“Fine. Are we only extracting Pike on this mission?”
“Yes,” Silas confirmed.
“Why?” Taylor asked. “This is a pretty remote place, and we could save them all.”
“We could,” Ben agreed. “Instead, we’re going to solidify Jake’s position inside and use it to our advantage.”
“The only people we’ve managed to get this far on the inside have been Verndari allies,” Silas noted.
“Problem with them was that we weren’t sure who we could actually trust,” Painter added.
“Exactly. This is the first opportunity we’ve had to really get one of our guys in there,” Silas said.
“So he’s one of us now?” Ben asked with a smartass smirk on his face.
Silas ignored him. “We need this. So Pike only. In and out, boys.”
Taylor never corrected him when he said things like that. We were all brothers, period, and that included her. Of course, we knew she was a girl, but in the unit, none of that mattered. She was just one of the guys.
“What’s the plan?” I asked.
As Painter took the helm and orchestrated our rescue mission, I was disappointed to find I would be relegated to a last resort. The plan was to sneak in, acquire our target, and get back out undetected if at all possible.
Having Jake on the inside meant we weren’t blind. As long as the guy didn’t turn tail on us, then we had eyes and could actually manage a stealth extraction.
“I’m still prepping for worst case scenario,” I argued.
“Jake’s not going to let us down,” Ben assured me.
I sighed. I’d been away from my girls for far too long. Nearly a week had passed as we watched and waited to give Jake time to get in with his cover. From the info he was able to get out to us fully encrypted, even Tarron had been impressed.
“Baine. I know you’re disappointed that we won’t be blowing anything up today, but I’m going to let you channel some of that extra energy later anyways,” Silas surprised me by saying. “You’re going in with Grant and Painter. Your objective, disable Jake.”
“What?” Ben asked alarmed.
“He’s undercover, Shay. He’s the new kid and the one they’ll most easily suspect. Plus, he’s already arranged it so he’s covering Pike along with another guy. Disable them. Leaving our boy unconscious would be best.”
I sighed. I liked to blow stuff up, not hurt people, but I quietly nodded.
“No permanent damage,” Ben reminded me.
“Understood.”
Within the hour we were geared up and ready to move. Ben, Tarron, and Taylor left first to give them time to get into position. I was surprised to find Silas going in with us. As leader, he often stayed back, usually with Tarron to orchestrate things. Today, Taylor was calling the shots.
I sent Grant a concerned look, but he just shrugged, clearly just as confused as I was.
We were all quiet as we took off into the woods. Since Jake had taken the car we’d arrived in, that left us with only the SUV which Tarron and Taylor had set up for surveillance. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but we were all making the most of the things we had. Getting back to Clan territory with Pike was going to be a tight squeeze.
We kept a steady pace as we jogged towards our target. A lesser group would have been wiped out by the time we reached the fence, but Silas trained us all for this every day. Had the rest of the team been with us, they’d have kept up as well. Even though Ben and Tarron almost always observed from afar, Bravo Team kept everyone physically ready for anything.
None of us had even broke a sweat, despite having just run three miles to reach our destination.
“I have you in sight,” Ben confirmed.
“Hold,” Taylor said.
We waited until we got clearance to proceed. When I first started this gig, it was really weird having them in my ear all the time. Now it was odder when they stayed quiet. It made me fear the worst.
My heartrate increased and I could feel the adrenaline starting to kick in as we waited.
“All clear,” Tarron said.
“Proceed,” Taylor confirmed.
Painter went first as he stopped at the fence and carefully and quickly sliced through the metal. He rolled through and held one side back as the rest of us followed. When he put the fence back into place you could barely tell there was a breech. That was the level of expertise we had on the force.
Silas led the way himself as he ran to the side door. Grant stayed back to cover the area knowing that Ben would alert them to any obvious threats. When I reached the door, I turned around pulling my rifle to the ready and swept the area watching Grant’s back until we were reunited.
Silas moved to go first, but Painter stopped him. It was our job to protect our leader. It was clear the big grumpy gorilla wasn’t thrilled by it, but we weren’t in a place to argue. There would no doubt be hell to pay for it later.
Painter disappeared into the building followed by Silas, then me. Grant brought up the rear.
“Left then right at the end of the hall,” Taylor commanded.
We moved without so much as a sound.
“Pause,” Tarron said. I could hear him tapping away at his computer. “Go fast.”
They were running infrared surveillance on the building and could tell where every person was based on heat signatures.
“Alert and flatten,” Taylor said as we pressed against the wall with weapons drawn. My rifle now hung on my chest with pistol in hand. It was a better combat weapon indoors.
I held my breath and tried not to make a sound as footsteps drew closer. When a voice spoke the hair on my arms stood up. I knew that voice. It was Trevor Daniels. He made a disgruntled sound and then pivoted and walked away just before reaching the corridor we were standing in.
Time seemed to drag out before Taylor finally gave us the okay to proceed again. One more right, two doors down on the left.
Things were going too smoothly. It made me feel unsettled. On top of that, my bear was close to the surface and agitated when we walked into the room and saw Pike strapped to a table and half conscious.
Grant pulled his gun up and aimed it for the guy with Jake. Painter’s was already targeting Jake.
“Don’t even think about making a move if you want to live through this,” I said when the second man started to dive for a hail Mary attempt at sounding the alarm.
He froze and raised his hands into the air. “You’ll never get away with this,” he said seething of hate.
Silas took his rifle and slammed it into the back of the man’s head. He went down with a loud thud.
“You going to give us any trouble?” he asked Jake.
Jake looked at the man and then back up to Silas as he shrunk back. We were 99% certain we had all the cameras disabled, but just in case, we knew we were all playing a role.
Jake moved to cover Pike with his body, as if he was trying to stop us from taking him. That was my cue. It was clear he wasn’t expecting it either as his eyes registered surprise when my right hook slammed into the side of his face causing him to fall backwards into the table Pike was strapped to. I didn’t stop either. My bear was too aware of our former Alpha’s state and I nearly lost control as I pounded into him over and over.
“We’re not trying to kill him, Baine,” Taylor warned.