cover me?”
Manny nodded, and Ryan crouched and ran across the street. More little clouds of dust popped up around his feet as he ran. Manny returned fire taking one of the shooters down.
When he reached the building the shots were coming from, Ryan slid around the corner and let himself in. He had to hope that Manny could keep the remaining shooter engaged. He crept silently up the stairs and was almost at the top when a door opened, and a wide-eyed man came out looking around wildly. He saw Ryan and raised his weapon in the same instant Ryan fired his own.
Ryan watched him drop to the floor, painfully aware that they needed him alive. He scrambled to him and rolled him onto his front, pulling his arms behind his back.
“Ryan!” Manny shouted from below.
“Got him.”
Manny came up and moments later the rest of the team swarmed around them, taking the bleeding but still breathing shooter downstairs to question him.
Ryan blew out a sigh. “Setup, you think?” he asked Manny.
“I’d say so.”
“We need to get after them.”
Manny pursed his lips. “We do. But we doesn’t include you anymore.”
“What do you mean? Of course, it does! Jesus, Manny. I appreciate you having my back out there, but …” He didn’t want to think about how he would have walked straight into the first round of fire if Manny hadn’t tackled him to the ground, but that didn’t mean he got to order him off the op!
Manny smiled. “You haven’t even noticed, have you?”
“Noticed what?” Anger was bubbling up in Ryan’s chest. He liked Manny—had a lot of respect for the guy—but he wouldn’t stand for him laughing at him … pointing out what he’d missed.
Manny pointed at Ryan’s hip. “You’re going to need to get that taken care of.”
Ryan looked down. Blood was pouring from a wound he hadn’t even noticed, let alone felt. “Ah, shit!”
Manny chuckled. “I’ve been there, kid. And let me tell you, it’ll hurt like hell now you know about it.”
Ryan ran a hand through his hair. It was true. It was starting to hurt like a bitch.
“Reynolds!” called Manny. “Can you take Brady here back and make sure he gets that taken care of?”
“Sure.”
Ryan rolled his eyes at Manny. “I’ll be back as soon as they’ll let me.”
Manny shrugged. “I believe that. But I won’t be holding my breath. You know what it’s like with these joint ops. Even if your guys would let you stay, the others won’t want to. My guess is that you’re going home.”
Ryan knew it, even though he wanted to fight it.
Manny grasped his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it.” He winked. “They might call us Famous But Incompetent, but it’s not all true. I can handle it.”
Ryan had to smile. “It is mostly true, but I’ll make an exception in your case.” Manny’s laughter rang in his ears as he followed Reynolds out to the waiting vehicle.
~ ~ ~
Leanne sipped her drink and looked around the bar. This was the first time she’d been out in weeks … maybe months? She had no idea. All she knew was that she was spending most of her time studying her ass off. The final year of law school was no joke. Not even for her. If Ryan were still here, she’d no doubt be able to find some free time. But since he wasn’t, she was losing herself in her studies and it was working out for the best all around.
Tonight was an exception. Dan had asked her to come out. He wasn’t big on socializing himself. But this was a special occasion. His brother and his cousin were in town. The cousin … damn, what was her name? Laura. That was it. She was moving here from Texas and the brother … Jack. He’d brought her. He was helping her get moved. Dan hadn’t said as much. But Leanne got the impression that Laura was maybe leaving a bad situation. Whatever the story, all she knew was that Dan wanted Leanne to be here, so she was. She’d do anything for Dan. He was the sweetest, kindest person she’d ever known. Not to mention the smartest—and that was saying something, given the company they kept.
She took another sip of her drink and sighed, wishing Ryan were here. He emailed most days; they got to talk on the phone at least once a week, but damn, she missed him. She had no idea when she’d see him again, and she’d thought that