Page 16 of Firestorm

James called several of the members of Strike Force into the meeting. Sarah’s didn’t understand most of what was being discussed, but one thing she knew for certain. She was going to be part of Blake’s rescue.

“I realize it’s risky, but it’s our only option. And we need to get airborne now. Pamphili will be dealing with what happened in Idaho and hopefully distracted. We have to strike quickly.”

Kaid Bennett stepped up to the computer screen that showed the building. “It won’t be easy. We’ll need escape vehicles on the ground.”

James confirmed with a nod. “You’re right. Dustin is on the ground with his team. They have a couple of vehicles.” James glanced around at the team and spotted Sarah in the group. Their eyes held briefly.

She understood exactly what was at risk. Blake would be expendable soon. They’d kill him, and no one would be the wiser.

“I realize it’s risky being in the air after what happened, but we don’t have a choice. I won’t let Blake down.”

“Well, I’m in,” Kaid confirmed. “Looks like most of the communications is up and running. What do we need to get in the air?” he asked the man who had piloted their plane earlier.

“The plane I flew took some hits. I’ll check the rest of the planes to see which one is the least abused. We used a lot of fuel coming here. I’ll have to siphon some from one of the other planes. And we need to remove nuclear warheads. That was the scariest moments I’ve been through in a long time.”

Several people nodded. A few chuckled.

“Whatever you need,” James assured him.

The pilot’s eyes landed on the men and women who had flown the aircrafts. “Let’s get going. We have a lot to do.”

While the pilots prepared a suitable plane for flight, James shored up the details, and Sarah prayed she wouldn’t be more in the way than helpful. She’d left her bag near the entrance of the shed. The weapon James gave her was tucked inside.

“I’m going to check with Dustin and see if he has anything new, and then I’ll give him our estimated arrival time and have them meet us there. He suggested we fly into a private airstrip that isn’t in use anymore. It’s about fifty miles from Cheyenne but away from any towns. With the cloaking software in place, I have another program that will scramble radar signals from the air traffic control stations between us and Cheyenne. They won’t be able to track us.”

“As much as I want to be there with you all, I’m best served here getting everyone settled in,” the current president, Seth Lancaster, told them. He turned to the man who had been his predecessor, Victor Douglas. “We need you here monitoring the situation along with Garrett and Jordyn.”

“Thankfully, we were able to bring along all of our weapons,” Ben confirmed. “They’re stored in the equipment building for now. Let’s grab what we need and head out.”

Sarah kept in step with James. With her bag slung over her shoulder, they trudged through the woods until they reached the plane.

“Any word from your person in Cheyenne?” she asked when James appeared deep in thought.

He turned to her. “He’ll pick us up at the abandoned airstrip. He’s leaving most of his people behind to keep watch on the building in case they try and move Blake.”

“Something is troubling you about the operation.” She could see it on his face.

“Yes. I don’t like going in exposed. They’ll see us coming, and there’s no way to hide that.”

She understood. Every single person who went to the building to rescue Blake would be in danger.

They loaded the weapons onto the plane, then the team member who would make up the mission got onboard. The number of skilled soldiers going confirmed how difficult James believed the rescue would be.

Once everyone was onboard, the plane taxied down the runway. Sarah glanced around at the faces of the men and women present. She knew most of their stories from the website that had individual stories of overcoming attempts made by the group that was formally known as Legion to kill or destroy their lives.

James slipped into the seat beside her. The concern in his deep blue eyes had been there many times in the past.

“This all seems surreal,” she told him. But then, after everything that happened since the earlier bombings had thrown the world into chaos, normal wasn’t something anyone had a grasp on.

“You’re right, it does.” He watched the activity taking place around them.

After she and Blake had gone into hiding, she’d stopped trusting. What James and Blake and the rest of their team had gone through had shown her the dark side of human nature. Yet as she looked into James’ handsome face, she realized she could trust him with everything. He was a true hero, inside and out. James had led a SEAL team on some of the most dangerous missions of their time according to Blake, and yet he was always available to listen to her troubles.

James held her gaze. “I know it’s been hard.”

She wondered about his life. Blake never mentioned much about James’ past.

“Do you think we’ll be able to get him out?” Sarah couldn’t imagine life without her brother. She wasn’t prepared to let him go to such evil people.

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