Page 92 of Scars Run Deep

It would all end soon.

And I’d make damn sure that happened on our terms at long last.

13

~Aurora~

At least this time it wasn’t raining like a bitch of a thing.

The night was still.

Eerily so.

Or, maybe the eerie part was just something I was seeing it as with what lay ahead, and what awaited me and Asher inside the active dollhouse of Site T.

It was another middle-of-nowhere location, just like my father’s intel had cited. Four days ago, we’d spent that entire day strategizing down to every little detail, Asher refusing to leave anything to chance.

While he was extremely accomplished at burying emotion—nervousness in this case—the fact that he’d pushed it and been so determined to account for every little thing was an insight into just how concerned he was about what we were embarking on tonight.

He knew the stakes and he definitely wasn’t taking that lightly.

Beyond the black tactical gear that blended seamlessly into our immediate environment and the dark of night, we were donning balaclavas, and Asher had even gone the extra step of wearing brown contacts to hide his unique silver eyes. Unique, except when it came to his father who shared the same, something that risked giving Asher away, and his involvement in tearing down his own father’s empire.

As I finished up sending the necessary commands on my tablet, and stowed it away inside my backpack, I tapped my earpiece and communicated to Asher, “Security cameras are on a loop. And I have eyes on.”

“Hostiles and hostages locations?”

“Four guards on the main floor—two in the living room, one in the entranceway, one in the kitchen. Two more guards outside each of the two bedrooms. One of the guys we identified as a trainer is inside Bedroom 1 with eight hostages. The other trainer is in the kitchen with another hostage. Ten more hostages in Bedroom 2.”

“Roger that,” he responded. “Move into position.”

I gave my confirmation and approached the two-story brick house, breaking my cover of the trees surrounding the property line.

I pulled the explosive devices out from the pockets of my tactical vest as I went.

I caught sight of Asher doing the same, approaching from the north west side, while I was taking the south east.

As soon as I reached the building, I planted the devices, securing them to the wall, which Jonah’s alterations to the tech had made possible without having to drill through brick, which would’ve surely drawn attention to us and given us away before we’d even begun.

I set the charges as we’d discussed, connecting them to the frequency of the remote detonator that Asher had on his person.

“Explosives set,” I reported, moving to the rear porch by the kitchen door.

Before I could make it all the way there, a skirmish over by Asher pulled me up short, and l looked to see him lunging forward just as the guard who’d been inside the entryway came out with a smoke in hand. He’d already fired it up before he’d stepped outside and Asher snatched it from him, then drove the lit thing into the guy’s mouth. He clamped his hand over his mouth as he struggled, muffling his squeals of pain and panic. A glint of metal caught my eye a moment before Asher sliced a tactical knife across the guy’s throat, ripping his flesh open. Blood sprayed as he drove deep, severing his carotid artery. He couldn’t even scream with Asher’s iron grip around his mouth with his free hand, holding him at his mercy as the life drained out of him and he choked to death on the cigarette and his own blood.

Asher released him as the guy’s body started to collapse in death, and then he hauled him away from the front door.

As he spun his blade in his hand and then holstered it, drawing his gun and cocking it instead, he swung his head and caught my eye.

His eyes were black.

He was in that dangerous headspace.

As we connected through the dark, I saw it subside a little, and he gave me a chin lift, before my earpiece buzzed and he communicated, “Don’t veer off mission. I’m going to create a distraction. Screams will be your signal to move in via the kitchen. Take out the hostiles, secure the hostage, then head to Bedroom 2.”

“I’m on mission,” I assured him.

That was all he needed to hear, and I watched him disappear into the house the way that hostile had come.

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