The Cardinal Bird (1 of Cardinal Series)

Chapter 25

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Just like when I had been free-falling into the tank, time slowed and sped up all at the same time.

Over the rushing of the wind through my hair, I was able to hear what sounded like gravel popping on the building behind us followed by two deafening cracks from below.

Something hot had brushed my cheek because it left behind a burning trail, but I ignored it to get ready to land. I broke from Karl's hold at the last moment. As soon as my feet hit the ground, I tucked and rolled, springing up at the end. I didn't get a moment to adjust or even breathe before I was taken right back down in a running tackle that felt like being bowled over by a cement truck.

My back connected with the soft ground, expelling the air rapidly out of my lungs. I blinked a bit, trying to focus and breathe.

Gun oil and musk.

I looked up into brown eyes that were so dark they were black in the dim lighting. It was Raven.

His eyes--darkening even more, if at all possible--traced my cheek. He met my gaze. "Are you hit?" His accent was so thick that it took me a second to respond because I wasn't sure if he was speaking Russian or English.

About all I could do was shake my head. Raven took my response at face value. He used his thick arms to push himself up in a low crouch next to me, keeping ducked down behind a car we had somehow ended up next to.

"Raven," Karl whisper shouted.

I glanced around.

In the land, we had managed to separate from each other. Karl was down, crouched behind a steel mailbox of all things. He was looking back up at the window we had just left, a gun aimed and steady in a two-handed grip with his elbows locked.

"Are we clear?" he asked.

Raven grunted. "No. There is one more that moved while I was taking out the other two. He could be setting up another nest right now. He probably won't show back up at the same window."

There had been snipers? How had I not noticed? And how had Raven managed to take out two of them without getting shot himself?

"What about up there?" Raven asked, his voice somewhat muffled by the barrel of his rifle. He kept scanning a blue-grey building directly in front of us. "I heard shots."

"They figured out we were there. If the snipers have comms with the guys inside, it won't be long before they all storm outside. They have to know she's out here by now."

I turned my head on the grass, looking under the car. The smell of gas was strong, trickling out of the tank that had been pierced in the gunfire. Beyond that, there didn't look like there was anything nearby in the street. "Where are the vans?"

Karl answered me. "They're on their way. 20 seconds."

Now that he said that, I could hear the shrill and desperate whine of the motors as they were pushed to their limits and beyond. Tires squealed.

"Get ready to run," Karl said, shifting on his stance but keeping his aim steady. No one had shown up at the window yet. "Park in front of the grey-blue building. The last sniper is there. He'll be shooting blind."

I was confused until I realized that he was probably talking to the others in his earpiece again.

Raven put down his rifle temporarily. He looked down at me. "Sorry for the man-handsing," he gripped the front of my borrowed shirt in one fist and pulled me up from the ground so that I was crouching instead of laying down.