Crew
The forest swallowed us whole. Darkness pressing in from all sides, thick as grave dirt.
The only light was from the waning moon, filtered in through the branches.
The wind was cold and wet, brushing through the leaves and stirring the undergrowth with restless whispers.
I moved at the front of the pack, rifle slung low, and a hunting knife strapped to my thigh.
My eyes burned ahead, refusing to blink too long.
Every sound a snapped twig, a rustle of leaves set my teeth on edge.
Behind me, Black moved like a ghost, his big frame impossibly silent.
He’d pulled a knit cap over his head, and an AR strapped to the black tactical vest he wore.
In his hands was a short-barreled shotgun modified for breaching doors at close range.
Blue brought up the rear, scanning our trail with night-vision goggles.
He carried twin suppressed pistols, a headset, and enough spare ammo to hold off an army.
His breathing was so quiet it was hard to tell if he was even alive.
Between them, seven more men followed, a few of my trusted soldiers from my past that I called in for this job. No one spoke above a whisper.
Nova.
I was imagining her tied to a chair in that filthy house, blood on her face, and eyes burning with hatred for the people who had taken her.
I’d seen that look before on her face. Nova wouldn’t stay anyone's victim for long, but I couldn’t help imagining what Kyle was doing to her.
The idea made bile rise in my throat, but I forced it down.
This wasn’t about rage, that's what got people killed, this was about precision.
We stalked in another few feet before Black held up a fist and the line froze.
I went down on one knee, peering through the brush.
Ahead, the forest opened to a clearing, with weeds choking it, but there was a clear path beaten into the grass from foot traffic.
And there rotting in the bushes sat the house we had been looking for.
No wonder we never knew this thing was here, it had been swallowed up by the forest. I watched as shadows moved inside through a single window glowing with dirty yellow light.
Kyle was in there, Kennedy too, most likely, but all I cared about was Nova.
Black knelt beside me, scanning the area.
“I got one guard, in a hoodie, smoking against the porch post?” He said, sniffing displeased in the lax security. “Sloppy.”
“Good.” I huffed.
Blue slid up beside us, goggles flicking soft green light. He tapped my arm and pointed north.
“There’s a second sentry at nine o’clock.”
I squinted and sure enough, a man with a rifle wandered a lazy perimeter.
“Split up.” He grunted.
Black took the breach team around back to the cellar door.
They would breach the interior through the back, securing Nova’s location.
Blue and I hit the front porch taking our first guard down with a quiet thud.
My team ran interference at the front with a goal of taking out as many men as we could before being discovered.
Blue stayed tight on my six, eyes scanning, face blank.
Ahead, the smoking guard flicked his butt into the weeds and sighed.
He turned bored without a care in the world.
He lumbered around not aware of the danger he was in.
I didn’t hesitate lunging from the shadows, knife flashing.
My hand went over his mouth as the blade bit down deep under his ear.
The guard gurgled and sagged as I eased him down slowly, careful not to make noise.
Blood pooled dark on the dirt but I didn’t blink.
I was built for this. Killing was part of who I used to be, and it was coming back with ease.
Wiping the knife on the man’s hoodie; I signaled Blue to move forward.
Once we had the front of the house locked-down, Blue pulled out a drone controller.
He hadn’t turned on the actual drone because the noise would give them away.
He flicked the screen on and off, checking infrared snapshots he’d taken from a distance earlier.
Then he locked eyes with me and held up four fingers.
“Four more inside. Three are clustered together in the back and one lone signal in another location, possibly a basement below.”
“Let’s go,” I said. But just then loud shots rang out and all hell broke loose.