Chapter Twenty-One
“Fuck,” Brain muttered. “This is completely out of hand.”
Trigger couldn’t agree more. Not only was his team there, and another Delta Force team headed by Ghost, but the Texas Rangers, FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. The Killeen local police had also shown up in droves.
There were too many people, not enough action, and all eyes were on Grover’s house.
Not only that, but somehow this already FUBAR’d situation had gone from bad to worse when Sierra had gotten herself inserted into the middle of the shit show. She was supposed to be safe at his house with Gillian, but no—she ran up to the back door and walked right in.
No one had any idea what was going on inside that house. They didn’t know if Grover was still alive or what the Strong Foot Militia hoped to accomplish.
Trigger heard a commotion behind him. He turned to see that a news van had somehow gotten past the outer perimeter and was barreling down the driveway toward them.
The last thing they needed was for this standoff to be broadcast live on television and the internet for everyone to see.
“They planned this,” Lucky muttered in disgust, staring at the house.
“Yeah, they absolutely did,” Trigger agreed, turning his attention back toward getting Grover and Sierra out of the house safely. He’d let the FBI deal with the media.
“But for what?” Doc asked.
“And what the hell is going on in there?” Lefty muttered.
That was the ten million dollar question.
If it had been up to the Delta team, they would’ve stormed the house already. The dozen or so militia members were no match for them, especially with Ghost’s team there as well. But minutes before they’d planned to storm the house, the FBI showed up and they’d been forced to meet. Meanwhile, with every minute that passed, Grover could be in big trouble. And the addition of Sierra meant they now needed to act with even more caution.
The phone on Trigger’s hip vibrated, and he cursed. He didn’t have time to deal with whoever was calling him. But because he knew Gillian and the others would be scared out of their mind—and it wasn’t as if they were actively doing anything at the moment, much to his disgust—Trigger pulled out his phone.
Glancing at it, expecting to see Gillian’s name on the display, he was somewhat surprised to see that whoever was calling had blocked their number. It could’ve been just about anyone from the base at that point. Trigger wouldn’t be surprised if it was the damn President calling to see what the hell was going on.
“Trigger,” he said as he answered.
“Is this as big a shit show as it seems to be?”
For just a second, Trigger thought he was hearing things. He turned and took a step away from the group of ATF agents who were standing nearby. “Grover?” he asked incredulously.
“I’d appreciate it if you can keep everyone from burning down my damn house,” his friend said in frustration.
“Holy shit, man! Where are you? Are you all right? Do they know you’re calling me?”
“In my media room using my satellite phone. Yes. And no.”
Trigger motioned to his team, and they all moved even farther away from the chaos unfolding on Grover’s front lawn. “Talk to me,” Trigger ordered.
“The team there?” Grover asked.
“Of course.”
“Right, so here’s what I know…”
For the next five minutes, Trigger listened as Grover gave them all the information he had on the men inside the house, and what they’d planned.
“Holy shit!”
“Yeah, and the kicker is, Cory’s the only one who knows this is a suicide mission. The other guys just think they’re here to get attention and they’ll end up in jail by the end of the night,” Grover said in disgust.
“And Sierra?”
“I have no idea what she thinks, but she’s the one who made it possible for me to be talking to you right now. She convinced Cory it would be a good idea to stash me away.”
“In your media room. Where you have a communications system and weapons under every damn chair,” Brain said, incredulous.
“Yup. When I gave her a tour of the house, I showed her all my hiding places. She’s fucking incredible—but I’m gonna beat her ass when you get us out of here. Trigger?”
“Yeah, man. What’s up?”
“I’m gonna do as much as I can from here, but I need you to cover Sierra. Cory’s gonna be pissed when he realizes his plan isn’t working.”
“Of course.”
“I can’t live without her,” Grover said gruffly.
“And you won’t have to.”
“Don’t let them blow up my house,” he said. “When that fucking RPG goes off, people are gonna lose their minds. Cory’s definitely right about that.”
“We’ll take care of it,” Trigger promised. “After we make sure the FBI knows what the plan is, and we’re sure they aren’t going to interfere, we’re gonna come in fast and hot. I’ll give you a heads up when it’s about to go down.”
“Sierra went upstairs.”
“Yeah, we saw her,” Trigger said. “Your woman’s a hell of an actress. She was crying and yelling through an open window.”
“It’s all fake,” Grover said.
“We know,” Trigger reassured him.
“But do the other four hundred and fifty-two people out there know?” Grover asked.
It was a good question, but a moot one at this point. Whether or not Sierra’s tears were real and what she was doing wasn’t important right now. What was important was taking off the head of the snake. The team had done it before, many times, most recently with Shahzada in Afghanistan. Grover had suggested that once Cory was out of the equation, the rest of the men would quickly back down.
Trigger believed him.
“I hate not knowing what’s happening,” Grover said.
“This is gonna be over soon,” Trigger said. “Give me a bit of time to talk to Ghost, the ATF, and FBI. I’ve already got a plan.”
“Famous last words,” Grover joked.
Trigger took a deep breath. If his friend could make a joke at a time like this—when Sierra, his house, and literally his life was at stake—everything was going to work out. He knew it.
“I’ll be in touch. In the meantime, lie low.”
“I don’t have a choice,” Grover complained. With a sigh, he added, “They’re young and dumb kids, Trigger. Don’t forget, they have no idea they were set up on a suicide mission.”
“I know,” his friend said. “We’re gonna do everything possible to not make this a lethal takedown.”
What Trigger didn’t say was that if someone was dumb enough to fire on them, all bets were off. Grover would already know.
“Call me back in fifteen minutes and I’ll have an update,” Trigger said. “We’ve got your back, Grover.”
“Ten-four.”
Trigger hung up the phone and turned to his team, giving orders. They had a lot of people to talk to in a short period of time. The sun was quickly sinking below the horizon, and if Grover was right—and of course he was right—Cory would be itching to use that damn RPG. Everyone needed to be on the same page when that happened, otherwise everything could literally go up in flames right in front of their faces.