29. Chapter 28
Bradford was in the back seat next to Tiago, trying to ignore Skye and Axel, who had just arrived at a small airport about an hour from the safe house.
He didn’t like being separated from Hope, but tonight it was necessary. Hell, tonight hinged on a lot of moving parts and they hadn’t done nearly enough recon. Normally that wouldn’t have worried him—they were more than trained.
Skye was a former spook who’d done more things than any of them would ever know about. She was an explosives expert and could be a ghost when she wanted to. She’d even infiltrated a cartel to rescue someone solo.
Axel, a Marine turned Fed turned hitman… The guy had similar training. But right now the two of them sounded like children.
“…I forget how moonfaced you get over Hadley when you’re separated from her.” Skye was in the driver’s seat as they idled outside a storage center, waiting on Rowan to grab a couple duffel bags of explosives from one of their units.
“Who the hell uses the word moonfaced?”
“It’s a solid word.”
“Maybe if you’re using word of the day toilet paper,” Axel grumbled. “ And considering I had to listen to you and Colt talk dirty to each other on the flight here, I’m allowed to miss my wife.”
“Oh sweet baby pandas, we were talking about Semtex. Nothing dirty about that.” She sniffed indignantly.
“Please. Everything about that conversation had sexual undertones and now I need brain bleach.” Axel shuddered, and turned around as if to look for support from the two of them.
But Bradford and Tiago both shook their heads in unison.
“No way, man,” Bradford said. “We’re not part of this very weird conversation. In fact, we don’t even exist until the op starts.”
Skye turned back to face them now, a feral grin on her face. “You guys good to go?” she asked, though her attention was on Bradford as she spoke.
And he knew that the question was for him.
“I’m focused. Yes, I’m worried about Hope, but this is a job and one I’m good at.
I won’t forget why we’re doing this.” To destroy Edward Killeen’s life.
Hell yeah, he was focused. Some days he hated aspects of his job, but today, getting to go after the livelihood of the monster who’d targeted Hope?
Of a man who made his money off the pain of others?
It was a good day.
Or night, as it was.
“I figured, just wanted to check.” She turned back around as she switched on her ear comm.
Normally Adalyn or Rowan was team lead for their New Orleans branch, but with Skye in town, one of the original founders of Redemption Harbor Security (and one of the scariest people he knew), she was taking point.
“Everyone check in,” she said as Rowan popped the back of the SUV and tossed the bags inside.
“Check,” everyone murmured at intervals until they were all accounted for.
“Rolling out now, everyone stay on comms. When I give the signal, we move.”
There were murmurs of affirmation, but no chatter after that, not even from Skye and Axel.
It was op time and every one of them took that seriously. Especially on a night like tonight when they were making decisions based on satellite feeds and research. They didn’t have any on-the-ground intel, which was usually the best recon.
But there was no time, not with Hope’s life in danger.
“Dropping T off now,” Skye said as she pulled off the side of the road and let Tiago out.
He pulled out two drone cases, both of which he could leave behind if necessary to self-destruct, but of all of them, Bradford figured his strike was going to be the easiest tonight.
It was on the perimeter of Killeen’s land and looked like a small territory.
Though he’d never say that out loud and jinx them all.
Everyone was quiet until he heard Adalyn come over the line.
“E and I are at the drop point, about to head in.” Meaning that Ezra and Adalyn were at the perimeter of their target area and would be moving in on foot—via boat.
They would be using a drone as well, but had also brought in a backpack of explosives designed to impart maximum damage before they made their escape.
Twenty minutes later, Skye pulled off the side of the road where they’d left a four-door sedan an hour ago, and she and Axel got out. Once they’d grabbed one of the duffel bags, they got into the other car and drove off.
Bradford slid into the driver’s seat, and it was just Rowan and him now.
Rowan tapped mute on his earpiece as Bradford drove, so he did the same to his. “What’s up? ”
“Just checking in with you. I know you’re solid. But I also know a lot is riding on tonight.”
