Battle It Out

by Reese Knightley

  “Same. So maybe you should stay behind me.” The guy must have received the colonel’s special permission to carry just like the rest of Infinity.

  “I’ve got seniority here,” he growled.

  “Rubbing it in?” A deep silky voice sent a tingle down his spine.

  Zane closed his eyes for a second before slowly turning around. He steeled himself for his first glimpse of Isaac since he’d acknowledged so much about himself.

  Isaac wasn’t alone. Pia stood behind him and Blade was leaning against Isaac’s SUV across the street.

  “Are you going to congratulate me, Staff Sergeant?” he said to Isaac, ignoring the smirk Pia gave him.

  Isaac’s eyes narrowed and his full mouth firmed. The man wore a black beanie pulled down over his bright head and black pants clung tightly to his hips and thighs. Dragging his eyes upward, he crossed his arms and planted his feet apart.

  Their gazes locked.

  “Maybe?” Isaac smirked. “Do you need to be taken down a peg or two, Master sergeant?”

  A rush of heat filled relief kickstarted his heart. He hadn’t heard that teasing tone of voice in forever. It seemed his fumbling in the hallway was forgiven.

  Holden cut him off from responding.

  “You’re Sergeant First Class, right?” Holden asked Isaac.

  “No, I’m Staff Sergeant,” Isaac responded.

  “Oops, sorry.” Holden gave Isaac a warm smile.

  “No worries.” Isaac smiled back at Holden.

  “Well, now that you two have introduced yourselves again, let’s get to the fucking job,” Zane said through clenched teeth.

  “After you, Master Sergeant,” Holden snorted and acknowledged him with a sweep of his arm toward the house.

  Isaac rolled his eyes and squinted at him. Then a glare swept through those blue depths. Great.

  “No wait!” Pia interjected and everyone paused.

  “For fuck’s sake, what now?” Zane scowled, throwing up his hands.

  “I thought the colonel said we’re supposed to observe them,” she said. She did have a point.

  “We are, but we’ll do it in Infinity style,” he answered her with a smirk.

  “Ooooh.” Pia’s eyes went wide and she laughed.

  “Infinity style?” Holden’s brow wrinkled.

  “Up close and personal,” Isaac tacked on with a grin for Holden.

  Spinning away from the sight, Zane stomped toward the porch. The cracked wood groaned beneath his weight and he leaped up the stairs. The rest did the same.

  The screen door hung on its hinges with a gaping hole next to it where a doorbell should have been.

  “Fuck,” he muttered with a grimace and pushed the broken screen aside to knock loudly. The door rattled.

  “Who is it!” a woman yelled.

  “We’re looking for Sergeant Joshua Greene, ma’am,” he called through the closed door.

  “Joshua! It’s for you,” the woman hollered.

  Several minutes later, the door was yanked open and blurry eyes gazed at them through narrowed lids. Sweat dampened and dirty hair clung to the man’s shoulders and his beard and mustache were so thick they covered most of his face. A stained and ripped wife beater covered the man’s big frame along with boxer briefs in the same dismal state.

  “Sergeant Greene?” He squinted.

  “Yeah, I’m Greene. You here with my fucking discharge papers?”

  The stench of alcohol and cigarette smoke wafted toward him.

  “How’d you know we’re military?” Holden growled.

  “Is he for fucking real?” Greene squinted at him.

  Zane snapped an arm out to keep Holden from clocking Greene.

  “Stand down,” he murmured, never moving his eyes from the man in the doorway.

  “I’m Master Sergeant Gannon, they are Sergeants Thorne, Rosario, and Wreck.”

  Greene barely acknowledged the others. “Like I said, you here with my papers?”

  “Have you been drinking, Greene?”

  “What’s it to you?” the man spat.

  “Answer the question,” he said flatly.

  “I haven’t been sober in two fucking weeks,” the man sneered, chin tipping, daring him to do something.

  “Thank you for your time.” Zane tipped his head and turned away.

  “And you tell them to cut me a fucking check!” Greene shouted and slammed the door.

  “That’s it?” Isaac asked incredulously.

