31. Azrael
THIRTY-ONE
AZRAEL
M y heart beat faster and faster with every second, every minute, and every mile we cut through. It was a relief that my family was safe and sound under Donovan’s care, but Duke and Penny were still in danger, and there was still a chance this could all go pear-shaped.
“I managed to get a ping from Bone Island. Wyatt and Joey are already there scoping out the area.” Slade pointed to a key in Mayberry Cove, a few miles from Cotton Beach.
Duke had been there all this time, so close to home, yet so far away.
“What I want to know is how the hell this happened? How did they find out we work together?”
Slade and Parker looked at me with pursed lips.
“Let’s be honest. We didn’t do a great job of staying on the DL, did we?” Slade asked.
“I mean, you practically live at Bubble Bubble,” Parker added.
I rolled my eyes.
“Come on. I’ve been there like, three times or something. It’s natural for an Asian person to visit another Asian establishment.”
“Maybe we were spotted when we staked out that stash house,” Slade suggested. “Or maybe they found one of the trackers. We may never know what we did or how they found out, but I can promise this. We’ll get Duke and Penny out safe and sound no matter what, okay?”
I nodded and tried to swallow past the knot in my throat, but it was nearly impossible.
As great as promises were, they couldn’t alleviate the tension in my body, the intrusive thoughts of what might happen if we failed because until we got them out, we didn’t know what could go wrong.
“We’re almost there,” Parker said.
“Do we know what we’re dealing with yet?” I asked Slade.
“I tried to run checks on the caller, but I couldn’t get much. He’s using a burner phone, that’s for sure. As for what’s waiting for us on the island…we don’t know yet.”
I huffed and balled my hands into fists.
Not knowing how many people we were dealing with wasn’t great. It was dangerous. It was risky. That was another reason why real life was so different from my job as a SEAL. Whatever operation we were thrown into, we knew exactly what we were walking into, and even when we didn’t, we had plans B through F to ensure a successful mission.
Out here, in the wild, wild world, with barely half the resources of the Navy, we could only prepare so much, especially when loved ones were in imminent danger.
For what felt like the hundredth time, I sat down, closed my eyes, and prayed to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to everything sacred and divine, to keep them safe. To bless us and our mission. To forgive the sins we were about to commit and guide us through the path of the least pain possible.
By the time I was done repeating my prayer like a mantra, we reached the island and got out of the speed boat just as another docked right next to us. Wyatt, Joey, and Maddox were inside. Maddox was yet another ex-teammate who’d found love and a home on this island with Asher, his best friend and another of my teammates. In a way, knowing so many of my friends had found love and rescued their loved ones from certain disasters made me feel a little sliver of hope that we could do this. That we could rescue the love of my life.
Wyatt jumped out, and Joey and Maddox handed us hard cases and drag bags full of the weapons Wyatt had managed to obtain by whatever means to help in his undertaking to clean up Mayberry Holm and reclaim the island from Salieri’s influence.
When everything was unloaded and fully assembled, we huddled around a map so Wyatt could point out the target and assign our jobs.
Parker and Maddox were tasked with sniper support while Joey took charge of demolitions. Wyatt, Slade, and I were on the assault team. With that done, we put on our bulletproof vests, tactical earpieces, and the close-range guns, knives, and assault rifles best for the job.
Then, we fanned out. We took cover in the high grass that covered most of the deserted island and approached the Northernmost point where an abandoned, inconspicuous beach house was situated.
It looked almost serene standing between land and sea, its flaky painted wooden exterior blending with the sky in stripes. It would be serene, if it weren’t for the two SUVs parked outside. Or men dressed in black with rifles planted on every corner, surrounding the place.
“Alpha One is in position,” Wyatt said, and I heard his voice echo in my ear, in my head, taking me back to the Middle East, back to endless missions in foreign territory. Yet none were as scary as this one.
“Copy that, Alpha One. Delta One in position,” Joey answered after a few seconds.
I raised the binoculars and looked at the house, at the men, hoping to recognize any of them, but none of them looked familiar. None of them looked like any of the men I’d encountered on my walks out on the island or the clients we’d had at the sanctuary.
But surely there must be someone that had been close to us, that would have kept an eye on the drugs. On the whole operation. On Duke and me. They couldn’t have found out so much about us otherwise. About how much we meant to each other.
“Charlie One in position.” Parker’s voice jolted me back to the present, and I bit my lip.
It was almost go-time, and I needed to focus. I needed to get my head in the game to ensure Duke’s and Penny’s safety. I couldn’t lose sight of who I was. Who I’d trained to be. Not now. This was the most important moment of my life. I couldn’t fail now.
“Charlie Two in position,” Maddox called out after another nail-biting minute, and Wyatt looked at Slade and me before he spoke.
“Delta One, it’s a go!”
“Copy that, Alpha One. Delta One is a go!” Joey responded, and a blast was heard from both earpiece and nearby. Dust, grass, and smoke exploded in the distance, close enough to the house but far enough to warrant a frantic response.
