“I was.” Garrett swallowed. “You good?”
Brett looked down at the dead man and nodded. “These sons of bitches took my little girl. I hope every one of them rots in hell.”
“Amen, brotha!” Danny held up his hand for a high five.
When Brett and Garrett just stared at him, the kid shrugged it off and gave one to himself.
If the situation weren’t so dire, Garrett would’ve laughed. But this wasn’t the time for jokes.
Now, more than ever, he needed to stay focused. They all did.
Rummaging through the dead man’s pockets, Garrett pulled out the man’s keys, cell phone, and a KA-Bar strapped to his thigh. Checking the gun’s mag, he noted it was full before slamming it back into place.
“Okay, so what now?”
Garrett looked at Brett and stood. With the M13 held securely in his hands, he said, “Now we go find our girls.”
After giving Brett and Danny strict orders to stay behind him, Garrett slowly opened the door and checked the hallway. Seeing that it was clear, he silently motioned for the other two to follow him.
Going right, he headed for a door at the end of the hall. Light filtered in from all four sides, which told him it was likely an exit.
They made it three full steps before a commotion erupted from the opposite side of the building. Having no way to know who or what had caused it, Garrett had no choice but to continue along the same path, toward the exterior door.
As much as he wanted to burst through every door until he found his woman, his training wouldn’t allow it. He needed to get the other two men out of the building and to the trees, and then come back in search of Avery and the others.
Save the ones you know you can save. Everything else is bonus.
Rafe Owen’s mantra rolled through his head as he led Brett and Garrett through the door and out into the evening sun. As the door shut, a bullet pinged off its metal frame. Missing Danny by mere seconds.
“Holy shit!” The young man’s eyes grew wide. “That was really fuckin’ close.”
“Get to the side!” Garrett ordered, waving his arm toward the wall near the door.
Brett and Danny flattened themselves against the concrete blocks.
More gunfire ensued, but it all came from the other side of the door. Hope filtered its way into Garrett’s chest, but he didn’t dare assume it was his team who’d caused the chaos.
From his position on the other side of the door—the side facing the direction it opened to—he could hear booted footfalls as they made their way toward him. Garrett gave the other men a silent order to remain where they were.
Forcing his spiking heartrate to ease, he raised the rifle and slid his finger to the trigger. Then…he waited.
Muffled sounds whispered through the cracks in the door. A second later, it flew open, and a man dressed in desert camo appeared.
Garrett’s finger twitched. He damn near pulled that trigger. But when the unknown tango turned his way, he realized it wasn’t a tango at all.
He lowered his weapon, his shoulders falling with a sigh of relief. “It’s about fucking time.”
“I think the words you’re looking for arethankandyou.” Digger let his weapon fall to his side.
“Damn, it’s good to see you, brother.” Garrett shared a half-slap, half-handshake—or, Dap, as the kids called it—before Digger pulled him in for a hug.
Also making their way through the door were Bones, Apollo, and…
Holy shit.“Boss?” Garrett blinked, shocked as hell to see Owens had joined in the fun.
“Don’t look so surprised, Falcon.” The man’s British accent seemed too proper and out of place for this shithole. “I was pulling field duty when you were still a pimply-faced teenage virgin.”
“Guess Shadow got my signal, after all.” He ran a hand over his worn face.