Heroes In Uniform (65 page)

Just as her fingers closed around it, the voices faded. She relaxed slightly and resumed packing. Stepping out of the bathroom, she’d taken two steps back toward her bedroom when something slammed into the house. She gasped and instinctively dropped into a crouch, her gaze flying down the stairs toward the front door where the sound had come from. Bits of plaster and wood were scattered on the hardwood floor. Wade’s voice shattered the stillness, urgent and taut.

“Erin, sniper! Get down!”

Instantly she went to her belly on the carpeted landing, her eyes traveling up from the debris on the downstairs floor to the silver-dollar-sized hole in the wall beside the front door.

Shit!

She withdrew the Beretta Wade had given her from the back of her jeans. The solid weight of the weapon felt reassuring in her hand. She pulled the radio from her pocket as she made her way to the landing, staying low. Her only thought to help get Wade inside to safety. Crouched down with her back to the wall, she stared at the front door and keyed the radio.

“Wade, are you okay?” she asked, her voice tight and her insides shaky as hell.

Her radio chirped a second later. “Yeah, but we’re pinned down. I got Schafer with me.”

Relief punched through her at the sound of his voice, immediately followed by suspicion. What the hell was Schafer doing here? “A shot came through the wall by the front door. You’ll have to get around back.”

“Let us in through the laundry room window. Keep low. I don’t know how many more of those bastards are out here.”

“Roger.” Taking a deep breath, she raced down the stairs and ducked behind the wall separating the family room from the hallway.

“We’re heading around now,” Wade said.

“I’m almost to the laundry room.” She darted down the hall and into the laundry room, had just stepped over the threshold when another shot slammed into the side of the house, somewhere to her left. Cursing, she dropped to her knees and eyed the window above the washing machine. She’d have to stand to pry it open, and Wade and Schafer would not only be exposed while they accessed it; they’d be easy targets once they started climbing through.

“Change of plan,” Wade said. “Schafer’s coming in the laundry room. I’ll come in through the family room window.”

He’d have to make it around the other side of the house first. “Roger that. Opening laundry room window now.” Heart pounding, she shot to her feet, undid the latch and shoved the sash upward. Moments later she heard boots hit the wooden porch, then a male grunt and two hands appeared on the windowsill.

Another shot rang out just as the unfamiliar man hoisted himself into the window and pushed his upper body through. Erin stood back against the wall, pistol aimed at him as he slid through and landed awkwardly on the floor. He looked up at her and didn’t move, a wary expression in his eyes as he took in the weapon and her stance. He must have sensed that she wasn’t afraid to use it, because he lifted both hands up and stayed on his belly. “I’m unarmed. Wade took my primary and backup.”

She didn’t know whether he was telling the truth or not, but she knew Wade would never have let him come in if he’d been a threat to her—though his SF training made him a lethal one, unarmed or not. “I have to let Wade in,” she said, and backed out of the room, her gaze locked on him. He slowly got to his feet, hands still up to either side of his head. When he made no move toward her she whirled and ran for the family room.

As soon as she rounded the corner she ducked low and moved as quickly as she could to the window, keeping away from where the curtains concealed the wide panes of glass. Once she was next to the left one she keyed her radio again. “I’m in position.”

No answer, but there were no more shots either, and she knew Wade was timing his run carefully. Moving slow so she didn’t disturb the curtains and give away her position if the sniper was watching them or worse, following Wade, she reached up and found the lock in the window. “It’s unlocked,” she told Wade, her Beretta within easy reach beside her knee. “I’ll wait for your signal.”

“On three,” he replied quietly, and she felt a burst of relief that he was still okay. She darted a glance back down the hallway, seeing Schafer as he came out of the laundry room. He no longer had his hands up but he stayed against the wall, watching her tensely.

“One,” Wade said. She set the radio down and placed both hands on the side of the window sash. Footsteps behind her had her swinging around in alarm and reaching for her weapon.

Schafer frowned at her in annoyance when she aimed it at him. “You cover him and I’ll get the window,” he said in a curt tone.

