Page 23 of Stone
Kage checked his watch. “One hour, gentlemen. One hour.”
Nodding, I twirled my glass as I thought about Dani for the umpteenth time in the last twenty-four hours. What would she say to me? How would she react? There was no way of knowing. What I did know was that time and distance changed everyone and often not for the better. Dredging up old feelings wasn’t in our best interest. I had to shut down all emotions involved.
If I didn’t, I could quite possibly lose my fucking mind.
As expected, the compound was heavily armed. In the middle of nowhere, yet I noted security cameras on every corner of the building.
“Take a look,” I whispered and handed off the night vision binoculars to Kage.
He studied the exterior, whistling a few seconds later. “Yep. We have our hands full.”
“Thankfully, we have the tunnel,” I reminded them.
“That we have no clue if it’s collapsed or guarded,” Maddox snorted.
“There’s only one way of finding out.” As soon as Kage handed off the binoculars, I shoved them into my pocket and eased to my knees. “You ready, boys?”
“As ready as we’ll ever be,” Maddox admitted.
I laughed. It felt like old times.
Once upon a time, we’d been a tight formation. Had there been issues, failed missions? Yes, some leaving hard feelings between us, but there was no denying the strong bond we shared, a connection stronger than felt with our blood relations. The powerful draw was something we’d tried to forget, but had lost a part of ourselves in doing so.
There were no other people I’d rather fight alongside or to have my back. This was dangerous as fuck. Even if we were successful, there was no guarantee we’d make it out of the country alive.
That was because Matis’ popularity had swelled in the last six months in part due to the kidnapping and killing of what he’d called tyrannical opposition to freedom.
We moved through the darkness with tried-and-true precision, constantly scanning the area for any sign of Matis’ soldiers. Enough were skilled marksman that we needed to remain vigilant in the operation.
There were soldiers everywhere, all carrying assault rifles. From what I’d been told, Matis moved his operation on a regular basis to keep law enforcement from hindering their work. Why the fuckers hadn’t been captured and prosecuted before was beyond me and likely above my paygrade.
While I understood the issues with the situation given Bradford Vale’s employment status, I was still baffled by why I’d been chosen over currently operating military operators. I pointed to the tunnel’s entrance while performing a three-hundred-sixty-five-degree scan. There was no one in sight and that was as unnerving as if we were currently under attack.
We continued to move in formation as we neared the concrete entrance. Natural debris had blocked the opening decades before and it took several minutes to free enough room to slide through.
The clock was ticking.
Once inside, headlamps were turned on. We shuffled through muck and slime as we made our way to the area where the schematics had indicated a breach into the building. As we raced through, my thoughts remained on Dani. I’d wondered if she’d managed to convince her father to allow her to accept her admittance into the college in London. Maybe so. She’d told me more than once that her dream was to head to Paris where her muse would be constantly tantalized.
A word she’d adored using.
She’d once drawn me a picture of the two of us. I had one in a box somewhere but pulling it out and remembering had been and would still be too painful.
“Did you hear that?” Kage asked gruffly while keeping his voice low.
We stopped moving, shifting to ensure we weren’t being followed.
There was a sudden electric surge. “Incoming,” I snarled.
Boots on the ground were heard seconds later as a group of soldiers ran toward us. There was no time to waste. We rushed forward, firing indiscriminately.
“Go. Go. Go!” Maddox called as he shot a man at close range. The fuckers kept coming.
A flash drew my attention. I dropped and rolled, firing off in rapid succession. “Kage. Look out!”
Kage turned just in time, smashing his rifle against one man, immediately spinning and eliminating another.
There were eight down, but I knew there were more. If I had to guess, I’d say the intel we’d been provided was wrong. We rushed forward, reaching the opening seconds later.
