Page 65 of Tracking Payton
“So we stay low when we get there and scope it out. They probably thought their diversion killed us, so that should give us the element of surprise. I only have a pistol and my knife.”
“I have two pistols and a knife.”
“Let’s end this.” Colin pulled his phone out of his side pocket and called security.
With that taken care of, they were on the move again. Alex didn’t sprint down the halls, but he did hasten, not wanting to leave Payton alone too long with Wessex. It galled him, he’d fallen for the oldest trick in the book. He should have known better.
Colin stayed close to his side, every few moments looking back to protect their six. No one wanted any more surprises. Alex had never been on a mission with Colin before. After they went into basic together, they both went their own ways to follow their own careers.
Alex noted they acted like they had been on several missions together. They didn’t need to speak to know what the other needed to know. Fitting together like two puzzle pieces. He couldn’t think of a better person to have at his back.
Alex came to screeching halt when he heard the sound of two gunshots. The office was still a couple hundred feet away, but it sounded as if it was right in front of him. Both men turned and looked at each other before rushing down the hall.
Alex couldn’t get his legs to run fast enough. He tried not to think about what sight would greet him when he went into the room. Payton had to be alive. He couldn’t imagine if she wasn’t.
“We can’t just run in,” Colin said, tugging on his bicep before Alex ran in without thinking. “We’ll be exposed.”
Alex hated this. He’d never been so scared in his life. He wasn’t worried about himself. It was Payton he was concerned about. She was more than capable of taking care of herself, but she wasn’t impregnable. Wessex originally had the element of surprise on his hands.
And now they did. Alex crouched down. He could hear two sets of voices. One male and one female. He only recognized one. Payton was still alive. He released a breath he hadn’t noticed he’d been holding. The male spoke again and ice filled his veins when he didn’t hear Duke’s voice or General Wessex—but Major Diesel. He didn’t want to assume the worse, but Duke would never allow Diesel into the room.
The voices sounded close which meant they were near Duke’s desk. Diesel was talking about killing Payton’s dad. That had to be a kick in the gut. Alex listened as Diesel gave them a full confession, but it would mean nothing to him if Payton didn’t survive this.
Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he turned on the camera and held it to the doorframe. Hopefully Diesel was facing away from the door and couldn’t see it. He would have preferred his other equipment that was easier to hide, but this would have to do.
Payton was crouched down next to the desk. Diesel was standing just on the other side of it. She didn’t see him, but Diesel could see her. His focus was solely on her and by the murderous intent in his eyes, he didn’t plan on Payton surviving today.
He moved the camera around hoping to catch a glimpse of Duke. There, just on the other end of the desk, he saw him. Duke was crawling across the floor toward Diesel. Alex couldn’t tell if it was due to injury or stealth, he was on the floor like that. Most likely he was injured.
This mission wasn’t impossible. He knew how to be stealthy. Colin too. Even before the military, they’d practiced sneaking around. If they stayed low and moved slowly, they could do it.
“What did you see?” Colin’s voice was barely a whisper. Alex almost didn’t hear him.
Oh yeah, you could take the man out of the Special Forces but couldn’t take the Special Forces out of him.
“They are next to Duke’s desk. Payton is to the side and Diesel at the back. She has a knife and he a gun.”
“Diesel? Not General Wessex? Where’s Duke?”
“Down. Crawling.” Alex couldn’t make out if he was injured or not, and he wasn’t wasting another moment.
“I’m just going to take the shot. End the threat.” Alex had no intention of killing him. The asshole deserved to rot in a prison for all the service members he’d killed in cold blood.
Colin nodded in agreement. “Once he’s down, I’ll attend to Duke.”
Alex would have preferred to get Payton as far away from Diesel as possible, but if Duke was injured, he needed medical attention as quickly as possible. Payton was as yet unharmed.
Alex eased onto his haunches with his pistol ready and brought it around the doorframe aiming for Diesel. How he longed to shoot him in his cold black heart, but the bastard deserved to hurt. He’d have to settle for his shoulder of his trigger arm. It wouldn’t cause permanent damage there, but it would still hurt like hell.
His shot was blocked though by Payton. She stood right in front of Diesel. Her hands were in the air empty. His heart beat erratically. Fear rooted him. He’d never considered he could actually lose Payton. But the possibility was very real in this moment. Diesel could shoot her before he could do anything.
“Change of plans,” he whispered, tucking his gun back into his side holster, and army crawled into the room. Duke was still crawling toward Diesel leaving a bloody trail across the floor. Shit, he wasn’t going to make it much longer at this rate. The bastard was going to bleed to death trying to save Payton.
Alex now had a perfect view of Diesel and the cold menacing smile across his face. The bastard was going to pull the trigger any moment. He didn’t have enough time to pull his own gun back out.
Alex didn’t think. He just lunged across the table taking Diesel down with him just as the trigger was pulled.
Chapter 33
