Blade smiled and took the gun.
Under the cover of darkness, Pia and Blade scaled the lookout tower while he and Isaac hid below.
Between he and Isaac, they held a net. It might not stop the guy from hitting the ground completely, but it would lessen the impact. The rest of the unit stayed out of sight waiting for their okay.
A grunt, gasp, and then the soft snick of the stun gun followed.
“Ready?” Pia asked, gazing over the side. She barely got the words out before Blade rolled the bad guy over the side of the structure and into the net below.
The perp landed and when the net bowed, he hit the ground, but he remained alive. They tied and gagged him before giving the all clear.
“Good job,” Maddox told them.
Holden, who was known in his previous work to be an excellent interrogator, took over getting the hostage to talk. Holden had taken the place of Wolf within the unit. Wolf had been an expert at getting a person to tell them things they swore they wouldn’t, and Holden lived up to his reputation when their suspect started babbling out facts.
Zane found a nice spot to lay hidden in the weeds and waited for Isaac to return from taking care of business.
“Hey,” Holden said, dropping down onto his stomach next to him.
“Nice job with the hostage,” he said.
“Thanks. Are you and Isaac a couple?”
He turned his head very slowly and gave Holden a dark look. “We’re partners.”
“But not outside of work, yeah? You’re just friends, right?”
“I thought you were seeing someone. Dillon’s friend Beckett,” he said between his teeth.
“Nah. He doesn’t want anything to do with me.” Holden sighed and Zane almost felt for the guy, but Holden’s next words ended that feeling quickly.
“I thought Isaac might understand that.”
“Understand what?” he squinted.
“Unrequited love.” A smirk tipped the side of Holden’s mouth.
He glared at Holden, wanting to wring the man’s neck.
“Isaac has a boyfriend.” It took everything inside him not to pound his chest and tell him to back the fuck off.
“Ah, okay,” Holden snickered and wiggled backward before crawling over to his post next to Oliver.
Zane felt Isaac settle at his side.
“What did Holden want?”
“Who the fuck knows,” he rasped under his breath. He suddenly felt like he was hyperventilating and rolled to his back, rifle clutched to his chest, as he drew in slow, deep breaths.
“I broke up with Royce,” Isaac whispered and he glanced quickly over. Apparently, Isaac had heard the whole conversation.
Moonlight cut a swath through the trees and in the faint light, he held Isaac’s gaze. Just having Isaac next to him filled him with a familiar calm, but beneath the surface, a fierce ache raged.
He wanted to yank Isaac into his arms and protect him with his life. He wanted so many fucking things, he couldn’t process them all. Sucking in a deep breath, he rolled back over to line the sight of his scope at the compound.
“Good.”
Isaac snorted, got comfortable, and lifted his rifle to scope out the distance.
About ten yards from them lay Oliver and Holden. The pair along with him and Isaac were tasked with holding the line waiting for the order from Maddox. The captain and the rest of Infinity were several yards ahead.
The plan was set. Just before dawn, they’d breach the building in pairs, coming in from each side. Zane could see the sense in the directive. Converging in on all sides with a show of force would intimidate the enemy. The only thing they waited on was for Colin to launch the drone.
“How’s that coming, Colin?” River was crouched next to the weapons expert. Not only was Colin an expert in weaponry, he was some kind of drone technical expert. Colin launched the drone and sent the signal back to base. The drone overhead would identify the compound’s occupancy via the latest infrared technology.
“Base, you got eyes?” Colin asked, and they waited a few moments before a reply came through.
“Roger, Infinity, entry is a go,” Sam replied, she was not only Infinity’s dispatch, she was their eyes in the sky tonight.
“Let’s move,” Maddox growled.
Zane lunged up after Isaac and stayed on his ass. They streaked through the darkness, converging on the compound. The guard at the door didn’t stand a chance and Zane took him out with one blow. The man toppled and Isaac picked up the guy’s radio after zip-tying and gagging the perp.
Zane used the key hanging from the guard’s belt on the side door and went in low.
“Bravo team is inside,” he said as he touched the mic in his ear and moved into a lowly lit hallway several feet and then stopped when he came to two doorways.
“Copy that, Bravo team,” Sam responded.
Zane touched a hand to Isaac’s shoulder and took the left room. Isaac went right. The room had two beds, one empty and one occupied. A soft snick followed by a grunt came from the room across the hall, but he didn’t have time to worry about it when the sleeping figure on the bed lunged up.
The butt of his weapon knocked the guy out cold, and he gagged and zip-tied the suspect. Stalking back out the doorway, he met Isaac in the hall.
“Teams, confirm your positions,” Sam said.
“Bravo clear,” Isaac whispered.
“Charlie team clear, we’re coming down through the skylight in the kitchen,” Pia responded.
There were a few tense moments without any response from their captain. It went on too long for dispatch.
“Alpha team?” Sam called.
“Alpha’s breached the front entrance,” Maddox grunted a moment later.
“Roger that,” Sam answered with a rushing sigh.
“Three heat signatures in the room to your left, Captain,” Sam advised.
“There’s no door,” River growled.
“There are bodies in there. One of them is armed,” came Sam’s calm reply.
Isaac kept moving down the hallway until he reached a set of stairs that went downward. Zane stayed close and when Isaac stopped, he touched the man’s shoulder, letting him know he was ready. Goggles in place, the green gave off an eerie
