Chapter Fourteen
Cora woke up to the sound of heavy footsteps in the hallway. It was still dark out and she had no idea what time it was. She sat up and threw on the closest outfit she could find. As she was opening her door, Hannah almost barreled into her.
“Cora, thank god you’re up. They’re here. Alejandro’s men are here.” It took Cora a moment for Hannah’s words to sink it. Alejandro’s army was here. And Liam wasn’t. There were only three men against the army. Cora refused to let her panic set in. Panic wouldn’t help her. Heavy movement coming.
“Alright, let’s find Charlie. I’m sure he’ll have us go down to the computer room or maybe there is a bunker we can get to.” She wouldn’t put it past Aaron to put in underground tunnels throughout his property. He seemed like the crazy paranoid kind of guy.
“I can’t go back to him, Cora. I can’t.” Hannah sobbed and clung to Cora.
Cora took Hannah by the shoulders and shook her. “Listen to me, listen. That’s not going to happen. Barricade yourself in the computer room. Look for an escape tunnel; if you find it, use it. Don’t look back. Call the police the first chance you get. Don’t be a hero.”
“What about you?”
What the hell am I thinking?
“I’m going to help them guard the house.” She was a bit rusty with a gun, but she had no doubt it would quickly come back to her. She had her gun as a precaution but never needed one until now.
“Do you even know how to shoot a gun?” Hannah looked at her shocked. It wasn’t surprising. Cora was a computer geek.
If Hannah only knew the truth. “My parents took me out shooting every chance they had. Don’t worry about me.”
“Then let me help too.”
“No,” Cora snapped at her. “You would serve better here in the computer room. Monitoring the property. Please, Hannah.” Cora didn’t have time to argue with Hannah. Charlie and his teammates were yelling downstairs and loading up on weapons. She had to get down there. “Just trust me on this. Everything is going to be fine.” Nothing was going to be fine.
Hannah looked like she wanted to argue but time was of the essence. Cora grabbed Hannah’s arm and dragged her downstairs and pushed her towards the computer room. “I’ll see you when this is over.” Probably. Maybe.
“Are you sure you’ll be alright?” Hannah was trying to give Cora an out, and she didn’t want to be left alone. Cora had to help though. It wasn’t what Liam would want her to do, he would want her to hide with Hannah and let Charlie and his team do what they were trained to do but they were outnumbered, and she had to help any way she could.
“I’ll be fine.” Once Hannah was heading downstairs Cora spun around and raced to the front porch where the men were arming up. She was reaching for a rifle when a strong arm grabbed the weapon from her hands.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Charlie growled at her. “This isn’t play time. Go inside with Hannah. You’ll only get in the way.”
Cora pulled the rifle back from Charlie and checked the chamber before grabbing a few boxes of ammo. “You can use all the help you can get. Both my parents were Marines. Taught me everything they know.”
If she thought that would impress him she was wrong. Charlie grunted. “Just make sure you aim for the bad guys.” Cora barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She had been shooting since she was a kid. She was a hell of a marksman, but it had never been anything she wanted to pursue. She only hoped that her skills hadn’t left her.
Cora went back inside and ran upstairs to the roof access. She took the point at the front northwest corner, facing the grouping of trees and fence, and opened the boxes of ammo for easy access and watched the front of the property as she loaded the rifle. She was proud of herself when her hands didn’t shake. She shut her mind off, not allowing herself to think about what she was about to do. She was going to kill someone. There was no way around it. Alejandro and his men wouldn’t just walk away. She looked through the scope, just as men were approaching the front gate, trying to find the best way onto the property without notice. Too late for that. Cora counted at least forty men. She had no idea if more were coming in from the sides or back. They were so screwed. The trap door behind her opened, and Ortiz jumped up and took the point at the opposite corner of the house. They sat and waited for the enemy to approach. Cora tried to breathe evenly; she knew if her breaths were off it could mess up her shot. Exhale and shoot. Cora looked over at Ortiz and almost did a double take when he reached into his side pocket for a cookie and was munching away as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Seriously? They were outnumbered, and he was snacking on a… was that an Oreo? Only she would have this kind of luck.
