Page 58 of Raven's Hunt
He grinned, then the video cut off, a set of coordinates taking its place. The room fell silent, everyone staring at the screen before they all moved at once.
Bodie grabbed his phone, started talking to someone while Sloane launched the map, had the coordinates dialed in. Avery muttered under her breath, looking as if she wanted to pull out some of her hair until everyone stopped, focused on the screen.
Buck inched forward, pointing to the building filling the screen. “That’s the abandoned cannery complex at the edge of the state line. Huge facility with multiple levels. Perfect for sniper lines, IED tripwires. And by the time we get there, the sun will be setting.”
Tierney swallowed the bile burning a line down the back of her throat. “I can go. Alone.”
Buck coughed. “Not a chance in hell, sweetheart. If Grieves wants a war, we’ll give him one.”
Bodie didn’t hesitate. “You heard him. Nobody goes in alone. Hit the armory. We’re going to tear that place to the ground.”
Chapter Eighteen
The setting sun sat low over the horizon, painting the evening sky a bruised iron. The ocean seethed against the coastline, the gale-force wind whipping rain across the surging water.
Buck turned off the highway a mile back from the abandoned cannery, parking his truck on an old dirt road that paralleled the shoreline, ending at the edge of the factory property. Bodie and Dalton pulled in behind him, lights cutting circles through the encroaching dark before winking off, leaving an eerie void in the gray light.
Five miles behind them, completely off Grieves’ radar, Greer and a heavily armed federal tactical team waited in an empty warehouse, holding a hard perimeter in case Grieves slipped out. Raven’s Watch had been placed on standby, with Foster’s team staged for an emergency medical run within the next few hours.
Buck glanced over at Tierney. She’d barely spoken since the call with Grieves, the heavy silence telling him everything he needed to know.
He placed his hand over hers. “Are you sure you’re up for this? No one would blame you if facing him was asking too much.”
She drew in a deep breath, turning to face him. “I’ve allowed him to rule the last eighteen months of my life. It’s time I took that back.”
“That’s my girl.” He grinned when she rolled her eyes. “Just, don’t be a hero. You’ve got an entire team backing you up. No need to go sacrificing yourself for the greater good.”
“I won’t, if you won’t.”
Buck cringed inwardly. He should have seen that coming. “I’ll try. But if he threatens you…”
He’d do whatever was necessary because there wasn’t a future, a life worth living, without her in it.
Tierney opened her mouth, probably to call him out, then shut it, leaning over to plant a quick kiss on his lips. It ended far too soon, the creaking hinges sounding through the cab as she jumped out, joined the rest of Buck’s team at the front of the trucks.
Bodie held out a map, tracing the route once before waving Tierney ahead. She glanced over at Buck, nodded, then took off, moving with the fluid grace of a seasoned tracker. He doublechecked her gear as she headed into the night. Like the rest of them, she was loaded for bear, with extra mags and frags strapped to her vest. Any hint of panic from the meeting had vanished, replaced by a cold fury that tightened his chest.
This was the MI6 version she’d claimed she’d lost. That Grieves had broken. And Buck knew, she wouldn’t settle for anything less than Grieves’ full surrender.
A mix of brine and earth filled the air as Tierney veered onto the salt-burned seagrass lining the shore, effortlessly choosing the best line as if she’d walked the route a thousand times. She kept the pace fast, but controlled, weaving them through a series of large boulders and skeletal shipwrecks before gaining a bit of elevation, snaking along the embankment as she closed in on the factory.
Buck glanced over at Avery, her lithe form fading in and out of the blowing grass. She was risking her badge, her career, going in off-the-books, but she hadn’t hesitated, just handed her badge to Greer and suited up.
Dalton obviously had his own thoughts regarding her presence, staying closer than usual as they crossed the last quarter mile, crouched along the boundary. They formed a small line, scanning the open pavement as the last rays of warm light faded to dusk.
Before them, the factory spread out in a sprawling nightmare of industrial decay. Three, massive processing buildings towered against the indigo sky, the units interconnected by a spiderweb of rusted, open-air catwalks and enclosed conveyor tubes. To their left, a rotting dock jutted into the crashing waves, one of the boards lifting off the beams, vanishing into the black water with the next rolling breaker. Across the asphalt, dozens of oversized, circular brine tanks sat in various stages of decomposition, flakes of rusted iron dancing across the pavement in the gusting breeze.
Buck raised his scope, searched the grounds before shaking his head. “Thermals are going to be garbage inside the buildings. Too much ambient heat trapped in the old insulation, with the metal jacking up the readings. And those brine tanks are radiating heat from years of sludge brewing inside. We’re essentially going in blind.”
Bodie inched forward, still scanning the growing shadows. “No way we can move as a unified front and not attract every damn merc in there. Not if Grieves has CCTV and sensors wired throughout the units. Better to split into pairs, attack multiple fronts at once.”
He pointed to the first building. “Buck. Tierney. You’re Alpha team. You’ll take the main processing floor. Try to make your way to Wade so Buck can disarm whatever Grieves wired to Wade’s chest. Dalton. Avery. You’re Bravo. We need you on the upper catwalks providing overwatch and clearing out any sniper nests you can find. There’s bound to be at least two assholes hiding up high. Find and eliminate them.”
He moved over to where the old office had been stationed. “Nick. Sloane. You’re Charlie. We’re counting on you to flank through the utility corridors — get a direct line to the old junction boxes so Sloane can work her magic. Map out whatever closed-loop surveillance Grieves installed. Blind him. Rowan and I will clear the primary loading bay. Keep the exit secure so there’s an open line for medical extraction once he’s freed.” He patted down his vest, then gave Rowan’s a once over. “Any questions?” He waved them ahead. “Remember, lives first. Everyone comes home. We can track Grieves down again later. But as good as she is, even Rowan can’t raise the dead.”
Buck held Tierney’s gaze, memorizing the symmetrical lines of her face. The way she chewed on her bottom lip before she reined in the voices, muzzled them. He checked their route one last time with his scope, then moved out, quickstepping behind her as she crossed the open stretch of asphalt, slipping between the towering, rusted brine tanks.
The rain that had been building all day, kicked in full force, hammering against the corrugated metal, drowning out the roar of the ocean as it rose along the shore, crashing into the rotting dock. The wind whistled through the metal struts, picking up dust and paint chips, swirling them across the pavement as Tierney stopped at the edge of the vats, mapped out the next sprint to the main entrance.
