Page 3 of Legacy's Call

“Copy.” He motioned for Jug to take the far side of the gate.

“We take these guys out, get their vehicle, and hightail it to the LZ. The woman and her husband won’t make that run. They can ride.”

“You reading my thoughts again?” Jug chuckled. “I’d like to drag Brandon behind the vehicle. Can I please? We really don’t get to have any fun anymore.”

“Meh, is he worth it?” Ronan said as he saw the glare of headlights.

“Worth what?” Jug asked as they both slipped out of the compound and took up positions.

“Trading in your fun card to drag his ass? You only get one fun card a year,” Ronan asked as the Jeep bounced down the rutted road to the holding compound. ISIS had scattered into that part of the world, and some war-hardened fighters could still build and lead a formidable opposition. From what he saw, it wasn’t one of those factions, but he wouldn’t take any risks. They watched the vehicle bouncing down the five-mile-long pitted, rutted trail that someone decided to call a road.

“Damn it, Skipper. Now you got me reconsidering using my card,” Jug complained.

“Don’t hurt yourself with all that thinking,” Wolf said, and they didn’t hear it on the comms; he was close by.

Ronan didn’t smile but knew one of the three men would stay behind with them. “Where are you?”

“Above you.”

“Didn’t I tell you to get them out of there?” Ronan growled.

“I did. Gave them to Stryker and Wraith. Then I came back.”

Ronan snorted, “Remind me to fire you when this is done.”

“Can’t promise that, Skipper. I don’t think I could make it on the outside. People are too people-ey.” Wolf chuckled.

“God, yes. People-ey. I’m using that, Wolf.” Jug chuckled.

Ronan lifted his weapon. “We all will.” He glanced across the drive. “We need the vehicle. Don’t break this one, Jug.”

“Hey, that was one time—” The sound of Ronan’s M-4 almost obliterated Jug’s answer. The four men in the vehicle were expertly caught in a crossfire between Ronan and Jug. Wolf picked off the one man who’d managed to jump from the Jeep.

“Skipper, you have less than three minutes before the next vehicle,” Dude informed them.

“Roger.” Ronan jumped in the vehicle, turned off the headlights, and waited the five seconds it took for Jug to jump in the back and Wolf to clamber into the passenger seat. He gunned the Jeep through the compound and yelled, “Hang on!” as he drove the Jeep through the fencing.

Metal whipped at him through the open doorway, slashing his cheek. Wolf swore bitterly as he kicked chain-link fencing and shattered the windshield from the window frame and out of the way so they could see where the fuck they were going.

Ronan drove like a crazy man and had his team and the hostages in his sights in less than a minute. Pulling up, he yelled, “Get in!”

He wasn’t sure how in the hell they managed it, but five hostages and five team members clambered onto the frame, and he hauled ass to the landing strip. The trip was insane and far too long for his liking. When he parked on the meadow's edge where the plane would land, he ordered, “Wraith, you have the hostages. Everyone else, a lateral dead zone at a hundred meters starting on me.”

As the team moved, Ronan dropped to his knee, checking his weapon while he got the scoop from CCS. “Update me, Dude.”

“Skipper, they’re idiots. They stopped and looked like they were searching the compound. No other movement. You have time.”

Ronan was damn glad they’d waited until most of the ISIS faction had left the tiny village. They’d dispersed, heading toward another village about ten klicks away. He had no clue why they’d left, but he thanked the big guy for the luck.

“Aircraft?”

“On final,” CCS relayed.

“Wraith, load as soon as they touch down.”

“Affirm,” Wraith acknowledged.

“Stryker, get that woman and her husband into the belly of that bird and stay with Wraith.” Ronan knew Wraith would have the primary in his sights. The fucker needed to be toast, but that wasn’t their mission. They were there to retrieve the son of a bitch. The other younger men would have to move their asses to get on the bird. They appeared healthy. They damn well could get themselves into the plane.

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