Chapter Twenty-Eight
ANDRE FROZE. TRIPWIRES? As far as he knew, Riley wasn’t an expert in explosive devices. He wasn’t an expert either, but Grant had been training him during their free time. He tapped his earpiece. “Can you handle it?”
“Piece of cake. I’ll mark it and walk around the thing.”
He smiled and resumed his journey toward the compound with his teammates. Two hundred feet later, Andre saw the first tripwire. As he crouched to examine the tripwire more closely, M team reported a tripwire in their quadrant, too.
He tapped his earpiece again. “Want me to disarm it or leave it?”
“Adopt Riley’s method.”
“Copy that.” To keep one of their teams from running into it in the foggy night, Andre gently tied a strip of cloth to the wire. That would be enough to warn of the danger.
He gave the tripwire a wide berth while keeping watch for more nasty surprises. Ten minutes later, Andre and his teammates reached their designated entry point into Obsidian Storm’s compound.
Seth tapped his comm device. “Echo in position.”
The other team leaders acknowledged the news.
“Zane, any change?”
“Movement is picking up inside the compound, especially in the center building.”
Not what they wanted to hear. Andre glanced at his tactical watch. Still four hours until dawn. Everyone except the security team patrolling the compound should be sound asleep right now.
“Copy that.” Seth looked at Brent, his expression grim. “I don’t suppose a third team is here.”
Their boss grinned and sent a message with his phone. He received a reply seconds later. “Shadow unit is ten minutes out.”
Echo’s leader shook his head, a rueful expression on his face. “I should have known. You always think ten steps ahead. How did you know we’d need them?”
“Gut instinct. It’s obvious Garcia and Mendoza are gearing up for something big, and that means more recruits to protect the compound and whatever secret they’re guarding in that center building. Shadow was in the area. They detoured an hour out of their way to be on standby.”
“We’ll need them. Do they know the plans?”
A slight nod. “I called Nico and left my phone on while we hashed out the details of the latest plans. They’re ready when we are.”
“Suggestions on how to use their skills in the best way?”
“Either have them infiltrate the compound with the rest of us or have them monitor the compound at large. They’re all excellent shots.”
“But?”
“If I were you, I’d ask them to join the party inside the compound. The more boots on the ground and the more weapons in our hands, the better for our mission.”
“Copy that, sir. Zane?”
“What do you need?”
“Contact Nico and ask permission to link our loop to theirs and bring you in.”
“Hold.”
Less than a minute later, Nico’s voice came through their earpieces. “Nico in position on the north side of the compound. Orders, Seth?”
“Wait for my signal to infiltrate the compound. Our goal is to get into that lab and destroy any viruses we find. If we run across Garcia and Mendoza, that’s all the better.”
“Copy that. Waiting for your signal.”
While the discussion between Nico, Zane, and Seth took place, Andre scouted ahead, marking the sixth tripwire he’d found.
He was afraid for Riley and the other women of Artemis.
He shouldn’t be. Those women were more dangerous than any operative Echo had worked with.
They were amazing and a real asset in the field.
He walked closer and closer to the compound and stopped feet away from the treeline to avoid being seen by roaming guards. After memorizing the guard pattern, he returned to his teammates.
Seth turned toward him. “Sit rep.”
“I ran across two more tripwires.”
Grant grunted. “They need a new defense. The tripwires are effective if you’re a regular Joe. Otherwise, they’re simply a nuisance. We’ve evaded them for the past half mile.”
Noah frowned. “It’s a warning, one we should be mindful of. The closer we are to that compound, the less I like this mission.”
“We have to continue on.” Seth looked at Andre. “Any signs Obsidian Storm is aware of our approach?”
“No, sir.”
“Nico, is your team ready?”
“Affirmative.”
“All teams go in three, two, one. Execute.”
Andre, Noah, Grant, and Elias followed in Seth’s footsteps as he made his way through the woods and fog until they neared the treeline. Crouched behind cover, they studied the guards’ patterns.
Andre looked at his tactical watch. “Five-minute intervals. Tight timeline.”
“That’s what we have, so we deal with it.
” Seth watched the guards for a moment longer.
“The guard at the south corner is bored. He’s spending more time looking at his phone than watching for threats.
