Page 52 of Wicked Obsession

“Diversion,” he said quietly.

Rowland squeezed off a couple of rounds. “Figured that out.”

Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes was a fucking eternity in a firefight.

Motion caught his attention and Ryder finally found his mind centered on something other than worrying about his woman. He fired slightly ahead of where he’d seen the movement.

At least the terrain gave them one benefit—the bushes, tall grasses, and weeds were damn fucking hard to keep stationary and this mercenary band was unlikely to be made up of only former United States Special Forces. Bent Tree hired from countries around the world and a lot of them didn’t train their people as well as the US did.

Another bush swayed in a way that wasn’t natural an instant before a couple of shots were directed his way.

He returned fire. But as he was shooting, it dawned on him that Langley had been quiet for a while.Damn it.Squeezing off a few more rounds to buy himself some time, Ryder took a second to glance over and make sure she was all right.

Ryder didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath until it shuddered out. She was okay. He could only see a part of her face, but her expression was completely composed, not a hint of stress or fear. Holy hell she was magnificent.

A bullet hit the boulder near his shoulder, sending a fragment of rock flying.

Cursing again, Ryder returned his attention to his own assignment.Get your head in the game, dumb fuck.But how did he find the zone when his hellcat was at risk? How did he stop worrying about her and only pay attention to the enemy? How—?

His thoughts cut off abruptly as a mercenary appeared through the gap to his right. Spinning into position, Ryder fired. And fired.

The asshole fell backward, at least one round catching him below his vest.

“Gonna check on him,” he told Stony. Ryder had to make sure the fucker wouldn’t surprise them again.

Creeping out of the crack between the boulders, Ryder found the merc right where he’d gone down. He stripped him of his weapons before checking for a pulse. Thready and weak. He checked the wounds next. Because of his angle of fire, several rounds had gone under the vest and up toward the chest. There was a shit-ton of blood.

Ryder was grabbing magazines from the vest—never pass up ammo—when the man made a gurgling gasp. He checked his pulse again, but there wasn’t one.

“Down,” he reported when he returned inside the circle of boulders.

“Five left,” Stony said.

Getting back in position, Ryder put the extra weapon beside him and worked harder to block Langley from his mind. He’d known from the get-go that the bushes on this side of the boulders were a potential hole in their protection. He’d known he had to keep careful watch and he’d fucked up. If he hadn’t immediately spotted the merc…

He stopped his body mid-tremor. No time for thinking about this. Later. When he had time for nightmares.

Gunfire from behind the enemy position reached his ears. Too early for the cops, so it had to be either Griff or Mako. Which one? Which one was fighting with them? He fucking hated that if either man approached their position, he’d have to treat him as an enemy, but there was nothing else they could do.

He caught motion and fired at the spot immediately. He heard Rowland and Langley shooting, too. A bullet kicked up dirt about three feet to his right.

If it had been on his left, it would have been damn near Langley.

Focus, dumb fuck. Focus.

Just about the time he had his mind back on task, he heard a man curse in what sounded like an eastern European language. Czech, maybe.

“I think I hit someone,” Langley called out softly.

“I don’t think you hurt him too badly,” Ryder said. He fired another round where he thought he saw someone skulking. “He wouldn’t be swearing if it was serious.”

“I know.” She sounded disappointed.

Before he could figure out how to respond, a bullet hit rock and ricocheted. The fragments narrowly missed him. Shit. More shots were coming inside their enclosure.

“Fucking hell,” Ryder cursed as another bullet created a puff of dust.

“Someone took the slope,” Stony said. He had the angle on the hillside above Ryder. “Can’t find him.”

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