Page 45 of Secrets Along the Shore (Beach Read Thrillers #1)

CHAPTER

TEN

The ground rumbled and shook as the tree landed behind Tyler’s SUV.

The thick trunk narrowly missed the back of the vehicle.

Now it lay in the path of the other team member’s vehicle, blocking their exit.

The pursuers spread out behind them. Rukas got out of their vehicles, ready to destroy Tyler’s team.

One explosion would wipe them out. Did wipe them out. He’d lost his team.

No. Not Von’s men. Not yet. Tyler slowed the SUV. He’d lost his men. He couldn’t leave hers behind.

“Hey, Tyler, what are you doing?” Adam’s voice shook him from his thoughts.

“I’m not leaving men behind.” Tyler would never do that. It wasn’t in his blood. He’d been trained to stand by his team no matter what. He’d do that now for these strangers.

Adam glanced back. “You have to. They’re already dead.”

No. Von’s men weren’t dead yet. Tyler could still save them. “I’ve never left a man behind in my life. I’m not starting now.” He slowed the vehicle to ten miles an hour. His hand rested on the gear shifter .

“It’s too late.” Adam gripped his shoulder, which sent burning pain through his nerves. It took everything in Tyler not to pull away.

“No, they’re still alive.” Some of Von’s team maybe. If he went back now, he could save some of them. He could save them, unlike his men. The guilt from that loss weighed on his shoulders.

“Our priority is the package in the backseat. Yvonne’s team knows what they’re risking.

It’s all for the job, for the people, and the money.

We look out for each other, but the job comes first.” Adam checked behind them.

“We all know the risks. We chose this. Gotta let them go. People don’t last long in this life. ”

Tyler clenched his jaw. His men were gone.

He couldn’t fix that. He couldn’t save the other men either.

But the mission—his mission—sat in the backseat, waiting to go home to his mate.

The mission came first. He stepped on the accelerator and headed down the road.

The uneven dirt road tossed the vehicle hard at the fast speed.

“They got past that tree.”

His gaze lifted to the rearview mirror. Elara watched out the rear window as the Croatians sped toward them.

Just three vehicles followed them. Two must have gotten stuck behind, or had stayed to kill the other men.

She turned and met his gaze in the mirror.

Tears stained her cheeks as she trembled.

Just focus on the mission. He sped up again as the road straightened. The GPS gave directions to the airport a few miles away. If only he could lose the Rukas before they got there. “Adam, get them off us.”

“I’ll do what I can.” The former CIA operative leaned out the window and took shots at their pursuers.

Tyler tried to keep the vehicle steady to give Adam an easier time shooting, but driving straight left them open to fire from the enemy. He spotted a dip in the road. One that had been painful driving over in the van. “Hang on.”

Adam sat back in his seat, just in time for the SUV to be tossed hard by the dip.

“We’ve got to lose these guys.” Tyler took the vehicle around another curve.

He dropped a hand to his vest. When he had geared up for this mission, he put two grenades on his vest. He’d used one to take out the men in the room Elara stumbled into.

He had one left. Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, Tyler pulled the second grenade off his vest and handed it to Adam.

“It’s been a while since my baseball days.” Adam shrugged as he glanced behind them again.

“That grenade has to end up under the vehicle.” If it didn’t, it might not do enough damage to stop them.

“I really hope this works.” Adam leaned farther out of the vehicle. After a couple of seconds, he jerked back inside. “Okay. Drive. Drive. Drive!”

Tyler sped up.

The explosion rattled the SUV, but it remained on the road. Behind them, one vehicle tipped over as flames consumed it. The other two continued driving, not bothering to help their friends. They were determined to retrieve—or kill—Elara and Rian.

“Nice,” Tyler muttered.

“Luck. All luck.”

“Thank you, God,” Elara whispered behind them.

Adam checked the navigation system. “We’re almost to the main road.” He dropped a magazine from his rifle and put a fresh one in. He grunted as he sat back. “I don’t suppose you have another crazy idea to lose these guys before we reach the airport.”

“Working on it.” Tyler glanced back. About two car lengths behind, their pursuers drove around a bend in the road and sped up.

He refocused on the front. The dirt road sloped upward where it met the paved road that led to Vukovar one way and back toward Dubrovnik the other way.

