Raising her M4 into position against her shoulder, Briar headed for Alex’s office at the rear of the house, Matt right behind her. There was a big enough window there for them to climb outside. She crouched beneath it, stole a look. An instant sense of calm overtook her, the weight and feel of the weapon familiar and comforting in her hands.
“See or hear anything while I was gone?” she whispered to Matt.
“No.”
She scanned the part of the backyard she could see through the scope. “Shooter moved from the trees and around the side of the house, then stopped to take the shot but I can’t see him because of the terrain so we’ll have to do more recon from outside. Cover me while I run to that stand of trees to the southeast.”
“Fuck that,” Matt whispered back. “You—”
“Just cover me,” she snapped, annoyed that he’d pull macho, protective bullshit now. They didn’t have time for it and she was more than capable of running a counter-sniper mission and had done so alone on more than a few occasions. He might be the one wearing a HOG’s tooth but she’d earned the equivalent of a true one several times in her career by taking out enemy snipers. And besides, this shooter was after her. It was personal and she wanted to finish it, so if anyone was taking the risk of going out first, it was going to be her.
She eased the window open, paused to ensure the shooter didn’t have a bead on her, then started to push through it.
A shot hit the front of the house.
Alex.
She pulled back and whipped her head around to stare toward the front door, just out of view through the kitchen. “Alex?” she called out, loud as she dared.
No answer.
Briar gritted her teeth. This ends now.
“I’m going.”
Before Matt could argue she levered her body through the window and dropped the few feet to the ground, quickly rolling behind the hot tub set on its concrete pad beneath the upper balcony. And waited. There were no more shots, nothing moving on the hill behind the house or in the shadows. She looked back at the window to nod at Matt, still mostly hidden from view.
Taking aim at the spot where those ski tracks disappeared around the side of the house, she set her finger on the trigger. Matt slid through the window and raced to her, skidding to his knees beside her in the snow.
“Nothing more from out front,” he whispered.
Briar frowned. Was Alex pursuing the shooter? Or had he been hit?
“You take point and I’ll watch those trees,” Matt said, pointing to where the shooter had come from. There might be more hidden in the shadows. “All right,” he said, face grim in the low light. “Let’s find out what the hell we’re facing.”
She nodded once, geared up for the short dash to the side of the house and took off, her boots sinking in the snow. At the corner of the house she stopped and waited for Matt. He set a big hand on her left shoulder, a standard reminder of his position but it felt good. His touch centered her, strengthened her resolve. She was going to nail this bastard and find out who had sent him here.
“Our six’s still clear,” Matt murmured.
Briar’s attention was focused on what was happening around the side of the house, where the tracks led to and away from it. “Ready?” she whispered.
“Yeah.”
She drew in a breath, let it out slowly. Three. Two. One…
Briar whipped around the corner of the house, rifle up. She found nothing in front of her but smooth, pristine snow. The ski tracks leading from the upper tree line stopped halfway to the house before veering away back toward some trees a dozen or so yards up the slope to the east. As though the shooter had suddenly changed course.
Then Briar noticed a line of footprints leading from the tracks to the south, toward the front of the house. “This way,” she whispered and crept forward.
Alex must have heard them coming because he called out in a low voice that would be deadened by the snow. “Saw him take off south toward the village. Pretty sure he’s alone.”
Just one shooter, moving to the south. Those were good odds for them. “Coming up on your six,” Briar called back. Within seconds she’d reached the front of the house and found Alex crouched behind the SUV they’d arrived in.
He picked something up from the ground and held it in the faint moonlight so they could see it. “Timer and fuse he was going to use to blow the C-4 I found attached to the side of the house. Enough to take this whole place down.”
Shit, he could have blown the house to pieces and them with it if they hadn’t heard him earlier.
Lights suddenly switched on at the eastern exterior of the closest house down the hill. Security lights triggered by the man who’d been about to blow them all up? Using rocks and trees for cover along the way, Briar surged toward the house at a run. Matt and Alex were close behind her, and she knew they’d be watching for more threats. She was so used to operating alone, it felt good to know she had such formidable backup.