Chapter 26
The luminous hands on the clock mounted above the war-room door were creeping toward midnight when Tyrone cinched the last strap on his plate carrier and gave it a hard tug.
Everything was where it belonged. His sidearm was seated.
He had five spare mags. His IFAK, comms. He patted his pouches, checking the placement of his blade, and made sure his tourniquets were within reach of either hand.
He picked up the rifle from the table and clipped it to his chest on the sling.
Normally, gearing up settled something inside him, narrowing the world until there was only the mission, the men beside him, and the objective waiting at the other end that mattered.
But tonight, the ritual wasn’t doing shit because the objective was six years old, had curls in her hair, called him Uncle Zorro, and owned more of his heart than he’d ever known was possible.
Across the war-room, Gunnar checked his weapons before attaching them to his plate carrier.
Colt stood beside him, already transformed from the man Tyrone drank beer and traded shit with into Radar, the operator Tyrone wanted beside him when everything went sideways.
Talon was running through his kit one last time with Zombie at his feet waiting for his vest, the Belgian Malinois watching every movement his handler made with the focused patience of a dog who knew the difference between the men fucking around in the compound and Lego preparing to work.
Levi was checking his gear beside Marco, while Mojo stood near the end of the table doing the same, quieter than usual and carrying none of the easygoing shit Tyrone normally associated with him.
Tonight, Mojo wasn’t the second in command of their Agadir base or the bastard behind a keyboard digging through Sullivan’s secrets.
He was another operator gearing up to bring Kelsey home.
Seven men and one dog going out.
Talon crouched and held Zombie’s working vest open.
The Malinois stepped into it on command without any of the bouncing impatience he showed when Kelsey or one of the other kids was throwing a ball for him in the compound, then stood motionless while Talon secured the straps and checked the fit with practiced hands.
Tyrone watched him clip on the lead and run his fingers over the attachment points before rising again, because Zombie was another member of their tight-knit team, and Lego checked his dog’s gear with the same attention every one of them gave their own.
Remi and Jorja would, as always, be behind to run TOC.
Somewhere out there, Kelsey is waiting for me.
I hope she’s still at that property.
Tyrone shut the thought down so hard his jaw hurt. He knew better than to tempt fate before spinning up. Until somebody put evidence in front of him proving otherwise, his girl was fucking there, and he had to operate on that belief, or he’d lose his damn mind.
Crazy fuckers who’ve lost their minds fuck up.
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
Calm it the fuck down, right now.
“Petrovic’s sedan hasn’t moved.” Jorja enlarged the latest overhead image of the property. “Tracker is still live, and in the same position since we found it. We’ve had no vehicle movement from the property since we started watching.”
“Doesn’t mean nobody’s left on foot,” Gunnar said.
“No,” Remi agreed. “Nor does it tell us who’s inside. We’re not going to know that until you put eyes on the structure.”
Tyrone’s jaw flexed because not knowing was eating him alive, but he’d spent too many years operating to confuse wanting an answer with having one.
Gunnar pointed at the screen. “Run it again.”
Jorja changed the image. “Main house here, detached garage here, agricultural building there. Stacked wood pile there. A storage unit attached to the agricultural building is here.”
“Property records list the last one as equipment storage,” Remi added. “There’s a panel van parked alongside it. Registration runs back to a company that’s real enough to exist on paper and nowhere else.”
“Cameras?” Colt asked.
“Two we’ve identified from exterior imagery,” Jorja said. “One covering the main approach and another over the courtyard. Doesn’t mean there aren’t others we can’t see.”
“So we assume there are,” Gunnar said.
“Exactly.”
Jorja switched to the map they’d been building since Petrovic’s vehicle pinged at the property.
“One obvious road in. An agricultural track runs behind the property and connects with the neighboring vineyard. It’s narrow in places, but passable.
The main road gives them two directions out.
We’ll keep the sedan tracker live for as long as it keeps transmitting, but if they dump the car, that’s gone. ”
“Any movement on the phones?” Gunnar asked.
“Nothing useful,” Remi answered. “But they could have burners inside we don’t know about. I would have.”
“If it pings or runs on a battery, you’d have multiple backups,” Gunnar muttered. “That’s why our bank balance took a major hit last week.”
“Those are new computers for Dory,” Remi muttered. “That’s why Mojo is here. He’s to pick them up.”
Tyrone ignored the brothers’ bickering and stared at the property on the screen.
A house and its outbuildings reduced to shapes and lines that gave him no clue whether Kelsey was fifty yards from Petrovic’s car or fifty fucking miles away.
It wasn’t enough, but it was all they had, and the rest would have to come when they put their own eyes on the ground.
“The sooner we have actual eyes on, the better.”
“Copy that,” Gunnar answered. “Copy fucking that.”
Tyrone dragged his gaze away from the screen and saw Glenna standing just inside the war-room door, and everything else disappeared.
She’d changed into jeans and a sweatshirt since he’d left her in his suite.
Her hair was now pulled into a rough bunch on the top of her head.
She had no makeup and made no attempt to disguise the exhaustion on her face or the fear in her eyes.
Petra stood several feet behind her but didn’t follow when Glenna crossed the room and came straight to him.
Tyrone’s chest tightened when she stopped close enough that the front of her sweatshirt nearly brushed his plate carrier, and for several seconds neither of them said anything while her gaze traveled over his helmet, armor, rifle, and pistol, taking in all the gear that told her exactly what he was about to do.
“What time is it?”
The question caught him off guard, and he glanced toward the clock. “Coming up on midnight.”
Her eyes flickered toward it too. “How long?”
There were a hundred ways he could answer that question, and every one of them would be bullshit.
How long until they reached the property?
How long until they knew Kelsey was there?
