Page 56 of Deadly Alliance

“Fine.”

He cut the call and looked at Lance as they pulled up in the cul-de-sac next to where he had lived with Emme this last week. He knew he should not take the lead on this. “What’s the plan?”

“Suit up and wait for Owen to arrive with more firepower and comms, then we go in quiet. I don’t want to give this bitch the chance to kill anyone else, especially one of our own. Nobody else dies by this bitch’s hand.”

A car rounded the corner, and sure enough, it was Owen and Nate. Nate was the Fortis sniper and ex-parachute regiment. Owen and Nate loped over to them, loaded down with comms and firepower. Luckily this cul-de-sac was still under construction, or they would have had the local police on their asses in no time with this happening right outside the door.

“What’s the plan?” Owen asked.

Lance raised an eyebrow as everyone deferred to him. He recovered quickly though. “Nate, can you get yourself in position for a shot as soon as we get eyes on her? If you get the shot, we need to take this bitch out. Jace, I want you with me to go around the back. Shane and Owen will approach from the side.”

The men nodded and in no time were ready to go.

“Guys, we have a problem!” Will said through the comms. Shane felt his heart skip a beat.

“What?” he barked.

“The mic is picking up loud and clear and the good news is Emme is alive, the bad news is Long has her strapped to a kitchen chair in the lounge with explosives wrapped around her, from what I can understand it is a highly sophisticated device and will need a specialist in this field.”

Shane felt bile rush up his throat and nearly gagged with the paralysing fear that went with it. “Jesus fucking Christ,” he whispered. He felt a steady hand on his bicep and turned to Owen.

“You good?” he asked and Shane nodded as he got himself back under control.

“I have Zack with me, and he’s sending over a friend of his called Kingsley Knight. He’s an ex-Royal Navy Fleet Diver and will be able to handle the explosives. But you need to deal with Long first.”

“Copy that,” Lance replied. “Let’s get this done so the frogman can disengage the bomb.”

Shane followed Owen to the edge of the street, and they saw the car Long had used parked at a haphazard angle outside the house. The abandoned vehicle further showed the woman’s unstable mental state. Owen and Shane disappeared behind the house through the garden next door as Nate made his way to the tree line that overlooked the house. Shane was thankful for the flimsy voile curtains on the living room window that he had previously hated. Hopefully, with his powerful sniper scope, Nate would be able to get a visual easier and make the shot through them.

The door to the front was locked, but he still had his key and wondered if he should use it or if it was rigged.

“I have a visual,” Owen confirmed.

“Sitrep!” Lance replied.

“Target is pacing in front of the hostage and waving her arms around. She has the trigger in one hand and a gun in the other. Hostage is unharmed at this stage and is remaining calm.”

Well done, sweetheart.

“I’m in position and have a visual. I will take the shot on your command,” Nate added.

Shane knew there would be no shots taken while that trigger was in her hand. He needed Emme to help them out on this one.

* * *

Emme neededto buy some time. Maybe when she didn’t check in with Lucy like she was supposed to, it would raise the alarm.

“So, what did Bea do to piss you off?” she asked.

The woman spun around to face her—she wasn’t that old probably early forties and quite pretty. What had happened to make her like this? Nobody started off bad, and it saddened her that people went off the rails as they did.

“She did what everyone does—she underestimated me. Thought that I wasn’t good enough to join her little gang. Well, guess who had the last laugh. Bet she thinks I’m good enough now.” She laughed but it wasn’t a happy sound, in fact, it was the saddest sound Emme had ever heard.

“Who else did?”

“Who else did what?”

“Who else underestimated you?” Emme said tipping her head to the side to make herself seem more interested.