The airport was closer to Vukovar. He swung the vehicle off the dirt road and onto the wide open road.

Behind them, their pursuers did the same.

“They’re not gonna stop,” Elara whimpered.

“Neither am I.” She might have accepted defeat already, but Tyler hadn’t. His grip tightened on the steering wheel. There had to be a way to lose them. “Is there a dirt road to the airport?”

“Yeah. Maybe.” Adam lifted his phone. “Up ahead. About a hundred feet, the road turns right. It’s a longer route, but we might need that.”

Tyler found the spot and turned the vehicle down the steep dirt road.

He had to slow a bit to maintain control over the vehicle.

The road curved to the left, and then back right.

He swung the vehicle around the curve. Stepped on the accelerator.

Rocks and dirt crunched under the tires, but they weren’t loose enough to cause trouble.

The vehicle climbed a small hill and dropped down the other side. The road was not flat. Or straight. Tyler took another right. A ditch on Adam’s side warned him to be careful or they’d end up in it. They missed it by a couple of feet. He checked the mirror. The pursuers were several meters behind.

Maybe he could buy them enough time to get to the plane and off the ground. That was asking a lot though. The airport would be wide open, and the Rukas would have no problem catching up.

Another curve got them farther away.

“Where did you learn to drive like this?” Adam asked as he watched behind them.

Tyler didn’t respond. He didn’t have time to as they pulled onto a paved road to the small airport. The vehicle hit a hard bump, jostling them around. He kept a steady pace and drove past the airport gates.

“We’re almost there,” Adam told Elara before facing the front of the vehicle.

The small private jet came into view. They were so close to getting Elara and her son on that plane and back to Koen, where she needed to be. Their pursuers sped closer, but still had a ways to go.

When they got to the plane, Tyler swung the vehicle to the left to ensure that Elara and Rian had a safe exit from the vehicle and weren’t exposed.

Adam opened his door and raised his M4, taking a few shots over the hood of the SUV while Tyler exited.

Tyler set his sights on the enemy vehicle and fired as he backed to the rear of his vehicle. The SUV and car slowed.

Odd. Maybe they knew they were too late.

“C’mon, Rian.” With the backpack still on her back, Elara held her son close as she stepped away from the vehicle.

Tyler lowered his rifle as he slid around the right side of the SUV with his partner and their targets. “We’ve got maybe sixty seconds to get on that plane and get in the air.” He peered around the SUV and hesitated .

The men exited their vehicles. At that distance of about four hundred meters, no way would they accurately hit anything with their ARs.

Adam moved first, his rifle ready.

Moonlight glinted on something a man lifted.

“Come on,” Adam urged, heading for the plane.

“No, wait!” Tyler snapped around, pushing Elara and Rian back. A loud whoosh filled the air, changing to a dangerous whistle. “Adam!” He didn’t have time to grab his partner as he rushed to cover Elara and Rian with his body.

The RPG slammed into the jet with a deafening crack.

An explosion filled the air, throwing smoke, fuel, and metal into the sky.

The roar of the blast shook the ground. Chunks of metal landed around them, one chunk landed on top of the SUV.

With his back to the chaos, Tyler locked his arms around his targets.

Rian’s scream of terror reached his ears as the surrounding chaos died down to the steady crackling of the plane’s fuel on fire. Elara sobbed against him.

“Shh. You’re alright.” They had to be. Tyler had covered them.

He lowered his arms from them and pushed back to his feet.

Yellow hot flames reached into the night sky, illuminating the once dim airport.

Chunks of charred twisted metal lay everywhere, but it and the fuel had missed them.

He drew in a breath as he spotted Adam lying on his side a few feet from the SUV.

“Adam?” His voice sounded odd in his ears, probably because of the awful ringing. He coughed as he inhaled the smell of smoke and fuel.

The CIA operative shifted, a low groan coming from him. He might have gotten hurt, but he couldn’t have been too bad since he managed to get back to his feet. Adam stood, but hunched over. His hand still gripped his M4. He watched their pursuers. “They’re coming,” he warned.

Tyler spun back to Elara and Rian. He grabbed her.

“Get up. We have to go now.” He grabbed the M4 that the sling had kept against him when he’d dropped it.

Pressing it against his shoulder, he moved to the front of the totaled SUV.

