Total Bravery (True Heroes Book 4)

by Piper J. Drake

  The question was whether she knew what was really going to happen to the team. Even if they asked, they couldn’t be sure she wasn’t lying. They had no leverage to be sure she’d tell the truth. Her whole plan was toast.

  A mean glint shone through Terri’s tears. Her chest expanded, and he clamped his hand down over her mouth again before she could scream. That did it; she’d been about to do her best to expose them.

  “Mali, back away.”

  Mali did as asked but she whispered, “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m not going to kill her.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Mali stumbled back, unable to look away from Terri’s hateful gaze. She didn’t want to believe the accusations, but Terri’s face was twisted and flushed in an angry mask beneath Raul’s hand. The woman’s nostrils were flaring, and she seemed to be seething.

  Raul shifted off Terri and pressed something against her at the same time. Terri jerked, her scream choked off in her throat as her whole body spasmed. Then she was still. He quickly turned her on her belly and zip-tied her hands behind her back. It took another moment for him to secure her ankles, too.

  “She’ll be okay.” Raul gave the reassurance as he pressed two fingertips against Terri’s neck. “I used a taser to subdue her for a short time. We need to get moving.”

  Mali swallowed hard and nodded. “Too many questions. There’s no time to ask them.”

  Raul smiled with sympathy in his eyes. “Not right now, no.”

  To be honest, she was sure she didn’t want to hear the answers at the current moment either. Reality wasn’t an easy thing to face, and while she wasn’t going to hide from it, she could recognize when she was going to need more time to deal than they had here. She was already a risk for the team, and she needed to do her best to keep up. Think it all through later.

  “Bravo Team is moving out.” Raul made the statement more deliberately. “One hostage identified as a traitor. She is neutralized, and we are proceeding to the main house.”

  That was right. The team was listening via the comms. They might not have heard Terri, but they’d heard Mali and Raul talking to her.

  “Copy.” Zu’s deep voice was a balm as Mali struggled to put one step in front of the other. “We have eyes on the garden, and your path is clear.”

  Raul murmured a command to Taz, and the big dog moved forward. Raul turned to her, and his face had taken on that neutral, almost cold mask again. “Stay as close to me as you can.”

  They moved out of the landscaping and onto the path, following Taz toward the main house.

  “Initiating phase two.” Zu’s warning still startled her, even though she’d known the plan.

  Gunfire erupted nearby but out of sight, and then something exploded out in the fields. Even knowing it came from a distance, Mali flinched and ducked her head. If Zu was causing a distraction now, who was watching their progress?

  “Multiple guards headed your way, Alpha.” Arin sounded oddly genial. “Bravo Team, I have eyes on, and your path is clear.”

  Of course.

  Shouts rose up from inside the main house. Not all of them had the sharp, efficient cadence of orders. Some of them were panicked.

  “This is Delta Team, headed back for a second pass at the front gate. Those initial guards couldn’t drive for shit.” Todd was still gruff but his words were lighter, more energized.

  “Copy.” Arin chuckled. “Bonus.”

  How were they all joking around right now?

  And yet, their levity kept Mali hopeful. If they were joking, things were going well, and there was a chance they’d get through all of this with the best possible outcome. They had prepared her for the worst. They’d been pragmatic and realistic. In the midst of all this, they were optimistic. It was a strange, very effective balance.

  Raul urged Mali forward. “Couldn’t have asked for better timing. Let’s keep going before our luck runs out.”

  They approached the entryway Pua had spotted from the satellite images. It was a doorway set into a low wall that bordered a covered walkway connecting the main house to one of the secondary buildings. Hopefully, they would encounter few guards based on the distractions being provided by Zu and Todd on the other side of the complex.

  Raul pulled Mali beside the door, making sure her back was pressed against the wall as he partially covered her. From the side, he opened the door a few inches and peered through the space to see as much of the walkway as possible. Then he looked down at Taz and gave a command. “Revier.”

