Chapter 27
SAMAIRA
L ena, Sloane, Naomi, and I were en route to Tommy’s mansion.
Tara was at the safe house, serving as our lookout for the evening.
She loved to be in the field with us, but she was our best hacker.
Sloane usually could handle most of it, too, but Tara was the one who could multitask between being our eyes on top and keeping a watch on disabling cameras and traffic signal lights at the right time.
The four of us were decked out in our gear, our masks in place as we drove in our van.
Tommy lived in a large, beachfront mansion on Long Island.
Tara had hacked into every traffic signal on our way so as not to draw any attention from passersby or the cops on our way there.
Considering we left Thunder Claw at midnight, there wasn’t any traffic en route to his mansion.
It was a long two-hour drive, since the asshole lived all the way in Southampton.
“Ladies, you’ll be arriving at the house in five minutes. There’s a turn right around the corner with five large trees. You’ll need to park there. One of you can get the van closer to the mansion once you’ve dealt with the hired security team. ”
We all heard the instruction, and Sloane slowed down the van while Lena, on the passenger side, replied to her, “Copy, Shadow Panther.” Naomi and I were in the back seat with the rest of our weapons and equipment.
You never knew where people would place a recording device. Whether she was with us or not, we only used code names. Sloane saw the trees and slowly parked the van between the canopies, making it as inconspicuous as possible.
We grabbed our weapons and slowly exited the van. Thankfully, the streets were empty at this time of night. None of us made the slightest of sounds, knowing where we were supposed to go.
While Sloane and I took the ocean-facing backyard, Naomi and Lena would breach the property from the front. We parted ways in an alley, and Sloane and I made our way to our positions.
Tara’s voice chimed into my ear. “Crimson Tiger and Cherry Cheetah, you’ve got five people guarding the backyard. Cheetah, you jump down from the tree into the yard. Tiger, you jump onto the balcony that directly opens into Tommy’s bedroom.”
“Copy,” we both mumbled as we climbed into the trees twenty feet apart.
“Tiger, while you incapacitate the targets, Golden Lioness and Silver Jaguar will take care of the four men at the entrance.”
“That’s a lot of security for the son of a state attorney. They’re clearly spooked about something,” Naomi mumbled low in my ear. I didn’t respond, considering I was on a tree and looking down at two men in black suits with guns.
Adrenaline ran high in my system, my heart pumping a mile a minute. No matter how many times I did this, there was always a risk of getting caught. It didn’t matter whether I succeeded a hundred times or a thousand times. It only took one failure to ruin it all. But today wasn’t that day .
I looked to my side to find Sloane sitting in another tree, tracking the men she was going to have to discreetly incapacitate.
“Cherry Cheetah, go.” Tara’s voice came over the headset.
Sloane silently dropped into the large backyard. It had ten lounge chairs around a large pool and five large statues of animals. She got one man down when Tara’s voice came in my ears. “Crimson Tiger, your turn.”
I jumped over the balcony railing about four feet from the tree and landed on my feet.
The night was still completely silent, not a hint of panic from the security detail.
Idiots . I crept to the door leading inside the house and silently turned the knob.
Lucky fucking me, the three idiots were deep asleep.
Wouldn’t want to disturb their beauty sleep. The last fucking time they got to sleep in a bed. Or fucking ever.
I got the chloroform and napkin from my pocket.
In the next five minutes, all three were unconscious while the entire security detail was none the wiser.
Quietly, I opened the bedroom door to inspect if we needed to take care of any personnel, only to find Naomi’s silver jaguar face right up against me.
I lightly punched her and whispered, “You almost got yourself killed.”
She scoffed. “As if.”
“All good downstairs and at the front?”
She walked to find three unconscious men and nodded. “Yep. The entire security detail is unconscious. Golden Lioness and Cherry Cheetah are checking through the house and the yard.”
“All clear,” Lena piped into the headset. “Cherry Cheetah is bringing the van to the front. Crimson Tiger, Silver Jaguar, grab the targets and meet us in the front.”
We nodded at each other, and I lifted one of Tommy’s friends and placed him on Naomi’s shoulder. A sharp exhale burst out of her. “Damn, he’s a pig.”
I scoffed as I placed the other two on each of my shoulders. “You’re just rusty. Need to get on the field more often.”
“I’d rather play doctor.”
