Forsaken Duty (Red Team #9)(89)

Owen shook his head. “It’s a suicide mission. They know what the deputy did. They know we’re coming. They’re waiting for us. They have Augie there…somewhere.”

“We anticipated this,” Kit said. “We’ve stashed our weapons and ammo strategically around the compound. We’ve rigged explosives at key points. We’re readier than they are. Let them think we’re coming in blind—it gives us another advantage.”

“We have eyes out there—not just the cameras, but Lion and his cubs have been watching everything,” Max said. “They know, real time, what’s happening. I can get into the Omni computers and patch in Greer and Nathan so they can work it from here.” He looked at Beck. “If you’re game, you can be Joyce’s eyes and hands onsite. The Ratcliffs can work it remotely through us.”

“Agreed,” Beck said, without hesitation.

“Owen,” Kelan said quietly, “we’re only as strong as the weakest among us. If we aren’t willing to take a stand for your woman, then we don’t stand for anything after all. And if that’s the case, we should just cede this war to the fucking Omnis, because we are not better than them.”

Owen felt the crushing weight of his decision. He looked at each man and woman who hadn’t yet spoken. Each nodded at him.

Owen lifted his phone. “We’re going out there, Dad.”

“Be careful, son. Be damned careful.” The line went dead.

“Max, you’ve been in the one renovated silo under the WKB compound,” Owen said. “Where’s the most likely place for this software lab?”

“The finished silo has ten floors underground,” Max said. “The lowest is just a mechanical room. The next floor up is where I saw the one space I wasn’t allowed into. The floors above were Syadne meeting rooms, offices, dorms. Other floors warehoused drugs. There’s not going to be much happening in the unfinished areas of the tunnels. No light, no power, no Wi-Fi.”

“We have to clear the silo space and hold it for the FBI,” Kit said. “We need to split up. Owen, you take Addy, Doc Beck, Ace, Max, and Angel and go into the tunnels the back way. That should give you a little extra protection for transporting Addy while things are exploding above ground. The rest of us will clear each floor of the silo on our way down to the ninth floor. Access to each level and some of the areas inside each level are protected with biometrics. Each of you has enough explosives to blow several doors.”

“We need people alive and machines intact,” Owen said. “If there are lab workers inside, hold them.”

“What about the key players?” Val asked. “Where’s it likely we’ll find them?”

Kit shook his head. “Could be anyone’s guess. They might be holed up in the finished silo; they might be somewhere else entirely.”

“And is lethal force authorized?” Angel asked.

“Only as a last resort,” Owen said. “The more info we can get out of everyone we find, the better it’s going to be for the bigger fight. Kit, tell my pilot to get up here and wait on standby. It’s a short flight from here to the WKB compound if the helicopter’s needed, but I don’t want it flying into enemy fire unnecessarily. We’re going to have to drive in—it isn’t safe for the chopper and it will just expose our attempt to sneak in the back way.”

“Copy that.” He stepped out to give that order.

The battle plan they’d made laid out who would go and who would stay and the positions each was responsible for. It didn’t need much change. They’d already agreed to take the silo while Lobo and his men took the main grounds, and Lion and his pride watched the silo tunnels.

All they had to do now was execute that plan.

Owen nodded. “Then let’s gear up and get out there.”

And, please God, let them all come home safe, he said silently to himself.





28





Ace and Val were in the weapons room, gearing up. Val put his M16 in its case. Ace caught him staring at it.

“What gives, Val?” she asked.

“I didn’t want to take my dad out this way.”

“With a bullet?”

“No. By a sniper round. I wanted to look him in the eye. I wanted him to see me do it.”

“Val, this is the man who tormented you your entire childhood, the monster who calls this war a game. You are a legend in the sniper world for what you did in Afghanistan. What better way to take him out than using the very skill he mocked?”

Val closed the case, then bent over and kissed Ace. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“I wish you were staying here. Your arm’s still in a cast. You don’t need to break it again.”

Ace stared into his eyes. “This is what I do, what I am.”

Val’s nostrils flared. “I know.”

“Besides, Greer’s stuck here. One of us has to end Henry. I think I’ve earned that right.”



Owen came back in the house after prepping the backseat of an Expedition for him and Addy with some blankets and a small armory. The women were saying goodbye to their men. The emotion in the room was dense. Owen saw Troy standing off by himself. He picked the boy up and carried him down the hall to Owen’s room where Addy still was.