Page 11

Ian rolled onto his back, taking Piper with him so she lay on top of him, now. An instant’s awareness of how good she felt registered, but then his ind snapped back to the crisis at hand.

He looked around in the lime green gloom of what used to be some sort of clothing warehouse.

Abandoned clothing racks littered the space, along with chunks of plaster and concrete fallen from the ceiling.

But of much more interest and alarm was the red beam of infrared light that had slashed through the space a moment ago.

Invisible to the naked eye, infrared lasers were often attached to weapons as sights.

The shooter then wore a special pair of goggles that allowed him to see the red dot land on his target.

The trick was to be wearing the right goggles.

It just so happened his French Thales goggles had an IR mode, and it just so happened he’d had it activated when that line of infrared energy sliced across the room.

As Piper wiggled and squirmed, trying to get her cloth shawl thing spread across them, he eased out from under her.

They had to be plastered together side-by-side for the cloth to cover them both, but he made sure they ended up side-by-side on their bellies in prone shooting positions.

Of course, without NOD’s, Piper was blind as a bat.

And a blind sniper was about as useful as a virgin in a whorehouse.

Something warm and moist touched his ear. He jumped, then settled when he realized it was Piper’s mouth. Jeez, it was weird working with a woman!

She breathed, “Who’s out there?”

He answered as quietly, “Infrared targeting beam. I think it came from the side window. Dunno if the shooter saw our heat signatures or not.”

“Room layout?”

“Twenty feet wide, sixty feet front to back. Door we came in is at seven o’clock, range: forty feet.

Clothing racks and shelving are scattered behind us.

Exit eleven o’clock. Desk to the left of it.

One window, two feet wide by three feet tall, chest high, your eight thirty position.

No glass in the window. Plywood covering.

One more window your one o’clock. Partially covered with wood. Lotta debris on the floor.”

“In other words, we’re fish in a barrel.”

He opened his mouth to answer, but the infrared beam sliced across the room again, zooming toward them like a jackal scenting fresh meat.

He grabbed the back of Piper’s neck and shoved her head to the floor.

His cheek pressing into cold concrete, he watched tensely as the red beam skimmed inches above them and passed by.

Piper whispered, “Do you have a shot?”

“No visual on the shooter.”

“I’m useless in these conditions, and we’ve got to draw this guy out. I’ll make a run for the back door. When he pops up to shoot, you take him out.”

He hissed, “Are you nuts?”

“You got a better idea?”

“I might not get my shot off before he kills you.”

He felt her slender shoulder shrug upward beside him.

And then her lush mouth settled disconcertingly against his ear again.

“It’s your reflexes against his. I’ll take my chances that you’re faster.

It’s better than laying here until he spots us and waxes us both.

He obviously saw us come in here or he wouldn’t be looking so hard. ”

Unfortunately, her assessment was correct. But he hated like hell to use a civilian—a woman—as bait. It went against every protective instinct ingrained in his gut.

“Ready?” she murmured. Her hands came up under her chest preparatory to pushing up. “You call it.”

He lowered his eye to his rifle sight and trained it on the window ahead of him. “Go on three.”

“Good shooting.”

He waited until the infrared beam started another sweep, this time toward the front of the warehouse. “On my mark.” He sighted in of the source of the beam. “One.” Utter relaxation flowed through his entire body. “Two.” He began a long slow exhalation. A final sigh of breath, “Three.”

Piper jumped up and took off running. She bumped into a stack of packing crates, which she pushed to the floor. She swore loudly and kicked some debris around with her foot. On cue, the infrared beam swung toward her.

C’mon. Show yourself . The sniper wasn’t moving into sight in the window! Piper was going to die for nothing!

“Dive!” Ian shouted at her. He jumped up and charged the window. Piper took a running fall, rolling into a shelf unit with a grunt. The beam was still on her. Dammit!

With a wordless shout, he rushed the window, shooting randomly through the glass.

Finally, the beam of death swung toward him.

The shooter came into view, a white blob of heat.

Ian didn’t think. Didn’t stop to aim. He just took a flying leap and, laid out in mid-air, weapon still plastered to his eye and shoulder, took the shot.

He double tapped the trigger, but the first shot vaporized the shooter’s head.

