Page 66 of Winters Heat

“Take the knife from her neck.” Colby narrowed his bloodthirsty stare to Juan Carlos, morphing into a giant of a man. A killer, perched to attack.

“I will kill her now.” Juan Carlos rocked her limp body again. “You’ll never get out of here alive.”

He brought Mia to the window, and she saw carnage. Smoke drifted from the fence line and a fire was in the gardens. In the distance, gunfire pulsed. Colby had brought an army. Juan Carlos cursed in her ear.

He pulled away from the window, and she caught sight of Colby again. In spite of it all, she smiled. It was too short a moment. Juan Carlos dragged her back to the window again.

The black smoke drifted skyward. She could taste it. Alarms still sounded. The men outside looked like children’s toys. They were so far away. Was this a dream?

The window exploded inward, launching them in a furious surge. Warm, sharp, and red. Juan Carlos released her. Mia was mush. Her legs were like stilts in quicksand. They sank fast into a numb thud. He landed on her. Hot ooze. Sick metallic stank. A faceless man, eyes open, blood macerated, covered in glass, and dead.

Dead.

Colby stormed her. He scooped her into his arms and threw her over his shoulder. It was too fast and jarring. The horizon slipped sideways. Her stomach fell. Her headache felt like it hit her toes. Everything throbbed, but then she caught sight of Juan Carlos Silva, deader than dead on his beautiful carpet. Surrounded by blood and glass.

Relief was missing. Where was it? A feeling. An emotion. Something, anything. But nothing surfaced. Her mind was empty and foggy. A sticky mess coated her hair and face, and a sick stench of blood permeated the air. Her hands clawed at her face. Bile rose in her throat. Revulsion attacked from the inside. This was the blood of a madman.

She was still over his shoulder. Her face was planted firmly against his back. She didn’t need to see the door explode open. She could hear men crawl through, their grunts and threats ending with the pop of Colby’s gun.

He kept her still with a palm on her backside. As he moved to the door, he kicked the dead bodies out of the way and scraped furniture aside.

Each of her muscles flopped against his hard body as he bounded down a set of stairs. She jostled as he took each step.This should hurt more than it does. Something’s wrong.

He stopped and shifted her off his shoulder. Her head swayed in a circle, and she pinched her eyes closed. His hands dug into her armpits, keeping her righted.Thatshe felt. Her weight was too heavy to bear. She was too tired to help. Too exhausted to escape.

“Mia.” Colby reached to her, pushing through the dense fog, calling her to focus.

She’d reach back. Later. When she felt stronger.

“Mia. Come on, doll. Right here. I’m right here.” He was more urgent now. Firmer. A pain in the ass if she really thought about it.

His hands cupped her chin. The rough pad of his thumb ran across her sticky cheek. She opened her eyes to slits. His handsome face stared hard, worried eyes probing her.

“Colby.” Her faint breath escaped over raw lips. His name revived a miniscule portion of her will. Not much, but enough to focus.

“Hiya, doll. I’m getting you out of here.”

He sounded so calm. Perhaps he needed to sleep, too.

Behind him, bright lights flashed on and off in the dark hallway.

“We gotta roll. Hang tight.”

Angry yells came from somewhere closer than she could establish. He lofted her back over his shoulder. Blood rushed to her head. The smell of his sweat and gunpowder intermixed, and she struggled against unconsciousness.

With a dizzying step and spin, he rounded a corner and pops reverberated from a gun. He moved forward, took a couple of hops, and slid back against the wall. Mia saw the blood on the white carpet. Three bodies, arms and legs splayed, and eyes wide open.

Oh.

She balanced on his shoulder. He reloaded his gun. A boom echoed through the house.

“Got the package,” Winters whispered. “Ready to roll out.”

He wasn’t talking to her. His team was here. Somewhere.

“Repeat. Ready for cover. Over.”

He let loose a quiet string of expletives and pulled across his chest. A snap sounded from his mouth. Winters lofted a throw and hustled them back around the corner. A boom followed.

---