It wasthe middle of the night and the compound was quiet.Which, sure, middle of the night.But this didn’t feel like any raid that I’d ever been on before.Was that because it was the first one to occur out of the corps?Or was it because of the constant struggle to keep worry for Lacy from overwhelming everything else?
I hated that she was out here, though Mercer and I were keeping her as safe as possible.She wasn’t dressed for a mission like this and she definitely wasn’t trained for it.
Ahead, Burn signaled for a stop and I passed it on behind me.My body tensed, waiting for Lacy to run into me.Surprisingly, she was proving adept at stealth.Maybe Blazer had taught her some moves.Rumor had it that he’d been military before he became a criminal.
Weapon ready and my body tense, I waited for the all-clear.It wasn’t long—mere seconds, really—but it seemed like forever since the life of someone I’d come to lo— Someone I’d come to care deeply about was in danger.
After we’d rescued Lacy’s sister and were out of danger, I wasn’t letting Lacy out of my sight.Possibly not out of my bed either, if she was amenable.
Shoving the badly timed thought away, I refocused on the mission.Based on the plan we’d hastily cobbled together before leaving the shuttle, Burn and Orion would fan out, clearing any guards around the first building.Orion would also scan with the infrared goggles.He and Mercer had only picked up the one pair, so we were relying on him.
Burn and Orion drifted back to our little group.“No guards,” Burn reported quietly.
Orion flipped the goggles to the top of his head.“Not many signatures either.One lone figure in the first building.A few in the next building.I think that’s serving as the bunkhouse.And two in the main house.”
“So she’s here?”Lacy whispered.“Right there?”Pointing at the building in front of us, she started to head toward it.
I grabbed her wrist and dragged her back.“Not yet.”
Her jaw set mulishly, but I stared her down.Finally, with a big sigh, she nodded.
“We’ll check here,” I decided.“Then circle around to the main house, if she’s not here.I want to avoid the bunkhouse if at all possible.”
We slid from shadow to shadow, approaching the small outbuilding at an oblique angle, keeping clear of the small, dark windows.
We reached the door without incident.As Burn had noted, there were no guards.It didn’t make any sense if they were keeping a prisoner here, so I directed Orion to make another circuit of the building.
“No guards,” he confirmed when he returned a few minutes later.
Signaling for Burn to watch my back and for Mercer to watch Lacy, I eased the door open and slipped inside.Orion followed me in.“What do you see?”I asked.
He scanned the room before us with the heat-sensing goggles.“Not here, but...”He trailed off and rescanned the room.“Look for a basement.”
A basement definitely sounded more like where you would keep a prisoner than the main house.
I would never say it around Lacy, but I did wonder about the outcome of our mission.What were the odds that Layla was still alive?If they believed she knew the location of theQueen of Starsand its mythical treasure, how safe was she?
I shoved those thoughts away.We would deal with whatever we found after the fact.
As Orion and I stepped deeper into the building, looking for a way downstairs, the other three followed us in.
I drifted to Lacy’s side.“We think there’s a basement.Orion’s looking for the door.”
She nodded, her lips pressed tightly together.It took courage to face this and I wanted to let her know how proud I was of her.And how worried.
“Here,” Orion called softly.He stood off to the far side of the room.His weapon was still in his dominant hand while he ran his hand around the doorframe with his other hand.
“Open it,” I instructed.I placed my body between Lacy and the door.She tried to shift to see around me, but I moved with her.
“We don’t know what’s down there.It could be dangerous.”I touched her arm.“We’re so close.Let’s not rush the last steps.”
She clenched her fists and nodded abruptly.
I checked on my team.Burn watched the main door, while Mercer stood just inside the doorway.Orion laid small charges on the door’s hinges, then motioned the rest of us back.He took up a position a few feet from the basement door and pressed the detonator.
The explosives discharged with a littlezzt, a tiny yellow spark, and a puff of smoke.Burn covered Orion while he peeled the door out of the frame.He used it to shield them both while Burn peered into the stairwell.
“One flight of stairs, looks like it goes straight down.”