  Taz slipped through the door and looked both ways before proceeding forward and to the left. Raul rushed her in after Taz and shut the door behind them. At this point, she felt more exposed than she had when they’d been out in the garden, with all of the greenery providing places to hide. Here, in the courtyard area, anyone inside the complex could catch sight of them. The courtyard had some ornamental trees and a fountain in the center, but otherwise, it was very open.

  Raul kept her between him and the wall as they moved down the walkway toward the nearest secondary building. They’d gone a few steps when Taz paused ahead of them, leaning forward and almost trembling with eager attentiveness. He’d had that posture earlier, first when he’d taken down the guard at the hedge and again when he’d scented Terri approaching.

  Mali shrank back as Raul moved forward with his gun up and ready.

  There were two men in casual clothes standing on the opposite side of the fountain, having a smoke. Only luck had prevented them from seeing Raul, Taz, and Mali enter through the garden door because the fountain had been between them. They were facing the somewhat distant sound of chaos going on in the fields but they must have heard something because they turned at the same time and caught sight of Raul. Both of them were armed.

  Mali’s knees buckled. Raul couldn’t shoot both of them at the same time, and Taz was fast, but not fast enough to get to the men before they fired a shot on Raul or Mali.

  They raised their guns. Raul fired first. Both men jerked with the impact of a bullet and went down in different directions.

  “Bravo Team, you are clear in the courtyard. Proceed.” Arin’s voice came across the comm, cool and steady.

  Mali hadn’t realized how directly Arin could protect them from a distance. The second man on the ground was proof.

  Both men lay where they’d fallen, not moving. They hadn’t been tased. They’d been shot. Raul and Arin had shot them.

  Mali swallowed hard. “Are they dead?”

  Something cool touched her hand, and then Taz’s warm muzzle slipped under her palm. The big dog wedged himself between the wall and her hip, pushing her, urging her, back to standing.

  “Let’s go.” Raul’s tone was quiet. His words were short and grim. He proceeded ahead of them, gun up, turning to look into every window around the courtyard and up toward the rooftop and then back down and around them again.

  * * *

  Shit way for Mali to come face to face with who and what he really was. Oh, she’d known intellectually. Maybe. She’d known he’d been a soldier and what being a soldier deployed overseas could mean. He’d done his best to make it clear he hadn’t served from behind a desk.

  But nothing could prepare a person for seeing death firsthand.

  This was a major reason he hadn’t wanted her to be here, with the team, with him. He’d wanted her out of danger, first and foremost, and he hadn’t wanted her to see what he and the team might have to do.

  “This way.” He motioned for her to stay close to the wall as they moved toward the nearest building. It was a long structure and had looked like stables from the satellite pictures but was enclosed with ornamental bars over the windows. It was a good bet this was the “guest” house. Once they got inside and had a small, relatively safe space clear, he’d give Taz the scents of Mali’s research team again to see if his partner could find a trail at all.

  When they reached the door to the building, he pulled her behind him so
that they were both stacked up at the edge of the doorframe, pressed as close as possible. “Okay, Mali. This door opens out. You’re going to scoot over to the other side. When I nod, you open it. Keep the door between you and anyone inside who might see you. Got it?”

  There was a long pause. Then Mali answered him with a barely audible “okay.”

  He nodded and tried to give her a smile of encouragement as he listened hard for any warning sounds from inside the building. A moment later, she did as he instructed. He gave her a nod, and she opened the door in a smooth motion, keeping it between her and anyone inside just as he’d asked.

  He lunged partially through the doorway and pulled back, getting a quick look at the interior as he did. A shadow moved against the far wall, whoever it was giving away his position as he flinched at Raul’s feint.

  Raul barked out a command. “Fass.”

  Taz darted in the door, a dark streak against the shadows, launching over a table in the center of the room and contacting with the man Raul had seen.

