Page 78 of Sniper's Pride

And this was it.

Walton was on the floor, and her abductor had thrown himself into one of the old stalls for cover. There was a clear line to the barn door.

She trusted Griffin. And God help her, but she loved him.

And she wanted to stay alive long enough to celebrate both of those things.

Mariah ran.

Eighteen

Griffin was the tree beneath him, the rifle in his hands, the scope at his eye.

He was the slow, steady beat of his heart. He was his own deliberate breath.

He watched. He waited.

Blue and Jonas moved in, sneaking up on the two men outside the barn and taking them down, hard and silent. Then they dragged them around the side of the building, out of sight, while Isaac went for the Mercedes and worked to lay down the charge.

Griffin waited.

Blue headed out for the woods to find Mariah’s mother, while Jonas lured out two more men and took each one down with a certain swiftness that Griffin would remember later, as a clue to the kinds of things he’d done in the service.

Isaac gave the signal, setting the charge and thenbreaking into a run so he could join Jonas around the side of the barn for cover.

And still, Griffin stayed where he was.

He allowed sensation to wash over him without giving into it. He felt the faint ache in his muscles that reminded him of the jump he’d made to the barn’s roof. He felt a vague itchy sensation on one forearm, then his cheek, but he knew that was nothing more than his nerves resisting the settling. The focus. He observed each new sensation, then let it go.

He maintained his position as Isaac counted down over their comm channel.

“Three. Two. One.”

The Mercedes went up in flames with a satisfyingly loud boom.

And Griffin still waited.

The world narrowed down to that barn door and the flames dancing in front of it.

Run,he ordered her silently.Run, Mariah. Now.

One breath. Another.

And then Mariah was streaking out from the barn door, pumping her arms as if she were trying to make her legs less wobbly. But the more she ran, the steadier she got.

She didn’t look back, she simply kept her head down and hauled butt. She shot straight out of the barn like she was headed for the other end of the field. For him.

He hadn’t told her where to go, only to run. And he understood how much she trusted him then.

Maybe even loved him the way she’d said she did.

Because right behind her came a big, burly individual, charging like a pissed-off bull. Griffin recognized him instantly as the one they’d seen on the security tapesfrom the ferry terminal back in Alaska. The one who’d snuck onto the island and stayed there, hidden right under their noses. The one who likely would have taken Mariah a whole lot sooner if she’d ever been alone.

The moment he’d had the opportunity—the moment Griffin had given him that opportunity—this man had taken Mariah from Grizzly Harbor. Put his hands on her and scared her.Locked her in a trunk.

Then brought her here for a whole lot worse.

Griffin felt a whole lot more than meresensation, then. He felt like he’d exploded right along with the Mercedes, every part of him going up in flames and burning down to ash—

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