Blackout windows covered the building they suspected a local drug runner used for transporting contraband.
With a window breaker, he tapped out a piece of the glass for their entry. He pushed everything but the mission aside, going to the place where everything in his brain fired with a precision that had gotten him on one of the best Special Forces units in the world.
Reaching through, he unlocked the window and slid over the ledge without thinking. He stepped aside and waited for Pia. Once she was inside, she slipped in front of him and along the wall until she reached a darkened hallway.
Lifting his weapon, he moved after her. The infrared goggles gave the area an eerie green glow. A sliver of light shone beneath a door at the end of the hallway and he nudged Pia just in case she’d missed it.
“I see it,” she whispered and plastered her slim form along the wall on the other side of the hallway.
He studied the sliver and when a shadow moved past it, he murmur quietly into the mic, “Movement in the south side.”
“We’ve got movement on the north,” came Zane’s clipped reply.
“Anyone have eyes on suspects?” Maddox growled.
Nobody responded and after another moment, he slipped closer to the door. Pia stepped back and covered his flank. This he was trained for.
“Ready?”
“Flash grenade in two?” Pia quietly asked.
“Let’s go in first. We don’t know what’s in there.”
She gave him a grimace. “I’m not used to this.”
She was right, Pia and Blade were not first entry like him and Zane. The pair usually came in through the ceiling after the guys busted down the door. And it wasn’t because they were females, it was because they, along with Oliver and now Colin, were the lightest in the unit. They were more geared for getting into small spaces and were less likely to fall through an unsteady roof.
“I know. Just cover my flank. I’m going to drop and roll when I go in. I’ll take out the bad guys.”
She snorted, but stayed silent after that. He eased closer to the door.
On the internal count of three, he turned the knob, slammed open the door and entered with a forward roll into the hot, rancid room. A figure scrambled up, and the barrel of a gun flashed. Isaac popped the guy in the chest. The perp crumpled to the floor just as the other man rolled from the woman laying tied and gagged on the bed.
Pia was across the room, kicking away the weapon from the fallen perp.
The man from the bed lunged toward the door, but he didn’t get far because his pants were around his ankles.
The sobs of the woman filled the room and Isaac lifted his gun, aiming it at the guy’s head. After a second, he sighed and shot the fucker in the knee cap. The suspect screamed and fell in agony to the floor.
Approaching the bed, Isaac sliced the rope holding the woman and then lifted a blanket from the floor. She shrank back from him.
“Let me do it.” Pia shouldered him aside. “You call it in.”
“Captain, you copy?”
“Go ahead.”
“Two suspects down, a woman recovered. There may be more hostages.”
“Roger that,” Maddox growled.
Isaac tore off a long piece of the bedsheets and tied it around the man’s leg above the knee to prevent the fucker from bleeding to death. He wanted the guy to pay for his crimes, not take the easy way out.
“Let’s take her out,” Pia whispered, wrapping the blanket around the woman. After helping her stand, Pia guided her to the door.
Isaac turned and yanked the guy’s hands to the frame and zip-tied them to the railing of the bed. Yanking tape from his vest, he tore off a piece with his teeth and slapped it over the guy’s mouth.
Once done, he slipped past Pia and the hostage and back out into the damp, dark hallway. A few moments later, they made it back outside with the girl to safety.
They delivered the woman to waiting FBI agents who’d moved closer to the building for this purpose.
Gunfire broke out on the north side of the building.
“Isaac and Pia, come back in from the east,” Maddox ordered.
“Roger that,” he said.
Slapping a fresh clip into his weapon, he jogged through the night to the east side of the building. Approaching the small side door next to the large warehouse door, he spotted a familiar figure.
There was no mistaking that large build or the muscled arms crossed over a wide chest.
Beside Zane stood Blade, who pulled Pia aside when they approached.
“We’re switching,” Zane said.
“Fine!” he snapped. “Just make sure we don’t catch shit for this.”
“I’m Master Sergeant, I’m making the call,” Zane growled, getting right in his face.
“Stop it, you two,” Pia snarled. “Stop it right the fuck now.”
Zane leveled a dark look at him before stepping back. Like this was all his fault. Frankly, he was sick of it. He wasn’t the one sneaking a kiss in a dark fucking hallway. That had been all Zane’s doing. I didn’t resist. So the fuck what? I’m not the one claiming to be straight. What was he supposed to have done, shove the guy down the stairs?
“Look,” he stepped back closer to Zane, “are we good right now or not?”
Zane scowled and gave a quick nod. “For now.”
For now? He clenched his teeth so hard his jaw hurt. His fist curled and it was all he could do not to punch Zane in the chin, but Zane pulled up his night vision goggles and turned away to ease open the side door.
Isaac tossed a glance at Pia and Blade, but the pair were already attaching ropes to climb the side of the building. Drawing on his patience, he followed the familiar wide set of shoulders into the dark structure and pulled up his infrared goggles.
Zane obviously didn’t care about what happened between them.
So why should he?
