Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

MEMPHIS

All the screens showed we were good to go. I tapped the button that connected everyone's mics together.

"All right, team," I said. "Is everyone in place?"

“Alpha team is good to go,” Ronan called through.

“Beta in place.” Frost’s echoed over the line.

“Delta in waiting.” That came from Anders, who was tucked away on the top of buildings across from our targets. We had called him in last minute to have some cover. While none of us wanted to put him back in the driver's seat of a sniper rifle, we knew he was our best chance.

Besides, the man only grinned whenever we asked him. There was no remorse there. Curiosity, sure, since he thought we handled only protection detail.

We would need to sit down and have a chat with him afterwards.

It wasn't that Tank didn't want anyone to know we crossed the line every now and then. It was more that the number of people who knew could make it dangerous. We still needed to take the Gilded Ones out. Once they were handled, we could let loose the reins a bit.

Hell, after them, we probably wouldn't need to do any more of these types of missions.

But I knew it would be foolish of me to speak too soon on the topic. I had a feeling our boss had caught a bug, one that screamed vigilante justice.

After I knew everyone was in place, I checked the cameras inside. They were under an encryption that had taken me nearly all day to break through. It was meant to be protected by whoever ran tech for the bad guys. They had the cameras to spy on the women and children they'd taken hostage to make sure none escaped.

I'm sure it was also to keep some of their degenerates in line. Everyone knew that trafficking victims would be hurt by not only to who they were sold to, but sometimes by the people meant to guard them. No one cared about their safety or innocence.

We did.

It's why we were about to go raid this place and take down every last fucker who had tried to hurt them. I bristled at the thought, my anger growing as I stared at the screen full of young boys and girls, women rounded with pregnancy, and teen girls huddled together crying.

This would forever taint them. It would traumatize them in ways no one could truly understand.

I couldn’t think of that now. It would send me spiraling.

I focused back on the task ahead. Watching the main area, I kept my eyes on who appeared to be the ringleader of this whole thing. He wasn’t a Gilded One, but he was high enough to be trusted with this tonight. I had no doubt where he got his ‘product’ from.

He wore a fancy suit and big ass watch. His hair was perfectly styled and everything about him screamed impotent. He strutted around the room, greeting people. Even from a distance, I knew his eyes had to be cold as death.

Once he was headed towards the stage, I gave the men the signal to move. We had to stop this before those people were sold. Money could not change hands or else we'd be dealing with a bigger cluster fuck.

On screen, I watched as the guys quietly opened the outer doors. They had already taken down the guards on the outside. They slipped through the halls quietly.

“Alpha Team turn right,” I said, then slipped my gaze to the other screen. “Beta, keep going straight. Two are coming up on your left.”

As I watched, the men moved with fluid grace, taking out the targets they needed to until they reached the back room. Inside, the women all perked up at the sight of our guys.

They might not have known what was going on before, but everyone knew what American soldiers looked like. Our guys weren’t in uniform, yet they still looked the part.

I could hear voices rising with panic, and I realized we had another issue at hand. None of them were speaking English. I heard various languages. Some I didn’t recognize at all.

Ronan cursed. “Fuck, not one of them speaks English. How are we going to handle this?”

At that exact moment, Sinclair perked up from beside me. His eyes were wide. “They don't speak English?” he asked, excitedly.

“Not the time to get excited, LB.”

Ronan coughed then said, “Yes, that's what I said.”

Sinclair squealed, then whipped out his phone. As he typed quickly, he said, “I know someone who's an interpreter. He can help with what we need. I spoke with him about it today. This is so perfect.”

I grinned at him, amused at his excitement. Whoever this person was, they were near and dear to my little barista.

“You hear that, Ronan? We've got someone to interpret things. We just need to get them all back here.”

I shifted my eyes from where he was to focus on the Beta and Delta teams. They had moved further into the building, working their way through the halls toward the main area. As they approached the backstage section, I saw them hesitate.

Tank leaned over my shoulder, appearing from fucking nowhere. “That's a whole lot of bad guys to be taking out at once,” he said. “We want to cause this much of a mess?”

I turned my head to look at him. “Since when have you ever cared about a mess? Or do you just think Stabler's going to be up your ass about this?”

He scoffed. "Stabler wishes he could be up my ass.” Under his breath, I heard him mumble, “again.”

I didn't need to know the details of those two. It was very obvious something had happened at some point. I just didn't want to know when or where or really any of it.

Quite frankly, Tank got around. For some reason, he had a fascination with people who were solidly on the right side of the law. Someone needed to make it make sense to the man.

“Instructions,” Frost requested.

Cohen added in, “Do we move?”

Tank tapped me on the back twice, his universal signal to mean yes. “Wipe them out,” he said, as calmly as if he were telling me to send an email.

