Marked (Hostage Rescue Team Series) (22 page)

Xang and his crew had dragged her up all those flights of stairs and by that time she’d been barely able to struggle she’d been so exhausted. They’d brought her in here, secured her to the chair so she sat facing her brother, who’d watched with wide, terrified eyes as one of the men had pulled the pin from the grenade and placed it in her hands. Xang had watched with a victorious smile.

“Hold the trigger,” the leader said to Jake.

He did, wrapping one hand around her left wrist and squeezing gently. “I’ve got it, sweetheart. You can let go now.”

She cast a glance down at him to be sure.

He met her gaze and nodded once. “I’ve got it,” he repeated. “Trust me and let go.”

Holding that trigger down had been the hardest thing she’d ever had to do, but letting it go was nearly as hard. Her numb fingers were frozen in a claw shape around the grenade. She could barely get the digits to respond to her mental command to relax.

Jake slipped the weapon from her grip while the team leader cut away the layers of duct tape binding it to her hands with what she assumed was a knife.

“See the pin anywhere?” the team leader asked.

“Nope,” Jake answered. “But this was way too simple. I don’t like the feel of it.”

“No shit,” the team leader grunted. “Call one of the EOD boys up here to deal with this,” he said to Bauer.

She heard Bauer talking to someone over the radio as the leader finished cutting the tape away. Her arms fell to the sides, limp and heavy. She winced and sucked in a breath as pain shot all the way up to the tops of her shoulders from having maintained the awkward position for so long.

“I’ll take that,” the team leader offered, and she watched as Jake carefully transferred the grenade to his teammate. “Go ahead and get that tape off her.”

Jake knelt back down beside her and reached out to gently grasp the edge of the tape covering her mouth. He peeled it away slowly but it still stung like hell as it came away from her skin. A small whimper of relief escaped her when he pulled it all the way off.

Before she could open her mouth to speak, he cupped the back of her neck and pinned his gaze to hers. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

“N-no,” she managed, licking her lips to ease the dryness.

“You sure?”

She realized his fingers were resting against the pulse beating below the angle of her jaw. “Yes.” She was shaking for a different reason now, the relief overwhelming. But there was something even more crucial she had to tell him. “Xang said this isn’t the primary target,” she blurted.

He stopped what he was doing and she craned her neck around to locate the team leader. He was out in the hallway, still holding the grenade. “I overheard Xang talking to the other men,” she continued in a rush. “He said something about us being a distraction, that this wasn’t the real target.”

Jake stiffened. She knew the team leader had heard her because he let out a curse and started reporting everything to someone via his earpiece.

She looked back at Jake. “They shot Celida—”

“I heard,” he said, voice grim. “Do you know where Xang is now?” He cut away the tape holding her lower legs to the chair.

She shook her head, struggling not to cry as he freed her. She’d been so sure she’d die in here. “He was here when they taped the grenade to me then they all left together, but—”

“Okay. Come on.” He didn’t ask whether she could walk or not, simply scooped her up and started carrying her for the door.

“Wait!”

“Your brother’s fine. Schroder’s got him and he’s a former PJ.”

She didn’t know what a PJ was but this wasn’t the time to ask.

Jake started walking again. He was two strides from the doorway when a large explosion rumbled up through the floor beneath them.

Jake froze and immediately went down on one knee, hunching over her in a protective move that made her want to cry more.

“We just had an explosion somewhere below us,” she heard the team leader report. “Can you confirm?” A pause. “Copy that.”

He spoke more loudly as he addressed the team. “Bomb the EOD team hadn’t gotten to yet just detonated. Assume the entire east side of the floor two floors down is gone. Execute exfil plan delta. Let’s move it.”

“How confident are they that they’ve found all the other devices?” Bauer asked as he came abreast of her and Jake.

“Didn’t ask, but assume they haven’t,” the team leader responded. “We’ll check the status of the west staircase.”

The hallway was just as dark as the room where she’d been held prisoner. Rachel tightened her arms around Jake’s neck. “I can walk,” she offered.

He grunted. “Nope. No telling what kind of debris we’re gonna run across and you don’t have shoes on.”

