Page 51 of Wraith
“Barbie is right,” Beast said. “We just have to be a little more careful.”
“Any place for me?” Barbie asked.
Tex tapped away and another map popped up at the top of the screen. A glowing red dot flashed at a certain point. “Here,” Tex said. “I don’t know how stable this place is. It’s been abandoned for months.”
“So, you’re not going in with them?” Amelia asked.
“I’m back up on this mission,” Barbie explained. “We’ll flesh it out first.”
Wraith watched Amelia. He could tell she wasn’t a fan of what was happening. But there wasn’t really anything either of them could do. By the time they were geared up and ready to go, the plan was simple. Amelia would walk with Barbie who would be in position to back them up from a perch in the hills above the diner across the street.
The rest of them would have to go in blind, going room to room and dealing with whatever came on the fly. Wraith pulled his mind into war mode as Tex worked to disable the cameras for the restaurant to they could pile through the back door. Once they were in the black Jeep the CIRO guys came in, he settled back and laced his fingers with Amelia’s.
“Keep your eyes open.” Amelia whispered to him.
“I’m coming back.” Wraith told her. “You made me a promise, remember?”
“I did?” Amelia arched a brow. “I did! Make me keep it.”
Wraith dropped a chaste kiss to her lips then her forehead.
“T minus sixty seconds, Barbie and Hummingbird.” Beast called from the front seat.
“Roger that.” Barbie replied.
Amelia said nothing. She leaned forward to press her forehead at the neck of Wraith’s bulletproof vest. He held her as close as he could for as long as he could. When they arrived at Barbie’s and Amelia’s drop point, he kissed her roughly but had to let her go. He didn’t even have time to watch after her. The moment they were out of the jeep, the two disappeared into the blackness, leaving Liam weak with worry.
“Eyes on the prize, Wraith,” Beast said. “We get this right and you can take her home.”
“You know.” Wraith stared at Beast.
“Of course, we know,” Beast said. “Only a man who loves her could look at her the way you do. So, let’s do this right and get you back to her.”
Wraith nodded.
“Boys?” Tex’s voice filled Wraith’s earpiece. “I see you’re thirty seconds out. I’ll keep an eye on the authorities and other things. Once you get inside, you’re on your own. I’m blind, got it?”
“Yes,” Beast said.
“I don’t think I have to tell you to watch each other’s backs.” Tex’s voice was serious.
By then Beast had parked and they were getting ready to alight. The two of them looked at each other then climbed from the truck and made their way, guns hefted into the unknown.
The first floor was clear.
The second floor was too but the floor grew less and less stable with each room they cleared. The third floor had one dead a body, rats scurrying to and fro and drug needles. Wraith used the tip of his boot to shake the man. With Beast covering, Wraith felt for a pulse, but there wasn’t one. There wasn’t a smell and the body had yet to go into rigor mortis. He hadn’t been dead long.
To save time, they left him there and continued. At the top of the place, they found two other people, drugged out of their minds. The world could end and they wouldn’t have had a clue. There was no use asking them anything.
“Are you here in your ships?” One woman asked in rough Russian. “I am ready to go, man.”
Wraith stepped around her, but she merely fell to her knees and started bowing to him. He inspected the room and was about to leave until something moved in a smaller space to the right. Instantly, without a word, he and Beast went wide, gun training on the area. While Wraith faced the suspicious movement, Beast watched the others in the room. It wasn’t unknown for someone high to start wielding a used needle like a weapon.
When he barged in, a man took off running and out another door.
“We have a runner!” Wraith called.
“I see him!” Barbie said through the ear piece.
