Page 18 of A Light in the Darkness
“You want to use the knives and guns they use on the captives to take over the comms room?” Dimitri sounds aghast, speaking for the first time in what feels like hours.
“If we can’t get our own weapons into the prison to start, then we have to use what’s inside.” Rich reasons, crossing his thick arms over his chest. “It’s not a matter of what we want to do. I want to bomb the fuckers like rats, but obviously we can’t do that until the captives are safe.”
Kent finds my eyes and nods his agreement.
The thought of sending him into the snake pit to choose a woman and a weapon they think he’ll use against her makes me feel some way I can’t even describe, but it’s not a bad idea. “You think that could really work?”
“You’re going to take down a brothel with a fucking staple gun?” Dom huffs, clearly not as confident as I am that this could work.
“It's probably theonlyway it works.” Kent reasons. “Send in two at the start and choose a weapon. The guns may not even be loaded… they could be for show. In that case, the knife would be a better option. They probably don’t give you the item to walk around with, so the window of opportunity will be narrow. Do they take you to their cell or…?”
“Rooms can be rented by the hour, in addition to the… rest of it.”
Kent nods. “Rent a room, then. They’ll have to deliver the weapon and the girl. That gives you an opening to study the place along the way, and when we take out the guards, you can leave them in the room. Be sure to choose restraints from the a la carte menu, so you can restrain them if you need to. Take out the guards, dress in their clothes, and tell the girls you’re taking them back totheir cells. That’s two guards down on the inside, leaving the cells unguarded from the outside. We’ll do this right before trade-off. The comms room guards will open the door to come out. We wait for them to get completely out of the room. They won’t be expecting anyone else, so they won’t be looking for our faces. Hopefully by the time they realize, we’re driving the blade across their throats. Drag them into the room, make sure they’re dead, and open the gates while North patrol isn’t on his circuit. It will take some time for the security to assemble, and when they do, they’ll be calling everyone and anyone they can think of for backup. We don’t know what that will look like, but at this point, the Masters will probably figure it out, if they haven’t already.”
“From there, it’s just a good old-fashioned raid.” Rich says. “Kill all the fuckers and save as many of the captives as you can.”
“Can your pilot land in the middle of the field?”
“He can,” I nod, confident that Simon can land the plane anywhere. “But how many people are in there?”
“Something like sixty.” Michael chews on his lip, knowing exactly what I’m getting at. There’s only so much space on the jet. It barely holds all of us, let alone a bunch of traumatized and brutalized captives.
“Fuck.” I growl, slamming my fist into the table and watching the papers leap. Next to me, Harley doesn’t so much as blink.
“So, we re-adjust the plan,” Kent says easily. “You know anyone else with a private jet?”
That makes me laugh, and Dimitri joins in. “Plenty of people.” Dimitri answers for me. “None of which are on our side.”
“What about a chopper?” Rook shrugs. “I know a guy.”
“A chopper would fit even less people than the jet.” Dom rolls his eyes.
“Not a military one.” Rook snaps back.
“Unless Kent or Rich can commandeer a military helicopter overnight, I’m pretty sure that’s not an option.”
“Not likely,” Kent laughs. “Given that the army and I didn’t part under the best of terms.”
Rich just shakes his head, confirming what I figured. How the hell would we get our hands on military property when we’re a rogue team, none of us with active military connections in any country?
When Elaine speaks, I nearly jump. I’ve been so deep into trying to figure out how to evacuate sixty refugees to a safe place that I pretty much forgot she was still in the room. But she hasn’t left—not physically or mentally.
“Actually, I think I know a guy.”
Chapter twelve
Claire
“You!” I slur, the accusation weighing more than my burdened tongue can tolerate. I blink at him a few times, until he settles into a single man with the most beautifully wicked smirk I’ve ever seen.
“Look at the mess you’ve gotten yourself into, Monroe.” He tuts his tongue at me, pacing back and forth beside me. I think he does it because he knows I can’t follow him all the way, and he enjoys torturing me as he fades out of view and then suddenly reappears. “So desperate for a little attention that you’ve gotten yourself chained to the bed of a pathetic frat bro.”
“I’m not… desperate.”
It’s a lie, of course. I am desperate. That’s painfully obvious as he climbs over me, swinging one leg over my waist and settling on my stomach. I feel myself clenching, begging for him to slide lower and meet me where I want him. I hate him, but I want him so much it scares me. “Don’t lie to me, princess.” Moose chuckles, his fingers traipsing along my skin as he traces a path up my stomach, pushing Austin’s shirt higher up my torso until it’s bunched up just below my breasts, leaving the long expanse of my stomach bared to him.
When Moose’s fingers leave my skin, I whimper. But they don’t go far, running over the soft material of the shirt and straight up my chest to my neck, his thumb dusting my throat and falling upon my lips. “You’re desperate for something, princess. I just can’t figure out what it is. I can’t figureyouout.”
