Page 63 of Croatia Collateral

“We thought about that,” Atkins said. “If they’re smart—and Maas is tech savvy—they’ll have battery backups to keep the computers running even if the generator goes down. Granted, it might be for a limited amount of time.”

“But enough time to kick off the EMP,” Dax said, his face grim.

“And if we turn off the lights by killing the generator, we’ve alerted them that we’re in the building.”

“They might already know if they’ve tried to contact the guards we took out at the front of the building,” Giva said.

Fearghas nodded. “True.”

“Based on the number of guards we saw in their original command center, we’ve whittled them down to maybe a handful.” Dax glanced around the room. “I believe we outnumber the guards with eight of us.”

“Agreed,” Fearghas said.

“And we’re running out of time,” Dax said. “They got here before us. They probably had to spend a little time booting up the generator, the computers and the satellite connection. If we move now, we might stop them before they initiate the command to launch the EMP.”

Fearghas nodded. “We’ll need to take out the guard in front of the generator door and the two in front of the suite.” He turned to Chase and Gavin. “Team Montana will take the guard at the door to the generator room. Team Yellowstone, you’ll set up a perimeter at the opposite end of the hallway from the stairwell door in case they recall other guards we haven’t accounted for.”

The men from Yellowstone and Montana nodded and began checking and adjusting their weapons and gear.

Fearghas continued, “The International Team of four will approach via the stairwell, which means going up a level and working our way around to the other corridor, then coming back down the stairwell next to the suite. Once we’re all in position, we’ll attack the generator room and the suite simultaneously. Can everyone hear via their radio headsets?”

Giva nodded along with the others, happy that Atkins had the foresight to bring extra communications devices. The short time she and Dax had been out of communication with the others had made her feel strangely blind and exposed.

Before they left the room, Fearghas contacted Dmytro and informed him of their plan.

Dmytro responded with, “Roger. Go get ’em.”

The teams split, moving out in opposite directions.

Dax moved ahead of Fearghas. “I’ll take point.”

Fearghas’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t argue.

Giva figured Dax had a little vengeance in mind after nearly being killed in the explosion. She’d like to know more about how that went down after they stopped Maas from sending the electromagnetic pulse.

Once they had that locked down and the players corralled, she had a rain check to cash in. Her blood hummed with the excitement of the mission and the reward when it was all over.

She just had to keep Dax alive through it all. As point man, he was making it difficult for her to have his back. Giva squared her shoulders and stayed close on Dax’s heels as they climbed the stairs to the next floor and hurried around the corridors to the other stairwell.

She had more than a rain check in mind as she followed Dax down the stairwell to their position outside the target suite.

The short amount of time she’d spent getting to know Dax had reminded her of how much she’d been missing.

Family.

People she loved and who loved her. Making new memories.

For so long, she’d been afraid to open her heart to love again. Not after losing everyone she’d loved at one time. Dax had been in a similar situation, having lost his wife. He hadn’t let himself love again.

Despite having lost her family, she couldn’t imagine her life without them for the time she’d had.

Could two closed-off people learn to open up and dare to love again, knowing one or the other might die at any given time? Dax could die that night for all she knew.

Her belly knotted. Would she wish she’d never met or fallen for him to save her the pain of loss?

No.

Giva was glad she’d met Dax. She felt more alive than she had since her family’s death.

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