Under Fire (Love Over Duty #1)(94)

Cabe sent Mac one of those looks. The one where he clearly didn't agree with Six but was waiting for Mac to interject.

"I'm not fucking kidding, Cabe. I see you lift a fucking finger to help those shits beyond getting cuffs on them, I'll kill you myself."

"Fine," Cabe said. "Now can you rein yourself in? We need the Viking. Not the lovesick fucking puppy."

Six checked his M4A1 5.56 mm with short barrel again. It was perfect for close-quarters battle inside the ranch. The screwed-on suppressor was tightly secured  …  just like it had been the last time he checked three and a half minutes ago. And as he aimed it at the tree to his left, the infrared laser was just as clear as it had been back then too. He checked his vest. Six magazines of thirty rounds ready to go do his bidding at the double tap of the trigger and a handful of flash-crash grenades.

Mac gestured to them it was time to go. Night vision goggles on and their M4s at the ready, they made their way silently under cover of darkness to the rear. Gaz pulled out his lockpick key set. Covert for as long as possible was the plan. Silently, he picked the lock until, with a muffled click, he stepped back and pulled the door open. Out of the corner of Six's eye, he saw Sherlock, ghillie suit gone, moving into a better position to cover the rear exit and the trucks parked around the side of the building. He felt better knowing that if the hostage takers did get Louisa out of the house, they weren't going to get too far. 

In the formation they'd agreed on, Mac led and Six followed. Ryder and Gaz brought up the rear. As they entered, Cabe looked left, Six, right, as they took in the open great room. A hallway led off in one direction, a staircase in the other. Suddenly footsteps sounded in both directions. A target appeared in the stairwell, gun aimed at them as he ran.

"Down on the floor," Six yelled, firing a warning shot. "Slide your weapon toward me."

Realizing he was completely outmanned, the guy dropped to the floor and did as Six said. Cabe ran over, kicked the weapon away, and cuffed the man while Six provided cover.

All thoughts of covert action now gone, Ryder pulled the pin of the flash-crash and threw it in the direction of the two men who were hurrying down the hall. Bullets were sprayed in the confusion, piercing the drywall to their right. Six and Mac peeled off left as Ryder and Gaz took the battle forward into the living room.

They took the stairs two at a time, ready to shoot to kill if need be. But despite his earlier feelings of wanting to hurt each and every person who had done Louisa harm, Six knew the more suspects they took out alive, the better chance of someone turning state's evidence. Rapid gunfire sounded from the direction of the kitchen, and both Ryder and Gaz's voices carried over the noise.

The upstairs hallway was deserted, but several doors were closed. Mac threw the first door open.

Six did his ninety-degree sweep to the right of the room. "Clear right," he called out.

"Clear left," Mac said, and they went back to the hallway.

They headed to the next door. Intermittent gunfire and the sound of another flash-crash grenade began in another part of the house. Six's senses told him that Louisa was up here. Mac threw the door open and they repeated the process. Two more doors to go.

As they reached for the third door, bullets flew alongside him and hit the drywall to the side of his head, and he dropped to the ground and crawled a little way along the hall. The bullets had come from the room opposite. Whoever was in there was scared and had started shooting through the walls before they even reached the door.

Both Six and Mac crawled to the other side of the hall and stood. When the firing stopped, Six kicked the door down. He scanned the room. Three people. Antonia, Louisa's mom, had her cast rested on the bed, and a man stood in the dark room backed up into the corner, his arm tight around Louisa's neck, pistol to her temple. His finger squeezed the trigger in preparation for firing. "Do anything to me and I'll-"

Despite the way the sight of her trapped there ripped his heart to fucking pieces, Six didn't wait for him to finish his sentence. Years of training had prepared him for this very moment. He double tapped the trigger and watched dispassionately as both bullets exploded into the man's forehead, covering Louisa in blood.

Louisa screamed as the man fell down behind her, and Six hurried over to her.

"Targets safe," Mac said. "Repeat, targets are safe."

"Getting slow in your old age," Lite said through their earpiece.

"Says the man two hundred feet away in a barn making out with a fucking chicken," Mac replied.

Louisa threw her arms around him. "I knew you'd come," she said.