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“We need to move quickly. I trust all of you to improvise as needed.”
“See?” Devil pointed toward X’s image on the laptop.
“We can handle this,” Blade said, meeting Darren’s gaze.
Darren sighed. “We don’t have a choice.”
Later, when it was fully dark, we scouted out the site one final time, then parked a few blocks away. We tested our comms and divided into two groups. Darren, Blade, and I headed to the back of the building, and Rhys, Devil, and Carlo watched the front.
We crouched down behind a foul-smelling dumpster and waited in silence. It was a testament to how serious Darren was about protecting me that he didn’t complain about the odor. I wasn’t convinced Ahmed would buy the fake intel, but X was, so all we could do was wait it out. I wanted this to work. The thought of waiting through another day to try a second time made me feel sick. The longer we were there, the more chances there were for something to go wrong.
A few moments later, an SUV moved slowly down the street. I tensed. It was Ahmed. I could feel it.
When the vehicle passed the parking lot, Darren looked at me, and I nodded, letting him know I thought it was our targets.
“Watch for an SUV coming your way,” he said over comms.
“Roger that,” Rhys replied. A moment later, he said, “They just drove past.”
I watched the road, every muscle in my body tense and ready to spring. As I’d expected it to, the vehicle returned. This time, it made a slow turn into the parking lot.
I wanted to run out shooting and take them down as they exited the vehicle, but that would be suicidal. I had to wait.
Darren laid a hand on my back. With that simple gesture, I knew he was telling me he understood how hard it was for me to be patient. He knew I preferred to be the one charging in. I hated these waiting games, but going in too early would fuck up everything.
“Eight men heading in the back,” Darren said, his voice just loud enough to be audible.
I studied each of them. Even with only one yellowish streetlight illuminating them, I recognized Ahmed. “The one wearing a gray beanie is Ahmed, and the other man who knows me from the marines, Abdul, is the only one in long sleeves.”
“Roger that. We’ll move in on your signal,” Rhys said as Darren and Blade nodded.
It was all I could do not to wrest control of our part of the mission from Darren. I should be leading this. Submitting to his orders in bed felt natural, but here, in the dark, ready to confront the man who wanted me dead, all my instincts were screaming for me to take charge.
I held back until we saw all the men enter the building. We waited several more minutes, then Darren said, “They’re all in. We’re ready. Let me know when you’re in position.”
We moved silently toward the back entrance where Ahmed and the others had gone in. We didn’t have much time since they weren’t patient enough to wait long for the gunrunners who’d supposedly arranged the meeting. I saw the glow of light coming around the doors. They found the lights themselves, which was one less thing for us to do. The building was only lit by a few bare bulbs on the ceiling, but we were better off seeing our targets even if it meant they could see us too.
“We’re in position,” Rhys said.
“So are we. Let’s go on three.” Darren counted down, and I kicked the door in just as he said three. I heard a clatter as Devil did the same.
Rhys took out one of their men just before an asshole tossed a smoke grenade. Thick clouds of smoke billowed up, blocking our view.
We took what cover we could and waited. Abdul moved toward the side door, and Darren went after him.
When the smoke cleared enough for us to see, another man was missing, but Ahmed was there. We all began firing, and I aimed for Ahmed. My first shot missed, but my second took him down. He twitched once, then went still.
I heard a car engine start and realized the shooting had stopped. Tires squealed as a car peeled away. “You want me to follow whoever that is?” Devil asked.
I shook my head. “As long as Ahmed is here, it doesn’t matter.” I glanced around at the corpses of Ahmed and the others, then realized Carlo was holding his arm as blood ran between his fingers.
Blade ran over to him. “Fuck. Are you okay? Show me.”
Carlo shook his head and kept his hand over the wound. “It’s just a scratch. I’m fine.”
Blade yanked Carlo’s hand away and inspected the scratch for himself. Apparently satisfied Carlo wasn’t dying, he ripped off the bottom of his t-shirt and wrapped it around the wound.
