Page 2 of Bravo

He does. I offer him a nod then plant charges on the hinges of the heavy metal door. We turn our faces and step to the side as I set them off.

Pop. Pop. Pop.The hinges break. Silas lets his weapon dangle from its sling as he pulls the door free then steps aside so Bravo and I can take the lead.

“Zook,Bravo,” I order.Search.He doesn’t hesitate before plunging into the darkness. I follow, Silas coming in right behind me.

Adrenaline surges through my veins as we make our way down a narrow hall, all while the other teams battle on the opposite side of the compound.

Bravo stops and begins pawing at a closed door. I glance back at Silas, who offers me an understanding nod, before I grip the handle and shove the door open, raising my weapon as I go.

“No! Please!”

I lower my weapon slightly and take in the scene before me. The room is smaller than the average living room, but it contains girls and young women plastered up against the walls and each other. Their eyes are wide and terrified, their faces and clothing streaked with dirt.

“Please don’t hurt us,” a woman pleads. I turn to my right, and my gut twists.Something isn’t right.I can’t explain it, but something feels—off.

“We’re not here to hurt you,” I tell them. “Everyone, on your feet. We’re here to get you out.”

The woman who spoke is the first to stand, and she rushes toward me, wearing a gleeful smile on her face. And then I catch the shimmering sight of a dagger as she draws it out and poises to jam it into me.

Bravo lets out a warning before he leaps onto her arm, teeth sinking into her flesh.

She screams, and the knife clatters to the ground.

“Aus!” I order him.Let go.

Immediately, he releases her, taking his place at my side, and the woman stumbles back. Silas pushes her into the far wall and zip-ties her arms behind her back.

“You can’t have them!” she roars.

“Bravo team here, we got the girls. Headed out to the rendezvous,” I say to the other teams. The gunshots have ceased now, and the comms have been full of chatter about arrests being made. “Woman attacked us; she’s zip-tied in the back room and ready for transport.”

“Copy,” I hear. “We’ll handle her. Good work, Bravo. See you on the other side.”

I take a look at the terrified faces before me as I count each and every one.Forty-one.Even more than we’d planned on.ThankYou, God.“Rebecca Fisher?” I call out, hoping that the girl we’re here to find is among the rescued.

“Here.” A seventeen-year-old high school senior pushes to her feet and walks forward. She’s still wearing the same clothes she’d last been seen in, and aside from being terrified and dirty, she doesn’t appear to have been hurt. At least, not physically. Mentally is another story. I know all too well what these girls are going to have to go through to get their lives back.

“I’m Bradyn. That’s my partner Silas, and this is Bravo.” I point to the dog who is sitting at my side. “Your parents hired us to find you.”

“My parents?” She lets loose a sob. “They were looking for me?”

I know from the report that they’d had a big fight when Rebecca wanted to go off and meet an older boy. Even as they’d forbidden her from going, she’d gone and was abducted. Their last words were exchanged in anger, and I’m so glad I get to be the one to bring her back so things won’t end there.

“They never stopped,” I tell her with a smile. I turn to address everyone in the room. “All right, ladies. How about we go home?”

“You do good work, Hunt.”

“I can’t take any of the credit, Frank. It’s all God.”

Frank Loyotta chuckles and takes a seat behind his desk while I remain standing and staring into the conference room where all of the women are waiting to be collected by their family members. They’ve showered and been fed and tended to medically. We were beyond grateful to know that, aside from some bumps and bruises, nothing else happened to them.

They were lucky.

So many aren’t.

My thoughts take a dark turn, but I shove them down. Today is a victory. I will not have that stolen by ghosts of the past.

“Your cousin head home?”

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