With a mental clocking ticking down the time, we split into two teams. Utilizing a nonlethal approach, we made short work of taking the exterior targets out of play. I was tightening the last set of zip ties on the unconscious male with more muscles than brains when Kayden’s message, “Front clear, heading in,” came over the line. He, Rabbit, Doc, and Cyn were taking the front entrance, their goal to split once inside and clear the basement level.
“In, starting search.” That was Tag’s check-in. He and Jinx had scaled the garage’s lower roof, gaining access to the top floor through the windows. Safely inside, they would be working to clear the third floor as they moved down to the second.
Wolf tapped my shoulder and signaled that the back was clear. Our target was the smaller side entrance tucked behind a huge bush that reached almost to the second floor. Wolf popped the lock, and we slipped inside what was probably considered a mudroom even though it was larger than any mudroom I’d seen. Light from the room beyond crept under the closed door. Wolf and I stilled at the interior door. “In, holding for status.”
A muffled grunt and scuffling came from inside. I waited a heartbeat, then two, then Kayden said in my ear, “Clear, move.”
Wolf led the way, and we stayed tight as we cleared our way through a massive living room and kitchen, both of which were well lit. The lack of concealment made my spine itch, but on the other hand, open floor plans like this made for straightforward threat assessments. I’d be able to see people coming from a mile away. Of course, they’d be able to see me, too, so it might come down to whoever was faster. After the lazy-ass display out front, I was betting heavily on our team.
“Heading down,” Kayden said.
Wolf and I split at the halls. He went left, and I took right. After I closed the door on the second room, the faint sound of a toilet flushing drifted from farther down the hall. With no cover, my only choice was a blitz attack. Since we were trying to keep bloodshed to a minimum, I holstered my HK.
The bathroom door opened, and I lunged in, slamming my fist into the guy’s temple, sending him stumbling back into the narrow confines. I followed. He hit the counter with a resounding thump and swung out with an awkward punch. Taking advantage of his sloppy defense, I caught his swinging arm on my forearm, trapping it against my body, forcing him to face the sink. I sank my fist twice into his kidney. While he was trying to breathe, I shifted my stance and twisted his trapped arm into a painful shoulder lock. I followed that with a stunning smack against the back of his skull, which forced his forehead to meet the counter with a resounding thump. Granite was a wonderful thing.
Dropping the dazed guard, I pulled out another zip tie and crouched over him. Once he was trussed and gagged with a wadded-up washcloth and duct tape, I cleaned out his weapons cache. I removed his communication piece and dropped the electronics in the toilet before flushing then gathered his weapons—two handguns—and walked out, closing the door behind me. After tossing the handguns into a cluttered closet in one of the last rooms, I went to join Wolf.
“Top floor, clear,” Tag whispered over the comms. “Heading down west side to second.”
“First floor, clear,” Wolf said as we headed toward the lit staircase.
My foot had just hit the second step when Kayden’s tension-filled voice filled the line. “Possible confirmation on main objective.”
A strained expectancy hung over the line as we all waited for more information.
Kayden said curtly, “Got two guards on door, south-west corner. Hold.”
Frozen in place, I shot Wolf a silent question—was it the colonel? His eyes were unfocused as he tilted his head. A heartbeat passed, and he shook his head. So, either it wasn’t the colonel, or he still couldn’t get a reading. With nothing to go on, we held our position.
A burst of sound—the rasp of movement, muffled grunts, and a pained yip—filled my ear, then Kayden was back. “Guards down, but we’ve got a problem. Colonel’s strapped to a chair, partially conscious. She’s wired to blow.”
“How long?” Wolf asked.
“Four mics, forty and counting,” Rabbit answered sharply.
Fuck. Four minutes and forty seconds was not a lot of time to get the colonel clear and find Hawes. If the fucker was even here. As much as I wanted to trust the voice whispering that he was, there was always a chance it was wrong. There was another way, though.
“Can’t Rabbit do his magic?”
“Negative,” came Rabbit’s voice. “This is one sensitive bitch. One wrong electronic pulse, and none of us will need to worry about evac.”
Rabbit’s evaluation not only solidified my instinct but added a shit ton of urgency to our mission, all of which equated to hauling ass. “Copy that.” I looked at Wolf. He lifted his chin, looking as determined as I felt. It was time to move. Sucking a bracing breath, I said, “Count us down.”
“Copy.” Then Kayden did just that. “Four, thirty-nine.”
“Bishop.” Something in Wolf’s voice and expression brought me to a standstill. I held his gaze. “Got a heads-up from Rico. Hawes knows we’re here.”
For a single moment, his words didn’t register, but when they did, my blood froze. “Megan?”
Wolf’s face was grim. “Rico’s advice is to take him alive.”
Someone on one of the other teams sucked in a sharp breath, and someone else muttered, “Fuck,” but they all waited. For me. Hearing those words and their underlying meaning—that if we killed Hawes, we could kill Megan—sent a soul-numbing fear spiraling through me. All the things I hadn’t been able to tell her spun through my mind, shredding my heart. Yet even as I bled out deep inside, a ruthless voice laid out all the pros and cons of this fucking mission as the soldier in me took over.
