Into the Mist (Falcon Mercenary Group #1)(67)

Damiano’s curses fell on deaf ears as she walked back to the entrance, half dragging her leg. She gritted her teeth against the jarring pain that snaked up her body with each step.

Suck it up. It wasn’t the first time she’d taken a bullet, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.

“I’m working on memory here, D. Tell me if I’m going wrong.”

“You’re fine.” D’s voice was firm, and she needed that strength. Grasped onto it with both hands.

She made it back to the door where her explosive was set and ready to go. Then, she thought better of having such a short timeframe and added another three seconds to give her more time to move out.

She forced herself up, put the stock of her gun down on the floor to act as a crutch and hauled her ass as fast as she could in the opposite direction.

“Jonah and Mad Dog are taking fire, but they’ll be there to back you up as soon as they can,” D said in her ear.

She gritted her teeth and rounded the bend just as the explosion rocked the hallway.

Gun up, she hurried back, her rifle sight trained on the doorway. When no one was forthcoming, she ducked in.

“Shit.”

“What is it?” Damiano demanded.

“Cats,” she replied. “I wasn’t counting on them being in f**king jaguar and panther form.”

D was uncharacteristically silent.

The two cats were caged separately. Iron bars and a simple padlock were her only obstacles, so this was something she wouldn’t need D for. Well, that and the keys were lying on the table three feet from the cages.

Taking a deep breath to ward off her pain and fear, she collected the keys and edged over to the first cage. The panther. This was Braden if she remembered correctly.

“Nice kitty,” she murmured as she fumbled with the lock. God help her, this might the dumbest thing she’d ever done.

She threw open the cage with one arm and tightened her grip on her rifle as she backed cautiously away to unlock the other cage.

The panther jumped from the cage and crouched warily in front of her. Her hands shook as she managed to get the lock off the second cage while her eyes never left the panther.

The jaguar hissed and bared his teeth as she started to crack open the cage. Oh hell, it was now or never. She threw the lid open and backed away, tripping when her leg gave out. She let out a cry of pain as she hit the floor.

The cats circled her, intermittent growls spilling from their throats. The jaguar came closer, and Tyana closed her eyes, prepared for death.

He sniffed cautiously at her shoulder then lowered his head and nuzzled the wound on her leg. The panther stalked in on her other side and bumped her side with his head.

She stared dumbly as they continued to nudge at her. Good God, they wanted her to get up and go. She pushed herself up.

“I don’t know if you understand a word I’m saying, but we’ve got to get the hell out of here,” she said as she struggled toward the door. “Eli is out already. All that’s left is Gabe.”

The cats flanked her as she made it out into the hallway. Her leg was growing more numb with each passing minute. She hoped to hell Jonah and Mad Dog had made it over by now but she wouldn’t ask Damiano, because he’d worry that she was fading. And she was.

Footsteps, several of them, echoed in the hallway. She flattened herself against the wall with her gun at the ready. This was going to suck.

Three men rounded the corner at a fast clip. She shot the first before they even realized she was there. She managed to squeeze off another round before the third shot back.

She slammed against the wall as the bullet tore into her shoulder. The cats launched themselves at the men. “D,” she gasped. “I’m hit again.”

The sounds of the cats’ screams mingled with those of the men. Her breaths came hard and sporadic. It hurt. Fuck, it hurt. She glanced down, trying to assess the damage but all she could see was blood, red, pouring onto the floor.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Through hazy vision, Tyana saw two sets of cats’ eyes close to her face. She felt a warm tongue on her cheek and soft fur rub against her nose.

“Go,” she whispered. “You have to get out. They’ll kill you.”

She pushed at the jaguar with her uninjured arm and was stunned at the weakness of the gesture, how much of her strength it sapped to make such a small movement.

“Ty, Ty, speak to me.” D’s frantic voice shot through her ear, and she winced.

She tried to push herself away from the wall, tried to get herself up off the floor.

“Go,” she told the cats as she fell back, her strength spent.

To her relief, they loped off.

“D, the cats are out. If the Falcon secondary is moving in, make damn sure no one shoots them.”

“I don’t give a damn about the f**king cats,” Damiano bit out. “Can you move? Can you get the hell out?”

Shit. She couldn’t even lie to him because he’d see she was still stationary.

“No,” she said quietly. “I’m down.”

More sounds echoed through the hallway. Loud footsteps. More than one person. A lot of them.

“D, is the Falcon secondary moving in?” she asked, unable to keep the fear from her voice.

Before he could respond, she looked up and saw four men round the corner. Not Falcon. Her heart sank. Her rifle dangled uselessly from her hand. She couldn’t even lift it.