Page 10 of Declan's Hope

“No!” A child’s screaming plea filled the air. “Por favor! No!”

“Fucking now, Garrett,” Declan growled, ready to screw the plan.

“I’ve got it,” Garrett’s tense voice came at them. “Alarms coming in three, two, one…”

“Mamá!”

Everything went dark before the blare of sirens and lights flashing filled the house’s interior while shouts went up. Declan cautiously peered over the railing to where armed men swarmed the courtyard and fanned out while others rushed toward the front entrance. He crept closer toward Ana’s room, then he and Solace both quickly ducked into an alcove when the door to it slammed open and a man he clearly made out as Joaquín Salazar rushed out while pulling a shirt over his head, yelling, “Qué diablos está pasando?"

“What did he say?” Declan whispered, watching her intently as she peered past him.

“He wants to know what the hell is going on,” Solace said back just as low, her eyes spitting hate at the man as more doors opened and several men and a few women in various stages of undress poured out of the other rooms and headed down the stairs.

“No one else is upstairs,” the colonel said clearly over the alarms sounding all around them. It didn’t matter. He and Solace were already on the move down the hall to the door Salazar had left wide open.

God, let us be in time.

If they weren’t, Salazar would be on his kill list before they left the compound.

Declan held his weapon ready as Solace went into the room first. Her low words in Spanish in a soothing tone reached Declan as he slipped inside the room and pulled the door nearly closed. A slight gasp had him hazarding a glance behind him. Ana sat huddled in the corner of her bed with a scrawny puppy clutched to her chest. The sleeve of her gown had been torn, but she otherwise looked unharmed. And while Ana’s wide eyes stayed on him, whatever Solace had told the child, she must have agreed as she nodded and scooted off the bed. Solace gathered her and the puppy up in her arms and nodded at Declan.

“Got her,” Declan whispered as a collective sigh of relief from Cal, Garrett, and the colonel filled his ear.

“I’ll be landing in five,” Cal informed them.

“Colonel?” Declan needed confirmation they had a clear path to their exit.

“No heat signatures surrounding you, but the courtyard below has a few and the outside areas along the front and…”

Declan frowned at the colonel’s pause while keeping himself between Solace carrying Ana and the railing while heading back the way they’d come.

“Son of a fucking bitch.” The colonel muttered. “Stop where you are.”

They both froze and cast their gazes at each other before Declan sent furtive glances around them. No one seemed close to their location. At all.

Not questionable in the least.

“What is it?” Solace asked, her concerned gaze going to Ana where she had the child’s head pressed to her chest and then back to Declan.

“The garden is completely clear of anyone.”

“Dammit,” Garrett growled.

“We’ve got to get them out of there,” Cal’s low words came at him. Declan grimaced as he took a quick glance at Ana, then the whining, wiggling puppy she had in a death grip. They didn’t need the little guy to escape or start barking.

“Give me a second,” the colonel groused while Ana whispered, “Shhh, Pepito. Nos van a escuchar.”

“Declan.” Solace leant toward him and whispered, “Can you take the puppy?”

He eyed the puppy and then his friend. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No.” She threw him an exasperated look. “He’s about to jump out of her arms.”

Declan checked behind them again, then gave the little girl the best smile he could. At least the child didn’t understand how screwed they were at the moment. But it was more than obvious to him—and, of course, Solace—as curses flew in his ear. He moved closer and attempted to extract the puppy from her arms.

Ana’s eyes staring up at him went wide and she pulled the puppy up toward her neck. “Él es un gigante.”

“Sí. Que se parece a un gigante.” Solace whispered with a nod toward him. “Él es una agradable.”

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