Delta Force Rescue - Elle James Page 0,36
bit down hard.
The man screamed and flung his arm backward, knocking Lucy away.
Rafe felt the ground, searching desperately for the pistol. When his fingers curled around it, he staggered to his feet and aimed at the man trying to hit the dog with the club.
As Rafe leveled his weapon and took aim, the man swung hard and hit Lucy in the head.
The border collie yelped and crumpled to the ground, lying still.
Rafe pulled the trigger too late to save the dog. The man with the club tipped sideways and collapsed, unmoving in the dust.
His head spinning and a gray cloud closing in on all sides, Rafe turned back to the cabin. The lead Jeep had come to a halt in front of the door, and four men jumped to the ground.
“Briana, don’t come out!” he yelled.
Two men raced up beside Rafe and grabbed his arms. Through the gray cloud, he fought them, swinging and missing. When one of them coldcocked him in the jaw, he hit the ground, his vision blacking out for a moment. Long enough for the men to grab his gun, yank his arms behind his back and slap a zip-tie around his wrists.
They jerked Rafe to his feet, dragged him to the lead Jeep, and stood him in front of the headlights.
“Briana Hayes, if you want this man to live, come with us,” a man in a black leather jacket and a ski mask called out.
“Don’t,” Rafe shouted.
The man beside him slammed a meaty fist into his gut.
Rafe doubled over, fighting back the black abyss threatening to consume him.
The man in the black leather jacket waved a pistol toward Rafe. “Bring him closer.”
The two men on either side of him dragged him forward.
The man in the leather pointed his gun at Rafe’s head. “You have until the count of three to come out or the man dies.”
The door remained closed.
Briana, don’t. Too dizzy to form words, Rafe hung between the two men, praying Briana didn’t cave in to their demand.
“One… You really want to watch his head splattered all over the ground? Two…I ain’t shittin’ you. It’s your decision. You want him to die?”
“Wait!” Briana’s voice called out through the wood-paneled door. “How do I know you’ll let him live?”
“You don’t. We’ll get you one way or another. But you have my word we won’t kill him if you come with us without a fight.”
Briana snorted. “The word of a thug?”
“It’s the best you’ll get. You don’t have much choice either way.”
“Let him go, and I’ll come out,” Briana said.
“No,” Rafe said.
Again, he was punched in the gut, knocking the wind out of him.
“Don’t hurt him. I’m coming out,” Briana cried.
Rafe tried to tell her no, but he couldn’t get air past his vocal cords.
The men holding his arms were the only reason he hadn’t fallen on his face. He hated that he couldn’t fight back, that they were outnumbered, and that Briana was giving up her freedom to save his sorry ass. He should have been more prepared. He should have been ready.
But they’d never expected El Chefe would send an army of men to secure one woman when he’d only sent one before.
The cabin door opened, and Briana stepped out, her hands raised in the air. “Don’t shoot him. I’ll go with you. Just let him live.”
The man in the black leather jacket tilted his head toward the Jeep. “Get in the back.”
Briana walked toward the Jeep, her brow furrowed, her gaze on Rafe. “Don’t hurt him,” she said as she climbed into the backseat.
Two men got in with her, one on either side.
The man in the leather jacket slid into the passenger seat, and his driver got behind the steering wheel.
“What do you want us to do with him?” one of the men holding him up asked.
“Leave him,” their leader said. “Maybe the bears will eat him and put him out of his misery.”
The men on either side of him shoved him to the ground and left him lying there as they grabbed their guy on the ground, leaped into their Jeep and followed the lead vehicle out of the yard.
Rafe lay with his face in the dirt, his vision fading in and out. He knew he had to get help fast. The longer they had Briana, the farther away they’d get. But every time he tried to move, his head spun, and he blacked out for a few seconds.
“Can’t give up,” he muttered. “Bree needs me.”
He tried again to roll onto his