29. Thad
Thad
“Thad, you have movement to your three o’clock,” Max’s voice crackled through my earpiece.
“Copy that.” My gaze swung in the direction he’d alerted me to.
“Fighting age, male,” I returned.
“What’s he doing?” Declan asked. “I don’t have a visual.”
“Taking a leak,” I returned. Then to Brooks. “He’s patrolling. We need to go to plan B and go in soft. You blow that door, we’re announcing we’re here.”
“Agreed,” Brooks said. “You takin’ him or am I?”
“I am. You call in the mission shift. Give me two shakes.”
“Copy that.”
Getting to my knees from the place Brooks and I were lying, our location was concealed in the thick underbrush.
I silently stood, and instead of moving directly to the man, I went left, staying hidden in the trees for as long as I could.
I pulled my Ontario MK3 knife from its sheath and stepped behind the man.
Before he could shake and tuck himself back into his pants, my six-inch hardened blade was pressed against his throat, and with a swift slice he was done .
I gently laid him at my feet, swiped the knife-edge on my cargos, smearing the man’s blood on the material, and I waited for Brooks to join me.
Through all of that, I heard Brooks over my earpiece telling Declan there had been a change of plans. With a tap on my shoulder, I turned in Brooks direction. He gave a nod and we were ready to engage.
“You’re clear to move,” Max told us.
“It’s so fucking bright out here I can see shadows,” Brooks grumbled.
He was not wrong. The full moon allowed us to navigate without night vision, but provided us no cover of darkness as we took the remaining distance to the house.
Once we were at the back door, Brooks pulled his knife and expertly jimmied the lock.
Breaching any building always came with a pucker-factor.
Even with the best intel, it was dangerous as fuck.
Not knowing the layout of the house, or how many occupants, or what kind of firepower they had, had my ass cheeks clenching.
The hope here was, as soon as we entered this house, the noise we’d make would draw any guards out of the second house and Max could pick them off as they ran across the yard to aid their brethren.
That was the hope. The reality was, the other guards could be smart enough to stay inside the second house and shoot at us through the windows.
The human factor wasn’t something you could predict. You never knew what a desperate dumbass would do. Experience told me they’d run across the yard like a bunch of idiots, spraying bullets as they went.
“We’re in business,” Brooks announced.
“When you’re ready,” Declan returned. “We’re in place.”
Which meant he and Kyle were right behind us.
Brooks’ hand went to the door, and on an exhale, I readied myself. He turned the knob and slowly pushed. The door creaked a sound so loud in the silence of the night, I was surprised it hadn’t woken the dead.
Nothing.
We stepped into the house, and I quickly lowered my NVGs down, now tinting the dark room in green.
The living room in front of us had two worn sofas and a table, but was devoid of occupants.
The kitchen beyond that had a table, and the countertops and sink were full of dishes, trash, and other miscellaneous shit that was sure to draw in an abundance of jungle bugs. In a word, it was a shithole.
There were no doors dividing what could be assumed were the bedrooms. Instead tattered sheets hung for privacy.
Movement to my left caught my attention as the material of one of the rooms was pulled aside and a man appeared, one hand scratching his balls and the other holding a handgun. That was all I needed; he was armed.
I pressed the trigger, knowing that action was going to set off the domino effect and all hell was going to break loose. My bullet slammed into the man’s skull and he fell back into the room pulling the curtain down as he went.
Brooks broke right, I went left.
Two men popped out of a second room, both in nothing but their underwear, but both armed with AK47s.
The old tried-and-true Russian semi-automatic rifles were at their hips, and instead of taking the time to bring them up and aim, they shot wildly.
Their 7.62 bullets tore through the couches, the windows exploded, and the projectile penetrated the walls of the house like a hot knife going through butter.
I returned fire, easily hitting my first target, but the second man disappeared back into the room.
I heard the shouting first, then the thunder of Max’s .
50 cal sniper rifle. His preference was his .
308 but not knowing the distance he’d have to perch, he opted for the big boy.
The sound of his .50 cal was unmistakable.
It would also alert everybody in a ten-mile radius that it had fired.
A calculated risk, one that was necessary.
Brooks fired his weapon then asked, “You going in, or am I?”
“Two males exiting house, one through a window.” Max’s voice came over the radio. “Looks like they’re fighting to get out.”
I didn’t answer Brooks, I moved toward the room, Brooks yanked the sheet down, and I waited for the man trying to climb out the window to turn.
I may be a lot of things, and some would call me an overpaid assassin, and they’d be right.
But I’m not a coward and I don’t shoot men in the back when it could be avoided.
The man turned and it would be his last act on this earth. He dropped where he stood as his friend fell through the window finding his escape. However, it would be short-lived.
“Target down,” Max announced unnecessarily as his shot rocked the house.
“Clear!” Kyle shouted.
“Clear!” Declan followed.
“Out of the house, now. Go. Go. Go!” Max yelled over the radio.
Without waiting or questioning, the four of us took off toward the door we’d entered. No sooner had we exited than the back end of the house exploded. I dove into the wooden area and my head rattled from the concussion of the blast.
“RPG,” Max finished.
Well, no shit, Sherlock.
