It was true. Whenever they involved the Mulvaneys in their jobs, they always came with Kevlar vests, weapons not even available on the market, and toys that looked like something straight out of a spy movie. It was helpful but also somewhat intimidating.
Arsen held Ever against him, resting his chin on his head. Ever was tense, his eyes locked on the only thing he cared about. The shipping container was barely visible from their current location, but it was clearly the one Cherry mentioned. It looked more like a storage unit or a shed, but the locks were so big Arsen could observe them without effort even at that distance.
They’d brought bolt cutters for that reason. Atticus had insisted, saying the last time they’d done a rescue mission like this there’d been a struggle to find a way to unlock the door without hurting anybody. Ever held the bolt cutters in a death grip, like he was taking his one job very seriously.
Arsen’s mouth was dry, his adrenaline through the roof. These large-scale jobs were always way more intense than taking out a single bad guy…or woman. There was so much room for something—anything—to go wrong. And now, he had Ever.
“They’re all in there,” Jericho said. “There are three bodies lying prone in one room at the back. Bedroom, most likely. Another two bodies with a lesser heat signature, also prone. Chances are we got another bedroom. There are two sitting up in the front room and several on the floor. If they weren’t all glowing hot, I’d say someone beat us to it with how still they are.”
“You’re going in two teams. Felix, Seven, Nico, and Avi take the back, Arsen, Lake, and Asa take the front with me. Head on a fucking swivel. We make no mistakes. Comms check.”
They all checked to make sure they could be heard by the device in their ears, then parted into their own groups. Arsen didn’t want to leave Ever there, so close to the action, even though he knew he was out of the line of fire. He turned him around and gave him a hard kiss, then pulled ear plugs from his pocket, handing them to Ever, who frowned at them.
“The gunfire will be loud. They go in your ears,” Atticus supplied.
Oh, right. How would Ever know that? Arsen shook his head, then helped Ever put the plugs in, then took his cat headphones from his bag and gently placed them over his ears. “Please, be safe,besenok.”
Ever nodded, then cupped his face, pulling him down for a much longer kiss. “Hurry back, Senya.”
A shiver of lust rolled over him. Now was most definitely not the time, but hearing Ever call him that was still a novelty, still excited him. He hoped that never went away.
“Ready?” Jericho asked. They all nodded, weapons at the ready. “We go on my mark.”
Arsen, Jericho, Asa, and Lake jogged quietly across the brown and dying lawn. In Jericho’s hands was a SWAT-issued battering ram—identical to the one Avi carried around the back. There was no way the door would stand up against that.
The sound of gravel crunching under their boots sounded as loud as the gunfire that was about to ensue. He could only hope they were all too liquor-soaked to hear them coming.
Once they were gathered at the front door, he glanced back at Ever, who looked so small beside Atticus. He was doing this for him.
“We breach on three,” Jericho whispered into the mic.
“Uh…” Avi said.
“Yeah?” Jericho said in a harsh whisper.
“Like one, two, and then we breach on three, or one, two, three, then go?”
There were snickers of laughter in Arsen’s ears, but it did nothing to quell the turmoil. He just wanted this over with.
“I saidonthree notafterthree,” Jericho said, irritated.
“Just checking, jeez,” came Avi’s own grumble.
“One.”
Arsen raised his gun, taking a deep breath and letting it out, then cracking his neck.
“Two.”
A wave of perfect calmness swept over him as he narrowed his focus down to the single task at hand.
“Three.”
The battering rams hit the door in sync, creating a bomb-like boom as the wood splintered in protest. Jericho kicked the ruined door in just as the first shot rang out from the back. Arsen leveled his gun at a man scrambling for the weapon tucked in his belt and pulled the trigger, a perfect hole forming in his left temple as blood spattered on the wall and he collapsed in a heap.
It was a slaughter. Totally unfair in every conceivable way. Arsen aimed and fired, aimed and fired, watching with some satisfaction as each body hit the floor.
“Save some for the rest of us,” Asa muttered in the mic as he took out two men in rapid succession.
