by S. K. Lessly
It took a while, but she finally got her shit together. The paramedics arrived and they checked her vitals and oxygen levels to make sure she was getting enough. They asked if she wanted to get the baby checked out too and at first, she said no. I pushed her toward the door nodding my head.
“It’s one less thing you need to worry about, okay? Put some eyes on your baby, make sure she’s good. Then come back here and get to work.”
Reluctantly she left, taking Jay with her. She gave me cautious eyes and I did my best to soothe her worries. Curtis announced he would accompany his sister and nephew to the hospital and keep them safe. Before he left, he sent a pointed look toward Shane.
“Don’t you go anywhere without me,” he told Shane, his tone leaving nothing to argue. Shane gave him a quick nod.
“We won’t. I called my sister and her husband. They’re on their way to the hospital. Stay there until they get there. Then get back here. If something jumps off before then, we’ll pick you up from the hospital. Call before you leave.”
Curtis nodded and left.
Not shortly after Sweets and Curtis left, I received a call from my dad. Shane must’ve called his parents too.
My dad told me they were heading back to the city and would go straight to the hospital to keep an eye on Sweets and Malcolm.
“Are you alright?” My dad asked and I nodded doing my best not to break down.
“Yeah, Dad, I’m good.”
“Alright, keep us posted if you can. We love you.”
I smiled. “I love you guys too.”
And with that, he hung up the phone.
Now that the drama was over, it was time to get back to work. We headed back to Geek City to review the security footage of what went down here.
Our team had taken a huge hit. We identified two traitors from the security team from the footage. They had granted access to about fifteen men led by Lieutenant Alfred Davies. Four of our security guys didn’t see the ambush coming. The two traitors took them out before they could sound the alarm. Our only saving grace was that Shane had instructed Fox and Echo teams to stay home.
Someone from Fox team had stepped in the lobby just as Davies came off the elevator and shot the two traitors in the head. Our guy managed to sound the alarm before he too was killed.
After that, shit hit the fan. Curtis and Jesse, along with the rest of the guys, made their way to the hallway leading to Geek City to fortify that area. They were in a heavy firefight with Davies’ men, while Davies made his way toward Sweets’ office. We all inhaled sharply when we saw Jacks go down. Fortunately for him, he didn’t see it coming.
His death saved Sweets. She had just enough time to get her and Jay into the bathroom before Davies could grab her.
The fucker looked pissed she escaped, which told us he was there to grab her. He started banging on the door, fired rounds and even tried to blow the door. He was unsuccessful of course and we watched him walk away from Sweets’ office. He then searched the other offices before he left, taking only three of his men with him, the rest he left to their fates.
Davies escaped in the elevators just seconds before we arrived.
I watched Shane as he re-watched the footage. He only showed emotion when Sweets managed to get herself to safety, other than that the man was stone-faced.
I knew he was settling into murderous rage. Shit so was everyone else including me. However. I knew this was different for Shane. This was his house and someone came into his house, shot up his team and walked out without repercussion.
I studied Shane, clocked the tension in his shoulders, the fierceness in his eyes. When this man got angry, or he was filled with heavy emotion, I swear his eyes turned green. I wasn’t sure if anyone else knew that but over the weeks we spent together, I had learned a lot about his tales. He was a master at keeping his feelings off his features, but sometimes, when he allowed it, he used his eyes to express his feelings.
Shane was plotting his revenge, thinking of all the ways he would get Davies and I couldn’t wait to see it happen. It would happen soon, there was no doubt about it. We were close to finding Josh, I could smell it.
We both had scores to settle. Shane had Davies and I had Emily. Things were about to get very bloody and I couldn’t help but smile.
Excitement started coursing through my veins. The anticipation of tasting the blood of my enemy ran rapid through my body. My hands itched to have my babies in my hands, my knives and my gun.
Oh, Emily, I’m coming for you…
“What are you smiling about?”
I looked into rage-filled green eyes and my smile grew.
“I’m just looking forward to plunging my knife into that deranged bitch and watching her bleed to death,” I told him allowing the excitement the shine through.
If it was anyone else, I think they would have committed me right then or called me sick or something. But not Shane. Shane simply chuckled, despite himself, and shook his head.
“Hoorah!” he replied smiling down at me, a gleam of excitement radiating from his gaze.
I countered holding my fist up for him to bump.
“Oorah!”
20
Shane
Three Black Hawk helicopters sliced through the humid night air above the coast of southern Brazil. Each helicopter filled with my teams locked, loaded and ready for war. I was in the leading chopper, along with Misty, Curtis, Ivan, Stan, Jesse, and the members of Echo team. The other two helicopters were filled with members from Charlie, Tango and Fox teams.
There were eight teams a part of my DIA unit. I had five teams with me. The other three were on the home front, guarding my family, keeping Hell secure and making sure no one else gained access to our office.
Each of the teams were filled with highly trained individuals who had no problem with getting a little dirty. They were professionals who understood what it took to do this job. They knew sometimes, in order to fight evil you had to walk along the edge of darkness.
