Collateral Damage (32 page)

A body.

She sucked in a breath and jerked back, but the man was already dead. Her gaze fastened on his outstretched hand and the pistol in it. Heart in her throat, Honor snatched it from his limp grasp.

Rapid footsteps approached the warehouse, moving closer to her left.

He’d found her.

Honor’s gaze locked onto the far door. Her entire body tensed, a wave of panic flooding her. No time to run now. All she could do was hide, and be ready to stand and fight when he came within range.

She checked to make sure a round was chambered then aimed it toward the door as she edged backward. If she had to die, she was going down fighting, to her last breath and pump him full of as many bullets as she could fire off before she fell.

Her head snapped up when she heard a male voice shout her name. It was faint but she heard it clearly over the pounding of her heart.

“Honor, stay behind cover!”

Liam.
He’d come for her. And Andrews was between them, waiting with an automatic weapon.

A burst of raw terror washed over her a split second before a burst of automatic fire opened up.

Andrews was firing at Liam.

Without making a conscious decision she was on her feet and lunging back toward the door. It flew open under the force of her kick, the impact traveling from her boot up the length of her leg. Pistol up, she stepped outside in time to catch sight of Andrews moving away from her to face the threat.

As she watched, the barrel of a weapon peeped out from behind the corner of the next building. Andrews fired at it. Honor held her breath. Andrews paused then turned, heading back toward the other side of the building, as though he’d heard something over there. He’d taken a half dozen steps when Liam carefully emerged around the corner and started to drop to one knee, weapon up.

Andrews whirled to face him before Liam’s knee had even touched the ground.

“No!” Her scream of warning tore from her lips.

Too late.

Andrews fired first.

Honor watched in horror as Liam grunted and dropped before rolling away behind the edge of the building and out of sight.

He’d shot Liam.

Something inside her snapped. Pure, blinding rage overtook her, unlike anything she’d ever known.

Alerted by her cry, Andrews began to whirl toward her.

She was too far away to get a shot off, but within range of Andrews’s rifle.

The barrel of his weapon started to shift toward her. There was no one else to help. If she could get close enough, she had a clear shot.

Beyond caring what happened to her, her sole focus was on killing Andrews so she could get to Liam. She charged away from the warehouse, pistol gripped in both hands as a scream of fury erupted from the deepest part of her.

Only another few seconds before she’d be within pistol range.

Honor watched the muzzle of Andrews’ weapon raise toward her as if it was a movie being shot frame by frame. Every millimeter of movement distinct, crystal clear.

She felt no fear as she went straight for him. Only fury and the need to drop him to get to Liam.

Andrews was going down, by her hand.

She didn’t flinch at the bark of the rifle as Andrews opened fire in her direction. Rounds whined like angry wasps as they zipped past to her right. She instinctively veered away but didn’t stop. Her hands remained steady around the pistol, her right index finger curved around the trigger.

Andrews pivoted to follow her movement, swung the barrel of the rifle toward her again.

Now.

Still aiming center mass, she fired before he could correct his aim, squeezing the trigger.

Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop
.

She fired off five rounds in rapid succession, catching Andrews in the chest as he half-turned toward her. The impact made his hands slip on the weapon. His next spray of bullets went wide, one arm falling to the side as he cried out and went down on one knee.

She’d hit him. His body armor had saved him from where she’d hit him in the chest, but she’d hit him somewhere.

Body armor couldn’t protect him from a headshot though.

She stopped in place and began to raise the pistol higher.

Sudden movement to her right jerked her out of her weird slo-mo world. Her gaze whipped toward it.

Liam was moving toward her from the edge of the building he’d rolled behind, rifle in his hands, butt to his shoulder. She refocused on Andrews, on one knee now, blood dripping from his right hand as he struggled to bring his weapon up. He was down, but not out.

Aiming at his head, she fired at the same time Liam did.

A hole appeared in the center of Andrews’ forehead where she’d hit him, a red mist exploding around his head as Liam’s round took half of his face off. Andrews dropped to the ground like a sack of cement, lying crumpled with his legs twisted beneath him at an awkward angle.

