Page 4 of Guarded

She nodded. “And maybe get that baby some pancakes on the way home.”

Sarah’s head popped off her father’s shoulder, her black eyes lighting up. “Pancakes? Ilovepancakes.”

Rycroft shot Briar a wry look. “Thanks a lot.” He shifted Sarah into his left arm and reached down to pick up his bags while Grace wound an arm around his waist. “See you Monday.”

“Yeah.” Briar waited a moment before following, giving them some space because being too close to their family unit felt like an intrusion for some reason, then headed for the front doors.

While waiting for her cab, she pulled out her phone to call Matt, but held off. Commander of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Teams, he was still in Colorado handling an op. She didn’t want to take the chance of distracting him in any way right now.

Oh, she wassolooking forward to seeing him when he got home, though she couldn’t help but wonder how he would take her news. However it turned out, this reunion was going to be one for the books.

Chapter Two

Feet apart, arms folded across his chest and his lucky Charger’s ball cap on his head, HRT Commander Matt DeLuca stood in the mobile command vehicle and kept his gaze glued to the monitor in front of him. Blue Team was in position on the roof and ready to breach the veteran’s care building to rescue the hostages and apprehend the suspect on his order.

The camera angle sucked. There was too much going on, too many people moving around while police cleared the area for him in the shot to get a good look at the building. He tapped his earpiece to contact the team. “Tuck, gimme a sitrep.”

“Perimeter’s secure,” the team leader answered calmly in his Alabama drawl. “Nothing more from inside.”

After killing the first hostage over an hour ago, the suspect had gone quiet. The team had been en route to the site at the time.

Matt was aware of all the people around him as he studied the scene. Mostly FBI and local police. He didn’t spare them so much as a glance, all his focus on his team and the unfolding situation.

They would have to do a direct assault. A former soldier suffering from PTSD had snapped yesterday, storming the facility where he had previously received treatment, and taken employees hostage. Matt wanted the perp neutralized one way or the other before he took any more innocent lives. “Breach authorized. It’s your call.”

“Roger. Stand by.”

Matt switched his attention to the screen on the right, showing a feed from Tuck’s helmet cam. As team leader, Tuck’s place was at the back of the column, giving Matt a good view of the other six guys.

“On my mark,” Tuck murmured to his teammates. “Three. Two. One. Execute.”

Evers rammed the door open with a breaching tool. Bauer’s huge silhouette plunged through it, followed by the rest of the team. The seven-man-team swept the staircase leading to the lower floor of the care home.

“Clear,” Schroder said.

“Moving to hallway,” Tuck said.

Matt stayed silent, letting them do their thing. He felt like he was with them as he watched the infrared feed from Tuck’s camera.

His heart rate increased slightly as they rushed down the hall toward the room where the suspect was likely holed up with the remaining hostages, but he didn’t budge. Watching from the sidelines was the hardest part of this job. He’d much rather have been part of the assault but his days as a sniper and operator were long behind him now.

The team cleared three rooms before reaching the one the suspect was thought to be in.

The camera bobbed slightly as Tuck nodded at one of his teammates. Bauer reared back and slammed his boot into the door just beside the lock. It flew open, the team streaming into the room before it hit the wall.

“FBI,” Tuck shouted over top of shrill female screams. The feed showed three female hostages cowering in one corner of the room behind a large desk, their hands behind their backs.

Tuck’s head whipped around. The male suspect stood in the opposite corner, an arm locked around the fourth female hostage’s neck, a pistol to her temple. “Drop your weapon!”

More screams pierced the tense silence as the suspect refused to comply. Then he angled the pistol at his own head.

Two shots exploded simultaneously.

The suspect dropped, dragging the female hostage with him. Her sharp, short scream cut off, then turned into muffled sobbing.

Tuck stood his ground while two other team members rushed forward. The sound of a scuffle ensued, quickly ended.

Then quiet.

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