by Cara Carnes
“Clear.” The woman’s voice belied the word.
“Like hell. This is the private com. Don’t act like a tough shit, or I’ll go in there and knock some sense into you.”
“Been there, done that. Just got another round of bruises for it,” she commented. “It’s nothing more than I expected.”
“The bastard stood there and ordered his men to beat you,” Gage said.
“Some idiot thought I’d break quickly and give them answers. Kristof had to show them I wasn’t a simpering little bitch,” Addy spat. “I’m gonna scrape that bastard Ivan’s balls out will a dull spoon, then snack on his liver. Liver and ball stew. Bet it’s tasty.”
His nuts shriveled at the thought because Gage had no doubt the woman would make the man suffer. He’d help if needed. Ivan was Kristof’s primary man and had taken the job of working Addy over too seriously.
“He’ll pay,” Gage promised.
“Did they hear that shit?” Addy asked.
“Yeah.”
“They good?”
“For now. Gotta admit, another dose of that and we’ll be inside before the party starts.” Gage paused. “Any sighting of our man?”
“Negative, but Kristof’s taking me to the main holding area soon. I’m thinking we’ll establish contact there.” The woman paused. “There’re a lot more assets to secure here than I expected. At least ten I’ve counted so far. He isn’t the only active broker for tonight.”
“Kristof should have told us about that. I’ll let the women know.” He paused. “Your com went blank for quite a while. There’ll be questions as to why.”
“They’ll wait.”
“You trusted me with your team. That means I’m a part of yours. Tell me why your com was off.”
“Kristof had some things to tell me, things he didn’t want the others to hear.” The woman’s voice lowered. “Things about my brother. They’ll wait.”
Gage wished to hell he believed it was that simple, but Addy’s voice resonated with an anger it hadn’t had before. She was too well-trained to let a beating affect her. “Keep the com on, or we go in.”
“You really are an asshole, Sanderson.”
“You’re in there for Little Bit. Until you’re out and safe, the com stays on.”
“Hurt her, and I’ll break you, Sanderson.”
“Stand in line. It’s already forming.” Gage clicked off as Shep prowled around the corner.
He wasn’t sure how much the man had heard, but he’d heard enough to know Addy was okay. With a chin lift in acknowledgement, the man slunk back into the shadows where he’d come from.
For now, all was quiet. Gage leaned his head back against the warehouse wall. They were in the nearest building across the way from where the auction would go down. Though most of the auctions occurred online, Kristof was known for being “old-fashioned” for high-value targets. He insisted on doing the transactions face-to-face.
16
“This is a lot larger than we anticipated,” Mary stated, her voice calm as she stood beside Zoey.
Zoey grasped onto the calm with her tenterhooks of terror. The mission was way, way larger than they’d expected. Fortunately The Arsenal didn’t believe in going in without at least three or four backup plans.
They’d received notification from Sara’s attorney moments ago that Congressman Edward Cherling had been taken into custody for child endangerment and abuse. Details about the charges were a bit hazy, but Sara had been legally a minor before she’d fled. Most of the documented evidence they had spanned years, which meant he’d be crucified in the media.
Zoey locked the thought away for another time. Right now they were after another bastard. Hopefully snaring Ian tonight would give them even more evidence against Cherling—assuming he was involved in the underground auctions.
“Teams three and four, you’re up. Move into secondary positions as marked,” Vi ordered into the com. Yellow and blue lights appeared in new locations on the area map.
Okay. So Gage’s team was primary and green. Jesse’s was secondary and orange. The other two were Nolan’s and Marcus’s teams. Which left Marshall’s, Dallas’s, and Fallon’s in the wings for cleanup and backup.
To feed her paranoia its routine fodder, Zoey hacked into an NSA satellite. The bastards owed her. She accessed the pertinent location. Huh. Strange. Shock stilled her movements, then she realized the bastards she’d just discovered couldn’t see her. Right. “Hold positions. Repeat, hold positions.”
