Page 85 of Keeping Promises

I’m about to disappear back into the room, aware that it's getting late and we’re now not likely to be heading out tonight, when Pete suddenly exclaims excitedly. Throughout the whole dinner, Ace and Peter stayed silent, ate with one hand, and carried on typing and comparing screens with the other one.

“We’re in,” Ace grins proudly and then promptly stands up. “We’ll put it on the screen in the front room so that we can all see what’s going on.”

No one questions him or bothers to say anything at all, really, as we follow them into the front room and take our seats, waiting for it to load.

“Wow, okay, so it’s a massive fucking house then,” I point out the obvious as we see it from above for the first time.

“Oh yeah, it’s huge and pretty much looks the same as the stills we were able to find, so at least there’s that,” Ace replies, and we all study the video feed before us.

“There’s a lot going on,” Jensen points out as we watch people moving in and out of the house.

“Right first, we need to check all the entry points and things like that, just to give us a vague idea for now, and then we can reconfirm and get a better idea when we are actually there.” Trick suggests, and Ace nods as Peter looks over his shoulder.

We all make a note of the various points of entrance and things that we need to make sure that we’re aware of for when we breach the premises. The last thing we need is to be caught off guard because we rushed this process.

“There’s a van coming up the drive,” Dominicpoints out, and Ace zooms in on the van approaching the house up the long driveway.

We all watch as Ace manages to zoom in well enough that we can see the expressions on the people's faces. It also means that we can see just how well-armed they all are. Four heavily armed people get out of the large van, and they all look around the area as if looking for threats, their hands on their weapons as they head toward the back of the van.

“I think they’re transporting something pretty damn important,” Jynx points out as we all watch intently.

“There’s our confirmation that Hunt is there,” Luc says as he points to the doorway of the house, and we see Hunt step out onto the vast front porch as he crosses his arms over his chest and smiles at the van.

“That’s more than we hoped to find on this surveillance,” Atlas murmurs.

“I’ve taken stills to go down in the report,” Peter says, and then Ace switches the camera view back to the van just in time to see the guards notice Hunt and nod.

We watch with trepidation as they pull the door open and aim their weapons inside. I don’t think any of us were prepared for what, or rather who steps out of the back of the van.

“Rylie,” I say.

“Quinn,” Lyric adds.

They both look worse for wear, beaten and bloody, but they’re upright and walking, which is a good sign. They also both have smirks of defiance on their faces as they keep their heads held high and stare in Hunt’s direction. I can’t help the surprised laugh that escapes me when Rylie blows him a kiss with her middle finger and Quinn finger waves at him sarcastically. They are clearly enjoying pushing Hunt’s buttons.

“I love that he’s still got that snark to him,” Jonah smiles, emotions clouding his eyes.

“Either they are the only two that Hunt is trying to break to get to work for him, or they’re the ones that are causing the most trouble and, therefore, need the armed transport.” Rage suggests. "We're not going to know if any of the other people that Gauld mentioned are there until we get there."

“Yeah, I think I’d be more inclined to think that it was the second reason,” Ezra chuckles, “And that’s going on how well I know Quinn and also what we just witnessed of the two of them together.”

“Yeah, Rylie’s not been captured for long, but it’s clear that they’ve struck up an alliance at the very least,” Rome adds.

“I think they might be the only ones there. I mean, Hunt has just lost his people inside Mr R’s organisation, and from the information that he has managed to get out, he knows that there’s a wealth of information there that could offer him a serious advantage in most aspects. It also gives him access to some very powerful people and technologies that certainly aren’t widely available.” Rafe suggests, making a really good point.

“That would make sense. It also presents him with a challenge because he was caught, and Hunt seems like the kind of person that would enjoy the challenge that it would bring him to get back in,” Rip says thoughtfully.

“Whatever the reason is, at least we know for certain that our three main interests are there, and we know the layout as best we can from the view that we have. we’ll have more information when we get there, but at least we know where to send Alaric and the other teams to keep the escape routes covered.” Trick adds thoughtfully and then turns to look at Jynx, “Is the plane ready?”

“Yep, ready and waiting for us.” Jynx confirms, “Are we heading out?”

“Yes, let them know we’re on our way down,” Trick replies and the rest of us start to stand to get everything ready.

“On it,” Jynx replies.

“Atlas, can you message Alaric and let him know that we’re on the way and our rough arrival time? Tell him that we’ll call him when we land,” Trick orders. When he gets a nod from Atlas, he turns his attention to Elijah, “Can you message Noel and the guys and get them to meet us down at the airport? Make sure that they’re ready to go.”

“Yeah, absolutely,” Elijah replies before adding, “All of our stuff is ready to go in the car.”

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