Page 46 of Avenging Jessie
Spence used the opening. He hooked his left arm around Hastings’ neck in a brutal half-clinch and drove him backward, slamming him into the edge of the server rack. The impact sent a ripple of blinking lights across the consoles.
Hackers ran for the door. Jessie grabbed and pointed her weapon, but couldn’t get a clear shot.
Hastings twisted, elbowing Spence square in the ribs. Pain exploded in his side, but it was nothing compared to the raw fire chewing through his right hand every time it so much as twitched. Jessie tossed him her gun. Spence caught it with his left hand and brought it down on Hastings’ skull.
The man staggered, grabbing his head. Blood oozed through his fingers. An alarm sounded—at least one of the guards had realized what was going on.
Jessie darted past them, grabbed the flash drive from where Spence had dropped it, and yanked him toward the far aisle. She snatched her gun from his hand. “We need to go!”
He couldn’t let Hastings get by with this, but her grip was firm enough to keep him off balance. He staggered, adrenaline dulling the pain enough to keep his feet under him. “I’ve got to take care of…”
Hastings pushed off the rack and came after them, fury etched deep into every line of his face.
“Him,” Spence finished.
Gunfire erupted—sharp, deafening in the narrow space. Bullets punched into the steel wall inches from Jessie’s shoulder. She ducked, fired back.
Hastings went down.
Spence shoved her through the doorway and yanked it shut. “Go!”
They pounded down the corridor, past coolant pipes and stacked crates. A guard popped out and raised a weapon. Jessie nailed him center mass and lobbed a grenade back toward the server rooms.
Every throb of his right hand felt like a countdown clock ticking louder in his skull. The injury was severe. His wrist might be broken. And without it, hacking into anything at the speed they’d need would be like fighting with one eye shut.
But that was a problem for the next breath. For now, the only mission was simple—get him and Jessie out alive.
A corridor led to an exit on the side of the hill. They burst through it, the cool night air a welcome relief. Gravel crunched under their boots as they tore across the narrow service lot, past the gated entrance, and toward the car.
Inside, the grenade exploded, sending up a huge fireball.
Shouts erupted behind them, sharp German curses slicing the dark. Spence risked a glance back and saw two guards in tactical gear closing fast, rifles already coming up.
Jessie’s hand clamped on his arm, shoving him toward the passenger side. “Come on!”
He wanted to argue, but his right hand was throbbing so hard it made his vision swim. The weapon slung over his shoulder banged against his ribs as he ducked into the seat.
She yanked his suppressed machine gun free before he could get a grip on it. “Hope you’ve got the exit plan ready.”
With a smooth, practiced motion, she stepped back from the car and opened fire in controlled bursts. The sharp cough of the suppressor was almost lost under the pounding of Spence’s pulse. Muzzle flashes lit her face in strobes, showing her narrowed eyes, set mouth, and total lethal focus.
It was hard not to appreciate it.
The guards dove for cover, pinned behind a low wall as rounds from the gun chewed the concrete inches from their heads. Jessie didn’t waste a second. She vaulted around to the driver’s side, ducked into the seat, jammed the gearshift into reverse, and slammed her foot down.
The tires squealed, the car fishtailing before she threw it into first and shot forward.
Spence’s head snapped toward her as she reached into her coat pocket. “Jess?—”
She pulled the pin on a hand grenade with her teeth and lobbed it through the still-open driver’s window toward the building’s side entrance.
Damn, how many of the bloody things had she lifted from the trunk?
They were a hundred yards out when the world behind them turned white.
The explosion punched through the night, a rolling wave of fire and smoke blooming against the sky. The shockwave rattled the car, shards of glass and debris pinging off the roof as Jessie gunned it down the empty road.
In the rearview, the building vomited black smoke into the stars.
