Chapter 21

Ryder watched a number of expressions cross Langley's face, but he was only able to label a few of them—surprise, consternation, deliberation, and finally resolve. He knew what she was going to say before her shoulders went back and conviction settled on her features.

"Yes, I can shoot to kill. I'll do whatever you need me to do."

Everything he saw as he looked at her supported her words. Ryder had a flash of their time in Puerto Jardin, the way she'd gone for his temple with that rock. She could have killed him with that blow and she'd known that. And swung anyway. Maybe she could do this.

But battle was a completely different ball game. She had the determination now, but when the men actually showed their faces, could she squeeze off a few rounds?

What would they do if she couldn't?

She looked up at him, her normally shiny brown hair snarled, her face grimy but resolute, and he finally got it. Really got it. This woman was nobody's princess. Her money didn't fucking matter. Only she mattered, and if she didn't care that he couldn't jet her off to the south of France on a whim, then why was he hung up on it? Langley Canfield was his person, and he loved her enough to fight for forever with her.

He couldn't tell her that, not now, so instead he studied the terrain in front of them, trying to view it from Langley's perspective. Too much cover, but it might help. If she couldn't see them clearly, she could fire at the bastards without freezing up.

"Ski," Stony said, "get her ready. The clock's ticking, dude."

Going down on his belly near the entrance, Ryder shifted around until he found a small gap in the bushes that would allow her to see out but keep her behind as much rock as possible. It was a riskier location than he wanted for her.

Ryder turned to look at Langley. "See where I'm at? When I get up, you try it."

She nodded and he pushed to his feet, watching her lay almost exactly where he'd been .

"There's a gap in the bushes. You got it?" he asked. "It's small, but it'll allow you to monitor the approach."

"Found it," she reported.

Stony had gotten into position on the side Ryder had assigned him, but he hesitated. "Call out what you see. How many men, what they're doing, things like that. We'll do the same." And they'd have to avoid using a lot of their normal shorthand because Langley wouldn't understand it. "If you get overwhelmed or need help, say that, too. Don't make me have to keep an eye on you."

"I'll let you know if I need assistance. I promise."

"Good." He lingered although he believed her. She'd actually filled him in on the condition of her legs earlier, communicating with him honestly, and he trusted her to be telling him the truth now.

He couldn't make himself move and Ryder knew he had to watch the other flank. Langley looked up at him and smiled. Not an I-got-this smile, it was a you-got-this smile. As if he were the novice.

His lips twitched, but he suppressed the grin. She'd nearly made him laugh before a firefight. Damn, he loved this woman.

Crossing to his side, Ryder settled on his stomach and lined himself up on one of the cracks between stones. The next gap over was blocked by the bushes and this location gave the best angle on that approach. One of the fuckers might try breaching the oval that way. He couldn't see the complete area, though, and that worried him, but they weren't getting in here. They weren't taking Langley.

With his heightened senses, the light buzz of a phone on vibrate sounded incredibly loud. Stony had Ryder's mobile—it had to be his phone—and waited for his buddy to read the text message, half holding his breath.

"Backup is twenty minutes out," Rowland reported quietly.

Well, shit. It was about what he'd expected given the location of the vacation home, the size of the property, and their position deep into the acreage, but he'd been hoping for a shorter timeframe. At least they had one huge advantage—the bastards wanted Langley alive. That meant they weren't going to be tossing a grenade in here or using a rocket launcher.

"Motion," she said softly. "See one, no two."

"Distance?" he asked.

"At the thicker trees."

He grunted. That put them more than thirty yards out. "When they poke their heads out, aim and fire. Don't shoot off a million rounds. One or two is enough."

With the amount of ammo Stony had brought, they'd be okay for a while, but there was no sense wasting bullets and spraying fire everywhere was amateur hour anyway. Ryder continued to scan the landscape. The mercs needed to get around their flanks and he and Rowland needed to stop them because they were vulnerable at the rear.

It remained silent. She wasn't shooting. Had she locked up?

On the heels of that worry, Langley fired.

He'd told her to do it, but Ryder almost came out of his skin. He struggled with the adrenaline spike, fought to hang on to battle calm, but damn it, this was his woman. He wanted to be in front of her, protecting her, not listening to her shoot at those motherfuckers.

Stay in position, dumb fuck. That's the best way to protect Langley.

They returned fire. Instinct warred with training. Training won. Barely. But shit, hearing Langley engage with the enemy while he waited nearly destroyed him.

The exchange lasted long enough to pull his nerves taut. Why the hell were they focusing on her?