“Roger.”
“Roger.”
Vi and Mary loomed over her shoulders. Zoey motioned at the readouts from the satellite feed. “Someone’s in the location’s security feed watching.”
“Is it being broadcast anywhere localized?” Vi asked.
Great question. Zoey dug deeper, into the base-level codes and subcommands. She’d spent hours learning every line of code so she could take it all in without hesitation. She’d mined these satellites and their feeds countless times during her stint in cubby 12A.
Two locations pinged red on the map, one very near where Nolan’s crew was to be and the other… Someone was holed up and watching from a nearby location.
“Craptastic,” she muttered into the com. “We’ve got a buzzard’s nest a quarter-click back. It looks like they’re on a crane.”
“Of course it is,” Dallas replied. “We’re on it.”
“Sending data.” Likely some idiots with a long-range rifle thought they could make an easy snatch and grab of the auction victims with a few bullets.
Or it was a setup all along.
No. They’d expected to encounter teams. Weathers was out there somewhere.
Weathers. Zoey called up another screen and accessed the data they’d scooped up. HERA had deemed most of it worthless, but it had the bits and bytes needed to access any live feeds broadcasting from their headquarters.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Cord admitted.
Zoey chewed on her Snoopy pencil as she continued hacking her way into the two live feeds coming from Weathers Enterprises. One was on location, in the first spot nearest Nolan’s marked target location.
The other was…
“We’ve got incoming to the compound. They’re turning off the interstate now.” She sent the two feeds to the groups who needed the intel and returned to the NSA satellite. Where one snake was, there was another.
Who was the viper in the crane?
Zoey clicked on Dallas’s com link. “Dispatch drones when within range. I want eyes on the target before you get closer.”
“Roger.”
Okay, that’d take a while. Now what?
The warehouses.
Cellphones weren’t permitted within the auction area. There weren’t any video cameras within range, and dispatching drones too soon was a risk. They were small, but still visible, especially if a hyperaware security team was on the lookout. Some sort of jammer had obliterated most of the tech Addy wore, but they’d expected that.
She was still covered via audio and video courtesy of a small barrette she wore in her hair.
“Jade?” Addy’s voice filled the com. “I’m in the primary holding area. Target has been located.”
“Status?” Mary asked.
“Standby.”
Zoey held her breath, then realized she couldn’t sit there and wait. She had assholes to find. She tracked Dallas’s progression toward the crane. He and his team moved quick and quiet, the way she’d expect.
“Jud’s ready,” Vi said.
Whatever assholes Weathers had sent were about to suffer the stupidity of their decision to obey. No one would walk away from the compound breathing. That had been Marshall’s declaration, one everyone at The Arsenal had agreed with.
Nolan’s and Marshall’s teams were circling around and closing in on the crew holed up nearby, where they’d intended to put a secondary team. Zoey wouldn’t have ever considered that a primary viewpoint.
So why had they?
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Were they really that third-rate operationally?
They had a team inside. Of course. They were tight with Ian. They were his minions of choice. Of course they had a team inside. They probably had several.
“Jade, I’m Addy, a friend of Zoey’s.” The woman paused. “Zero.”
“Zero?” The man’s voice rose. “Get her out of here. They want her. Bad. Get her gone.”
“She’s secure.” Addy’s voice was calm as the video switched on.
Blood.
It was the first thing Zoey noticed, followed immediately by the fact that Addy was stripped bare except for a small strap of fabric across her breasts and one running between her legs. The thin, gauzy material left nothing to the imagination.
The video on the hair clasp Addy wore wasn’t the best, but it did the trick. She’d taken it off to show Jade’s condition but had inadvertently shown her own in the process of shifting the small barrette.
Zoey breathed through her anger. She couldn’t let the situation affect her. Addy was in there to get Zoey and Jade safe and to keep the network secure.
The network.
“Status of the network?”
