What I Fight For: A Bad Boy Military Romance (Easy Team Book 1) (19 page)

Chapter
Twenty Two
Cooper

              I turned around and gave the signal to Tennessee.

              He nodded and skillfully jumped off the back of the truck. In a matter of moments, he was swallowed up into the night. I touched my earpiece, waiting for a report.

              After a minute, I heard Ten call in.

              “I’m heading into position, Hawk,” he reported.

              “North?”

              As we approached Randall’s base, we realized there was a small rise north of it that would probably be the most suitable for a sniper. But with absolutely no chance for recon work, it was only a guess at best. Nothing could be known for sure until we saw it for ourselves.

              “North,” Tennessee confirmed. “I think I’ll have a clear shot of the northeastern windows which look like the main entrance hall. You need to make sure you stay in the area.”

              “Copy that,” I said. I looked over my shoulder and called out, “Got that? Northeastern hall.”

              The men, who had all heard Tennessee’s report in their own earpieces, nodded.

              The truck rumbled along silently as we all sat, prepared and ready for whatever was waiting for us.

              This was an extremely fly-by plan that had a very small margin for error. We had to be extremely careful and quick if we wanted to succeed.

              “Remember,” I said, turning around from the front seat of the truck to the rest of Easy Team. “Our primary goal is to get Emilia out alive. Randall is secondary. And most importantly, mine.”

              The eyes of Easy Team glinted with acknowledgment. They knew the relationship that had grown between their captain and Emilia. And that meant I had a personal stake in what happened to Randall.

              “We look to be about half a click away, boss,” Tweety reported from behind the wheel.

              I turned to three of the men. “Go!” I signaled.

              They immediately jumped out of the truck, our small stash of explosives tucked in their packs.

              Randall’s abandoned building was nearly on top of us and we needed to make sure all of us found our position quickly and discreetly.

              The explosives needed to be placed strategically but we had no idea what or who was in the building except Randall and Emilia. The men would have to do a covert recon before placing their explosives but they had to do it fast. We had no idea how many men would be guarding inside.

              I tapped my fingers against my knee. This was all a huge gamble of luck.

              But I didn’t fucking care. Emilia was in danger and I was going to get her back.

              Finally, Tweety pulled the truck to a stop.

              There were two guards posted in front of the main entrance. I quickly assessed them. They had guns but no rifles. Not bad.

              Perhaps luck
was
on our side.

              We hopped out of the truck. We had made sure that only some of Easy Team would be outfitted with rifles. It made us look less threatening and prepared than the guards that would be under Randall.

              And it clearly worked. The two guards at the door nearly smirked when they saw that not all of us had rifles.

              Perfect.

              It didn’t matter to us. One untrained man with a rifle was nothing compared to a dozen men who had sheer skill and knowledge in their bare hands.

              “Where is Randall?” I asked in Qunari to the guards.

              They looked at each other before opening the doors and making an abrupt gesture at us to enter.

              I led the way, coming into the dim and broken building. This building, although larger than the meeting hall in our town, was in a more delicate and derelict state.

              Well, I corrected myself, before the earthquake that is.

              This building clearly had withstood most of the quake but portions of it had crumbled and cracked.

              We walked down the hall, a dim light crackling above us. At the end, on the left, were a set of double doors with two more guards standing by it. These men did have rifles.

              But before we were even half way down the hallway, the doors opened and Randall stepped through. Dressed in his ridiculous attire of black slacks and a casually unbuttoned white shirt, he grinned when he saw me. His arms held wide in welcome, he said, “Ah, Hawk! My old comrades! How good to see you guys again!”

              Despite his light tone, I could see the dark smudges under his eyes, the strained lines bracketing his lips. He had spent several hours now afraid for his life. And as well he should. As we spoke, there were probably several dozen people looking for this man’s head. His hours were limited if he didn’t get out of the country fast.

              Bear snorted in disgust behind me.
Comrade, my ass,
I could nearly hear him thinking.

              Randall stood at the end of the hallway, making no move towards us. And I kept my position, making no move to come closer.

              Randall squinted at the men behind me. “That’s it? Where’s the rest of the team?” he asked suspiciously. I could see his mind quickly whirring as he imagined ambush tactics.

              “We needed to send some to the airstrip to secure it,” I said as if stating a painfully obvious fact. “You’re a high value target here. There’s no way we could be sure the airstrip wasn’t already being patrolled without us going there to secure it.”

              Randall raised his brows in surprise and unexpected delight. “Well,” he said, pleased, “I’m glad to see you’re taking this mission seriously.” He ran a finger under his lips, smirking. “But I guess having the right motivation helps.”

              “Where is Emilia?” I demanded.

              “Speaking of which,” he said, smiling broadly. He nodded towards one of the guards who opened the double doors and stepped inside.

              “Wh-What are you doing?”

              My throat tightened hearing her frightened voice. I curled my fist, forcing myself not to grab my gun and shoot Randall down dead, consequences be damned.

              The guard reappeared towing Emilia by the arm.

              “I had her specially decked out just for you,” Randall said, grabbing Emilia and placing her directly in front of him, his hands resting on her shoulders. “How do you like it?”

              “Holy. Fuck,” Bear muttered behind me.

