Page 14 of All Twisted Up
He burst into tears and threw shaking arms around the first guy. I dismissed the DEA agent before looking back at the young couple, feeling a pang of sympathy for them. “Let’s get you two out of here.”
The DEA agent grabbed my bicep. “What do you think you’re doing? They’re not going anywhere.”
I yanked my arm out of his hold. “Look at them! Do they look like cartel sicarios? Now…back the fuck off. They’re in my custody.” I was spoiling for a fight. “Get the fuck out of my way or we’re going to have words, DEA.” I touched my ear. “Candy!” I said, staring the guy right in the face, able to see him now that he’d lifted his face mask. “Milky and I have the two civilians in custody. We’re bringing them down.”
“Roger. See you in a few, Twizz.”
“Gomez?” I asked.
Before Candy could answer, I heard another voice in my com. “Turley, we’ve got a man down.” For a split second, worry coursed through me as I froze.
“Who?” Turley barked.
“Sibley, sir. He was covering the stairwell on eight.”
“Was?”
“He’s…he’s dead, sir. Agent Sibley is dead.”
“Son-of-a-bitch!” Turley swore. “Does anyone have a twenty on Gomez?”
There were a lot of no sirs in my com in the next ten seconds, with men on the DEA tac team reporting their positions throughout the building.
“Keep position and cover all egress points,” Candy barked. “Hampstead! Way! You’re in position with those civilians until I have an all clear!”
“Yes, Captain!” I replied. I could hear him running and I took a moment to picture my team’s positions in my mind. Good and Smith were covering the back, Clifford had the sniper position on top of the BearCat, Joy was in the alley to the west, Rex was across the street in high sniper position, which meant Candy was most likely headed for the alley to the east between the Chinese grocery and the apartment building.
“Captain,” Rex drawled. “We’ve got a civilian stampede.” I could hear panicked screaming in the background and realized people were charging out of the front of the building, running from the gunfire which had woken them. Just as Candy hadpredicted, we had a hell of a problem on our hands now. All Gomez had to do was run out with them to get lost in the crowd.
“Fuck!” I swore, hating Turley and the goddamned DEA with the fire of a million suns.
“What is it?”
I glanced over at the young man and his crying friend. His gray eyes were wide with alarm, but I simply shook my head—trying and most likely failing—to put on my best smile. He dragged his gaze away from me and looked around the room, gasping and turning a little pale as he took in the damage and the blood-soaked bodies.
“Oh, God, Chico,” he said breathlessly.
I followed his gaze to a Hispanic man who was seated on the couch. A TEC-9 was lying across his lap, and he was bleeding from several leaking bullet holes.
“Friend of yours?” I asked.
He turned to look at me and lifted his chin. “Just met him tonight actually.” There was hesitation and a catch in his words which plucked at my heart strings for some reason. “We were discussing exfoliating when all this happened.”
Exfoliating?I blinked. “What?”
“Take us out of here,” his friend said shakily.
“We have to wait. The man we came here to get isn’t in the apartment,” I said, eyeing him sympathetically. “We’re searching for him, but until we know where he is, it’s safer to stay here.” I softened my voice, feeling their desperation to flee the scene of so much carnage. “I’m sorry.”
The guy nodded, looking around, probably for somewhere to sit that wasn’t covered with blood and dead guys. He settledfor wrapping his arms around his middle when his friend finally turned him loose.
More than a minute passed before my earwig came to life again. The cursing in the com was instantly drowned out by a volley of automatic gunshots.
“Check in!” Candy yelled. My brothers sounded off one by one…all but Joy who was covering the door to the west alley between the trinket shop and the apartment building. The spit of a sniper rifle came almost instantly afterward.
“Clifford? Monroe?”
“Fuck’s sake!” Clifford swore. “Missed him, Cap,” he said in his strong, earthy British accent so different to Joy’s refinedDownton Abbeyone. “Tosser came out guns blazing through the west door. For a split second, he had Joy in his sights. Must have been expecting trouble, sir.”