“All zones are in position. No noted issues,” Rhea said into the com. “We’re clear.”
She glanced at the blip on the map showing the second Weathers team en route to The Arsenal was within five miles. Her heart beat hard in her chest. “Should we get everyone to the sub level?”
“That’s in Jud’s and Riley’s wheelhouse. They’ll make the call if needed, and Kamren will follow it through,” Vi said. “Divide and conquer. We’re on the warehouse.”
“Right.” Zoey called up Dallas’s feed just as he dispatched the drones. The little buggers shot into the air as soon as she took control. She flew three toward the target’s location. “We have sleeper darts. Couldn’t I just knock their asses out?”
“They could have coms live. It could warn someone they’ve been compromised. Dallas will handle them,” Mary said. “Identifying the target is smart, though.”
The scan was quick, and HERA returned the results even faster. Zoey read the readout but couldn’t get her mind down the road to what it meant. Fortunately Vi and Mary were already in action.
“We’ve got a secondary crew onsite. Information incoming.”
Translation—they weren’t chatting about it via coms in case someone else was listening in. Zoey looked at the two women and waited. Eventually they’d notice she wasn’t fully caught up.
“It’s Kristof’s crew,” Vi said.
What the hell?
Was this entire thing a setup? To what end? He’d once been a key broker for the Collective according to what Jud had shared. What if he was still their man and this was payback? The what-ifs built in Zoey’s brain.
“Secure them without injury,” Mary ordered Dallas.
“Roger.”
“Chances are it’s a safety precaution he takes at every auction,” Vi said. “I’d have Jud confirm, but he’s a bit busy right now.”
Zoey glanced at the monitors. She was almost offended on his behalf. The team sent to storm the compound was three vehicles. Twelve men.
Idiots.
Not idiots.
Scouts.
“They aren’t here to take the compound. They’re here to scout who’s here,” Zoey said. “They’ll have drones overhead. Get Bree working on intercepting.”
“On it,” Cord said. “The vehicles are likely a diversion so the drones can surveil the area.”
With Cord handling the potential drones and Jud on takedown of the assholes, that left the compound secure. The feed from Addy returned. Zoey hated when the transmission had died.
From Vi’s and Mary’s tight expressions, they weren’t fans either.
“We’re on the move,” Addy said. “Stay by me, Jade, if possible. We’re getting out of here.”
“I didn’t talk. Tell her I didn’t say anything,” the man whispered.
“Hang on. We’re getting you out, and you can tell her yourself.”
“Jennie was the plant. She’s one of them,” Jade said. “They took Cecilia and Gwen. We’ve gotta save them.”
“We’re not leaving without everyone.”
“Shut up!” someone shouted.
Addy quieted, but the feed remained intact as she and a hobbling and bloodied Jade were escorted into the cavernous interior of a large warehouse. Zoey counted at least thirteen other prisoners around them, but Jade had mentioned the girls. They were young and weren’t there.
“There’s a secondary grouping somewhere else,” Zoey said. “We need eyes in the secondary areas of the warehouse. The girls Jade mentioned are young. Minors.”
“You think there’s a second auction,” Gage commented.
“Kristof doesn’t barter children. It’s a hard line everyone knows,” Zoey said. “They’re either not being sold tonight or there’s a second sale.”
“Either way, it’s a secondary holding location,” Fallon said. “We’ll fan northeast to the marked warehouse and work our way to the next one. Dispatching drones.”
“Roger. I’m on the drones,” Vi said.
“All teams move into position,” Zoey said as Addy and the other prisoners were moved into position atop a stage. Low lighting kept the prospective buyers shadowed in anonymity, but that’d end soon enough.
The plan was simple. They’d use sleeper darts to take down as many of the prospective buyers as possible. Authorities wouldn’t be contacted until the takedown was complete to avoid any of Ian’s cronies with badges or power covering it up. To ensure that wouldn’t happen, the media would be contacted at the same time.