He landed hard, the weapon slamming into his shoulder. His entire right arm went numb. “You okay, Piper?” His NOD’s had been knocked askew and he couldn’t see her in the sudden dark.

“Yes. You?”

“Five by five. Stay where you are. I’ll come get you.”

He climbed to his feet, his right arm stinging like hell.

He yanked the NOD’s back down over his eyes, gave them a whack, and they came back on.

The French might have their foibles, but they made sturdy military optics.

The room lit up in lime green. He made his way over to Piper and reached down for her.

“You okay?” she asked as he pulled her to her feet.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Sounded like you went down hard.”

“I’ve walked fifty klicks on a broken leg. I’m fine.”

“That’s right. I forgot you’re a miracle of modern testosterone.”

He rolled his eyes and led her to the back door. “Doesn’t look boarded over from the outside. If we bust the lock, it ought to open.”

“Be my guest, Macho Man. I’m as blind as a bat.”

“Bats see pretty well, you know. And their sonar puts eyesight to shame.”

“Whatever. Just get the door open and let’s get out of here.”

He used his sidearm, a 9 mm Beretta, to blow the lock open. Quick look left and right. Alley. No hostiles in sight. He got his bearings and moved off to the right, toward his hidey hole.

The gun battle raged one block over now, but they were able to move mostly unimpeded.

They ducked down another street and, without warning, somebody took a pot shot at them.

But the bullet winged way wide. Probably some terrified kid.

Who needed bedtime stories when a real-life drama like this was playing out under your nose? Hell of a way for kids to grow up.

“You got a flash bang?” she muttered.

He blinked, startled by Piper’s question. “Yes.”

“We need a diversion to get across this street. Yesterday when I was scoping out this area, there were at least a dozen rebels strolling around like it was home sweet home. I think the shooter who just tried for us isn’t alone.”

Good thing she’d run a recent recon in this neighborhood.

It had been a solid week since he’d eyeballed this sector.

He pulled out a flash bang—a grenade designed to create mostly noise and sound, and murmured, “When it blows, you run for it. I’ll cover you.

When you reach that alley over there, turn and cover me. ”

She nodded grimly.

He couldn’t believe he’d just said that. He was entrusting his life to this civilian female. “Five second delay,” he muttered. He pulled the pin and lobbed the grenade. He muttered, “One monkey. Two monkey…

When he reached four, she took off running.

Right about when any lurking snipers could acquire her as a target, the flash bang blew.

She swerved, righted herself, and kept on running.

Grimly, he jumped off the curb and sprinted for Piper.

He was a sitting duck. Every watching eye on the whole street would be trained on where that explosion had just happened, and unlike her, he didn’t have the distraction of an explosion to make them miss their shot.

He was startled when a muzzle flash lit up from the mouth of the alley Piper had just dived into.

Another one. Two more in quick succession.

Cries accompanied each shot. If she was actually acquiring and hitting hard targets with each of those shots, she was as fast as a pissed off rattlesnake snake.

He dived for the darkness beside her and rolled against a wall as the ground behind him exploded in a puff of dirt. Damn, that was close.

“Thanks,” he grunted.

“No prob. Let’s move out before any of these jerks decide to rush us.”

“The way you were picking ‘em off? Not likely.”

Nonetheless, he climbed to his feet and took up a point position. Abruptly, his back felt a whole lot safer. That girl was hell on wheels with a firearm.

They had to sprint the last block full out as some sort of armored vehicle cruised into the area. He highly doubted it was the government trying to restore order. More likely, El Noor had a new toy and was looking for some buildings to blow up.

Ian jammed the key in his front door lock and slipped inside as a small armored vehicle came into sight. Piper jumped in behind him and he kicked the door shut just as the armored vehicle’s spotlight swung down the alley.

Jesus, that was too close. The embracing darkness of the stairwell wrapped around them. He listened tensely until he heard the vehicle rumble away into the night.

Safe. For now.

Piper panted against him and their chests collided as he, too, sucked wind. The deep silence of the thick walls around them was a shock to his senses after the chaos outside.

“We good?” she gasped.

“Yeah,” he replied, nearly as winded as she was. “Nice job out there.”

“Hark. Was that a compliment out of the badass commando?”

“Don’t make a big deal of it or I won’t give you any more.”