And frantic it was as the armed men turned toward the source of the explosion and started running toward it. I counted about a half-dozen while a few stayed behind and gathered around the side of the house.
“Why aren’t they guarding the doors?” Slade asked before all of us almost immediately said, “They’re in the basement.”
“Charlie Team, how many do you count?” Wyatt asked.
“Seven hostiles on the bait,” Parker said.
“Five on the perimeter,” Maddox added.
“Right,” Slade said. “Let’s do this.”
I wanted to stop him. To tell him to wait. To do anything to ensure we weren’t going in unprepared, but there were no guarantees right now. Nothing we did was certain. And we had to act before reinforcements arrived, if they weren’t already here.
“Delta One, what’s your position?” Wyatt asked.
“Diversion two is in place, and I’m making my way to the target.”
“Copy that, Delta One. Engage diversion two.”
Joey confirmed the command and another explosion erupted.
We all watched the house, waiting for any more hostiles to appear, but when the seconds ticked by and only a couple of them moved toward the second distraction, Wyatt gave us the signal.
I put my goggles on and removed a smoke grenade from my utility belt. We crawled forward, and when Wyatt gave us the go-ahead, I threw the grenade toward the house. Shooting erupted in the distance, and the armed men in front of the house started shooting in the blind.
We ran forward. I took aim at the first hostile and fired. He ducked out of the way.
“Motherfucker!” I spat.
Wyatt threw another smoke grenade. Slade did too, but in a different direction, expanding our cover.
I stopped long enough to take aim again, this time at another hostile, and when I fired, he jerked several times before falling to the ground in a pool of his own blood.
We were just meters away from the basement now and hostiles dropped one after another. But just as we cleared the way and the smoke dissipated, snipers appeared from the windows on the second floor and fired at us.
“Shit,” I cried and dropped to the ground, trying to find cover in the tall grass while at the same time trying not to move it and give away my position.
“Snipers at eleven, twelve, and one o’clock,” I heard Slade in my ear, and I held my breath as dirt exploded all around me from the stray bullets trying their luck.
“Copy that,” Joey responded.
This was a disaster. This was a disaster and Duke and Penny were caught in the middle. What if it was too late already? What if they were dead? What if all this was for nothing? Or what if our presence here, the hell we were raising, had signed their demise?
Focus, Azrael .
Now wasn’t the time to spiral. Not in the middle of all this. Game head on. Game head on. Come on. You’ve been doing this for years .
I breathed in and out and kept crawling in zigzags, trying not to lose it again when Joey spoke.
“Hostile at eleven o’clock neutralized.”
The explosion of dirt around me ceased, and I took another deep breath before I jumped up and fired at the hostile at twelve o’clock while he was distracted firing at someone else, probably Joey.
“Hostile at twelve, neutralized,” I said and ducked for cover as the last sniper took aim at me.
I held my position until Slade neutralized him too and the coast was clear.
“Move in,” Wyatt ordered, and I got to my feet.
I ran toward the basement and reached it just as Joey did. Slade and Wyatt reached us seconds later, all three men creating a protective circle around me and ready to take down any more targets that appeared.
I looked at the cellar door and caught my breath.
“Now what?” I said.
We could storm in and raise hell, but what guarantees did we have that they wouldn’t take down Duke and Penny as soon as we did? Maybe they already had. Maybe we were too?—
No. I’m not going to give up now. Not now. Not yet. Not ever, if I don’t have to .
Slade raised an eyebrow and chewed his lip before he put his finger to his lips and shushed all of us. He walked away from us, and when he was far enough, he turned away and spoke to us through the comms.
“Chances are they don’t know who’s down and who’s not. If we cease fire and wait, we can play them,” he said.
It was a risky move, but then again, what part of this situation wasn’t risky.
Parker and Maddox came through, reporting their targets were all down and told us they were on their way to meet us.
From chaos to peace, the sudden quiet around us was eerie. Palpable.
Minutes passed like centuries, giving my body a chance to catch up with itself despite still being in the midst of everything, and my legs started to feel like jelly.
My mind was fuzzy from the sheer force it took to keep the intrusive thoughts from overtaking me again. I stayed still. So still it was almost painful, but it was the only way to not break down right now.
Wyatt raised his handgun in the air and fired a single shot before shouting all clear in a deeper voice and crouched to bang on the cellar door.
“Coast is clear,” he said in the same voice and stood back up.
There was nothing else we could do now but wait.
It didn’t take long. The sound of a sliding bolt shattered the silence, and Slade opened the door.
The man behind it opened his eyes wide and fell backward, scrambling for his weapon.
I took a step forward, raised the rifle, and put him out of his misery.
But it wasn’t time for celebration yet.
I ran down the steps and looked for him. Looked for my Duke. My one true love. And I found him.
With a gun to his head.
“Take one more step, and your boyfriend is toast,” said the man I knew as Derek. The man who delivered medicine to the sanctuary regularly with a pleasant smile.
Well, that smile was no longer pleasant.