Boomer

I knew I needed to have my head in the game as we went to take down Tuffin and his men so we could rescue Sadie and the others they were holding, but it was hard. I kept thinking of Bella, especially her last remark. No, it's not, but then again, it wouldn't be my first time. It kept swimming around in my head.

Who the hell had she shot, and why? I was equal parts curious and enraged. Why the fuck would she have ever needed to shoot someone? And if she did, which I didn't doubt based on her face when she said it, I wanted to know if they were dead, and if not, I wanted to make sure they were.

Fortunately, when we made it to the house where Sadie and the women were being held, I was able to push those thoughts down so I could do my job. Honestly, it was a letdown, I think, for most, if not all of us when we went in. They were goddamn amateurs. No guards, alarms, or anything to tell them if someone was coming. It was good for us, but shit, couldn't they at least make us break a sweat? I got dressed up for nothing and didn't even get to make anything go boom.

Seeing the basement and those women and girls in cages made me sick and so damn angry I could barely stand it. What made it worse was watching that fucking lowlife Tuffin use Sadie as a shield. She was crying her eyes out and giving us such pleading looks. His screaming threat, saying he'd kill her with the gun he held to her head if we didn't stay back, made me want to shoot him in the face. I wasn't surprised a piece of shit like him would do that.

Torpedo was the one in front, in a standoff with him. Since this mainly involved his woman and it was her problem, he had taken the lead. No one had objected. It was kinda our MO. He told Tuffin if he hurt her, he'd never get out of there. All of us knew the bastard wasn't walking out of here no matter what. He was a dead man for what he tried to do to Londyn. Taking Sadie and these women only guaranteed it.

He lied to our faces as if he thought we were stupid. "Let me go, and I swear she'll be released. You and your men back up and let us pass. Once I'm safely away, I'll let her go."

As Torpedo kept stringing him along until our next move could be made, the rest of us opened the cages. There had been a set of keys hanging on a hook at the bottom of the stairs. We worked fast and got the women and girls to trust us enough to leave their prisons and come with us upstairs. They were terrified and huddling together. They were dressed in dirty, ragged clothes. Their hair was a mess, and it was apparent some had been there for days, probably longer. They'd need all the help they could get.

It wasn't long before I heard Torpedo yell up the stairs. There were a few of us still inside. The others had already taken a couple of the women outside. Sin was one of the ones still inside with me.

"Sin, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I can hear you?" Sin answered as he glanced at me.

"Tuffin says for you and everyone else to leave. You have ten minutes. If you don't, Sadie and I are dead. He's taking us with him for collateral. If he sees anyone, he'll shoot us. I'm unarmed."

Sin gave me a chin lift. "Tuffin, we're leaving. We'll do as you said, just don't hurt them. We'll be gone in ten."

"You'd better," Tuffin shouted back. We could hear the panic in his voice. He was about to give us our opening. What I wouldn't give to be the one to take it, but I wasn't this time. We herded the remaining others out the door as fast as we could. They were stumbling and weak. The fuckers had probably been starving them, along with God knows what else.

We all had comms active, so even though we were outside, we could still hear everything being said in the basement. When Tuffin popped off to Torpedo, and our brother replied, we knew the time was here. Torpedo used the signal phrase, "You lose." We'd decided on it in our planning meeting. A heartbeat or two later, we heard the sharp sound of a rifle being fired. Sadie's crying got louder after she screamed.

"Target neutralized. I've got her. We're coming out," Torpedo announced over the comms.

It was only a couple of minutes at the most before he came out the front door with her in his arms. She had her face buried in his chest and an arm wrapped around his neck. Our brothers, who'd been on watch, came out of the bushes around the house. All our eyes landed on one of our guys in particular. It was Trident. He was carrying a rifle with a scope on it. I saw him salute Torpedo.

Most of us were more-than-decent shots, but some were marksmen, such as Trident. What else would you expect from someone who'd been a Navy SEAL and commanded a SEAL team as long as he had? He might be in his fifties and retired, but the man still had skills and was lethal. He'd been set up with his gun on the off chance a shot could be made, and it was through a mighty small window in the basement. The only thing stopping him from doing it sooner was the need to get Tuffin's gun away from Sadie's head.

Sin took command now that the enemy had been taken out. Tuffin and his men were lying around dead. As for the men Tuffin had stated were coming, we'd deal with them if they even existed, which was doubtful. Sin told Torpedo to take Sadie to the compound to her mom. The women and girls we'd rescued had been loaded up and already left to head there. We didn't waste time just in case reinforcements were coming. They'd seen enough. Malik pulled up in one of our trucks to pick them up.

As soon as they took off, Sin got back to issuing orders. "Okay, men, we might be having company, so I want a couple of you out at the end of this drive. If you see anyone, let us know. It's the same as with these. We shoot to kill. The rest of us are gonna make sure nothing places us in this house or on the property. I doubt the cops will dig too deeply. Will they?" He directed his question to our very own cops. They both shook their heads. Their grim faces told the story. They'd make sure it was an open-and-shut case.

We'd talked about what to do with the bodies while planning the rescue. We'd known we'd have several. We could leave them to be found. Some would assume it was a gang or other criminal enterprise that their enemies had taken out. Or we could try and make it seem like a fire had killed them. But with so many bullet holes in them, it wasn't likely to stick. The other option was to find a place to bury the bodies where they would never be found. The problem with this was transporting them without getting accidentally caught. We wouldn't do it on this property.

Sin grunted as he scanned the yard. "I think we'll go with the let-them-be-found and it-was-an-enemy or deal-gone-bad option. Phantom said he had the dirt on Tuffin. We'll make sure it's leaked to the police so they'll buy it. Let's sweep everything and make sure we're clear."

Nodding, we got to work and split up. As a precaution, we'd all worn gloves, and our boot soles were covered so they wouldn't leave any discernible footprints behind. This wasn't our first rodeo. As we worked to get out of here, I kept wondering what Bella was doing. I couldn't stop thinking about her or how damn sexy I found the fact she was willing to stand guard. She'd only made it twice as hard for me to forget her and ignore the feelings she generated, feelings I refused to label.