Chapter Sixteen

Ghost

T wo klicks and I hit their six.

The one carrying Safiya was second to last, but he was the only one scanning as they double-timed it in formation through the forested grounds on a deer path.

Calculating their speed, glancing at a parallel but elevated deer path, I swung my HK416 around as I palmed my suppressed Glock.

Four shots. Take out the assholes not carrying her, then deal with the one who was.

But fuck. Fuck .

Three I could get off without a problem. Then the odds went to shit. With the training they had, at a minimum, I'd have return fire by the fourth shot. No fucking way was I jeopardizing her with that scenario.

Closing in on the five masked assholes, watching my speed and steps, minimizing my footprint and sound, I made a last-minute decision.

At a break in the waist-high scrub brush where it leveled out to knee height, I took a running jump. Hitting the second path, maintaining my speed, I covered enough ground in fifteen meters to come up level with the last tango in their formation.

He turned to look in my direction, and I took the shot.

The fucker dropped. My aim moved with precision, then I was firing.

The first two tangos in formation went down how I'd calculated, then the third was returning fire, but the asshole holding my number one made a rookie move.

Taking cover, he called out their next tactical move. "Flank out, flank out ."

I moved the fuck in.

Crouched low, going in for close combat, I leapt back onto their path and hit their position.

The barrel of my Glock landed dead center on the asshole holding an unconscious Safiya as the distinctive shape of metal hit my temple.

"Don't kill him," the asshole warned his one remaining team member. "They want him alive."

"Don't care." The fuck aiming at me ignorantly leaned in to apply more pressure.

"If you want your fucking payout, care." Hefting my number one's weight as he slowly straightened his back, he tipped his chin at the HK416 in my left hand that was already aimed low at the other fuck. "If you want to lose the ability to reproduce, keep moving in on him."

The other fuck had enough sense to glance down.

I swung up.

My elbow caught his face, I let go of my rifle, grabbed the barrel of his 9mm, and shoved up and out. Then I twisted with a hard grip.

The fuck let go of his weapon as his wrist snapped. The asshole dropped Safiya. And I flipped the 9mm in my left hand as I retrained my aim at the asshole while he drew on me.

Each of our weapons hit the other's skulls at the exact same time.

Rage edging past my control, I focused on every honed instinct my military training afforded me. "You ready to die?"

The asshole snorted. "You pull the trigger, you're dead too."

"Drop your weapon," I warned, memorizing the asshole's brown-eyed gaze but not missing the other fuck out of the corner of my field of vision as he recovered too late.

Wiping his bleeding nose, he drew a knife in his left hand. "Fucking kill him, Sarg!"

Filing the asshole's rank away for later, I calculate the odds.

Not fucking good.

But I didn't stay alive all these years by playing it safe.

"Go ahead." It wasn't a fucking provocation. I was a tactician, and I knew maneuvers. Left handing the other fuck's 9mm, aiming my own weapon, I'd get off two shots before I was dead. Safiya would come to eventually. And without me breathing, they'd have no leverage. She'd be safe. Alone in the woods but alive. She'd survived a hell of a lot worse.

"What the fuck are you waiting for, Sarg? He killed H—"

"Grab the target and shut the fuck up," the asshole ordered.

"Touch her and die." It wasn't a threat. It was a goddamn promise.

Looking toward the asshole, the other fuck hesitated. "He's gonna shoot me if I grab her."

" Jesus Christ , read the situation. You think he cares about dying? I pull the trigger, we're both dead. Dead doesn't pay. Pick the bitch—"

I kicked the other fuck in the chest, grabbed the barrel of the asshole's piece, and slammed my shoulder into his chest for a tackle as I threw his trigger hand up.

He went down under me, and my aim landed dead center on his chest.

I pulled the trigger the same time I was kicked in the head.

My shot hit the asshole's arm instead of his chest, and the fuck that I'd underestimated lunged.

I rolled and fired.

But I was too late.

The fuck drove his knife into my gut, the asshole slammed the butt of his stock against my skull, and my shot went wild.

The lights went out.