Chapter Forty-Four Reed
Chapter Forty-Four
Reed
Surrey, UK
The hangar doors rattled in the wind, rain blowing sideways across the tarmac and soaking us, even under the awning. The two planes sat dark and silent behind us, engines cooling. Gear was spread out across two folding tables: vests, mags, comms and more, all lit by a single buzzing lamp.
Sebastian’s two League operators and Carter’s Falcon Falls teammates were loading the two Black Hawks, prepping the helos.
Hollis fixed her French braid to her back, then slipped a plated vest over her head, and something in my chest pulled at the sight of her wearing it. She was going into battle with us. No stopping her. Hell, this was who she was.
I took over for her, and she quietly stared at me as I finished the job, my pulse pounding. Never thought I’d see the day where I’d go downrange with a woman I was . . .
Actually, scratch that.
I never thought I’d see the day I’d fall in love.
“They must be monitoring us somehow and figured out we all linked up at the hotel. Not sure how, but it’s the only thing that makes sense.
I was careful to cover our tracks where we went after South America,” Gideon said, slamming a mag into his rifle.
“My parents’ home was our bait, and they turned all of us against each other . . . not sure who we could trust, but—”
“Well, we’re finally two steps ahead of these bloody bastards and know where they’re holed up now,” Gwen interjected, earning her a small smile from Julian at her nine o’clock.
“Thanks mostly to you.” He winked.
Easton grumbled something under his breath and left, clearly not in the mood to third-wheel any exchanges between them.
“It’s time.” Ryder shot me a quick look, then brought his phone to his ear and walked away. Probably a call to his wife before we spun up.
Hollis exchanged a few words with her brothers before redirecting to me as everyone began heading for our rides. “Are you going to ask me if I’m sure I want to do this?” She draped her arms over my shoulders, our ammo-packed vests wedged between us.
“I know better than that.” I forced a smile. “But no dying on me, got it?”
“Because Audrey wouldn’t like it?” She raised her brows.
“No, because I’d have to chase after you to the other side and bring you back.” I leaned in and dropped my mouth over hers.
The taste of her was still on my tongue as we neared go-time from up in the air.
The storm churned black overhead, lightning throwing jagged light across the treetops. The rotor wash hammered rain sideways as the helo hovered above the clearing.
“Thirty seconds,” the pilot’s voice crackled over comms.
Delta and Foxtrot stacked tight at the doors, gloves ready on the ropes. Alpha mirrored us in the second bird, helmets down, every man coiled to drop.
“Now,” Ryder barked. He and Alex went first, disappearing into the storm.
Gideon and Julian exchanged a sign with Hollis—silent words between siblings—before dropping after them.
I glanced at the second bird, Easton steady behind the yoke, Gwen up front with her laptop and headphones on. She’d be staying airborne and out of harm’s way.
Four more operators from Alpha dropped fast behind Carter and Sebastian, including two men from Falcon Falls we’d operated with before, along with two of Sebastian’s League operatives who never shared their names, but if they worked for him, then I knew they were solid.
“Ready?” I mouthed to Hollis.
She gave me a sharp nod. I tapped the top of her helmet, and she knocked down her NVGs, then slid down the rope smoothly. Good. Muscle memory remained intact.
I followed after her, boots burning on the wet nylon, rifle clamped tight to my chest.
The ground rushed up, and a flash of lightning revealed Hankley’s pine forest. Beyond it, the outline of the protectors’ compound: concrete, steel, and fencing topped with razor wire.
Hollis landed clean, and I went down a beat later, mud splashing under my boots as I released and dropped to a knee beside her.
The first bird peeled off to avoid radar. The second swooped wide, Easton flying like an angel fearlessly right into the storm.
“Alpha Team, advance,” Carter announced.
“Stack up,” Ryder ordered, his words cutting through the thunder. “Delta left, Foxtrot right.”
We pushed through the trees, shadows bleeding in and out as the sky lit up like a war was overhead. Floodlights along the compound flickered with the storm, stuttering between dark and bright.
“Delta Two, heading to the northwest side to infil,” Alex transmitted, then vanished from my periphery, doing what he did best: becoming a ghost.
“Roger,” Ryder answered.
We waited in our positions for Alex to discreetly get inside unnoticed—his specialty, thanks to his Houdini-ish father. We had to have eyes and ears in the compound before we breached, first ensuring their protectors weren’t also innocent pawns in all this before we opened fire and engaged.
“Foxtrot Two, status?” Ryder asked Julian, then went down the line, ensuring everyone from all three units were good to go. The seconds dragged by as we answered, comms hissing with the storm.
