Chapter 21
—As long as I have her, I can live with my decisions.—
Leighton grabbed the comforter, tugging it over Lucy as the bedroom door opened.
“Sorry, should have knocked.” Colt looked away even though she was covered. “It’s time to go. Now. Be in the foyer in five minutes.”
Hell. That meant they’d found the place the women were being held. It was just four in the morning, which was good timing. People let their guard down during the early hours of the morning, even if they were guarding something. It was simple human nature.
He turned to Lucy. “I’m sorry—”
“Go. Just stay safe.” Lucy gave him a quick kiss, worry in her gaze.
“If something happens to me, you’ll be taken care of. I’ve already talked to Gage,” he said, grabbing clothes and gear from his bag. “If for some reason the Feds drop the ball and your uncle goes free, my people will help you disappear if I don’t come back.”
“Leighton—”
He shook his head sharply. “I don’t want to talk about it. Just know you’ll be okay.”
Sighing, she gave him a look with too many mixed emotions as he hurriedly dressed. “Just come back to me.”
“Oh I plan to.” But he knew that plans didn’t always work out the way they should. He gave her a hard, dominating kiss before grabbing the rest of his weapons and hurrying out the door. He hated leaving her like this, but there was no choice.
Time was of the essence now that they had a location. They needed to move in fast and efficient.
* * *
“Here’s the rundown.” Colt turned around from the passenger seat while Skye drove in silence.
Leighton and Savage were with them while the others were in another vehicle. They’d chosen nondescript minivans with stickers of families on the back for both of their getaway vehicles. Colt’s dad and Nova were currently setting up extra getaway vehicles in the near vicinity of the op in case things got hot.
“Leroux got back to us, and he doesn’t get his art unless he’s telling the truth,” Colt continued.
“He could be setting us up,” Savage murmured.
“I know that. But the address he gave is in the same mile radius that Gage narrowed the place down to. It fits.”
“Lethal force?” Leighton asked. He knew it was a distinct possibility. Hell, probability. But there were civilians inside so they had to be careful. This wasn’t like the last takedown.
“Lethal force if necessary. But I want to leave as many of them as possible tied up for the Feds.”
The plan was to go in, disarm the men and free the women. But if there were children there, Leighton didn’t care about disarming them; he would kill every single one of those bastards. Hell, he wanted to kill them all anyway and wasn’t sure what that said about him.
But he was tired of living in a world where there was so much shit. There was so much garbage every day, and his friends and Lucy felt like the only good in it. He knew that was wrong of course. But it was hard not to get caught up in the bullshit.
“I say we just kill them all,” Savage muttered.
Leighton simply grunted in agreement.
Colt gave them a sharp look. “We don’t know if the Feds will need them to testify against Kuznetsov.”
“Who says they’ll testify?” Leighton murmured.
Colt lifted a shoulder. “They’re going to jail for what they’ve done. We’ll make sure of it. But if the Feds need these guys to build a stronger case against Kuznetsov, I say we give it to them.”
“Whoever’s there will be prepared this time.” Especially after what had happened on Magnolia Street.
Colt nodded, going silent at that.
It didn’t take long to find the house, though they didn’t park in front of it, but blocks away in a church parking lot.
Just as they had last night, they surrounded the place and prepared to infiltrate. Only today they had double numbers so they moved inside in pairs. Leighton’s partner was Brooks and their entry point was the back door. Even though originally Brooks hadn’t planned to take part, he’d refused to sit back while they all went in since Axel wasn’t at maximum capacity. He was still here, but providing backup outside, letting them know if they needed to scatter.
On the same count, they all infiltrated the house when Gage cut the power.
With NVGs on, Leighton went in high while Brooks moved in low.
A shirtless man reached for a pistol on the kitchen table but Leighton shot his arm. Even if he would have preferred shooting him right in the face.
The guy cried out but Leighton was on him fast, slamming his fist against his jaw as the man bled.
