Relentless (Benson Security 2)

“Over here. Mine’s open.” Ryan scrambled out, and Joe followed.

The car had been flattened from the boot to the back of the front seats. It was pure luck they hadn’t hit the plane front end first. The line of petrol from their damaged tank was burning on the ground. It was only a matter of time before it spread to what was left in the tank.

“Time to go,” Joe said.

“Left,” Ryan called, and took off at a jog, weapon up and crouching for cover.

Joe took the right. He’d lost his phone somewhere in the car during the crash, so there was no way to check in with Callum. Not that it mattered now. All he could do was what he’d been trained to do. Find the enemy and elimin

ate the threat.

“They’re okay. I see them.”

Callum’s words made Julia’s hands shake. Her gran placed her hands over Julia’s to keep them steady. The four women were kneeling behind the car, which was shielded by the shed. Callum was firing from the passenger seat, and Esteban’s men couldn’t get close enough to stop him.

Julia had been peeking through the car windows when she saw Joe’s car hit the plane. She hadn’t been able to look after that. The women jerked as Callum took another shot.

“Three down,” he said.

“How many does that leave?” Alice whispered. She looked like she was going to pass out at any second.

“Two injured,” Julia said. “Three alive, and Esteban.”

“I won’t go back with him,” Alice declared. “Kill me if he takes me, because I won’t go back.” She cradled her injured hand to her chest and rocked back and forth.

“Nobody is going anywhere with that son of a bitch,” Callum said evenly. “This ends today.”

“What does that mean?” Alice had a panicked look on her face.

“It means,” Callum said with ice in his voice, “that Esteban will die today. I can promise you that.”

“I can’t go back,” Alice whispered as silent tears fell down her cheeks.

Julia leaned forward and cupped Alice’s cheek. “Believe in Callum. He knows what he’s doing. He’s done this before. All the men have. They won’t let you get taken. It’s a promise. The Benson Security team are experts at what they do.”

Patricia shifted to wrap her arms around her friend. Alice leaned into her.

“Does it bother anyone else that the guys are out there fighting and we’re cowering behind the car?” Elle looked down at them from where she was kneeling, watching the gunfight. “Doesn’t that seem sexist to you?”

“It’s got nothing to do with sexism,” Callum said. “It’s to do with training. If any of you had combat experience, you’d be out there with Joe and Ryan.”

“I need combat training,” Elle said. “Because I really want to shoot someone right now.”

A staccato burst of gunfire rang out, followed by two distinct shots.

“Joe got another one,” Callum reported.

More gunshots. It was never-ending. Julia didn’t dare ask Callum for a status report on their ammunition stores, but she knew what they’d started with and that they had to be running low.

“The car’s on fire.” Elle actually sounded a little worried. “That isn’t good, is it?”

No, it wasn’t good that there was a burning vehicle wedged underneath a multimillion-dollar plane.

“Maybe we should move back,” she said to Callum. They were awfully close to the plane.

He didn’t answer; instead he aimed and took another shot. “One of the injured men is now out.”

Another death.