Chapter 24
Chapter
Twenty-Four
Axel and Ryder watched the drone feed under the Suburban’s raised hatch. The cabin window filled the controller screen. Inside, Wade sat at the kitchen table, and Reese sat across from him. She lifted her spoon and ate like she was starving.
Axel kept his eyes on the screen. The wolf had gone quiet in a dangerous way, no longer howling, no longer throwing itself against his skin. It waited now, focused on the cabin.
Ryder shifted beside him. “Battery’s getting low.”
“How low?”
“Low enough that I need to bring it back before we lose safe return.”
Axel looked at the window. Reese was hungrily filling her belly, like she hadn’t eaten all day.
“Do it,” he said.
Ryder pulled the drone back from the window. The cabin shrank on the screen. The lit square became smaller, then the clearing, then the pale line of gravel road between the black trees. Axel hated losing sight of Reese for even a moment.
The drone came back over the turnoff with its warning light blinking. Ryder caught it and powered it down. Axel already had the second case open.
Ryder pulled the fresh drone free, snapped the battery in, checked the rotors, and powered up the controller. His hands moved fast without getting careless. Axel stood beside him, watching the screen.
“Launching,” Ryder said.
The drone lifted from the gravel and climbed through the same break in the branches. Ryder sent it up. The pale line of gravel appeared on the screen. Then the trees. Then the cabin. Ryder slowed the drone and lowered it in the clearing.
Ryder found the same angle and eased the drone into place. At first the glass showed only glare and lamplight. Then the picture settled. The table had been cleared. Wade crouched near the stone fireplace with his back partly turned to the room. A stack of wood sat beside him.
Reese was on the couch with her wrists tied in front of her. The wolf slammed against Axel’s control.
“Ryder,” he said.
“I see it.”
Axel grabbed the sat phone from the gear case. Dom picked up before the first ring finished.
“Update,” Dom said.
“Reese is restrained.” Axel kept his eyes on the controller screen. His voice stayed level because he forced it to. “Wrists tied in front of her. She’s sitting in the main room. Wade is in the room with her.”
Axel’s grip tightened around the sat phone.
“We’re ten minutes out,” Dom said. “Hold position. Keep eyes on her. Do not move before we arrive.”
The wolf surged so hard Axel’s teeth hurt.
“Axel,” Dom said.
“I heard you.” Axel looked at Reese on the screen.
“Say it.”
Every instinct in his body was already running toward the cabin. “I hold position.”
“Good. Ten minutes.” The line clicked off.
Axel lowered the sat phone without looking away from the feed. His wolf paced under his skin, one breath away from breaking through. Ten minutes felt like an eternity.
Moments later, headlights flashed through the trees, and a second Suburban rolled into the turnout and stopped behind theirs.
Dom got out first, his face set and unreadable.
Blaze came around the rear. Siren stepped out on the other side, quiet and fast. Hunter closed his door without a sound and looked toward the road before he looked at Axel.
Axel met Dom at the rear of their Suburban. Ryder kept the drone feed steady under the raised hatch.
“Give me the layout,” Dom said.
Axel pointed to the cached map on the tablet, then to the live feed.
“The cabin is about half a mile farther up the road, where it dead-ends. Front door faces the road. Wade’s van is parked near the porch.
Tree cover is tight around the clearing.
Propane tank on the right side of the cabin.
The windows are too small for most adults to climb through. There are no other exits.”
Dom watched the screen while Axel spoke.
“Inside,” Axel said. His inner wolf was growling, but he kept his voice steady.
“The front door opens into the main room. There is a fireplace on the left wall. Reese is on the couch with her wrists tied in front of her. Wade is moving between the fireplace and kitchen along the wall at the back of the room.”
“Are there additional rooms?” Dom asked.
“There’s a hallway at the back right that leads to bedroom and bath.”
Dom looked from the map to the feed, then back toward the dark road as the team strapped on their tactical vests.
“Front door,” he said. “Fast entry. Blaze on the ram.”
Blaze opened the rear compartment of the second Suburban and pulled out the battering ram. He checked the grip once and set it against his shoulder like it weighed nothing.
“I take shield. Siren stacks behind me. Hunter, circle wide and cover the back side. If there’s a rear exit or a window bigger than it looks on the feed, you cover it.”
Hunter nodded once and started checking his rifle. Siren opened a gear bag and handed out comms. She then pulled out her Glocks, seated the magazines, and holstered them in one motion.
Dom turned to Ryder. “Keep the drone on the window. Report any movement inside.”
“Got it,” Ryder said, eyes still on the screen.
Then Dom looked at Axel.
“You stay with Ryder.”
The wolf hit Axel’s ribs hard enough to steal his breath. Axel looked at Reese on the feed, wrists tied in front of her, sitting on the couch while Wade moved in the background.
Dom held his gaze. “I’m keeping you off the door on purpose. You’re too close to this. Stay with Ryder.”
Axel gritted his teeth so hard they almost cracked. “Copy.”
The team finished gearing up in the dark behind the Suburbans. Vests tightened. Radios clicked. No one wasted a word.