Page 51 of A Soldier's Temptation
“No one on the roof? Or upper floors?” Elwood asked.
“Not when we got this, we will have another report in about thirty minutes,” Colin replied.
“Thirty minutes will be too late,” John said, barely containing his fury. He’d settle this with Colin later and it wasn’t going to be pretty. It blew his mind that he’d been willing to take chances with Ari or Shira’s lives.
After his own near-death experience, he’d learned not to take anyone or anything for granted. Especially not a life. It also taught him that if you want something, you need to go for it. And he wanted Ari. He’d spend the rest of his life proving it to her if necessary.
The other members of Charlie Team looked as pissed off as John. Even though he’d been with them for less than a year, part of their survival counted on being able to read each other. Whether Colin realized it or not, by deciding to put the women in danger for the sake of the case, he’d made some enemies.
With the new intel, they had a better idea for their breach. As usual, the plan changed.
“Okay, we change the plan,” Elwood said. “Gus and Disco you clear the first floor. Me, Riot, and Shaggy will take the second floor. We’ll rendezvous in the stairwell. Go in quiet. No guns. We don’t want to tip them off.”
“Copy that,” the Team said in unison.
“Colin, you stay here and let us know if anything changes. This time no holding back,” Elwood said, his voice deceptively calm.
“Will do.”
“Questions? Concerns?” Elwood asked before giving the order to go.
“I want them alive. We need to find proof of the mole in the FBI,” Colin requested.
It was the last thing John cared about. Doing the job was one thing, but he’d overstepped this time, even though he understood Colin was only doing what he thought was right.
John handed Mr. Darcy’s leash to Colin. “We’ll do our best, but I’m not making any promises. The hostages come first.” He stared at him almost daring Colin to object. But he nodded as he took the leash. “Mr. Darcy, stay here. I’ll bring our girl back soon.”
It should have been all that was necessary, except Mr. Darcy had his own plan. Pulling his leash out of Colin’s hand, he ran after the SEALs.
“Fine, you can come, but you need to listen, and be quiet, no woofing and definitely no stink bombs, got it?”
“You do know you’re talking to the dog like it’s human?” Disco said.
“I know, and half the time I think he’s a human in dog form.”
Like clockwork, the team found their targets and took them out without making a sound. Executing the next part of the plan would be more difficult since they didn’t know the condition of the women or their captors.
As they assembled in the second-floor stairwell, they were riding high on adrenaline. Disco had even found the detonator they’d placed on the first floor and disabled it.
“All clear?” Elwood asked.
“All clear,” they repeated back.
“If the third floor is laid out the same, we should be able to breach here, stay against the walls and take them out.”
“And if that doesn’t work?” John asked. He knew what he wanted to do, but he’d promised to try to keep the bad guys alive.
“Make it work, we need them alive,” Elwood replied. “Do you copy?”
The team acknowledged the order. As they made their way up the stairs, an ear-piercing scream came from the floor above. If it wasn’t for Shaggy’s hand on his arm, he’d have run up the rest of the stairs and blown whoever was up there to bits.
Taking a deep breath and focusing on the mission instead of Ari’s face, he nodded, and they continued their ascent. Mr. Darcy stayed at his side and he prayed the dog would follow orders even if he spotted Ari.
As they passed through the open doorway, the dog didn’t make a sound and stayed with the SEALs as they moved around the outer perimeter of the large room. The building was part of the revitalization project, but the work hadn’t begun.
Gus and Elwood came up behind the two tangos as they were arguing in what sounded like Mandarin. None of them spoke it, but John had studied it and recognized some of the words. Unfortunately, not enough of them to know what they were yelling about.
The kidnappers should have been more aware of their surroundings, but it made it that much easier for the SEALs. Gus grabbed one of them and held his ka-bar to his neck, while Elwood took out the other one. They’d managed to take them both alive. But where were the women? John yelled for Mr. Darcy to find Ari and the dog practically galloped across the open area.
