by Cara Carnes
“You didn’t.” Ram caught the ball when it came at him. “Teams take a lot of work. Your crew were all lone wolves not used to trusting others to have their backs. You’ve done well by them. You gave them what they thought they wanted. Now you man up and give them what they need. They either accept it or move on.”
“That’s what Nolan said,” Fallon admitted. He grinned. “You should have a team, you know. All three of you should.”
“Nope.” Ram shook his head and tossed the ball to Mike. “That’s never in the cards. We’re solid.”
“Fair enough.” Fallon glanced back at the house. “You’re good with her. Rhea’s slept a lot better knowing you’re with Bree. Loving them is a blind jump into the deep. We never know what we’ll run into.”
Ram couldn’t help but laugh. If anyone understood loving Bree, it would be the man who’d fallen for her best friend. “Yeah. I’ve never been afraid of blind jumps. The fall is worth what’s waiting at the end.”
Fallon moved to Mike’s side and pulled the kid into a hug against his side. “It is. We’d better get inside. Your mom mentioned making cookies. They might be edible this time around.”
Ram laughed when Mike shook his little head. “She sure tries hard. I’m not sure why they aren’t ever as good as Aunt Ellie’s. It’d be easier just letting her give us some.”
“Yeah,” Fallon said. He crouched in front of his son. “But then they wouldn’t be made with the love she has for us. Your mom doesn’t ever take the easy approach when it’s something important for those she loves.”
“I’m still gonna hide the salt,” Mike muttered as he headed toward the house.
Fallon chuckled. Ram slapped the man on the back.
“You’ve got a great family here,” Ram commented. “You’re a damned good dad.”
“This terrifies me more than any mission I’ve ever done,” Fallon admitted. “I focus on these good days and appreciate there are far more of them than the bad ones. It’s gonna take time to break all Mike’s defenses down so he can heal from everything. I’m patient. We’ll get through and he’ll see he’s safe and loved.”
Ram admired Fallon’s determination. He’d grown up without that love. If anyone could get Mike through, it was Fallon. “Come on. Let’s go taste those cookies.”
22
Two days later…
Military planes sucked. Bree gnashed her teeth, which rattled with the loud, shaky rumble around her. Sleep had proven impossible. For her at least. Most everyone had sacked out as though the horrid sounds were damned music. Ugh. Commandos were a strange breed.
But she’d survived the huge ass military plane that took them to the battle carrier. The plane had refueled and taken off once again with everyone except her, Addy, Lexi, two pilots Bree hadn’t met, and Mia.
The SEAL team had been dispatched elsewhere on a priority mission, which meant The Arsenal’s two teams would be jumping into the ocean with all the necessary gear—including the “boats.” Boats was a generous term for anything that had to be inflated in her opinion, but none of the commandos had blinked at hearing that.
All the choppers would leave soon, which was why Bree was strapped into the slick Blackhawk Lexi was flying. It was seriously cool. Sure, she had one at The Arsenal, but this one had a freaking machine gun that another someone she hadn’t been introduced to would be manning.
“There’s a lot of people I didn’t realize would be part of this,” she commented.
“Yeah, that happens. We needed a second pilot for each chopper, and the gunner.”
“I need to hook Lexi’s chopper up with a mini Bertha. I bet that’d be wicked.”
Addy chuckled. “It would. Let’s hope we never need that kind of power in a battle.”
No kidding. “I can’t believe you do this all the time. I mean, I know you do, but being part of it feels different.”
“It gets easier,” Addy said.
“No offense, but I’m making this my first and only mission.” Bree leaned her head back. “At least I’m not jumping into a freaking ocean, so I can’t complain.”
The what-if scenarios surrounding that particular part of the mission could easily overwhelm Bree if she let them take hold. The simplest problem could be fatal. What if the boats couldn’t be inflated? Ugh.
She forced her mind from that particular path. Sinclair’s exercises helped a lot.
