She shifted her aim, got that asshole in her sights, then fired, a puff of smoke curling up from her weapon a split second before the other guy fired, the flash insanely bright against the midnight sky.
Her bullet hit the mark, dropping him off the side a breath before his high caliber round slammed into her side, punching through the Kevlar like a sledgehammer. The violent force threw her backwards, tumbling her over a few times as she slid across the wet steel grating, finally stopping several feet back.
Pain, white and hot, seared through her chest, stealing her next breath as she stared up at the rain. The steel grating pressed against her back, the uncomfortable bite dulling into an odd numbness. Blood soaked through her gear, a deep chill settling into her bones.
“Neve.”
Wynn loomed overhead, already cutting through Velcro and nylon, before clamping her hand around the wound. “Just keep breathing. I’ve got you. You hear me? I’ve got you.”
She slapped on a bandage, then grabbed the handle on the back of Neve’s vest, started dragging her toward the container. The metal bumped across Neve’s back, everything fading to gray, when someone started clapping, the echo sending shivers down Neve’s spine. She blinked, trying to focus, as a figure appeared on that raised platform behind them, the man’s silhouette more than familiar.
Ramsey cracked open a flare, lighting up the area in a crimson glow. He tsked when Wynn spun, her weapon trained on him. “Nice idea, but I have the higher position, not to mention this…” He held up his hand. “It’s a dead man’s switch hooked up to an insane amount of explosives. Kill me, and this entire compound goes up like napalm.”
Neve squeezed Wynn’s arm, shook her head.
Ramsey grinned. “Good call. Now, leave her. Let’s see how much she bleeds before her boyfriend gets to the top of the ladder. Soldiers operate so much better with clear motivational goals.”
Neve reached for her sidearm, but the messages weren’t getting through, her fingers barely moved before everything just stopped. A heavy clang sounded behind her, what she knew were boots pounding on a ladder.
Coulter had reached the top. And she wasn’t the only one who’d marked his arrival.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Acrack.
Sharp. Finite.
Rolling across the quarry, the accompanying dull thump of brass hitting flesh nearly toppling Coulter off the ladder.
Ten feet.
That’s all he’d had left when he’d heard the suppressedthunkof Neve’s rifle. Not once, but twice. Louder than the previous shots, as if she’d moved outside. He’d snapped his gaze toward the sound in time to see her silhouette jerk from the hit, tumbling her back several feet into a crumpled heap. She stopped, head facing the opposite direction, nothing moving.
Wynn had appeared a moment later, crawling across the catwalk before bending over her. He’d caught the faint murmur of voices before she’d grabbed Neve’s vest, started dragging her backwards.
That’s when everything had changed.
Ramsey.
Standing on the platform behind them, weapon trained on Wynn’s head as he’d gloated, taunted them with a promise of even greater violence.
Not that Coulter didn’t believe the guy. He’d worked with men like Ramsey all his life, and he knew a cornered dog when he saw one. Either Ramsey was walking out of here alive, or he was taking the entire compound with him.
Coulter cleared the top rung, Sig in one hand, all his rage tightly coiled into white hot focus. Neve had taken the shots, knowing full-well she’d get hit. But she’d done it to save him. And he’d be damned if he’d lose her now.
Not to Ramsey.
Ramsey motioned with his gun to Wynn. “Take her weapon and yours and toss them aside. I don’t need either of you playing hero.”
Wynn eased Neve’s rifle off her shoulder, tossed it over the side of the catwalk before adding her weapons to the pile. “I’m putting pressure on her wound. Either shoot me for it, or just shut up.”
Ramsey grinned, his teeth overly white in the red glow from the flare. “She’s going to die one way or the other. Seems futile to try and stop it.”
Wynn ignored Ramsey, looking as if she had her knee on Neve’s side in an effort to slow the bleeding. A hushed whimper drifted on the breeze, that one sound focusing Coulter’s rage.
He scanned the area, moving through the shadows as he flanked left, climbed up a short set of rock steps to the catwalk attached to Ramsey’s platform and the container silhouetted behind him. Either Ramsey heard a slight scuff, or he felt the same shift Coulter did — the one that screamed another apex predator had joined the fight.
The bastard looked toward Coulter’s position, called out to the darkness. “I know you’re there. Your girlfriend’s bleeding internally, and her teammate’s head is in my crosshairs. If you wait much longer, there won’t be anything left to save. Why don’t you come out and talk to me.”