Page 19 of Fighting for Valor
Inara’s comms click off, and West frees the grappling hook from his belt. At my side, Graham flexes his fingers. The kid’s been working on his rappelling skills non-stop since his first mission where he almost got himself killed. As I mentally tick off the location of each member of my team, one word bounces around in my head.
Family.
Wren was the first one who told me Hidden Agenda, my K&R firm, was a family. And families support one another. I rest my hand on Graham’s shoulder and give it a squeeze.
From above, I hear a soft exhalation of air followed by a quiet thud. One down. West throws the hook over the wall, and it catches on the razor wire. Good enough. He’s up and over in less than a thirty seconds. Graham’s next, and though he takes slightly longer, he’s almost as quick as I am.
The three of us crouch on the top of the north guard tower, the dead guard staring up at nothing. Inara’s the best damn sharpshooter I’ve ever known, and she put a bullet right between his eyes.
West pieces together his own rifle. In under five minutes, all six guards in the towers are dead.
“Bravo Team…approach is clear,” I say. “Base, we’re going in.”
“Be careful,” Wren says, and the tremble in her voice shoots right to my heart. “There are two guards at the back door to the house.”
“Roger that.”
“Got sights on one of them,” Inara says. “Alpha Team, on your mark.”
West and Graham drop down to the ground, and West pulls a serrated blade from a sheath at his waist before the two of them head east, towards the back door. He’ll protect the kid as best he can. I descend silently and head in the other direction, determined to check out two buildings at the edge of the compound. The smaller showed a faint heat signature moving back and forth, and though I have no proof it’s Ripper, my instincts are pulling me in that direction.
As I approach the corner of the house, footsteps scuff along the dirt, and I wrap my fingers around the handle of my blade. Except it’s not mine. It’s Ripper’s. The only piece of him I had left. I’ve carried it with me on every mission since I left the army.
Tonight, I’ll use it. Silent and deadly.
At least Dax is the only one wearing a camera. Wren doesn’t need to see what I’m about to do. The knife slides quickly into the man’s abdomen as I cover his mouth with my other hand. Blood splashes the wall, and he gurgles quietly as I twist the blade and destroy his internal organs. He’s dead within seconds, and I ease his body down to the ground.
The first building is just a storage shed—and empty. Slinking quietly towards the second, I listen. A handful of chickens peck at the ground, and a dog barks from the inside of what looks like a barn. Fuck. Have I been tracking a damn dog this entire time?
I have to check. As I put my ear to the door, I hear quiet panting. Adjusting my grip on the knife again, I use my foot to nudge the wood and then spin so I can press my back against the wall. A skinny, scruffy dog comes padding out.
Dammit. I could have been hunting down Faruk instead of chasing Fido.
“Base? Status on heat signatures at my location?”
“One. Faint. Headed away from you. All the others are inside.”
“It was a goddamned dog. He’s not out here.” I stalk towards the front of the house, anger tightening my jaw.
“Wait,” Wren says. “Stop. There’s…something… Where are you, Team Leader?”
“Twenty-five meters west-northwest of the front door.”
“Hold position.”
“I’m exposed, Base.” Pulling out my Beretta, I scan all around me. There’s nothing here. Nothing but dead bodies and blood. The gate’s still closed, and to the outside world, Faruk’s compound is peaceful.
“Oh God. Really?” Wren’s not talking to me, but whatever she just learned has her voice trembling. “Right in front of you. Maybe half a meter. Is there a…wooden cover? Like you’d find on a manhole?”
I adjust the sensitivity of my NVGs and peer at the ground. The night vision turns everything green, but it sharpens everything around me, and the circular outline of a cover maybe ten feet across comes into focus. “Roger that.”
“It’s…a well,” she says. “Faruk threatened to put the doc down there. Keep her there if she didn’t cooperate. And…there’s something really faint on the thermals under there. Like…actually underground.”
I drop to one knee and feel around, finding a small metal ring that pops up from the cover. My gut twists. What’s down there? A body? An enemy? Or my brother?
The cover slides off easily, and I peer into the deep, dark space. “Package located,” I manage, though I don’t know how I get the words out. He’s twenty feet down, curled on his side, unmoving. “Bravo Team…prepare for infil. My position. Hold until I have proof of life.”
In my ear, Wren’s voice comforts me. “There should be a rope ladder against the wall of the building behind you.”
