Page 39 of Harris

“I’m retired,” Gunner deadpanned.

“Hold on,” Spencer said across the comms from the rental. “I’ve just got a read on a twelve-bottle tequila order—for a private address— being shipped to somewhere roughly ten minutes to the west of your current location.”

“I want three on that delivery. If we can confirm it’s Soloman’s residence, we can set up a plan to go in when he’s at the dive bar,” Brick said. “This might be our chance to find out where they’re holding Robin.”

“I’ll update Apollo,” Spencer said. “The delivery is coming through FedEx and scheduled for delivery between three and six tomorrow.”

“On it,” Stryker said. “I’ll take Harris and Gunner to the new address and try to confirm Soloman is the resident.”

“The rest of us stay on the bar,” Brick ordered. “We can’t afford to miss any movement.”

“Understood.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Harris

Apollo and Griffin decided to come along on their stakeout of the new two-story brick residence. The tequila had been delivered yesterday, and they were busy attempting to get visual confirmation of Soloman’s presence in the dwelling. A second man answered the door when the delivery driver arrived, and as of yet, they hadn’t seen anyone else in the building.

Woodley was back to one hundred percent and was currently stationed at the northeast corner of the property under the porch floorboards of an abandoned house. Harris felt at odds with his lover’s return to the field. He was having a hard time erasing the image of Woodley slumped over with a bullet hole in his back.

“I’ll be pissed if this is another dead end,” Harris said. “Could there be another dude this close to the bar with a taste for large quantities of high-end tequila?”

“You should know more than most that anything is possible,” Apollo said across the comms.

It was still weird having outsiders on their mission, but if it led to shutting down these assholes, Harris could tolerate it. Perhaps it was his inability to trust anyone outside their immediate crew, but either way, it felt odd.

“We have movement,” Gunner said from his perch in a nearby oak tree. “Two individuals.”

Harris looked through his night vision binoculars to attempt to identify the subjects. He zeroed in on the driveway as a four-door Chrysler pulled out from behind the house. He gave the car a few seconds to clear the hedge, but Harris's mood improved as soon as it did.

“Confirmed. Soloman is in the driver’s seat. The second person who took delivery of the alcohol is in the passenger seat.”

“Yesss,” Stryker cheered. “Things are finally looking up.”

“I’ll let the boss know,” Gunner said.

With any luck, they’d get a look inside that house tonight. He only hoped the wait was worth it.

“It’s a go,” Gunner said. “Drone is airborne.”

They sent in one of Spencer’s drones with specialized equipment to detect any heat signatures in the residence and surrounding area. Each team member had a receiver placed on their gear, giving them a different heat signature than any possible target.

They waited for the area to be swept. Harris was anxious to get the show on the road. The sooner they got a read on Soloman, the sooner they could get the main mission on the road and shut these fuckers down.

“Area is clear. We’re a go to breach the residence,” Gunner announced.

“About time,” Harris grumbled. “Let’s go see what this fucker is hiding.”

Harris, Stryker, Woodley, Apollo, and Griffin would go in while Gunner kept an eye out for Soloman’s return. Other team members were still watching the bar and waiting for the guy’s arrival. The tracker they’d placed on the vehicle was coming in loud and clear, confirming that they were headed in the bar’s direction.

Harris scanned the area before making his way across the manicured yard, carefully remaining as close to the shadows as possible. The team was wary of setting off any alarms, but found none.

Overconfident fucker.

The team converged on the back door and checked it for a security system before Woodley picked the lock with well-honed precision. While outside, they worked in absolute silence to avoid rousing a neighbor’s attention. Each wore body cameras feeding back to the rental for the entire team to analyze.

Once inside, the first room they came to was the kitchen. Though it appeared neat and tidy, it seemed empty of homey touches, and a putrid smell came from somewhere inside the house.

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