Before They Were Lovers (Nothing Special Valentine’s Origin Story)

Chapter Fifteen

God

God sat in the passenger seat of the unmarked SUV, waiting on the darkening sky to provide them with the cover they needed to breach the dilapidated warehouse.

Any moment, the radio would crackle with the green light for them to go.

He tightened his grip on his M4 Carbine. This was his favorite time, the calm before the tornado dropped.

He could sense Day’s focus sharpening with each second. The slight shift of his body and the twitching of his jaw were enough for him to know his partner was locked and ready.

He was sure they could do this because they’d been in worse battles over their three years. Fear no longer held him in its clutches when he was with Day. Their connection made him invincible. No situation was too dangerous, no mission impossible if his partner was at his six.

“You good?” Day murmured.

“Always,” God grunted.

Day’s lips curled upward, a grin that was a warning as much as a promise.

The scene commander alerted them that everyone was in position. The entry teams were going in with explosives and window breaches.

God and Day were going in the side behind Joker—as he’d requested.

“Go, go, go!” the lieutenant called out. “Alternative team, stand by.”

“Charge is off. Pull it, pull it!”

“We’re inside! APD, don’t move! Drop your weapons!”

The radio was ablaze with commands. Once the team was inside, the hail of gunfire and explosions were all they could hear as chaos erupted.

“Alt team, go, go, go!”

God and Day had their guns raised as they swiftly moved across the parking lot, their pace in perfect sync.

The battering ram was used to burst open the side doors, and it was as if every dealer inside had planned on using that door to escape because they got ambushed immediately after the breach.

The building was already saturated with flying dust and the acrid stench of gunpowder.

Gunshots rang out, flying at them as they moved side by side. He and Day dove behind a stack of crates and came out from behind as Day surprised a suspect with a swift punch, then a gut shot, before he took him down to the ground.

God locked onto the nearest threat—never moving more than a few feet from his partner—a thug wielding a semiautomatic rifle.

He stayed in motion, slamming into the guy’s right with a force that sent them both crashing to the ground.

He didn’t give his opponent a chance to recover before he knocked the semi out of reach and slammed the butt of his rifle into the man’s knee hard enough to shatter it and take him out of the fight. God moved on.

Day was right behind him.

A quick glance and he saw him in a fistfight with a third man, and Day was moving with precision and speed that would’ve made a lesser cop disoriented. Two more shots at the man’s temple, and he was down.

God slid behind the nearest pillar as another rain of gunfire came down around them.

Joker had a suspect on the ground—a big guy with a shit ton of fight in him—while two other officers tried to secure his hands behind his back.

They didn’t notice another suspect crouched behind a disabled forklift, taking aim at them. God surged forward, gun raised. He didn’t even have to take aim as he let off three shots that landed center mass.

Joker and his officers lurched at the man who fell only feet away from them, then glanced back at God.

He gave them a quick nod and went after his next target.

His jaw was clenched tight, and his muscles burned with energy, but his focus was absolute. This was the kind of environment he thrived in.

Unlike God’s beast mode, Day moved like a shadow, a whisper in the midst of madness.

God had only just registered a sneak attack coming from their right side when Day had already disarmed the thug with a quick strike to his wrist that sent the man’s gun flying into the air and landing a sharp elbow to his jaw before the weapon could hit the ground.

An officer about twenty feet ahead took a shotgun round to the chest that sent him flying backward. God flung his weapon behind his back while Day gave him cover and hauled the man out of sight. He quickly checked his vitals and called the code for an officer down.

“Go. I’m good,” the officer groaned.

God tapped him on his helmet and got right back into the fight.

Dealers were going down around them, and he and Day took out their fair share. They were cinching zip ties so fast—disabling and crippling them—that they’d soon left a trail of suspects in their wake for the other officers to clean up.

They had no mercy, no reluctance, and no fear.

A SWAT officer took a sniper’s shot to his vest, and another grazed the side of his helmet, taking him down.

He and Day leaped out of the line of fire—moving as one—as they slammed their backs against the wall.

There were at least four men on the second level, trying to shoot their way out.

Most of the officers ran and ducked for cover as God scanned the area. He nodded toward the stairs as Day gestured to the right. His partner’s grin was feral, knowing they were about to show everyone what they could really do.

God reached the top of the stairs and immediately dropped to his belly as shots flew over his head. He fired his Glock, hitting the first man in both thighs, which sent him tumbling over the banister.

The second took cover and fired back, but Day dropped from the rafters and plunged a blade into the side of the suspect’s neck, making blood spray Day’s vest before the suspect’s body dropped like a stone.

Day spun out of sight, and God pumped four rounds into the last man a second before he could spin and fire at his partner.

Soon after they eliminated the snipers, the mayhem in the large warehouse began to settle. The gunfire came to a halt, and the scene commander called for a ceasefire.

All was quiet except for the groans of fallen dealers and the heavy breaths of their team.

God realized in that moment that he had to accept the truth—together, he and Day were an unstoppable force of nature.