Rock Chick 06 Reckoning (62 page)

Then she woofed again as she jumped off the bed. Then she didn’t woof but barked, straight out, sharp, agitated, a warning. She immediately started dancing along the wal , sniffing, restless then more barking.

“Goddamn it,” Mace clipped, reaching into the jacket of his tux to pul out his phone but it started ringing before he got to it as did the phone in my house. “
Goddamn it!
” Mace barked then shouted. “Get down!” When both Preston and I hesitated a mil isecond, he roared, “
Down!
” On his word, the windows exploded and I hit the deck and I hit the deck with Mace’s body on top of me.

“
Juno! Come!
” Mace shouted, I tried to look but he had an arm over my head, his body covering me as gunfire sounded from what seemed like al around, piercing my eardrums. “Talk,” I heard Mace growl, probably into his phone then, “No shit? You hear that. We’re under heavy fire.

Units. Every available man. Now.”

Then I heard the flip of a phone closing just as the gunfire stopped and I felt the fur of Juno pressing to my arm.

Thank God, she was close.

I thought that then thought no more. Mace was up and he was hauling me up with him.

“Move,” he ordered when he had me on my feet but he didn’t need to, he had my hand and he was dragging me to the door. “Come!” he commanded Juno but he didn’t need to do that either because she was right at our sides, crowding us.

That was when I heard several very scary noises, noises the like I only ever heard in movies. I stupidly stopped, turned my head and saw them.

I saw them.

Mace didn’t stop, he didn’t even hesitate. I knew he heard it too and I knew he knew what they were without looking at them. I knew this because he went faster, as in
a
lot
faster, as in
running
faster and my feet had to move again or he would literal y be dragging me.

But I saw them.

I saw them

Grenades.

Not one.

Three.

Three!

I realized it then that they blew out my windows at an impossible angle if they were firing from the ground or they did it from higher ground but at a distance only so they did it from higher ground but at a distance only so they could launch the grenades in and blow us to bits.

Shit.

Shit!

We were out the door on a run and sprinting down the stairs, Juno at our sides, Preston fol owing close when we hit the first landing, multiple explosions rocked my apartment and tossed us as they blew out the wal above our heads. We flew to the side, Mace slammed into the wal and I slammed into him while plaster, wood splinters and probably bits and pieces of my possessions shot over our heads and rained down on us.

It took Mace a nanosecond to recover before he was dragging me down the next flight of stairs, this time tucked close to him, his arms crossed and covering my head.

We hit the second floor landing when he stopped us and shoved his phone in my hand just as he reached into his jacket at his waist and around his back where I knew he had a holster. I heard the click of him releasing the strap and he came out with a gun.

“Cal back last cal in my cal history. That’s the control room. They gotta have a status update, get it,” he ordered then his eyes slid to his father and he went on talking as I flipped open his phone and shakily found his recents screen. “Stay here with Stel a. Do not move unless I tel you to.”

I looked up to see Preston getting close to me then I looked to Mace to see him moving cautiously toward the mouth of the flight of stairs that led to the first floor.

He didn’t move cautiously back. He jerked back as gunshots went up the stairs, bul ets embedding in the ceiling. I swal owed a scream and, to stop my instinct to throw myself at my man, I pressed into the wal . Preston pressed into me. Juno pressed into me. Mace ran to a door, tried the handle, found it locked then he took a step back and slammed forward using his shoulder and the door blew open.

His eyes sliced to me. “Fol ow me, Kitten, at my back.

Close. Now.”

I moved, got close to his back feeling Juno’s fur brush my bare legs as I did as wel as feeling Preston keeping close.

Mace moved into the second floor hal and we al moved into the second floor hal . Mace shifted and we al shifted.

Mace pushed the broken door to, pul ed a narrow table from the side wal until it was blocking the door and he shifted again, moving down the hal , quickly but stealthily, head up and sweeping side to side.

We al moved with him.

