It was a big list, but that didn’t mean everything on it fit their parameters.
“The fashion events are out. It wouldn’t even occur to Wilson to hit those.” Nikki paced forward and crossed her arms.
This was where she would shine. For all his field experience, there was still something to be said for a profile. And that was what Nikki was doing while the rest of them ran down clues. Her profile of Wilson and his group would be the tool to get them ahead of the game. It was the measuring stick by which they could evaluate a situation, an event, possible avenues of action, and deconstruct Wilson’s plan.
“The beach concert thing, is that a big deal? Are there sponsors? Any media coverage?” she asked.
“To the twentysomethings, yeah,” Roni replied.
“No idea on the media coverage. Probably some radio stations, but I can check into that.” Emery grabbed his tablet and got to work.
“Okay, so that’s a possibility given the age range of the militia. Wilson is young so he is going to have a different approach than what we’re used to when it comes to these freedom fighters. He’s got a grasp of how to use the media and public opinion, but he is still narcissistic, and his urge to be seen as the fixer for our problems will drive him to create a scene.” Nikki paced toward the map. She tapped a range of three squares highlighted in yellow. “What about this one? Homestead?”
“Ah, yeah, the Homestead 100.” Roni pushed to her feet and gestured at the screen. They’d all heard about the event, but who hadn’t? “It’s something like a hundred different races and competitions over three days. They’ve got a lot of different kinds of racing going on. It’s kind of a weird new event, but the pre-sales are something like fifteen hundred, plus the drivers, crew and vendors, it’s probably a five- to ten-thousand-person event. The stadium seats around sixty-five thousand, so in comparison to the venue it’s still small.”
“Big space. What are the chances your friend Hillary was supposed to drive there?” Nikki pivoted, glancing at Gabriel.
“I wouldn’t call her a friend,” he replied.
“What’s this?” Nikki tapped another yellow square back in central Miami.
“Political college rally, liberal audience.” Emery tapped his tablet and the screen shifted to display an event flier.
“Crap.” Nikki took a step back. “That’s got Wilson written all over it.”
“There’s literally six to eight events a day over the next two weeks that have some kind of potential for Wilson’s group.” Emery brought the calendar back up. “I’ve done my best to sort and highlight them into categories, but it’s still a lot of public events to wade through.”
“This . . . is not good.” Nikki rubbed her face. The trouble with profiling was that it was a taught skill. Even if Gabriel wanted to help her, he’d never pursued that line of education at the academy.
“How do we want to tackle this?” Aiden asked.
Nikki blew out a breath and opened her eyes. There was a plan brewing, Gabriel could feel it. God, she was amazing.
A siren blared inside the warehouse. For one short second no one moved. Eyes widened, jaws dropped. Gabriel reached for the handle of the Desert Eagle pressing into his back.
The crew moved as one. Almost in unison, they drew weapons and keys jangled.
“It’s Wilson,” Emery called out over the noise.
“He shouldn’t . . . no.” Nikki shook her head. Maybe something in her research and profiling of Wilson was off. It didn’t matter right now. What did was protecting their asses.
“Come on.” Gabriel grabbed Nikki by the hand and pulled her out of the bunk room. He glanced around the warehouse as he hauled her into the next room behind Aiden.
Madison stood beside a metal locker, strapping on a Kevlar vest. Her hands visibly shook, but she got through the practiced routine of it on her own.
Gabriel grabbed one of the smaller vests and thrust it at Nikki. He wouldn’t presume to put it on her.
“What is going on?” she demanded, but didn’t pause in slipping it on like a pro.
“Wilson’s group has breached the perimeter.” He strapped on his vest as the first gunfire pinged off the building exterior. It didn’t appear as though the actual building was breached, but they were going to be ready regardless.