They didn't know it was her, he realized in the next instant.

Harper might have been with them in Puerto Jardin, but until the day he left the teams, he'd believed Langley was a nearly helpless princess—just as Ryder had. The bastards thought they had either him or Stony occupied. Two shooters. Four unaccounted for.

"Diversion," he said quietly.

Rowland squeezed off a couple of rounds. "Figured that out."

Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes was a fucking eternity in a firefight.

Motion caught his attention and Ryder finally found his mind centered on something other than worrying about his woman. He fired slightly ahead of where he'd seen the movement.

At least the terrain gave them one benefit—the bushes, tall grasses, and weeds were damn fucking hard to keep stationary and this mercenary band was unlikely to be made up of only former United States Special Forces. Bent Tree hired from countries around the world and a lot of them didn't train their people as well as the US did.

Another bush swayed in a way that wasn't natural an instant before a couple of shots were directed his way.

He returned fire. But as he was shooting, it dawned on him that Langley had been quiet for a while. Damn it. Squeezing off a few more rounds to buy himself some time, Ryder took a second to glance over and make sure she was all right .

Ryder didn't realize he'd been holding his breath until it shuddered out. She was okay. He could only see a part of her face, but her expression was completely composed, not a hint of stress or fear. Holy hell she was magnificent.

A bullet hit the boulder near his shoulder, sending a fragment of rock flying.

Cursing again, Ryder returned his attention to his own assignment. Get your head in the game, dumb fuck. But how did he find the zone when his hellcat was at risk? How did he stop worrying about her and only pay attention to the enemy? How—?

His thoughts cut off abruptly as a mercenary appeared through the gap to his right. Spinning into position, Ryder fired. And fired.

The asshole fell backward, at least one round catching him below his vest.

"Gonna check on him," he told Stony. Ryder had to make sure the fucker wouldn't surprise them again.

Creeping out of the crack between the boulders, Ryder found the merc right where he'd gone down. He stripped him of his weapons before checking for a pulse. Thready and weak. He checked the wounds next. Because of his angle of fire, several rounds had gone under the vest and up toward the chest. There was a shit-ton of blood.

Ryder was grabbing magazines from the vest— never pass up ammo—when the man made a gurgling gasp. He checked his pulse again, but there wasn't one.

"Down," he reported when he returned inside the circle of boulders.

"Five left," Stony said.

Getting back in position, Ryder put the extra weapon beside him and worked harder to block Langley from his mind. He'd known from the get-go that the bushes on this side of the boulders were a potential hole in their protection. He'd known he had to keep careful watch and he'd fucked up. If he hadn't immediately spotted the merc…

He stopped his body mid-tremor. No time for thinking about this. Later. When he had time for nightmares.

Gunfire from behind the enemy position reached his ears. Too early for the cops, so it had to be either Griff or Mako. Which one? Which one was fighting with them? He fucking hated that if either man approached their position, he'd have to treat him as an enemy, but there was nothing else they could do.

He caught motion and fired at the spot immediately. He heard Rowland and Langley shooting, too. A bullet kicked up dirt about three feet to his right .

If it had been on his left, it would have been damn near Langley.

Focus, dumb fuck. Focus.

Just about the time he had his mind back on task, he heard a man curse in what sounded like an eastern European language. Czech, maybe.

"I think I hit someone," Langley called out softly.

"I don't think you hurt him too badly," Ryder said. He fired another round where he thought he saw someone skulking. "He wouldn't be swearing if it was serious."

"I know." She sounded disappointed.

Before he could figure out how to respond, a bullet hit rock and ricocheted. The fragments narrowly missed him. Shit. More shots were coming inside their enclosure.

"Fucking hell," Ryder cursed as another bullet created a puff of dust.

"Someone took the slope," Stony said. He had the angle on the hillside above Ryder. "Can't find him."

More shots bounced around.

Ryder couldn't see the slope from his position. "Langley, do you see anything glinting on the hillside above me?"

Rowland fired randomly toward the general direction of the shots .

"No, I don't—wait! Eleven o'clock. About a quarter of the way up."

"Got it." Stony sprayed the spot with bullets.

The merc opened a barrage on their oval. Ryder had his head down, gaze locked on the approach to the rocks to make sure another mercenary wasn't trying to use the shooting as a diversion.

"Need help," Langley said, so quietly he barely heard it. Before he could shift to check on her, he had a merc on his side. Ryder fired.

The report from his weapon was still echoing when Stony's words stopped his heart. "Langley's hit."