Page 60 of Tactically Acquired

“Otherwise, she’s doing…”

“Something,” I finished, unsure of what you would call that.

“Should we…”

“Intervene? Stop her?”

He shrugged slightly. “I mean…she’s got this.”

She kicked wildly at the air, hitting nothing at all. It was a good kick with great form, nice and high. The only problem was, there was no target anywhere near her.

“Sort of,” I agreed. “Maybe we should…”

“Yeah,” he nodded.

Thumper shouted to us from the back of the house, waving at us. “What the fuck are you doing? Grab her!”

“Right,” I nodded. “That’s us.” I ran forward, snatching Audrey around the waist right as she was in the middle of another one of her kicks. She spun and belted me right in theface. It was probably the only hit she landed during this whole fiasco.

“Oh, oops!” she shouted. “Did you see me?” she grinned. “Wasn’t I awesome?”

My mouth dropped open as I tried to figure out what to say. “Amazing,” I went with, not sure what else to say. “Time to beat feet.”

“Oh, is that like when we run?”

A loud crack resounded through the house as another beam fell. I grabbed her arm and yanked her to the side, just barely missing being crushed for the second time in minutes. As soon as we stood, I spun to grab her, but she was already on her feet, holding a gun.

I glanced at my holster and gasped.

My gun. She had my fucking gun.

She fired round after round toward IRIS, screaming like a madwoman. IRIS was dancing on his toes, doing everything possible to avoid being shot by her, but her aim was terrible and there was no way to know what she was actually going to hit.

“What the fuck is she doing?” IRIS shouted.

I tackled her from behind, grabbing the gun from her hands. “He’s on our side!”

“Oh, oops! It’s hard to tell in the heat of battle!”

Fucking hell. I holstered my weapon and yanked her to her feet, swinging her up into my arms to avoid any more mishaps. I bolted from the house with IRIS hot on my heels just as the house started to collapse around us. I glanced over my shoulder just in time to see IRIS grinning as he tossed something else at the house.

With wide eyes, I took off running, knowing this was gonna be bad. “Oh shit!” I shouted as a second explosion, even more powerful than the first, ripped through the night. The force sent both of us flying through the air, and it was only by sheer luckthat I was able to hold onto Audrey. We hit the ground hard, rolling across the dirt as I held her to me, hoping to God I didn’t crush her with my weight.

I shoved my foot out and stopped us from rolling, keeping her tucked underneath me to prevent her from taking any heat from the flames or damage from flying debris. Breathing heavily, I ran my eyes over her, quickly assessing for any injuries.

“Are you okay? How’s your head?”

Her eyes fluttered as she looked up at me. It was clear she’d taken just a few too many hits to the head in the last day. “Baldy?” she whispered.

“Yeah, Audrey. It’s me,” I chuckled, brushing her hair back from her head. Despite being a huge pain in the ass, at least she was funny. I held up my hand in front of her face. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

“You have fingers?” She grimaced, shaking her head slightly. “I think I might pass out.”

“I think you might, too.”

“Mm ‘kay.”

Her eyes rolled back in her head and her body sagged in my arms. I was up in seconds, hauling her up against my body. We had to get out of here fast before anyone else came to kidnap her. Lord knows what trouble she would get up to if anyone tried to take her in this condition.

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