Even though her heart might want to stop beating, her legs were still working, getting as far away from the shooting gallery as they could carry her.
From his peripheral vision, Davidson watched Rebecca and Bunny duck into an alley. Safe from the sniper. Davidson quickly scanned his kill zone, as meager as it was, but he didn't have a hell of a lot of time to set up.
Once he'd realized the sniper wasn't out front, there was only one logical place for him to be set up. The back of the temple. But getting down from that tower and finding a new perch turned out to be a little harder with a slug in your side.
Davidson could feel the blood oozing through the makeshift wrap around his waist.
No matter. He was up here, and now that the ground was secured, he needed to turn his attention to the sniper. Davidson swung his rifle back to its neutral position, centered on the sniper's tower.
Not waiting for a perfect kill shot, Davidson fired at the only thing he could. The sniper's rifle. The metal barrel skidded over at impact, then got jerked out of sight.
That's right, Davidson thought. You've got some competition.
Brandt tried to breathe again, and was met with the same searing pain. The double bulletproof vest had taken the shots, but they still did some serious damage. Lights flashing over his eyes, Brandt clenched his jaw. He was not going to pass out. Again.
But he had to get some fucking oxygen to his brain. Trying to avoid moving the two broken ribs, Brandt pulled in air between his teeth like he was sucking from a straw. Slow but steady. Keep those sharp ends of the fractures from puncturing his lung. Because really what could be better than a pneumothorax right about now.
"Brandt!" Lopez yelled again.
Feebly, Brandt waved him off. He just needed oxygen. And some oxycodone, but he'd take the oxygen.
Then he would get up and take off after Rebecca. He'd seen her streak past the breach in the wall, but couldn't do a damned thing about it.
Fucking butch up, Brandt.
Sucking in more air, protecting his ribs with his arm, Brandt rolled to his side. See? He was halfway up. Okay, only a quarter up, but progress. And those crazy lights weren't buzzing around in front of his vision.
Using his good arm, Brandt braced his upper body as he pulled his legs into a crouch. It hurt like fucking hell, but he would take the progress. Panting low and fast, Brandt prepped for the pain that was sure to come.
On the tenth breath he lurched upward. Unable to hold in a scream, Brandt found his feet. For a second. He fell heavily to the side. The wall the only thing stopping him from hitting the floor again.
But hey, he was vertical. Nearly blinded by those damned sparkly light blobs that insisted on blocking his vision, but vertical.
Now to get moving...
As the room lurched first to the side and then up and down, maybe he better take another ten breaths before putting one foot in front of the other.
Rebecca ran, wiping the tears from her eyes, hauling Bunny behind her. The world was a blur of white. The compact floodlights the Disciples had posted around the temple left very little room for shadows, or cover.
She felt any moment a bullet could fly out of nowhere and strike her down. Which wasn't her imagination running wild. No matter how far she got from the temple, Rebecca was pretty damned sure that sniper could get her. Get both of them.
Bunny was nothing more than a rack of sobs on the move.
That had been Rebecca's ex-fiance back there. If anyone should be a wreck it should be her. But they just didn't have the luxury of Rebecca losing her mind in grief. Even if she wanted to, she could hear Brandt's voice loud in her mind.
Get your ass far away. Hide. Let us do our job.
Rebecca stumbled as she choked back a sob. Would she ever have that voice yelling at her again? For real?
Bullets peppered the wall next to her. Rebecca dove toward a cart in the road and rolled underneath of it. Bunny stood frozen though as the shots struck all around, creating a halo that outlined her frame. It wouldn't be long until one hit her. Rebecca gathered her courage to dart out and somehow drag the woman to safety when a figure hurled himself in front of Bunny.
He took three shots to the back as he blocked Bunny with his body, pulling her down. The two hit the ground hard.
"That fucking hurts," Brandt gasped as he looked over to Rebecca.
Brandt was alive!
How she wanted to rush across those few feet and hug him. But those few feet were deadly. And if the shooter repositioned at all, he'd be able to pick them all off.
