Cold Day in Hell (47 page)

“Loren?” She touched his good shoulder.

“I’m fine, kiddo. Fucking good shot.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Shit, shit, shit!” Risto shot a look at Paul. “She’s going to help your twin.” Paul nodded, a grim look on his face. “Berto, you sure you don’t have a shot?”

“None. Cruz is plastered to Loren. They are also below the railing.”

“Conn,” Risto spoke into the mike, “no one gets in this house but our men.”

“Got it.”

Big Earl’s voice came over the headset. “One of my guys is going onto the roof with Berto. He was a sniper in the Gulf. He’s picking up my sniper rifle along the way and will see if he can get a shot at Cruz.”

“I don’t think we have that much time.” Risto made his way to the back of the house, shoved open a window and looked up. The emergency ladder was within reach and he pulled it down, blessing the owners for buying quality and keeping it oiled. “We’re going up the back.”

Just as he began to climb the ladder, he heard a single shot.
Hand gun, sounds like a
Glock.
Then another shot.

Icy fear swept down his spine and all color bled from the world.
Callie! God. No,
please.
He climbed faster. He practically leapt onto the widow’s walk and ran toward the front of the house. He prayed every step of the way. His Glock clenched in his fist and his knife in the other hand. He sensed Paul on his heels. As he peered around the edge of the house, he swore. He couldn’t see past the damn dormers. He duck-walked toward Callie’s sniper position, staying below the railing so he wouldn’t be skylined. Paul was so close behind, he swore he could feel the man’s body heat through his parka.

“Callie? Loren?” Risto whispered into his cheek mike.

“It’s okay, Risto. Cruz is dead.” Callie’s voice, shaky, but alive, came over the com system. “I needed to take care of Loren first. He’s bleeding pretty badly.” Risto stood and ran, uncaring who saw him. In the background, the men cheered.

“Get your damn ass below the railing, Risto, and take care of them,” Big Earl said.

“We’ve got the ground covered. Berto and my sniper are covering us.” The crack of a sniper rifle echoed in the clear morning air. Automatic weapons fire punctuated the sniper’s shots.

“Thanks, Earl. I’ll be down as soon as I get Loren and Callie secured inside the house.”

Risto dropped and then maneuvered around the dead man blocking the door to the attic. Paul’s muttered “Jesus Christ” blew by on the wind.

As he rounded the second dormer, Risto found Callie with Loren in her arms as she held a field dressing on his neck. The SEAL had another bloody dressing on his shoulder.

Both of them had blood, bone and other organic matter all over them. Cruz lay on the ground, not moving, for a very good reason.

“She blew Cruz’s fucking head off,” Paul said for the others on the ground’s benefit.

He moved past Risto to get to his brother’s side. “I’ll take him, Callie.” He dragged his twin into his arms and sheltered them from ground fire against one of the dormers. He quickly and efficiently began to check out his brother’s condition. “Jesus, bro, you look like something out of
Friday the 13th
.”

Loren cursed a blue streak. “Fuck, you ham-handed ape. I want Callie. She has a much lighter touch.”

A crack of gunfire and splinters flying from the top railing on the balustrade had Risto pulling Callie under him.

She touched his face with a bloodied, gloved hand. “Couldn’t wait for you. Sorry.” She shook within the shelter of his arms like an aspen in the wind. He rubbed her body, warming it. She was shaking from both aftermath and cold. His little soldier had pushed herself to the limit and beyond. “Damn, I’m proud of you, but enough is enough.” He kissed the top of her head. “You’re done. The men can handle the rest. Cruz’s mercs will be on the run once they know the man paying them is dead.”

“O-o-kay.” Her voice was as tremulous as the rest of her. She held on to him and buried her face in his parka.

“It’s okay. You’re fine.” Risto wasn’t sure who he was reassuring—her or him? It had been close—too close. He groaned and clutched her more closely against him.

“Sweet fucking hell, when I heard those two shots, I died inside.” She petted his chest. “Sorry. I couldn’t take the chance the bastard wouldn’t kill Loren right in front of me.”

“Poor Loren is fucking grateful you didn’t hesitate. The bastard would’ve killed me as soon as he had you within reach,” Loren said as his brother worked on his neck.

“Watch it, dipshit. I want Callie back.”