  “That’s it,” he said and jogged down the steps.

  “Fuck,” Holden muttered, and jumped off the porch.

  “We could have questioned him!” Isaac insisted, coming after him.

  “About what?” he asked, but kept on going down the cracked walkway and out the opening where a gate should have been. Isaac was right, he could have asked questions, but he didn’t.

  “Hey!” Isaac caught his arm and he turned on the man.

  “He’s stinking drunk. He wouldn’t have remembered a fucking thing,” he growled.

  Isaac stepped back with a glare.

  “What now?” Pia asked, jogging to catch up to him and Isaac.

  “I believe it’s the next guy on the list.” He pulled his phone, looking at the names, but his attention remained focused on Isaac.

  “Just text us the fucking location,” Isaac snapped, irritation thick in his voice, and marched toward his SUV where Blade stood waiting. Pia grinned, waggled her fingers, and trotted across the street.

  “Aye, Aye, Captain,” Zane called after Isaac.

  Isaac stopped, yanked off his beanie, and fisted it in his hand. He hesitated, like he was on the fence about turning around and chewing him a new asshole. Come on, do it. Fucking do something! Anything. But Isaac didn’t… instead he stalked to his SUV without another word.

  Arguing might have relieved the tension between them. Was that what he wanted? Yes, but not here. The strain was too thick, too volatile to address there in front of the others.

  Zane squinted after Isaac’s ass and then slid behind the wheel of his jeep.

  “He obviously needs a refresher about who’s in charge,” Holden said, slamming the jeep passenger door.

  “When you’ve been with this unit as long as we have, then you can question what we do. Until then, watch your fucking mouth.” He squeezed the steering wheel.

  There was a long, uncomfortable silence before Holden grudgingly nodded.

  “I’m sorry.” Holden grimaced ruefully. “I don’t know what the hell’s gotten into me. I’m normally quiet.”

  “It’s growing pains,” he said with some measure of sympathy. Although, his own attitude wasn’t helping matters. It wasn’t Holden’s fault, he reminded himself.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “I can’t promise to answer.” He started the engine, but didn’t put the vehicle in drive.

  “Why do you goad him like that?” Holden squinted at him.

  He didn’t need to ask who the “him” was. No way in hell was he ready to talk about Isaac. Not to Holden, not to anybody, really. He just wasn’t ready.

  “We go back a long way,” was all he said. Lifting the laptop, he sent an email to the colonel.

  Sergeant Joshua Greene: May be on some type of administrative leave? He said he’s waiting for a check and discharge papers. He hasn’t been sober in two weeks.

  He sent the email and then a text to Isaac along with the next target address.

  Roger. Was his only response.

  “Make yourself useful and pull up that location.” He pointed to his phone. “Tell me what kind of area it’s in.”

  Holden snatched the cell from the holder and punched in the location.

  “Sergeant Archer Hall,” Holden said. “Lives in a nicer part of town. It’s an apartment building.”

  Zane shoved the jeep into drive and pulled out onto the road.

  “What do you think Liam wants with these guys?”

  “Diesel, Elijah, and Wol
f all left the unit. They were here before you. Now Dillon is set to retire. We were four men down before you. It makes sense the colonel is looking for new recruits.”

  After the fiasco with Brewster, Liam had called a halt to the testing, but he left that part unsaid.

  “How the hell did that guy end up on the list for Infinity?” Holden pointed a thumb over his shoulder back in the direction of Greene’s place.

  “Alcoholism isn’t choosy,” he said, punching the gas to catch up to Isaac’s SUV.

  “True that,” Holden sighed. “But don’t most commanders choose these guys themselves?”

  He’d bet his left nut that the colonel had already vetted these guys and this was Liam’s way of letting them get a feel for the new recruits.

  “Colonel Cobalt isn’t most commanders,” he said instead.

  “No, no he isn’t.” Holden rubbed at his chin.

  “Relax, if he didn’t like you, he wouldn’t have given you shit.”

  Holden snorted. “If he didn’t like me, I wouldn’t be in the unit.”

  Zane smirked and took the onramp to the freeway, keeping Isaac’s SUV in sight.

