Finding it, too, unlocked, I frowned at my brother-in-arms. This was almost too easy, and it was making me suspicious. Even so, I pressed on. There was no time to fall back and reevaluate the plan.
As the door swung open, an armed gunman came racing from the direction of the stairs. Uh oh. He must have found his fallen comrade.
The man’s eyes were black as night, wide and wild as he let out a feral scream. And there goes the element of surprise.
In a matter of minutes, all the guards would be on us. Since it no longer mattered if they heard gunfire, I raised my arm and popped off a shot. It hit its mark, and the threat was eliminated. There was no time to waste, though. The others would be here any second.
“Let’s go,” I barked to Eden, gripping my gun as I ran into the room. Thick rope bound the hostages around their ankles and wrists. Their heads, however, snapped to face us as one when we barreled into the room. “My name is Lincoln Dobbs. Ensign Eden Phillips and I are with the SEALs. We’re here to bring you home. Anybody got any objections to that?”
Various emotions ranging from shock, to fear, to elation crossed their expressions as we jumped into action. I crouched beside the man farthest from the door and unsheathed the knife strapped to my calf.
“What’s your name?” I asked as I sliced through the bonds on his ankles. He looked to be around my age. If memory from our briefing served, he was called Dan or Dave or something like that. An engineer with the Defense Department, if I wasn’t mistaken.
“Dirk,” he said, his voice was rough from disuse.
I nodded, snapping the fingers of my hand not sawing through the ropes on his wrists. “Right. Dirk. You any good with a weapon?”
“I’ve done the training,” he rasped out, rolling his freed hands out for only a second before reaching out to me. “I can handle myself. What have you got? How can I help?”
I slapped a spare pistol into his waiting palm, smirking even though I knew I was digging my hole deeper and deeper. “Cover the door while we free the others. Stay on the side when we’re moving out. Phillips will bring up the rear.”
Dirk gave me a firm nod and stumbled to the door once I’d helped him to his feet. He moved like a geriatric alcoholic who’d been out on the town all night, but at least he made it to the door.
Lord only knew when last these people had moved around. It made sense that his limbs would be a little stiff.
Eden and I cut people free, working our way from the ends of the line to the middle. When my knife slid through the last thread of the last hostage’s ties, I jumped to my feet.
“Get ready to move, people,” I called as I heard footsteps thundering up the stairs. It had taken them longer than I’d thought to react, but we’d officially run out of time. “Is anyone too injured to walk by themselves?”
I asked as a formality, but no one answered in the affirmative. My boots clicked together as I rushed to Dirk at the door, then raised my arm and circled a hand above my head.
Our group burst out of the room and was met by five guards armed to the teeth, as well as the Terrorist in Charge. He stood at the center of the corridor and opened his arms like he was about to kick off an orchestra.
His men surged out from behind him, and the next few minutes were absolute bedlam.
“Get down,” I bellowed as the first shots rang out. The hostages hit the floor immediately.
Eden and I took out a few of the attackers, though I nearly took a bullet in my shoulder. Thankfully, Dirk proved to be pretty damn useful. While we were covering the group, he managed to usher them out of harm’s way.
Debris from the firefight rained down on us. Walls and trinkets exploded as bullets mowed into them. It was total chaos, but eventually, we made it out.
“Is everyone okay?” I asked as soon as we were clear of the house. I turned to face them, breathing hard as excess adrenaline burned through me.
Other than a few scrapes, bumps, and bruises, no one had been injured. Dust and bits of rubble covered our clothes. Eyes were shiny and too wide, but I knew the hostages’ shock would wear off.
“Okay.” I nodded, shooting a thumbs-up at Eden who was keeping watch on the house. “Let’s move out. The rally point isn’t far from here.”
Only once the hostages were safe and loaded into a van to get them back to the base did Eden sidle up to me. His gaze was firmly fixed on our lieutenant. The man might as well have had a thundercloud on a leash for the storm that brewed in his eyes when he glanced over at me.
“Shit,” Eden muttered. “This isn’t going to be good.”
“Relax. I’ll deal with him.” It wouldn’t be the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last. “Go. Check on the hostages or something. Just get away from me.”
He tried to protest but did what I asked a minute later. The lieutenant marched up to me with a hard, glacial expression that never slipped. “You didn’t wait for my order.”
“We saw a window of opportunity, sir. The radio went silent, so we took it.” I held his gaze. “Which led to the safe recovery of all the hostages. The mission was a success.”
He harrumphed but kept his calm. “You and I are going to have a talk about this little stunt once we get back to the base.”
After staring me down for another minute, he shook his head and walked away when someone called out his
