Page 52 of Mitch

Jack lifted a fist, and they all stopped, hunkering low on the perimeter of the farm closest to the warehouse which housed the suspected chemical weapons. A group of six vehicles drove in and over twenty-five men walked out of the warehouse and got into the cars before they drove away into the night. That left just four guards on the outside, the heat signatures confirmed by Will.

Mitch waited while Jack checked his watch. The plan was to wait until everyone was in position and hit them all at once. Hench, Anton, and Midas had been confirmed going into the Cobras, if Linton was there it was a bonus. Still, he’d hardly left his mansion which was six clicks east of here in a fucking gated community.

It was impossible with their limited manpower to hit all three locations, and the priority right now was to grab Hench, Midas, and Anton because without his lieutenants Linton would come out in the open where he’d be exposed, and they could grab him as well. That he hadn’t left the house in two days was good in that they at least knew where the fucker was.

“On my count.” Jack crouched his fist raised. “Go.”

They were moving fast, keeping low to the ground as Mitch and Waggs moved off to the left to cover the rear exit. As he stepped into the light, he heard the explosion from the front of the building, set off by Pyro and heard the commotion as the guards went running. As expected, two of them moved to the back door and began firing.

Mitch held back with Waggs four feet to his left returning fire. He could hear as Liam and Jack engaged the guards near the front. A bullet hit close to his right, the wood splintering and bouncing off his helmet before his bullet hit true and the first man went down from a headshot. The plan was they would take some of the men alive and question them.

“One down,” he called over the comms.

Waggs hit the second, managing a leg shot as Mitch rushed forward and kicked the gun clear before Waggs bound his hands and legs after a quick check of the wound.

“He’ll be fine, it’s just a flesh wound.”

The sounds of Jack and Liam taking the others out flew over the comms. Happy that the guard was secure, Mitch eased his way inside, lifting his goggles as the harsh lights almost blinded him. The inside the of the space was like a production line, with stations set up containing scales and other drug paraphernalia as they moved towards the front where Liam and Jack were clearing the stacked boxes of any threats. Mitch saw more evidence of cocaine, including a multitude of different distribution methods.

“Look!”

Waggs pointed towards an office space on the second level which was accessed by a mezzanine and gallery area. Most probably an overseer would watch from the there. No cameras had been detected inside, and the lack of guards worried him. Something didn’t sit right with this.

Mitch walked up the metal gridded steps and to the office space where he found a locked door.

“Break it open,” Jack demanded, and they all stepped back while Liam did the honours.

The lock gave after a few attempts with an axe and what they saw made him shudder. Fridges full of chemicals, centrifuges, syringes, glass burettes, cylinders, not to mention Hydrogen Cyanide, Methylamine, atropine and pralidoxime chloride—it was a fucking nightmare.

“This looks like a loaded weapon.” Jack spun, his face frowning. “But it’s not enough. This could harm a hundred people, but the volumes they’ve been buying would be enough to knock out a football stadium.”

Liam frowned. “You think we’re too late?”

“Or too early.” Jack walked to the desk flicking through the papers. “Let’s get all this photographed for evidence and get these two assholes back to base for questioning.”

Waggs cocked his head. “We gonna leave the drugs?”

“For now. I don’t think this is what we’re looking for. I think this is a dummy warehouse.”

“You mean a second base?” Mitch asked dread settling in his belly like a stone.

“Not sure but this feels wrong.” Jack waved his hand in the air. “Let’s move. I don’t want to be here longer than necessary.”

He wasn’t sure if it was Jack’s words or his actions, but Mitch was on edge as he took pictures of everything in the make-shift lab. Not even hearing that Alex’s team had secured Anton, Midas, and Hench made the unease leave his chest.

They walked the two prisoners back through the farmland, the dead bodies of the other two carried between them. A clean-up crew they used would collect them and do what was needed which usually involved a faked accident in these cases.

Eidolon never regretted the lives they took to keep the world safe, but they tried to make sure that it was more comfortable on the families if they could. These men had been nothing but paid pawns, and their families shouldn’t suffer for that.

Tipping the dead men into the boot, they secured the other two and headed back towards the helo. They would liaise with a contact from SIS, the secret intelligence service, and then head home. Until then, they had a safehouse they could use twenty miles out from here in the middle of an industrial estate. It was an ex-trap house, disused for years, so Eidolon had bought it and made it secure.

Once the clean-up crew had taken the bodies, Mitch checked his watch, wondering if it was too early to call Autumn. He was surprised to see it was already eight am. He knew she might be on her way to work with Aubrey. It was weird that he missed her so much after only one night apart, but it was the truth. He shot her a quick text to say good morning and tell her he and everyone were safe and well and smiled when his phone rang in his hand, her name on the display.

“Hey.”

“Hi, is everyone really okay?”

“Would I lie to you?”