Page 77 of All Twisted Up
“Mars!” Clifford shouted. “Took out four at the front of the house, Cap! Prince and Reeves are with me.”
“Milky!” Mickey said. “Three out back, Candy!”
“Hold position, Way!” came the boss’ reply.
“Good and Plenty, at your feckin’ service!” Patsy came back. A volley of gunfire told me he was dealing with his own problems. “All clear!” came the lilting Irish voice a few seconds later.
“Almond!” Alain shouted. “Bedrooms clear!”
“Reese’s Pieces…up your ass!” A volley of gunfire cut off Rex’s announcement followed by several whoops. “Way to die, motherlessfucker!” There was a short pause before heavy breathing over the coms. “Took two down on the roof, boss.”
“Snickers here!” Several volleys of gunfire preceded laughter. “Nice shot, baby!” Napoleon’s praise of someone on the team almost made me smile.
“House is clear,” a voice came back. I wasn’t sure who it was, but Snow was the only one who’d not sounded off.
“Get Calder to the BearCat, Hampstead!” Candy said.
“Roger!” I’d no sooner said it before I heard the crunch of broken glass behind me. I swung around in the dark but didn’t see the butt of the gun coming at my head. When it connected to my skull, pain exploded through my brain, rocking me back as my feet left the floor. The last thing I remembered was crashing to the ground as it rushed up fast to engulf me in darkness.
Chapter Twenty-One
JOSHUA
I stayed right where Nash put me with both hands over my ears as I tried to drown out the sound of almost endless gunfire. I’d never heard anything like it before, but it wasn’t the noise or the smell of smoke in the air that terrified me…it was knowing that the man I’d fallen head over heels in love with, was out there, facing murderers. Tears of dread ran down my face, and I angrily swiped at them, praying for Nash to make it through the attack. They’d come here for me, and my man had bravely pulled me to safety, then gone right back out to fight the vicious killers.
When the noise stopped, I could barely comprehend it. I caught the end of someone saying, “All clear.”
I was still shaking when the door was ripped open so violently, I accidentally knocked the back of my head on the shelf, rattling jars, leaving me seeing stars. I shook my head, ready to chastise the figure who stood silhouetted in the doorway but then remembered how grateful I was that he’d returned safe from harm, and free of bullets. I let out a relieved breath, thanking God that Nash was okay and started to get up, when the figure swung an assault weapon in my direction. I cocked my head, wondering what the hell he was doing, when I heard a low voice, I didn’t recognize.
“Get the fuck up, Calder,” the man growled softly as he closed the door. “Make it fast, you piece of shit.”
I scrambled out of my sitting position and stood slowly. “Who are you? Where’s Nash?”
The man chuckled, gesturing with the muzzle of the gun for me to exit my tight quarters. “Me? I’m Special Agent Turley of the DEA, and Nash…well, he’s dead. Did you really think he could survive when facing a superior man? All those pricks think they’re so much better than me, but I just proved what bullshit that is.” Jealousy bled through the man’s words, but it was what he’d said so casually that made my heart skip several beats.
I gasped as I slowly replayed them. “Nash is dead? You killed him?” Pain, like I’d never felt before, slammed into my chest.
“If you make another sound, you’ll get a bullet in the back of your head just like him.” The cruel words were laced with menace, scraping over my breaking heart like dull knives. “Now, move, Calder! Someone wants to meet you.”
I slowly walked toward him and when I was close enough, he grabbed my bicep and yanked me out of the pantry with a punishing grip, shoving me in front of him. “Go to the garage door and make it fast.” His hissing voice was barely more than a whisper as he painfully prodded my back with the muzzle of his semi-automatic.
I glanced around, holding back a sob as I searched for any of Nash’s men. Slowly walking over to the garage door off the kitchen, I opened it feeling my heart breaking as I thought about Nash, lying dead somewhere, killed by the monster behind me.
I wasn’t expecting the violent shove Turley gave me the minute the door was open and barely stopped myself from faceplanting onto the hard concrete floor that rushed up at me. l crashed onto my hands and knees, jolting as I landed, making lancing pain radiate from my hands all the way up to my shoulders.
He shut the door behind him as I struggled to get up. My head jerked back as he grabbed a handful of my hair and yankedme to a standing position. I wobbled where I stood but lifted my chin as I faced him, refusing to behave like a victim. This man—this monster—worked with a cartel who’d sent killers into my home to destroy my family. He’d killed Nash. I hated him and the men like him.
Turley wore all black, dressed in similar clothing and gear to the kind Nash and his team wore, but the loathing in his expression looked nothing like those men. I wondered how he hadn’t been recognized by someone in the house but forced those thoughts to the back of my mind the second he shouldered his rifle and drew a handgun.
“Move!” He swung the muzzle of his weapon, pointing to a side door I hadn’t noticed until now. I walked toward it, and he followed close, pressing his weapon against my back as I reached the door. “Open it, you little fucker.” I bristled at the expletive, but did as he’d ordered, opening the door. I was almost surprised by the fresh night air that rushed in. “Get outside!” I stepped out into a space which opened up under the hillside home. I stayed quiet as he followed me out and shut the door behind us.
“That way!” he said, pointing to the fence separating the safehouse and a neighbor’s yard.
I walked toward a hole cut low in a thick hedge, no doubt cut by Turley himself. I realized it was probably how he’d gotten into the house unseen by Nash and the others. Thinking of Nash made my heart hurt so badly, I was having a hard time holding back tears. I wasn’t going to let this man know how scared I was, though.
However, when I crawled through the gap, a short, Hispanic man waited for us on the other side. He sneered at me, and I felt a ripple of fear rush down my spine.
“Is this him?” he asked in heavily accented English.