For example, no one batted an eye when I expressed our mission objective, retrieve my brother and kill everyone that gets in our way. Everyone simply nodded, not overly concerned with the what, the who and sometimes the why. They were more concerned about the how, when and where.
Oh yes, if I hadn’t mentioned it, we found Josh.
The discovery of Hamlin and Piper Industries paid off big time. Nickels and Junior were able to cross reference the countries this company had aided the most with the sightings of Perchenko. One country in particular caught their eye, Sao Paulo, which was located southwest of Rio.
Sao Paulo was the largest city in Brazil, by population, and the wealthiest. It was also one of the hubs for H and P, which was smart on their part. This city was considered the financial, economic, and cultural center for the entire country of Brazil. Labor was probably cheap and so was the land. It was heavily populated, which allowed various races and cultures to blend in with the immigrants currently calling Brazil home. The location also allowed someone to reach war torn countries and countries in South America and the Caribbean obliterated by natural disasters with ease. It made sense financially for the company to set up shop in that country. It also made sense for Perchenko. The man spent majority of his time in the popular city. He also had an estate on the outskirts of Rio where we believed Diane visited. If they wanted to lead us to a trap, it would make sense to do it where the man was most comfortable.
The team also dug a little deeper into the CEO of H and P Industries, a man named Herman Gerbinsky, and learned the man didn’t exist. He was just as bogus as the company. From there, we found an estate that belonged to the CEO on a remote small island off the coast of a city called Santos, which happened to be south of… yup you guessed it… Sao Paulo. The estate was large, surrounded by hundreds of acres of trees, bushes, and grassy plains.
Nickels searched for a security system on the property and conveniently found one. It didn’t take long for him to infiltrate the system. Nickels
reviewed footage dating back to the night Josh was kidnapped. He found no trace of a human being on the property until the following day when the estate was suddenly busy with heavy foot traffic. He used facial recognition software to identify any familiar faces and again hit pay dirt. He found four. Josh, who was being carried fireman style into the house by Davies, Emily and none other than Dante Perchenko himself.
That was two days ago. We’ve been monitoring the estate since then, looking for any changes or movement indicating Josh was no longer there or something happened to him. So far, they were staying put, waiting for us to come and get him. Well, I didn’t want to disappoint them or be rude. I would however play this smart. Because they were expecting us, we didn’t have the element of surprise in our favor. We had to come up with a strategy to get in and out without losing a soul on either team.
While we waited for approval from my boss at the DIA, the Deputy Director of Defense, I had Nickels and Junior review every nook and cranny of that place. They checked for any explosive devices around the property that could be set off by motion or a timer. They verified how many security guards were manning the estate both inside and out. The security around Perchenko was tight. There were close to a hundred men protecting the estate. Some of the men patrolled the forest surrounding the large house and others patrolled the parameter of the estate or guarded the inside. Each of the bastards were heavily armed and waiting around for us.
Knowing the amount of guards around the parameter as well as inside the house was crucial to the success of the mission. We needed to know what we were up against so that we were prepared. Also, we needed to locate my brother. We didn’t have time to search the entire area. We had to get in and get out without much of a fuss.
This wasn’t going to be an easy insertion nor was it going to be clean. As I said before, we had to come up with a solid plan. There was no way I was losing anyone on my team, no fucking way.
I pulled the leaders of each of the teams going as well as Misty and we made our plans. We worked tirelessly for hours, having multiple meetings until we had a plan that we all agreed on. Once I received approval from my boss, we raced to the private airstrip and boarded the newest jet for Gulfstream, a G700. This jet was elaborate and elegant with all the bells and whistles a Gulfstream would have and more. This particular model could carry up to nineteen passengers comfortably. Don’t ask how we could afford a private jet on a government budget.
If I told you, I’d have to kill you.
We flew south in the G700 straight to Brazil only stopping briefly to fuel up. We had a cover story from the state department granting us permission to operate on Brazilian soil. We told the Brazilian government we were looking for a fugitive by the name of Alfred Davies. We pinned Dennis Simon’s crimes on him and told them about the children he kidnapped and sold. The story worked out in our favor mainly because Simon had indeed abducted children from this very area. In fact, the U.S. had returned about ten children taken from the same small country we were heading to. The state of Santos as well as Sao Paulo had no choice but to help us in any way we needed and we needed them to stay out of our way.
I glanced at the members riding with me. Everyone had their game faces on, deep in thought, dressed in black tactical gear and the latest model of bulletproof vest. Green and black war paint were smeared on their faces. Tactical helmets fitted with NVGs, night vision goggles, sat atop their heads and they each carried suppressed M4s with scopes, except Misty who held a M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle specifically used by Marines.
Curtis and Jesse had their eyes closed, headsets on bobbing their heads. Ivan and Stan were both reviewing maps and the blueprints of the estate using Stan’s tablet. They were speaking in hush tones, pointing to the screen and probably going over the plan. The four men from Echo team were doing the same, going over the plan, talking strategy. That’s all that went on when heading into war. The small talk, if you survived, happened on your way home.