  “So, he must like these guys?” Holden flicked the paper.

  “Maybe.”

  Isaac

  He pulled over when he spotted a diner off the freeway and parked in the lot. Zane pulled up a few spots over.

  “Wait here,” he told Pia and Blade before sliding out of the vehicle.

  He approached Zane’s jeep. He hated the tension between them.

  Hazel eyes stared at him, looking him over, and he steeled himself against smiling. Shoving back his irritation with what had happened back at the house, he kept his expression neutral.

  “Lost?” Zane grumbled.

  “Why? You offering me a ride?” He groaned at the suggestiveness in his tone.

  “No.” Zane’s frown deepened.

  Clearing his throat, he stepped closer to the open window. Zane’s woodsy aftershave drifted on the air.

  Zane shifted in his seat, squeezed the steering wheel, and turned his face to the windshield.

  “Sergeant Hill’s apartment is forty-five minutes from here. I thought you two might want to ride with us.”

  “No thanks, we’re good,” Zane grunted, still staring out the windshield.

  What the fuck? Zane acted like their issues were all his fucking fault. Okay, asshole, have it your way. Resisting the urge to yank Zane from the jeep and plant his fist in the sexy fucker’s face, he clenched his teeth.

  “Fine.” He spun and hurried back to the SUV, humiliation stiffening his spine. See what I get for being nice? That’s it then.

  Zane made it very clear how he’d felt about being around him. Well then, fuck him. How that was going to affect them in the field was anyone’s guess. He’d have to talk to Maddox and see what could be done. Perhaps he could pair up with Dillon or Holden.

  “They’re not coming?” Blade asked from the back seat.

  “Nah, guess they need more room,” Pia responded, tossing him a worried look.

  He ignored her, and she turned her attention to Blade.

  He tore off down the freeway and managed to stay five miles over the speed limit.

  Pia and Blade started discussing the newest recruits, and he tuned them out. His mind was on Zane.

  Things were so different now. Way different than how they’d been before. Before the safe house, they’d been in sync. They watched the same shows on TV, they were never at a loss for conversation, he’d taken to teasing Zane nonstop as usual, but something changed that last night. Something that he now knew was all in his head. For a brief second, he’d imagined he’d seen desire on Zane’s face. The air had sizzled and crackled between them, but then Zane had turned away, shutting him out, and it had hurt like hell. He’d known then that he couldn’t face Zane until he got his own emotions under control, so he’d taken off like a coward the next morning and left a note.

  The guy’s straight. How many times does he need to tell you that?

  “Don’t miss the exit.” Pia’s voice dragged him from the past and he flipped on his blinker and got off just in time.

  Sergeant Archer Hall’s apartment complex sat in a nice part of Glendale. He, Pia, and Blade met up with Zane and Holden at the front entrance. He kept his gaze averted.

  The noise and screaming rushed to meet them the minute they opened the apartment building’s outer door, and he pulled his weapon when two women and a young teenager ran down the stairs.

  “He’s going to kill them!” the woman cried.

  “Who?”

  “Some man!”

  He frowned and started up the stairs.

  “What apartment?” Zane shouted on his six, weapon pulled.

  “312!”

  “You two, take the elevator,” Zane told Pia and Blade. “The rest of us will take the stairs.”

  “Roger that.” They hastily put in their earpieces and split up.

  They came across a man crouched in the stairwell aiming his gun up the stairs.

  “Sergeant Archer Hall?” He recognized the man from the file.

  “Yeah?” Archer tossed him a scowling look. The guy had a beanie pulled down over his hair, but tendrils of dark escaped. The hard planes of his face and stubbled jaw were made even harder by the frown the man wore. His eyes were piercing, looking black in the stairwell, before they cut away from him and over to Zane and Holden.

  “I’m Master Sergeant Gannon,” Zane said, taking the lead. “This is Sergeant Thorne and Wreck. What’s going on?”

  “The fucker is here to get his two kids back, that’s what’s going on.”

  The bang of a gunshot echoed and Archer lunged up the stairs.

  “Kids?” He charged after Archer not waiting for Zane.

