Relentless (Option Zero #2) - Christy Reece Page 0,58
so much like the voice in her dreams was surreal. How many times had she woken with that voice in her head? That had to be Lion’s voice. It had to be. Didn’t it?
“You ready?” Jazz asked.
Aubrey nodded, refocusing. Whether Liam was Lion or not didn’t matter right now. What mattered was that he, along with the rest of these operatives, was about to rescue a dozen women, thereby giving them another chance at life. She had dreamed about seeing an operation like this firsthand one day, and that time was now. She was more than ready.
They’d parked on an access road about three hundred yards from the property. Tall hedges surrounded the property, obscuring much of the structure, but as they approached the yard, she could see glimpses of the house through the greenery. All looked peaceful.
Staying close to Jazz, Aubrey lowered her head and moved forward with the group. They were ten feet from entering the property when the first shot rang out.
“Take cover!” someone shouted.
Aubrey had barely realized what was happening when she found herself flying through the air. She landed with a thud, and then a large body fell on top of her.
“Stay down,” Liam Stryker growled into her ear.
Since she couldn’t move and could barely breathe, that wouldn’t be a problem.
Shots fired rapidly for several breath-holding seconds, and then all was quiet.
“Eve, you see him?” Liam asked.
“Yeah. Give me a sec.” And then, “Found him.”
There was the sound of glass breaking and then complete silence.
No one moved for what seemed like forever. Aubrey, needing to breathe, whispered softly, “Mr. Stryker? Do you think you could get off me now?”
“Shh.”
She took that to mean no he could not.
They waited several more seconds and then he lifted himself slightly off her and said, “Jazz, you copy?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you located?”
“About ten feet to your right.”
“Crawl this way. Then take Starr and hide behind those bushes until this is done.”
“On my way.”
“But I want to see the—”
The body on top of her covered her again, and he whispered fiercely in her ear, “Nobody gets killed on my watch. Got that?”
“Yes…okay.”
It probably was only a couple of minutes, but it felt like an eternity before Jazz said behind them, “I’m here.”
Liam rolled off her and Aubrey was finally able to breathe.
Jazz grabbed her arm and said, “Belly-crawl with me over to the bushes.”
Following Jazz’s lead, Aubrey wiggled on her belly to the tall hedges.
“We’ll stay here until we get the all clear,” Jazz said.
“What happened?”
“We missed a lookout. He was up in the attic, so we didn’t see him.”
“Why did he stop shooting?”
“Eve took him out.”
She hadn’t known where Eve had gone, only that she hadn’t been in the two vehicles with the rest of them. Apparently, she had been a distance away.
She raised her head slightly and looked at the house. Lights were on in several rooms, but she heard no sounds of violence like she’d expected.
“Why is it so quiet?”
“Your earbud probably got dislodged when Liam tackled you.”
She felt a hand at her ear and then a slight pressure. Voices and noises exploded. In awe, Aubrey listened as the rescue went down.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Easing the door open, Liam peered inside the room. He jerked back a half second before a bullet would’ve hit him head on. They’d experienced little resistance but this guy in the attic was apparently intent on staying the course. Eve had handled one of the attic shooters quite handily. Now it was Liam’s job to convince this other guy that he didn’t want to go the same route.
“Habla English?”
“Yeah,” a man answered in a distinctly Midwestern accent.
“There’s no way out for you. The house is surrounded.”
“Then I guess we negotiate.”
“Not sure what you’ve got to negotiate with. Looks like we’ve got all the cards.”
“Oh yeah? What about this?”
“Please help me. I don’t want to die.”
Cursing under his breath, Liam took a step back to regroup. The voice had been a woman’s, quivering with terror.
“Okay, you do have some cards. How do you want to play this?”
“Me and the girl walk out of here. Once I’m safe, I’ll let her go.”
Yeah, right.
“What happens if I say no?”
“Easy. I kill the girl.”
“And then I kill you.”
“Maybe so, but you got a dead girl on your hands. I’m assuming that’s not in your plans.”
The guy had a point.
Liam stepped a few feet from the attic entrance and said softly, “Hey, Ash. You close?”
“On the second floor. Did I hear right? He’s got a hostage?”