I kept close to his back, my fingers shoving up under his jacket to curl into the waistband of his trousers and I looked back at the phone. I hit go on the last cal and put it to my ear.

It didn’t even ring before it was answered; there was no greeting, just a barked, “Status.”

“Um… hi,” I said. “This is Stel a.”

“Right, Stel a, status,” the man’s voice replied, not a bark this time but stil sharp, urgent and I thought it was Monty but I wasn’t sure and I didn’t give it headspace at the time because Mace moved us toward a wal , stopped and was doing hand motions to his father. I felt Preston’s fingers curl around my arm as I felt Mace’s fingers curl around my wrist to detach my hand on his slacks. Then he stared into my eyes a beat before he turned and moved back where we came.

Oh man.

I got down to business and said into the phone, “Okay, multiple grenades just blew up my apartment. We’re cut off at the backstairs. We’re in the hal on the second floor and Mace is going back toward the backstairs.”

“Stop him.”

Shitsofuckit!

“Mace, stop,” I cal ed, quiet and quick. “Monty says stop.” Mace stopped, twisted and looked at me.

“More,” I said into the phone.

Monty didn’t hesitate. “You’re surrounded. Al exits cut off. They’ve disabled the outside cameras, we tried to turn on the inside cameras but they’re off-line. Before they got to the cameras, we saw at least six of them approach and breach the house. They’re inside. First unit to the scene, ETA, five minutes. Mace needs to hole you in until backup arrives. Out.”

Without delay I relayed this information to Mace.

“Surrounded. No exit. Outside cameras disabled. Inside off-line. At least six men inside. Backup five minutes. Monty says we need to hole up.”

Mace started moving back just as more bul ets tore through the door we just went through.

When this happened, I didn’t think. I’d been shot at a lot recently and been caught unaware and therefore didn’t respond appropriately.

Not this time.

This time I dashed to the next door off the hal , opened it and raced in. Juno came with me. So did Preston. Mace fol owed, slammed the door, locked it and then turned to his father.

“Move this shit,” he ordered, circling his hand around in the air. Preston nodded and immediately father and son started moving jumbles of furniture in front of the door.

I slunk to the back of the room with Juno, crouched low, knees to chest and went back to Monty.

“We’re in, I think, the third room down to the left coming down the hal from the back. They’re on our floor.”

“Hang tight,” Monty advised.

Right. Hang tight. Great. Good advice.

Effing hel .

“Roger that, hanging tight,” I whispered, deciding against doing this with sarcasm as Mace shoved a huge, old rickety wardrobe in front of a dresser his father shoved in front of the door and I stared at the furniture noting that unfortunately none of it was made of steel.

Effing, effing, hel , hel ,
hell
.

“Stel a, a squad is three minutes out. Another unit two minutes behind them. Luke one minute behind them. You’re good,” Monty assured.

Gunfire exploded, loud and terrifying, bul ets thudding in and
through
the furniture in front of the door. I went down to a hip and thigh, my arm with the hand not holding the phone shot out and curled around my dog and I pul ed us both down so far my forehead was resting on the dusty floor.

The gunfire kept sounding, hideous, excruciatingly loud. I felt my lungs seize, my breath evaporating, not on a joyride, beaming to a different galaxy in order to get the ef out of Dodge even as I felt Mace crouch low beside me.

We were good.

Right.

Not even close.

More gunfire but this was Mace returning fire, probably warning shots to let them know he was armed. He only shot twice but the gunfire outside ceased.

I sucked in breath.

“Two and a half minutes, Stel a,” Monty said in my ear.

“I’m movin’,” Mace whispered to me, my heart froze, my neck twisted, my eyes shifted his hard, determined face and my breath disintegrated again.

Then it came back in a fiery rush and I whispered frantical y, “No. They’re two and a half minutes out.”

“Babe, these guys are not stupid but they are desperate.

They’l aim low or kick in. They got no time, they know it and they got six men. We got one with one gun. We don’t have two and a half minutes.”

My hand went from Juno, shot out and I grasped the material of the arm of his tux. “No,” I pleaded.

