Page 73 of Edinburgh Escape
Callum prayed they’d arrive at the same time. He’d be hard-pressed to wait for the other, knowing the clock was ticking for Maggie and Bryce.
Two blocks from the coordinates, Callum pulled into an alley.
Moments later, another vehicle pulled in behind Callum’s.
No sooner had the vehicles stopped than everyone leaped out. A tall man with dark hair and dark eyes approached Callum, Ewan and Atkins.
Atkins stuck out his hand to shake the other man’s. “Ace, glad you made it.” He turned to Callum. “Callum, Ace Hammerson, Regional Director of Brotherhood Protectors International.”
Callum quickly shook hands with the man he’d spoken with on the phone a number of times but hadn’t met in person until that moment. “Thanks for coming.”
Ace nodded and quickly turned to the man beside him, who looked vaguely familiar and a little taller than the others. “You might know former SAS operative, Fearghas Gordon. He was the one who recommended you for our team.”
“Good to see you, mate,” Fearghas said with a decidedly Scottish accent, as he shook Callum’s hand. “Heard about your last mission. I’m sorry it ended the way it did. We lost some of our best.”
Callum gripped the man’s hand hard, his heart constricting in his chest. He remembered serving with Fearghas on several missions early in his career with SAS. The man had known the men who’d died on Callum’s last mission. “Good to see you,” Callum said, a lump forming in his throat.
Fearghas backed a step and waved toward the man beside him, “This is Jack Collins, a former US Army Ranger. He met us at the airport, having flown over from Dublin.”
Ace moved to the side and waved a hand toward the man on his left. “This is Dax Franklin, former Marine Force Recon, and last but not least is Bennett Ramsey, former SAS, another one of our new recruits. Glad to have you both aboard.”
Callum quickly shook hands with the men.
Introductions over, Callum helped Ace lift a duffel bag out of the trunk and lay it on the hood of their car. Inside were three semi-automatic rifles, a submachine gun, ammunition, bulletproof vests and a bag filled with communications devices and an assortment of knives.
Each man took a radio headset. One by one, they tested them. All the while, a clock ticked in Callum’s head. He needed the ability to communicate with the team, but all this was taking time they needed to assess the situation, get in and extract Maggie and Bryce.
He shrugged out of his jacket and the shoulder holster, the heavy drizzle quickly soaking his shirt before he could slip into the bulletproof vest. Once he had it in place, he settled the shoulder holster over the vest, adjusting the straps, and slid two of the extra magazines into the vest pockets.
Dax took one of the semi-automatic rifles. Callum grabbed the submachine gun, and Jack commandeered the last semi-automatic. Each man clipped a sheathed knife onto his belt, locked and loaded their magazines and gathered close for instructions.
“I’ll take Ramsey, Dax and Jack around the front of the warehouse,” Ace said. “Fearghas, go with Callum, Ewan and Atkins and approach the building from the back. Report what you see: number of sentries, doors, windows we might sneak through, anything relevant. They can’t know we’re there until we get to the hostages.”
They moved out, clinging to the shadows of the buildings. Callum led the way around the back. During the day, the area was busy with forklifts, booms and trucks moving cargo from ship to shore. At night, most dock workers and longshoremen went home, leaving the area in a ghost-like hush.
The men moved silently from building to building, ever closer to the one containing the Kholdov Coalition and the woman Callum could fall in love with, if he let himself. Hell, he was already well on his way there, despite his vow to stay away from relationships until he could control his nightmares.
But his feelings weren’t important. What mattered was freeing the woman and child before they were harmed. They deserved a chance at a long, healthy life. He’d do his bloody damnedest to see they got that.
Callum stopped when the warehouse came into view. He peered into the shadows, searching for any guards positioned on the back side of the building.
A movement caught his attention. A shadow moved as a figure detached itself from the dark side of the building. A man holding a rifle stood straight and still as if listening.
Callum froze, afraid he’d made a sound that had alerted the man.
Then the guard turned away from where Callum pressed against the corner of a building with Ewan, Atkins and Fearghas behind him.
Another guard stepped out of the shadows at the far corner of the building. He waved to the other and started running toward the guy at the center.
“We have a guard standing in front of a large overhead door,” Callum reported. “Another on the far corner, moving quickly toward him.”
“Three bogies on the front,” Ace said. “They were leaning against the building. Now they’re alert, weapons at the ready. Makes me wonder if they saw us coming. No. Wait. Headlights are coming toward us and the warehouse. They’re moving fast. Damn.”
“What?” Callum asked.
“They skidded to a stop in front of the building. It’s a truck, and men are pouring out.”
The pop, pop, popping sound of gunfire erupted.
