“Stand down, Benton. That’s an order. We can argue over it later,” Jaxx commanded, but she knew, with a sinking heart, that he was the cause of the inner warnings shrieking at her. Benton wanted to be a hero. But there was no room for heroes in her line of work.
Barry was swearing beside her, his body already rigid. He knew it as well as she did. Barry had been her partner long enough to know that when Jaxx said there was trouble, there was hell out there. “He’s going in. He’s going in. I see him at the side door.”
“Fall back, Barry,” Jaxx snapped, already moving forward. “I’ll try to pull him out. You get the rest of the world down here, because there’s going to be a war. Keep our guys out of there until we have help. It’s an ambush.”
She was so small and slender, dressed in her dark clothes and cap, Barry could barely make her out in the darkness of the night. She never made a sound when she moved. It was eerie. He found himself continually glancing at her to assure himself she was with him. Now he moved, too. No way was his partner going into that building without him. He issued the orders, called in the backup, but he followed her. He told himself it had nothing to do with Jaxx Montgomery and everything to do with partnership. It had nothing to do with love and everything to do with the job.
“You should see this place,” the radio crackled in their ears. “Get in here. It’s loaded with enough chemicals to blow up half the city.”
“You idiot, it’s loaded with enough chemicals to blow up the building with you in it. Now get the hell out of there.” It was Jaxx at her best. Her voice was soft and cutting, a whip of pure contempt. Anyone hearing that voice became a believer.
Craig Benton glanced uneasily to his right and then his left. The place suddenly gave him the creeps. He began a slow retreat, backing toward the door. At once something bit at his leg, high and ugly, knocking him backward and down. He found himself on the cold cement floor, staring up at the loft. The place remained silent. He put his hand down to touch his leg and found a mush of raw hamburger. He screamed. “I’m hit, I’m hit! Oh, God, I’m hit!”
Jaxon would have gone through the door first, but Barry slammed his shoulder into her, knocking her slight figure to the side. He dove into the warehouse, rolling to his right, looking for cover of any kind. He heard the whine of bullets as they zipped past him and embedded themselves in the crate behind him. He thought he got off a warning to Jaxx, but he couldn’t be sure as he crawled toward Benton. Things were happening too fast, and his vision had narrowed toward his purpose—pulling out the stupid kid and getting the hell out of there.
He made it to Benton. “Shut up,” he snapped. Did the rookie have to be as big as a linebacker? Dragging him out of there was going to be difficult, and if Craig kept screaming, he was going to shoot the rookie himself. “Let’s go.” He caught Benton under the arms, tried to stay low and behind cover, and began to make his way back toward the door. It was a long way. They were spraying the area with bullets now and deliberately sweeping the chemicals, so explosions were going off all over the place. Fires broke out. He felt the sting of the first hit on his scalp. The second was well placed. His left arm went numb, and he dropped Benton and found himself on the floor.
Then Jaxx was there. Jaxon Montgomery, his partner. Jaxon never stopped until it was over, and she never left her partner in trouble. Jaxon was going to die in that warehouse right beside him. She was providing covering fire, running toward them. “Get up, you lazy ass. You’re not that hurt. Haul your butt out of here.”
Yeah, that was his Jaxx, always sympathetic to his problems. Benton, damn him, was dragging his body toward the door, trying to save himself. Barry tried. He was very disoriented, and the smoke and heat didn’t help. Something was wrong with his head; it pounded and throbbed, and everything seemed hazy and far away. Jaxx’s small frame landed beside him, her beautiful eyes enormous with worry. “You landed us in a hell of a mess, my friend,” she said softly. “Get moving.” She gave him a quick once-over, assessing the damage and dismissing it for more important things. “I mean it, Barry. Move your butt out of here now!” It was a clear command.