My glove slipped on the rifle grip, breath fogging inside my night vision goggles. Visibility was already shit in this storm.
Finally, Alex came back online. “Visual confirmation. Four packages inside and alive in the basement: the king, queen, prince, and princess. All detained, but the queen and prince are isolated and in a separate room.”
I knew what that meant. Hollis’s mother was about to be drugged. The “prince” was Tristan, and if he was bound inside, he wasn’t a traitor.
“Delta Two, can you get me a visual so I can see who’s with the queen and prince?” Gideon requested.
A beat later, an image pinged every handset.
“Can you ID the tango?” Alex asked, continuing to remain an undetected ghost inside.
“Yes,” Gideon replied. “My sister’s protector.”
Kylo? My chest clenched.
“The princess’s protector,” he amended, referring to Lyra.
“Any sight of mine?” Gideon pressed.
Static. Fragments of words, and then . . . gunfire.
“Delta Two’s burned,” Ryder snapped. “All teams, snipers up to prepare for our breach. Go, go!”
The thought of losing Alex lit a fire inside me. I’d seen him on death’s doorstep once before, and I wasn’t about to watch it happen again. He had a family to return home to.
“This is Alpha One. My team, you’re clear to take the towers now.”
“Roger,” came in unison from the three designated snipers for our mission.
“This is Foxtrot Two. Tower one clear,” Julian confirmed.
“Alpha Three. Tower four clear,” Griffin from Falcon Falls added.
“Alpha Four here,” Jesse from Falcon spoke up. “Towers two and three are down. Seven tangos exiting the main property, moving fast.”
“This is Alpha Three. We’ll intercept and handle them. Go ahead and breach.”
“Roger,” we transmitted back.
Explosives thudded, rattling the ground. Lightning flared white-hot as Sebastian’s League operators blew the wall.
“Stack,” Ryder ordered, and we slid into position. Me up front, Hollis at my six, and Ryder covering flank.
The wall went inward with a muffled crack, smoke and rain sweeping through the gap.
They want a legit fight. It’s who they are. It turned my stomach, fighting men who’d once been guardians for good, now corrupted by oaths and bloodline bullshit. Proof enough why no one should wield mind control drugs. Neither presidents, nor kings. No one.
“Move!” Ryder commanded, and I nodded to Hollis. She tapped my shoulder, locked in, covering my six as we flowed through the breach. “Delta Two, do you copy?” he tried again.
Static hissed back.
I scanned the grounds, thankful we had three sniper angels overhead now in those towers to cover us. Through the green hue of my night vision, I identified a few of the bodies they’d already dropped to clear our path.
I went still when catching a shadow by one of the garages. I went to one knee, yanking Hollis with me, and fired.
Tango down.
Glass shattered above, and Hollis pivoted. One clean headshot to the guy in the window. The man toppled, rifle clattering.
Carter nodded a quick thanks to Hollis for saving his ass since the barrel had been aimed at him, then he breached the side door before Ryder and Sebastian cleared ahead of us.
Once Hollis and I made our way inside, the world remained green under my NVGs. The lights were out, corridors narrow.
Ryder and Carter announced they’d be pushing to the basement, and Sebastian and Gideon joined them.
Over comms, Sebastian directed his two other men to the second floor to clear it, which left Hollis and me to sweep the first-floor halls, my trigger finger poised.
Not even thirty seconds later, two hostiles burst from the left. I drove one back with a controlled burst to the chest.
Lightning spilt through high windows, momentarily flooding the hall in white, revealing blood on the tile.
Hollis pivoted, boot snapping into the other one’s knee. He went down hard, her muzzle pressed to his visor as the guy begged, “Don’t shoot.”
“I have visual confirmation on Delta Two,” Julian shared. “He’s alive and being dragged out the rear door.”
“This is Alpha Four. Eyes on Delta Two,” Jesse let us know. “Taking out the marks now.”
Gunfire barked from all around, and my pulse picked up as I waited for news.
“Delta Two here.” Alex popped over comms, and I’d never been so grateful to hear that man’s voice before. “I had to get grabbed to buy you time. Offer a distraction.”
Of-fucking-course. Typical of him. I owed him an ass kicking for that once we made it out alive.
“Where’s my family?” Hollis demanded, fury bleeding through as she pressed her knee into the throat of the man she had beneath her while I swept the hall to cover her.
The man gagged. “It’s Kylo.”
“What?” She shoved up his NVGs, staring at his face. Searching for a truth she couldn’t remember.