Though it hurt him—so close—Drew slid off the bed. He handed Tina the clothes that Sarah had brought for her.
She dressed quickly.
He grabbed the gun Sarah had brought to him.
Drew eased toward the door. Tina’s heady scent still filled his nose. He could still taste her.
But their moment of reprieve was at an end. Too soon.
He pulled back the curtains, just a tiny space, and gazed outside. Darkness.
That was all right.
The darkness wouldn’t last forever.
Lightning flashed.
He saw the outline of two bodies.
A man and a woman. No weapons in their hands, but he could see the holsters for their guns.
He studied the two figures in that instant of light.
And the tension eased from his shoulders.
Drew opened the door. “As always,” he said to Dylan Foxx and Rachel Mancini, “your timing is hell.”
Dylan grinned at him. “Good to see you, too—”
Thunder blasted.
The hell that was thunder!
Wood splintered from the top of the door as Dylan and Rachel leaped inside the motel room.
Drew knew they’d also recognized that sound for exactly what it was—gunfire.
Drew shoved the door closed even as more bullets came flying through the air. “Anyone hit?” he demanded.
“Just a graze,” Rachel panted. “What a...jerk.”
The glass in the window shattered. The shots were coming so quickly that Dylan knew they were looking at more than one shooter.
“You were followed,” Drew said as he immediately took up a fighting stance. His gaze swept the room. Tina had ducked behind the bed. Good. She was safe.
Now to eliminate this threat.
“Bull,” Dylan snapped. “We know how to cover our trail.”
“Looks like you didn’t cover it well enough this time.” Drew hated being pinned in that motel room. The only way out would be through some back windows, and there might be men out there, waiting to take a shot at them.
“Let’s just hope all of HAVOC isn’t out there,” Rachel said as she checked her gun. “’Cause this could be one very long fight.”
A bullet ripped through the wood on the motel room door. “Tina!” Drew cried out as worry snaked through him. Innocents got hurt too easily in firefights. “Make sure you stay down.” Because when he rushed outside, the bullets would start coming twice as hard and twice as fast.
But there wasn’t a choice for Drew.
They weren’t going to stay trapped.
Dylan slanted a glance at him. They’d worked together for so long, the guy would know exactly what Drew was planning. “You sure about this?”
He rolled the tension from his shoulders. He’d gone from touching heaven to facing hell in five short minutes. “Just give me cover.”
Rachel eased closer to the window. She took aim.
Dylan took a position right next to her. They opened fire.
And Drew rushed out the front door.
* * *
DREW LANCASTER was insane.
The man had just run out into a hail of bullets. He had to be insane.
The thunder was pretty much continuous around Tina then. She could hear the bullets thudding into the walls. Hear the shattering of glass and—wow—the bedside lamp had just blasted into about a hundred small pieces.
You’d better be alive, Drew. Do not get yourself shot.
Tina stayed low. She didn’t have a weapon to use in this battle. She also couldn’t let herself become any kind of handicap to the agents. Her heart was racing, her hands shaking, but she breathed in and out, in and—
Silence.
Tina started to lift her head.
“I count two men down.” That was Dylan Foxx’s voice. Deep, rumbling, no accent at all. She’d seen Dylan plenty of times at the EOD office.
“There were at least four shooters,” Rachel Mancini said. Her voice was softer, and Tina had to strain to hear it. Usually, if Rachel was around, Dylan wasn’t far away. They always worked missions together.
Rachel and Dylan were still safe but...
Where is Drew?
“I’m going out,” Dylan said.
Great. Now two of them were rushing into enemy fire.
I can help. She crawled forward. Keeping her head down was a definite priority, but so was making certain that Drew was safe. She grabbed Dylan’s leg. He jerked toward her. “Give me a gun,” she said, gazing up at him and hoping that he didn’t notice her body was shaking. “And I’ll help cover you.”
He hesitated.
Fine. She yanked up his jeans, revealing his ankle holster. The guy always carried his backup. “I’ll just take this one,” she told him.
He blinked.
There was still no more gunfire. The silence out there was scaring her as much as the bullets. “Go find Drew.”
Dylan nodded. His gaze darted toward Rachel.
The dark-haired agent gave an almost imperceptible nod.
Then Dylan was easing open the motel-room door. He slid into the night.
Tina’s knees brushed across the broken shards of glass from the window. The rain still poured from the sky, and the darkness seemed so complete outside. The brief flashes of lightning lit up the scene, and every time it flashed, she strained to see—
“He’s got a gun!” The figure lurched up from the darkness and aimed right at the motel room.
Rachel fired.
Tina did, too. The bullets hit the would-be shooter, and the man stumbled back.
Her heart slammed into her ribs. The frantic beating was so powerful that she ached.
“Clear!” That sharp voice calling out—it was Drew’s.
She didn’t release her death grip on the gun.
“Four men down,” Drew shouted. “I need the doc out here!”
He was hurt. In an instant Tina was on her feet. She grabbed for the doorknob.
“Wait—” Rachel began.
No, Drew needed her. There was no waiting.
She ran from the room. Another flash of lightning illuminated Drew. He was on the ground. She could smell blood. “Drew?” Tina reached for him.
He turned toward her. Rain water dripped down his face. “I’m okay, Doc.” He pointed to the man on the ground. “He isn’t.”
Another flash of lightning showed her the face of the man who’d held her hostage. Drew had called him Lee. Lee. The man who’d used his phone to record her video proof of life.
The guy who’d callously ordered that her finger be cut off.
“The others are dead,” Drew said as the rain hit them. “Lee is the only one left alive out here.”