The man dropped to the floor, moaning even as Brooks took down and disarmed the other one by the refrigerator.
Both men were shirtless, armed, and wearing loose jogging pants—and covered in tattoos that spoke of local gang involvement.
“We’ve got a situation,” Gage said quietly. “Downstairs hallway, man has a knife to a woman’s throat. He’s not going to let her go. Skye’s trying to talk him down. He only has a visual on her.” Gage’s voice was quiet through the comm line.
“What side of the house?” Leighton asked.
“East.”
Leighton and the others knew the layout of the house thanks to Gage’s hacking skills, so he knew exactly where that was. “I’ll take him from the window if possible.” He just hoped he got there in time.
“Move fast,” he murmured.
“Put the gun down and you walk away from this.” Skye’s low-pitched voice came over the comm line just then.
“I’m not fucking stupid,” the man spat as Leighton headed out the back door.
Brooks nodded at him once and motioned that he was going deeper into the house.
Leighton could hear the others taking people down on the second floor—and news that half a dozen women were now safe—but right now his main focus was on saving that girl. They didn’t come here tonight to lose anyone. All these women were walking away unscathed. He moved around the edge of the house as Skye continued to talk in the calmest voice he’d ever heard from her. She was almost soothing.
“We’re not killing anyone here today,” she said.
“You’re not cops. And you’re not Feds,” the man said, his voice rising. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be wearing masks! Who are you with? The Mexicans?”
“We’re not with any cartels. Or any rival gangs. Put the weapon down and no one gets hurt. So far we’ve only restrained everyone.”
“Shut the fuck up! Who are you?”
“We’re CIA,” Skye said suddenly, her tone a little sharper now. “And there’s only one way you’re getting out of this alive. If you’re useful.”
Leighton wondered where the hell she was going with this line of lies, but mostly tuned it out as she started spinning the guy a bullshit story about how they wanted to turn these guys against their boss. How they needed leverage right now, blah, blah, blah.
Leighton came upon the small bathroom window and started to hoist himself up. The window was frosted so he couldn’t take a shot even if he wanted.
There was a shout of commotion.
“The guy’s dragged her into the bathroom and barricaded himself in,” Gage snapped.
“I’m in place.” Leighton plastered himself up against the wall, waiting for a long moment.
“No!” a woman screamed, and he tensed. Then it was silent.
“Stay out!” the man shouted, his words clear through the window. “I just need to think.”
A second later, someone inside opened the window. Lifting his weapon, Leighton knew there was only one option for this. He had to take this guy out before he hurt the woman.
There would only be one chance. The window was too high up off the ground for Leighton to get a good hold of him and drag him out. He couldn’t risk the woman’s life. If she was even alive.
Leighton shut that thought down and focused on the moment.
The man slowly eased his head out, looking left before starting to turn toward Leighton.
He took the shot. “Man down.”
The door burst open as the man’s body slumped over the windowsill.
“She’s alive.” Relief filled Skye’s voice over the comm. “Bruised up, but alive.”
“I’m moving in. Everyone check in,” Leighton said. He’d been so focused on taking this guy down he wasn’t sure where everyone else was at this point.
Everyone checked in that they were alive and that there’d been only one other casualty—not one of the women—and that all the women were alive and accounted for.
It took a few minutes of talking to the women, some of whom they’d had to translate for, to discover that only one man was missing from the usual crew who watched them. Marco Broussard.
Fucker.
And that none of them had been sent out tonight because of what had happened last night. The women didn’t know much, just that the bosses of the men here had wanted to lie low.
As Leighton finished helping drag the men into the living room—where they were dumped facedown with their hands and legs restrained—his burner phone buzzed.
Normally for an op, they went dark, but with so many of their people back at the safe house, they’d all opted to carry burners in case of an emergency.
“Yeah?” he murmured, stepping out of the living room.
“Hey, it’s me,” Nova said agitatedly. “Lucy’s inside The Sapphire. Senior is with her. Her friend is in trouble…and I think she might be too.”