Alpha One (Shadow Agents 1)

“Negative,” Gunner responded instantly. “Now move before your butt gets fried.”

Gunner wouldn’t make a mistake. He and Sydney Sloan had the best intel there was. No way would they send the team in without knowledge of another innocent in the perimeter.

Juliana blinked up at him. “Y-your voice...”

Aw, damn. He’d lost most of his Southern accent over the years, but every now and then, those Mississippi purrs would slip into his voice. Now wasn’t a good time for that slip.

“You’re goin’ out the window...” Another explosion shook the building. Her captors were packing some serious firepower. Definitely don’t want her getting away alive. “Your choice—you goin’ through awake or asleep?”

“There’s a man trapped back there! He’s tied up—he’ll burn to death.”

She wasn’t listening to him. Fine. He grabbed her, tossed her over his shoulder, held tight and dropped down on the line that Jasper had secured for him.

By the time she’d gotten any breath to scream, they were on the ground.

“Take her,” Logan ordered, shoving Juliana into Jasper’s arms. “Get her out of here.” She was the mission. Her safety was their number one priority.

But...

He’ll burn to death.

Logan wasn’t leaving a man behind.

He grabbed the cable and started hauling his butt back up into the fire.

* * *

“WHAT THE HELL is he thinking?”

Juliana stared around her with wide eyes. She was surrounded by two men, both big, strong, towering well over her five foot eight inches. They had guns held in their hands, and they both wore black ski masks. Just like the other guy. The guy that, for a moment, had sounded exactly like—

“Alpha One,” the hulking shadow to her right said into his wrist. “Get back here before I have to drag you out of that inferno.” Wait, no, he wasn’t muttering into his wrist. He was talking into some kind of microphone.

Alpha One? That had to be the guy who’d jumped out of the window—with her in his arms. Her heart had stopped when he’d leaped out and she’d felt the rush of air on her body. Then she’d realized...he’d been holding on to some kind of rope. They hadn’t crashed into the cement. He’d lowered her, gotten her to safety, then gone back into the fire.

“There’s someone else inside... John...” Juliana whispered. The fire was raging now. Blowing out the bottom windows of that big, thick building. Her hell.

They were at least two hundred feet away from the fire now. Encased in shadows. Hidden so well. But...

But she couldn’t stop shaking. These men had saved her, and she’d just sent one of them right back to face the flames.

She couldn’t even see the men’s eyes as they glanced at her. The sky was so dark, starless. The only illumination came from the flames.

Then she heard a growl. A faint purr...and the man to her right yanked her back as a vehicle slid from the shadows. Juliana hadn’t even seen the van approaching. No headlights had cut through the night.

The van’s back doors flew open. “Let’s go!” a woman’s sharp voice ordered.

The men pretty much threw Juliana into the van.

“Where’s Alpha One?” the woman demanded. Juliana’s gaze flew to her. The woman had short hair, a delicate build, but Juliana couldn’t really discern anything else about her.

The man climbing in behind Juliana pointed to the blaze.

“Damn it.” The woman’s fist slammed into the dashboard.

But as Juliana glanced back at the fire, she saw a figure running toward them. His head was down, his body moving fluidly as he leaped across that field.

The van started to accelerate. Juliana grabbed on to the side of the vehicle. Were they just going to leave him? “Wait!”