Page 126 of I Am Salvation

Heavy boots crunch on the gravel. A handful of team members are reviewing maps and blueprints of the compound. Others check and double-check their weapons.

Dragon and I watch from our car. We’re intruders, new variables that the team has to take into consideration.

Yet they let us stay.

They let us stay for Griffin.

She’ll need us.

Well, she’ll need Dragon. She won’t know me from Eve.

A figure steps forward. I squint so I can read his nametag.

Jameson

Clearly he’s the commander. He’s a mountain of a man—bigger than my father and uncles—with dark eyes as hard as flint.

“Listen up!” his voice booms. “We’re going in hard and fast. Constant communication is key. Any sign of trouble, you radio it in.”

Dragon opens his door once the teams move out.

“What are you doing?” I demand.

“They have surveillance monitors set up. I want to watch.”

“They won’t let you.”

“They don’t have a choice.”

I let out a sigh, leave the car, and follow Dragon to the monitors. Any minute now, someone is going to tell him to get the hell out of here. We’re lucky they’re letting us be this close.

Strangely, though, none of the technicians say anything as Dragon and I approach them and regard the monitors. A few moments later, the SWAT teams reappear on the monitors.

I stare at the eerie glow of the flickering screens.

But Dragon isn’t simply staring. He’s glaring at those screens. Tension is rolling off him in waves, and why shouldn’t it?

He may catch a glimpse of his sister. His first time seeing her since she was five years old.

I grab his hand, give it a slight squeeze, and then move to loosen it, but he grasps my hand more tightly. His other hand is a clenched fist, the knuckles white with tension. I squeeze back, reminding him that he isn’t alone in this. We watch as the SWAT members move through the compound, their figures ghostly shadows on the monitors.

As the team moves farther into the compound, their radio communication grows sparser and their movements more cautious.

Something isn’t right.

I can feel it in the pit of my stomach.

Dragon releases my hand and rubs at his forehead.

He feels it too.

Static comes through the radio, and then the monitors go dark for a moment before flickering back to life.

“Damn,” one of the techs says. “We’ve got a man down.”

Dragon curses under his breath.

I swallow down the lump in my throat, trying to ease the urge to vomit. We shouldn’t be here. We’re just in the way.

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