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I called Dan. He picked up on the first ring. “Talk to me.”
I didn’t even greet him. There was no time for niceties. Especially when I wasn’t feeling nice. “Her stage name is Aphrodite. Neither she nor Moira has shown up tonight. I’m with Roman, Liam, and Owen. We’re on the way to Moira’s house.”
“Well, shit. I’m on my way. Susan Carmine’s place was empty.”
“Fuck.” Fear punched a hole straight through my chest. If anything happened to her, I didn’t think I would ever forgive myself for leaving her. I should have fought more this morning. I should have kept my shit together instead of letting her kick me to the curb. I had acted like a civilian and not a fucking Navy SEAL who didn’t quit even after getting knocked down.
“That sums it up. If they’re at Moira’s house together, don’t do anything until I get there.”
“I can’t promise that, Dan, and you know it. If Moira is being harmed in any way, I’m stepping in. You can fucking arrest me if you want to once she’s safe. I won’t give a fuck at that point. My only concern at this point is saving Moira.”
Dan swore but hung up with a, “I’m on my fucking way.”
I turned to my friends, my brothers in arms, and said, “Okay, this is how it’s going to go down.”
I sketched a map of Moira’s house and yard on a napkin, explaining what I believed was the best method of attack. “We split up. Two go in the front door with my key. And two head around the back. We extract Moira and get her to safety. If she’s being held at gunpoint, we take Susan Carmine out.” Simple. Easy. Something we’d done more times than I could count.
Roman said, “I’ve got gear behind the back seat. There should be enough for all four of us.”
“You planned for this?”
“When you called us in, I thought it’d be prudent to be prepared.”
“Good call. Park down the street past her house. We don’t want to tip off Susan that we’re coming,” I instructed him when I spied a car in her driveway I didn’t recognize. It had to be Susan’s car. Terror unlike any I’d ever known struck. I couldn’t lose her, not when I’d just found her.
Roman drove past her house and parked two houses down. The rain was coming down in torrents. The storm would provide extra cover on our approach.
“Roman, you’re with me. Liam and Owen, I need you two to take the route through the backyard. Remember, the objective is to rescue Moira and her dog and get them safely out. If you can, restrain Susan Carmine. If she’s attacking Moira, her dog, or us, you know what to do.”
They all nodded. Roman even had weapons, thank fuck. The earlier jovial mood vanished as we broke out the gear and suited up. In its place was a quiet determination to complete the mission. We were ready for war.
With guns drawn, Roman and I crept through the downpour toward her house. Owen and Liam broke away from our formation and headed toward the backyard. We reached the front door without any witnesses. Granted, in a storm like this, most people were ensconced safely inside their homes and didn’t pay attention to what was happening right outside their door.
I withdrew the key Moira gave me. I wasn’t a big believer in fate, but Moira forgetting to take her key back from me seemed like fate had a hand in it. Roman guarded my back as I quietly unlocked the front door. We made our way inside. Our footsteps were silent as we approached the sound of voices. But we couldn’t do anything about the water dripping off us.
Lighting flashed, and the house shook with thunder, hiding our approach.
“I don’t understand why you’re doing this.” Moira’s fear nearly brought me to my knees.
I signaled silently to Roman. They were in the kitchen. By now Liam and Owen should be in position in the back. I checked my phone.
Owen:We’ve got eyes on Moira. She’s tied to a chair but is awake. Her dog is sprawled out in the corner. No blood that we can see. Don’t know if the dog is alive.
Ben:Roman and I are in position. Be ready for us to make our move.
Owen:On it.
I checked around the corner, needing to get eyes on the situation before we proceeded. Moira was tied to a chair. Fear rippled off her in waves. Tears slipped silently down her cheeks as she glared at Susan. In the corner, Tater was sprawled unmoving on the floor. Fuck, that bitch better not have killed Tater. My hand flexed on the gun handle. I wanted to exact retribution. Descend on her like the stuff of nightmares and ensure she could never harm Moira ever again.
“Because, Moira, we belong together. But then you had to go be a little slut for soldier boy.”
Roman put a steadying hand on my shoulder. I hadn’t even realized I started to surge forward. I wanted to kill the bitch for calling Moira a slut. No one called her names like that.
I nodded my thanks. If Roman hadn’t been here, I likely would have raced into the kitchen and wound up getting Moira killed.
28
Holy crap!
