Page 28 of Broken (Powertools: The Shields 4)

While he and Liam were focused on Ruby—their primary objective—the masked man staggered to his feet and circled around behind them. He lunged for the equipment stacked in the corner and ripped an external drive from it. A cable still dangled from one end when he pivoted and sprinted for the door.

Ace whipped his gun from the guy clutching Ruby toward the masked man, then back. On former missions he’d have dropped one then the other, fast enough that neither would have been able to cause a problem. Worse, to compensate for Ace’s uncertainty, Liam had to cover him. The masked man reached the doorway.

Ace’s hand wavered as he aimed for the man clutching Ruby again. He debated switching his grip to his left hand, but there simply wasn’t time. And he hadn’t practiced enough yet. Not when Ruby’s face was inches from his target. “Shit!”

“Should I take the shot?” Liam barked.

It had only been a flicker of hesitation, but in their line of work. That was too much.

Instead of dividing and conquering, neutralizing both targets, Ace watched as Liam did what he’d gotten too in his head to accomplish. Liam fired, exploding the bastard threatening Ruby’s skull. He was dead before he hit the floor.

Ruby tumbled to her knees only slightly slower. Ace wanted to rush to her side, but there was unfinished business. Both he and Liam switched their focus to the masked man, but he bolted into the corridor.

By the time they cleared the opening, he’d scrambled around the bend in the hallway so both Ace’s and Liam’s low shots—intended to take him down, not out—pinged off the corner of the cinder block wall. Neither hit their mark. Over the comms, Liam shouted to Tavish and Legend, letting them know the guy was heading for the exit even as he pursued the asshole.

Ace looked between Liam’s retreating form and Ruby before Jordan’s voice echoed in his ear. “Stay with Ruby. Cover her until this is over.”

It was the easiest order Ace had ever followed in his life as he stumbled over the four corpses to where she huddled in an expanding pool of someone else’s blood then planted himself between her and the doorway. He made himself much bigger than he felt as he became her human shield.

“Son of a bitch!” Ace heard Tavish shout over the comms. “There’s some kind of tour happening out here. A group is approaching…”

“Fuck!” A thump accompanied Jordan’s curse, making Ace wonder what he’d banged his fist into. “Pull back. No civilian casualties. Do not open fire.”

“You want us to let him go?” Legend didn’t seem to like that idea any more than Ace did by his incredulous tone of voice.

Ruby croaked, “I booby trapped the fuck out of that drive. We’ll be able to pinpoint their location next time he plugs it in. And I made it so they can’t copy anything off of there without scrambling the data either.”

Jordan must have heard. He called the team off. “Fall back. We have what we need. Get Ruby and get the fuck out.”

Ace had no trouble obeying that command. As Liam reappeared in the doorway, his shoulders filling the entire thing, Ace shoved his gun into its holster then spun and crouched beside Ruby.

Rather than shrinking from him or smacking his hands away like he feared, she launched herself into his open arms.

“I’ve got you,” he promised as he stroked her hair and crushed her to his heaving chest. “You did so good. You’re safe. We’re getting the fuck out of here.”

Over the comms, he heard Legend and Tavish setting up a diversion that would keep the tour from stumbling across their wreckage before the two teams arriving just then could dispose of it properly.

Ruby blinked at the bodies splayed around them, tears welling in her eyes when her gaze shifted to the two stupid college kids who’d obviously gotten mixed up in something far more sinister than they’d realized, then buried her face in the crook of Ace’s neck. “Take me home. I don’t know how the rest of you do this. I’m made for my nice cushy workstation.”

“I’ve got your unicorn in the car,” Ace murmured to her. “We’ll be there soon and you’ll never be in danger again. Not like that. I swear. I’m so sorry, Ruby.”

She didn’t respond, though her breathing hitched. They hadn’t solved the problem for good, but they’d made progress. And they had Ruby back. That was all that mattered.

Liam led the way, gun drawn, as they marched back to James’s car. Ace handed Ruby to Liam long enough to climb into the backseat and then held his arms out. Liam deposited her into his lap where she settled, clinging to him as if he intended to ever let her go again. When Liam put her unicorn on Ace’s chest, she squished it between them and sighed.

Tavish and Legend jogged to the car. Despite his black combat boots and matching kilt, Tavish managed to contort himself into the backseat beside them. Kennedy hailed them over the comms. “Does she need a doctor?”

Tavish studied Ruby curled up in Ace’s arms and said, “Don’t think it’s medical attention she needs at the moment.”

Ace tucked his chin against his chest so he could peer down at her and the faint bruise already appearing on her porcelain cheek. He winced.

“Okay, but I want to check her over as soon as we get home.” Kennedy was a damn good medic. She’d ensure neither Ruby’s body nor psyche had suffered too much damage.

Liam cursed under his breath. Ace understood. They’d gotten incredibly lucky. Things could have ended up so much worse. He tucked into the driver’s seat and launched out of the lot.

The ride back was quiet, each of them lost in their own thoughts. Ruby never once stopped clinging to her unicorn or Ace. And when she started to shiver, he rubbed her back and arms in what he hoped were soothing circles.

This time they didn’t stop in the lot. They pulled into one of the armored garage bays they usually only used when transporting bodies or soon-to-be bodies or other things they didn’t want anyone to see hanging around headquarters. No one was taking chances.

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