CHAPTER 2
DAMIáN
Boston | Hollows Knox takes the one on the right. “The CIA has an informant on the inside that has helped them stop fifteen shipments and save thirty people.”
“Someone dared to betray Elijah? I don’t know if that person is a hero or an idiot.” Tae’s voice hums in my ear, and I gotta say, his voice is very melodic and nice.
Not that I would ever tell him… he would likely stab me with a sterilized scalpel if I did.
“Probably a bit of both.” Bjorn shoots at three guards, ejects his mag, drops it, rips a fresh one from his vest, and slams it in.
“What intel do we have about the informant?” Alexios asks. “I checked the entire file, but there’s no mention of who they are.”
“That’s because the CIA has no idea who he or she is,” I explain. “Harry told me they’ve been trying to find a way to meet in person and exchange a secure phone so they can have a two-way method of communication and ask for the specific info they need to arrest Elijah, not just stop his shipments.”
“Makes perfect sense, actually,” Law says.
We reach the sixth floor. The final door is a thick steel-reinforced industrial slab.
This is it.
“Alexios, how’s the hostage?” Logan asks, motioning for Bjorn to move up.
“Still alive, boss.”
“Good. We’re breaching in twenty seconds.”
Bjorn grins. He takes out the olive det cord and holds it in place with thick duct tape, curling it over the metallic door like he’s decorating a Christmas tree.
Logan turns to me. “What does Harry want from us?”
“Elijah is hosting a masquerade gala in two weeks.” I read the rest of Harry’s note while Bjorn finishes his art piece. “It says here the CIA wants us to infiltrate, find the informant, hand off the secure phone, and leave before anyone kills us.”
“Nothing else?”
“Nothing. The mission ends there, jefe.”
“Count me in, Dami!” Bjorn steps back, scratching his thick beard while admiring his handiwork.
“Why does the CIA need our help with this? Why not ask the FBI or the other agencies?” Knox asks.
“Looks like Elijah has someone in the FBI or the DEA,” I say, wiping sweat from my forehead. “The CIA needs a team that’s unknown to the agencies while still trained and capable of reacting if something happens.”
“Ten seconds,” Bjorn says as he connects the wire to the clacker, and we all take cover and reload our weapons.
Logan looks at us. “Well, Bjorn is in without considering the risk… predictably. But for the rest of you, take a moment to think about it. Elijah West is different from any mission we’ve taken. If we do this, there is a high probability that many of us won’t come back. So… who is in?”
The vibe is so damn intense… I mean, we all know his stories and his reputation.
He is a fucking monster.
We know the damn body count; we know that going after him is essentially signing our own death warrants.
“Still in, boss,” Bjorn says, thumb hovering over the button.
“I’m also in, jefe.”
“No one has been this close to getting him,” Law says over the comms. “We might as well bloody do it.”
“Ja, count me in, too,” Leif adds.
“I’m in,” Alexios confirms.
“In,” says Tae over the comms.
Logan’s gray eyes lock with Knox’s, and he shrugs his shoulders, which for him counts as a yes.
“Two seconds!” says Bjorn, way too excited over exploding a door.
Logan turns his back to the door, taking cover behind a pillar. “Tell Harry we are in. Set a briefing meeting at the headquarters before the party.”
“Detonaaaaaating!” Bjorn sings.
BOOM!
The door explodes, splintering wood and twisting metal fly into the room like shrapnel, and before the dust settles, we all enter the room.
“Left is clear!” I shout after firing two shots into the knee of a guard trying to scramble for a shotgun.
He goes down screaming.
Ughhh… “Perdón!”
“Right side is clear!” Logan yells, dropping a man charging at us with a knife.
But unlike us, Knox ignores the combat entirely. He goes to the hostage tied to a chair in the center of the room… a terrified teenage girl with duct tape over her mouth.
“It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
Tae dashes into the room, now right behind Knox, sliding on his knees to get to her side. “Are you hurt?”
“They hit me on—” The teenager looks at Tae and gasps, and I swear her mouth falls open.