He could have easily told Tehya no. He wasn’t above it. Nothing should have come above the team itself. But Tehya had, and for six years that had been the only defense he had against her. The knowledge that she was his weakness.
As she moved to turn to him, a screaming, high-pitched alarm began tearing through the house.
“Someone’s coming in.” Tehya was moving instantly, adrenaline kicking in, fear driven out by carefully programmed instinctive responses. The instinct to survive, combined with six years of rigorous training exercises.
Following Tehya, Jordan rolled from the bed.
Within seconds they were both dressed and rushing for the bedroom door.
Weapons were held ready in their hands as they each slung a smaller pack that held extra weapons and ammo over their shoulders. Tehya had grabbed her go bag from the closet, while Jordan slung the large pack, with the more powerful weapons, over his shoulder with the smaller pack.
Jordan jerked a set of communications links from the side pocket of the bag. He activated them quickly before handing Tehya one, a second before attaching the small earbud into his own ear and activating the line, even as they raced from the bedroom.
As they raced through the doorway, the sound of the alarm abruptly stilled, and at the same moment glass exploded into the room as the sound of an explosive charge filled the room.
Jordan felt the bite of icy fury surging through him as he pushed Tehya quickly ahead of him, covering her with the automatic Uzi he carried over his shoulder.
Micah was barking satellite heat signatures into the communication link as automatic fire was returned, blasting through the shattered patio doors and tearing into the drywall and wood that covered the walls.
“Move!” Tehya yelled, surprising him from her position at the door to the garage as she began laying cover fire from an obviously converted P-90 Personal Defense Weapon.
He didn’t make her wait.
Throwing himself across the kitchen, away from the flimsy protection of the refrigerator, Jordan rushed through the doorway before pulling her after him.
Just in time. The retu
rn fire tore chunks from the doorframe, pelting them through the exit as Jordan threw them both to the floor.
Tehya felt a sharp bite in her right shoulder, but she didn’t cry out.
In the next second he gripped her arm, pulling her along the floor as quickly as possible to the exit.
“Micah, are you in place?” he barked into the link.
“We’re pulling in now,” Micah responded sharply.
“We’re at the door. Do you need assist?”
“Get ready to roll, they’ll be right behind us.”
Gripping the doorknob, the door was pushed open as the metal door on the other side of the room exploded inward.
Helping hands jerked Tehya into the armored black Hummer before Jordan followed, throwing himself as Micah hit the gas and tore out of the driveway.
“They were watching for assistance,” Noah reported as automatic gunfire hit the outside of the Hummer before Micah took a sharp curve, putting trees, homes, and vehicles between them and the gunfire.
“We had to take out three of the bastards to get into the driveway,” Noah continued, turning in the passenger seat to stare back at Jordan. “We were delayed getting to you because of that.”
“Satellite imagery borrowed from a nearby base showed four coming in from the patio, three through the bedroom window, three moving along the driveway entrance, two heading to the garage, and two covering the enclosed van parked on a back street just down from the house. We were able to take out the van, those at the driveway and moving on the garage. There was no way to halt the attack on the house.” Noah looked at Tehya where she sat between Jordan and Nik as he apologized.
Jordan watched as she gave a sharp shake of her head.
Her hand lifted to cover her shaking lips. “It’s okay, Noah,” she whispered hoarsely.
But it wasn’t okay, and Jordan knew it.
“Noah, monitor the police channels. Did you leave bodies?”