For years the Shop was their go-to place for all their covert needs. It housed their cache, surveillance equipment, and extra vehicles, and no one had ever tracked them here. Of course they employed a number of means to keep the Shop safe, but this moment was inevitable. Wilson’s militia was made up of highly trained soldiers. It wasn’t surprising they’d finally done it; it was the speed with which they’d accomplished it that shocked Gabriel.
They exited what amounted to their armory, hand in hand. Bullets hit the reinforced walls and bounced off from all sides.
They were surrounded. He didn’t need Emery’s equipment to tell him that.
He turned to Nikki and fear settled in his stomach. She could be carrying his baby. She was the most important thing to him, and she was in danger if he couldn’t protect her.
“Stay close to me,” he said.
She opened her mouth to speak, but never got a sound out.
One of the side doors exploded in a flash of light and heat. The initial blast knocked Gabriel off his feet. Nikki’s hand was torn from his. It all went dark after that.
Chapter Twelve
Nikki crouched behind one of the steel support columns and fired into the dusty clouds billowing up around the partially ripped-open section of the warehouse. Smoke and the crackle of flames rose up in the background, while inside, it appeared as though a giant toddler had upended almost everything in the Shop. Beyond this slice of hell, she could see the evening sky spread out above them, calm now that the rain had passed.
Everything in her said to go to Gabriel, but she’d lost sight of him in the scramble for cover. She didn’t know where to even begin to look for him.
“One o’ clock,” Roni shouted.
Nikki adjusted her aim and nailed the target. He stumbled, but the bullet didn’t take him down.
“They’re armored,” Nikki yelled back.
She adjusted her aim again and squeezed the trigger on an exhale.
The man went down to his knees.
She couldn’t watch. This operation was supposed to be about gathering intelligence, and somewhere along the line it had changed. She should be collecting paper, not toe tags.
“Behind you,” a man, John, yelled. He was somewhere above them. Nikki didn’t dare take her gaze off the breached door for fear that another handful of Wilson’s militia would trickle in.
“Got it.” Roni turned, putting her back to the blown-out door, and aimed.
There were too many of them. She counted at least a dozen, probably more like twenty, trying to get past the metal door, which had become its own land mine. The fire made it treacherous to cross, trapping their crew inside and Wilson’s people outside. These weren’t good odds. Eventually Wilson’s people would get in, or the smoke would force them out.
“Fall back,” Aiden bellowed from somewhere to her right, back toward the armory. She couldn’t see too far in that direction, thanks to the haze. It was starting to sting the back of her throat and her eyes had long since begun to water.
She put her back to the column and nearly swallowed her tongue. Aiden and Julian were in a vicious hand-to-hand combat with three men. Where had they come from? Gabriel was nowhere to be seen and Tori was partially dragging Madison into a car. John was on top of a truck with a sniper setup, but it wouldn’t be enough. They were outmanned and overpowered.
“Grenade,” John yelled from the truck.
Nikki dove away from his position and rolled, covering her head.
The blast shook the foundation. A sickening creak of metal made her skin crawl. The lights flickered out and—BAM! Part of the roof collapsed in a shower of sparks and flame.
Hands grasped at her shoulders.
The militiamen.
They’d found her.
Nikki rolled and punched upward at her attacker.
“Oof! It’s me.” Gabriel grunted.
Stunned, she let him haul her to her feet.
“Come on.” He threw an arm around her. She wasn’t about to argue. Aiden had given the fall-back order and they wouldn’t win anything by sticking it out here. Together, she and Gabriel half crouched and half ran through the still-settling debris. An electrical wire sprayed sparks overhead, and men called out to each other in the smoke.
“The others.” She tried to stop, but Gabriel picked her up and carried her to the GTO.
“They’re leaving, too.”
He shoved her in through the driver’s side and twisted the key in the ignition. The car lurched forward before she’d even made it to her seat or the door was closed. He revved the car and steered it out through a narrow opening, just tall enough to squeeze under. Ahead of them another set of taillights turned out onto the street.
The others?
Had they really made such a fast exit?