Rebecca looked up to the towers surrounding them.
Where the heck was Davidson?
Davidson held pressure on his wound as he climbed the last of the stairs. Was it the blood loss or were the towers really getting taller? As much as he'd dreaded it, he'd had to reposition. The sniper had pulled up stakes, which meant Davidson had to do so as well.
Hefting his rifle up onto the window's ledge, Davidson surveyed this new territory. They had moved deeper into the city, farther away from the SUV, farther away from the only known exit.
This however was the direction Rebecca had run off. Not exactly strategic, but Davidson couldn't blame her. Without a weapon, he'd probably have run off in any direction that got him away from the sniper as well.
Luckily he was far from defenseless.
A noise drew his attention back toward the temple. A man burst from the doors, rushing down the stairs. Davidson took only a moment to confirm it wasn't one of their men and took his shot. The man was dead before he hit the bottom of the steps.
Another figure rushed out of the temple. Davidson pulled up short as he made out Lopez. Harvish wasn't far behind. They must have taken care of the rest of the Disciples' assault team. When they hit the main street, they turned left, heading in the direction of the SUV.
No, no, no. Rebecca and Brandt went the other way. But how could Lopez know that?
Davidson shot...right at Lopez's feet. The corporal skidded to a halt, raising his weapon, looking for the shooter. Davidson shot again, this time at his other foot. The corporal put his hand over his brow, trying to look up into the bright lights near Davidson's nest.
This time Davidson shot farther down the road, at a steep enough angle to kick up plenty of dust. Lopez took a tentative step in that direction. Davidson shot again, even more down the road, guiding them toward Brandt and Rebecca.
Lopez picked up speed, following the trail as Harvish lagged behind. The guy's sleeve was saturated in blood, and it looked like he'd taken a pretty good blow to the head. None of that mattered though as Davidson swung his scope toward the other side of the city where the sniper was holed up. In the labyrinth of streets, the rest of the Disciples rushed toward Brandt and Rebecca's location.
He swung the scope back to check on Lopez's progress. Davidson shot at the corner of a building to indicate they should turn right. Which Lopez did with Harvish limping to catch up.
Swinging back, Davidson watched the Disciples gain speed, hurling headlong toward the rest of the trapped team. There was no way Lopez and especially Harvish would make it in time.
Gulping back despair, Davidson brought his scope around to the sniper's new perch. It was way, way, way outside Davidson's range. The man had picked wisely too. There were several other objects between Davidson and the nest. No way he could knock the gun from the sniper's grip.
No, Davidson was going to have to get inventive.
CHAPTER 25.
Gomorrah, Jordan 11:58 p.m. GMT Brandt shielded Bunny as best he could with five cracked ribs. He should get her up and out of there, but he just didn't have it in him. He barely had getting his diaphragm to move up and down, let alone running faster than a sniper could fire.
Looking across the kill zone, Brandt's eyes locked eyes with Rebecca. He tried to hide the pain. He tried to hide just how tapped he was. But this was Rebecca. Of course she saw it. She saw it all.
Her eyes brimmed with tears. She knew he'd stay and protect Bunny until he didn't have breath left in him. Just as he knew Rebecca would try to do something about it.
"No," he whispered. He wanted to shout, but the best he could do was a harsh whisper.
"Get ready," she answered with a sad grin.
With her fingers she started counting down. Five. Four. Three. Brandt had no idea what she was doing or what he was supposed to be ready for. He was usually the on the other side of the countdown.
Two.
One.
With a heave, Rebecca put her back into the bottom of the cart and pushed forward. To Brandt's amazement the wheels rolled forward. Slowly and only about an inch, but the damned thing was on the move! Every inch Rebecca moved the cart, the closer it was to Brandt and Bunny. They wouldn't have to run to safety. Safety was coming to them.
The sniper, however, wasn't taking this development lying down. He began shooting at the cart. Then as the forward movement began crumbling the wheels, the sniper took full advantage of it, shooting at the spokes.
