Page 287 of Unexpected Hero

It takes all my fucking strength not to rush the house to find my girl.

But still, I wait.

Somehow, a calmer head prevails. Last thing I want to do is cause someone to be taken hostage because I rushed in recklessly. And I’ll be damned if I risk Lettie getting hit in the crossfire.

Mia positions the team strategically, constructing a solid infil plan on the fly. With one ear pressed to the door, I listen to what’s going on in the rest of the house.

The team calls out updates over the comms. Shep and Jonesy enter the window on the other side of the residence just like I did. Junior finds a small bathroom window for ingress from the rear of the house.Klein and Aaron join me in the northwest bedroom.

We’re surrounding our prey, working like a pack on the hunt.

I mute my microphone, attempting to calm the girl who woke up. With three males suddenly looking at her, all of us clad in military tactical gear and balaclavas hiding our faces, she’s terrified.

“Hey. Easy there. We’re not going to hurt you,” I tell her.

Hope coats her shaky voice.“Are you SWAT?”

“Not quite. But we will disable the enemy and extricate you.” I shake my head and correct, “We’re going to round up the bad guys, then get you and the other girls out safely. There are more of us on the other side of the house.”

A gush of air passes her lips, and her chin quivers as tears she can’t fight back escape. “Really? You promise?”

“We promise, little mama,” Aaron adds from over my shoulder in a more soothing tone than I can muster. “You’re going home tonight. We need you to be quiet now, okay? The lights are gonna go off in a minute. Don’t be scared. Just stay in here.”

She nods, silently sobbing.

I turn on my microphone, focusing more on the comms now that we’re all in position. Shep and Jonesy appear to be having a similar conversation with another captive on the other side of the house.

Another one who’s not my sugar bear.

I glance back at the young girl in the corner. “Is there a blond woman here named Lettie or Violet?”

She shakes her head. “There are a few blond girls, but I don’t recognize that name.”

My heart fractures, a jagged chasm opening down the middle.

Aaron’s hand cups my shoulder, and he squeezes. “We’ll find her, T.”

A few seconds later, we slide our night vision goggles down, draw our weapons, and prepare to ambush the enemy.

Mia cuts off the power to the house remotely. I’m on point. Aaron and Klein follow. We advance into the living room immediately.

The tangos must see our shadows. One of the men yells, “Weapons!”

But it’s too late for them.

I attack my target with a forceful throat punch. Precise and powerful. He cups his neck, leaving his midsection vulnerable. I execute four body blows in quick succession, then follow it up with a knee to the groin. He deserves more, but that’ll have to wait until I find Lettie.

The fucker goes down like a sack of bricks. A swift kick to the gut, and he rolls onto his stomach for me. I jump on top of him, remove zip ties from my vest, and secure his wrists behind his back. He’s still gurgling from the throat and groin punch as I mash my knees forcefully in the back of his hamstrings, administering some well-deserved pain while I secure his ankles and knees together.

With him restrained, I search him for weapons and grab his cell phone, shutting it off immediately, then tuck it in my back pocket.

I’ll need that later.

My team calls out their statuses. One by one, all six of the traffickers are subdued. We didn’t even break a sweat.

“That’s all six,” Junior calls out, roving between the kitchen and living room.

Aaron and Shep hover on the other side of the room, their tangos restrained on the floor.

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