Page 151 of Unseen Danger

Now.

She jerked up and threw an elbow jab into his face.

He yelled, grabbing his nose as she rapidly pushed off his hips and launched backward to her feet.

She shuffled back, then turned and sprinted for the stairs.

“Hey!” His shout couldn’t catch her.

Her gaze locked on the light under the door as she ran up the steps. She could make it.

The door swung open. “What’s—” A bearded man stood in the bright doorway. With a gun.

He lifted the weapon, aiming it at her face. “Don’t think you’re supposed to be up here.”

Forty-Two

“Coms check.” Cora looked at Branson before he could close the back doors of the souped-up van she’d driven him in. She pointed to her ear.

He switched on the earpiece she’d given him. “What’s my call signal?”

“You’ll be F1.”

“F?”

“Freelancer.” She smiled. “For you, Rem, and Kent. Phoenix is Team Leader. Sofia, Jazz, and Bristol are PT1 and so on. I’m Base.”

“Got it.” He glanced at the monitors Cora sat behind in the back of the van. Images came up on the screens as the Phoenix K-9 team members activated the body cams Cora had explained they had.

This operation was even more professional and advanced than he’d realized. No wonder Phoenix had insisted they didn’t need to wait for SWAT. They were the SWAT team.

But now wasn’t the time to gawk. It was time to rescue Nevaeh.

Though he prayed God had already done so. If God hadn’t intervened yet, they would be too late. And if God didn’t give them greater strength and skill than the enemies they were about to face, they could still be too late.

“Help us, Lord.” He whispered the words as he turned away from the van.

“Amen.” Bristol’s voice came through his earpiece.

Had he said that over coms? He glanced back at Cora.

She gave him a warm smile.

He grinned. “Does that count for a coms check?”

“Best one I ever heard.” Sofia’s response carried over coms with a chuckle.

“Aaberg.” Phoenix’s voice behind him nearly made him jump. He’d thought everyone else had already moved out to get in their positions. He had the shorter route since he was attacking the front of the house. At least that’s what Cora had said when she’d persuaded him to wait longer in the van while she checked the bandage on the back of his head.

He faced their leader who stood in the light cast by the nearby streetlight. Her wide stance and unflappable demeanor were the kind that instilled unshakable confidence in her troops.

Her dog adopted a similar stance and expression at her side, his erect ears aimed forward along with his gaze, as if he was looking ahead to the house they were about to breech.

Both Phoenix and her K-9 wore black armored vests like the rest of the team. Cora had been apologetic when she'd told him they didn’t have one in his size, but he couldn’t care less right now.

“Alvarez.” Phoenix turned her head toward the other side of the van just as Branson spotted the leash in her left hand.

Nevaeh’s rottweiler came toward them, passing the van’s bumper to greet Branson with a slight swish of his tail.

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