Breaking Away (Delta Force Strong #3) - Elle James Page 0,1

a fierce frown. “You know I’m right. I grew up in Texas. I learned to fire a gun before I learned how to comb my hair.” She pointed to the back of the building. “Go. Now.”

Josh jumped and snagged Garcia’s good hand. “Hold on tight.”

The sergeant groaned as Josh dragged him across the floor into the back of the building, out of sight.

Kylie grabbed the soldier’s weapon, ejected the magazine to check for rounds and slammed it back in. She had enough left to do some damage. Question was, did she have enough rounds to protect them from an army of Taliban fighters, if there were more than a few?

She found a wall to hide behind for cover and lay down in a prone position, elbows on the floor, the weapon resting lightly in her hands, her finger on the trigger guard. She sighted down the barrel at the entrance to the building and waited. With each measured breath, she calmed her wildly beating heart and focused on defending her cameraman and the soldier who’d been tasked to protect her.

“Holy shit,” Josh called out.

Kylie’s heartrate spiked. “What?”

“We’ve got company back here.”

“What do you mean?” she called out as quietly as she could. “And hold it down. We don’t want to give away our location.

Josh poked his head around the corner. “Faaid.”

“What about him?”

“He’s back here, hiding behind a pile of boxes.”

“What?” Kylie glanced over her shoulder. Not like she could see into the back of the building, but seriously. The man the Rangers had been tasked with extracting was hiding in the back of an abandoned building.

He probably hadn’t trusted the Americans to get him out alive and figured on getting himself out.

Until the village had been overrun by a contingent of Taliban.

A noise outside the building brought Kylie’s attention back to the entrance. “Shhh,” she said as loudly as she dared, hoping that Josh had heard her, but the people outside hadn’t.

Footsteps pounded on the ground on the other side of the front wall. They passed.

Kylie started to let out a sigh when more feet pounded the ground outside and stopped.

Her breath lodged in her throat. The finger hovering over the trigger guard slipped onto the cool metal trigger.

She drew in a slow, steadying breath and waited, remembering her hunter education class in high school. Be sure of what you’re shooting at before you pull the trigger.

The people on the other side of the door could be friendly forces.

Then again…they could be members of the Taliban. They were searching for Faaid, along with the Army Rangers. While the Rangers wanted to get him out alive, the Taliban wanted to eliminate him.

If they knew he was inside the building where Kylie, Josh and Sergeant Garcia were located, they wouldn’t hesitate to storm in, take what they wanted and kill anyone who got in their way.

Where were the other soldiers? Had the Taliban killed them? Holy shit. Were they on their own?

The door slammed open.

Kylie’s heart leaped into her throat. She swallowed hard to keep from letting loose a startled scream. Though her heart pounded against her ribs, she kept her hands and arms steady, her eyes trained on the man walking through the door.

Dressed all in black with a black turban, he wasn’t one of their guys. He carried an AK-47 at the ready.

A noise sounded from the rear of the building, like someone kicked a stone or dropped something on the hard floor.

Kylie winced as if she’d been stung by a bee.

The man at the door swung his rifle in Kylie’s direction and fired a burst of bullets, hitting the wall above her head.

Apparently, he hadn’t had the same shoot-don’t-shoot training Kylie had. He was of the philosophy of shoot first, pick through the bodies later.

And he was headed her way.

Kylie trained her sights on him.

The man let loose another burst of bullets.

Kyle winced as debris from the wall rained down on her head.

If he got past her, he’d kill the others. Kylie aimed for his left chest and squeezed the trigger.

One round to the heart, and the man went down.

“Kylie?” Josh’s voice called out. “You all right?”

“I’m good,” she said. More footsteps pounded in the street outside the building heading their way. “But I don’t know for how long.” She sighted her weapon on the open door.

A shadow raced past it, and then a man in black dove through, rolled to his feet and came up shooting.

Most of Kylie’s shooting experience had been with stationary targets. She aimed