Page 11 of Anything But Convenient

They might not have known what was going on before, but everyone knew what American soldiers looked like. Our guys weren’t in uniform, yet they still looked the part.

I could hear voices rising with panic, and I realized we had another issue at hand. None of them were speaking English. I heard various languages. Some I didn’t recognize at all.

Ronan cursed. “Fuck, not one of them speaks English. How are we going to handle this?”

At that exact moment, Sinclair perked up from beside me. His eyes were wide. “They don't speak English?” he asked, excitedly.

“Not the time to get excited, LB.”

Ronan coughed then said, “Yes, that's what I said.”

Sinclair squealed, then whipped out his phone. As he typed quickly, he said, “I know someone who's an interpreter. He can help with what we need. I spoke with him about it today. This is so perfect.”

I grinned at him, amused at his excitement. Whoever this person was, they were near and dear to my little barista.

“You hear that, Ronan? We've got someone to interpret things. We just need to get them all back here.”

I shifted my eyes from where he was to focus on the Beta and Delta teams. They had moved further into the building, working their way through the halls toward the main area. As they approached the backstage section, I saw them hesitate.

Tank leaned over my shoulder, appearing from fucking nowhere. “That's a whole lot of bad guys to be taking out at once,” he said. “We want to cause this much of a mess?”

I turned my head to look at him. “Since when have you ever cared about a mess? Or do you just think Stabler's going to be up your ass about this?”

He scoffed. "Stabler wishes he could be up my ass.” Under his breath, I heard him mumble, “again.”

I didn't need to know the details of those two. It was very obvious something had happened at some point. I just didn't want to know when or where or really any of it.

Quite frankly, Tank got around. For some reason, he had a fascination with people who were solidly on the right side of the law. Someone needed to make it make sense to the man.

“Instructions,” Frost requested.

Cohen added in, “Do we move?”

Tank tapped me on the back twice, his universal signal to mean yes. “Wipe them out,” he said, as calmly as if he were telling me to send an email.

I said into the comms, "System go. Clean house."

What happened next was a thing of beauty. The four guys pushed through the back and opened fire on the entire room. Some people might think it's horrible that we killed all these ‘innocent people’. But they would have to look deeper to find that not a single person in the room was innocent.

None of the men or women dressed in their finest clothes, drinking and eating lavishly, were worth saving. This wasn't adinner party. It was an auction for other human beings. And they were there to purchase a child or a woman who was carrying a child.

They didn't deserve to continue breathing another day.

Part of me wished we could make it more painful for them before taking them out. Sadly, with that many and a need to get out of the building as quickly as possible before tipping off Stabler, who decided he could not show up after all, we didn't have many options.

So, kill them all it was.

As I watched them go through to make sure everyone on screen was taken care of, I focused back on the images at the back door. Ronan was ushering bodies through. The children ran together, climbing into the large moving truck we'd acquired. I saw Orion standing there with a smile on his face, his words encouraging as he nodded and pointed at each of them.

Whatever he was doing made them feel safe. He'd always been really good at that.

As he continued to move, I saw his face shift into something darker. His hand latched onto one of the smaller boys. He pulled the young man aside and held him still as the others continued to move on. He was saying something, but he had turned his mic off. I would have been furious had the mission not been so close to completion.

Tank watched as well, his eyes burning a hole in my computer screens. Sinclair’s squeal of delight stole our attention.

“Okay, this is perfect. Archie said he could come right now. He's more than willing to help, and I just need to let the guys in the front know who's coming. Are you okay with that, Tank?” He said after realizing he had not asked any kind of permission.

Tank grinned at him. “Absolutely, Sinclair. A friend of yours is someone we can trust. For now. We might have to make him sign some paperwork, so he doesn't spill the beans to anyone. Ifhe's as kind as you are, he'll be more than happy to help these survivors.”

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