“It’s just a moose,” he assured me.
Oh, holy shit. I closed my eyes and tried to catch my breath. I could sort of make it out now, the long legs and massive body moving slowly. Matt chuckled low.
A quiet sound of static suddenly zapped, and Matt pulled the walkie-talkie up to his face.
“They’re in,” came a whispered voice. “They’ve paused all media, so we’ve lost visual contact.”
“Roger that,” Matt said back.
“Paused all media?” I asked.
“Yeah, one of our techies broke into the electrical system and paused the cameras, so those on night duty won’t see us. But it also means the one camera we were able to link into is down, too.”
My heart really started racing now as I imagined our troops spilling into doorways, down halls, into rooms, getting the drop on unsuspecting Baelese.
“This is good,” Matt assured me. I nodded, hoping they could do it fast, because waiting was the worst.
From afar, in the direction of the base, I heard a male cry out. I froze and listened.
“What was that?” I whispered.
“I don’t know.”
I heard it again, and panic rose. “Someone’s trying to get to me.”
“Wait,” he whispered. “Stay put a second.”
A small grunt, and the sound of someone trying to drag themselves. If one of our guys was injured, I couldn’t just stand here waiting.
“They’re hurt!” I took off running.
“Amber!” Matt whispered. “Shit!”
Someone needed me, and it could be Ry. It’s all I could think about. I ran as softly as I could, getting slashed by branches too thin to see in the dark. The sounds got louder as the outline of a fence came into view. Then a body, laying, dragging themselves, trying to sit up. Several holes had been made in the fence. I climbed through, scraping the top of my head on a jagged piece, but not stopping.
I got several feet away from the body and heard it say, “Stop.”
My feet skidded to a halt, and my heart slowed as all thoughts softened to a blur. I could make out the face now, and the navy blue uniform of a Baelese man. Blood seeped from his neck.
“Don’t move,” he told me, and it was a perfectly good idea. I stayed still. Even as he raised his gun at me. Nothing computed.
The assaultingbangreverberated through the air.
Several things happened at once. I felt the impact on the right side of my stomach, hard enough to knock me back on my ass, taking the wind out of me. And from nowhere, Matt was there, kicking the gun out of the alien’s hand and putting a knife clear through his neck. In my fogged brain, all I could think was wow . . . sweet, romantic Matt. A killer.
The murkiness began to clear from my head just as Matt scrambled to my side, cupping my face. “Where are you hit?” he demanded.
I sucked in a deep breath, wincing at the pain in my side. I felt for it, and he lifted my ripped shirt to reveal the bulletproof vest, damaged, but in tact. That was going to leave a bruise.
“Jesus, Amber, you scared the shit out of me!”
“I’m sorry,” I said, mind cleared enough for me to begin trembling. My ear plugs! God, if he had shot higher, at my face, or at one of the arteries in my legs or arms . . . I shivered at the thought, and the gross memory of being mind controlled.
“I really hope that gun shot didn’t alert any of them inside,” he muttered.
The horror of realization splashed me like ice water. Yes, I’d been told by Top in my debriefing that I could make my way onto the base once the perimeter was cleared, but in my haste, I might’ve singlehandedly ruined the entire operation. And sure enough, a series ofpowsechoed out from the building, followed by shouts. My heart jolted as I pushed to my feet, ignoring the sharp pain in my side.
“We have to help them!”