“True.” Addy took her hand. “I’m proud of you. I know this isn’t easy.”
It wasn’t, but Bree was determined to do what she could to help free Shelly and the Deltas. Could they have worked a way for her not to come on the mission? Sure. But it wouldn’t have been as effective, and she was not okay with a half-assed plan when a much better one was doable.
“I expected to be scared. Freaked out about what could go wrong.”
“But you aren’t?”
“No. We can’t control everything that’ll happen. Something will go wrong because it always does,” Bree said. “But I know I’ve got the best with me. What I can’t do, y’all can. There’s no one I trust more.”
She’d spoken with Sinclair for a long time and shared all of her feelings about everything, including her parents. She felt as though she’d turned a huge corner, one that’d empowered her. Living her life terrified of what could happen was no longer an option. She’d fight for what she wanted.
“Sorry you got stuck on the lame protect-Bree team.”
“I’m not.” Addy shrugged. “I know you better than anyone, though I suspect that won’t be the case much longer. It makes sense for me to shadow you. Ram knows I’ll do anything necessary to keep you safe.”
She ignored the not-so-subtle comment about Ram knowing her better. “You’d better not do something stupid,” Bree warned.
Mia sat on Bree’s other side. “Just heard. Boats and teams are in the water. ETA for our departure is twenty minutes.”
Right. Everything was timed perfectly. Lexi and the other two pilots would rain hell down on the facility, offering cover for Gage’s and Ram’s teams. Dispersing the gas bombs was the critical component, which was why Lexi had insisted they carry some with them. “Just in case.” Yeah, the woman had brass balls. Bree suspected she totally intended to get them into a position to drop those babies before the ground teams even got within tossing range.
Wait. “I never asked how we’re getting out of the chopper.”
Mia chuckled. “You don’t want to know.”
Oh boy. Bree nodded. The woman was probably right. Nervousness crawled through her as the chopper flew toward the hell she swore to never see again. Bree donned the headgear Addy gave her and closed her eyes. A few deep breaths would calm her.
“We’re three minutes out, Edge,” Lexi said in the com.
“Power grid is going down in one minute,” Vi said.
Two minutes between the grid going down and arrival was a lot—more than anyone had been comfortable with. A lot could happen in two minutes. But if the power failure did what it was supposed to, they’d be locked in wherever they’d been, which should hopefully keep Shelly and the Deltas safe.
Bree unclipped her seatbelt and crawled toward where the stranger manning the gun was. He glared at her but didn’t offer comment.
Amusement rolled through the headset as Lexi spoke. “You figured out my plan?”
“It makes sense. Better us than them?”
“What are you doing?” the man asked.
“You kill who you can, and I’ll knock the rest out.” Hopefully. “I wasn’t a good football thrower, Lexi.”
“That’s okay. I’ll make it an easy toss.”
Oh boy. Something told Bree when Lexi was born, she got a triple dose of guts. Gunfire echoed from around her as the chopper arrived at the facility “hot.” Bree assumed that meant under fire, but she figured it didn’t matter.
She almost cheered when the headset displayed visuals from the drones Lexi had put on the exterior of the choppers. None of the heavy ar
tillery weapons atop the facility were firing—which meant the power had disabled the biggest threat against the choppers.
“Standby. We’re getting up close and personal. Chopper two and three, cover us but hang back.”
“Copy.”
“Copy.”
“What are you doing?” Addy asked, her voice low as she knelt beside Bree.
Bree undid the backpack and set the gas bombs out in a long line. “Time to knock people out. It’s better for us to do it than the teams. I figured that was Lexi’s plan when she asked for so many.”
“Smart.” Addy nodded. “Mia. Help us. Three throwers are better than one.”
“Get back to your seats,” the man said.
Bree’s stomach revolted when Lexi dipped low fast. The hard dive startled her a moment. The ground was right there. Holy shit. Gunfire sounded as the man beside Bree fired. Bullets pinged off the chopper’s sides. One bullet in the wrong place, and they were screwed.
