They stood together for another moment, then turned back to the gear.Hogan grabbed his vest and shrugged into it, strapping down buckles with crisp motions.Kai changed beside him, sliding into black cargo pants and a long-sleeved tactical shirt, the movements more assured now, as if the weight between them had shifted into something steadier.
By the time they left the van, side by side with their shoulders brushing, the night outside had deepened.The warehouse hummed around them like a live wire, every man sharpening his edge for what came next.Marsh and Luca had settled their argument, comms synced and buzzing.Surge barked instructions about entry points while Bateman marked red Xs on the mansion map.Dev whistled low, blade gleaming in his hand.Keanu stacked crates of flashbangs and extra ammo.Ty and Oren leaned against the wall, quiet, calm in the way only men who had walked through hell before could be.
Hogan glanced at Kai and felt it—the steadiness, how his presence was anchoring him in a way nothing else ever could.Tonight, they would take the fight to the Bratya.And tomorrow—if fate allowed—they would still have each other.And that was all Hogan needed to step into the storm.
****
Kai adjusted the strapsof his vest, the weight of steel and Kevlar pressing into familiar grooves across his shoulders.His heart thrummed in rhythm with the comms check echoing through his earpiece.Around him the night air was heavy with the smell of cut grass and sea salt drifting up from the coastline.The mansion loomed ahead, floodlit and white, sitting like a predator on the edge of town.This was it.
Marsh’s voice cut in over the channel, dry and pointed.“So, let me get this straight—you all left me out because of the leg?”
Luca, crouched with his rifle by the west wall, snorted.“Fuck, no.It’s because none of us can work your toys without blowing something up.You want in on the next op, I’ll train up one of these clowns to sit in the van with coffee and donuts while you get your ass shot at.Deal?”
A beat of silence, then Marsh’s laugh crackled through.“Deal.”
Kai’s mouth tugged up despite the tension.Marsh deserved to be in the fight, but truth was, the man owned the tech like no one else.Tonight, with his drones and surveillance feeds, he was more dangerous from a chair than most soldiers with a rifle.
“All teams confirm,” Marsh said, his voice snapping back to business.
“East entry, four strong,” Dev’s voice came through, low and steady.“Dale, Ty, Oren with me.”
“West entry,” Bateman reported.“Myself, Ricky, Hogan, Kai.”
“South rear,” Surge’s tone was clipped steel.“Niko, Luca, Tane with me.”
“And front door,” Keanu rumbled, almost amused.
The channel went silent for a moment before Marsh asked, “You’re going in alone, aren’t you?Why?”
Keanu chuckled.“I like things that go bang.My truck’s steel plated, bulletproof, rocket launchers bolted in.I’ll serve as the perfect distraction for the other teams to infiltrate while I drive around on the front lawn blowing shit up.”
Even Kai huffed out a low laugh.It was insane, but that was Torch—mad enough to drive into hell with a smile.
From his screen in the van, Marsh fed them intel.“Multiple heat signatures inside.First floor scattered, second floor heavier.Third floor looks like locked rooms.Expect resistance.”
“Copy that,” Bateman said.
The mansion grew closer.Each team peeled off into the dark, sliding toward their breach points.Kai followed Bateman along the west wall, Hogan ghosting just behind, Ricky sweeping the rear flank.Across the grounds, Dev and his team crouched low in the grass.Surge’s men slipped like shadows toward the back.Torch rumbled his armored truck straight up the front drive, bold as a war drum.
“East breach on my mark,” Dev said, tension sharp in his voice.
“West ready,” Bateman confirmed.
“South ready,” Surge echoed.
Torch’s chuckle filled the channel.“Front ready.”
The order from Marsh snapped like a whip.“Go!”
“Chaawwhhoo!”Torch’s classic Polynesian cry of excitement and joy filled the ears of all of them as his truck slammed through the front gate almost immediately, taking out the guard trying to push down the wooden barrier arm, as if that was going to stop the vehicle bearing down on him.Then he launched the first distraction grenade, the blast lighting up the night.Shouts broke from the guards, gunfire cracking in wild bursts.The defenders rushed to the front—exactly as planned.
“East breach!”Dev barked.Glass shattered, wood splintered.“Inside—contact!”
“South breach!”Surge roared, followed by the heavy thud of a door being blown off its hinges.“Multiple tangos, clearing!”
Bateman surged forward.“West breach!”
Kai’s boot smashed against the lock, the door bursting open.He flowed in behind Bateman, rifle up, muzzle flashing.The first guard dropped before his weapon cleared the holster.Ricky’s shot barked, Hogan swung left, Kai swept right.Screams tore through the hall as they advanced.
