Page 166 of Protecting Peyton

Zane

“Alpha in position,”Lucas said in my ear.

We were alongside the building, almost to the door.

“Fuck,” O’Connor yelled.

I turned to find the idiot had tripped. “Quiet,” I whisper-yelled while I put a finger to my lips. “No talking.”Useless idiot.

He nodded. “Sorry.”

After a few seconds of silence, I led the way forward and crouched under the window next to the door. “Bravo in position,” I announced quietly on comms.

“Alpha entering.”

“What’s going on?” O’Connor asked. What was it about no talking that was hard to understand?

“Waiting,” I whispered. We had no idea if they had a man positioned just inside the door.

The distinct sound of gunfire came from inside.

“We’ve been engaged,” Lucas said. “Breach, breach, breach.”

I stood and broke the window. In under two seconds, I’d thrown the blanket over the sill, climbed inside, and cleared the room.

Automatic gunfire broke out in the distance. Without rifles, Lucas and Constance had their hands full, and they wouldn’t be converging with us anytime soon.

O’Connor grunted and tried to lift himself up to the windowsill. He failed.

Motioning toward the hallway, I didn’t wait for him to get his bulk moving and took the lead. Peyton’s life was on the line and I wasn’t damned waiting for a fat out-of-shape detective.

I hurried. The map indicated an open office area ten yards ahead. Muffled voices came from that direction.

Peyton

The pressof his knife cut off my laugh.

“We’ll see how funny you think it is,” Lucifer said, “when we move up to your tits and then your face.”

The devil kept the blade against my stomach again. He pressed down on the blade.

I refused to scream.

Shots rang out from the warehouse area.

“Fucking idiots,” Lucifer spat as he pulled back. “Go fix that.”

Vlad pushed me toward Lucifer, muttering something in Russian.

Lucifer’s free hand gripped my arm painfully tight. He wiped his finger across the blood oozing from my cut, brought it to his mouth, and grinned. “Yes, we are going to have fun.”

The rat-a-tat-tat of machine-gun fire sounded from the warehouse space.

Vlad rushed in from the warehouse space. “They found us.”

Yuri followed him.

Lucifer’s grip on me tightened. “The cops?”