Bone Deep(61)

The soldiers stopped and it gave Bone enough time to grab two grenades off the dead man’s flak jacket. She tossed his head to his fellow soldiers, pulled the pins and threw those as well.

“Run!” she yelled at Bullet.

Bullet was already gone, heading through the hole in the wall and hitting the hallway that lead to the panic room. The front of the house continued to burn and the smoke was heavy but they were close. They had made it halfway before a tall man stepped from the staircase that led down to the room.

He wore a smile and held a semi-automatic rifle in his hands, cradling it to his chest. This was their leader. “I’m so glad y’all joined the party,” he said.

Bone stopped and breathed in deeply. His accent reminded her of Grant. She heard the remaining soldiers coming up from behind them. She angled her body so she could watch them and the leader. Bullet did the same.

She took the man in with a single glance—trained but not experienced. His skin was smooth, his hands unmarked and soft. His stance was easy but not fluid. He was decidedly unprepared for the war he’d wrought today.

She cocked her head and continued to stare at him. “I’ve been here for a little while now and I still have no f*cking clue what a ‘y’all’ is, Bullet. It’s a burning question I’d like an answer to.”

Bullet had blood running down her cheek. Bone had three separate gunshots, two that had winged her arm and one, deeper, which had dug a piece from her side. Her strength was evaporating with the blood falling from those wounds. This needed to get done quick, fast, and in a hurry.

Bullet looked at her and grinned. “I believe, sister, it is ‘you’ and ‘all’ combined in a perfect redneck combination.”

Bone nodded. “Ah, I see. Well then, sir,” she addressed the man who appeared to be the leader. “I’m glad y’all came too. My days had become quite boring.”

“Now, ladies, I’m just here to talk. This can go civilly if you’ll let it,” he said with a placating smile.

Bullet snorted. “You could have knocked. It doesn’t get much more civil than that. Rand will be really pissed you f*cked up his house.”

Bone hummed her agreement. “How about you, Bullet, are you pissed?”

Bullet bit her lip and nodded her head. “Come to think of it Bone, I am pretty f*cking pissed.”

The man spread his legs, his stance wide. His soldiers stood at least ten feet from them now. Bodies littered the floor behind them and the house continued to burn. She tsked and then tsked again.

“What is it, sister?” Bullet asked calmly, as if they were having a simple, everyday conversation.

“I’m thinking these fine, upstanding American soldiers have zero idea who they’re dealing with. Tell me, sir, did you tell them this mission was unsanctioned and just who you were coming here to murder in cold blood?” Bone asked him inquiringly, her tone level and still pleasant.

“I am here on orders from the President of the United States of America. You are hereby determined to be enemy combatants and you can either surrender your weapons or die here at my feet.”

Bone sighed. “So much for talking.” She wiped a hand down her face and wiped it on her pants. “Look, the whole surrender or die thing might work for y’all,” she said, making sure to get the inflection just right, “But that doesn’t work for me.”

Bullet shook her head. “Me either.”

“And besides,” Bone continued, “I have no weapons on me.”

She slid a foot closer to him and the bastard was so ill trained he didn’t even notice.

“Now see, I know all about y’all. You’re killers. Assassins. And Rand Beckett has been harboring you here. You’re plotting and planning terror on American soil. That makes you the enemy. Surrender or die,” he finished.

Bullet nodded slightly. Bone winked at her and between one breath and the next, Bone was behind the leader, his head in her hands.

Bullet now held his rifle pointed directly at this heart.

The sound of every gun the soldiers held chambering a round was almost lovely to hear.

Bone pushed the leader to his knees. “You came into this house, threatening innocents. That was your first mistake. Your man holding a gun to my sister’s head was your second. Now how do you recommend we resolve this, sir?”

He opened his mouth and Bullet relocated the rifle to press deep inside it.

“Well, lookee there, Bullet. You done shut him up but good,” Bone said in the best damn hick accent she’d ever heard. “Call your men off. Now,” she whispered in his ear, voice dead. She allowed the promise of pain to linger in the notes and he stuttered in a breath.

He tried to speak but the barrel of his rifle prevented it. Bullet made an impatient noise and removed it.

“Retreat,” the man ordered immediately.

The soldiers lowered their weapons and began streaming out from an enormous hole in the side of the house

“Stand up,” Bone ordered roughly.

He stood. Bone pulled his hands behind his back, cuffing them with her own, and then she led him to the destroyed doorway. “This is how it’s going down. You will cooperate and for every order I give that you disobey or do not hasten to perform, I will make you suffer. Let’s start off easy, shall we? Have your men go to their knees and raise their arm to clasp behind their heads.”