Page 4 of No Mistake

“I promise.”

“Thank you.”

“Well, seeing as I am not going to get laid in the next few days, at the very least you can go make out with Ryan. And I’ll want details.”

“Chloe!” Sophie laughed, throwing a pillow at her. “I told you; it's not happening. Get out of here. I need some sleep; I have to be on the road in a few hours.”

“OK! OK! Sweet dreams, sis. Hope they’re nice and erotic!”

Sophie threw another cushion, hitting the door as Chloe closed it behind her. Flopping back on the pillows, she closed her eyes. Immediately, an image of Ryan filled her mind. Hot, sexy, tattooed arms trapping her against her car, his smoldering eyes, soft lips. Oh boy, it was going to be a restless night.

Chapter 2

Ryan squeezed his team leader’s shoulder, signaling he was good to go. In the darkness, their night vision goggles provided the only light in the dark alley.

“Execute.” Dex’s calm voice came over coms. Simultaneously breaching the building, he and Dex took right, Tyler and Mackie left. Steve and Donnie brought up the rear, covering their six. Tasked with recovering two hostages, their only access was through a heavy steel door. An unknown number of hostiles awaited them, and civilians were in the area. They had four minutes to get through the door, secure the hostages and get out, if they were going to make their exfil.

Dex dropped one hostile straight ahead, with a shot between the eyes. Tyler took out another outside the steel door.

“Raven 3, you’re up,” Dex ordered.

Steve, the explosives expert, moved forward, setting charges on the door. Movement caught Ryan’s attention. Swinging around he dropped a hostile with one shot, center mass. More movement drew his gaze to two figures behind Mackie. Mackie saw them. Friendlies. He waved them out.

“Fire in the hole!” Steve shouted and the whole team took cover before the charges exploded, busting the hinges. Two strong kicks and the door gave way.

Donnie and Steve shoved aside the door. Ryan and Dex moved into the hallway; weapons raised. They swept into the first room. Clear. Tyler and Mackie cleared the second. Donnie and Steve provided cover in the hallway. Dex and Ryan silently moved to the next room. Hearing movement, they stilled. Dex signaled to Ryan and, on his word, Ryan kicked open the door to two hostiles holding the hostages as human shields. Without hesitation, he and Dex took the hostiles down with clean shots to their heads. Tyler and Mackie moved in to secure the hostages.

“Targets secure.” Dex confirmed over coms. “Let’s move out.”

Surrounding the hostages, they moved back out through the blown door, into the hallway. Dex and Ryan in front, Tyler and Mackie took center with the hostages, and Donnie and Steve protected their rear. They cleared the hallway, eliminating further hostiles before stepping back through the blown steel door.

The team raised their NVG’s as the overhead lights came on.

“Four minutes ten seconds,” Sam called out from the mezzanine.

“You’re fucking kidding me,” Steve cursed. Setting the charges was taking too long.

“Nope. Let’s do it again.” Sam leaned on the rail, looking down on them.

The boys groaned but got busy putting another door on the hinges. The “hostiles” wiped off paint splatters.

“Third time’s a charm, Steve.” Dex slapped him on the back.

“Better be, I’m starving.” Ryan grinned. None of them were pissed. This is why they did these drills. Trained so hard. Find their weaknesses and fix them.

“Looks like beers are going to be on you, brother,” Mackie said. The rest of the team laughed. Steve glared at him, giving him the finger, not amused.

“If you boys are quite finished?” Sam’s dry voice silenced them.

“We’re all set, boss,” Donnie confirmed as they settled down, getting back into position for the third attempt.

Sam switched out the lights. “Time starts... Now.”

They ran the drill again, finally executing it perfectly. Hostiles down, innocents unharmed, and hostages secure. The lights went up and the team waited, looking up at Sam expectantly.

“Three minutes fifty-eight seconds.”

“Woo hoo!” Tyler punched Steve in the shoulder, with a big smile on his face.

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