“Copy that,” I rasped. Those two words tasted like bitter ash.
With no way but forward, we traded stealth for speed and rushed up the stairs. As Kayden ticked down the clock, we hit the wide second floor, weapons leading the way. A figure rushed from the end of the hall, and Wolf’s gun barked. The figure dropped. I flung open a door to a secondary living room. Empty. Motioning Wolf forward, I covered as he opened the next door.
A flicker of movement made me turn back to the stairs. A guard appeared. Aiming to disable, not kill, my finger squeezed, and my gun coughed. He dropped. Clearing the distance, I found the man clutching his shoulder, his face white and shocked. I kicked his fallen weapon back down the stairs and zip tied his hands.
“Three, fifty.” Kayden’s words accompanied my dash back to Wolf.
“Pinned on back stairs,” Jinx said over the line, accompanied by the sound of gunfire.
With no backup coming and time running out, Wolf and I were left with no choice but to move forward. Tagging Wolf’s shoulder, I approached the double doors with him. We were almost in place when we heard muffled voices coming from inside. We paused, holding our positions. Wolf signaled his intent, and I nodded, waiting until he got in position on the far side of the door before I took a spot on my side.
In my ear, I could hear the murmur of Kayden’s countdown and the occasional sound of gunshots coming from Tag and Jinx’s position. Blocking it all out, I kept my spine against the wall, straightened out my arm, and tapped the butt of my gun against the door then pulled it back fast as I called, “Major General? A word?”
Bullets tore through the door, flinging stinging slivers of wood in their wake. I half turned, dropped into a crouch, and protected my face, waiting for a pause. When it came, it was shorter than expected—a breath only—then another flurry of bullets tore through. The reverberating coughs were deeper, indicating a different weapon. Great. We had two shooters and no telling how many weapons.
The lead rain stopped, leaving long splinters in the doors. No light leaked out, indicating that the people inside were huddled in the dark. Wolf was crouched in a similar position to mine. Using silent hand signals as Kayden’s calm countdown continued—“Three, thirty-five”—we planned.
Breaching the damn room before Hawes decided to rabbit was crucial. Going in blind was a fucking death wish, especially since we’d be backlit, but fueled by an icy fury and a merciless practicality, I was willing to risk it, not just for Megan’s safety but the team’s as well. This fucker needed to go down fast and hard.
Wolf and I hit the doors, breaking through the remains, staying low, weapons up and tracking despite the shadows. Gunfire flashed in the dimness. My training took over, and I returned fire, hearing Wolf do the same. Light from the hall was not quite close enough to illuminate the room. Time lost meaning as we ducked behind darker objects and aimed at the flashes of gunfire. After someone gave a pained grunt, the gunfire lessened. One down. A dark shadow broke away, moving against the windows. Stupid. I aimed, fired. The shadow dropped. For a long moment, the only sound to penetrate the ringing silence was my harsh breathing. Crouched behind what I thought might be a huge-ass chair, I waited, listening and stretching my senses out for a telltale movement.
I counted my heartbeats, time dragging, but I kept perfectly still. Whoever moved first tended to die in situations like this. Moving just my eyes, I caught sight of Wolf lying flat on the floor, half-covered by a low-slung table. He caught my gaze and shifted his eyes upward toward the far corner on my side of the room, just to the side of the huge-ass window. I turned that way and watched the shadows, satisfaction burning bright when they moved. Taking care to keep my movements slow, I brought my gun up and aimed low. The shadow lunged, and I squeezed down on the trigger. The shadowy figure jerked back and then twisted in a futile attempt to abort the fall. The trigger completed its pull, freeing the bullet. My heart stopped, and time seemed to slow as the bullet hit. The figure dropped, and time sped forward.
Kayden kept count in my ear. “Fifty-eight, fifty-seven…”
Rabbit’s chanted in time, “Almost there, almost there…”
Shoving to my feet, I rushed toward the fallen figure.
Wolf flicked on a light, illuminating a shot-up office.
I got to the body and turned it over. Hawes’s eyes opened, staring at me as his mouth gaped, trying to suck in air. My bullet had gone in just under his arm and ripped through his chest, but I didn’t see an exit wound. Blood bubbled out of his mouth. I knew, fucking knew, what that meant.
“No! God dammit no!” I slammed my hands on the hole, a useless move. “Get me something, Wolf!”
He shoved a couch cushion at me. I held it down over the wound, but Hawes flopped around, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. Everything in me stilled as his gaze met mine, dark with a vicious sort of satisfaction. His bloodied lips curved, revealing bloodstained teeth. His mouth moved, but no sound emerged. A chilling certainty built in me as his eyes rolled back and his body went limp and death claimed his due.
My mind stumbled, and horrified realization tore through my soul. Megan. I’d just killed Megan. “NO!” Hoarse with rage, my voice roared through the room. As if my agony was the trigger, the house shook, and the deafening sound of a bomb shattered the night.