Page 51 of Waggs

“You good, Waggs?”

“Yeah. I can do this.”

“We have this, brother. We will have her home and safe in the next hour.”

“Thanks, Deck.”

“On my order.”

The tension ramped up as Waggs and the team readied to move.

“Go.”

The one hushed word was all it took and in seconds the front gate blew and the sound of pops from firearms went off. Waggs ran silently, his head down, weapon at his shoulder and poised for action, the adrenalin biting through his blood stream and clearing his mind. Opening the door of the warehouse, he threw in a smoke bomb and waited as it blew. The room filled with grey smoke and he entered with Deck at his back.

Sudden gun fire had them ducking behind a van that was parked inside as they returned fire. He heard a grunt as someone went down and then kept moving, his target the office which was the only conceivable place that the girls could be.

“Guards at the gate down but we lost Green. Repeat, Green is gone,” Condor reported. Waggs glanced at Deck and they both knew he wasn’t gone. He was coming for Waggs. He was a loose end and Green wouldn’t tolerate that.

Explosions and gun fire continued from outside and Waggs knew it was their guys facing off against the other two Special Ops guys. He could hear the commotion, the movement familiar to him as his team worked together.

Rounding the van, he saw the office door standing open and motioned for Deck to cover him as he ran for it. He pushed through and closed it behind him, and then she was there. Willow, her face bruised but smiling at him with so much trust and love and he didn’t deserve it, not after he’d left her alone but now wasn’t the time.

Her arms gripped his neck as his hands patted her down searching for an injury. Pulling away, he looked her over in the dark room, shoving the goggles off so he could evaluate her better. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, fine, just a sore cheek.”

Relief sharp like a blade blew threw him and he sighed, turning his attention to Bebe. “Bee?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Decker was watching the door. “We need to get out of here.”

“This is Condor, we have a truck arriving. Preparing to intercept.”

“Copy that, Condor.”

Waggs’ eyes returned to Willow, to assure himself she was okay but the dragging need to get her away from there and safe pulled at his gut like thorns. Decker handed Bebe a spare gun as Waggs tucked Willow in behind his body. “Hang on to my belt and do exactly what I tell you.”

“Let’s go.”

They moved back toward the way they had come, Decker in front and him and Willow next, with Bebe covering their six. The sound of shouting and screaming followed by more gunfire had them pause at the door and wait while Decker checked that the coast was clear.

The smoke was clearing now, and Waggs saw the dead man and the open door of the van where he’d been waiting or sleeping, if his slow reaction time was anything to go by.

“Wagner!” Waggs spun, putting Willow behind him as he levelled his gun on Nick Green, but the man was fast and already had Bebe with an arm around her neck, using her as a shield.

Waggs bit back the snarl, not wanting Nick to see that Bebe meant something to him.

“What the fuck do you want, Nick?”

Nick cocked his head mockingly. “Nick? What, no respect for your commander?”

“You lost all right to my respect when you murdered my brother.”

Nick moved back slightly so he could see the open door behind him that faced the back and the trees. “Aaron was a fool. I offered to cut him in. We could’ve taken Ralph out and taken over, but he was too much of a fucking boy scout.”

“He was ten times the man you are.”