Page 14 of Skin In the Game (The BlackWater)

Maddie heard the shots only moments after she had crept into the warehouse. She felt her stomach drop then. Where the fuck was McCullough. Why was anyone even there with a gun? What the hell was going on? She flattened herself against the wall. She wasn’t armed, not even with a taser, she had nothing but her wit and her fists and as much as she was willing to bet on herself she knew she was no match against a bullet.

She heard a groan and looked around seeing him then, lying on the floor, bleeding out.

“McCullough.” She muttered and ran to him not thinking about the gunman now. He had blood pouring out of his abdomen.

“Jesus. What the hell happened?” She said but he just gurgled more blood from his mouth. “You’re alright, I’ve got you.” She said, yanking her jacket off and pressing it to the wound.

She needed help, she knew that, because there was no way in hell he was going to make it unless she got an ambulance stat.

She pulled her phone one handed from her pocket, feeling it half-slip on her bloodied hand and she dialled 999 as quickly as she could, shouting down the speaker to the controller.

“Come on McCullough you can do this.” She shouted at him as he groaned. He looked impossibly pale. Impossibly still too. She checked his pulse. It was there, it was just there and then he gasped and fell still.

“No.” She shouted. “McCullough don’t you fucking dare die on me.” She stated but she knew it was too late. The man was already dead.

“Fuck.” She shouted, throwing her jacket on the floor and snarling. He’d only been in her team two months. Two fucking months and now he was dead.

Her adrenaline was thumping, her stomach felt sick, and she was raging. She heard movement around her. Someone else was there. She looked back at McCullough then but what was the point? He was dead and so would she be if she didn’t get the hell out of there and get some back up.

She ran to the side, ran for cover and she heard footsteps behind her. Someone was gaining on her. She looked back, seeing not just one, but three of them, all dressed in military kit, all heading right for her.

She gritted her teeth and ran for it.

The first man floored her before she got half out the door. She kicked him off, and scrambled back to her feet but the second was on her and she face slammed into the concrete.

She snarled as she struggled beneath him and the third man wrenched her arms behind her back and tied them together while the second kept his knee hard on her spine and someone pointed a firearm right at her face.

“Get the hell off of me.” She cried but they dragged her to her feet, shoved a sack over her head, and threw her in the back of a van.

---