“Stay low,” he returned.

“No,” I whispered, not to his order but to his going.

He didn’t listen. He jerked his arm free and his eyes shifted to his father.

“She’s in your care,” he whispered, the words held weight, they had meaning no one could miss then he moved, crouched low, he went to the side wal then around the furniture and I lost sight of him.

“Oh my God, Monty,” I whispered into the phone. “Mace is on the move.”

“Fuckin’ fuck, fuck,
fuck.
Maverick.
Fuck!
” Monty clipped in my ear.

I didn’t feel particularly soothed by this reaction and because of that I felt tears wel in my eyes then I felt Preston close and heard Juno whine. I looked to my dog to see her low on her bel y but her eyes were aimed at where Mace disappeared.

My dog loved my man.

I loved my man.

And he was going to keep me safe.

Or die doing it.

Oh God.

“Monty,” I breathed, my breath now coming fast, in pants, more adrenalin tearing through me, so much, I was tingling from head-to-toe, so much, I could feel it saturating my system. I was drowning in it.

“He’s good, Stel a, he knows what he’s doin’ and he’s been in worse spots than this,” Monty told me.

This was not exactly welcome information. It was actual y scary information but nowhere near scarier than my current scary situation so I let it slide.

Then I thought no more when the sound of more gunfire fil ed the air but through this I heard furniture move (no joke!) and then a door open (oh God!) then a grunt, a shout, more gunfire, more gunfire, stil more gunfire, another grunt, a thud, a man’s scream, more gunfire, another thud, another man’s shout, the sickening sound of bone breaking, a man’s strangled cry, more gunfire…

Then silence.

I held my breath, eyes on my dog, Juno’s eyes not having moved from the spot where she last saw Mace.

“Stel a?” Monty cal ed in the phone.

My head turned and my gaze shifted, catching Preston’s.

He was on his knees, bent forward, torso twisted my way, his body mostly shielding mine from the door. His eyes were on me and I saw it, clear as day, fear was written al over his face and not the kind of fear a man feels when his life was in imminent danger. The kind of fear a man feels when his mind is consumed with the possibility that another one of his children had been struck low.

Even considering the terror I felt which took most of my attention, it was stil difficult to witness.

“Stel a?” Monty’s voice was sharp in my ear.

“Monty,” I whispered back, having nothing else to say, holding Preston’s gaze, reading his look, knowing I was wearing the same terror with only a nuance of difference on my face.

“Please, God, not again,” Preston breathed, my heart twisted, it hurt like a mother then we heard footfal s.

We both jerked our heads toward them, my neck went way back and my eyes fil ed with wet that instantly spil ed over when I saw Mace casual y striding toward us.

His jacket was torn at the shoulder.

That was it.

Just his jacket was torn at his shoulder.

Lordy be.

I surged to my feet and rushed him. He took my ful body impact without even going back on a foot as Juno woofed excitedly over and over again and I felt her body brushing ours as she circled us. Mace’s arm wound around my waist, going tight and his other hand slid the phone out of mine.

I shoved my face in his chest, pressing close, deep, hard, holding him tight and bawling like a baby as I heard him say into the phone, “Current threat neutralized.” For some bizarre, insane reason which likely had a lot to do with the fact that I was temporarily unhinged due to the extreme relief washing through my system, his words made me laugh through my tears, stil burrowing, his arm getting tighter as I did so.

That was when I heard the sirens.

Okay, now I believed we were good.

But only because my man made us that way.

On that thought, I stopped laughing, gulped back a sob and more tears flowed.

* * * * *

I stood outside at the edge of the activity stil wearing my heels. My feet were kil ing me as was the gunshot graze at my hip which I’d landed on when I went down on it in that room. It hadn’t real y hurt for days, just itched. Now it hurt.

I had a blanket wrapped around me, a blanket Mace had wrapped around me and this was because, even though it was summer and stil warm, it was late at night and I was trembling and not because it was late at night.