Naomi was one of the least bloodthirsty among the five of us. She was a healer first and a fighter after. So I was grateful that she’d joined today. “Thanks for coming, Silver.”
“Don’t mention it, Tiger.”
Just as we reached the front door, Lena pulled it open as Sloane rolled down the van at the front gate.
Tara’s voice chimed in. “No vehicles within a half-mile radius. No lights or any movement in any neighboring house. Keep your head down and run, Wildcats.”
We rushed to the back of the van. Lena pulled open the door, and Naomi and I dropped the men on the floor of the van and dove inside. By the time we'd closed the door, Lena was already seated in the passenger seat.
None of us removed our masks as Sloane pulled out of the Southampton neighborhood. Tara kept clearing the street signals for us and leading us away from the streets that had cops patrolling.
I removed my mask as soon as we were out of the Southamptons and into our familiar area. My face was dotted with sweat as adrenaline slowly started to leave my system.
Naomi removed her mask from across me and met my eyes. Her lips curled in an exhilarating smile. “Did we just do it? Did we kidnap the son of the state attorney?”
“Shh,” Lena shushed her. “Don’t you jinx it. Let’s reach the safe house first.”
I gave Naomi a wink and an exaggerated nod, mouthing, “We totally did it.”
We burst into a giggle, and just to add to the fun, I chloroformed the three motherfuckers at my feet once again.
Once I knew they were completely unconscious, I inspected Tommy's two friends. We still needed to confirm if these were the two fuckers who raped Sophie, or if it was someone else.
Remembering what Sophie had told me about one of them being really hairy, I pulled up the shirts of the two, and lo and behold, one of them was wearing a sweater of hair.
The fucker didn’t need a shirt to cover his chest. Fucking disgusting.
I’d still need to pull out a confession from him, but he was a definite suspect.
I’d have to interrogate these two fuckers tomorrow morning. Hopefully, before I asked Dominic and Sophie to come to the safe house.
After driving for over an hour and a half, as instructed by Tara, we reached the safe house. The moment Sloane turned off the van, Lena looked behind us with a gleeful smile on her face. “We did it,” she shrieked. “Let’s get these bastards tied up in the basement and celebrate.”
After we did just that, the five of us congregated in the primary bedroom.
Tara got a tray of hot chocolates, cookies, and some chips.
We’d converted the primary bedroom of the safe house into a cozy hangout space with lush carpets so you could sleep and sit on the floor itself with about twenty thick, fluffy pillows.
We joined two California king-size beds along the wall to make a mother of all beds so we could all fit together and hung a giant TV screen across from it.
It wasn’t often that we all stayed over at the safe house at the same time. So when all five of us got to be here together, it almost felt like a vacation, except for the three men who were tied up in the basement.
I grabbed a hot chocolate and called Sophie’s office partner, Ashley. We’d decided not to have any calls from either Dominic or Sophie at least ten hours before and after the kidnapping time. The call rang twice before Sophie’s voice came over the call.
“Oh my god, Samaira, did you guys do it? ”
A smile came over my face at her nerves. “We did it, Sophie girl.”
Her voice broke on the other end as if she was choking on a sob. “I…I can’t believe it. Thank you.”
“Hey,” I cooed. “You’re good, Sophie. Everything’s going to be alright.”
She sniffled. “I believe you. Thanks, Samaira. Here, talk to Dominic. He’s been hovering over my head.”
A chuckle escaped my lips at the thought of Dominic glaring over Sophie’s head with impatience. A small shuffling sound came on, and Dominic’s voice filled my ears. “Maira, baby. You alright?”
The fact that that was his first question to me had my heart in a fucking puddle. To my unfortunate luck, every single girl around me saw my face the moment Dominic asked me the question.
Sloane was the first to hold both her cheeks in her hand. “Aww. Sami’s blushing.”
“What did he ask?” Naomi followed.
“Did he say something dirty?” Tara asked, a smile on her face sans her half mask.
Lena nudged her shoulder playfully. “I bet he said something sweet.”
The way they were all looking at me, I knew I wasn’t getting out of this one without sharing. I rolled my eyes and muttered, “He’s just asking if I’m alright.”
Four different variations of awws surrounded me, making me groan and hide under the comforter to talk to Dominic in peace. I could hear his chuckle on the other end. “I like your friends.”
“They’re all right.”