Guarded Read Online Helena Newbury

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, Suspense Tags Authors: Helena Newbury Advertisement1

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But…what was that dark space above the rooms, where all the walls stopped?

I looked up. The penthouse was built with a suspended ceiling, just like the offices downstairs. Between it and the next floor, there was a crawlspace…

I grabbed a chair and put it on my dressing table, then pushed up the tile in the corner of the room. Above was a dark, cavernous space. It was only a few feet tall, but it extended across the entire penthouse. Everything was thick with white dust: no one had been up here in decades.

I heaved myself up, panting and struggling: I wasn’t built for gymnastics and I was trying not to make any noise. I knew the brittle plasterboard ceiling wouldn’t take my weight, but the metal support struts should. I inched forward, wincing, and the struts creaked…but held.

I started crawling along the struts, heading for the living room. Within seconds, I was sweating. If I went too fast and made a noise, Radoslava’s men would hear me and I was dead. But if I went too slow, they’d beat me to JD.

One advantage I had was that there were no walls up here, so I could go in a straight line instead of following the winding hallway. But there were no landmarks, either: I was completely reliant on my mental blueprint of the building. Ten more feet on and I’ll be over the kitchen. Twelve feet after that and I’m at the living room wall…

Halfway there, I passed an air vent and peeked down. I froze when I saw Radoslava’s men creeping along the hallway, guns raised. I was crossing their path.

I held my breath until they’d passed, then looked ahead of me, estimating how much further I had to go. At this rate, they’d get there first.

I set my jaw, grimly determined. I wasn’t giving up. I forgot about stealth and just crawled as fast as possible.

59

JD

I fired a burst, then ducked back down behind the table as they returned fire. Bradan and I looked at each other, then glanced around the room at the devastation. Anything not behind cover was getting destroyed by the hail of gunfire coming through the double doors. I watched as the model of Manhattan, with its mini versions of the McBride projects, was shredded. The big floor-to-ceiling windows shattered one by one as bullets hit them, the glass frosting for a second and then crashing to the floor like water.

I frowned. The guys outside the double doors were doing a good job of keeping us pinned down, but why weren’t they pushing forward and trying to get into the penthouse? Then I shook my head. Who cares? We could just hold them off like this until Callahan showed up with a SWAT team.

Then Bradan nudged me and pointed silently at the ceiling. At first, I didn’t understand. Then I saw the ceiling flex, ever so slightly. They’re up there!

Bradan already had his rifle pointed at the ceiling. I did the same. We’d fire a long burst and shred whoever was up there.

I mouthed a countdown. One…

Two…

Th—

Lorna fell through the ceiling in a cloud of dust and broken tiles. Bradan had already squeezed his trigger but I slammed his rifle sideways and the shots went wide. Lorna managed to grab a metal strut and dangled for a second, then fell the last few feet and landed on her ass. I grabbed her and hauled her behind the table.

“What the hell are you doing?!” I yelled. “We nearly shot you!”

She was panting too hard to speak. She pointed towards the hallway that led to the bedrooms. I looked, and saw a flicker of movement as someone peeked around the corner. “On our six!” I yelled.

Cal kept up his watch on the door. Everyone else whipped around to face the new threat behind us and started firing. I counted three guys there: God, they’d been seconds away from shooting us all in the back. Lorna had saved us, but now she was caught in the thick of the fight. I pressed her to the floor, covering her body with mine as bullets hissed overhead.

With all of us firing at them, the three who’d been trying to come up behind us were gradually forced back. Then Kian took out one of them, and Cal managed to pick off the guy outside the double doors. The final two pulled out, retreating the way they’d come. It was over.

I let Lorna sit up and quickly checked her over for wounds. She was shaking, disheveled and covered in white dust, but she was okay. I grinned in relief and hugged her tight.

We slumped against the upturned table, gazing around at the remains of the living room. Wind and rain were blowing through the place, spreading the piles of broken safety glass across the floor. The black leather couches had been shredded and were disgorging their foam interiors like fluffy blossoms. The air was still full of gun smoke and drifting scraps of paper and the once-pristine cream walls were peppered with dark holes. But Lorna and Cody were safe and the danger was over. In another ten minutes, Callahan would be here and he could start the hunt for Radoslava. I drew Lorna into a hug. “It’s gonna be okay,” I told her.


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