Page 41 of Fired at the Heart

I break from cover, sprinting across the open space toward the reinforced door. Halfway there, movement to my left catches my eye, a gunman rising from behind a forklift, weapon trained on me.

“Avery!” Two voices shout at the same time, Cassian from somewhere to my right and Raphael from the left.

Both Alphas emerge from cover, spotting the threat at the same moment.

But instead of either of them taking the shot, they collide, their attention split between the gunman and each other. Cassian snarls at Raphael, his focus broken for a crucial second. Raphael pushes forward, trying to get a clean line of fire, but his movement puts him in Cassian’s way.

The gunman steadies his aim. I dive for the ground, twisting as I fall to bring my weapon up, but I won’t be fast enough. My finger tightens on the trigger as I stare down the barrel of his gun.

A shot cracks through the air, and the gunman jerks backward, a neat hole appearing in the center of his forehead.

“Target down,” Lena announces. “You’re clear.”

I push myself up from the ground, my heart thundering, every muscle charged with adrenaline. Raphael and Cassian both race toward me, their earlier mistake reflected in the tight fear on their faces.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I spit, anger boiling through me. “You both almost got me killed!”

Cassian reaches me first, his hands moving over my arms, checking for injuries, and his focus settles on the bloody tear in my sleeve. “You’re hit.”

“I’m fine.” I knock his hands away, furious with both of them. “No thanks to either of you.”

Raphael’s face looks ashen beneath its natural tan. “Avery?—”

“Later,” I cut him off. “We finish the mission first.”

The rest of the team converges on our position as we approach the reinforced door. Jace plants breaching charges while we get into position. The controlled explosion blows the doors inward in a cloud of dust and debris.

We surge inside, weapons ready, only to find… nothing. Empty cots line the walls of the room, restraints hanging loose. Medical equipment stands abandoned. Discarded food containers and rumpled bedding bear all the hallmarks of recent occupation, but the Omegas are gone.

“Fuck!” Caleb lowers his weapon as he takes in the empty room. “They moved them.”

Rico kicks one of the cots, sending it skidding across the floor. “We’re too late.”

“No, they knew we were coming.” Raphael’s expression is grim as he examines a clipboard left behind.

The words settle over us like a physical weight. We were expected. Prepared for. Perhaps even led here while the real operation continued elsewhere.

“Clear the rest of the building,” I order, refusing to give in to the disappointment threatening to crush my chest. “Search for any clue that might tell us where they’ve taken them.”

The team disperses, checking every corner of the warehouse. I stand in the empty holding room, my arm throbbing where the bullet grazed it. The mission has failed. Jade isn’t here, and neither are any other Omegas who might have been saved.

Scratches on the wall catch my attention, revealed by the cot Rico kicked, and I walk closer, crouching to study them. As I do, a loose screw spins away from the toe of my boot.

“What did you find?” Caleb kneels beside me.

I trace my fingers over the ragged numbers dug into the cement.

Cassian crouches on my other side. “Could be coordinates.”

“It’s not.” Caleb scrubs a hand down his face. “It’s the code Jade uses to let me know a message is real. He was here, but we’re too late.”

I rise. “Then let’s ask the people who are still here where Jade went.”

We join Rico in the main warehouse, where he lines up the mercenaries who managed to survive. They lie face down on the floor, their hands and feet bound with zip ties. He catches my eye and drags his thumb across his throat in question.

I shake my head. We need information more than corpses right now.

I run my tongue over my teeth, tasting copper. “Lena, how are we doing on the upper level?”

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