Page 29 of Midnight Escape

“We’re boxed in.” The rapidly coiling tension in his gut nearly paralyzed him. He’d led his men into a death, capture, or torture situation unless they got the bird where they had a smaller gunfight to make their exit.

When they’d seen two guards roaming the area, they were too far away to waste ammo. On their planned route, they found a location to dig in and wait. He didn’t like being so close to a drop-off on the one side because they could get pinned down if things didn’t go as planned.

“We’ve got the package but no ride.”

“Shit.”

“Get us a ride. I can get us somewhere for a while, then I’ll have to walk our asses back home.” The low growl in his voice came from deep within and controlled the depth of his surging anger.

“They’re not there?” AJ snapped.

To the team, he ordered, “Close recon. No heroes. Watch your six.”

Doc moved beside him and attached a harness to the little five-year-old sleeping boy and attached that to his chest. With Doc being the largest and the kid’s legs the shortest, it made sense to connect him for a safer carry.

“No, we’d hear the bird if it was close, AJ,” Danny belatedly answered his question. “And it’s pretty quiet. Except for the stink of a setup.”

“Why do you think setup?” AJ said.

Danny snorted. Thank goodness Devon was on the ball with getting their ride. “They showed up after we collected the boy and went straight for us, not the house.”

“Fuck.”

“I second that.” Danny wondered why Devon hadn’t already had something for them. He always did.

Speak of the devil. Devon always came through for them. “Your backup is there.”

“The fuck you say. It’s quiet. No extra bodies around unless they’re ghosts.” Then it hit him. Spooks. They were pretty much ghosts. “Got it.”

“They’re in a bird hovering near your location,” Devon informed him.

He wished the two brothers were here to realize what they said wasn’t true. “Impossible. It’s too quiet not to hear a bird.” They rode in on one near their current spot. There wasn’t one near.

He could hear the smile in Devon’s voice. “Trust me.”

A shiver of fear slid up his spine resting on his shoulders where he kept the lives of his men, but he did extend that trust.

To the team, he ordered, “On me.”

Always the ‘you can’t bring me too much intel’ guy, Devon instructed, “Get me all the intel you can. Nothing is too small.”

Like they hadn’t heard that before. Gunfire ripped his attention away. “Sitrep.” His heart pounded. He needed the situation reports from his returning team members. Maybe they could fight their way out, but probably not.

“These fuckers are closing in,” Cowboy whispered in his mic.

“Our bird’s nearby.”

Danny’s mind whirled for a long moment. If they could— “Are any holes still open?”

“Negative,” Doc said.

“Negative,” Stone added.

“Who took the gunfire?”

Each man denied it, which made things more Charlie Foxtrot—clusterfuck.

Fuck!His trust was wavering. He had to get his team and their package out of here, and it was too late to turn back.

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