“We’ve got this.” He made a turn at the next four-way stop, adrenaline already starting to ride him hard. It was always like this during an op.
And they’d been going over their plans all day.
Over and over, until everyone was on the same page.
He and Rowan would be parking in the woods, then going in on foot to what was a barnlike structure and a lot of camo netting covering what they were guessing was a farm.
Killeen was growing something, given all the aerial camouflage and security.
“We’re at the perimeter,” he said quietly once they’d trekked in about a hundred yards from the road.
“Bravo and Romeo, get on channel two,” Berlin said through the comms to him and Rowan. Then once they did, she continued. “I’ve got eyes in the sky. You’re good to approach.”
They were too deep in the woods for Berlin to see either him or Rowan, but everyone had on multiple trackers. While they were two little dots on a map to her, she’d also hacked into an old satellite and was guiding them from above.
Tiago was doing his own thing with his drone, Hailey was the aerial guide for Skye and Axel, and Adalyn and Ezra were using a drone as well.
He was glad Berlin was guiding them, had been working with her for a while and trusted her implicitly. Though he trusted everyone he worked with, he and Berlin had a tight bond.
It took roughly forty minutes for them to make it on foot to their destination, mostly because they were looking for any traps—and setting explosives as they moved inland.
Once the trees started thinning and they could see lights in the distance, Berlin said, “You’re close and my window is closing.
Right now I’ve got a visual on at least six tangos.
Four are outside sitting around a table, playing cards.
Two others are rotating around the barn and perimeter as active security checks.
Security itself is relatively light, but there could be more that I’m not seeing.
They’ll have cameras, but the Wi-Fi jammer should take care of that, at least temporarily. ”
“Copy,” Rowan murmured as Bradford pulled up his NVGs.
Crouched by an old oak tree, he slowly scanned the faded red and white barn they’d captured from satellite images. All the doors were closed up, but there was light coming from inside.
Sure enough, an armed man—carrying his semiautomatic far too casually at his side—strolled around the side of the barn about five minutes later.
Bradford couldn’t hear him, but could see him on his cell phone laughing at something as he talked to someone. The screen was lighting up his face in the darkness as he walked, making him a perfect target. What a dumbass.
“Cocky,” Rowan said quietly, his voice pitched low.
Bradford simply nodded. It was obvious that these guys were secure that there was no threat out here. Which would make this part a lot easier. While they waited for the go-ahead, they simply watched and made notes.
It was a quiet night, with a hazy blanket of stars mostly covered by clouds.
As he watched, he thought about Hope, wished he was with her.
Or could at least check in with her. But that was impossible.
They’d all gone dark and were only communicating with anyone directly involved in tonight—there was no room for any outside distractions.
“Skye just checked in, everyone is moving in now. It’s go time.” Berlin’s voice cut through the comm line. “And my satellite is shifting. You guys are on your own. Watch your six.”
“We’ve got this,” he said quietly.
Rowan nodded, and almost as if karma or whoever smiled down on them, a dark cluster of clouds moved over the rest of the stars, plunging the night into darkness.
They slid on their NVGs and moved like ghosts across the grassy field toward the back of the barn. If their timing was right, they would have two minutes before the next guard (and he was using that term loosely) made his rounds.
Rowan motioned for Bradford to get low so he ducked into the overgrown weeds as Rowan moved up to the barn, plastering himself against the wall.
Bradford was immobile in the way he’d been trained, remaining still as the guy rounded the corner. They’d heard the guy coming since he was still on his phone.
“Yeah, they moved up the delivery time. No idea why…” He turned slightly, maybe sensing Rowan’s movement toward him, and went to shout even as he dropped his phone in an effort to pull up his weapon.
But it was too late—had been too late even before he stepped around the side of the barn.
