“Bravo is at Checkpoint Delta.”
“Copy,”Max replied. “Panther TOC says he is on the third floor, second door on the right.”Ah, Max had contacted Kalon Roberts in Texas to give him a hand monitoring the security feeds. Kalon’s partner Steele Givens was a former Delta Force Commander, and Red Squadron had worked with them multiple times before. Panther TOC was as good as Max. They could trust his intel.
“Roger that, TOC.”
Moving as they would to clear a building in the sandbox, they headed up to the top floor.
“I don’t see anyone,” Saxon kept his voice low. While he was sure their intel was on the ball, the last thing they wanted was to alert anyone who their intel might have missed that they had come to take Rick back.
“Me either.” Roman tapped his hand on Saxon’s shoulder, giving him the go ahead to proceed to the door.
Saxon stared at his own hand as if having an out of body experience, watching it as it reached for the door. They knew Rick was locked in this room. Don’t suppose lady luck was shining on them tonight? He turned the handle. No, lady luck was apparently on strike… shit… not what they wanted. “Fuck, locked.”
“Get your boom booms out.” Luc whispered in response. Had he not heard Noble say no boom-booms?
“Bravo Three, TOC, get your asses moving,” Max warned, “You have tangos incoming.”
“Shit. Roger that, TOC.” Saxon dug into one of the pockets in his vest, searching for one of the mini door breaching explosive kits he kept there. But at the last second, he paused and stepped back, “Pick it, Bravo One.”
“Copy.” Roman didn’t question Saxon’s decision to make as little noise as possible. If they could get in and out without being discovered, that gave them more time to escape. He bent to the door and inserted the metal pins. “Ready?”
“Yes. Do it.”
* * *
Rick cockedhis head to one side…someone’s coming!He flicked the light off and moved into position behind where the door would open. Hopefully, that security camera didn’t have infrared. These fuckers were going to learn there was nothing passive about him. He hadn’t given them much of a fight so far. Bah, he’d been downright polite. Pulling the lace, he had removed from his boots, he wrapped it around the fingers of both hands. Leverage for the makeshift garrote he would use the lace as.
He could hear whispering, but couldn’t make out the muffled words, and he didn’t dare press his ear to the door to hear better. A scraping sound drew his attention.Key in the lock?Ok, he was ready, he braced his feet.
Bring it, motherfuckers.
He could barely make out the handle of the door. Attempting to see it turn in the dark was almost impossible. Either way, he was ready when it opened silently inward. As soon as someone stepped through the door with his weapon at a ready position, his body reacted on instinct. He waited for the man to be a full step past him and he reached out to snap the lace over his head. Ignoring the grunt from the man, he twisted his hands, the lace pulling painfully on his fingers as he tightened it as hard as he could around the other man’s throat. “Fucker.”
A growled whisper and the touch of a blade pressed against the back of his neck stopped him cold. “Let Saxon go.”
He didn’t recognize that voice, even taking the distortion, which was probably caused by a filter of some sort, into account. He knew he didn’t know who the speaker was, but the name… that he recognized.
Saxon?
Warmth, disbelief, and more than a little gratitude flooded his system. Saxon had come for him. He squinted down into the darkness, trying to see the face of the man he had subdued at his feet. “Saxon?”
“Yes, dumbass.” the voice behind him responded. “Let him go or you can save your own fucking ass.”
“Shit,” Rick realized he hadn’t yet loosened the lace, what the hell was he thinking? It took longer than it should have for his fingers to get the message that these were the good guys, but finally his fingers did what they were told and stopped pulling on the lace. “Sax?”
“Honey, I’m home.” Saxon’s voice was croaky and raw.
Shit, had he hurt him? Rick reached down and pulled Saxon to his feet. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Com’n we gotta go.” The blade moved from the back of his neck. “We have incoming.”
“Copy.”
Rick heard another voice from outside the door, holy freaking shit, Saxon had come and brought a team to save his ass. “Are you okay?”
“He’s fine.” the man behind them muttered. “Move.”
“I’m good, swear.” Saxon pressed something into his hand, then pushed him out the door.