              Anger and shock ran through my body like molten lava, leaving me barely able to see straight. Randall’s grin widened at seeing my raging fury.

              Over her dusty working clothes, Emilia was strapped into a large black vest that was gratuitously decked out in C4 bricks, all wired together. Randall tucked a finger under the shoulder strap of the vest.

              “Consider this additional motivation,” he said, smiling. “Fail to get me out of this country and this little lady is going to light up the night sky.”

              A tear rolled down Emilia’s cheek.

              Blood colored my vision as I noticed how swollen her cheek was. Her lips were red and bruised with dried blood staining her chin. He had touched her. No. Not touched.
Hit.
He, a trained soldier and former mercenary, had hit a woman who was probably no more than half his weight.

              Fucking coward. Fucking scum.

              “You…
hit…
her,” I breathed out, each word searing my throat in my rage.

              I felt Bear discreetly grip the back of my arm in warning. I couldn’t lose my temper now. Our plan had such a small margin for error.

              And yet….God, I wanted to fucking destroy the man!

              “Nah!” Randall said in a broad, playful voice. His hands on Emilia’s shoulders, he gave her teasing shake, which made her cry out in surprise. I nearly took a step forward but Bear kept a tight hold on the back of my arm.

              “Hit?” he said, grinning. “No, I just gave her a lesson in manners.” Randall ran a finger down Emilia’s cheek, making her wince away. “Didn’t I, darling?”

              Before I could run down the hall and bury my fist so far into his face, I’d have his cheekbones lodged into my knuckles, Tennessee’s voice crackled into my earpiece.

              “Hawk, I’ve got you,” he said. “Randall is lined up perfectly. I’m good whenever you give me the go ahead.”

              Bear, standing a little behind me to cover himself, responded in a low voice, “Ten, do you have visual on Dr. Lyon?”

              “Touch her again and I won’t get you anywhere near the fucking airstrip,” I said, partly out of anger but partly to cover up Bear’s conversation.

              Randall grinned. “Then she’ll die,” he said simply.

              I shook my head. “We’ll all die,” I corrected. “But I’ll make sure yours is a slow and painful death.”

              Randall laughed.

              “She’s a little out of sight,” Tennessee reported. “She’s a little off to the side from the window.”

              “Can you see her vest?” Bear asked. “Can you see where the engagement trigger is? Randall must have the trigger in his pocket but there has to be a point on the vest where engagement hits.”

              I carefully surveyed the vest myself. I couldn’t see anything except the fucking C4.

              Randall caught me staring.

              “Reminds you of something?” he asked smiling, pulling at the vest again. “Those good old days in South America.”

              The memory of scattered bloody body parts and wailing villagers flashed through my mind.

              Randall had done this purposely. He could’ve held a gun to her head or a knife to her throat but he knew how to push a man’s buttons. He had instead strapped her into the same kind of vest that had colored one of my darkest days as a mercenary.

              “Even if this isn’t your last day,” I bit out, “your last day is coming. And it’ll be a hard and painful one. You’ve spilled too much blood not to pay for it.”

              “Hawk, C4 is in place,” Dozer reported in my earpiece. “But there’s something here in the southwest corner—”

              “I see it!” Tennessee interrupted. “The trigger is on the back of the vest. It has a green indicator light and it’s glowing against Randall’s shirt.”

              “Can you take the shot without hitting the C4?” Bear asked.

              “It’s a tight shot,” he admitted.

              “But we won’t have another shot if we leave this site,” Tweety added, his voice low behind me. “Once we leave here, we can’t get Ten or Dozer back onto the truck. This is our only shot with a sniper.”

              Randall laughed and shrugged. “Eh, no one’s last day is gonna be pleasant,” he said dismissively. “So who gives a shit about mine as long as it isn’t today?”

              “Should I take it?” Tennessee’s voice echoed in my ear.

              “Worst case scenario, quick,” Bear ordered.

              “Semi-worst case,” Tennessee started, “I knick Randall, his men get pissed, and they open fire on us and possibly on Dr. Lyon.”

              “Absolute worst?” Bear whispered.

              “I hit one of the C4 bricks,” Tennessee said, his voice reluctant as if he was admitting to a crime.

              “Fuck,” Bear muttered.

              Exactly how I felt.

              I looked at Emilia. Her eyes were round with fear and her cheeks wet with tears. She knew she had her own death sentence wrapped around her waist. And I wanted to kill Randall for terrifying her like this.

              “But this is all we have,” Tweety said. “This is our only chance. We go out of this hall and that’s it.”

              “Take it?” Tennessee asked after taking in a deep breath.

              Emilia took in a similar deep breath. She seemed to gather herself after locking eyes with me. I could still see her body quivering silently in terror but her face looked calmer.

              “I love you,” she whispered in a nearly inaudible voice.

              But I had heard it. I had seen it.

              “Take it,” I said.

              Bear squeezed the back of my arm in approval. I heard Tennessee take another deep breath.

              Dozer blew out a breath. “We’re here, Cap. One way or another.”

              I knew that. I would always know that.

              Randall quirked an eyebrow. “What?”

              But he had no chance to say anything further. There was a sharp, clear cracking noise as the window to his side was pierced by a single, well-aimed bullet.