Page 79 of Thaddeus

The sour turned a little sweet, but mostly I was just feeling queasy at the thought. Not because that wasn’t what I wanted—but because I was afraid to hope.

“We’ll see.” She laughed. “I know I’m right. It took Brooks less than that. And by the way, I only take cash so be ready. No checks or debit cards are taken.”

If Tatiana was right, I’d gladly cash in some of my stocks to give her the fifty dollars. After all, that was all I had left. Everything else was in a pile of ash.

And it felt fucking wonderful.

Thad

“Thad, you have movement to your three o’clock,” Max’s voice crackled through my earpiece.

“Copy that.” My gaze swung in the direction he’d alerted me to.

“Fighting age, male,” I returned.

“What’s he doing?” Declan asked. “I don’t have a visual.”

“Taking a leak,” I returned. Then to Brooks. “He’s patrolling. We need to go to plan B and go in soft. You blow that door, we’re announcing we’re here.”

“Agreed,” Brooks said. “You takin’ him or am I?”

“I am. You call in the mission shift. Give me two shakes.”

“Copy that.”

Getting to my knees from the place Brooks and I were lying, our location was concealed in the thick underbrush. I silently stood, and instead of moving directly to the man, I went left, staying hidden in the trees for as long as I could. I pulled my Ontario MK3 knife from its sheath and stepped behind the man. Before he could shake and tuck himself back into his pants, my six-inch hardened blade was pressed against his throat, and with a swift slice he was done.

I gently laid him at my feet, swiped the knife-edge on my cargos, smearing the man’s blood on the material, and I waited for Brooks to join me.

Through all of that, I heard Brooks over my earpiece telling Declan there had been a change of plans. With a tap on my shoulder, I turned in Brooks direction. He gave a nod and we were ready to engage.

“You’re clear to move,” Max told us.

“It’s so fucking bright out here I can see shadows,” Brooks grumbled.

He was not wrong. The full moon allowed us to navigate without night vision, but provided us no cover of darkness as we took the remaining distance to the house.

Once we were at the back door, Brooks pulled his knife and expertly jimmied the lock. Breaching any building always came with a pucker-factor. Even with the best intel, it was dangerous as fuck. Not knowing the layout of the house, or how many occupants, or what kind of firepower they had, had my ass cheeks clenching.

The hope here was, as soon as we entered this house, the noise we’d make would draw any guards out of the second house and Max could pick them off as they ran across the yard to aid their brethren.

That was the hope. The reality was, the other guards could be smart enough to stay inside the second house and shoot at us through the windows.

The human factor wasn’t something you could predict. You never knew what a desperate dumbass would do. Experience told me they’d run across the yard like a bunch of idiots, spraying bullets as they went.

“We’re in business,” Brooks announced.

“When you’re ready,” Declan returned. “We’re in place.”

Which meant he and Kyle were right behind us.

Brooks’ hand went to the door, and on an exhale, I readied myself. He turned the knob and slowly pushed. The door creaked a sound so loud in the silence of the night, I was surprised it hadn’t woken the dead.

Nothing.

We stepped into the house, and I quickly lowered my NVGs down, now tinting the dark room in green. The living room in front of us had two worn sofas and a table, but was devoid of occupants. The kitchen beyond that had a table, and the countertops and sink were full of dishes, trash, and other miscellaneous shit that was sure to draw in an abundance of jungle bugs. In a word, it was a shithole.

There were no doors dividing what could be assumed were the bedrooms. Instead tattered sheets hung for privacy.