  “C’mon.” Raul reached around the door and grabbed Mali’s shoulder, moving them both inside the building and out of the open doorway. Doorways were kill funnels. They needed to move quickly while Taz had their unknown occupied. Raul kept her behind him but made sure they stayed out of a corner, giving her space to move if they needed to.

  The room was a high-ceilinged open area with a massive table. It was built sturdily and had seen some rough use but could’ve seated a large number of people down its length on either side. At the end of the room was a hallway with a set of stairs on either side arching up and coming together over the first floor hallway. Two choices.

  First, Taz. Raul moved along the wall, holstering his primary weapon and drawing his sidearm with a silencer. Indoors, he wanted to maintain as much of an element of surprise as possible. Mali had caught on and was following close on her own, staying between him and the cover of the wall as much as possible. Taz’s target was cursing and struggling to reach something he’d dropped on the floor: a radio.

  Taking careful aim, Raul shot the radio. The man choked on a shout, disrupted by Taz shaking his arm.

  “Aus.”

  At Raul’s command, Taz let go of the man. The sleeve of his work shirt was shredded, and blood was beginning to soak the fabric. He sat there, clutching his arm to his chest and glared at Raul.

  “Don’t m—”

  Even as Raul was telling him not to, the man lunged at the radio. Broken or not, Raul wasn’t going to take a chance of the guy getting a call out. Raul took two quick steps forward and kicked the man in the head. The man slumped the rest of the way to the floor.

  For Mali’s benefit, Raul growled. “One man inside, unconscious. Room is clear.”

  “Copy,” Arin responded.

  Mali surprised him, taking the zip ties from his hand and moving to secure the unconscious man. He kept watch as she finished, looking out the windows for anyone approaching the building.

  “We’re moving toward the rooms now,” Raul said to Mali. “It’d help if you could keep eyes on my six. We may not have time to tie up every person we take down from here on out.”

  Mali’s glazed look faded as he gave her a call to action. He needed to keep giving her things to do so she didn’t have time to think too hard about what she was seeing. “Six?”

  He nodded. “As we go, you keep a lookout on what’s behind us. Just keep physical contact with me so you move when I do. Keep your hand here, on my hip, so you don’t accidentally impede any motion I need to make with my arms.”

  More alert, less numb, she nodded her understanding. “Okay.”

  “Stay with me.” He meant it both physically and mentally. She’d been withdrawing as they’d progressed further and further into this mission. As the moments of action escalated, she’d appeared to be going into shock. He needed to keep her engaged and responsive or this was going to become way more complicated very quickly. He’d been watching for it, though. Even trained soldiers experienced difficulties, sometimes froze, their first time in combat. For someone with no training, Mali was doing better than anyone could’ve asked of her.

  The three of them crossed the room quickly and started clearing the lower hallway. Two of the rooms were empty of people and looked to be storage for firearms and random piles of clothing. The third held a worn, stained mattress.

  As they reached for the first door on the other side of the hallway, Taz whined and sat in a deliberate, passive signal. There were people on the other side of the door.

  Raul motioned for Mali to wait on the other side of the doorway from him as he tried the door. Locked. He pointed his sidearm at the ceiling. Maybe in television shows it worked to shoot the lock, but in reality, a bullet wasn’t going to solve this. He studied the door. It was older. The whole building looked updated and kept up from the outside, but the interior was run-down. He took a step back and kicked the door just below the doorknob, hard.

  The door gave on the first kick, and he pushed it the rest of the way open.

  Inside the room, at least six to eight people huddled in the far corner. It wasn’t a big space but they were doing their damnedest to stay clear of the door and as far away from him as possible. All of them were Asian, dark-haired and terrified. Their clothes were torn. None of them looked like they’d had a decent meal in a long time. The scent of unwashed bodies and human excrement hit him in the face.

  “There’s not enough room in here for them all to lay down at the same time,” Mali whispered from behind him. “They’ve been using that bucket in the corner.”