“Uhm. We don’t need to be that close,” Bree said.
“Right.” The chopper rose fast. “Better?”
Bree got to work tossing the bombs as Lexi plowed through the open area. There wasn’t enough room for Mia to help, but Addy tossed, too. Which was great because Lexi, bless her crazy soul, was not going slow.
They’d dropped ten of the twenty they had by the time they’d circled the area. Relieved, Bree took a deep breath as the enemy combatants collapsed.
“Let’s even the playing field inside,” Lexi said. “Crack the windows.”
Addy drew her weapon. Bree watched in amazement as she and the gunner shot windows throughout the prison. Lexi approached and tilted the chopper. Bree squealed as she rolled toward the open door. Holy shit. The man beside her snatched her back and buckled her belt to a big metal hook.
Right. That was smart.
“Two minutes, Edge. We’re painting the interior.”
Holy crap. The whirl of the blades echoed as she and Addy aimed bombs at the windows. The very close windows.
“You’re inches from the building,” a voice sounded on the com.
“Great. Then I can get a bit closer,” Lexi said, sarcasm in her words.
“Fuck,” another voice said.
It took less than two minutes to “paint the interior.” Bree took another relieved breath when Lexi’s voice sounded once again. “Nap time has commenced.”
“Great work. Get the team down, then standby for extraction,” Mary ordered.
Bree, Addy, and Mia donned their gas masks as Lexi hovered above the ground. She was glad Lexi, the other pilot, and the man beside her had also donned masks because the gassy fog slithered into the chopper.
She stood. Addy wrapped her arms around Bree. “Hold on.”
What the hell?
Bree yelped as they went airborne and sailed toward the ground via a thick rope. Holy shit. That was why they hadn’t told her. Good to know.
Commandos were nuts.
“Fuck. I just got a hard-on watching that shit,” Grim said. “That’s my type of woman.”
Ram chuckled. Watching Lexi fly with less than a foot between the blades and the building had been something, all right. But it was the beautiful woman tossing bombs through the interior windows that’d done him in.
Those crazy-ass women had not only bombed the entire exterior, but hit the interior as well. They’d likely have combatants who’d donned gas masks to contend with, but that’d significantly decreased the chance for casualties.
Ram opted to not bring anyone else onto his team. Pierce headed toward the nearest tower to serve as overwatch while he, Doug, Grim, Shadow, and Knight approached the entry. It’d be up to them to secure a path for Bree, Addy, and Mia to get to the power source.
Visual displays switched immediately to night vision mode as they entered the darkened interior. The specialized gas mask used with The Arsenal’s headgear made breathing difficult, but one of the bombs had struck close enough for the substance to seep into the exterior of the large space.
“Who the fuck are you?” someone shouted, weapon aimed at them.
“Drop your weapon,” Ram warned. “We’re securing this facility for violations against more treaties than I have time to list.”
“Like hell you are.” The man shot, missing anyone by a solid yard. What kind of lame idiots had they hired?
Drones whirled around them and darted combatants as they entered. Bodies fell. Ram holstered his weapon and got busy doing what The Triple Threat did best. Killing someone wasn’t on the agenda today, but he’d have zero problems neutralizing a threat against Bree.
“The guard to prisoner ratio is larger than we expected,” Doug commented.
Either that or they’d expected trouble.
“Primary team entering,” Edge said.
Drones shifted their attention to the stairwell he knew the women would use. Between Addy, Mia, and the drones, they’d handle whoever stood between their position and the power source. Which left taking out the rest of the prison guards on him and his team while Gage’s team got to the Deltas.
“East side,” Ram said. “Primary entry secured.”
“South entry cleared,” Gage said. “Proceeding to extraction.”
They cleared three common areas before they entered a large glass room of some sort. Two men stood behind a shivering, crying woman. Both trained weapons at her head.
“Lay down your weapons,” Ram warned.
“Lay down yours or she’s dead.”