Their pursuers closed in, cautious of the flames and metal littering the area .

A hundred meters away stood a hangar. Overhead lights gleamed on the metal surface of a plane inside.

It’d be useless since Tyler wasn’t a pilot.

A vehicle sat parked behind it. They’d use that to find another way out.

He glanced over his shoulder at Elara. “Run to that hangar while I cover you. We need that vehicle.” He just hoped it worked.

She gave him a shaky nod.

Tyler stepped out of the cover of the ruined SUV.

Their enemies played dodge, giving him the chance to shoot them.

His bullets bounced off their hoods. One penetrated the windshield.

That vehicle veered off to the left and avoided a collision with the other.

He glanced back to ensure that Elara and Rian made it to the hangar.

Halfway there, Adam stumbled. The explosion must have hurt him. How bad though?

Lowering his rifle, Tyler ran to Adam and hooked an arm under his arms, helping him the rest of the way.

Maybe he was supposed to focus on the mission, but he couldn’t leave a man behind if he had the ability to help.

They made it into the lighted hangar. Adam’s weight pulled at Tyler’s bad shoulder.

With a grunt, Tyler helped Adam sit down against the curved wall.

Elara gasped and slapped a hand over her mouth. She paled to a sickly green that wasn’t far from Adam’s skin color. Tyler’s stomach knotted at the sight of metal penetrating Adam’s vest and embedded in his abdomen.

Adam coughed. “It’s not that bad.”

Yes. Yes, it was. Tyler swallowed and knelt beside his partner. Elara hid Rian from the sight, not that the kid hadn’t already seen. She made a choking sound like she was about to lose the contents of her stomach.

Tyler grasped Adam’s hand. Pain shot through his hand and up his arm as Adam squeezed.

He pushed past that pain since Adam was in real agony.

And he couldn’t help him. “I’m sorry.” He pulled his gaze away from the metal and met Adam’s blue gaze.

If he’d seen it coming sooner, he might have saved Adam.

But then, he didn’t know how he hadn’t gotten killed, too.

A ten-foot chunk of metal had dropped on top of the SUV.

Adam almost shrugged. “The job’s rough. People die all the time.” His other hand slapped Tyler’s clasped hand .

“This was not…” Tyler stopped. It wasn’t supposed to happen. But he didn’t have control over things like this. “If I’d seen it?—”

“You saw it coming.” Adam nodded.

Not soon enough.

“You saved them.” Adam nodded to Elara and her son. His breathing grew more labored. Blood seeped into his clothes from the fatal wound. His grip weakened on Tyler’s hand.

“C’mon. Fight. Your wife?—”

“My wife, tell her I love her.” All the color drained from his face, and his eyes were glazed over.

No. Adam couldn’t give up so easily. “Mate, you’ve got to fight.”

“I’m already gone.” Adam’s eyes closed.

Dead men filled Tyler’s vision. Dead soldiers lying on the sandy ground of Afghanistan.

Some were missing. None were half the men they used to be.

All gone, because Tyler hadn’t fought for them like he should have.

His brothers-in-arms were dead. He should have died with them.

That way, he’d still be standing by them.

“Tyler,” a panicked voice broke through the flashback. “Tyler!” a woman cried.

He blinked, the memory fading away. His hand still gripped Adam’s limp hand.

It was over. Nothing he could do. The sobs beside him reminded him that the mission hadn’t ended.

In fact, it’d been extended. Their way home was gone.

Von and the team waited in Dubrovnik, eight hours away.

A dozen Croatians were nearby. And now Tyler had to complete this mission alone. So be it.

Tyler pushed back to his feet with a grunt and turned to Elara.

He caught her arm and nudged her toward the SUV parked behind the plane.

Letting her go around the passenger side, he pulled open the driver’s door and climbed in.

Flipping down the sun visor, he caught the keys in his hand.

After putting the M4 into the backseat, he started the engine.

Rian sat in the back, while Elara climbed into the passenger seat. “What are we going to do?” she asked.

He put the vehicle into drive and tore out of the rear of the hangar. A narrow road led back to the main road out of the airport. “I’m still gonna get you home. I’m not done yet.” His gaze hit the rearview mirror. Bright white lights shone behind them.

Yeah, this was far from over.