Page 89 of Soaring Free
“Yes, but you won’t have radio signals to communicate until that jammer is down,” Sophia explains as her fingers fly over the keyboard. “We will also lose the visual when the power goes down.”
“That’s fine, we saw what we needed to, give us a few minutes and we will roll out,” Ace announces.
We are parked less than a quarter mile away, just outside of the dead zone the jammers have created.
“Liam, I can’t just sit here and wait. You know I can’t do that,” I plead with Savannah’s brother.
“I tell you what, I wanted to go with anyway. Let me check with Ace, and if I can follow their team, I’ll give you an earpiece and that will keep you in constant contact on what’s going on as soon as the jammer stops and we get the signal up.” Liam pats my shoulder as he goes to talk to Ace’s team. I would rather be going with them, but I know it could potentially be a hazard to Savannah, and all that matters right now is getting her out of there as quickly and safely as possible.
Chapter fifty-eight
I should have called this in already and allowed the proper authorities to get involved, but when it comes to people I love, my willingness to bend a rule or two becomes incredibly flexible.
Ace and his team are more capable of handling this situation without any casualties than a local police force anyway. If I’m forced to assemble a team to rescue my sister, I’m going to pick a highly trained team consisting of the most elite operators every single time. They are technically no longer active servicemen, but they’re still active in their own right. I’ve learned over the years that despite what most people think, life is not always black and white. There is plenty of gray to operate in—I should know, I live in the gray every single day.
I also trust Ace after working numerous missions together, and I know that had I not called in the favor he owed me for this, he still would’ve taken my call and brought his team. I would show up for him too, regardless of if I owed him a favor or not. It’s like he said when I called, “These dumb fucks need to figure out you don’t fuck with family, especially our family.”
There’s the family I’m related to by blood, and I am forever grateful to be a member of the Callahan family. But there is also the network I trust, the family that I have chosen and cultivated over the years. Our bonds have been forged in blood, side by side in dangerous situations, and more than one of us have taken a bullet or multiple for each other.
Ace’s team members rolled up in a few vehicles, including a mobile command trailer. The vehicle looks like if a giant luxury rockstar tour bus and a SWAT rapid response truck had a weirdlooking hybrid baby together. Sophia and Theo are set up inside with one of Ace’s team members so they can see and hear everything we do as soon as those jammers are down. Checking the weapon in my hand one more time, I fall into position behind Ace’s team, and we all slide our night vision devices on so we can see in the pitch-dark field. Seconds later, Ace gives the hand signal and we’re off, moving stealthy across the flat field with the crickets chirping louder than any of the noises from our movement through the shin-high grass. There is very limited coverage but nightfall has helped conceal our approach. The lights from the cabin are still bright from one window that we now know is the bedroom. If that sick fuck has hurt my sister, he won’t need a sheriff, he’s going straight to the coroner. I still haven’t decided what outcome is best for him, but I know he won’t be physically walking out of the cabin to say the very least. Ace and Sophia coordinated a specific time from the moment we advance toward the cabin until the moment when she cuts all power, including the backup generator, and neutralizes all access points. Glancing at my watch, the fields should be shrouded completely in darkness any second now.
We are less than two hundred feet away from our target when the light pouring from the bedroom window goes out. I know someone didn’t just turn off the light in the bedroom either because the moment it went dark, I hear Sophia say in my ear, “Okay, boys, you’re good to go. Doors are wide open for you to get this asshole.”
Ace’s team splits into two formations with half of them going to the front entrance and half going to the back entrance off the deck area. I follow the latter group and stay as close to the cabin’s exterior wall as possible as we maneuver around the building.
Now that our comms are back online, one of Ace’s team members quietly announces, “Be advised, the suspect and victim are in the bedroom, but he is moving her out of the bedroom.”
What does that mean that he is moving her? I lean into my training to fight the need to growl at the idea of this punk manhandling my sister.
“Copy that. We are going to enter through the front door. Bravo, standby in position to breach from the rear as soon as suspect is aware of our entrance.”
“Copy that.”
The next few seconds happen quickly, but it’s as though someone pressed a slow-motion setting on life. Kyle doesn’t notice four enormous killing machines enter his cabin until it’s too late. A loud thump comes from inside, followed by a woman’s shrill scream and someone shouting in pain.
“Suspect is secure.” The five of us positioned outside rush through the back doors at Ace’s comment. Kyle is on the ground in front of a couch and fireplace, bleeding from his kneecap and rolling around in pain on the ground.
“No! She’s mine! She’s mine!” he barks out between screams of pain, but I barely notice him as my sister is a blur of blonde hair as she rushes into my arms. “Get your hands off her!”
“I’ve never been so grateful to be your sister, Liam Callahan,” she sobs against my chest. “Thank you for coming for me.”
“Damn, I’m glad to see you, Sav. But I know someone else really wants to see you too.” Theo must have ran like the wind to be that close behind us as he calls out to her, rushing into the cabin from the front door. Her entire body is shaking with sobs by the time he picks her up bridal style and carries her out of the room.
“You said you wanted him to suffer, but I think I missed the shot,” Ace says as I shake his hand. He nods to the team member holding Kyle down with his boot.
“Oh, please, allow me.” Without hesitation, I gift the motherfucker with a matching wound in his other kneecap. He will never walk again without a cane. Kyle passes out from the pain like the weak little man he truly is.
“Is he making it out of this room?” Ace asks and I think it’s only appropriate we give him as much choice as he gave my sister.
“Before you answer that, you may want to be aware that the asshole had shackles on the bed, and based on the defensive wounds on her, there is a pretty solid chance that he was tryingto put them on your sister prior to our arrival.” This information from Ace’s team member is dire news for the fate of Kyle Clark.
My tone is casual but my blood is boiling at the thought of what he had planned for her. “You know what? Sure, he can make it out of here. All he has to do is get up and walk on out the door. But he might want to hurry, it’s about to get toasty.”
“Once again, I forgot my damn s’more stick and marshmallows,” Ace’s teammate Diego deadpans before we all start laughing.
I slide out a small but mighty brick of my preferred explosive. A few moments later, the timer on the device is set and we start clearing out of the room. Before I walk out of whatever fucking delusion this asshole forcefully dragged my sister into, I lean over Kyle’s unconscious body, just in case he can’t hear me. “You tried to take my sister, but that decision is going to cost you your life. I will always protect and come for what is mine. You picked the wrong family to fuck with, asshole.”
Chapter fifty-nine