Something thumped against the side of the car, but they made it out through the opening without mishap. The car bounced over the curb before hitting the pavement.
“Did everyone get out?” she asked. They couldn’t leave anyone behind. She twisted in her seat.
They’d gone through what now appeared to be the side of the building. It was partially pulled up in what would otherwise be an invisible door. A secret exit for quick getaways?
“I don’t know.”
Gabriel grabbed a Bluetooth earpiece and hooked it on his ear, jabbing the side.
“Where the hell is everyone?” he said.
Nikki stared at the quickly shrinking warehouse.
“Good. Everyone out?” He turned the car hard right, gunned the engine, and jerked the car into an empty parking lot in front of another nondescript building.
Three other cars idled, looking worse for wear.
Roni, Tori, Madison, Aiden, Emery . . . Where were Julian and John?
She straightened, looked at Gabriel, and noticed the blood running down his forehead. Her breathing stopped for a second and her hands squeezed the pistol still in her grasp.
“Gabe, you’re bleeding.”
“Later.” He pulled out both his guns and reloaded.
“What’s happening?” Why were they just sitting there? Gabriel pressed a few buttons on the display and several voices started jabbering over the loudspeaker.
“Equipment is fried.” That voice was Emery.
“Goddamned motherfuckers. Where are you?” a man’s voice said. She couldn’t make out who it was.
“Julian, is John with you?” Aiden. That had to be him. Which would make the other voice Julian.
“Yeah, he’s out cold. Took a bullet in his arm. He’ll be fine.”
“Get to cover, now. Detonating the charges.”
“Wait—what?” Nikki blinked at Gabriel.
He punched the display and the microphone icon began to flash red.
“If this location was ever compromised, we were instructed to blow it up. Cover your ears.” His features were grim, his gaze resigned.
“Fire in the hole,” Aiden said over the line.
A second later a blast came, so strong it shook the car, set off alarms, and broke glass in shop fronts up and down the street. A secondary explosion boomed just as loud, followed by small pops, pings, and lesser detonations as whatever stores of weapons remained in the armory were set off by the heat.
The building crumpled in on itself. Tongues of fire licked the night sky. Nikki could only watch with her jaw hanging open.
They’d been attacked.
They could have all died.
What else would Wilson’s people do if this was their logical next step?
She’d profiled Wilson. Clearly things had changed since her initial research. The Bradley Wilson she’d encountered before was bluster. Big talk, little game. Something had happened, some trigger she didn’t see to make him capable of issuing an order like this.
A black car pulled into the lot behind them. It looked like Julian and John inside from the silhouettes.
“Movement, north side,” Emery announced over the speakers.
“Get out of here, guys. Go to ground.” Aiden’s car peeled out, heading not away from the blast, but toward it.
“What is he doing?” Nikki stared at the swiftly shrinking tail lights.
“Fuck, he’s going to be a distraction to give us time to scatter.” Gabriel grabbed his handgun.
“You can’t let him do that.”
“You’re right. We can’t. You good on ammo?”
Nikki reloaded as swiftly as she could. Gabriel let the other cars head toward the highway before he followed in the wake of their stupid, fearless friend. This whole situation was so beyond anything she’d ever dealt with before. To Gabriel’s team’s credit, they weren’t batting an eye at what had to be done, unlike her, who was struggling to keep up.
Gabriel whipped the car around the first turn. The heat from the blaze was so intense it made Nikki’s eyes water. Ahead, Aiden’s white and blue Challenger skidded on gravel inside the fenced-off yard. The Challenger fishtailed slightly as he turned, avoiding shots fired from men behind a truck. Little pops of light here and there weren’t part of the warehouse fire . . . they were muzzle fire. The sound of the guns was barely audible over the roar of the engines and inferno. The setup in the yard was more elaborate. Out here, it was clear to see the organization it had taken to breach their facility. Several large vehicles had the exits blocked, but also served as cover for the men on foot inside the yard.
