Page 97 of Protected from Reprisal
He doesn’t have to explain. A single boarded-up window could mean Malik is being held in that room.
“Good,” Rafe answers. “Ace. Yara. You’ll head that way once we get inside.”
“On it,” I reply. Once we breach, Ace and I will be the ones searching for Malik, while the others focus on subduing the tangos.
Ahead of me, Ace reaches for his vest pocket. A moment later, he pulls out one of the flashbangs. “Flashbang ready,” he says. “Ten seconds out.”
“Roger,” Rafe replies. “See you inside.”
Nothing more needs to be said. We know what’s ahead.
As our trio approaches the house from the western side of it, adrenaline surges again.
All the planning, and it’s finally time.
Once we reach the corner of the building, we flatten ourselves against the wall, all in a line. As before, it’s Ace in the lead, me in the middle, and Indy at the rear. Our weapons are at low ready. Ace’s flashbang is ready to go.
Crouching low, we creep along the outer wall, staying below the window line. The first window we pass is dark, but the one up ahead shows a flickering light glowing from within. A television, at best guess, which ups the chance that at least one of the tangos is inside the room. Best case, there’ll be more than one to disorient when Ace throws the flashbang through it.
Ace lifts his hand, giving the signal to hold. Then he sneaks ahead, moving slightly away from the building to give himself room to make the throw.
Indy moves close behind me, his breath brushing the back of my neck.
My heart launches to my throat as I watch Ace get into position. I don’t like how exposed he is. Someone could look out the window and they’d see him easily. Could shoot him before he even gets a return shot off.
But the worst doesn’t happen.
Instead, Ace flings the weighted flashbang at the window and races for the relative safety of the wall as the glass shatters.I duck my head so I’m not blinded by the light coming from inside, but the resulting explosion tells me it worked.
By agreement, we sprint around the front of the house, searching for the nearest door. Ace reaches it first and kicks the door with such force, the wood splinters as it flies open.
From inside, there are startled, angry shouts. They’re speaking in Farsi, so I can understand them. It’s mostly curses, but one man shouts to the others to get their weapons. Another says something about securing their captive.
As Ace, Indy, and I move in past the broken front door, Tyler comes racing inside to join us. From the room adjacent, there’s another splintering crash, which I assume is Rafe, Grover, and Trigger.
Inside, we’re met with a choking cloud of smoke that makes it hard to see. But I spot one tango in the corner, fumbling for something in a cabinet. On the opposite side of the room, another man is lying on the floor, struggling to get free of the blanket he’s tangled in.
Indy springs at the man on the floor and punches him—using his prosthetic, I note with grim satisfaction—before flipping the man over and pinning him down. Ace fires off a shot at the man near the cabinet, and a second later, Tyler fires a second.
“I’ve got him,” Tyler shouts. “Go!”
From the other room, glass breaks. Something heavy falls over. A gunshot sounds, followed by a low moan of pain.
Fear clutches my stomach.
Please, let that be the tango I heard, and not one of my friends.
In response to my unspoken plea, Rafe’s voice comes over our comms a moment after. “One down. Moving in for backup.”
I nearly sag in relief. Three tangos dealt with. That means two men left unaccounted for. Hopefully, only one of them is the enemy, and the other is Malik.
As planned, Ace hurries down the darkened hallway, and I follow. There are three doors ahead of us: two on the right, one on the left. All of them are closed.
Ace kicks in the first door to reveal an empty bathroom. It’s dirty. Water stained. Ragged towels hang from nails on one wall. A sliver of soap sits on the edge of the sink, and beside it, a roll of gauze.
Moving on from the bathroom, we continue down the hallway. Ace jerks his head to the left, indicating he’ll check that room first. I angle my head to the right, indicating my intent to check the room opposite.
Ace frowns. He doesn’t like the idea of me going into a room on my own. But he knows we have to do it this way. The alternative would mean both of us going into a room together, leaving our backs exposed to anyone in the other.