So much for the easy out. Ram didn’t hesitate. He and Doug had done this a thousand times. He went left, knowing his friend would go right. Even an inch was too much space for them to leave—a fact they learned the hard way when both men fell moments later.
“Holy squirrels.” The woman shook as she wrapped her arms around herself. “Please tell me you’re the good guys. Bree’s friends.”
“We are. Are you hurt?” Knight asked.
“No. No. Just have a lot of therapy time to book.” She swiped at the blood dotting her face. “And a serious bath scrub in my future.”
“Did you get everything done that Edge and Quillery asked for?” Ram asked, redirecting the frightened woman to what mattered.
“Yes. I think so. I didn’t expect the power to go out, though.”
“That was part of the plan. When it comes back up, HERA will be in control of the power grid and the facility’s system.”
“Good. Good.” Shelly’s eyes widened as she looked at all of them. “There’s… there’s a big area three levels down. I hadn’t seen it until yesterday. I’m not sure it’s on the schematics.”
“It wasn’t,” Vi said.
“What is it?”
“There’s… people are down there. Alive and,” she swallowed. Tears streamed down her face. “Bodies.”
Fuck.
“Get down there and secure the area after you’ve cleared that room,” Edge ordered. “We need HERA working on prisoner identities. Their online records are too vague. We need the real intel on these people.”
“Copy that. Target one secured. Chopper three standby for pickup.” They’d opted to remove Shelly from the combat zone immediately. Grim nodded and guided the woman out of the room. Three drones followed. He’d return once she was in the chopper.
“Time to impress us with your skills, boys. We need all intel in paper format visually thumbed through,” Zoey said. “You don’t have to go slow. Just make sure to focus on the pages.”
Shadow chuckled as they fanned out in the room and got to work. It’d only take a few minutes, but taking time to do this now went against the grain of what they typically did. Clearing the entire facility made sense, but Operations had been clear.
They wanted HERA running to identify any other potential prisoners that needed an immediate extraction. That was the priority—one Ram was down for.
It took five minutes to sift through all the intel—which was extensive. They’d found the files for the Delta team, al
ong with several others classified as “high value.” He hoped HERA got what was needed while they made their way to the mysterious bottom level.
Drones sounded from around the corner. Ram and his team froze and waited for the visuals to unfold in their displays. Four targets down. Three remaining.
“We need reload,” Jacob said.
“On it,” Doug crouched and pulled out the reload cartridges for the drones. Shadow helped, having learned how to do it yesterday while on the plane. They’d wanted full understanding of the tech, which was coming in handy now.
Ram and Knight took out the three remaining targets quickly. The team continued forward. Now deeper within the prison, they removed their gas masks. The putrid stench of human waste, sweat, and blood coated the air as they entered a detainment area. Prisoners were passed out in their narrow, overcrowded cells. Four people shared two twin-sized cots with less than two feet between the thin, filthy mattresses.
Disgust rolled through him as overflowing toilets in the corners of several cells showed on the visual. He’d been in a lot of hell holes, but this one was the worst. More than a few of the passed-out prisoners hung from restraints secured to chains from the ceiling. Two were strapped to the wall.
“Six targets secured,” Gage said. “In rough condition. Will need medical on standby.”
“Copy. Chopper one and two, you’re up,” Edge said.
“We have two unknown, they’re insisting are friendlies,” Gage said.
“Understood. Facial rec is running. Assume they are and extract,” Vi ordered. “We’ll get intel to you once identities are confirmed.”
“Team two, they have indicated four more friendlies in lower area,” Gage said.
“Fuck,” Knight spat. “I expected bad, but not this.”
No shit. “Understood.”
“Incoming. Don’t shoot me,” Grim said.
Doug chuckled. “Where’s the fun in that?”
“Grenade!” Knight shouted as he shoved Ram against the wall. The explosion thundered through the area. Debris fell from the ceiling as dust and cement crumbled along the floor.