“And Tara will?”
Gunner shook his head. “Daddy will pick her over him.”
“And then what?”
“We get there first.”
26
Halo
“Well, looky there,” said Gunner through my earpiece. “One o’clock from the building’s entrance, boys. Head ’em off.”
Through my night-vision goggles, I got a clear read on the man I’d seen with Tara, being led from a vehicle toward the warehouse where she and her dad were being held.
“Stand down,” said Gunner when I took a step forward. “Follow my lead.”
I watched as the two men escorting Brando Ripa dropped to the ground after being taken out by a bullet, one each, in the head. Before their captive could flee, Doc, Striker, and two AISE agents grabbed him and pulled him into a waiting SUV.
“We’re up,” said Gunner, motioning for me to follow. “You know what to do?”
“Affirmative.”
The hand-held radar device AISE employed, indicated there were six people inside the building. Which meant with four of us along with six from AISE, the ’Ndrangheta who were guarding Tara and her father were greatly outnumbered.
I had one job. Get in. Get Tara. Get out. No matter what else was going down, I was not to engage. Tackle’s job was to get Tara’s father.
“Get your asset and get the fuck out,” Gunner repeatedly barked at us. “Nothing else. Do you understand me?”
“Copy that,” I
’d muttered.
“Let the big boys take care of the dirty work.” I swear I saw him rub his hands together.
Seconds before we entered the building, the power was cut. “There!” Gunner said through the earpiece, pointing toward a body prone on a mattress on the floor. I raced over and gathered Tara into my arms, shielding her with my body as shots rang out all around us. There were more in the building than AISE had originally counted, but it wasn’t up to me to cover the rest of the team. My job was to get Tara out. That was it.
I raced out the door into another waiting SUV. Lucia was behind the wheel. As soon as I had Tara inside with the door closed behind me, she sped from the building.
“She’s breathing. Doesn’t appear to have any visible injuries,” I said, untying the ropes binding her. Once I freed her arms and legs, I removed the piece of cloth they used as a gag and then the blindfold. I cradled her in my arms, stroking her hair.
“We need to take her to a hospital,” I said to Lucia, whose eyes met mine in the rear-view mirror.
“I don’t think that would be wise.”
“She was obviously drugged with something.”
Tara’s eyes opened suddenly, and she thrashed against me. While I’d removed my helmet and face shield, the tactical gear I still wore must’ve frightened her.
I held her arms when she tried to hit me. “Shh, I’ve got you. You’re safe now, Tara.”
While I’d thought she was awake, it appeared more now that she was caught somewhere between the states of sleep and consciousness. She continued to struggle, trying to hit me, and yelling to let her go.
“Tara, it’s Knox! Wake up!” I shouted. She stopped moving, and her eyes studied me.
“You kidnapped me!”
I kept my grip tight on her wrists as much to stop her from hurting herself as me. “I rescued you.”