Hidden Impact (Safeguard #1)(65)

“Apaches, incoming.” Victoria’s voice came in clear on his comm—her sharp hearing had given her a split-second advantage on the rest of them. The low, distinctive sound of the attack helicopter blades beating the air reached them all.

“Go.” Gabe was out the door and proceeding through the trees at speed, eyes open and scanning the area as he took a curved path towards the guest cabin. The front door faced outward to the creek running past the Centurion property. Intruders were going to come from the perimeter right to the front door.

He was headed for the back of the cabin, and hoped Maylin had remained in the bedroom at the rear. His heart kicked into overdrive, pounding hard in his chest. He sucked in air, held it for a beat, and blew it out to get his shit under control. She needed him. If she was in the kitchen...





Chapter Nineteen

The explosion had sent Maylin to her knees, instinctively ducking and throwing up her hands. The ground had shaken, and it felt like the cabin had shifted a little on its foundation, even. Or maybe she was just scared out of her mind.

Yeah, she was definitely afraid.

“We’ll see you shortly, Maylin Cheng,” Jewel sang out from the phone still clutched in Maylin’s hand.

Tā mā de.

Adrenaline coursed through her as she looked around wildly for something she could do, some way she could go. The windows were still intact somehow. But Jewel and her people were coming. Did she have time to run to Gabe and the others in the main cabin? What if Jewel had a surprise waiting for her outside?

The loud strike on the front door sent a fresh spike of fear stabbing into her chest, and another hit to the door followed.

No. She didn’t have time. Not unless she bought herself some. Otherwise, they’d just grab her while she was trying to wrestle the damn window open.

She swallowed hard. Go with them? Charlie knew too much about An-mei’s kidnapping if they’d told him they knew where her sister was. That they were taking her to An-mei. No. If they had Maylin, they’d probably kill Charlie to erase proof of An-mei’s abduction. He didn’t deserve to be caught up in all this.

Worse, if they had her, they had the leverage to make An-mei do what they wanted. Based on what Gabe had told her—and she believed what he’d said about biological warfare—a lot more people could be hurt than Charlie if An-mei did the research.

She was going to hell, but she wasn’t going to go with them. Maybe she could sell her soul to get Gabe and his team to rescue Charlie too.

Please forgive me.

Another bang at the front door, followed by gunfire. Maylin ducked back behind the doorjamb in the bedroom, breathed for a two count, then made herself peek. Hiding wouldn’t help her. She needed to know what was coming toward her.

There was a man. He’d shot out the lock of the door. Someone was cursing behind him. “What if you shot the girl? Keep it under control, idiot.”

“If I’d shot her, she’d have screamed. Asshole,” another man answered. “She’ll be fine. Let’s grab her and get out.”

They sounded nothing like Gabe and his team. She’d listened as they’d murmured communications to each other that first night, forever ago. Even in banter, they’d been professional. Concise. These people weren’t Centurions.

How long before they managed to shoot her, on purpose or by accident?

Someday she was going to learn to come up with answers instead of so many questions.

Her heart pounded. She tightened her grip on the cold cylinder she’d grabbed from the duffel, hoping her hands wouldn’t sweat and make her slip. One chance. And she had to hope she understood how to use the thing. It was heavy in her hand, weighing a lot more than she’d expected. No wonder the bag had been so hard to get out of the closet.

The man came through the door, his gun held out in front of him as his gaze swept the room. She waited—and she might be stupid for losing the precious moments—until his attention was on the far end of the room. Pulling the pin, she tossed the flash bang grenade hard.

His partner shouted a warning.

It landed short, its arc only taking it part of the way to the man, but it rolled the remaining few feet toward him. She turned away just as it exploded. The sharp bang was deafening and she clutched her head. There were shouts, but they came to her as if her ears were stuffed with cotton. She didn’t wait for her hearing to come the rest of the way back. She ran for the window, lobbing one of the metal batons she’d found in the bag through the glass. No time to climb through. Instead she threw herself through the window headfirst and tried to tell herself to roll.

She hit the ground hard, rolling onto her back, the wind knocked out of her.

“Stay down!” Gabe’s voice, still muffled as if she had earplugs in her ears. One side was worse than the other.

But okay. She could do that. Happiness and relief cut through her fear. He was here. Relief might have been a wonderful thing if her hands and shoulders weren’t stinging. The pain was actually increasing steadily. Oh, she had to have landed on something bad. Like glass.

“Victoria.” Gabe was crouching over her and she could see the muscles in his neck strain like he was shouting. Maybe he was. The whole world was a muted cacophony for her. His hands patted her down in a gentle but thorough progression over her entire body. This checking for injuries was becoming a thing between them. Maybe it wasn’t a good thing.