“They’ve got him penned in. Fuck. Hold on.” Gabriel steered the car over the curb. It bounced and slammed into the chain link fence. The car lurched. Metal groaned. The fence gave way under the sheer brute force of the muscle car.
Nikki didn’t wait for Gabriel’s order. She leaned out of her window, squeezing off rounds, aiming for tires, people, anything that might move. Her tactical training kicked in and she operated on need alone.
The need to survive.
Her heart pounded and all she could do was shove all her fear, doubts, and adrenaline to the back of her mind. She focused on the next shot.
“Watch out!” Gabriel grabbed the back of her shirt and yanked her in the car.
She felt the displaced air of a bullet whiz past her head. The rear window shattered, spraying the back of the car with glass.
“The green car. Shoot out its radiator.”
The same green and black car from earlier was headed straight for them, tracking their movements through the large, fenced-in lot.
It wasn’t time to point out she didn’t know what a radiator was or did. She leveled the barrel at the front of the car and emptied the rest of her clip. A plume of smoke and steam went straight up into the air. The car lost its momentum and crashed into a box truck that looked like it hadn’t moved in years.
Aiden’s car charged through the hole they’d made, a Jeep and an SUV on his tail. Gabriel turned the car and it skidded on the gravel. He gunned it, but a large truck cut him off.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” He cut the wheel, barely avoiding a collision with the truck.
The yard was a mess. It was littered with three smoking vehicles. There weren’t any bodies to be seen, just six cars slowly trying to herd Gabriel into a corner with the warehouse at their back.
“Another gun.” She held her hand out and took Gabriel’s heavier Desert Eagles. They felt wrong in her hands, but screw it. They needed an out.
The car bumped over debris and potholes as he accelerated suddenly, aiming for a hole.
A heavier car aimed straight for them, coming up fast on Nikki’s side. She could see the outline of the driver. She blew out a breath and pelted the windshield with one bullet after another in quick succession. The car swerved wildly. Gabriel pushed the car harder, swinging to try to get out of the care
ening vehicle’s way. The other car clipped the back of the GTO, sending them into a spin.
Nikki almost cartwheeled across the car, but her belt snapped tight. Her head whipped around and just when she thought they had to tip over, the car straightened out and they blew past the fence. Something scraped along her side, but they were out of the death trap.
“Aiden, do you copy?” Gabriel bellowed at the dash.
“Yes. Where the hell are you?”
“Getting my ass out of Dodge.”
“Good. I lost my tail. Get out of there, now. That’s an order.”
“Yes, sir!” Gabriel punched the dash, then handed Nikki a box of ammo from under his seat. “Reload.”
She didn’t ask questions. Wilson’s group was a much bigger threat if they were going to launch that kind of attack in the heart of Miami. Things were much worse than she’d realized.
* * *
Nikki watched the clock on the dash roll past midnight before Gabriel turned into a quiet, unassuming neighborhood. The house he stopped in front of had a seven-foot wrought iron fence surrounding it and a gate with a hefty lock in place. A few lights on up and down the streets attested to some of their neighbors still being awake, but not many. Their movements would hopefully go unnoticed.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“Little Havana. Wilson’s people will stick out here. Stay in the car.”
Gabriel got out, unlocked the gate, and parked in a detached garage behind the house.
She wasn’t going to argue with him. Not after this night.
The garage was a big cinder-block double-car structure. The walls were barren save a few gardening tools. She could only glimpse the exterior of the house, and if she wasn’t mistaken, it was pink. Considering Gabriel’s preferred mode of transportation was a purple car, she was willing to bet he’d been in on the color choices. The man didn’t shrink from bold statements.
He got the gate locked back up and closed the garage door, flipping on an overhead light. There was a grimness to the set of his lips she didn’t like.
Nikki got out of the car and surveyed the damage. The paint was chipped, the back window gone, the bumper on her side was crunched in, and a handful of bullet holes peppered the sides.
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