Paul laughed, tears in his eyes. “You’ll live.” He slapped another field dressing over the cuts and taped them down. “Just nicked you. Most of this shit on you is Cruz’s.”

“Head and neck wounds bleed like stink, dad always said.” Callie stretched a hand to pat Loren’s good arm. “Check his shoulder wound, Paul. I think the sniper’s slug went through, but it needs to be cleaned out to make sure nothing got in the wound.” Paul nodded as he peered under the dressing. “We’ll need to irrigate it to be sure. We can do that inside. We need to get off this fucking walkway.” Proving Paul’s point, another bullet hit the dormer right above the twin’s heads. Paul swore. “Loren’s stable to move. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

“With you on that one.” Risto looked down at Callie. “You ready to move?”

“Yes, please. I was heading inside when everything turned to shit.” She looked from Paul to Risto. “I’ll stay with Loren. You need to help the others. We’ll be fine.”

“God, sweetheart, you’ve done enough.” Risto couldn’t imagine any woman doing what she’d just done—well, no woman other than Keely Walsh-Maddox. He looked to the cloudy skies and mouthed “thank you” to her father and God for watching over her.

He kissed her cold forehead. “Okay, turn over under me. Belly crawl to the attic door. I’ll be right behind you so I can move the other dead body out of the way.” She sighed and turned over with his help and began to slither her way along the walkway. “I have to say I’m getting kind of tired. This will be over soon, won’t it?” Risto followed on her heels. “Soon, baby. Big Earl and the guys are doing cleanup.

We’ll tuck you and Loren in bed here. Paul and I will remain in the house to watch over you. No one else will be shooting at you today.”

“No, go help Big Earl and the guys. I can watch Loren.” She stopped crawling a couple of feet from the dead body blocking the door.

“Let me move the body.” He scooted past her and shoved the man along the walkway until he cleared the doorway. “How did you move this bastard?” Callie sighed. “Women’s lower bodies are very strong.”

He grinned. “I love your lower body.” She smiled weakly and buried her face in her arms as if she’d fall asleep right then and there.

No way would he leave Callie alone to guard Loren. She was exhausted and Loren needed pain meds and would be useless to take care of himself, let alone Callie. God knew, he might never let her out of his sight again. None of them ever expected a scenario where she’d put her life on the line for the ex-SEAL. But he wasn’t surprised she’d stepped up and handled it. After all, she’d dashed into a raging battle zone in Ungaía to save the Mayor’s wife, a perfect stranger. Why would she do any less for a man who was like a brother?

He’d always known true courage was doing what had to be done, when it needed to be done. His woman was the perfect example of the adage. She proved it again and again.

Damn, he was a lucky man.

“Let’s get inside, love.” He opened the door. She raised her head and resumed bellycrawling into the attic. Paul supported his brother’s bad side and they tandem-crawled behind Callie. “Find them a bed, Paul,” Risto said. “One room so I can defend them easily. I’ll want you and Conn back out to help the others. I’m going to get a sit rep and do some cleanup of the widow’s walk.”

Paul’s eyes widened, then his lips quirked. “Yeah, clean up sounds good.” He shoved his brother inside. Loren protested the rough handling. “Stop whining, bro.” He winked at Risto and shut the door.

Now that the others were inside and out of sight, Risto breathed easier. “Big Earl?

Berto? Conn?” He spoke into his mike. “Someone report. What’s going on?”

“The house is still secure, but the gunfire is heading this way. You off the roof?” Conn sounded his usual bored self which meant he had shut down all emotion and was ready to fight all Hell’s minions to protect the house and those within.

“Callie and Loren are being put to bed by Paul. Stay on the front door until I relieve you.”

“Got it.”

“Conn is correct,” Big Earl said. “The rats are working their way to your position.

Guess they want to see what happened with their employer. Callie okay?” Several shots rang out. “Chalk up another dead tango.”

“Callie’s fine.” His little soldier spoke for herself. “Are all our guys okay?” Everyone reported in as a-okay. Loren spoke over his mike, pain evident in his voice.

“Well, hell, guess I’m the only lucky one.”

“Big Earl?” Risto eyed the dead, practically headless bodies of Cruz and the other man who’d attempted to take the roof and failed. “What do you think would happen if Cruz and his equally dead buddy fell over the widow’s walk and landed on the ground in front of the house?”

