The phone disconnected, and Sam took adeep breath, embracing the calm that fell over him.He looked up atNick and saw that same stillness in him.“We go out the bathroomwindow.”
Nick nodded.“Agreed.That fuckerthinks we’ll be spending time working on getting out of here.Thefaster we move, the higher the chance we have of saving Aiden andcatching this fuck.”
The two of them loaded up with as manyweapons as they could and moved quickly into the bathroom.Sam slidthe glass slats from the top of the window.As soon as it wasclear, Sam pulled himself up on the ledge and peered out.Theredidn’t appear to be any wires on the other side.Casting yetanother prayer skywards, he started to pull himself out the narrowopening.The window was south facing, so he knew that theirtormentor wouldn’t have eyes on him.As soon as his chest clearedthe opening, he braced his hands against the wall and pulled hislegs through the gap.When gravity took over, he twisted so that helanded on one knee rather than on his side.
He heard a low whistle and turned inthe direction of the garage behind the house as Riley stepped outof the shadows.“You’re gonna need these.”
He held out his hand, which had twoearpieces in his palm.Sam grabbed one and expertly slid it intoplace.There was a grunt that held a thread of pain behind him asNick landed on the grass.
“Damn it, I should havehelped you,” Sam whispered, disgusted with himself that he’dforgotten Nick was recovering from his own injuries.
“Don’t be fuckingridiculous,” Nick snarled as he placed his own comms device in hisear.“I’m fine.Now, let’s move out.”
Sam rolled his eyes at Riley.“Fuckingarmy, always stubborn.”He pointedly ignored Nick’s middle fingersalute of acknowledgment and began to move toward the front of thehouse.As he went he saw the C4 planted in strategic places alongthe side of the house.Whoever this sadistic guy was, he had moneyand resources.A pretty damn deadly combination in anyone’sbooks.
When the three of them reached thedrive, Sam spoke softly.“LT, we’re out of the house and at thedrive.”
Dev’s voice sounded clear in his leftear.“Excellent, Pretty Boy.”The other two laughed silently, andSam promised himself that when this was over, he was shooting Finn.“Reaper has eyes on the prize.”
Which meant Glenn could see Aiden.Samfelt a weak wave of relief roll through him.It felt good knowingthat one of his team had eyes on him.“How does he look?”He, Nick,and Riley began to move stealthily towards the drive, edging intothe cover of the trees.
“Pissed off.”Reaper’s dryresponse came back, and Sam shared a grin with Nick.“He’s hurt,but not critical.He’s staring at the vest he’s wearing, and if Iam reading his lips right, he is lamenting the fact he doesn’t havesomething he calls his Leatherman?”
Nick nodded.“Yeah, it’s this coolmulti-tool knife thing that he uses to defuse shit.It’s part ofhis kit.”
Sam came to a halt.“The guy said thathe’s left a few things along the way.We’re going to need thatLeatherman.”
Nick melted back into the shadows anddisappeared back to the house.
“How in the fuck are yougoing to do that?”Riley asked quietly.“From what I know it takesyears to get skilled in EOD.”Sam heard a soft curse down the commsand knew it was Dev.
“Yeah, I get that,” Samanswered with a shrug, “but what the fuck are we going to do?Aidenis at the end of that road, hurt and wearing some sort of explosivevest.We’ll do what we have to do, and work it out along theway.”
Riley nodded but still lookeddoubtful.
“Do me a favor?”Samsuddenly asked and waited until Riley nodded.“If Nick and I blowour shit to kingdom come and back, kill that fucker slow forme.”
Riley’s grin was bloodthirsty.“Hell,Sam, you heard your LT.We’re all going to get the chance to takeour pound of flesh from that sick fuck.I’m betting you and Nickwill be there to take yours first.”
ChapterThirteen
“IED,” Sam whispered, andNick froze, looking toward the ground where Sam was pointing.Sureenough, there were signs of someone digging along the path, and theslight glint of metal just beside it confirmed the presence of anexplosive device.
Nick pulled the Aiden’s Leathermanfrom his back pocket and moved slowly towards the device.“Thiswould be a hell of a lot easier if I wasn’t thinking about himhaving a remote for this damn thing.”
Sam huffed a quiet laugh as he droppedto one knee, his rifle lifted to his shoulder, and his gazecontinuously sweeping the terrain around them.“And where would thefun be in that?”
The night was relatively dark, but themoon was high and full and definitely shed some light on thesubject.The only problem was the subject could just as easily jumpup and blow them both in half.
Nick gently shifted the dirt aroundthe object until he had cleared as much as he dared.The device wasbullet shaped, but the size of a torch.It was black and had copperwiring wrapped around one end.There was black tape wrapped aroundthe middle and a series of three wires that ran from beneath it,and a fourth wire that seemed to be attached to the black wire by ametal clip.
As they had decided when leaving theproperty, Nick described the device in detail in the hopes thatsomeone would be able to help with defusing the damn thing.Hell,Finn was even sitting there with a laptop prepared to Google thatshit for help.
“Any ideas?”
Sam stared at the device for a momentbefore shaking his head and returning his gaze to the land aroundthem.
“What color are thewires?”Finn asked over the comms, and Nick risked a short briefshot of torch light to investigate.
