Page 28 of Saved By the Marines (Soldiers Of Misfortune)

I slammed my back against the side of the shed, looking around the corner to make sure no one had spotted me. The guys were still exchanging occasional shots, but it was like both sides were stalling. The hairs on the back of my neck rose as I wondered what our enemy was waiting on.

The wind picked up right as I was about to move on toward the house and that's when it hit me, Bailey’s scent. She always smelled like peaches and cream. Sweet and innocent and it made me want to corrupt her. I sniffed hard, not quite trusting that scent. It was too much to hope that I’d just found her. Then I saw the hole in the wall. They had kept her here, but…the hole? For the second time that day my face got peppered with splinters. I jerked back, dodging the shots. There was a third shooter, positioned in the entrance to the barn.Where the fuck did he come from?

There wasn’t time for this. Jas and Wolfe didn’t have an infinite amount of ammo. Bailey’s sweet scent was threatening to completely override my senses. She was close. No way was I letting some cartel shit head slow me down.

I reached into my cargo pocket and grabbed hold of one of Brando’s gifts. A flash bang. I was hoping to save it for the house, but right now was more important. This guy had to be taken care of before I could continue on. The sun was still sinking, and darkness had almost fully descended on us, the sun giving one last valiant effort to shed light over the clearing.

Pulling the pin, I stepped away from the wall of the shed, still keeping it between me and the barn. Flash bangs have a four second fuse. I released the spoon, the metal clip that the pin held in place. The fuse was active.One. Two.

I lobbed it over the roof toward the barn.Three. Four.I closed my eyes for a brief second while I stepped out from cover and began my run toward where I’d thrown the flash bang and where the man was standing. The explosion rocked the ground beneath my boots and a feral grin covered my face when I heard the subsequent stream of curses.

Opening my eyes now that I wasn’t in danger of being blinded by my own weapon, I poured on more speed. I was closing in on the barn fast. The need to get there before he recovered was driving me hard.

Shithead was there, rifle on the ground, holding his ears as he stumbled around, disoriented. That was the great thing about a flash bang. Get it within twenty feet of someone and they’ll swear they just got blown the fuck up. I’d just tipped the odds completely into my favor with one well-placed throw.

I closed the final few feet and slammed the butt of my rifle into his face. A spray of blood went across the barn wall, painting the wood, and he dropped like a log. His groans were muffled as he held his head. Fucker was bleeding like a stuck pig and still couldn’t hear or see very well. Just how I liked my enemies, completely incapacitated.

Pulling my rifle back, I shouldered it and pointed down at the man. Before I could ask where Bailey was I saw that the left side of his head was…missing a big chunk. His skull was cracked open from where my rifle had hit him and I could see exactly what was on his mind. Now that I could see his injury, I was pretty sure that it was his brain matter decorating the wall next to us. The fact that he was still alive was a minor miracle, though he wouldn’t be for long.

“Damn,” I muttered. It wasn’t that I gave a fuck what happened to this piece of shit. It was just that until we found Bailey we needed to take these guys alive.No time to dwell on it.The other two were still shooting at the wood line. I left the guy to bleed out and ran to the house, plastering myself against the wall. I moved purposefully toward the sound of gun fire.

I peered in through a side window. Both of them were leaning against the open window frames on the east wall. I squinted my eyes, looking behind them as far as I could see. No sign of Bailey. Tucking my rifle behind me, I crept around the corner to the first window. The rifle barrel was sticking out.

Like taking candy from a baby. These guys really aren’t prepared for us.

They had probably thought the senator would be an easy target and that the Secret Service wouldn’t have the skill to mount a rescue like this one. They would have been right, if the senator hadn’t insisted on our team being his guards.

I reached out with both hands and grasped the barrel of the gun, giving it a hard pull. It came right out of his hands like a muddied pig slipping out of a rancher’s grasp. I dropped the weapon and stood up, reaching through the window before he could move away. Grabbing the man by the throat, I pulled him through the opening.

His scream said it all. He had no idea what was happening, just that it was bad. I dropped him on his head and gave a swift kick to his throat. Not enough to kill him… I hoped. Just enough to make him choke while I took care of his friend. More than enough that he wouldn’t have the strength to pick that rifle up and shoot me in the back with it.

“Paco?” I heard the other man call out. I pulled out my knife. Rifles weren’t great in close combat, and I didn’t actually want to kill the fuckers, so I kept my 1911 holstered. My huge Ka-bar knife would be the best weapon for what I had in mind.

The second man leaned out the window with his rifle. Idiot. Once again, I grabbed the rifle with one hand, and with the other I brought my blade down into his arm. It pierced his skin and continued on all the way through muscle and into the window frame, pinning him there. His scream may as well have been the all clear sign. I heard Jas and Wolfe running up behind me.

Looking down at his face, I recognized Salazar. Weaver had been nice enough to send over all the information on the man they’d been able to dig up, including a photo. Suave had been kind enough to send a picture of tits.

“Good work,” Wolfe said in a low voice.

“There’s one more out by the barn,” I told him. “Likely dead by now.”

“I’ll go check,” Jas volunteered.

“Let's find Bailey” Wolfe said, heading for the door to the house.

CHAPTER13

Wolfe

Ikicked open the door to the house and made a quick sweep of the inside. “Bailey!” I shouted. There was no response. Jas dragged Salazar's partner into the room and zip tied his hands behind his back and his feet together. It had only taken him a few minutes to determine that the man by the barn was dead. He’d left him where he was and came back to us.

I looked over at Salazar in time to see Kip wrench his Ka-bar out of the man's arm and shove him back through the window. Salazar’s scream was the first of what promised to be many. Grabbing him by his wounded arm, I made sure to squeeze extra hard as I dragged him into the next room. Jas proceeded to zip tie Salazar's hands and legs to a chair.

The first man glared at us as we entered. Anger and a spark of madness was easy enough to detect in his gaze, but he kept his mouth shut as we tied him to his own chair.

Like a good little dog following his master’s orders.

The guy’s attitude didn’t surprise me. Men who lived life outside of the law tended to get a little drunk on power. Shit, we were opposite sides of the same coin. We followed orders, but did what was necessary in the moment. Most of our kills just ended up being sanctioned and excused. We did it for the overall good. Assholes like this? They did it to line their pockets.

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