“How do I know you’re—”

“You can’t cover him and open the damn window, so move aside and let me help,” he said in exasperation.

They both knew the pistol was useless unless at close range, but it was all she had and he was right. And if he tried to block Wade’s access to the window or make a move to take her pistol, she’d put a bullet in him without blinking. He must have seen it in her eyes, because he grunted, his lips curving in an almost amused half-smile as she moved aside and let him take hold of the window frame.

“Two,” Wade said.

Schafer held her gaze, both of them tense and ready.

“
Three
.”

The thud of boots reached them as Wade vaulted the porch railing, then running footsteps. “
Now
,” Erin urged, moving into position beside him.

Schafer wrenched the window open. Erin had her weapon up and through it just as Wade came into view. His face was tense, body moving in a blur as he took the last few steps toward the window. Another round slammed into the porch, sending up shards of wood from where it impacted the railing a few feet to Wade’s right. She ducked back just as he gripped the window ledge and vaulted inside. Another slug came through the open window, burying itself into the wall just inches from where he landed.

Erin shot out a hand and yanked the curtain back in place to give them some concealment just as Wade hit the floor and rolled toward her. He shoved her back flat against the wall, shielding her with his body. Fear and frustration pulsed through her. She didn’t want him to shield her—she wanted them all to move away from the window before the sniper got lucky with a blind shot.

“Go, go,” she urged, shoving at his wide shoulders.

He eased away and flipped to his belly, crawling for the hallway. She was right behind him, Schafer following her. They scooted around the relative safety of the wall separating the hallway and family room and paused there. Wade shot a glance at Schafer as he spoke. “Think it’s only one shooter. We’ll hole up in here and call for backup—”

His words were drowned out by a deafening explosion. Erin’s gasp was lost in the roar. She hit the hardwood as the floor and ceiling shook, raining bits of plaster down on them. Wade jerked her close and rolled on top of her, covering her with his weight and shielding her head with his arms. When the house stopped rumbling he moved off her and she got a lungful of thick, acrid smoke coming from the family room.

“Jesus Christ,” Schafer muttered, coming up onto his elbows to look behind them. Erin followed his gaze. The wall separating the hallway from the family room had holes the size of dinner plates in it and an orange glow flickered over the hall. The crackle and hiss of flames penetrated the ringing in her ears as the silence settled over them.

“What the hell was that, an RPG?”

“Felt like it,” Wade answered, his posture and face tense as he glanced from the glow of the flames through the holes in the wall and back to her. The anxiety burning inside her exploded into full-on fear as she realized they’d have to move before backup arrived, before the smoke or another RPG killed them all. “We’ve gotta get out the back before he can circle around.” He scanned her from head to boots. “Grab a jacket.”

They had a tiny window of opportunity to exit the house before the sniper repositioned or maybe fired another rocket at them. On her stomach, she crawled as fast as she could toward the foyer, radio in her back pocket and the Beretta clutched tight in her hand. Already the smoke was thickening, stinging her nose and throat, making her eyes water.

Her coat was in the coat closet next to the back door. She hugged the wall and gingerly reached up a hand to pull the door open, careful to keep out of sight through the glass in the back door. Behind her she heard Wade talking on his cell, calling in the situation to who she assumed must be someone at the CIA. Looking back, she saw what was left of the family room completely engulfed in flames. She jerked her jacket down from the hanger and put it on as Wade and Schafer crept toward her down the hall.

Wade’s gaze connected with hers. “Let’s get outta here.” He nodded toward the door.

Any exit was a risk at this point, but the door gave them the biggest opening to go through and trying the window now would stack them up and cost time they didn’t have. The smoke would kill them if they stayed in here for more than a few minutes. “Okay.” Her voice sounded far steadier than she felt. They had no idea what was waiting for them outside.

He nodded once and started for the back door on his stomach. “Stay behind me. Schafer, you stay on her six.” They crouched together at the door. Erin’s heart drummed hard against her ribs. Was there only one shooter out there? Where was he now? No way of knowing until they stepped outside, but they couldn’t stay here like sitting ducks.