Her gaze shifted to Liam. He still had his weapon aimed at Andrews as he charged forward. He kicked the man’s rifle from his limp hand, sending it clattering across the asphalt. The roar of blood in her ears subsided, replaced by an overwhelming silence. She wobbled on her feet, slowly lowered her weapon, her fingers welded around it.

Liam glanced down at Andrews. When he looked up at her, the grim set to his expression confirmed what she already knew, given that half his skull had just been blown out.

Dead.

Relief flooded her, the sudden drop in adrenaline taking the starch out of her legs. Liam set his weapon down and stood, his gaze raking over the length of her body. “Are you okay?” he demanded, voice sharp.

Locking her knees, Honor swallowed and forced a nod, unable to take a single step forward.

Liam ran to her. She held back a sob of pure relief when those warm, strong arms banded around her and crushed her to his wide chest. Honor gripped him around the ribs and buried her face against his shirt, feeling the solid plates of his body armor beneath the fabric. If he hadn’t been wearing them, he’d have died right in front of her a minute ago.

Liam reached back to take the pistol from her, slid it into the back of his waistband. He held her tighter when she shuddered, his mouth against her ear. “It’s okay, sweet pea, I’ve got you. It’s all over.”

But was it? There might be other shooters, other conspirators Andrews had been working with. How long had he been planning this? How had she and her NCOs missed the signs? Her gut had warned her the guy was off. Why hadn’t she been more vigilant?

“S-Smithers,” she rasped out. “Ipman. He sh-shot them.”

“I know, I saw them. Someone’s with them now. One of them, a master sergeant, he was still alive. An MP was helping him.”

“Smithers,” she whispered as a hot rush of tears flooded her eyes.

“Shh, not right now. Just hold onto me and breathe. It’s all over. You’re safe and Smithers is gonna be okay.”

She didn’t speak, just clung to Liam and let his body heat seep into her cold skin. She was shaking all over, a fine, rapid tremor that she couldn’t control. Her breathing was choppy, her teeth chattering as she stood in his embrace.

“You were so brave, baby,” he whispered, his voice rough. “So fucking brave, you broke my heart.”

She didn’t feel brave right now, she was shaking apart and her face was wet with tears. Liam murmured something else to her but she didn’t understand the words. Her body and brain were shutting down, trying to protect her from the horrors she’d seen tonight. She fought off the haze trying to envelop her, took a deep, shuddering breath.

“Come on, let’s get you out of here.” Liam wrapped a heavy arm around her waist and she was glad for the contact. His touch helped ground her.

Safe in his solid grip, Honor walked away from Andrews’ body as fast as her wobbly legs would allow her.

****

Liam was worried as hell about her as he drove her home hours later.

Honor sat silently in the passenger seat beside him, staring out her window. She hadn’t said a word since they’d left the base ten minutes ago. He knew it was partly shock and partly exhaustion, but he was concerned it went a lot deeper than that.

She’d already been through her fair share of combat stress at Bagram. This was different.

From the bits and pieces of what she’d told him and things he’d heard over the past few hours, he’d been able to get a pretty clear picture of what she’d been through. Not only had she been hunted by that traitorous fuck Andrews, she’d also witnessed the drone strikes—there would have been more had the Air Force not managed to shoot a third drone down before it could attack the base—and seen two of her soldiers mowed down in cold blood.

Seeing those mothers and kids shot down had to be devastating for her. He knew it had taken a toll on her emotionally and psychologically, no matter how much she wanted to pretend it hadn’t.

He reached across the console to grasp her hand and squeezed it. Her fingers were ice cold. She looked over at him, gave him a tiny smile so forced it was almost brittle. “You’re freezing,” he admonished, angling the dash heat vents toward her.

“Can’t seem to warm up,” she murmured, tucking her free hand between her thighs and sinking down against the seat. The heaters were already on high and she was wearing one of his sweatshirts.

