Mav’s heart was a freight train in his chest as he positioned the semiautomatic he’d had stowed in his saddlebag. How ironic that this was one of the weapons they’d taken off the Church Gang weeks before and that the Iron Cross had more recently tried to twist their arms into selling to them. Fuckers. Time seemed to drag out as he glanced between his cell and the warehouse before him, waiting for Dare to give the signal.
His cell buzzed in his hand. Finally. Dare’s command simply read, MOVE IN.
Maverick took off, moving fast and low, pausing for cover where he could—at a fence, behind one of the cars. He was aware of the movement of the others only because he knew they were there. Otherwise, the rain was doing what they’d hoped and cloaking their approach as they tightened the noose around the building.
This was the part that was going to suck. Crossing the big open stretch between the last of the cars and the building. Surveying the wide expanse again, Maverick double-checked the position of the men by the water and found them still seemingly oblivious. Which meant, fuck it, time to go.
He cut around the bumper and broke into a sprint, weapon in hand and at the ready.
Boom.
Maverick paused, wondering—
BoomboomBOOM!
The shock wave of the explosion knocked Maverick back on his ass. He landed hard, his head cracking against the pavement and making his ears ring. A fireball rose to the sky as debris launched into the air, falling into the water and the parking lot all around him.
“Jesus Christ,” Maverick said, dodging a flaming board that landed too fucking close for comfort. Heart in his throat, his brain slowly came back online. He found the weapon he’d dropped and surveyed the scene like he was stepping out of a fog, just able to make out some of his brothers’ movement through the deluge. Oxygen-stealing heat roared off the blaze like an impenetrable wall, the fire engulfing nearly the whole structure, particularly the end closer to the water. Weapon in shaking hands, he retreated, wanting to return to the cover of the car until he could—
Automatic gunfire erupted, the sound just audible over the storm and the inferno. Maverick dove for the ground and caught a flash of motion near the Hummers. Survivors. Fleeing the building. And coming out shooting.
A hail of bullets sailed over his head, and Maverick soldier-crawled through the mud and grime and puddles to the closest car. Rounds ricocheted off the metal as he got closer, and he wasn’t sure if they were shooting at him or if it was just his own dumb bad luck. Fuck. This took tits up to a whole new level. Where were the others? Had any of their men made it to the building before the explosion? How many of them were caught out in the open like he’d been?
Maverick didn’t have time to worry about any of that just then, because the two Hummers lurched into drive, a piece of burning siding on the hood of the first. Time slowed to a dreamlike crawl as he slid under the car, using the tire for cover from the shots and the heat. He couldn’t tell how many people were in the vehicles careening around the flaming debris. Mav only knew that the Iron Cross refugees were still spraying bullets like they thought they had to shoot their way through. And then the Ravens started to return that fire. The storm couldn’t quite hide the sound, but it hardly mattered. Because everyone in the city would’ve heard that explosion, and there wasn’t anything Chen could do to cover their asses now. They just needed to get out as fast as they fucking could. Setting up a shot, Mav debated what to do—
Another explosion erupted from inside the building. Maverick felt it in his chest against the pavement. The heat was searing.
“Fuck,” he said, flinching and watching as the second Hummer spun out of control and crashed into the closest of the parked cars. The first one had been clear of the building when the new detonation occurred, but it suddenly spun out of control, too—and it was coming right for him.
Rolling hard and fast, Mav made for the opening on the far side of the undercarriage and had just about made it when the collision occurred. Metal scraped upon metal like a building was coming down on top of him. The Hummer pushed the sedan so hard that the far tire he’d just been hiding behind settled against his shoulder again.
He’d barely managed to swallow his heart when movement caught his eye and someone spilled out of the Hummer’s driver’s side maybe ten feet away. The man hit the ground hard, but Mav knew he remained lucid when he adjusted the grip on his weapon and scanned the scene with wide searching eyes. Pissed-off eyes. Then those eyes found Maverick through the darkness, and the man raised his gun.