when he realized the man was much closer to the house than Baby had expected. He saw a shadow cross inside one of the windows—Charlie or Anne—and was glad the guy didn’t have a sniper rifle.
But shit, he did have something in his hand. It looked like a ball. What in the—
Fuck. Grenade.
Baby lifted his tranq gun and pointed it, knowing it wasn’t long range enough to hit the guy. His Glock wouldn’t be any better. It didn’t matter. In that moment, nothing mattered except getting to him before that grenade left his hand. His eyes locked on the man like a predator. He ran, shooting.
The guy turned, the tranquilizer darts falling short, as Baby had known they would.
Still running at him full speed, Baby threw the tranq gun to the ground to draw his Glock as the guy reached for his own weapon. Both of them fired, diving for cover at the same time, a deadly, synchronized dance. The guy’s bullet splintered the tree Baby had been standing in front of half a second before. Baby didn’t think he’d hit the other guy either.
Without pausing, Baby rolled back into a crouching position on the ground and scrambled along the trees in the opposite direction than the way he’d dove. Maybe the guy wouldn’t expect him from this way.
“Baby?”
Shit. Charlie calling from the house. She’d heard the shots.
He immediately gave up his surprise element, hoping it would keep the guy from shooting at her. “Inside, Charlie. Away from the windows.”
He heard the door slam then dropped lower and belly-crawled toward the house as shots rang out in his direction once again. Damn it, the guy was getting closer to the house. Soon he would be close enough to lob that grenade.
Baby popped his head up over a fallen log then ducked back quickly, expecting a bullet in his direction. But there was nothing.
Not good.
He couldn’t spot the guy, which meant he was behind the trees, and there was nothing between his grenade and the house.
Baby took off at a sprint. There! His eyes zeroed in on the man, his legs pumped impossibly faster, adrenaline spiking, clearing his head of any other thought. The guy was pulling the pin from the grenade as Baby hit him in a full-body tackle.
The grenade flew out of the guy’s hand as they hit the ground, fortunately with the pin still in. But before Baby could get his gun pointed at him, the guy knocked it out of his hand with a blow to the wrist that stopped barely short of breaking bones.
Fuck. This guy was trained.
With the angle they were at, Baby used the best weapon he had to strike the guy beneath him—head butting him in the forehead. He ignored the pain in his own head and followed up with a punch.
The guy was big and tough, not about to go out so easily. He took the punch with a grunt, then rolled them, knocking Baby off.
They both jumped to their feet. Baby leapt at the guy again, reaching for the gun that was still in the man’s hand before he could swing it around and end this before it began. They hit the ground with as much brutal force as the first time. Baby was able to knock the gun loose but took a hard right hook in the face for the effort.
The guy rolled away once more, going for the grenade.
Oh, hell no.
Baby kicked at him, catching him in the ribs and knocking him to the side. Baby scrambled for the grenade, letting out a hard grunt as the guy caught him with multiple blows to the back. He managed to get the grenade, but the guy was determined to get it back.
They were way too close to the house. A house with Baby’s newborn nephew inside and Charlie’s elderly parents—people who couldn’t get away. He needed to take the explosive out of play.
He took a blow to the face as he reached over and grabbed the pin from the weapon. From on top of him, the guy’s eyes widened then narrowed.
He knew what Baby had in his hand.
One-one thousand. Two-one thousand.
Baby threw the grenade as far as he could in the opposite direction of the house. He and the guy separated and dove for cover, hands over their ears.
The thunderous noise split the silence of dawn. If Baby’s ears hadn’t been ringing from the blows he’d taken, they were now.
The dude was pissed that Baby had gotten rid of his