He lay on his back with his broken arms outstretched, eyes open and staring sightlessly up at her, blood pooling around him like the wings of a macabre snow angel. They had no answers and no time because from the faint voices floating down from up the hill, more and more people were coming out to investigate the shots.
Cursing, Alex whipped out his phone and put it to his ear. “Zahra, we’re all clear but we need an emergency evac. Get everything out of there and pick us up at the south end of the lower village in ten minutes. Move.” Lowering his phone, he shook his head in disgust. “Thought we had him.”
Yeah, she had too. But he’d chosen death over a life behind bars or on death row. Or maybe he’d been even more scared of whoever had hired him, that he or she would make him pay for his failure and kill him regardless. Briar couldn’t really say she blamed him.
“We’ve gotta move,” she muttered. They had to be long gone before the cops arrived and started asking questions, began tracing their movements. She couldn’t let them or anyone else see her.
Matt holstered his pistol and surprised her by reaching out to grab her, pulling her up hard against his chest, his heavy arms slipping beneath her rifle to band around her back. She returned the fierce embrace, feeling the ragged inhalation he took, the way his muscles slowly relaxed as he breathed out. “You’re okay?” he asked against her hair, voice rough.
“Fine,” she said, taken aback by how worried he seemed. She wasn’t some clueless civilian running around with a firearm and hoping to get a lucky shot. “I’m good, Matt. I know how to handle myself.”
“I know, but… Fuck, I hated watching you charge after that guy while I was too far away to get to you if anything happened.”
She tightened her arms, touched by his concern. He wasn’t questioning her ability, just worried he might lose her. “Well I’m okay.”
He sighed and released her but grabbed her hand and started walking at a fast clip after Alex. Together they hustled along a narrow, snow-slick path that snaked back and forth down the steep hillside. It would take a while for the cops to piece everything together and follow their tracks. By then Briar planned to be long gone.
When they finally made it to the road Zahra was just pulling up in the SUV. They jumped in and she hit the gas the moment they slammed the doors shut.
Chapter Nineteen
Briar’s eyes snapped open when the jet’s landing gear came down. She lifted her head from Matt’s shoulder and rubbed at the tight muscles in the left side of her neck. Out the window the sky was still black.
“We’ll be landing in a few minutes,” he murmured, lifting his arm to wrap it around her shoulders. She leaned into him once more, enjoying the closeness as they descended into Tipton Airport, at Fort Meade, Maryland. She’d slept for most of the flight but it hadn’t been enough and now she was groggy as hell.
The jet touched down and taxied to the end of the runway where it turned and parked close to the small terminal buildings. Alex and Zahra disembarked first. Briar went next, Matt following. When she stepped off the plane into the cold night air she saw a big, dark-haired man approaching with a cane, a severe limp in his gait.
She relaxed when she saw Zahra lower her bags and race toward him. The man dropped his cane and caught her in his arms, hugging her tight as he lifted her off the ground, his face buried in her hair.
Briar shouldered her ruck and followed Alex, who was smiling at them. The man holding Zahra set her down gently and put a hand on the side of her face, his expression intent as he said something. She nodded and twined her arms around his neck, squeezing tight. After one more hug he released her to slide one arm around her waist and turned to face the rest of them.
“You said she wouldn’t be in any danger,” the man said to Alex, his tone and expression full of hostility.
“I wasn’t expecting any trouble,” he said. “But it’s all good because we had lots of backup.” He nodded to her and Matt.
The man’s dark gaze landed on her, did a quick once-over before settling on Matt. “And they are?”
“Matt DeLuca,” Matt said, stepping up and offering his hand. “You must be Dunphy.”
The man lost his hostile edge, his eyebrows rising slightly. “You were FORECON, right?”
“Yeah.” He turned to her. “This is Briar.” She was glad he didn’t give her last name.
The man held out his hand to her. “Sean Dunphy. I’m Zahra’s better half.”
“Um, you’ve still got that backward,” Zahra said with a laugh, resting her head on his chest. “And if they’d known you for more than five minutes, they’d never believe it.”