How long until Tyrone put his hands on her?
How long until Glenna stopped feeling like somebody had ripped her fucking heart out?
He couldn’t promise any of those things, so he gave her the one promise he intended to keep.
“If she’s there, I’ll have her back in your arms before dawn.”
Her eyes snapped to his, and he stepped closer, wanting to pull her against him even though there was too much shit between them.
All the weaponry and protection, everything designed to keep him alive, now stood between him and the woman who had somehow become the reason he needed to come back.
“If Kelsey’s on that property, I’m bringing her home tonight. ”
A tremor moved through Glenna’s chin before she locked it down. “Don’t say that because you think it’s what I need to hear.”
“I’m not.”
“Ty.”
“I don’t make promises I can’t keep, Glens.” He lifted one hand and cupped the side of her neck, his thumb finding the rapid beat of her pulse. “I can’t promise she’s there. I can’t promise they haven’t moved her. But if she’s there, nothing is keeping me from bringing her home to you.”
Glenna closed her eyes. “I don’t care about Petrovic.”
“Neither do I.”
That wasn’t entirely true. He cared a whole fucking lot about Luka Petrovic, the asshole who had put his hands on Kelsey in France and the same bastard who had walked onto Four X’s property and taken her again.
But he didn’t care about him more than he cared about Kelsey.
He’d already told Gunnar that when rage at Sullivan had threatened to drag his focus away from the only thing that mattered, and tonight he was going to prove it.
“I don’t care what happens to him. I don’t care about Sullivan. I don’t care about any of it right now.” Glenna’s voice cracked. “I just want my baby.”
“I know.”
“I need her home.”
“I know.”
Her fingers curled into the webbing on the front of his plate carrier. “Bring her back to me.”
The words scored a direct hit right in the center of his heart. Tyrone bent until his forehead touched hers. “I will.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No.” He forced himself to give her the truth because she deserved that from him. “I don’t know if she’s there, and I don’t know exactly what we’re walking into. But our intel puts Petrovic at that property. If Kelsey is there, I will get to her.”
Glenna’s fingers tightened. “And if she isn’t?”
“Then I find out where they moved her, and I keep going.” He waited until her eyes opened. “I won’t stop until she’s home, Glens. I swear it.”
A tear escaped and rolled down her cheek, and Tyrone caught it with his thumb. Glenna stared at him for a long moment before she nodded. “Okay.”
Behind them, Gunnar’s voice cut through the room. “Zorro.”
Tyrone didn’t turn. “One minute.”
Gunnar nodded in response telling him to take it.
Glenna glanced past Tyrone toward the others. “You have to go.”
“Yeah.”
Her fingers still hadn’t released his carrier, and his hand hadn’t left her neck.
“Come back, too.”
There it was. She wasn’t just asking him to bring Kelsey home; she was asking him to bring himself back, too.
Tyrone went completely still. Glenna’s eyes filled again, but her voice didn’t shake this time.
“I need you to bring her home, but I need you to come back with her.”
His heart slammed once against his breastbone. “I got you,” he murmured.
Her fingers tightened. “And I got you.”
Same words she’d given him earlier, but they carried a different fucking weight now.
Tyrone lowered his mouth to hers. There wasn’t anything gentle about the first second of it because fear had stripped them both too raw for gentle, and Glenna kissed him like she could make his mission a success by the sheer force of her kiss.
Tyrone gave it back because he needed one fucking thing to carry into the dark that wasn’t rage, then forced himself to ease away before staying became harder than leaving. Her forehead returned to his.
“Before dawn,” she whispered.
“If she’s there,” he reminded her. “If she’s there. I’ll put her in your arms myself.”
Glenna nodded, and this time when Tyrone stepped back, she let him go. He hated the sudden absence of her hands.
“Grizzly.” Remi’s voice pulled everyone’s attention back toward TOC. “Ground gets you close without advertising you’re coming. Bird’s available if you need it. Grady’s standing by to fly.”
Gunnar looked toward Marco. “Midas, LZ?”
Marco stepped closer to the map and indicated the vineyard bordering the range. “That’s the cleanest one I’ve got. Plenty of room to put her down, and the approach is workable.”
Gunnar nodded once. “Ground for infil. Bird stays contingency. Zipper, keep Horizon on standby unless I call for him.”
“Copy,” Remi said.
That kept Marco exactly where Tyrone wanted him, on the ground with the assault element, while Grady Montreux gave them an air option without forcing Midas to abandon the team halfway through the mission. If Grizzly called for the helicopter, Horizon would fly it and meet them at the vineyard LZ.
Gunnar looked toward Remi and Jorja. “TOC stays on the vehicle tracker. Anything changes, I want it immediately.”
“You’ll have it,” Jorja said.
Remi adjusted his headset. From the moment the team stepped outside, he wasn’t simply Remi anymore. He was Zipper, sitting at the center of the information flow while Grizzly took the ground element into the dark.
Gunnar touched his comms. “TOC, Grizzly. Comms check.”
“Grizzly, TOC,” Remi’s voice came immediately through Tyrone’s earpiece. “I got you.”
Gunnar swept his gaze across the men. Radar.
Lego. Nemo. Midas. Mojo. Zorro. Zombie stood tight against Talon’s leg, vested and ready, his attention fixed on his handler while every man around him carried the same hard focus Tyrone had seen before more missions than he cared to count.
They had gone out together plenty of times before, but never for one of their children.
“Let’s roll, boys.”
Chairs moved, weapons settled against armor, and the atmosphere changed in a heartbeat.
Tyrone looked back at Glenna. Petra had moved up beside her, thankfully close enough to catch her if her legs gave out, but Glenna’s eyes remained locked on him. Only him.
He settled his helmet into place. “Let’s go get my girl.”