Wade took her chin in his hand, startling her out of her thoughts. His dark eyes were so intense that she shivered. “Run east to the neighbor’s place. Don’t stop, whatever you do, no matter what.”

He meant if he was hit, he was ordering her to leave him and keep going. Well, fuck that. She opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off with pressure against her jaw and a tight shake of his head. “Don’t you stop. Find cover and call for help, or snag a vehicle and get out of here.”

Already knowing she wouldn’t budge from Wade’s side if something happened to him, she nodded anyway. But she couldn’t keep from reaching up to lock her hand around his thick wrist and squeezing once, hard. She was scared, but more terrified that she might lose him. He’d come to mean so much to her in such a short time, she couldn’t take it if she lost him now. Not like this. Not before they even had a chance to find out if what they had was as powerful as she thought it was.

His hard expression softened for just a fraction of a second, then he dropped his hand. “I’m gonna open the door and hang back a second. On my word, we’re all gonna haul ass next door. Got it?”

When both she and Schafer nodded, he rolled to face the door and inhaled deeply. “Here we go,” he murmured, and reached for the deadbolt.

It turned with a sickeningly loud snick in the eerie stillness.

His hand gripped the knob. “Get ready.” He flipped the knob and yanked the door open while they plastered themselves up against the wall.

No shots. Only the intensified sound of the wind and rain.

Erin swallowed and watched Wade, who was scanning the area he could see outside from their position. He rose slowly to one knee, his pistol gripped in both hands. “Now.”

With that he surged upward and barrelled through the back door. Erin felt like she was on autopilot as she shot to her feet and followed. Rain and wind slapped at her face, the waterlogged ground making squishing sounds beneath her boots with each stride. Wade tore across the grass in a zigzag pattern to avoid enemy fire as he led the way. His long legs ate up the distance but she knew he was holding some of his speed back in order to stay close to her.

Scanning the thicket of trees to the south, her breath sawed in and out of her lungs as she waited for the shooter to open fire once more. There could be others, or he could have repositioned already without them noticing. Thudding steps behind her told her Schafer was sticking close behind her as Wade had ordered.

It felt like it took hours instead of minutes to cross the lawn. Wade hesitated at the split rail fence separating the property lines and looked back at her. A spray of mud and grass kicked up a few feet to Erin’s left. She yelped and veered right, terror streaking through her. The lack of body armor made her feel even more vulnerable.

Wade turned away from the fence as though he was going to come back to her. She opened her mouth to yell at him to run just as another round slammed into the grass between them. The continued misses told her the shooter wasn’t very experienced, but that did nothing to dull the knife-sharp edge of fear.

She veered left, desperate to avoid the sniper’s crosshairs and kept on running. Wade grabbed her around the torso when she reached him and flung her over the fence. She sailed over it, arms pin-wheeling as she landed, but it was no use. Her feet came out from under her and she hit the muddy ground on her belly with a hard grunt.

Scrambling to her feet, she risked a glance over her shoulder in time to see Wade and Schafer both vaulting the fence. Another bullet took a chunk out of the top railing. Schafer yelled in pain, his face contorting as he fell head-long on the sodden grass. Wade instantly lunged for him, jerking him up by one arm as he pinned Erin with blazing dark eyes. “Run, goddammit!”

She turned and ran, heading for the small, red barn about fifty yards away. Her legs felt strangely numb, her muscles rubbery with fear. Almost to the barn, she heard a pained grunt and whipped her head around.

Wade.

He’d fallen face-first into the ground. She skidded to a stop, her heart lurching, certain he’d been hit. Before she could take a single step toward him, he got up and reached for Schafer, and Erin realized the other man must have been hit again. He was barely moving as Wade hauled him upward and tossed him over his shoulders.

Using the adrenaline still coursing through her body, Erin sprinted for the barn. When she’d reached the far side of it she crouched down and rapidly sucked air into her starving lungs. Wade shot around the corner moments later, dropped to his knees and slid Schafer off him, revealing the trail of blood streaking his side and jeans.