Page 31 of Unlocking Hope

Cole grabbed Zoey’s hand, and they walked over to where the three men were standing in full tactical gear. Ian handed Zoey a helmet with night vision goggles. The tracking devices Brock had found for them were pill types. Ian, Zoey, and Cole all swallowed a pill, and Brock let him know they were online. His brothers didn’t need to know about the trackers. He still didn’t trust them completely

“Everyone ready?” Bryson asked.

“Let’s do this.” Ian sounded a little too excited.

“Yes,” Zoey replied as she buckled the helmet into place.

Ian and Nathan broke off to get into place. They were to feed the team information from the outside. The building was supposed to be clear, with no one inside.

After a couple minutes, Ian’s voice came over the comm, letting them know it was clear. He placed his hand on Zoey’s lower back as they walked down the side street to the back door. Bryson pulled out a lock-picking set and went to work on the door. Cole wouldn’t say it out loud, but he was impressed with how fast he’d gotten the door open.

Bryson took the lead, Zoey was next in line, and Cole brought up the back. They lowered the night vision goggles when they stepped into the warehouse. Cargo canisters were stacked three high, and rows of pallets wrapped with plastic. Cole squinted atthe writing on one of the boxes. Columbia coffee. He knew better than to think it was only coffee in the containers.

His brother held up his fist, giving the signal to freeze. Cole’s heart pounded. On any other mission, he would have been ready, but Zoey was along. He dropped his fist after a beat and motioned for the others to continue. The office was in the back of the warehouse. They needed to cut the video feed.

Brock’s voice came over the comm. “The panel is to your right, on the wall.” He was wired into a video feed on Bryson’s helmet. The team needed him to walk them through cutting the camera without setting off an alarm.

Six more steps, and they were at the panel.

“Take off the cover.” Bryson pulled out a small screwdriver and removed the cover. Cole couldn’t tell the difference between the wires running in the panel.

“Cut the yellow and the green at the same time.”

Bryson rolled his neck before placing both wires in the cutter, and he squeezed. “Done,” Bryson told Brock matter-of-factly.

“Camera is done. You have five minutes before any triggers will go.”

They moved toward the back of the warehouse. When they were a couple feet from the door, they heard a loud crash, everyone froze. Bryson quickly opened the door to the office and cleared the room.

“Go,” Bryson demanded. “I will go see what’s going on.”

“Four minutes, thirty seconds,” Brock said over the comm.

Cole wanted to assist his brother, but he wasn’t going to leave Zoey alone. He nodded, and his brother took off back the way they came.

Zoey quickly walked into the room and sat behind Clyde’s desk. When she moved the mouse, the computer turned on. She raised the night vision goggles and put a device up to her eye. A red light scanned her eye, and the screen changed tothe desktop. Any other time Cole would’ve been impressed with the technology. Not so much today. He handed her two thumb drives. She looked at him puzzled he held up two fingers hoping she understood he wanted a copy for himself.

When she smiled at him, he knew she understood. He kicked himself for not explaining earlier. It was a last-minute idea when he grabbed one of the devices from his drawer. Just in case his brothers didn’t do anything, he would give the other drive to Brock. He was done waiting for them to do what they needed. He wanted this part of his life ended.

They watched as the bar moved across the screen one minute left on the computer copy. He watched the office door and waited for his brother to return. Zoey reached up and pulled the thumb drive out of the computer as Bryson walked into the room. She quickly shoved one into her pocket and held the other out to Bryson. He wasn’t alone. He’s big brother had a tabby cat in his hands.

“You taking the cat with?” Zoey joked as she scratched behind the cat’s ear and it let out a meow.

“Incoming. Two black Mercedes just pulled up outside,” Ian said over the comm.

Bryson quickly dropped the cat and pointed toward the door. “Let’s head out the back exit.”

Cole lowered his night vision goggles and followed Zoey. “If we come under fire, Zoey, you run.”

He let out a sigh when she nodded. They crouched next to a container when the door they’d entered earlier flew open. In walked his uncle and the three men Cole had fought in the alley. They were headed back their way.

Bryson motioned for Zoey and Cole to follow. They slowly walked around the container to the edge of the warehouse. Cole could see the exit only twenty feet away when he heard his unclecomplain about the lights. He didn’t have time to tell Zoey to flip her goggles up when the lights came on, making it hard to see.

She stumbled on a box in front of her, falling to the ground, and let out a small yelp. It wasn’t deafening, but one of the men heard it. He could hear them coming. He helped Zoey stand and flipped her goggles up so she could see.

Bryson motioned for us to head toward the door while he covered our backs. He held Zoey’s hand with one hand, his gun in the other, and pulled her toward the exit. With each step, Cole heard his uncle’s men getting closer. He dropped Zoey’s hand to open the door.

When his fingers touched the door handle, the alarm in the building sounded. Loud horn sirens squealed through the building. Clyde yelled for them to turn off the alarm. They used the distraction to get the hell out. Once outside, the three of them ran down the street toward the cars.

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