“Relax, Chica.” He told her in between bites but still looking through his scope. “Today, only enemies die.”
That was reassuring. Not.
As one Alejandro’s men started scaling the walls. As they reached the top, and started climbing over the wall, their bodies jolted and fell back.
“What the hell was that?” Cora whispered in horror watching men being electrocuted and dropping like flies.
“Hound put a wire on the top of the fence that if someone attempts to scale the fence gets a couple thousand volts of electricity jolted through their body,” Ortiz chuckled.
That sounded horrible.
The men backed away from the fence, and several jumped into their vehicles and rammed the gate, forgetting about being stealthy. They had to run into it several times before it broke open. Cora aimed at the vehicle, wondering how many bullets it would take to take down the vehicle, when she saw Ortiz was reaching for something in his pocket. Really? Another Oreo now? He pulled out what looked like a remote and held it up with his thumb over it but not pressing down.
“You may want to cover your ears, Chica.” He said right before he hit the button and an explosion erupted and the vehicle’s front end exploded sending its front end in the air. Several more explosions erupted, and she saw bodies scurrying out of the way. Cora stared in opened mouthed shock. Aaron had land mines? She and Hannah had been walking the property for the past four days, and she could have stepped on one of these? Ortiz hit another button, and another explosion went off, sending men flying in the air. Ortiz laughed as he did it repeatedly. Cora kept her ears covered and watched in horror as Ortiz blew people up so casually. Did her parents do things like this? It was horrible. Why did she think she could do this? She was about to say forget this and crawl off the roof and hide with Hannah when Ortiz waved at her. “Time to go to war, Chica.”
Could she do this? Did she really have a choice at this point? No. These men needed her. Hannah needed her. She could do this. She had shown promise when she was younger at shooting. Her parents had entered her in several competitions that she had won. But those were targets, not real people. Liam was counting on her. Hannah was counting on her. Charlie and his team were counting on her.
Cora pulled her rifle back up and took aim. She shut the world out and focused on a target as they ran towards the house. Cora adjusted her sight and took a deep breath. She exhaled and squeezed the trigger. One target down. She took aim at another then another. She could hear Ortiz firing, but she blocked him out until he grabbed her and pulled her down. She was about to question him, but a piercing screech rang out and hit the house. Gunfire erupted and pelted the house. She could hear Charlie yelling from the porch below her and returning fire.
“Come on, Chica.” Ortiz pulled her up. “We must fight.”
Cora retook her position and started firing. This time she didn’t tune everything out. Ortiz continued to fire next to her and hit the button on the remote. Cora had to squint as explosions erupted and tampered her vision, but she kept firing. Charlie and Daniel “Bear” moved off the porch and were sneaking around the grounds trying to take out the enemy from behind. Cora became nervous she couldn’t tell who she was shooting at. She feared she would hit Charlie or Daniel by mistake. Cora turned to her right and fired at a new group of men trying to sneak up on them from the side of the barn next to the trees. She fired her last shot and was grabbing more ammo, and watching a new group of men come in through the trees, when she heard it before she saw it. A loud whistle growing louder by the second, a small object became larger as it flew towards her and Ortiz on the roof. It was a missile.
“RPG!” Ortiz yelled before he grabbed Cora and pulled her to the trap door just as it hit the roof. The house shook, and debris rained down around them Ortiz the brunt of the impact then turned to lay on top of her, shielding her from the debris raining down on them.
When it was over Cora wiggled out from under Ortiz. She worried about him because he didn’t move or say anything. Once free she saw that a piece of wood was protruding from his shoulder and part of his hair was singed. With shaky fingers, Cora felt his neck and sighed in relief when she felt a strong pulse. She tried to pull him towards one of the bedrooms, but he might as well weigh a ton. Hoping he’d be alright, Cora made her way down the stairs. Her body protested the movement having fallen through the trap door, but she had to keep moving. Her head was spinning, and there was a ringing in her ears. Probably from the explosion. Cora made it down the stairs, but didn’t see any signs of Charlie or Daniel. She started heading for the basement to make sure Hannah was okay, but stopped when she heard footsteps behind her and the cocking of guns.