” He glanced at Andre. “You and Elias go first. Stick together like glue. Remember, Obsidian Storm’s aim is to cull you from the herd so a couple of their members can grab you. They’ll try to do the same to Riley.”
“Copy that,” Riley whispered.
Iona broke in. “Artemis goes in three, two, one. Rayne, go. Riley, go.”
Andre’s gut knotted. Man, he hated this. Of all the missions to handle, he couldn’t think of anything worse than going after a deadly virus or poison. He especially feared for Riley’s safety. He and Riley were the prime targets.
Brent rested his hand on Andre’s shoulder and squeezed. “Stay focused. Trust your training.”
He drew in a slow breath, walled off his fear for the love of his life, and gave Seth and Brent a slight nod.
His team leader studied him for a beat. “Ready?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Go.”
After a last scan of the guards’ positions, he and Elias left the safety of the trees and hugged shadows to help them cross 300 feet to the concrete wall surrounding the Storm compound.
They leaped high enough to grip the top of the wall with their hands and hauled themselves up and over the top to land in a crouch on the other side. Andre and Elias moved into tree cover near the wall and waited for the rest of their teammates.
While he waited, Andre kept tabs on Riley, listening for her voice and mentally tracking her movements inside the compound based on her reports to Iona. Like Seth, Iona had paired up the members of her team so no one worked alone. Since their numbers were uneven, Iona had joined Riley and Violet.
Soon, the rest of Echo plus Brent were inside the compound. Seth used hand gestures to signal the rest of his team to wait. Noah scowled and shook his head.
Seth rolled his eyes but gave a slight nod.
With their weapons at the ready, he and Noah hurried to a building 100 feet in front of them.
Seth pressed his back to the wall and peered around the corner while Noah kept watch behind him.
Seconds later, Echo’s leader gave the signal for his team to join him.
They repeated the same process over and over as they worked their way toward the center building, where the lab was located.
With the mission clock ticking in his head, Andre checked around the corner of a building near the lab and almost mashed his face against an enemy soldier’s back.
Lucky break that he hadn’t. Andre signaled his teammates to freeze.
He’d deal with this soldier so Echo could back up Artemis, who was ready to breach the target building.
Andre silently holstered his Sig and drew his Ka-Bar from its sheath.
Two seconds later, he clapped a hand over the man’s mouth and plunged the Ka-Bar blade deep into the man’s kidney, twisting as he withdrew the weapon.
After wiping the blade clean on the fallen man’s pant leg, he tapped his earpiece. “Clear.”
Seconds later, his team headed toward the lab, hugging the shadows to make their presence harder to detect. The most dangerous part of the journey to the lab was the last two hundred feet. They would be in the open with no cover.
Seth signaled the others to follow at two-second intervals. He peered around a corner, then walked in a crouch across the open space, followed by Noah, Andre, Grant, Elias, and Brent, all with their weapons up and ready.
When they were safely across, Seth tapped his earpiece. “Zane, do you have a live satellite image of the target building?”
“Negative. The last one was ten minutes ago.”
Andre’s hand tightened around the grip of his Sig. Looked like they would breach the building the hard way. Blind.
“Copy.” Seth tried the doorknob, then looked at Andre.
As the fastest lock picker in their unit, Andre had all the fun. Lockpicks in hand, he moved past his team leader and crouched in front of the door. Ten seconds later, the tumblers gave way with a tiny snick. He looked at Seth and nodded. Piece of cake.
Palming his weapon again, Andre pressed his back to the wall, twisted the knob, and opened the door wide enough to see inside the building.
Perfect. The schematics Zane had scrounged up were still accurate at this entrance to the building.
They would enter the building through a short hallway, giving them a few more seconds of safety.
He glanced at Seth and nodded, then slipped into the darkened hall. His teammates joined him in seconds.
Somewhere in the building, a door slammed and footsteps came closer and closer to their location.
Andre tensed. This wasn’t good. Echo was the backup to Artemis. They couldn’t back up the women unless they were with them. Another set of footsteps hurried in their direction. He frowned.
What was happening? Had someone discovered Artemis?
Or perhaps they stumbled across Shadow unit or M team.
The more he listened, though, the less he felt the others were in trouble.
None of the teams had contacted Seth or Zane.
No gunshots rang out in the building yet.
So if it wasn’t the discovery of the Fortress operatives, what caused all the excitement?