Chapter 14
Riley lifted her forearms in front of her face, and blocked the next punch. Her left fist hooked around to Andrew’s side and slammed into his ribs. He stumbled back a few steps. An uppercut to his jaw snapped his head back.
He roared to life, eyes dark with rage, and charged toward her. She planted her feet in a boxer’s stance. He wrapped his arms around her, buried his head into her abs, and drove her backwards. She slammed into the wall hard. All the air in her lungs rushed out. She tried to suck in a deep breath.
Still bent over, Riley thrust her fist up into his face, drove her knee into his midsection. He pushed away from her, gasping for air. She took advantage of the temporary reprieve to catch her own breath.
No way was this asshole going to get the upper hand. Ripper’s face appeared before her, the wide grin she had come to expect from him brightened his face. The countless jokes about going out with her, being her boyfriend, and the marriage proposals that always resulted in howls of laughter from everyone within earshot. He was one of the good guys.
One of the few men she allowed into her heart. She had loved him like a brother. She would feel his loss forever.
The click of the Glock’s slide locking in place snapped her back to reality. Andrew had picked up her gun while she was distracted and was aiming it straight at her.
He took a step toward her, and wiped blood from his split lip and a cut just under his eye. “I have to admit, you surprised me. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
She frantically looked around her for the gun she had kicked away. It lay on the floor about four feet from her. Could she get to it before he got a shot off?
“I mean, I know you work out every day, but I always thought it was those girlie elliptical workouts. If I’d known you were a boxer, I would’ve shot you when I first saw you.”
Now or never.
She dove for the gun. A shot reverberated through the enclosed space. Pain sliced through her side. Heat spread across her midsection and chest.
Fuck that hurts.
She hit the floor, and rolled as another round whizzed past her head and hit the tiled floor sending pieces of clay into the air. She grasped the grip of the gun in her left hand, raised it, lined up her shot and pulled the trigger.
Andrew’s head snapped back. Blood sprayed across the wall behind him. Macabre art. His body slumped to the floor.
Riley lay back on the floor. The cool tiles felt good against the hot blood draining out of the bullet hole in her side. She turned her head to the side.
Andrew was still. Lance would make sure her name was cleared. It didn’t matter what happened to her now.
Lance. That would be the only regret she would allow herself. She’d really wanted to see where things could go with him. But, as she had long suspected, love didn’t appear to be in the cards for her. She knew she was in love with him, as impossible as that seemed. Especially for someone so dead-set against the concept.
But it had happened, and she guessed having felt that kind of love for even a short time was better than never having loved at all.
Jesus, here I am at the end of my life and I’m nothing more than a cliché of every romance novel ever written.
Darkness edged closer and closer until she finally closed her eyes and drifted away.
* * *
Tires squealed as Lance burst through the door and ducked behind a cement pillar. A black SUV with dark windows was screaming down a lane at the back of the garage. Lance crouched down and ran in the direction of the exit. That was the only place Orlov could go. Out was the only gateway to his freedom.
Lance was going to do everything in his power to make sure that didn’t happen.
The SUV turned down the aisle next to him. Lance stood and lifted his AR-15 over the top of the car he was behind. He popped off a few rounds that did nothing more than send paint chips flying through the air.
“Shit!”
There had to be a way to stop this shithead before he got out of the garage. If he had his usual arsenal, he could toss a grenade under the vehicle. At least there was the potential that it would roll onto its side. Then Lance could drag Orlov out and beat him to a bloody pulp before turning him over to interrogators.
“Tomlin,” he spoke into his comms. “Is there a barrier at the garage exit?”
There was a brief pause before Tomlin said, “No. The closest barrier is the side exit Ambo uses to get on and off the compound.”
“Make sure all the barriers are activated.”
Lance started running toward the exit again. Orlov was getting close to getting out of the garage.
“I can’t get it to activate from here. Remote must be down.”
“Fuck!”
“You can do it manually at the guard shack.”
Two problems. There was no guarantee Orlov would go out the side exit. If he headed for a different exit, there would be no way for Lance to get to it before Orlov was able to bust through the gate and leave.
Of course, there was also no guarantee Lance would be able to run to the guard shack before Orlov got there.
He stood and weaved through the cars towards the exit. He still had the advantage of having damn near a straight shot to the exit while the SUV had to go up and down aisles to get there. That slowed Orlov down…a little.
The risk now was Lance had to stand up to run as fast as he needed through the parked cars which made him a mark. If Orlov got a shot off, Lance was a nice big six-foot-two target for him. A moving target. Another advantage for the Russian.
