Page 43 of Danger Close
She did.
“Ezra!”Ricky snapped into the comms.“Sophia’s inbound.Take her.I’ll be right behind her.”
Ezra’s voice came back clipped and sharp.“Copy that.I’ll get her.”
The first guard came at him fast, knife out.
Ricky ducked low, grabbed the guy’s wrist, and slammed him against the wall.The knife clattered.A knee to the gut, an elbow to the neck, and the man crumpled.
But not before the second caught Ricky across the forehead with a sucker punch—something hard, something metal.
Pain bloomed behind his eye.Blood blurred his vision.
He turned with a snarl—and threw a punch that cracked ribs on impact.
The second man dropped.
Silence.
Breathing heavy.Blood dripping.
And then—movement.
Four more kids, barefoot and terrified, clutching hands and running down the corridor after Sophia.
Ricky waved them forward.“Go!With her—now!”
He followed.
One man.Five children.
And a hallway full of monsters left behind with two teams of military men hell bent on burning that hellhole to the ground.
****
Ezra caught the firstglimpse of her through the smoke.
Tiny, fast, terrified—but still running.
He broke cover and sprinted forward, heart thudding like a war drum.Sophia launched herself into his arms, wild and weightless, clinging like a lifeline.
“I got you,” he whispered, throat burning.“You’re safe.You’re safe, I promise.”
Her little arms locked around his neck.She didn’t cry.She didn’t speak.
She just held on.
Ezra turned, eyes scanning behind her—just in time to see Ricky rounding the corner, blood streaking down his temple, shirt torn, four more kids trailing him like ducklings.
Ezra’s lungs gave out in a single breath of relief.
Ricky looked like hell.A hot, furious, gorgeous mess of blood and adrenaline and protectiveness turned all the way up to eleven.
He grinned when their eyes met.“You miss me?”
Ezra rolled his eyes.“Not even for a second.”Can’t have his man’s ego getting too inflated.
He placed Sophia gently on the ground beside the truck they would be traveling out in, then turned and herded the rest of the kids into the other evac van.The kids were quiet, traumatized, but looked thankful as hell to be out of that place.The oldest one looked no older than eight years old.