“Might bring the rest out into the open or make them run. Dead men don’t transfer money into mercenaries’ off-shore accounts.”

“That’s what I thought.” Risto smiled grimly. “Watch for the garbage dump. Be ready to take care of the resulting chaos.”

“Gotcha.” Big Earl sounded way too happy. But he wouldn’t be after Homeland Security and a bunch of DOD types came to crawl all over Osprey’s Point. That would be a real goat roping in just paperwork alone. Callie as the intended victim couldn’t be kept out of the resulting investigation. His protective nature told him to swear every man present to secrecy about her sniper’s role, but the practical side of him said to detail her deadly skill in the official report. The knowledge would then get back to the DOD traitor and he might think twice about aiding and abetting anyone wanting to go after Callie.

He’d have to think about that, ask her what she wanted to do. He knew she’d have a definite opinion.

Risto rolled the body by the attic door to the widow’s walk railing, then muscled the man up and over. Then he crawled to Cruz and did the same to his body.

“Fucking A! Little Callie did a number on old Cruz’s head. The fall finished the job.” Big Earl’s voice was low and rough. “Damn good shooting, Callie. Oops, no time to talk, the rats are leaving town—and in an all-fired hurry.” Automatic gunfire sounded, echoing off the buildings.

With a few adjustments, Risto manned Callie’s rifle and provided additional coverage to his team. He wanted this done and over so he could take Callie home and take care of her.

Shower. Food. Cuddling. And sleep, in that order. He’d deal with the official aftermath of this morning’s work tomorrow.

“Big Earl. No one makes it out of town. No one.” He found his first target and took the shot and went into the zone.

* * * *

Once Big Earl assured him the invading force was either dead, dying or captured, Risto searched the second floor until he found the bedroom Callie and the twins had taken over. He sent Paul to relieve Conn so that man could help with clean up. Paul would stop anyone who might have escaped Big Earl’s net from entering the house.

A noticeably cleaner Loren smiled weakly, pain etched on his forehead. Naked from the waist up, the white dressings looked stark against his deeply tanned skin. Callie, minus the heavy outerwear and blood, lay on the huge bed next to the wounded man, sound asleep. Risto frowned. “How’s Callie?”

“She’s fine—not a scratch on her. Paul and I convinced her she could keep a better watch over me by lying down on the bed rather than sitting in a chair.” Loren smiled down at Callie. “She fell asleep in seconds. Ren told me once that Keely did that a lot early in her pregnancy.”

“Good thing this is a big-ass bed, ’cause I’m joining you.” Risto approached the bed and edged onto it next to Callie. He kicked off his boots, then stretched his legs out.

Needing to touch her, he smoothed some errant curls from her wind-burned cheek. “You do consider yourself a big brother to Callie, right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Well, I’d hate to have to kill you.” His lips twisted at the look on Loren’s face.

“You’re teasing, right?” Loren narrowed his gaze. “You’re not. Fuck, Risto. She’s just as much a sister to me and my brothers as Keely is.”

“That’s good to hear. Though, Tweeter didn’t think that way at one time.” Risto idly detangled some of Callie’s curls, the backs of his fingers gently stroking her neck with each pass.

Loren cursed under his breath. “Paul and his big mouth. Trust me, Tweeter only told us about that time after four shots of tequila. He said his body liked the experience,” Risto hissed and Loren held up a hand, “but his head told him it was wrong. Hell, I recall Devin kicked his ass a couple of times about it and threatened all of us with emasculation if we touched Callie in that way.”

Risto nodded. Devin was a marine and a mean son of a bitch, which weren’t mutually exclusive. He knew Ren and Trey wanted to recruit Devin and Andy Walsh to come aboard at SSI when they got out of the Marines. “Tell Paul if he ever mentions that incident in Callie’s past again and I find out about it, I’ll take care of removing his balls and shove them down his throat.”

“Got it.” Loren winced, then laid his head against the pillow propped on the headboard. He looked down. “We’ll need to replace the homeowner’s bedding and towels. It took both Callie and Paul to clean the shoulder wound. One to hold me up and the other to irrigate. The bathroom looks as if an ax murder occurred there.” Risto snorted. “Big Earl will handle it. He has access to a crime scene cleanup service.”