A shadow passed in front of them. Rebecca had gotten the cart close enough to provide cover. Brandt shoved Bunny forward. The woman crab-walked the short distance, diving under the cart as one of the wheels collapsed, tilting the cart. There was barely enough room under it for the women to lay flat.
Which was probably just as well. Brandt didn't think he could get off his belly if he wanted to. Army-crawling, he made his painful way to join Rebecca. Once he was secured underneath, Bunny tried to help Rebecca move the cart, but it was a nonstarter. With one wheel completely damaged and another crumbling before their eyes, they weren't going anywhere fast.
The shots came more and more rapidly as the sniper now concentrated on blowing huge chunks of the cart away at a time. Methodically the sniper was destroying their cover.
"How can he shoot that fast?" Bunny asked, her hands over her ears.
"He isn't," Rebecca stated, pointing back across the city to the temple.
Brandt followed her gaze, but even once he found the huge bull god statue rising far above the temple, he didn't understand what she meant. Then he saw it. A piece flew off the side of Moloch's hip. And another. As a matter of fact, a large chunk of the guy's side was missing.
But to what effect? Did Davidson just feel the need for some target practice?
"Oh no," Rebecca moaned.
She wasn't talking about the fact the wheels were almost gone and soon the very weight of the cart could crush them before or after the sniper chewed through the salt to fire on them directly.
Nope, Rebecca was talking about the five Disciples who turned the corner, racing in their direction.
That was the "oh no" she was talking about.
And for all his wanting to, Brandt could give her no comfort.
Rebecca refused to give up hope. Basically it was the only thing they had left. She trusted Davidson. He had to be up to something. But could he get whatever it was done before they were, like, executed?
The sniper stopped shooting, which wasn't a good thing. Why should he waste bullets when a woman led four men down the street toward them? No, she didn't actually lead the men, she sauntered in front of the men.
Rebecca was surprised to find the woman who had held her at gunpoint to be so young. It felt like anyone who had it in them to hound the crap out Brandt would have more years on them, or at least wrinkles. She was pretty, supermodel pretty except for that glint in her dark eyes. The cruelty there kind of took her from a ten to a three.
The smile played at the edge of her lips like this was a game and she'd just aced them. And perhaps the woman had, but no one should enjoy it this much.
The woman came within twenty feet of them and then stopped.
"I am Aunush de Verante, and it is normally polite to greet one another standing up."
Great, and she thought herself a comedian.
"Why don't you come out?" Aunush asked. "You will die either way. It might as well be with dignity."
Rebecca looked to Brandt. While he did not meet her gaze, the edge of his eyes crinkled. The good kind of crinkled. Even Bunny must have noticed his expression because she stopped shaking.
"If it's all the same," Brandt answered, "we'll stay here."
Aunush bent her knees, lowering herself to nearly their level. "And why exactly would that be?"
"Because," Brandt said, "it's about to get very interesting."
Davidson loaded his rifle as fast as he could, dropping shells in his haste. But how could he not hurry? The Disciples had Brandt and the others cornered, and Lopez was at least a minute away.
Jerking his rifle upright, Davidson took only a moment to aim and shot at the base of the huge Moloch statue. He'd already dug out a good chunk, but clearly it wasn't enough. Who knew salt had such a high tensile strength?
Obviously God, Davidson reminded himself.
Right now though Davidson really need that tensile strength to give out. Another three shots, then four and five and six. He only had fourteen more before he had to reload, and by the set of the woman's shoulders it didn't look like Brandt had that much time.
Taking a precious moment, Davidson shed his fear. Shed the danger to Rebecca and the rest. Instead he sent up a prayer. A simple one.
Let me hit true.
He opened his eyes, found his spot, and fired.
It only blew a few inches of base away, but it was a vital few inches. The top-heavy statue listed ever so subtly. Then with a deafening crack, Moloch tilted precariously as his weight came down on the damaged base.
As hoped, the pedestal could no longer hold and gave way. With a lurch the bull god fell to the right, slamming into the closest tower, sending a spray of salt and debris in all directions.