“You okay?” She laid a hand on his arm.
He nodded slowly, and she stopped him in the hall.
“It’s okay if you can’t do this. I need to know though. If you have any doubts, I don’t want you in that room. It would be too dangerous for everyone involved if you hesitate.”
Marcus took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them, she could see that he would be fine. Meredith patted his shoulder and looked at Leary.
“I’ll go low.”
He grinned and pulled out his Glock. She held the HK in her right hand, the muzzle pointed down. Clicking on her headset, she murmured softly.
“Miller, still okay?”
She received two clicks in response.
“Team 2?”
Another two clicks. Looking at the two men next to her, she counted down from three and pressed the button on her headset.
***Backstreet Boys*****Backstreet Boys****Backstreet Boys***Backstreet Boys***
He winced, putting a hand to his jaw as he slowly sat up.
“You okay?” JC reached out and tentatively brushed his fingers across the other man’s face.
A quick smile and a squeeze of fingers assured the other man. Justin looked around the room at the wounded men on the floor, and then he remembered.
***Backstreet Boys*****Backstreet Boys****Backstreet Boys***Backstreet Boys***
The six of them burst into the room. The four men next to the window were showered by glass as Ramos, Sully, and Lumien swung through the clear panes lining the wall. As all eyes were drawn to the windows, Meredith, Leary, and Marcus entered the room after Leary kicked the door open.
Kevin pushed JC and Justin against the wall out of the way before he was tackled. He managed to squirm out of the hold, flipping the other man over and punching him several times before he was struck and pushed to the side. Ramos yanked the guy up by the scruff of his neck before he could hit Kevin again, slamming his head against the conference table. Ramos then bent down to check on Kevin as the younger man opened his eyes. The two men smiled and nodded at each other.
Nick stared into the eyes of the man who had hit him earlier. A grin crossed his face as his fists rose and he shifted into an attack stance. The other man sneered as he feinted to the left and struck out with his right fist. Nick threw up his left arm and blocked the swing, to the surprise of his attacker, and jabbed with his right. He caught the man in the nose, and it just angered the man. He smeared blood across his mouth as he wiped it away, narrowing his eyes as he studied the blond man in front of him. Nick smiled as his opponent got sloppier as the rage increased. He swung several times, landing a couple of blows before Nick stepped back and spun around in a roundhouse kick, knocking the man unconscious. He took the rope Ramos tossed at him and tied the man’s wrists before rolling him over to the others.
Justin’s eyes moved quickly, catching each situation as it occurred.
Marcus and one man were hitting each other, and AJ watched as his friend’s movements began to slow. The young man looked around, his eyes falling on a bottle of vodka on a side table. He picked it up and swung it, breaking the bottle across the back of the man’s head. The guy tumbled to the ground as Marcus and AJ stared at each other. The two men slapped hands before they tied up their opponent and turned back to the fray.
Lumien stared up at the man in front of her. He grunted and sneered. “Looky here at the little girl playing hero.”
His sneer turned to a howl of pain as she kicked him in the balls. He dropped to his knees in agony, watching with stunned eyes as she decked him with a right cross that brought him to the ground. She tied him up with the flexicuffs and rolled him onto his belly. She winked at JC as she moved past him to the rest of the fighters.
Howie ducked the swing aimed at his head and rolled across the floor to grab the HK pistol that had been dropped in the fighting. He rose smoothly to his feet and aimed at the man in front of him.
The rifle hung in the man’s hands as he stared at Howie, trying to figure out if the man who held the pistol could really fire. He smirked and began to raise his weapon. Howie cocked the pistol and arched an eyebrow.
“That’ll be the last mistake you ever make.”
Taking a small step forward, the man kept his voice soft. “C’mon, man. You wouldn’t really shoot me, would you?”
Howie didn’t say a word, keeping his eyes on the other man’s body language. Seeing that Howie had made no other moves, he grinned again.
“Yeah, I didn’t think you could do it.”
Howie arched an eyebrow and dropped his arm enough to swing up in a wide arc and catch the man across the cheek. He dropped like a stone. Howie recocked the pistol and thumbed the safety on before tucking it into the back of his jeans. He took the cuffs Lumien handed him and cuffed the man. He accepted her hand and rose from his crouch, straightening his shoulders. She grinned at him before they turned to face the room.
Leary grabbed the throat of the man closest to him. As the other man clawed at the fingers cutting off his air, he got a good look at Leary’s face before his world exploded into stars as his head was slammed against the wall. The man slumped forward into unconsciousness, and Leary tied him up and tossed him on the floor with the others.
Sully took a blow to his cheek before he sliced through the air and aimed at his opponent’s throat. The man gasped for air, allowing the ex-Seal to land a left hook on the other man’s jaw, which brought him to his knees. Sully brought an elbow down between the man’s shoulder blades, and he was out of the fight. The bodyguard tied him up and pushed him out of the way.
Brian dropped to the ground and swung out his leg, catching his attacker at calf level and bringing him down with an “oomph”. As the man tried to rise, Brian kicked out and caught the man in the face. It stopped his opponent long enough for Brian to get some force behind his arm and swing out with a right hook. He looked at the unconscious man for a moment then accepted Kevin’s offer of some rope and quickly knotted it around the man’s wrists. He sat back and stared around, finding his eyes drawn to the scene at the front of the room.
Meredith and Samuel were throwing punches and dodging fists as each tried to get ahead.
Samuel managed to grin, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. “I should have had some more fun with them while I had them. I would have liked to hear them scream a bit.”
She narrowed her eyes, her fists tightening as his words reminded her of Rashul. In the span of a moment, she was transported back to the camp as the Iraqi colonel taunted her. With a growl, she kicked his knee, bringing him down. He caught her foot as he fell, and they rolled on the floor in a tangle of fists and elbows and knees and feet. The people watching them tried to figure out how to reach in and separate them when Meredith suddenly rolled on top of Samuel pinning his arms with her knees as she stared down at him. One hand rested next to his head, the other held a knife at Samuel’s carotid artery, just pricking the skin.
Samuel looked up into her face and recognized the bloodlust in her eyes. He shivered in fear.
The group held its breath as they waited to see what she would do. After a moment, Meredith blinked. She pulled the knife away and buried the fingers of her other hand in his hair. She settled for slamming his head into the floor a few times until his eyes rolled up into his head.
Meredith stood up slowly, her body trembling with unreleased fury. AJ moved towards her, but Leary reached out to hold him back. They waited as she stood over the leader, the rise and fall of her chest slowing as she calmed. The bodyguard finally dropped his hand, and AJ stepped over to her.
“Love?” His voice was calm and soft.
She turned to him and rubbed her hand over her face before she let herself be pulled into his arms. In the distance, they could hear the sirens approaching. Justin and JC finally moved from their spots against the wall. As Justin moved past the tangled mass of men lying on the floor, one rolled over. His leg caught Justin’s foot, and the young man pitched forward, hitting his head on the table edge. JC managed to catch him and lowered him to the floor.
Table of Contents
Chapter Forty-Four