She noticed more men lined up further down the hallway and realized there must be a second team. Jake hustled her in line with the others, someone else behind them carrying Brandon. They walked the full length of the hallway to the other side. The lead man in the other team checked the door and rushed through it, his teammates covering his movements.

“Clear.”

They descended the steps, curling down and around to the next floor. And that’s when she first noticed it.

Smoke.

The man in front held up a raised fist and everyone stopped.

“Alpha squad, go,” the team leader commanded. The forward team broke away and went down to investigate. In the few seconds they were gone, the smoke intensified. Jake shifted his hold on her, waiting, and moments later the squad reappeared.

“Fire’s almost at the stairwell. Can’t tell how far down it goes.”

Rachel turned her head to watch the team leader, her stomach cramping at the thought of them having to run the gauntlet of smoke and flame waiting below. But what other choice did they have? No firefighters were getting all the way up here to put the fire out in time.

“Copy that,” he answered, then reached up and tapped his earpiece. “This is Charlie one, requesting an emergency rooftop pickup. Advise.”

She didn’t hear the response, but Jake must have because he turned and immediately started back up the steps as the others did the same.

His foot had just hit the third stair from the top when the door below them crashed open. Everyone froze, dropping to one knee. Rachel drew her knees up and held her breath, heart thudding. Uneven footsteps echoed from down below, then stopped. A loud, hacking cough followed, along with a thickening cloud of smoke.

The team member at the bottom of the stairs had his rifle up, his body absolutely still as he waited. The leader gave him the signal to check the situation and he slowly crept to the next stair, two men right behind him for backup. They’d barely gotten into place before a gunshot rang out and a bullet buried itself into the concrete wall ahead of them.

Instantly everyone hit the floor, Jake rolling her beneath him on the stairs to protect her as the shooter opened fire.

****

Xang pulled the trigger once more and paused, trying to hear whoever was above him, but it was impossible. The blast had blown out his eardrums.

Everything was muffled, like he was underwater, and he had blood coming out of his ears. When it had gone off he’d been sure he was dead, but then he’d come to and pulled himself out of the pile of debris that had fallen around him. His chest hurt too. It felt like something was slicing into him each time he breathed or moved. He wiped distractedly at his stinging, watering eyes with his sleeve, but it didn’t help.

He knew whoever was above him had to be law enforcement. Already the smoke was too thick back in the hallway, the heat of the fire making it unbearable. He couldn’t go lower because the fire was too intense, so the only option was to go up, even if he didn’t know what he’d do once he got there.

But now others stood in his way. The cell had already left him to die—had purposely trapped him in here by detonating that bomb before he managed to get out—and he’d be damned if he was going to let the cops or Feds take him in.

His hand shook as he held the pistol, still aimed up the staircase. No one had returned fire yet. Had he hit them? Or maybe they hadn’t been armed at all?

He raised his bleeding left arm to cover his mouth when he coughed again, his throat and lungs already burning from the smoke. His whole body trembled, his breaths choppy and uneven due to his racing heart.

A frantic glance behind him showed the thick, acrid smoke seeping from beneath the bottom of the steel door. He could feel the heat radiating from it. There was no way he could go back in there. The door would buy him some time, but eventually the smoke would overcome him. If he wanted the chance to live he was going to have to make it past whoever was up there and get onto the roof.

Taking a cautious step, he eased his weight forward, trying to get a glimpse up the staircase. The red laser dot on the wall ahead of him stopped him cold. He jerked back, yanked his weapon up and started firing.

Jake silently cursed and pressed harder against Rachel’s back, trying to cover as much of her as possible. Three rapid shots rang out. He heard them impact on the wall and stairs, spraying bits of concrete.

Another shot pinged off the steel railing next to him and glanced past. The guys below him could easily engage and take the shooter out, but command wanted him taken alive for questioning. They needed to find out where the main bomb attack was unfolding and stop it.

The shots stopped. Jake raised his head and rolled off Rachel, keeping his body between her and the shooter. He wasn’t really worried about getting shot—he’d gladly take a bullet for her or anyone on his team, but his body armor afforded him a lot more protection than Rachel.