As Rowan overpowered him, slit his throat in a couple short moves, Bradford was already in motion. He grabbed the guy’s cell phone before it had a chance to go dark.
“Yo, White, did I lose you?”
Bradford ended the call, then removed the code to open it and turned down the volume as Rowan dragged the body into the brush. He tucked the cell away for later. Hopefully Berlin would be able to dump the contents and find something useful.
He held up a hand for Rowan—they had roughly five minutes to get this shit done and then get out. With their Wi-Fi jammers active, these guys would start getting restless soon.
Sliding his NVGs off his face, he pulled out a long, thin wire-camera and slid it between two cracks in the closed barn door while Rowan remained alert.
They should have time before the next guy rounded the corner, but they weren’t taking chances.
When he saw what was in the barn, he showed the small screen to Rowan, whose eyes widened only slightly.
They hadn’t been expecting this at all, but from what he could see the place was stocked with not only packaged heroin, but a stockpile of weapons.
He recognized the weapons’ crates, quickly counted twenty. And that was only what he could see. They should have brought in a bigger team for this, but he removed the wire-camera, then pressed one of the explosives against the door, held it for a moment until the adhesive stuck tight.
As they moved along the exterior, they set more explosives. It was a risk that they might be seen, but it was dark and if you weren’t looking for them, they didn’t stand out.
Once they were finished and had reached the front of the barn, he spotted the second armed guy who did the active rounds heading from the small house where the other guys were playing cards.
Both he and Rowan pressed themselves up against the side of the barn. This was where things were going to get tricky.
“White? What the hell are you doing back there? Better not be jerking off again,” the man called out as he approached. “Disgusting asshole,” he muttered as he rounded the corner.
His eyes widened as he spotted the two of them, even in the darkness.
Bradford moved first and faster, shoving his KA-BAR straight through the guy’s skull. The tango dropped with a soft thud as Bradford wiped off his blade.
No time to hide this guy. Not with the chaos they were about to create .
He turned down the volume on his comm when he heard shouts in the background from one of the other target areas. Sounded like one of the other teams had been faster than them and shit was already explosive.
Rowan held up his hand, then counted down from three.
Bradford pressed the first button from their pack and the forest lit up in a fireball of explosions. It was just a rumble at first, but orange illuminated the sky in a fiery ball of chaos.
The men shouted in the distance, then began running for the tree line, weapons in hand.
“We need backup,” one shouted into his phone as he jumped onto a four-wheeler and raced for the trees.
He’d been hoping all four would take off, but one of them sprinted for the barn, his weapon in one hand, his cell up to his ear—likely calling one of the dead men. As he neared them, he cursed, then headed into the barn as he made another call.
“Someone’s breached the property,” the tango snapped into the phone.
Instead of waiting, Rowan and Bradford took off, sprinting into the darkness toward where the men had come from.
According to the satellite images there were multiple fields on the other side of the small house, and that was their real target. Or main one. He wished they’d had time to inspect the barn, to see about those weapons and maybe get some serial numbers, but there wasn’t time.
Adrenaline surging through him, he tensed up when he heard, “Hey, stop!”
In front of him, Rowan palmed one of the triggers, set off the other explosives without a backward glance.
The pulse of the explosion ripped through the night, heat punching through the air even though they were at least a hundred yards away now. He glanced over his shoulder, briefly taking in the destruction and debris falling from the sky before he and Rowan rounded the other building.
There!
They split up in two directions, Rowan moving to the west, Bradford racing along the east end. As they ran through the crops, they sprayed accelerant—the fastest and dirtiest way to kill everything was through fire.
By the time they reached the end of the field, they’d both tossed lighters behind them.
A whoosh went up immediately, an orange ball engulfing the red and white poppies with a savage hunger, destroying everything in its wake.
He didn’t have time to appreciate the destruction as the sound of multiple engines filled the air. The backup had arrived, and he and Rowan needed to get the hell out of here before they were found.