Page 8 of Own

“Moving,” Voodoo snapped from behind me and I nodded. Goblin still crouched next to me, his whole body facing forward. I checked the phone cams. We still had a few out back and upstairs.

That meant another team had to be incoming. Time to make that hole. I checked the mag then pulled my knife and murmured a command to Goblin. He moved with me as we stalked across the foyer. We intercepted the guy yanking his buddies out of the way.

Bullet to the head would be faster, but I wanted to preserve my ammo. Goblin nailed the guy’s forearm. A stream of curses escaped the man as he released his gun under the pressure of Goblin’s teeth.

The fact he went for his own knife had me intercepting now. He wasn’t stabbing my goddamn dog. I struck at his upper arm, going for the nerves, then against his collarbone, just next to the vest. The slide of the blade digging into the flesh cost the man the use of his left arm.

Another two rapid blows and I cut his carotid, then I thrust the blade through his throat and twisted. Less than six seconds, his blood pumped out of him in spray. It coated me and Goblin both. Goblin released him on command and I hauled the guy around and used him as a meat shield as bullets struck the door frame and the body.

Goblin darted to the side at my order, and I fell back to press against the inside of the door with Goblin leaning into my leg. The sound of gunfire peppered the silence along with a splash of displaced water as something hit the pool in the back.

A rush of boots over the paved drive carried. Yep, they really were way too into us. Glancing down at Goblin, I wiped the blade on my jeans. My hand was still slick, but I could make it work.

Upstairs, something exploded. I’d worry more if it were anyone other than Lunchbox up there. Rolling my head from side to side, I used my phone to check the front door cams. Two more teams of five.

There was aggressive and then there were these guys. Touching the comm in my ear, I activated it. “I really think someone should explain consent to these guys.”

“Well, we never have been fond of safe words.” Voodoo’s dry comment made me grin.

“We don’t have a problem with them,” Lunchbox argued. “We just never use them.”

This was also true. “Two more fresh teams are incoming,” I warned them. “We need to make the call now.”

I heard the rip of a pin coming out as I locked my gaze on the screen. I could see the guy and I twisted, using the phone to target so I could literally point and shoot. Man and grenade went down together.

The muffled boom following my safe retreat back inside almost made me laugh.

“Okay, so only one fresh team now. The other is a little scattered.”

Lunchbox actually laughed then. “You’re a comedian.” Not that it sounded like a complaint.

“I’m here all day,” I promised. The other five were being a little more cautious on their approach. Four bullets. Five guys. “It’s about to get sticky. We still good to go?”

A split-second moment of silence cleaved by a harried exhale. “What the fuck,” Voodoo said finally. “Do it.”

“Understood.”

I rolled my head from side to side. “Cover fire incoming,” Lunchbox said and a moment later there was a shattering of glass right before something heavy hit the ground. I went low and covered Goblin as a freshboomechoed from outside. “Holy shit, that’s a mess.”

“We’re going,” I warned them, then gave Goblin a soft follow command before I climbed over the bodies with him right behind me. I went after the guy closest to us who was struggling to his feet.

He had glass shards embedded in his face. That just wasn’t pretty. I went with the knife slashing his throat open. He was already staggering so it didn’t take much to put him down. Blood sprayed me and Goblin both. We turned to the guy racing toward us and he actually stumbled.

“Not a fan of horror movies?” I asked and the quip felt good cause it made the guy blink. I pistol-whipped him with the gun and he went down. Then the next pair came staggering toward me, gun raised. “Time to go,” I told Goblin. This was our opening. “Reveiren, Gracie, Bones.”

As much as I wanted him with me, I wanted him and Grace safe more. He didn’t hesitate, sprinting toward the drive and the road as I used the last four bullets in my magazine to pin the two heading at me. Goblin was around the corner and out of sight before I used the gun as another projectile and threw it.

It struck the guy on the left right in the face and then there was just one.

I spun the knife in my hand and beckoned. “Let’s go…”

Chapter

Four

GRACE

We drove north on the A7. It was early afternoon by the time we reached the Place Bellecour in Lyon. We parked on a side street, facing away from the square. I’d been to Lyon before, a couple of times. It seemed almost strangely familiar and yet utterly alien.

---