Wood snapped and buckled as the house crumbled. Flames danced and it would be a matter of time before the place was swarming with reinforcements.
“Five minutes!” Declan shouted .
“SITREP?” Max asked.
“Everyone out,” Dec answered. “How many are left?”
“Yard clear.”
“The rocket man?”
“Down.”
When we were to our feet, Declan gave a sharp nod and he and Kyle went north around the now blazing fire and Brooks and I went south.
“Son of a bitch,” Brooks muttered. “Nothing’s easy.”
“You can say that again.”
The second house came into sight at the same time Declan spoke, “What we got, Max?”
“No movement.”
Declan and Kyle were the first to enter, Brooks and I followed behind.
All four of us were ready for more action.
Contrary to the first house, this one was clean.
Nicer furnishings, appliances, doors on the frames instead of blankets.
However, the layout was the same. With slow precision we cleared each room as we moved through the house.
“You’re still clear,” Max told us.
With one room left, Kyle and Brooks fell back, allowing Declan and me to enter while they took our six.
Obviously out of patience, Declan didn’t wait for me to open the door. With a booted foot he kicked it in, and with his rifle at the ready, moved in.
Then he froze.
Stopped dead.
I shoved my way past him and I, too, was shocked into a stupor.
Autumn Pierce was straddling a man. We had the couple in profile and blood had already started to seep into the bed sheets. With one more down glide, Autumn plunged her knife into the man’s throat.
“For my sister!” she shouted .
Holy fuck.
Autumn turned and looked at us, and even in the dim room, her dull dead eyes couldn’t be missed.
“Didn’t think you’d make it,” she told us.
“What?” I asked.
“He was leaving in the morning. Didn’t think you’d figure it out in time.”
She rolled to the side, then off the bed, giving us the first unobstructed view of Paul. Autumn was covered in blood.
Covered.
Knees to chest.
Hands coated.
My gaze went back to the man in the bed. She gutted him. From navel to sternum he was splayed open.
Sweet Christ.
“Tell my sister she’s safe.”
For the first time in my life I was without words. Not because of the carnage, not the blood, not the brutality of the act. Because Autumn had enacted the violence.
And damn if Autumn didn’t look just like Emerson. There was no doubt they were sisters, and seeing Emerson’s baby sister standing before me covered in a dead man’s blood was fucking with my head.
“You can tell her yourself,” Declan said.
“Glad to see you’re still breathin’, big guy, but that won’t be happening,” she told him.
“Autumn, it’s time. You need to come with us.” I found my voice.
“It’s time? You know nothing about what time it is,” she snapped.
“I do. We know what happened, who was behind it, and what you’ve been doing,” I explained.
“Well, good for you. But that still doesn’t mean you know jack shit. ”
“Then for your sister. It’s time to start healing. She needs you,” I tried.
“No. That was for my sister.” She pointed to the bed. “And me staying away is for her, too. I know what happened to me ruined her life and tore my parents apart. There’s no healing. There’s no going back. Not for me.”
“She’s gonna be devastated when I tell her you were here and wouldn’t take the time to see her.”
“So don’t tell her, she doesn’t need to know any of this. Another reason there won’t be some happy family reunion. I don’t want her knowing me, I’m not the little sister she remembers.”
“There are no secrets between Emerson and me. I won’t lie to her, not even to protect her. And she’s not the same person either. You both need each other.”
Autumn stared at me for a moment before she spoke. “Time’s up. The whole town will be surrounding this place in a few minutes. Tell Emmy, Paul’s been taken care of and to go live her life and forget about all this shit. This is not a world she should’ve ever been in.”
She started to push past me but stopped. “Be safe,” she mumbled.
I reached out to grab her—if she wasn’t coming in on her own, I’d haul her back kicking and screaming. But before I could wrap my hand around her arm, Declan stopped me with a shake of his head.
“Be advised, Autumn Pierce is exiting the house. Hold your fire,” Declan radioed.
“Copy,” Max returned.
Once Autumn cleared the door and was out of sight, I turned to Dec.
“What the fuck?”
“She’s not ready. She may never be ready. But if that day comes and she wants to find Emerson, nothing will stop that woman from doing so. In the meantime, Emerson’s gonna have to deal.”
“Deal?” I huffed. “That’s her family. Her sister. You of all people should understand something about that.”
Hell, him and his twin sister had been separated after their parents’ death. And years later he’d found himself sitting across from Violet as she conducted his exit interview when she worked with the CIA. She had no idea Declan was her brother, and he didn’t tell her even though he’d known.
“I understand more than you know. I understand about family and wanting to keep them clean. I know about bone-crushing loss and how it tears you to pieces. I know about the need to avenge that loss. But above all of that, I know that woman is not ready to face reality and if you force her, the blowback will leave devastation in its wake. And the person it will devastate will be your woman.”
The look on Declan’s face spoke to me more than his words had.
And every one of them said he’d gained that understanding and was still feeling it.
I assumed the woman he’d told me about, the one who wasn’t ever coming back to him, was the loss he’d referenced.
But I wouldn’t ask, because I knew he wouldn’t confirm. Declan was a vault of secrets and pain.