“Take her,” he whispered to the guy behind him, who in turn grabbed her under the arms and hauled her up, passing her to the next man in line.

“Evers, you move in and take Ciprioni’s place. I want that guy taken alive,” the team leader said, his voice quiet in Jake’s earpiece.

Without responding verbally Jake rose to a crouch and moved down the stairs to take Ciprioni’s position behind Bauer. Jake couldn’t see anything past the big bastard’s shoulders, but he placed a hand on the left one to alert Bauer that he was in position and ready to rock.

In a fluid rush, Bauer started down the steps. The shooter got off another round that buried itself in the wall over their heads.

“Freeze!” Bauer shouted. Jake caught a flash of movement from down below and Bauer squeezed off one shot. A sharp cry of pain followed, then a clatter as the shooter dropped his weapon.

Jake was right on Bauer’s heels as they reached the bottom of the stairs and made the turn, rifles aimed on the man writhing on the concrete floor. Smoke billowed up from under the steel door behind him but as he turned over Jake was able to get a good look at him.

“It’s Xang,” he growled to the others. Fucker was bleeding from a wound high up in his shoulder, which was no accident.

Bauer would have put two rounds in the guy’s chest and another in his head if the orders had been different. Jake wanted to tear the bastard apart for what he’d done to Rachel and her brother. Reining that primal urge in, he locked his emotions down as they approached Xang.

Before they could reach him to cuff him and take him into custody, Xang twisted to the side and made a desperate grab for his weapon. Jake launched himself at him.

His shoulder caught Xang in the chest an instant before they slammed into the ground, the impact and Jake’s weight knocking the breath out of Xang. Jake got to his knees and straddled him, flipping him over onto his belly so he could wrench his arms behind his back. Jake wanted the asshole to pay for what he’d done—to rot in prison after he spilled everything he knew about the ongoing terror plot and the cell in general.

Xang screamed and started shouting things Jake couldn’t understand. Jake ignored him, getting the flex cuffs on tight before hauling Xang to his feet and bodily shoving him up the stairs. Bauer grabbed Xang under one arm and together they dragged him kicking and twisting up to the door at the top. The rest of the team was already filing out, taking Rachel and Brandon with them onto the roof.

Now they waited for their ride to show up. The entire team, two civilians, one hostage and a live grenade.

Jake and Bauer forced Xang through the doorway into the bright April sunshine. A stiff, cool wind blew but Jake didn’t feel it, too amped up on adrenaline to feel anything but a sense of vindication as they dragged the prisoner over to the team leader and dumped him face down.

The team leader raised his eyebrows at them. “All clear?”

“Yessir,” they both answered.

“Then I’m gonna get rid of this,” he said, holding up the grenade.

Jake stood back. No way anyone from the EOD was gonna make it up to take care of that for them, and they sure as hell couldn’t take it on board the bird. The team leader paused at the steel door a second before lobbing the thing down the stairs and slamming the door shut.

“Fire in the hole!” the team leader yelled, crouching down away from the door as the rest of the team did the same. Seconds later a loud thud shook the ground. Problem solved.

Schroder trotted over to start administering first aid, and the moment he turned Xang over, Jake heard the guy curse.

“I’ll slow the bleeding but this could be touch and go,” he muttered as he wrenched Xang’s shirt away.

The wound in his shoulder had torn a chunk of flesh away, exposing the bone, but that wasn’t the worst part. Something—either a bullet fragment or a piece of shrapnel from the explosion had buried itself in Xang’s chest. A rivulet of blood trickled from it but now Jake realized it wasn’t just the smoke causing Xang to cough. Pink froth came from his nose and mouth as he hacked away, gasping for breath as it eased. His lung had been damaged.

“Birds are nine minutes out,” the team leader informed them.

Jake glanced over at Rachel. One of the guys was giving her some water while another tended to Brandon’s injured hand. Guy looked pale and listless but Rachel was alert and coherent. She looked over at him, met his gaze, and gave him a wobbly smile.