Signaling to Eden to stay put, I moved up behind the guard with the determination of a lion stalking its prey. I briefly considered putting a bullet through the back of his head, but the sound of a gunshot would be like announcing our presence using a megaphone and a marching band. Even with a silencer, it would be a dead giveaway that they had company.
No, subtlety is better for now.
As I stepped up behind him, I spun the gun in my palm and slammed the butt into his skull. He dropped like a sack of rocks, but I caught him under the arms before his enormous body hit the floor.
Out cold, his tongue lolled to the side as I brought him down to the carpet. I stomped the cigarette out with the heel of my boot next, then dipped into a quick bow for Eden’s benefit before resuming my focus.
He rolled his eyes at me but also mimed clapping his hands. I knew people thought I didn’t always take the job seriously because of antics like this, but they helped me stay focused. No one took being a professional badass more seriously than I did. I just did it my way.
Motioning to the corridor that led to the room where the hostages were being kept, I turned and stayed close to the wall. Eden and I made steady progress to the door.
Finding it, too, unlocked, I frowned at my brother-in-arms. This was almost too easy, and it was making me suspicious. Even so, I pressed on. There was no time to fall back and reevaluate the plan.
As the door swung open, an armed gunman came racing from the direction of the stairs. Uh oh. He must have found his fallen comrade.
The man’s eyes were black as night, wide and wild as he let out a feral scream. And there goes the element of surprise.
In a matter of minutes, all the guards would be on us. Since it no longer mattered if they heard gunfire, I raised my arm and popped off a shot. It hit its mark, and the threat was eliminated. There was no time to waste, though. The others would be here any second.
“Let’s go,” I barked to Eden, gripping my gun as I ran into the room. Thick rope bound the hostages around their ankles and wrists. Their heads, however, snapped to face us as one when we barreled into the room. “My name is Lincoln Dobbs. Ensign Eden Phillips and I are with the SEALs. We’re here to bring you home. Anybody got any objections to that?”
Various emotions ranging from shock, to fear, to elation crossed their expressions as we jumped into action. I crouched beside the man farthest from the door and unsheathed the knife strapped to my calf.
“What’s your name?” I asked as I sliced through the bonds on his ankles. He looked to be around my age. If memory from our briefing served, he was called Dan or Dave or something like that. An engineer with the Defense Department, if I wasn’t mistaken.
“Dirk,” he said, his voice was rough from disuse.
I nodded, snapping the fingers of my hand not sawing through the ropes on his wrists. “Right. Dirk. You any good with a weapon?”
“I’ve done the training,” he rasped out, rolling his freed hands out for only a second before reaching out to me. “I can handle myself. What have you got? How can I help?”
I slapped a spare pistol into his waiting palm, smirking even though I knew I was digging my hole deeper and deeper. “Cover the door while we free the others. Stay on the side when we’re moving out. Phillips will bring up the rear.”
Dirk gave me a firm nod and stumbled to the door once I’d helped him to his feet. He moved like a geriatric alcoholic who’d been out on the town all night, but at least he made it to the door.
Lord only knew when last these people had moved around. It made sense that his limbs would be a little stiff.
Eden and I cut people free, working our way from the ends of the line to the middle. When my knife slid through the last thread of the last hostage’s ties, I jumped to my feet.
“Get ready to move, people,” I called as I heard footsteps thundering up the stairs. It had taken them longer than I’d thought to react, but we’d officially run out of time. “Is anyone too injured to walk by