Liam rubbed her chilled fingers, wanting to get her home as soon as possible. They’d been stuck on base in separate areas for over seven hours after the shootout with Andrews. They’d both undergone questioning by base officials and various intelligence agencies, including the CIA, FBI and DHS. He’d hated being separated from her in the aftermath of something so traumatic but he’d had no choice. When he’d finally seen her again he’d taken one look at her face and known she’d reached her limit.

She’d stood there in the office hallway, quiet and pale, her inner light shut off like someone had unplugged her. At some point they’d bandaged her left upper arm where a ricochet had hit her and cleaned up all her cuts and abrasions, but no one could ease the pain she was suffering inside. Not even him. He’d wanted to hold her again so badly but they’d taken her away for more questioning before he could go to her.

Security had kept the entire base on lockdown until they could confirm all the shooters—five of them, including Andrews—were dead and the missing drones were accounted for. Medical crews had been kept busy helping the wounded. The hospitals in the area were overwhelmed with the number of casualties brought in. Clean up details had been dispatched on base to take the dead away to be identified at a warehouse now serving as a morgue. Authorities were looking for the people responsible for the three stolen drones, but initial reports kept pointing back to the same name.

Safir Khan.

Rahim’s former underling, working from either Afghanistan or the tribal region of Pakistan. Now presumed to be hiding in the mountainous region straddling the border between the two countries. The bastard had killed their president and killed dozens of soldiers and civilians.

His days were numbered. Every intelligence agency in the western world was looking for him now. Liam had good friends back at Bagram who even now were hunting that asshole down. Once they found him they’d send him straight to hell.

“Almost home,” he said to Honor as he took the exit that would take him to her place. By now the entire world would be feeling the shockwave of the attack. The Vice President would be sworn in as President shortly, but Liam wasn’t interested in watching. All he cared about was being there for Honor.

“God, it feels like weeks since I’ve been there instead of hours.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Felt like ages since he climbed into the cockpit yesterday morning.

He parked in her driveway and jumped out to open her door for her. She slid out and allowed him to help her down, didn’t say anything when he wound an arm around her waist and walked her to the garage door.

When he punched in the code she glanced up at him. “You’re staying the night, right?”

He hated that she’d even think he’d leave her now. “Baby, I’m not leaving your side for the next twenty-four hours.” And only then because he had to report back to work. His commanders had given him a little time off because of what had happened to Honor.

She seemed relieved by that and again Liam was floored that she’d been worried he might leave her alone after what she’d just been through.

He closed the garage door behind them while she went in through the mudroom. When he came into the kitchen he found her standing at the counter, her back to him as she stared out at the gray, pre-dawn sky. Liam set his keys and wallet on the island and crossed to her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Honor sighed and leaned back against him, closing her eyes. He knew she had to be exhausted and he just wanted to take care of her. He nuzzled her hair and she turned in his arms, pressing her nose into the base of his neck and breathing him in as she slid her hands up his back. Liam hugged her close, his whole body tightening at the feel of her against him. It had been so close out there tonight. He’d almost lost her, would have died himself earlier if not for his body armor.

“Do you know how much I love you?” she whispered, her voice slightly unsteady.

“I’m hoping it’s even half as much as I love you,” he said, holding her tighter. God, he loved the feel of her. All warm and soft against him, her breasts cushioned against his chest and her belly pressed to his hardening cock. He tried to ignore it but having been apart for so long combined with the after effects of the firefight, he wanted to strip her naked and take her right here on the kitchen floor.

Lifting her head, she looked up at him, her expression turning fierce. “I love you so much I didn’t care if I died as long as I stopped him from killing you,” she said, the sudden fire burning in her eyes making his heart leap and his cock throb. She was staring up at him like he was the only man on earth, the yearning in her gaze spiking his building arousal. “When I saw him turn that weapon on you I went crazy. I would’ve killed him with my bare hands if I had to for daring to threaten your life.” She took his face between her hands, her eyes flashing with an intense mix of protectiveness and love. “You’re everything to me.
Everything
.”