Gage’s and Jesse’s teams moved into position as Nolan’s and Marshall’s began a takedown of the Weathers team. Zoey checked in on Dallas’s team just as they were hauling Kristof’s spotters off the crane and locking them down.
“Knock ‘em out, tie them up, then get to the warehouse,” she ordered Dallas. “We’ve got a potential second site. Circle back and cover Fallon.”
“Roger.”
“Marking potential hot zones of engagement at secondary site,” Mary said.
“Roger,” Fallon said.
“Roger,” Dallas said. “Inbound to zone one.”
Damn, the man moved fast.
“In position,” Gage said.
“In position,” Jesse said.
“In position. Secondary team secured,” Nolan said. “We have video feeds from the interior security team. Patching into HERA once I figure out how.”
The man grumbled the last part. Cord chuckled. “Want some help there, big brother?”
“Bite me,” the man groused.
“We need a team on the northwestern perimeter between the target and the dock. We have movement in the waterway—a fast-moving boat,” Vi said.
“On it,” Marshall said.
“Inbound chopper,” a voice said on the com.
Zoey’s pulse quickened as a drone caught sight of the helicopter descending. Fortunately it was a civilian-style chopper rather than one with guns and missiles. Ian Schmidt, asshole extraordinaire, made his way into the warehouse with three men surrounding him.
“All players are in position,” Vi confirmed into the com. “Standby.”
The feed Nolan patched in from the Weathers system was less than stellar. The graininess was unavoidable and nothing HERA could compensate for. Zoey, Vi, Mary, and Cord watched the footage as the auction started.
Disgust rose in her throat. “How long are we waiting?”
“Depends. Not long if Jade and Addy are first up. Otherwise, it’ll be a while,” Mary commented.
“And we let them take the others?” Zoey asked.
“We secure who we can without risking the primary objective. Ian’s presence isn’t enough. Him bidding and winning is the stake through the heart,” Vi explained. “It’s snatch-and-grab time, guys.”
They’d practiced snatch-and-grab operations many
times with various scenarios. Zoey had hoped never to see one as a live mission.
“We’re in position for primary snatch-and-grab via eastern exit,” Gage said.
“We’ll cover west,” Jesse said.
“South,” Marcus said.
“North once we finish at the yard,” Marshall said.
“We’re taking entry via second floor, northeastern window,” Dallas said. “Confirm.”
Zoey really hated when the commandos changed things on the fly. She understood the necessity and the brilliance, but it really left her discombobulated. She flew a few drones to the area Dallas noted. An open window twelve feet up in the air?
They were all loco.
Zoey flew a drone into the window and sent surveillance to Dallas’s feed. Heat signatures showed no one nearby, but that didn’t mean there weren’t tripwires galore. But this was Dallas, and he was good at getting in and out of places unnoticed.
“Confirmed for entry. Drones in position. No heat signatures,” Zoey said.
“Roger.”
“Site two secure. Seven down,” Fallon said as screams and cries filled the com.
Zoey’s gut tightened as the sounds filled the coms. Fallon had been checking for a secondary location, and based on what she was hearing, he’d found it.
“What are we hearing?” Marshall asked.
“Site two confirms eleven packages. Need assist with electronically locked shock collars, command.”
“Fucking monsters,” Vi spat. “Roger, site two. Standby. Status on medical exfil?”
“Assessment in progress.” The man’s voice lowered. “I know you’re all scared, but you have to help get the little ones quiet. It’s not safe if you’re loud.”
A young voice filled the com in a foreign language. Russian. The screams and cries lessened. Thank goodness.
Zoey returned her focus to the warehouse as Dallas and his team made entry. The auction was fully underway. Buyers purchased their acquisitions and immediately headed out of the side exits.
“One southbound exit, two east, and one west.”
One by one, the teams took down the buyers and took the terrified hostages to the neighboring warehouse, where Brooklyn from Jesse’s team helped Shep from Gage’s get everyone situated and secured.