Page 84 of Her Dom's Secret Past

“Yes, my men are already in position to do exactly that. We were working on the very same plan when you arrived as a fallback in case negotiation didn’t work. I intend to throw in a smoke grenade as we enter. We do know how to run an operation,Pommy.”

Somehow, we’d both crossed a corner and gained a certain amount of respect for each other. Cooper handed me a mic and I hooked it up. Then he gave me a night-vision mask. He called over the rest of his men who weren’t involved in surrounding the building and went through the plan. He pointed to one of the other TOU officers standing with us.

“This is Henderson, he’ll grab the hostage.” He nodded at Henderson. “Your job is the hostage. Nothing else. We get inside, and you get to her. I want her out of there immediately regardless of whether she’s dead or alive. Understand?”

Henderson nodded. “Yes, sir.”

I’d been eyeing off the building and could see our point of entry. I pointed it out to the others. There were broken windows and one was underneath an industrial bin. We could climb on top of it and pull ourselves up and inside.

“We get inside there and Henderson does his thing.”

“I agree.”

Finally, Cooper and I agreed on something useful.

“Small team. Henderson’s grabbing the hostage. Wilson, you and Black watch hisarse. Stephens with me and”—he glanced at me and jerked his thumb in my direction—“with me and thePommy.”

“Questions?”

They all shook their heads. I needed them to understand these pricks wouldn’t go nicely.

“Once we get in and they see us, they will start shooting. Enter low and get out of any back-light as quick as you can.”

“Stop trying to teach us how to suck eggs. We know.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, I don’t doubt it, but these two will want as many of you dead as they can. Make sure you remember that. They get their kicks killing.”

Cooper looked at his men and said, “Let’s go.”

Cooper spoke to one of the other men standing nearby. He went off into the darkness. As quickly and quietly as possible, we climbed up and found the dirty window previously seen from the ground. It was broken and the grill covering it had been torn off, probably druggies or homeless using it as a squat.

Cooper stuck his head in for a quick recon, and then beckoned me.

“Catwalk here,” he whispered in my ear while pointing.

Luckily for us, that metal catwalk ran the length of the building. Cooper went in first, then me, and we waited until the others landed softly alongside. Cooper signaled for everyone to follow him down to the stairs.

We crept carefully along and then slowly made our way down the stairs. Cooper pointed to the open door furthest away from us, indicating that was the one the three heat signatures had been in. We could see light spilling out onto the factory floor. I checked my watch—two minutes until blackout. Cooper signaled to the others and we crept to the side of the door and waited, our night-vision goggles and masks on, our weapons ready.

Suddenly, the light went out and we could hear shouts of anger from inside.

“Fuck!”

“Frank, keep cool, I’m getting Smithers. This’ll be the cops. We knew this would happen sooner or later. Remember, kill as many as you can while you get out. We’ll rendezvous at the Hornsby unit.”

I knew that voice—Riley, and it confirmed my suspicion that Frank Carruthers was with him.

Cooper held up his hand and counted down to three. Then he rolled in through the open door at the same time he threw a smoke grenade.

I’d already decided my target was Riley. I didn’t dare to even glance toward the table where I thought Anabelle was. I kept my eyes focused on the prick inside. As soon as he heard our movement, he’d started firing indiscriminately, but I’d already darted inside and to the left. The TOU guys returned fire but only one shot found its mark—on Carruthers. I knew this because he shouted to Riley he’d been shot in the left arm. The good guys took shelter from the hail of bullets while Carruthers fired wildly in every direction through the smoke.

It began clearing and I saw Carruthers spin about and ducked down as another bullet found its mark.

I kept my eyes on Carruthers. Obviously, Riley had left the room in search of the missing Smithers, whomever he was. I saw Cooper quickly head toward an open door as I crept around a stool, noting that Henderson had someone hanging limp in his arms and was heading out with Wilson and Black behind him, firing in the direction of Carruthers. I hoped it was Anabelle and prayed she was alive. Pushing that thought away, I found Carruthers down, leaning against a cabinet, gun out, facing away from me, shooting in any direction. I took aim at his heart and let loose a single shot. He froze as if in shock then fell forward.

Most of the smoke had cleared from the room now. I had no intention of leaving any of them alive as I heard rapid gunfire coming from the other room, I took a quick scan of the area before sheltering behind the door. I had seen Cooper shielding himself behind a massive packing crate and Stephens behind a cabinet. One person lay on the floor, the other was shooting any which way—Riley.

Using an automatic weapon, he was shooting madly anywhere and everywhere, shouting at the top of his voice.

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