Breaking Away (Delta Force Strong #3) - Elle James Page 0,22

rolling toward the kids.

She backed away, letting them know she wasn’t a threat.

For a long moment, the children clung to their mother, the gunfire still going off outside the walls of the home.

Kylie felt sorry for the family. They were probably used to those sounds, having heard them all too often.

After a minute or two, the oldest child leaned away from his mother and reached for the candy on the floor. Once he had it in his hand, his mother yanked him back to her side.

The two children hovered over the package of hard candy. The mom kept her eye on Kylie.

Kylie smiled at the woman. “It’s okay. I won’t hurt you,” she said softly.

The gunfire slowed and finally seemed to stop.

Had the Deltas taken down all the men who’d been following them?

When they didn’t come right in to get her out, she worried that maybe the Taliban men had taken out the Deltas.

She shook her head. That wasn’t possible. The Deltas were highly trained. They couldn’t be defeated by five or six Taliban terrorists.

The woman sitting on the floor across from her stiffened, her eyes growing wide. She made a small sound that caught Kylie’s attention, and her gaze darted to something over Kylie’s shoulder.

Kylie spun too late to deflect the blow to her head that sent her flying across the room. She lay for a moment. Her head spun, and her vision blurred. She thought for a moment she’d pass out.

Someone grabbed her arm, yanked her to her feet and shoved a pistol against her temple. He shouted something in a language she couldn’t understand, even if she wasn’t about to black out.

Then he was shoving her toward the door, his free arm clamped around her middle, trapping her arms to her sides.

“Let me go!” she said, her voice slurring, her vision fading from clear to black and back to clear. She stumbled, almost taking him down with her.

He yelled again.

The children on the other side of the room sobbed. Their mother clutched them to her, turning away to place her body between them and the gunman.

A fleeting thought raced through her muzzy head. If she could only remember the Krav Maga techniques she’d learned, she could take this bastard down.

But she could barely stand, much less fight.

When he reached the door, he lowered the gun long enough to pull the door open. Once it was wide enough, he pushed her in front of him, yelling. “I kill! I kill!”

The longer she stood, the clearer her head got. She had to pick the right time to kick the man’s ass, or he’d pull the trigger and blow her brains out before she could twitch a finger.

Where was Mac? They weren’t shooting anymore. Were they all dead? Was this guy one of the Taliban terrorists?

Dash dropped from the roof to the ground in front of the man, raising his hands. “Don’t hurt her,” he said, “and we won’t hurt you.”

The man holding her banged the barrel of his pistol against her temple, sending a sharp stab of pain through her head.

Anger pushed aside the fuzzy gray shroud of dizziness.

Taking a deep breath, she went limp, dropping down through the man’s arms. His grip slipped, and the gun in his hand rose above her head.

Then she came up fast and hard, tipping her head back, catching his chin with her skull.

He jerked backward and lost his hold on her.

Kylie dove forward.

The man behind her was slammed sideways, hitting the ground with a thud with Mac on top of him.

The Delta Force soldier pinned the man’s wrist to the ground, banging it until he released the gun.

Dash kicked it out of reach, and then picked it up.

Once he’d lost his weapon, the man cried out. “No kill, please. No kill.”

“Why should I spare you when you tried to kill my woman?” Mac growled.

“No kill.”

“Mac,” Kylie called out. “Don’t kill him. I think that’s his wife and children inside.”

“He threatened to kill you,” Mac said, his face ferocious.

“I’m okay.” Kylie laid her hand on Mac’s back. “He didn’t kill me. Let him up.”

Mac remained on top of the man for another long moment then climbed to his feet. He yanked the man up and twisted his arm behind his back.

The woman and small children burst from the home and ran toward the man.

The little boys wrapped their arms around his legs and cried. The woman stood in front of the man, talking fast to Mac, her hands clasped together as if begging