Chapter 4
“Okay, give it your best shot,”Blaze said. “Come at me.”
The man facing him squared his shoulders. He was as big as a tank, impressively muscled like he spent a lot of time at the gym. Confident. Too confident if the way his buddies all smirked at Blaze was any indication. They thought he was going down in the next three seconds.
Amateurs.
The man shifted the baseball bat from one hand to the other. He glanced at his friends and grinned.
“Today,” Blaze said. “I’ve got things to do.”
Dudes like him had too much confidence in their ability. Just because the guy lifted didn’t mean he knew how to block a punch or deflect an attack. But since he was the biggest man in their office, they’d chosen him to go first. His workmates stood to the side of the mats, waiting for the show, egging Big Guy on.
Blaze could have taken him out already, like when the guy took his eyes off Blaze to smirk with his buddies, but he hadn’t. He’d wanted to give the guy false confidence.
This session was part of One Shot Tactical’s corporate training program. It was not only a team bonding exercise, but also had real world applications as they showed people how to disarm an attacker.
Finally, the dude swung the bat. Blaze stepped into the guy’s space, not out of it, and took the bat away before it connected. But Big Guy wasn’t done yet. He aimed a kick at Blaze’s knee.
“Aw, man, bad move,” Blaze said as he grabbed Big Guy’s heel and jerked him off his feet. Then he stepped into Big Guy’s space and wedged the bat beneath his chin.
“Holy shit,” someone murmured.
“Whoa.”
“That was cool, man!”
Blaze stepped back and offered Big Guy a hand. He took it, and Blaze helped him up.
“I didn’t see it coming.” He shook his head. “That was badass.”
“Thanks for being part of the demonstration,” Blaze said. “And for being cool about it.”
“Gotta admit, my pride is a bit dinged, but I’m not so stupid as to let that get in the way of learning how you did it.”
“Good man.” Blaze gave him a nod of respect. “That’s exactly the right attitude to have. You guys ready to start some training?”
There was a chorus of “Hell yeah! Let’s do this.”
After the group was gone, Blaze rolled his shoulders to loosen them and went to the office where Chance, Seth, Ethan, Kane, and Ghost—no matter how Blaze tried, he couldn’t think of the man as anything but Ghost—were gathered. Blaze grabbed a water and leaned against a table, crossing his feet at the ankles.
Chance grinned. “Man, saw you take down the big guy. His buddies were sure he was about to knock your head off.”
Blaze snorted. “In his dreams. How’d it go at the range?”
They had an indoor and outdoor range, but outdoor didn’t get much traffic yet. Too chilly for now.
“Guy trying to impress his girlfriend with a damned Desert Eagle,” Chance said. “He one-handed it and about knocked himself unconscious. Before y’all say anything, I told him not to. He did it when I went to help Mrs. Snead clear a jam in her Walther.”
“That must have been the guy that peeled out of here,” Ghost murmured.
Chance nodded. “That’s the one. He was pissed when I kicked him out. The girl was apologetic.”
They discussed a bit more of what had happened at the facility that day and agreed on the need to hire a receptionist to staff the front desk and take care of booking classes. Right now, they took turns doing it. Not the best use of anyone’s time the busier they got.
“I’ll start looking,” Ghost said. He waited a beat before continuing. “Let’s adjourn to the SCIF. Need to talk.”
They had a state-of-the-art Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, built specifically for this mission, made out of a shipping container and brought to the site intact.
Nobody was allowed inside except the Ghost Ops team. They’d built walls and a roof around it, so it looked like part of the building. It was accessed through a door that led into a small hallway. At the end was the secure door for the SCIF.
Nobody would know it was there from the outside. Anyone who discovered it from the inside, like a receptionist, would think it was storage since they wouldn’t be able to get inside.
There were other containers on-site, not enclosed, where they stored ammunition and weapons as well as supplies for the range.
They followed Ghost into the SCIF and shut the door. Everyone took a seat at the conference table as Ghost fixed them with a look.
“Had a call from Washington today. We have orders.”
A thrill of hell yes went collectively through the group. It’d been a long month and a half while they’d gotten things set up and running. The mission timeline was months, and Blaze had felt that ticking clock in the back of his head.
He was itching for action. They all were.
They hadn’t been briefed on the scope of the top-secret project, but there was nothing unusual in that. They’d gone on plenty of missions during their careers, to protect or capture objectives, without knowing precisely what it was for.
“What’s the target, boss?” Ethan asked.
“Royal Shipping. They have a warehouse over near the airport. They send and receive secure shipments for the government, among others. We need to go in and set up surveillance equipment. Watch the place, get a map of their movements and security. Watch what comes and goes, see if it processes through proper channels.”
“That’s it?” Blaze asked. Sending the six of them to set up surveillance was like using a cannon to go deer hunting. It was overkill.
Ghost took the toothpick he’d been chewing from his mouth and tossed it in the trash. “For now. Remember, this mission is months, boys. Not weeks.”
Nobody said anything for a long moment.
Blaze spoke first. “You’ve never steered us wrong. Best team leader I ever had. I trust your instincts. You agreed to this, and you handpicked the five of us to join you. That means something.”
“Damn straight,” Chance said.
Ghost nodded. “Appreciate it.”
“Teaching ladies how to shoot isn’t so bad,” Kane said. “I’m liking this civilian gig, ’specially when I already got a date out of it.”
“You sure that’s a good idea?” Blaze asked with a laugh.
Kane shot him a puzzled look. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Man, never date a woman you’re teaching to shoot,” Ethan said. “Rule number one of several.”
“I don’t see why not. Not all of us get to be Chuck Norris at the gas station like Shadow. Some of us gotta pick up chicks the normal way.”
“I didn’t pick up any chicks at the gas station. I tried, but she wasn’t impressed.”
Understatement. Emma Sutton had very clearly not enjoyed his company. She was polite, after being rude and apologizing, but that was the extent of it.
“I can’t believe I gotta say this,” Ethan said, “but the reason is that if you piss her off, she’s liable to shoot your ass.”
Everyone laughed. Kane did not.
“Ain’t no little mama shooting my ass. I make the ladies happy, not mad.”
“Until you give them the sorry this isn’t working, baby speech,” Ghost said. “Think Ethan’s got a point.”
It was almost comical to watch the way the truth of what they were saying sank in.
Kane looked like he’d swallowed a lemon. “Well, fuck. Didn’t think that far ahead. I’m not used to teaching civilians how to shoot. ’Specially hot ones.”
“Guess not.” Ghost leaned back in his chair and tossed the pen he’d been playing with on the table. “Need an action plan, fellas. Get to work studying the outfit, finding their weak points. I’m expecting a schematic of the building to arrive any minute from Washington. Need Kane and Chance to visit the place with the idea we might use them for shipping legal weapons to buyers in other states.”
“Copy that, boss,” Chance said. “I’ll set it up.”
Ghost nodded. “We’ve got seventy-two hours to get the surveillance in place.”
Ethan whistled. “That fast, huh? Okie-doke, we’ll make it happen.”
Blaze grinned. “There’s the challenge. I was wondering why we were being sent to do kindergarten stuff.”
Ghost laughed. “Nothing kindergarten about it, but I see your point.” He got to his feet. “Who wants to go pick up some barbecue from the gas station? I’m starved.”