She’s not scared for herself or her father, but for me. I cross the room, and the second I reach her, she wraps both arms tightly around my waist like she’s been holding herself together by sheer force of will until now. I wrap around her just as tightly and press my lips to the top of her head. “You’re going to stay here with Gunnar. I trust him with my life.” I look at him across the room. “And more importantly, I trust him with yours.”
When I loosen my embrace, her grip tightens, unwilling to let me go.
“I’m coming back, trouble.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“No.” I cup Mackenzi’s face gently, my thumbs brush softly across her cheeks. “But Icanpromise I’ll do everything possible to make it back to you.”
Her lips tremble faintly before she nods.
I kiss her slowly. Deep enough to feel her melt against me and long enough that leaving afterward almost feels impossible. When I finally pull away, I rest my forehead briefly against hers. “I love you.” Before she has a chance to respond, I force myself to walk away before I lose the ability to.
I glance at Gunnar as I walk from the room. “Take care of her.”
“As if she were my own.” Gunnar solemnly nods.
The drive to the warehouse takes forty-three minutes. We’ve all been to this rodeo before. Nobody wastes forty-three minutes pretending this is just another operation. Hawk spends most of the drive on a call with Reese, his voice quieter than usual. Jagger talks to Blake and his kids for long enough to tell them goodnight without making it sound like it’s his last one.
I stare at my phone for almost twenty minutes before finally calling Gabriel. He doesn’t answer, not that I expect him to. I haven’t managed to get a response to a call or text since he basically told me to stay the hell out of his life. And honestly, he had every right to.
The voicemail tone sounds in my ear, and I grip the phone tighter. “Hey… It’s me.” My throat feels rough. “You don’t have to call back. I just…” I glance out the window at the black highway sliding past us, trying to find the right words and finding there aren’t any. “I know things are fucked right now. I know you hate me. But I’m sorry for how everything happened.” Silence stretches for a second before I force the rest out. “I just wanted to hear your voice tonight. Be safe and…” I swallow hard. “Goodnight, kid.”
I hang up before I can say anything else.
Rain starts as we approach. Drizzle at first, but quickly falling more heavily. By the time we pull into position two blocks from the compound, water streaks across the windshield hard enough to blur the entire world outside into smears of light and shadow. It’s the perfect cover.
Hawk kills the engine. “Visual?”
Jagger lifts binoculars from the center console. “Two guards outside. One elevated near the east entrance.”
“Movement inside?”
“Minimal.” Mattis’s voice crackles through the satellite phone.
We gear up quickly and check our comms one final time.
Rain drenches us when we exit the vehicle, soaking through our clothes and tactical gear within seconds. We move through the alleyways toward the compound perimeter, the warehouse looming larger with every step.
Jagger crouches near the rear fence, cutting through the chain links quietly, while Hawk scans the upper windows through his rifle scope.
“No movement.”
“Too easy,” I chime, my adrenaline already pumping.
After cutting through the fence, our boots stomp across the dark gravel, splashing through puddles on the uneven terrain. Thunder rumbles overhead as we move silently toward the loading entrance.
One guard rounds the corner unexpectedly. He barely has time to inhale, my knife sliding cleanly along his throat before he can make a sound. I lower the body silently to the ground while blood swirls into the rainwater beneath him.
Hawk nods once toward the loading door.
“Breach.”
Jagger plants the charge quickly, arming the charge and counting down with his fingers.
Three.
Two.
