CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
LIAM
“We’re twenty minutes out. We’ll meet you at the given coordinates,” Ty informs before clicking off the call.
Ivy’s dot finally stopped, so we have a firm location. We always have go bags in the car, although Gage and Ty will bring a slew of other weaponry needed.
Wells and I arrived about ten minutes ago. We parked a mile away. And suited up in our gear and vests, we trekked through the surrounding woods to get eyes on the warehouse the girls are being held in.
We were pleased to have one of our thermal imaging cameras and monitors with us, so we could get an exact count of what we’re up against. Unfortunately, even the loading doors are too thick for infrared scanning. We’ll cut the electricity through the power company before we head in with our night-vision goggles, which will have to do. They likely aren’t expecting us. We’d prefer to enter with a firm twenty on the girls, but that’s not what we’re looking at.
Several minutes pass by as we watch from our perch, shrouded in the evergreen trees, when a loading-bay door opens, granting us a straight-through scope of the east side of the building. Sometimes, things go our way.
The Skulls are notorious arms dealers. And, right now, they’re loading a truck with crates that are most likely illegal weapons.
I aim the infrared scanner, noting the only bodies showing up are beyond the boxes. “This whole side is covered with crates. Looks like twenty-one—no, twenty-two men.”
“Confirmed,” Wells says, studying the monitor with me. “They’re all moving freely.”
That little detail is important because that free movement among their precious exports means we aren’t scanning Ivy or Celeste. We have easy shots on fifteen men, but patience is key here. Hasty action could mean we lose the girls, so we’ll wait until we have control of all possible variables.
I creep around him with the thermal imaging camera. “Let me get a better angle and see if I can read the interior while they’re loading,”
“Fine.” He glances at his watch. “Ty and Gage are less than five out. Hopefully, these motherfuckers will stop loading soon so we can get the hell in there.”
The lack of electricity won’t benefit us with the doors open and sunlight trickling in, so our whole plan is delayed until those doors shut, adding more agonizing time to the girls’ captivity. But I’m grateful for the extra peek inside.
Once I’m settled in a better position, I see a wall jutting out, indicating at least one interior room. I’d bet anything that’s where they’re being held. Looks like about fifty guys stand between us and them.
Four against fifty. No fucking problem.