Course of Action: Crossfire by Lindsay McKenna;Merline Lovelace

Author:Lindsay McKenna;Merline Lovelace [Lovelace, Lindsay McKenna;Merline]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarlequinUKLtd
Published: 2015-05-10T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 2

The first warning was a short, stuttering rattle.

With two monster timpani drums booming out a dramatic crescendo, not everyone in the audience immediately picked up on it, but Pete recognized the sound of automatic gunfire instantly. So did the battle-trained prince. He and Pete sprang out of their seats at the same instant the doors at the rear of the auditorium burst open. Men in black ski masks charged down the aisles, shouting and spraying gunfire above the heads of the audience.

Terrified patrons screamed, dove out of their seats and tried frantically to wedge between the rows. On stage, chairs and music stands crashed over. Abandoning their instruments, the musicians scrambled for cover. Their guest performer stood paralyzed with fright for a moment before dropping facedown on the stage and covering her head with both arms.

The prince’s personal bodyguard grabbed his arms and rushed him toward the rear of the royal box. The other members of his party tumbled out of their chairs to the floor. All except Pete. Acting on pure instinct, he vaulted over the front rail, dropped the half story and leaped onto the stage. Bullets stitched a deadly arc just inches over his head as he kicked two overturned chairs together to form a fragile shield before covering Riley’s body with his own. She twisted under him, panting at the combined impact of his weight and her terror, until he snarled a warning.

“Be still!”

She went rigid with shock. Or maybe surprise at the terse command. The gunmen were still firing, still shouting in a dialect Pete didn’t understand. Despite the pandemonium, his training never deserted him. He recorded every sound, every sensation. The rat-a-tat of short-barreled AK-47s. The high-pitched, adrenaline-charged shout of a female among the attackers. The sobs of sheer terror as the firing subsided and a voice vibrating with nerves issued orders in Arabic, then French, then English.

“Everyone! Get up! Get up! Now!”

The audience rose slowly, cautiously, with a chorus of grunts and gasps and more sobs.

“You people! On the stage! On your feet!”

There was a clang of overturned music stands, the tinny sound of brass instruments banging together, a slow shuffle of hands and knees and feet. Pete levered himself into a crouch and wrapped a hand around the warm skin of Riley Fairchild’s arm.

“Best to do what they say.”

He helped her up. She’d lost the gauzy head scarf. Also the combs holding back her hair. The honey-blond mass tumbled in wild abandon, covering her face and the terror Pete knew filled her eyes.

She had to be thinking the same thing he was. If this was a hostage situation, the attackers had their choice of any number of high-value targets. The most obvious was Prince Malik al Said, a member of the Omani ruling family. But the glittering audience probably included a good number of foreign dignitaries—ambassadors, consuls, chargés d’affaires. Then, of course, there was an international opera star who reportedly commanded upward of a hundred thousand dollars for every performance.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.