The SUV turned the corner and had a straight lane to the exit. Lance poured on the heat. HIs lungs burned. Legs pumped. He held AR-15 upright. He was screwed if anyone took a shot at him. It’d be impossible for him to return fire.
The exit loomed large ahead of him. He was almost there. The SUV tore past him and up the ramp to the exit.
“Where’s the guardhouse when I get out of here?” Lance huffed into comms.
“Go left. He’s going to have to weave through the cement barriers. They will only slow him down a little. They aren’t much of a challenge to weave around.”
Lance hurdled over the cement barrier and had eyes on the shack. The squeal of tires filled the air as Orlov took the turns at high speed.
Please roll…please roll…
Lance grasped the handle to the guard house and yanked the door open. The body of the guard fell out, head and chest riddled with bullets. Out of his peripheral vision, Lance could see the SUV racing towards the gate. Gaining speed.
“Where’s the fucking button for the barrier?”
“On the panel. Right side. Big red button.”
Lance slammed his fist down on the button. The front end of the SUV passed in front of him. The barrier slowly rose and locked in place.
Orlov had to be pushing over sixty-miles-an-hour. The front bumper slid over the top of the barrier. The tires hit the long metal spikes sticking out of the rounded portion under the top edge of the barrier. Momentum lifted the backend in the air and the vehicle toppled over, and landed on the roof.
Lance darted out of the shack and ran toward the upended SUV. Two men ran toward him. He shot a quick glance over his shoulder. Mick and Lucas. Relief flowed through him.
He rounded the backend of the SUV, and stopped at the back passenger door until Mick and Lucas got to him. Guns aimed at the driver’s door. The impact crushed the roof of the vehicle. The windows had blown out and the door frame was mangled. There was no way to get the door open.
Lance, Mick, and Lucas squatted. The airbags had deployed. Lance pushed the bag out the way. Orlov lay in a heap along the interior roof. Running his fingers along the man’s neck, Lance felt a faint pulse.
Orlov was alive.
“Tomlin,” Lance said. “We’re going to need extraction equipment to remove this asshole.”
“Help is on the way.”
“Thanks for your help, man.”
“Anytime.”
* * *
The wail of sirens grew louder the closer they got to the compound. Lance, Mick, and Lucas backed away and let the emergency team do their job.
“Ambo?” Lance asked Mick.
“Got him out safely.”
“Good job.” He looked around. “Where’s Riley?”
Vacant expressions on the men’s faces jumpstarted Lance’s heart and rocketed into space. “She hasn’t come out of the admin building yet?”
Lance didn’t wait for an answer. Running at full speed, he didn’t notice he was sucking in air. Or the pain in his leg muscles at getting worked so strenuously again so soon. All he could think about was finding Riley. He should never have let her go after Andrew by herself.
If anything happened to her, it was on him. And he would never be able to live knowing he could have saved her. She should’ve been his priority. His mission. Not the Ambassador. And not that fucking Russian piece of shit.
He ran through the doors and looked around the lobby. Two hallways broke off either side. He ordered Mick and Lucas down each of them. He headed for the stairs. Halfway up, a gunshot rang out.
Riley!
He hit the top step and spun around. Where is she? Two bodies lie in the middle of the hallway. One was Andrew. The other was Riley. Bolting forward, he dropped to his knees and slid to her side.
Andrew’s body lay in a pool of blood. His eyes were open, glazed. Vacant.
Riley’s eyes fluttered open, and the gorgeous green wrapped around his heart like a warm blanket. She looked toward Andrew’s body. “Is he?”
“Dead?” Lance asked. “Yeah.”
“Where’d it hit?”
Lance stared at the hole in the man’s forehead. “Right between the eyes.” He looked back at her and smiled. “Impressive shot.”
“Non-dom hand, no less.” She raised her right arm. Her hand flopped over at an unnatural angle. She winced with the effort.
“Any other injuries?” he asked.
“Side,” she gritted out.
Blood soaked her left side. Christ, how had he not seen that? Because he was so damn happy she was alive.
“Jesus, Riley.” He gently pulled her shirt up and examined the wound. Blood ran out in a steady stream. He pulled his jacket over his head and pushed into her side.
She hissed. He hated hurting her, but had to get direct pressure on the wound to staunch the bleeding.
Mick hit the landing. “She’s hit in the side, and has a broken wrist. Need medical now,” Lance yelled. Mick nodded and headed back down the stairs.
“Hey, don’t be upset,” Riley said, her words slurred. “I did what you said.”
“How’s that,” he asked. He was pissed. Not at her, but at himself. She was lying in a pool of her own blood because of him.
“I didn’t die.” She laughed and then sighed. Her eyes drooped. “But it’s possible I’m going to pass out.”