Operation 21 The Last Stand #2
Tech read from his tablet. “Administrative dissolution of the specialized task force, effective immediately. Personnel to be reassigned pending budget review.”
Cassidy stared at God. His face appeared carved from stone, stoic. But Cassidy knew the sight of a gutted man.
“We all knew this was the likely outcome,” Day said.
Ruxs scowled. “Reassigned to what? Traffic? Patrol unit?”
“I’ll retire first,” Green scoffed.
“Now isn’t the time to discuss logistics,” Day said.
God pocketed his phone. “Agreed. We have a job to do right now. Stay focused.”
Cassidy had only been around them for a few weeks, but he knew God and his team were a family forged in brotherhood and survival.
Free’s voice came through their comms pieces. “We can challenge it.”
God shook his head. “No. If they want us gone…then we’re gone.”
Ruxs dragged both hands over his head. “What about Syn?”
Cassidy hadn’t heard that name before, but he knew there were a few members of God’s team who’d stayed in Atlanta.
God glanced at Tech. “Still nothing?”
Tech looked grim. “He’s not answering any calls. His Hart Locator is offline. And last I’ve heard from Ro, he left his place and went to Fox and Bull’s ranch. That was this morning.”
Day let out a slow breath. “Maybe that’s not the worst thing.”
“That’s not what we do,” God said. “None of us can just go off the grid. No matter what’s going on.”
“We know where he is. Fox’ll take care of him,” Day said. “Come on guys, we still got one of our own that needs us here.”
Steele glanced toward the monitor showing Xander on set.
Cassidy’s earpiece crackled.
“Kellan to Morrison. Scene wraps in five. Starlight moving exterior for trailer return.”
Cassidy straightened. “Copy. On my way.”
Cassidy felt for God and his team. His life at home was being dismantled and he couldn’t do shit about it because he was two thousand miles away.
The sun had set hours ago, and the cast and crew had thinned to a few stragglers.
Xander stood outside near the trailers with Wyatt Stanis and two new actresses appearing in the sequel.
He was laughing at something one of the women said, sunglasses pushed into his hair, the late light catching the pale gold in his waves.
He seemed even younger for a second, and so carefree.
Cassidy stood a few feet away, while Ruxs worked the forward angle and Green monitored the route to the Hummer.
Free came over the comms, “South service has a driver refusing to turn around. Driving a white maintenance truck with no studio decal.”
“Which gate?” Tech answered.
“South service, gate four.”
Cassidy tilted his head. “Mara, Kellan.”
“Copy,” Mara replied.
“South wing agents, move to gate four and provide assistance,” God directed. “Bishop and Cruz, keep Starlight’s route locked. Nobody drift.”
Cassidy listened as the calls came back clean and fast, his rebuilt team shifting with disciplined efficiency.
He was waiting for the south wing to give the all-good sign when a black van slammed through the front barricade hard enough to fold the metal inward with a piercing scream.
The impact rolled across the lot as the few people mingling around shouted and ducked for cover.
The truck lurched over the broken barrier, clipped the security booth, and stopped at an angle with steam and smoke rushing from the crushed hood.
Cassidy moved before the driver’s door opened.
“Cover Starlight!”
The driver came out with a handgun and started firing into the scattering guards.
Three men went down near the barricade.
Screams detonated across the lot.
“Shots fired,” God barked over comms. “Active threat. North service gate. Weapons free on confirmed threat.”
Bishop and Cruz closed around Xander.
Three more of his guards swarmed in and covered Wyatt and the two actresses, moving them aggressively behind the wardrobe trailer.
Cassidy grabbed Xander by the back of his jacket. “Move.”
Xander’s face was pale, but his body obeyed. He ducked when Cassidy forced him down, stayed low as bullets cracked across the lot.
“Trailers,” Cassidy ordered.
Tech’s voice was elevated but clear. “Route Alpha compromised. Moving to hard cover. Slade, east side alternate.”
“Copy,” Slade answered.
“Cameras cycling. The driver seems to be knocked out, but I got two bogies moving west. Three more taking cover behind the northeast side of the building. Be advised, five suspects.”
Cassidy’s blood turned cold.
The crash was a distraction. The real attackers were making their way to the trailers while most of his agents had flocked to the South gates.
A second attacker in dark coveralls emerged from between two production trucks and fired towards them, making Bishop and Cruz duck for cover. A third cut along the trailer row with a duffle over one shoulder, moving low and fast.
“Third on trailer row,” Cassidy snapped. “Intercept.”
A round hit the side of the trailer ten feet ahead, punching into the metal with a flat, ugly crack.
Xander flinched.
Cassidy wrapped an arm over him and drove him forward. Pain blew hot through his shoulder, but he ignored it.
Steele came up from the blind side, silent and brutal, fired one clean shot, and the attacker folded beside the trailer. “Suspect down.”
They bypassed Xander’s trailer and went inside the one designated for wardrobe. Cruz yanked the door open.
Cassidy pushed Xander inside.
“Get down, all the way.”
Xander dropped to the floor as another burst of rounds hammered the outer wall. Cassidy covered him with as much of his body as he could.
Xander breathed hard and terrified beneath him.
“I’m not gonna let anything happen to you,” Cassidy said against the back of his head.
“I know.”
“Breathe.”
Bullets cut through the trailer again.
Xander’s entire body tensed, but he didn’t scream.
“Starlight secured in trailer. Taking rounds from north exterior,” he reported with his chin tucked near Xander’s temple.
“Suspect down,” Kellan said.
“Suspect down,” God called next.
“That’s three,” Free updated.
Cassidy hoped they were able to leave one of those bastards alive.
“Trailer-row threat closing in, Morrison. Twenty yards,” Free said calmly.
Cassidy had his hand closed around his weapon as he shifted his weight and took aim at the door.
“No,” Xander whispered.
Cassidy looked down. “You stay with me,” Xander said.
He pressed his body lower over Xander as another shot ripped through the trailer wall above them.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
God