  “No time to talk to them.” He backed out of the room with his sidearm pointed at the ceiling so they’d know he wasn’t about to shoot them. “If they can get up the courage to leave on their own, they have a good chance right now. It’s the best we can give them.”

  It wasn’t enough. Damn. But they had an objective.

  “We’re putting together the intel to tip off the police.” Arin’s words were meant to reassure Mali, but they soothed him, too. “My line of sight is obscured, Bravo Team. Charlie is moving to a new position.”

  They needed to move fast then, while Arin wasn’t able to watch the building to warn them of any approaching hostiles.

  The other two rooms left in the hallway were similarly filled with frightened people, mostly from Southeast or East Asia. Raul took the risk and left their doors wide open to give them a chance to escape if they could bring themselves to take the opportunity.

  The horror of slavery was that, sometimes, people who’d become slaves couldn’t bring themselves to run for freedom. The fear of not having a place to go would keep them where they were. He and the Search and Protect team couldn’t take them out of this place yet.

  “We’re not going to forget them.”

  He took Mali and Taz up the stairs. Two rooms had open doorways with no occupants, just relatively clean mattresses on simple bed frames. Another door revealed a full bathroom. Taz paused at the fourth door and sat, turning back to look at Raul.

  Mali moved to the opposite of the door without needing to be asked. She watched him expectantly. He studied the door, looking for any signs to set this one apart from any others, any potential danger. Nothing.

  He kicked in the door and heard exclamations this time. He kept his sidearm up and took a good look at the people inside the room. The people were Caucasian, better dressed, but still looking the worse for wear. Their faces were gaunt from lack of sleep, and their lips were cracked from dehydration. Several of them, man or woman, sported bruises on their faces. They’d been roughed up at some point, either when they’d been taken or during the time they’d been held or both. All of them were frozen and staring at his gun, some with eyes wide in fear. One or two had the glazed expression of hopelessness or shock.

  Backing up a step or two, he glanced at Mali and back down the hall, and then he studied the captives again. “Don’t go into the room. Just come around behind me and look over my s
houlder. Is this everyone?”

  Mali stepped away from the side of the door and took up the position he’d asked. Her sigh of relief washed over him, and her hand briefly rested on his shoulder. “Yes.”

  “Mali.” The oldest man in the room stepped forward, his expression a mixture of happiness and worry as he drew heavy brows together. His jaw was covered in salt and pepper scruff, and a huge bruise blackened the area around his cheek and eye. “What are you doing here? Have you seen Terri?”

  The man paused. “Are you cooperating with her?”

  “No!” Mali spat out the word, the horror and disdain in her voice coming across loud and clear.

  “Bravo Team, you have a hostile approaching from the south door.” Arin’s voice. “Wrap it up and get out through the courtyard. Stat.”

  “Copy.” Raul lifted his chin toward Mali’s principal investigator, or at least he was assuming so. The older man was at least the person who was acting as lead for the group of captives. “There’s no time. Leave with us or take your chances here. If you’ve seen any faces since you were taken, I strongly recommend you leave with us.”

  He was not dragging anyone out of here, except Mali if he had to.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Move now. Talk later.”

  Mali gave her PI a pleading look. He was a reasonable man most of the time, and sure he could be stubborn on occasion, but this would be an awful, awful time for him to dig in his heels.

  Her PI seemed to flinch and deflate. He waved his hands, almost shooing the rest of their research team around the room and out the door toward Mali.

  “Mali, lead them back the way we came in.” Raul stood to one side. “Taz will go with you, and I’ll bring up the rear. Listen for me in case I have to give you instructions.”

  She hurried forward, and her colleagues followed her like ducklings. She tried to give an encouraging smile but, other than their PI, no one spoke. No one even looked up to meet her gaze. They all looked bruised and worn, with ragged edges from days of fear.