Moving quickly, Grover crept up behind Alan. He was staring dumbly out the back door toward the yard, his rifle pointed at the floor.
He put a hand over the militia man’s mouth and wrenched the weapon away from him. Alan grunted in surprise, his eyes wide, but he didn’t put up a fight.
Hearing something behind him, Grover turned—and saw the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen in his life.
Six figures coming down the hallway, from the direction of the garage.
His team, led by Trigger.
Doc grabbed Alan, and Grover motioned toward the small dining room at the front of the house. Within two minutes, there were four men lying on Grover’s living room floor, their arms bound behind them, tape over their mouths so they couldn’t warn their friends.
Doc stood over them with a rifle, as the rest of the team headed for the stairs. This would be tricky. The sounds of a huge gun battle still raged outside, and Grover prayed that Trigger was right and no one was shooting live rounds into his house. He didn’t give a shit about his things; all he cared about was that Sierra didn’t get caught in the crossfire.
Trigger let him lead the way up the stairs, and Grover went slow and steady. When he’d climbed a few steps, he held up his hand to stop the others, then peeked over the bottom edge of the hall banister to see what the situation was.
Eyes widening, Grover saw Sierra sitting at the far end of the hallway. She’d stuffed herself into a corner and was huddled into a ball.
He was so damn proud of her at that moment. That was exactly what she should’ve done. Gotten herself away from the windows and made herself as small a target as possible.
Her eyes widened when she spotted him and without any prompting, she pointed at the master bedroom and held up two fingers. Next, she pointed to one of his guest rooms and held up one finger. Then she did the same with the other rooms, letting him know where everyone was. Grover didn’t know who was in which room, but at the moment, that didn’t matter. They all needed to be subdued.
Looking back at his team, Grover wasn’t surprised to see Ghost, Fletch, and Truck standing at the bottom of the stairs. They’d obviously made their entry into the house as well. They had the numbers now to easily take out the remaining militia members, it was just a matter of if they’d be smart and surrender easily, or if they’d do something stupid.
Moving quickly, because they all knew they could be discovered at any second, the Deltas burst up the stairs and scattered into the various rooms.
Just as Grover was about to get to Sierra, Cory came out of the office.
He didn’t hesitate, grabbing Sierra and wrenching her off the floor.
She shrieked and fought him as hard as she could, to no avail.
Cory dropped the rifle he’d been holding and pulled out a pistol. He easily pulled Sierra in front of him and jammed the weapon under her chin, just as he’d done to Grover. Sierra’s head was forced back so Grover couldn’t see her eyes.
“Stop, or I’ll kill her.”
Grover immediately stopped in his tracks. Trigger at his side. The sound of men surrendering could be heard all around them, but Grover only had eyes for their leader. He held his own pistol with steady hands. All he needed was for Cory to give him an opening, and he was as good as dead.
The noise of the gunshots from outside faded. One of the Deltas must’ve communicated that things inside the house were under control. Mostly.
“It’s over,” Trigger told Cory. “Your plan failed.”
“It didn’t fail,” he crowed. “That explosion was seen by millions! As was the resulting firefight. Americans shooting at Americans. Everyone has seen how little the government cares about its people!”
“No one saw anything,” Trigger explained. “The one news crew out front stopped filming. See, we knew you had an RPG—and we knew you were going to use it.”
Cory’s face flushed red beneath his beard. “No!” he screamed.
“Yes,” Trigger said calmly. “As far as the American people know, the protestors who’ve been harassing innocent civilians for weeks went over the deep end and took an innocent woman and a decorated soldier hostage. No one sees you or your group as the victims here. You’re done.”
Sierra had gone still in Cory’s arms when he’d shoved his gun against her vulnerable flesh…but movement out of the corner of Grover’s eyes caught his attention. Sierra’s hand.
She held up one finger.
She wasn’t wasting any time. Wasn’t going to give them a chance to talk Cory down. But honestly, Grover wasn’t sure the man could be talked down. He was trapped and he knew it. His plans shot to hell, literally.
Two fingers…
Grover’s field of vision narrowed. He sighted his weapon between Cory’s eyes. The man was trying to keep himself hidden behind Sierra’s slight body, but the second she made her move, Grover would be ready.
No one threatened his woman. No one.
Cory was ranting and raving about the corruption of the government, how he might’ve failed today but his followers would take up where he left off, proving to the world that the military was immoral, full of nothing but killers.
Ignoring the irony of Cory’s statement, Grover saw Sierra lift a third finger.
She whipped one hand behind her and grabbed Cory’s dick, even as the other shoved the gun from beneath her chin.
She squeezed as hard as she could, and Cory reacted predictably. He screamed. He reflexively shoved Sierra away from him as he bent over double.
While she was still falling, Grover’s weapon discharged.
Two bodies hit the hardwood floor in the hallway only a moment apart, but Grover only cared about one of them. He dropped his weapon on the floor and raced for Sierra.
As Trigger and Lefty went to Cory to make sure he was disarmed and no longer a threat, Grover grabbed Sierra by the arms and hauled her upright, until she was standing in front of him. His mind was in chaos, otherwise he never would’ve yanked her up so roughly, but he was desperate to make sure she was uninjured.
She blinked at him as he frantically searched for any signs she’d been hurt.
“Sierra?” he barked.
She frowned and shook her head, wincing.
“Sit rep!” a voice from behind them shouted. It was Lucky.
“Shots fired!” someone else yelled.
“No shit! Who was hit?”
The hallway was cramped and crowded as everyone tried to figure out what was going on. Grover vaguely heard someone yelling cease fire, obviously to whoever was in charge of the men outside, to make sure they didn’t start firing again after hearing more shots, but he could only stare at Sierra.
“Are you hit?” he asked her.
She licked her lips and took a deep breath. When she shook her head, Grover’s knees almost buckled right then and there. “Are you sure?”
She nodded and tried to look behind her. Grover took her head in his hands, preventing her from looking anywhere but at him. “Talk to me, Bean.”
“My ears are ringing from the shots but I…I think I’m okay. Is he…”
“He’s dead,” Grover said unemotionally.
Cory was right about one thing: the military was full of killers. And the most deadly of the bunch had been standing right in front of him.
He gently ran his thumb over her split lip, where Cory had hit her. In return, she raised her own hand and ran it over his cheek, where he’d been hit.