“Don’t move,” one said with a heavy accent.
Cora froze, and her breath caught. Where were Charlie and Daniel?
“Put down the gun and turn around,” he commanded.
Cora bent her knees and slowly dropped the rifle before turning around. There were three of them surrounding her. She couldn’t overpower them. They would either capture her or kill her. Either fate didn’t appeal to her. The glimpses Hannah shared with her were enough to make her want to avoid such a fate.
The one to her right started talking in Spanish to the one in the middle. The one in the middle eyed her up and down and said something back. Cora didn’t like the way they were looking at her. She didn’t understand what they were saying to each other but she knew it couldn’t be good.
“You come with us.” The one in the middle told her.
Like hell she was going anywhere with them. But what could she do? Ortiz was passed out upstairs, and she didn’t want to draw attention to him. She didn’t know where Charlie and Daniel were. She couldn’t hear any gunfire outside, and she didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It meant the fighting was over, but it didn’t tell her who had won.
Tired of waiting for her compliance the men advanced on her. If these men were going to take her, she wasn’t going to make it easy. She couldn’t lead them towards Hannah either. Cora pivoted to the left and was about to lead them towards the kitchen, where she knew there had to be a few weapons she could wield, when three quick shots rang out. Cora screamed out in shock and felt over her person to see if she had been shot. She didn’t feel any pain, nor did she see any blood. She turned back towards the men, but they were lying dead on the ground, and a new group of seven men ran inside. Cora felt her knees buckle when she saw Liam in the front running up to her. He was dressed head to toe in black. Had he just come straight back from his mission? It didn’t matter. He came. He came back to her and not a moment too soon.
“You alright, Amazon?” He asked her, looking her over from head to toe.
“I am now.” She said before leaning forward and kissing him. She had to know he was real. He tasted real. He smelled and was covered in dirt and grime, but she didn’t care. He was alive and here. That was all that mattered to her.
“Where’s Hannah?” A frantic Ben asked her.
“I had her barricade herself in the computer room,” Cora assured him. Without a word to anyone, Ben took off down the stairs to the computer room.
“And why weren’t you down there with her young lady?” Liam tried to sound stern but his relief that she was alive and well was palpable.
“There was an army out there and only three people to protect us. I had to do something.”
“It was fine,” Charlie said behind them. “She at least didn’t hit any of us, so I won’t complain.”
It wasn’t exactly praise but coming from Charlie, it might as well be. She looked over at Charlie confused. Hit any of them? “When did you arrive?” Cora turned back and scowled at Liam.
Liam looked away uncomfortably for a moment. The guys seemed to sense his distress and went off in different directions to secure the house. “We arrived back early yesterday. Bulldog called and told us that an army was headed for the house, so we snuck back and laid out some booby traps and waited in the tree line for them to come.”
Cora was raging mad. She had been worried this whole time he wasn’t going to make it back from his mission to help Charlie and his teammates and here he had been back since yesterday. It wasn’t half as bad as the fear she could have shot him from the roof and had no idea he was down there.
“Cora,” he reached for her, but she stepped away from him. She needed time to think. She thought they were past the secrets. His job secrets were fine. She expected them. But to keep something like this from her? What had been the purpose?
“I need to check on Ortiz. He took a hard fall from the roof when we fell, and he also has a piece of wood lodged in his shoulder.”
The sadness in Liam’s eyes of Cora’s rejection of him quickly turned to anger. “You were on the roof with him? When the explosion happened?”
Cora glared at him. He was angry, good. Maybe if he had informed her he was there on the property she might not have been on the roof trying to protect everyone. “I thought there were only three people guarding the property. I had no idea when you would get back. I had to do something. I thought the roof would be one of the safer places to be.”
