Breaking Away (Delta Force Strong #3) - Elle James Page 0,20

men discovered they’d missed them and went looking.

Dash led them up a flight, down a long hallway, around a corner and into another stairwell that led downward. When they reached the bottom, the door opened into a huge laundry room filled with commercial-grade washers and dryers as well as giant machines for ironing the sheets. A couple men dressed in white staff uniforms worked folding sheets, tablecloths and towels.

As Mac ducked through, he heard shouts behind him in the stairwell. He let the door close quietly and hurried to catch up with the others. As he reached Kylie and Dash, he called out over the roar of the machines, “We have company headed this way.”

Dash nodded and pushed open a door on the other end of the laundry room. He rushed through, Kylie on his heels.

Mac followed, worried they weren’t moving fast enough. What if they got out of the building only to find the Taliban had set up a perimeter around the structure to keep them from escaping unnoticed?

Dash was one of the best Deltas Mac knew. He would check before running out into the open.

They moved down another hallway, off which were the kitchen and a storage room. For a split second, Mac considered hiding out in the storage room among boxes of supplies. He immediately squelched that thought, not liking the idea of being a sitting duck, waiting for the Taliban to find them.

The door at the end of the hallway opened onto a loading dock where men worked moving crates and boxes from trucks to stack them on the concrete.

One of the men shouted at them and waved his fist.

Dash kept moving down a set of concrete stairs and out into an alleyway behind the hotel. A large block wall separated the hotel grounds from the other buildings nearby.

With little time to spare and a long wall to follow if they wanted to go around it, Dash shook his head, cupped his hands and said, “You first, Mac.”

Mac ran toward him, placed his foot in his friend’s hands and leaped up to the top of the wall, pulling himself up to straddle the top. Then he leaned over and reached for Kylie’s hand.

She stepped into Dash’s cupped hands, grabbed Mac’s outstretched one and let him pull her up onto the wall.

A shout from a window above made Mac look up.

A man dressed in black stood on a balcony shouting down at them. He raised his rifle to his shoulder and shot down at them.

Mac shoved Kylie over to the other side, holding onto her hand. She dropped, her grip on him slowing her fall until she landed lightly on her feet.

Mac reached down, grabbed Dash’s hand and swung him up to the top.

As soon as Dash had his leg over the top, Mac let go. His teammate let his momentum carry him over the top and down the other side.

Another shot rang out. Something stung Mac’s shoulder. He grunted and tipped over, dropping to the ground. Pain throbbed in his left arm. He winced but kept moving.

“You’re hurt,” Kylie said, running with him alongside the wall.

“I’ve been hurt worse,” he said through gritted teeth. “We have to get out of here. That man will alert his buddies, and we’ll have all of them after us soon.”

Mac led the way this time, keeping Kylie close beside him.

“We’re almost back to the hotel,” Rucker said into his headset.

“We’re out of the hotel, moving away from the back into the city,” Mac said.

“Good,” Rucker said. “We’re coming up from the rear.”

As Mac emerged from an alley into a busy road full of cars, bicycles and people walking, he realized they were in a marketplace.

“I see you now,” Rucker said. “We’re by the rug dealer, twenty yards to your left.”

Mac searched the crowd and found Rucker, Josh and Blade hurrying toward them. When they screeched to a stop, Mac shot a glance over his shoulder. His heart skipped several beats, and his blood ran cold.

Five men in black garb ran through the marketplace, pushing and shoving people out of the way. They brandished AK-47s and shouted something that made the crowd of people duck down.

“Get down,” he yelled and forced Kylie into a hunkered position as they ran.

Dash leaned over and raced to a gap between buildings. “This way,” he shouted.

Rucker and Blade joined them and knelt at the corner of buildings to provide cover when the Taliban got closer.

Mac had his Glock pistol tucked beneath his jacket, but he