My eyes finally drifted to the only female on the chopper, Misty. She and I had been avoiding each other prior to this trip. We spoke only during mission-ready meetings and strategy sessions. Other than that, she kept her distance from me. I didn’t take it personal. I knew she kept her distance for one reason, or maybe two, but the main reasons was she wanted to stay on this case.
Actually, I should have sidelined her. The shit she pulled, having her cell and pager turned off, going off the grid, was unacceptable. Be that as it may, I wasn’t stupid. I knew if I took her off the case, she’d disobey me and show up in Brazil anyway. There was no need to put both of us in a difficult situation; I knew when to fight my battles or put the fight on a back burner. However, I did verbally reprimand her in front of everyone. I didn’t tolerate insolence from anyone, I didn’t care who it was. I also needed to send a message. No one was above my wrath. Once this mission was done, Misty would pay for her lack of judgment, that was for damn sure.
I continued to take her in clocking the small amount of war paint under her eyes, which by the way took nothing from how sexy she looked. The woman was a beast. She was in her element, dressed in black tactical gear showing off her supple ass and generous thighs. She was armed to the teeth, with hate and murderous rage in her eyes and it was hot as fuck. Just looking at her had my dick raging to have her. Or the reason for my sudden hard on could be what happened before we took off in the choppers.
She had been sitting by herself on the plane, cleaning her guns and sharpening her knives. That shit right there, watching her get combat ready, was sexy as shit. I could see and feel the tension flowing through her body. She was amped up, ready for a fight, ready to kill and fuck, I was harder than the stone she used to sharpen her knife. My balls were heavy with the release only meant for her. Yeah, I needed a release and I could sense she did too.
The Gulfstream landed at a private airfield close to the shores of Santos. The pilots drove the private jet into the hanger farthest from the runway and shut down the engines. Everyone exited the plane and went their separate ways. Most re-checked their packs and completed weapons check to make sure they had everything they needed for this mission. The helicopter pilots headed outside to the side of the hanger to inspect the Black Hawk helicopters waiting for us. They would go through their flight checks before they did anything else.
I checked with each team leader, making sure everyone had what they needed and would be ready to go. Wheels up would be in an hour. Each team leader would go over the tactical readiness and mission plan with their own teams. If there were any questions or anything they needed to work through, that would be the time.
For my team, Alpha team, we did things differently. My guys have been pouring over every part of this mission from the location of the estate, the ground security team, the layout of the house to the extraction plan for days. I have drilled into them the importance of being ready. We didn’t waste time going over shit, it’s why we were the best. It’s why we were Alpha team.
That sounded arrogant, I know. However, it’s the truth and everyone knew it.
Every player on my team was the best of the best in their respective government units, either military or investigative. We all had chips on our shoulders and points to prove. I didn’t have to tell them to memorize the plans for the estate. They would have done that the moment they received the plans. Each one would pull their own weight because if they didn’t, they’d have to answer to me and that was something they did not want, trust me.
I stepped to my team, Ivan, Stan, Curtis, and Jesse, Misty wasn’t among them, looked each of them in the eyes and said simply, “Bring my brother home, alive.”
They nodded and that was that.
I returned their nod and stepped away, making a beeline for the hanger’s office.
“Wheels up in forty-five,” I yelled to everyone just as the engines of the Black Hawks started outside.
I found the office easy enough, opened the door and stepped inside. The room smelled of mildew, dirt and
fuel. You could tell this place didn’t see much traffic. The floor was dirty, walls looked as if they could use a thousand coats of fresh paint and the windows had so much grime on them, someone would need a blowtorch to get it off.
It was what I needed.
I closed the door, locked it and pulled out my phone. I ran an application on my phone that allowed me to make secured calls using my cell. I then called my father and got a situation report on the home front.
“Malcolm’s out of surgery,” Pops told me. However, I didn’t feel relieved. I could tell there was more, and I wouldn’t like it. “He lost a lot of blood. And we lost him a few times.”
I closed my eyes, dropped my chin to my chest and blew out a tired breath. My father’s voice was laced with pain, uncertainty, and fear. It gutted me hearing that in his voice and I wasn’t there for him. He took a deep breath, trying to steel his voice, however he still sounded shaky. “He’s critical, Shane.”
Fuck…
It was getting harder and harder to breathe. It was as if the office walls were closing in around me, draining the oxygen, suffocating me.
“Son, you still there?”
I cleared my throat.
“Yeah, Pops. I’m still here,” I replied, my voice gravely and low, filled with the emotions I felt.
I couldn’t lose my brother. He was a pain in my ass but I loved the fucker. We were close, all of us. Losing him would be like losing a part of me. I wouldn’t recover.
My father went on a bit, telling me that Sweets was fine and so was the baby, which was good news. She was staying with them, keeping my mother and sister company. I knew they all were losing their minds. They needed each other.