I said into the comms, "System go. Clean house."

What happened next was a thing of beauty. The four guys pushed through the back and opened fire on the entire room. Some people might think it's horrible that we killed all these ‘innocent people’. But they would have to look deeper to find that not a single person in the room was innocent.

None of the men or women dressed in their finest clothes, drinking and eating lavishly, were worth saving. This wasn't a dinner party. It was an auction for other human beings. And they were there to purchase a child or a woman who was carrying a child.

They didn't deserve to continue breathing another day.

Part of me wished we could make it more painful for them before taking them out. Sadly, with that many and a need to get out of the building as quickly as possible before tipping off Stabler, who decided he could not show up after all, we didn't have many options.

So, kill them all it was.

As I watched them go through to make sure everyone on screen was taken care of, I focused back on the images at the back door. Ronan was ushering bodies through. The children ran together, climbing into the large moving truck we'd acquired. I saw Orion standing there with a smile on his face, his words encouraging as he nodded and pointed at each of them.

Whatever he was doing made them feel safe. He'd always been really good at that.

As he continued to move, I saw his face shift into something darker. His hand latched onto one of the smaller boys. He pulled the young man aside and held him still as the others continued to move on. He was saying something, but he had turned his mic off. I would have been furious had the mission not been so close to completion.

Tank watched as well, his eyes burning a hole in my computer screens. Sinclair’s squeal of delight stole our attention.

“Okay, this is perfect. Archie said he could come right now. He's more than willing to help, and I just need to let the guys in the front know who's coming. Are you okay with that, Tank?” He said after realizing he had not asked any kind of permission.

Tank grinned at him. “Absolutely, Sinclair. A friend of yours is someone we can trust. For now. We might have to make him sign some paperwork, so he doesn't spill the beans to anyone. If he's as kind as you are, he'll be more than happy to help these survivors.”

Sinclair bobbed his head quickly. “Oh yes, absolutely! He is a sweetheart, and I already talked to him about maybe helping Takeshi as well. And us, you know, with the sign language.”

Tank turned to look at me. His face told me everything I needed to know. He thought Sinclair was amazing and was so glad that my boyfriend was going to be a part of this newfound family we had.

“That's good, Sinclair. I'm happy to know this. I'm going to head to my office for a bit but let me know when everyone gets here. I'll let Jim and Tim know about this Archie fellow.” He left the room before I had a chance to say anything.

Sinclair pulled out his phone again and texted Archie the information.

“Why don't I know about this Archie person?” I asked him as my fingers flew across the keyboard to make sure everything was in place. I was looping the video to make sure our guys' identities were hidden and ensuring that they had the fastest route back to headquarters.

Sinclair ran his hands along the back of my neck until he reached the base of my hairline. His fingers slowly moved through the short hairs there. Heat licked down my spine. It was a very inappropriate response to the work I was doing.

“There's no need to worry, Memphis. Archie is a friend that's going through a tough time. He's a regular customer at the shop. Actually, we never hung out outside of it,” he admitted shyly. “I kind of wanted to, but he was always in and out, rushing to work or talking to his roommate. He comes in sometimes too. This was really the first time he ever shared anything. I didn't even know that he was an interpreter before now.”

I chuckled. “It's okay, little barista. I'm not mad at you. Just making sure you know you're the only one for me, and I'm the only one for you.”

He pressed the quick kiss on my lips. “Of course! Always.”

We went back to watching the feed on the screens. The guys left the warehouse as is, leaving the bodies for Stabler and his team to find. They loaded up in the vehicles, then started moving our way.

The hard part was done. All I had to do was make sure they got enough green lights to get to HQ as quickly as they could.

When I saw the truck turning into the underground parking area, I motioned to Sinclair, "Go get Tank and let him know they're here. And where is this Archie friend of yours?”

“Who's talking about me?” A soft voice said as he rounded the corner.

The guy was young, much like my little barista. He had a cautious smile on his face, and his hair definitely looked as if he was tugging it the entire way here. His clothes were a bit ruffled too, which told me he didn't hesitate to throw something on instead of trying to impress us.

I liked him all the more for it.

I motioned to a chair at the table. "Have a seat. I'll get you all caught up while Sinclair goes to grab my boss."

I printed out an NDA packet and walked over to him. I eased it over, dropping a pen beside them.

“Sign these first, and then I'll talk.”

He nodded, signing blindly without looking at them. When I gave him a questioning look, he shrugged. “I’ve had to interpret for quite a few people in various jobs over the years. A lot of government work. I know far too much is all I'll say, but an NDA is not a new thing to me. Sinclair called me, and I'm here. Just tell me what you need.”

Oh yeah, I thought to myself. This guy was definitely a team player. We were going to bring him into the fold one way or another.