Special Forces: Operation Alpha: No Protection (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Gennita Low Page B

a charging engine crashed through the rest of the rubble around the hole, scattering bodies like fire ants. The vehicle came to a stop in front of the SEALs. She suddenly caught sight of Cookie’s head and shoulders on top of her M-ATV, gunning down the enemy.
    “Hoooooo-Yahhhhhh!”
    The fierce roar of male voices came together in battle-cry. It all happened in minutes, as they ran down the stairs toward their goal.
    “Cookie’s in,” Liam informed Team Bravo. “We’re almost at the bottom. Where are you?”
    They raced past the doors. A guard hiding behind a pillar and shooting toward the courtyard turned, spraying bullets, one narrowly missing Ella as a shot came from beside her. The guard fell. She turned, heart in mouth, to see Liam aiming and firing, then turned and did the same to the door, breaking it apart.
    The men inside burst out, as if they had been waiting. They were her friends and teachers. A fire lit up inside her. They were still alive.
    “Ella!” One of them called.
    She nodded and lobbed her sack at him. “We brought some weapons. Distribute.”
    Liam did the same and while the men tossed the weapons to each other, he kept guard, shooting out into the courtyard. Howls of pain filled the air.
    Without preliminaries, the freed Peshmerga men gave a battle cry and charged out into the arena, heading toward the enemy, and moving into battle formation.
    “I like these Kurds,” Liam muttered, as he reloaded. “Hey, where are you going?”
    “I’m fighting with my team,” she told him, and ran after the Peshmerga warriors. This was her battle too.

CHAPTER FIVE
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    L iam stared after the ruby hair and long legs dashing off. Then he sighed and flicked at his mic.
    “Can’t join you, Bravo. Change of plans. Legs got the battle fever and ran off into the fray so I’m going in. Have to signal Hawk’s men not to shoot the wrong people.”
    He checked his ammo and started running after the group.
    “Same problem here, Alpha,” Wolf replied on the intercom. “We freed the women and they flew out like bats from a cave. Very angry bats. Zainab stayed, though, because a few of her friends have been beaten up and she’s tending to them. Fuckers did a job on them. I pity those out there facing the same women with the ability to fight back now.”
    Liam dodged behind a metal container and watched as Ella slid under a parked vehicle to avoid falling debris. That woman was going to give him a heart attack.
    “I’ve informed Hawk’s men. They’re right here behind my M-ATV,” Cookie’s voice interrupted.
    “Good job, Charlie.”
    “Almost running out of ammo, though,” Cookie said.
    “You keep low,” warned Liam. “I’ll be there soon to help you out.”
    Cookie couldn’t run fast and Liam knew he wouldn’t just leave the other SEALs by driving off, even for his own good, since his vehicle was their shield right now. The rounds of gunfire were deafening as they drew nearer to where most of the fighting was concentrated. They hadn’t carried in much ammo and with the unexpected high number of hostiles, they would all be running out soon. Grenades at close quarters were not an option, but these assholes were known to just blow themselves up, so Liam wanted this to end quickly, before that possibility came up.
    As soon as the thought left his head, a man peered around the breezeway across from them and started shooting at the Peshmerga fighters. Another lobbed a familiar object at them.
    Oh, shit, here it comes.
    It landed right next to the vehicle where Ella was.
    Four seconds. That was the textbook explanation of how a grenade worked and how long it took to explode upon impact.
    Four fucking seconds. He couldn’t run up there in four seconds.
    He saw Ella crawling out.
    He saw men diving left and right.
    There was no time. She couldn’t fucking outrun a grenade. He stretched out a hand at her, as if it could cover that distance to pull her back to him.
    Then, in a