Falcon: The Quiet Professionals Book 3 (32 page)

“Sal!” Cassie cried out behind him as a section of the far floor gave way, widening the chomp it’d taken out of the balcony earlier.

Sal scrabbled backward.

“No,” Hawk shouted. “Stay back—it’s unstable.” His hands shimmied along, closer to Sal.

Sal ignored him, skirting toward the crevice, hoping to reach the small handspan that eased out. With the floor and the gaping hole, it resembled the ying of a yang. Sal went to his knees. Crawled gingerly.

Tremors of the explosion and fire, eating through the walls and building, taunted him, vibrating against his palms and fingertips. Sal ignored it. Focused on saving his friend. “You are one pain in the butt, Bledsoe.”

“Reckon that’s so, sir,” Hawk said, shifting.

The compromised area rattled.

“Whoa whoa whoa.” Sal swallowed the adrenaline pumping through his body. “Easy.”

“Yeah,” Hawk said, his voice shaky and his eyes filled with dread. “Was thinking the same thing.”

Sprawled on his belly, Sal eased forward.

“Coms,” Hawk said.

Only then did Sal realize he couldn’t hear anything through his earpiece. “I think mine’s blown.”

“Sal, where’s Hawk?” came a shout from somewhere behind. Titanis.

“Stop,” Cassie shouted. “The floor is compromised.”

Sal shifted forward. His shoulders reached over the emptiness. Sal locked on to Hawk. Slid his arms down and coiled them around Hawk’s wrists and forearms—and that’s when Sal noticed the man’s arms trembling. “We’re going to come this way. It’s more solid. Less damage.”

Hawk nodded.

“Are you hurt?” Sal asked, concerned at the gray pallor taking over Hawk’s face. He searched his friend for a new wound.

“Got shot—several days ago. Should’ve been there. Pretty”—Hawk’s face screwed tight in pain then he let out a breath—“awesome.”

Not what he meant. But Brian was failing fast. “Hawk?”

Green eyes met his. “The wound tore. Bleeding.” He shook his head. “Not sure how much longer I can—”

His fingers slipped.

He dropped a couple of inches.

Sal gripped tighter. “Hawk!” Clamps fastened around Sal’s ankles.

“Got you, mate.” Titanis’s firm grip and voice helped. A lot.

“Pull, Titanis. Pull me back!” Sal stared into Hawk’s eyes. “Do. Not. Let. Go.”

Sweat beaded Hawk’s brow and upper lip. He nodded—but much weaker this time.

The weight of the bulky guy strained Sal’s arms and shoulder muscles. But he would not let go. A streak of pain darted through his own arm. Almost as quick, he felt blood slide down his inner forearm from beneath his sleeve. Sal cursed himself, cursed his own weakness. Where he’d cut—too deeply—had torn open.

Blood raced down his arm.

Over his palm.

Across his fingers.

Hawk sucked in a breath.

The blood diverted some, but the more his cut leaked, the more it managed to seep between their arms.

“
Augh
,” Sal growled. He threw every bit of himself into this. Ignored his pains. The blood. Building crumbling around them.

“Building’s coming down,” came another voice. Then an expletive.

“Need an anchor,” Titanis growled.

“Right.”

Hawk dropped two more inches. “Look, man.” Hawk grunted, grimacing. “I know we don’t… get along, but…”

“I’m losing—” Sal ground his teeth together, growling, and reached with his other hand.

With a gust of warm air, Cassie sank to his side. She reached forward to help. But even as she reached for their arms, Hawk slipped.

He groped for a hold, his fingers dragging against metal as he fell away.

“No!”
Sal launched forward.

But something anchored him back.

He struggled, his gaze riveted to the image of Brian Bledsoe falling three floors… down… down.

Thud!

Dust plumed up, enveloping Hawk’s body like a cocoon.

“Haaaaawwwwwwk!”

CHAPTER 28

Kabul, Afghanistan
5 April—0455 Hours

T
hat did not just happen
. Stunned, Cassie stared down without seeing. Her mind, like some sick, looped video feed, kept replaying Hawk’s fall. The way he screamed—not like a girl, but a howl—as he fell. The sickening thud of his body hitting. The way the dust encased him, as if shielding them from witnessing the brutality gravity exerted. Frozen by the terror, she couldn’t move. Couldn’t react to the danger threatening her and the team. Her stomach roiled, the sound of his body hitting repeating over and over in her mind.

Sal lunged toward the opening.

Cracked and dribbling chunks of cement, the floor dipped down beneath Sal’s boots. Cassie sucked in a breath and scrabbled backward.

“Hawk!” Sal remained at the barrier. “Hawk, talk to me!”

Crack!
The blue carpet swayed like an undulating ocean.

Two large, thick arms encircled Sal’s waist. Titanis dragged a writhing, shouting Sal backward. Away from the widening gap in the floor.

“Get off me!” Sal hitched his legs forward and yanked free of the Aussie, who half tossed Sal to the right, away from the danger of the collapsing floor.

Titanis held up his hands. “Easy, the floor—”

With a roar, the ground gave way. Doubled the gap that Hawk had fallen from.

“He’s down there,” Sal said. He spun around, fists balled. Wild panic spiraled through his eyes. “We have to save him.”

The floor beneath Cassie tilted, threatening to give way. Threatening to deliver her to the same fate.

“Agreed, but not at the expense of your life.” Titanis cuffed Cassie’s elbow and hauled her to her feet. He nudged her toward Sal. “Stairs are blocked. We need an exit strategy.”

Sal spun around, as did Cassie. Because charges had been set on either side, both walls had tumbled inward. A wall of rubble and collapsing upper offices sealed off the hall to the stairs. Heartbeats passed as Cassie stared, disbelieving. Their only way out and it was blocked? Her gaze skipped to the elevators. They’d be stupid to try those in a compromised building. But how else would they get down?