There was a tick in Liam’s jaw, and he dragged his fingers through his shaggy hair. “What were you thinking? You had no business being on the roof. Even with there being only three of them, they could have defeated those guys without batting an eye. We did it before, and we obviously did it again.” He wasn’t being cocky or arrogant he was only stating a fact.
Cora knew Liam was upset over her endangerment and so was lashing out, but it still didn’t stop his words from cutting her like a knife. She had only been trying to help. No, she had helped. She wouldn’t allow Liam to take that away from her. If he had wanted a complacent woman who hid in a corner while her man went off to war, he picked the wrong girl. “I did what I had to, and I won’t apologize for it. If you can’t accept that then to hell with you and get out of my life.” Cora spoke calmly, but her tone was icy.
Cora turned away from him dismissing him and went upstairs to check on Ortiz who was already being looked over by Carter, a fellow member of Ben’s team whom they all called Doc. As Cora approached them, she could see Ortiz on his back with his eyes open. Cora dropped down next to him and smiled in relief.
“Is he going to be okay?” She asked Carter.
“Are you kidding? He’s too stubborn to die especially from a piece of wood.”
Ortiz grunted in agreement. “Doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.”
“Thank you, Ortiz.” Words couldn’t express how thankful she was he had been on the roof with her and pulled her to safety. Before today all she saw was a fun-loving guy but when lives were on the line he took charge, all while eating cookies. It was odd, but whatever worked.
“No, Chica. You didn’t have to be on that roof, but you were. You saved our lives. I couldn’t have done all that shooting on my own.”
Cora gave him half a smile. “Glad I could help.” Cora didn’t want to think about what she had done. Killing wasn’t in her nature, but she had protected these men. Her friends. She knew she would do it again if she had to. “Is it over now?” Cora asked Carter.
Carter paused in his patching up Ortiz and looked at her. “It is. When we came back, Bulldog told us they were coming so we hid in the tree line, and we waited.” Carter wasn’t telling her something Liam hadn’t already told her. “We cleared them all out. We thought we got them all when we heard the voices in the house. I’ve never seen Liam so scared before as when he saw you facing off three men. As soon as you were clear, he took the shots. That was good thinking racing for the kitchen and not leading them towards Oreo here or Hannah downstairs.”
“Why didn’t I know you were here?” She was hurt that everyone seemed to know what the full plan was but her. Was it because she was a woman and they didn’t think she could handle it?
“We thought it best. We wanted the element of surprise. Alejandro’s army was so focused on watching the front of the house it wasn’t that hard sit there on the side and wait. If you had known, we were there; you would have been watching for us and given our position away.” Would she? Maybe. Had she judged Liam too harshly for not telling her they had been there? She supposed she would never know.
Cora nodded and turned to Ortiz. “I’m glad you’re alright, Ortiz. If everything is over, I’m going to go pack. I’m ready to go home.” The threat was over. There was no reason for her to stay here any longer. She wanted to go home and forget about Liam and all his damn secrets. She understood the secrets of his job, but this hadn’t been a job. It had been a personal mission and she’d had a right to know about it.
Carter looked up at something over Cora’s shoulder, and she didn’t have to look to know that Liam was standing behind her. She could feel his eyes boring into her. She didn’t turn to acknowledge him. She was still hurt by his earlier remark. She stood and walked off to her bedroom. She could hear the men whispering behind her, but she couldn’t hear what. It didn’t matter. She was going back home after this, and she would never see Liam again. She couldn’t do this roller coaster of emotions with him again. She understood why he kept his family a secret. It wasn’t out of embarrassment but out of not wanting people’s pity for feeling they needed to help shoulder his burden. She understood the secrets of his job. But she couldn’t put herself through this again. She thought she could handle it but she quickly realized she couldn’t. She would go back to her nice normal quiet life. With her mind set Cora began packing.