOURTEEN

Slash

Ileft Xavier in Gio’s capable hands and headed toward the ballroom. Oddly, the attack on the kitchen had quieted. I had no idea if that meant Tito had neutralized the threat, the attackers had decided to move on from that entrance, or, worse, Tito was down and the attackers were breeching the kitchen at this very moment.

Things were getting to the desperate stage.

“Status,” I said in a low voice as I came up behind Hands.

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