  “Isaac,” Zane hissed.

  He paused at the order and impatiently waited until Zane and Holden were on his ass.

  “Elevator’s secure,” Pia reported.

  “Keep it clear. Isaac, Holden, and I are going up with Archer,” Zane ordered Pia.

  Isaac started up first, it was their regular formation. Him first with Zane guarding his six, they’d worked that way for a year. All the times before came flooding back and it felt like home. Like a familiar hat one put on to keep the sun from scorching them alive.

  Archer shot out every hallway light as they went upward. The man’s silencer gave a slight snick in the semi darkened hallway with the only visibility from the sky light above.

  “Holden, guard the stairs here,” Zane said and Holden nodded, taking up position to guard their flank from that point.

  Isaac moved upward with Zane close to his ass, so close that at one point, he could have sworn the man’s breath caressed the back of his neck.

  Ahead of them, a slight figure, dressed in black from head to toe like some fucking ninja, darted out with a gun raised.

  Isaac lifted his weapon, but Archer knocked his arm up and away.

  “Don’t fucking shoot!” Archer snapped.

  “I wasn’t going to!” he snarled back.

  “You fuck!” Zane slammed Archer against the wall too fast for Isaac to do anything more than gape. It was a battle of sheer fucking power. Archer spun Zane against the wood, but Zane had more muscle and turned the tables.

  Archer’s head cracked against the wall and the man gave a harsh grunt.

  “Let him go or my next bullet will be in the back of your head,” a soft, calm voice said from the darkness and the muzzle of a gun was aimed at the back of Zane’s head.

  Isaac lost his ability to fucking breathe. He brought his gun up and aimed it at the ninja guy.

  “Everyone just calm the fuck down,” Zane growled.

  “You first,” Ninja said.

  Zane eased his grip on Archer and the man shoved away, straightening his shirt.

  Ninja guy lowered his gun.

  Isaac had a clear shot until Archer Hall stepped in front of his gun.

 
“Get out of the way,” he snapped.

  “Your Master Sergeant just said to stay calm,” Archer pointed out.

  “Easy,” Zane said, stepping closer to him and Archer.

  Isaac gnashed his teeth and pulled his weapon up and away from Archer’s gut.

  “He put a gun to the back of Sergeant Gannon’s head. I can’t let that go,” Isaac growled.

  “It’s okay,” Zane rumbled.

  “Don’t fucking say that,” he snapped. No, it fucking wasn’t okay! As far as he was concerned, Ninja guy should be thankful he was still fucking breathing.

  “Who the fuck are these guys, Arch? I said to come alone,” the soft voice snapped.

  “They showed up looking for me.”

  “Why?” Ninja guy turned on him.

  Isaac stepped forward, but Zane put a hand on his arm. For some reason, Zane was being abnormally quiet.

  “Ease up, Colin. I don’t fucking know,” Archer said.

  “Colin? As in Sergeant Colin Savage?” Isaac squinted.

  “What of it?” Colin growled.

  “You both live here?” He checked his phone and frowned. Colin was listed as living with his parents.

  “We both have apartments here,” Archer said.

  “We’re looking for you both,” Zane spoke up.

  “It’ll have to wait Master Sergeant, we have a perp to catch,” Archer told Zane.

  “Need some help?” Isaac gave Archer a cocky grin.

  Zane snorted under his breath.

  “Over it just like that?” Colin snorted.

  “I’ve no reason to hold a grudge unless you want to give me one,” he said, stepping up to Colin, the man shorter and slighter.

  “Take it easy,” Archer said, putting a hand on each of their chests and moving them back from each other.

  Isaac smirked and through the dim light, he noted the returned smirk from Colin.

  “Sure you’re up for it?” Isaac goaded the guy.

  “Let’s do this,” Colin growled.

  “We are so going down for this,” Zane muttered.

  “Aww, come on, Zane, live a little.” He flashed their new Master Sergeant a grin in the dim hallway as he chambered a bullet and received a dark look for his effort.

  “What’s the situation?” Zane asked Colin and Archer.

  “We have two small children and their dead-beat dad barricaded in unit 312,” Colin said.