How… how would they get out of here?

Titanis tapped his ear. “Captain wants us out of here.”

“How?” Sal growled. “Exit’s blocked. Hawk is down there. And I’ll be hanged if I’m leaving him down there.” Gripping the steel girder, Sal shook it. As if testing the weight.

Mind blitzed, Cassie jerked toward him. “Sal, no. You can’t.”

He didn’t respond. Just moved a little farther down, testing again. This section wobbled but not as bad as the first. He rounded the area and went to the other side, almost completely opposite.

“Sal, please.” Cassie jogged after him. “Please don’t do this. It could collapse.”

He shrugged off her comment and touch. Focused on his mission—saving Hawk.

“Falcon,” Titanis said. “Captain wants us to get to the roof. He’s sending a chopper.”

Fury snapped through his brown eyes, so voracious that Cassie took a step back as he stalked toward Titanis. “I need coms.” He motioned for Titanis to hand over the piece.

Men in tactical gear streamed out of a darkened hall. The SEALs. Riordan led the way, grim faced but determined. “We have exactly zero options.”

Tucking the earpiece Titanis had loaned him, Sal turned toward the newcomers. “Why?”

“Came up two flights—charges set at every level. They haven’t detonated, but I have a feeling we’re out of time. We can’t go down.”

“And we can’t go up,” Titanis said, flicking a hand at the barricaded stairwell.

Kiew. Why had she done this? Given them no way out? Had she really wanted to bury them here? Why? Betrayal…

Cassie turned a slow circle, eyeing the rest of the atrium. There had to be another exit, right? Granted, this wasn’t America with strict building codes, but surely Takkar took precautions to protect his investments. She trekked around as far as she could go. One hall seemed okay until she rounded the corner and found a pile of cement, plaster, and tinkling lights popping at the far end. She turned and made her way to the opposite side, staring over at the crumbling shelf.

“Hey, I think Ddrake hit on something.” Knight stood before a door.

Cassie stilled as she recognized the door. The one marked
P
RIVATE.
The one Kiew had stared at. She hurried forward. “That—that’s it!”

“Locked,” Knight said.

“Open it,” Cassie insisted.

“What’d you do? You stupid witch!” a meaty yell carried through the chaos.

Cassie turned, her mind numb.

One of the SEALs shouted something else, but she was too numb to realize that his venom had been directed at her. His expression twisted as he shook a hand at her.
Why is he so angry?
Then his words caught up with her. “How stupid could you be—you killed him!”

Stunned, Cassie sat there, blinking.
I killed him?
How could he think that? The accusation lasered through her heart, singeing her with its cruelty.

“Oy, ease off, mate.” Titanis was at her side, nodding to the door. “Why’d you say this is it?”

“Kiew stared at it right before she bolted.” Was she being stupid just as the SEAL claimed, by thinking maybe whatever was here would save them? What could possibly be in there?

“Watch out.” Titanis jutted his jaw at Knight, who moved back and had Ddrake heel. The Aussie lifted his boot and thrust his heel into the door.

It snapped back, hit the wall behind it, and flapped closed again, then open.

Weapon up, Titanis inched forward sweeping back and forth. “Just an office.”

Cassie entered, glancing around. Spotted another door. She rushed to it. Tugged it, but again—locked.

“Here.” Titanis nudged her aside and repeated his breaching maneuver.

The door flung off the hinge—right into a private stairwell. Heart in her throat, Cassie rushed around the SEALs, who were heading to safety into the stairwell. She stepped out. “Sal—” Shock choked her words.

He had roped up and was about to rappel over the side of the hole.

“
Sal
, no!”

A wall of muscle sprinted past her. Titanis. “Falcon, no! It’s—”

Crack! Boom!

Fire burst up from a lower level. The floor rattled. Cement, glass, and plaster rained down from above, the lower explosion rattling the upper section.

Sal slipped. Dropped hard against the glass barrier with a thud.

Titanis caught him. Reached over and grabbed the drag strap of his tactical vest. Hauled Sal over the barrier.

“Go, go!” Titanis waved at her as they both lunged in her direction. “Stairs!”

Cassie felt as if that nightmare state had come again. Legs felt like rubbery noodles. Her arms like anchors slowing her. She reached for the doorjamb, to propel herself into the office. Fingers groped wood.

A weight plowed into her back.

She went flying. Straight into the stairwell. Panicked, desperate to survive, she pushed herself to her knees. Hands shoved. Cassie tumbled forward. Down the stairs.

The world rumbled. Groaned. The cement staircase vomited cement. Fire snaked down the steps.

Sal threw himself on top of Cassie, ramming into her with no way to break his momentum. He heard her head smack against the wall. Her cry was no more than a stunted whelp. He rolled, tightening his hold

and dragging her with him. They tumbled down the stairs. He held the top of her head, to protect her from cracking her head against the steel steps or cement wall. Sal shouldered into the roll, determined to deflect as much as he could from her body.

Cassie’s fingernails dug into his side and arm—the same bloody arm that had caused him to kill his friend.

They thudded onto the next landing. Sal flipped once more, shoving her into the wall, and pressed in on her. With her sealed between himself and the wall, he hunched as cement crumbled like a potato chip. The fury of this explosion roared in their ears, angry and violent, as if livid they were still alive.

“I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.” Her whimper barely found his ears.

Sal glanced down at her, blinking through the gritty air. Her blue eyes shone with the panic she’d confessed. “I won’t let you die.”

Hawk. He couldn’t be dead.
Please, God… please don’t let me have killed him. Not another
. He had to be alive. And Sal would save him. Make things right. Expunge this guilt from his soul.