Page 107 of The Art of You

Distracting me again. “Yes, sir,” I finally surrendered.

The side of his lip lifted and he set his mouth to mine for one more kiss before we joined the others outside.

My brothers were decked out in military gear and Constantine handed Hudson his skeleton-looking mask before offering him his rifle.

They all looked lethal and intimidating as fuck. Just the way I wanted them to be.

“You’ve got this,” I promised before hugging Alessandro first, then moved on to Constantine. “Bring him back to me, okay?” I whispered. “I can’t live without him.”

Constantine pulled back, only his eyes visible with the mask on. “You have my word, sis.”

Chapter 41

Isabella

“There.”Keith pointed to the screen, and I flinched as his arm flew forward, brushing against me. “Alpha Team, we have multiple tangos exiting the house now.”

“This is Alpha One,” Constantine radioed back. “That’s a good copy.” He paused. “Alpha Three, advance to your position,” he told Hudson, and I kept my eyes glued to the screen providing our aerial view.

“This is Three, roger that.” Hudson scaled the wall and quickly maneuvered to the shed that sat over five hundred meters away from the safe house. Once he was in position on the roof, he went prone, lying flat on his stomach as he set his sights on the house and confirmed he was in place.

I switched over to the second aerial view we had, which was of the safe house. “This is TOC,” I began, keeping my word to communicate every two minutes so my guy wouldn’t worry. “The men are moving in groups of four to the SUVs. No sign of the boss yet.” I had the leader’s photo taped to the wall alongside my screen so I could recognize him. “Zooming in for a closer look. Hold.”

“Roger that,” Hudson responded. And maybe I needed to hear his voice as much as he did mine, because every time he spoke since he’d left, the knots loosened a touch in my stomach.

“That’s him,” Keith said, pointing to the screen after I’d zoomed in on the second group of men huddled around a man.

“This is TOC, we have eyes on the HVT,” I shared quickly. “He’s getting in the third Range Rover. Back seat.”

“Delta One here, that’s a good copy,” Alfie’s team leader replied. “Delta is holding in place, ready to advance when the word is given.”

And those knots in my stomach intensified once again now that the mission was unfolding in real time.

I still couldn’t believe the terrorists had freed their leader from an intelligence black site. Then again, they had the magician behind the curtain—an IT guy at the Pentagon, no less—pulling magical strings for them to lead him right to his death.

“TOC, come in. This is Alpha Three,” Hudson transmitted. “Tell me I’m not seeing what I think I see.” He’d have a decent view of the scene from his overwatch position, and shit, he was definitely not imagining anything.

No, no, no.I zoomed in closer at the third grouping moving to the front SUV. “There’s a kid. Maybe ten or twelve.” Alfie’s intel didn’t include anything about a child being here.Shit.“Not sure who he is or why they’re not putting him in the same SUV as our HVT, but he’s being shielded like royalty.”

“This is Alpha One,” Constantine said. “Did you say they’re placing him in the front SUV?”

My shoulders fell as I responded, “Yes.” They’d have to change their plans. They couldn’t launch an RPG and take out the front vehicle to blockade the others now, not with a kid in there.

“We’re not turning their leader into a martyr in front of hiskid and creating a new terrorist today,” Constantine said in a steady voice.

That was another element my nerves hadn’t given me time to consider. “Does that mean you’re not shooting to kill?”

“Affirmative. We’ll need to take the boss alive. I don’t want him dying in front of his son,” Constantine responded.

“We can’t let that asshole live.” At Keith’s words, I pivoted to catch his eyes, finding his nostrils flared and free hand balled into a fist on the desk.

You lost someone to terrorists, didn’t you?Well, maybe a lot ofsomeonessince he’d been Army. That made my heart hurt for him, too.

“We’ll do what needs to be done,” was all Constantine said, foregoing his call sign that time. “Switching to the backup plan now,” my brother continued. “Alpha Three,” he continued, “on my command, take out the watchtower. Once they’re down, pick off as many as you can from your position on the property, then we’ll need you on the ground for support.”

“This is Alpha Three, roger that,” he answered, then Constantine gave orders to Echo Four next.

I keyed in on the location where Roman was hiding in the woods. I couldn’t see him since he was in camo, but he was using a sling up in a tree to give him a better vantage point as a sniper. Not ideal, but it was the best we could work with for our second sniper position.

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