Pulling on my socks, I chuckled. “I kinda like that about him.”
“Yeah, me too, but don’t tell him.”
“Your secret’s safe with me.” I glanced at my watch. “Shit. I gotta go.”
She followed me into the closet and watched me step into my black sneakers. “Already? But… I need more time with you.”
“The sooner I go, the sooner I can get my ass back home.” I headed downstairs and she followed.
“And youwillcome back, right? This isn’t just some grandiose scheme to ditch me, is it?”
She needed more reassurance than I had the time to give her, but I stopped in front of the garage door and gave it a try. “Of course I will. I would never leave my bed behind. Didn’t you feel that thing? It’s like sleeping on clouds. Fucking clouds, Sash.”
She socked me on the arm. “Smartass.”
“At least I’m not a nameless one anymore.”
Her face lit up. “Alright, D’Vonte. Bring your smart ass home safe and sound and we’ll test the hell out of that bed’s warranty.”
“Deal.” I kissed her, doing my best to transfer every ounce of affection I felt into the gesture. It must have worked because when I released her, she was breathless, and her eyes were bright.
I pulled into the fire station at 2:43 a.m. I was early, but we still had a few last-minute plans to go over and I wanted to check on Mama and Hailey and meet with Morse to make sure I understood exactly what he needed me to do. By the time the club was ready to roll out, I’d handled my personal business and had a clear understanding of my job.
Since the op required stealth, bikes were out of the question. The fifteen of us who’d been selected for the mission piled into a fifteen-passenger rental van. We were all dressed in black with our game faces on, and the tension was so damn thick I could barely breathe. As we settled in for the drive, Wasp made some wisecrack about us looking like a group of environmentally-friendly carpool ninjas. It was just what we needed to break the tension and bring some levity to the situation. The air cleared, and the rest of the drive was silent as we all mentally prepared for the task ahead.
The plan was a good one, certain to be a success as long as everyone did their job.
Teamwork was a new and disturbing concept for me and every time I wondered about the competency of our group, my asshole puckered. I had a lot riding on the success of this mission, and I had to hope that my teammates were as committed as I was. I said a silent prayer that nobody fucked up.
As expected, the Serpents’ compound was still dark when we parked across the street. Link had pulled some strings and called in a few favors to get us the gear we needed. We were each equipped with a bullet-proof vest, headset, gas mask, flashlight, stun gun, and handcuffs. Designated brothers wielded smoke bombs, sleeping gas cannisters, wire cutters, and flash bang grenades. To put it lightly, we had more options for incapacitating the enemy on us than most third-world countries had in their entire police force. For my role, I carried a portable cell phone jammer, a screwdriver set, a wrench, wire cutters, and a sleeping gas cannister.
Once everyone was geared up, three teams of four slipped out of the van, leaving me, Eagle, and Stocks behind. Eagle and his sniper rifle made up our worst-case scenario back-up plan, while Stocks and his night vision binoculars served as the lookout. I, however, was the man of odd jobs.
The three teams silently crossed the street as one. Wasp and Rabbit went to work on the flimsy wire fence that surrounded the compound, cutting a large enough doorway for us all to slip through. While they were busy with that, I opened the box Morse had given me before we left the fire station and powered up the three small stealth drones within.
“Morse. You’re up,” I said into my mic.
“Copy,” he replied. “Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie are online and heading in.”
In addition to being the nerdiest son-of-a-bitch I’d ever met, Morse was one hell of a drone programmer and pilot. He’d spent ten years in the Air Force learning all he could about drones, and left when they ran out of shit to teach him. He could have stayed on and passed along his knowledge to others, but he decided to join forces with Link and the Dead Presidents instead. He was one crazy motherfucker, but we were lucky to have him.
As the teams slipped through the cut fence and split up, all three drones rose into the air and headed out, each hovering above the team it was assigned to. The compound had three doors that led into the common area, and we were hitting all of them at once.
“I’m heading in,” I said into my mic as I tugged on a pair of black gloves and crossed the street. Once I was through the gate, I crept to the back of the building and powered on my flashlight. I turned on the cell phone jammer, then found the electrical meter and unscrewed the glass dial that measured kilowatts of energy. Beneath the dial was a switch. I used my wrench to turn the switch to the off position.
“Lights are out,” I said into my mic.
“Copy. We’re opening the doors,” Link replied. A couple of seconds later, he added, “South door’s open.”
“Copy,” Morse said. “Alpha’s going in.”
“North door’s open,” Havoc said.
“West door, too,” Wasp added.
“Copy,” Morse replied. “Bravo and Charlie are sweeping the area.”
The drones went in ahead of the teams to make sure there were no surprises.
