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It was dusk by the time they pulled up to the plant. It had a substantial gate all around the perimeter, which would have mattered if it weren’t for the fact that the front gate’s chain and padlock weren’t locked. It was an open invitation to anyone.

“They just let anybody come to a kidnapping party these days,” Ryker muttered as he unwound the chain and opened up the gate for Linc to drive through. He waited for him to get to the other side before reattaching everything—once again, not pushing the padlock closed.

It had to have been a big operation in its day, but now the huge parking lot was empty, none of the outdoor lighting was lit, and no lights were showing from the interior of the two-story building. Ryker hopped back into the front seat this time. Linc had his headlights off, and the SUV made hardly any noise. Still, he drove along the perimeter of the gate, not going close to the building.

In the back were loading docks, one was open, but the rest were closed. There was no sign of life or light in the open loading dock bay door. There was also a small stairway up to what looked like a receiving or shipping office, and beside that door, one Mercedes was parked as well as two shit-rods.

“There’s a sign of life,” Linc said as they all took note of the cars.

“Yeah, but still no lights,” Ryker pointed out.

Another fifty yards and there were two outbuildings; neither of them had lights showing either.

“Look.” Linc pointed at the second outbuilding. “That one has blackout shades.”

Ryker took an even closer look. “I see a little bit of light coming out from under that side door.”

“Okay, that has potential,” Kostya agreed. “But before we sink our teeth into that target, I want to finish going around the entire perimeter.”

Ryker gritted his teeth. He knew his lieutenant was right, but he wanted to get this over with before the Kraken arrived.

As soon as Linc came back to the front of the building—and there was still not one spec of light coming from anywhere—they were all agreed on targeting the second outbuilding. They parked their SUV on the east side of the building where it wouldn’t be seen by anyone coming into the plant entrance, nor would it be noticed by anyone from the second outbuilding. They jogged over to the first outbuilding and took a better look at their target. This tall one-story building was maybe a quarter of the size of the plant and looked like it had been used for storage. It had a bay door that could accommodate shipping containers on the north side, windows on the east and west sides that had the blackout curtains, and a regular door on the south side.

Linc tipped his head toward the bay door that hadn’t been visible from their line of sight from the fence. “They’ve left it open. What in the hell?”

“Haven’t you ever worked in a warehouse? They’re hot as hell. Of course you leave a bay door open to get some air circulating,” Ryker said. “And they’ve kindly left more than enough room for me to slide on in there.” He grinned.

“What’s that sound?” Linc asked.

“It sounds like someone is listening to a ball game,” Kostya said as he cocked his head. “That’s good, it means we’ll take them by surprise.” He looked down at his watch. “Kraken should be here in the next five or ten minutes. I want us out of here by then. Nolan,” Kostya bit out, “how’s it coming with the bomb?”

“Almost there,” Nolan answered.

“We need it diffused before Frank shows up,” Kostya said tightly.

“I know,” Nolan bit out.

“Okay, good luck,” Kostya said. “Linc, you take the west window that’s showing the light, I’ll take the door, Ryker you just slide on in. Acquire targets, then go on my orders.”

“Understood.”

Ryker ran silently to the bay door and slid onto his side, his rifle pointing into the storage building. He did a quick scan. He saw two closed-off rooms at the back wall where Linc would be. It had to be the supervisor's office and the bathroom. Other than that, it was a big open room with two shipping containers stacked up on one side and two shipping containers stacked up on the other. There was a top-of-the-line television set that was facing away from Ryker. Two reclining chairs were set up in front of it. Must be for the Polat brothers. Both chairs were occupied. Based on the glare that was reflecting onto the two yahoos in the chairs, they probably wouldn’t even notice if he rolled right in, stood right up, and waved hello.

“I have two oblivious targets seated in reclining chairs in front of a TV. Nobody else, no sign of the kids.” Ryker reported.

“I see the same ones, no sign of the kids,” Linc stated.

“I want them alive. On my count,” Kostya said. “Three, two, one, go!”

Ryker rolled in farther and depressed the trigger on his rifle. Once. Twice. Each man was now clutching a knee that would never work again.

Kostya came in through the door with Linc coming in behind him. Ryker kept his rifle trained on the two men clutching their knees. One was now on the floor, writhing and sobbing, trying to reach a gun lying two feet from his hands. The other was still upright in his chair. Ryker watched as he picked up his beer from the table between the two chairs with a very shaky hand and brought it to his lips.

Another shot rang out, jarring Ryker. “What the hell?” he asked.

“One came out of the bathroom, tried to kill Kostya,” Linc said. “He’s dead.”

Ryker moved forward, his rifle in front of him. He kicked the pistol away from the crying man on the floor, then he moved to the man in the chair.