Page 6

“Copy. Request to move. I’ll flank from the north, try to break their line. Give me three mikes.”

I’m practically speaking through gritted teeth. “Negative, unless you’ve got a route. If they see you moving, they’ll light you up.”

“Only thick brush between me and the road—no hostiles. I’ll stay low. Can’t sit this out—I’ll draw their eyes. When I open up, you move.”

Levi’s eyes shift to mine. “If Hunter makes noise on their flank, we can rush center and suppress. Drop ’em fast.”

With a grim nod, my eyes catch on the hostage struggling to remove the hood tied over her head.

“We move on Hunter’s mark. Stay low. Stay fast.”

Grabbing the partially serrated OG SEAL Pup at my thigh with one hand and her arm in the other, she jolts just as I begin cutting away the zip-ties at her wrists and ankles before I move to the sack on her head.

Make-up streaks her swollen and bruised face as she looks up at me like I’m the poster boy for hope. She’s nothing short of traumatized, but thankfully has the presence of mind to remain still and quiet.

“Do not move from this position. There’s five of us and eight of them. Those are excellent fucking odds so long as we get out of here before anyone else arrives.”

She gives me a shaky nod.

Turning back toward the road, I see the other remaining hostiles are still behind their vehicle. My gut churns knowing they’re just waiting it out until more of their cartel arrives.

“Hunter, what’s your location?”

Silence.

Levi, Mal, Riggs, and I exchange a tense look. Several beats pass, until finally, Beau’s comm comes through.

“Mark.”

His signal is immediately followed by distant gunfire, drawing the attention of the hostiles. My team and I surge forward as the sound of our suppressed HK416s rent the air.

Two more hostiles go down, and shortly after, a third, just as Mal shouts from my left.“Reloading—cover right!”

I’m shifting to cover just as a hostile from inside the middle vehicle sneaks toward our treeline. I fire a burst just as he sprints toward us.

“Hostile rear left, closing in on target! I’m moving to intercept!”

Levi is the first to respond. “Copy, shifting fire! At your six!”

Sprinting up the hill back into the treeline, I see the hostage dart through the trees as the hostile chases her, gun in hand. There’s too much fucking brush to get a clear shot and a moment later he’s out of sight—as is our target.

What a sloppy fucking mess.

A moment later, her scream cuts through the air, alerting me to her location, and I’m running through the brush.

When I finally burst through a clearing, HK416 raised, he’s using her as his cover and has a handgun pointed at her head. She winces as he grinds the muzzle into her temple.

The hostile’s voice is desperate. “Take me with you. Wherever you’re going?—

PAP-PAP!

Fucking idiot.

The hostage gives a short scream at the sound of my rifle as two rounds seek home inside his skull. He falls to a heap on the ground behind her, and her body is tugged down along with it.

“Ghost, sitrep. Hunter, Bear, and Doc, check in.”

Levi’s voice crackles through my comms. “Eight hostiles down.”