TROOPER
“Shiiiiiit,” I groaned as I read Dutch’s latest text. “Ranger!”
“What!?”
“We got a problem! Check your phone!”
Silence filled the house before--. “God fucking damn it, that motherfucking asshole!”
I nodded. “Yeah! That!”
Ranger barreled down the stairs. “Bury! Lancer! I want you in trees! Dutch will be your point man once he gets back and gets up there with you!”
“On it,” the two men murmured.
“Troop, how are the traps?” he asked as he came strolling up to me.
I pointed to the basement. “Got that place littered with them. I don’t know what kind of surveillance we’ve been under, so I’m working under the assumption that they know everything there is to know about this place.”
“Should we move Naomi?” he asked as he dropped his voice.
I shook my head. “That was the first door I trapped. You know the code?”
He nodded. “Do you and Dutch?”
I nodded back. “Anyone presses that door from the outside, and they go up in smoke.”
“And Naomi will be unharmed?”
I scoffed. “The hell do I look like? Gordon?”
He grinned as he patted my shoulder. “Keep at it. We know he’s headed this way. And make sure our men know they can fire at will if things get hairy. No one makes it out alive if he comes in hot.”
“Got it,” I said as I turned around on my heels.
I grabbed the road spikes from the porch and dragged them behind me. I jogged half a mile in either direction and laid out equal patterns of them, three on each side, just in case multiple people attempted to assault us from different directions. I shot out call signs for the guys in the trees, relaying messages from Ranger. And when they shined the laser scopes on their guns, I watched them blink three times at the ground.
Telling me they understood.
“Good,” I murmured as I turned around and went back inside.
I made my rounds, checking the trip wires and land mines we had stacked all around the outside of the house. We needed to know their entry points and what directions they were coming from, and that was the only way to do it. Booming sounds caught everyone’s attention, including other police. And if Gordon was coming alone, he’d be pissed if someone from another precinct rolled up and saw him raking us over the coals without permission from his boss. Then, I made my way upstairs and punched in the code that disarmed Naomi’s door.
I had to see her one last time.
You know, just in case.
I drew in deep breath and practiced silencing my footsteps. Dutch constantly trained us in stealth techniques, though some of us caught on better than others. Ranger damn near gave up about halfway through our yearly training, but I did my best to cling on. And as I stood in the doorway, watching Naomi sitting in that bay window curled up with that muddy little book of hers, I couldn’t help but smile.
She looked so peaceful, and it made me wonder what kind of chaos she had come to terms with when she lived with Gordon.
“I’m pretty sure you’re the calmest one of all of us.”
She peered over her shoulder. “You don’t move as quiet as Dutch does.”
I chuckled as I made my way toward her. “Guilty as charged.”
She dangled her legs off the edge of the window as I sat at the foot of the bed.
