Page 54 of Wicked Obsession

But Ryder did have the training—and he had an ally out there.

Four against two. He liked those odds.

Decision made, Ryder loaded up with magazines. It was unlikely he’d need as much ammo as he was taking, but he wasn’t going to be caught short. Getting out without drawing fire wouldn’t be hard. He could slip out of the boulders the same way that merc had nearly entered earlier. The bushes should conceal him long enough to get him clear unnoticed.

Crouching beside Langley, he reached out and squeezed her hand. “Keep fighting, hellcat. Help’s coming.” She returned his squeeze, choking him up until he shook it off.

Quietly, so only Stony could hear, Ryder said, “Take care of her. I’m going to make sure a helicopter will land.”

Rowland glanced up briefly, nodded, and said, “Good hunting.”

Ryder took a last look at Langley. Her eyes remained closed, but her brow was furrowed and her frown was fierce. She was fighting. His mission now was to get her the help she needed. ASAP.

He squeezed through the gap, and staying low, crept past the body of the merc he’d dropped earlier. He paused when he reached the edge of the thicket and took a deep breath. It had been eluding him, but he needed to find his battle calm, and to do that, he’d have to push his hellcat out of his mind. Not easy.

He visualized a helicopter landing, paramedics stabilizing Langley. That would only happen if he got his shit together. Another deep breath and he found the zone.

Shooting in the distance helped him pinpoint at least one of the bastards. He knew another was trying to climb the slope. That gave him a second location. Merc number two posed the most immediate threat to Langley, so that was who he’d take down first.

Using the surrounding cover, Ryder made it to the place where he’d seen the bastard. There were a few drops of blood on a rock embedded in thedirt. Injured. Good, that gave Ryder an advantage.

The drops were few and far between, but the dude wasn’t being particularly careful and wasn’t hard to follow. Any idiot could read sign, the trick was interpreting it and using it to form a picture to anticipate what the guy might do next. To Ryder, it appeared as if the bastard was going wide. That would allow him to climb the hillside out of range from the boulders, and then move across to shoot into the stones. Like hell.

Ryder picked up his pace. He wanted to catch the man low and not waste time chasing him up the incline.

It only took a few minutes before he lost cover. There were no bushes or stones, not for yards. In the distance, he saw another large grouping of boulders.

Taking a long look around, he decided the area was clear. He could take his chances in the open. He studied the boulders in the distance. Could the asshole be hiding there, waiting to pick him off?

Did the fucker know Ryder had left the protective circle? He moved silently, not wanting to alert the guy if he was nearby.

It didn’t take long to realize that the merc had the same idea about cover because his blood trailled directly to the stones. Ryder paused, listened, and then peered around the last boulder.

The bullet clipped the rock next to his head.

Ryder ducked back behind the stone. Another inch…

He’d found his man, but somehow Ryder had tipped off his presence. Swinging out around the boulder, he squeezed off some rounds a few feet past where he’d seen the man. Logic said he’d be working his way to come around the other side of the rocks and that’s where Ryder shot.

He’d assumed right.

A bullet caught the merc’s shoulder, spun him partway around. Ryder fired a few more times until the guy fell.

Cautiously, he approached, but the man stayed down. When he reached him, Ryder didn’t bother to check for a pulse. The bastard wasn’t getting up again, not with half his head missing.

Three enemy remaining.

Returning to the cover of the boulders, Ryder listened, trying to pick up more gunfire. Nothing. He wished to fuck his weapon had a suppressor, but all he could do was hope that Harper and the other two believed it was their own man firing at the stones. He needed the element of surprise.

The quiet lingered. Had his ally gone down?

Ryder decided to head back from where he’dheard the gunshots earlier. He could track the sons of bitches from there.

He was nearly to that point when more gunfire sounded. Relief threatened to destroy his calm, but Ryder fought until it receded. His friend remained healthy enough to shoot and he was keeping those fuckers busy so Stony could tend to Langley without interruption.

As he grew closer to the location, he nearly fell over a mercenary, his body hidden by the thick collection of bushes Ryder was wending his way through. The man stared unseeing into the sky. To be safe, he checked for a pulse, but didn’t find one. He hadn’t expected to. That meant there were only two left.

Harper and the traitor. The most dangerous of the adversaries. He hoped to hell he could tell the difference between friend and foe before taking a bullet.

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