The cops had gotten there in time to force the gun-wielding survivors of both gangs up to the second floor of the motel, where they’d barricaded themselves in several rooms. Unfortunately, each gang had taken the people staying at the motel hostage, and were ready to kill all of them—if they hadn’t already.
When she, Gage, and the rest of the SWAT team had arrived, the uniformed officers were still trading fire with the gangs on the second floor. It had been like a warzone, with the gangs taking shots at each other as well as the cops and anyone else who came within sight of the motel.
After making her promise to stay in the operations vehicle parked four blocks away, Gage and the rest of the SWAT team immediately headed into the fray—not to take out the thugs, but to try to rescue any of the hotel guests still inside. She’d almost turned off the monitors when she’d seen all the carnage there. Any remaining thought that the SWAT team was crooked, dirty, or anything other than the biggest bunch of heroic, dedicated cops she’d ever seen in her life was gone now. Gage and his men had gone into the motel over and over, carrying out the wounded while being shot at the whole time.
Mac held her breath as Gage reached the second floor. The two gangs had knocked out windows and piled up furniture to barricade themselves behind while they used up what seemed like an unlimited supply of ammunition. She knew Gage and his team were good at their jobs, but she didn’t see how this was going to end well.
Her hands were freaking shaking, she was so scared. Gage was going in there, and she suddenly realized she didn’t want him to.
The audio system in the operations vehicle was tied into the headsets every SWAT officer wore, so why the hell couldn’t she hear anything? She darted from one monitor to the next, but the men moved so fast it was making her dizzy. She wasn’t even sure where everyone was. A minute ago, Gage had been on the stairwell, but now he looked as if he was on some kind of gravel surface. Where the hell was he, on the ground behind the building? That made no sense at all.
Several men suddenly kneeled down in front of Gage’s camera, and she had only a second to identify one of them as Cooper before they scattered again. She almost screamed in frustration.
Gage’s voice came over the speaker. “Three…two…one…go!”
There was a thunderous boom and a flash of light, then…chaos.
Mac’s heart pounded harder, almost drowning out the sound coming over the speakers. What the hell good were cameras if everything on the monitors was too fast and jarring to comprehend? There were bright flashes of light, then the pop of gunshots followed by the ear-shattering cacophony of automatic weapons being fired. Screams and shouts turned into cries of pain, but they were barely audible over the low, angry growls the SWAT team made. She’d heard the same thing when Mike and Xander had led their squads into the pitch-black office building that first day. Only this time, it was much louder.
She closed her eyes, unable to look at the monitors any longer. Why the hell was she so terrified? She’d been in situations like this before. Heck she’d been shot at half a dozen times in the course of her career and even been near an explosion once. But she’d never been this scared.
Because she wasn’t the one in danger. The man she cared about was. And that made it worse. She prayed Gage and his men made it through this safely.
Mac didn’t know how long she sat there with her eyes closed. But when she opened them again, an eerie kind of quiet had descended upon the motel. She could still hear moans, whimpers, and the occasional sob, but no gunfire.
Then Mike’s voice came over the speaker. “One clear.”
“Two clear,” said Xander.
“Three clear,” reported Cooper.
The SWAT team was calling in by some kind of number pattern, letting Gage and everyone else know they were alive and that their area of responsibility had been cleared. She held her breath as fifteen numbers were announced.
“All clear,” Gage said. “Get the EMTs in here.”
Mac slumped down in the seat, more exhausted than if she’d run a marathon.
Behind her, the doors of the operations vehicle opened. She jerked around to see Zak stick in his head.
“Everyone’s running inside. What happened?”
Mac had completely forgotten Zak had been outside taking pictures of the scene. “I’m not sure, but I think everyone’s okay,” she said. “I heard all of them over the radio at least, and they sounded okay. I don’t have a clue what happened, though.”
Zak climbed in the truck and shut the door. “I think they blew their way in through the roof, both ends of the building at exactly the same time. There was gravel and flaming tar flying everywhere.”
That explained the gravel she’d seen. They’d been on the roof.
She and Zak sat in silence, watching the monitors and trying to figure out what was going on, but it was too dark and chaotic. A lot of people had gotten hurt in the little gang war, so the monitors were filled with EMTs, uniformed officers, and SWAT team members rendering first aid. The motel looked like a scene out of aM*A*S*Hepisode as an endless stream of ambulance gurneys rolled in and right back out.
She was going to get sick if she kept trying to watch the crazy scene. But she couldn’t tear herself away until she knew Gage was okay. When she finally caught a quick flash of his tall, broad-shouldered form in one of the other men’s cameras, she let out the breath she didn’t even realize she’d been holding. He was safe. She could breathe again.
Twenty minutes later, Becker and one of the team’s medics, Senior Corporal Trey Duncan, came out to give them an update.
“Cooper and Nelson—our demo guys—blew entry points through the roof in four different places.” Becker said it so casually, as if they did stuff like this every day. Which she supposed they did. “Then the whole team dropped through, right into the middle of each gang.”
“Are the hostages okay?” Mac asked. “Is everyone okay?”
“Everyone in the unit is fine. A few minor nicks and scratches, but that’s about it.” Duncan frowned. “Some of the hostages are in pretty bad shape, though. At least three were shot before we even went in, and two more were hit during the rescue. The gangbangers seemed pretty intent on taking as many people with them as possible. They’re on the way to the hospital now, but we don’t know if they’re all going make it.”
