Chapter 32

Peach didn’t move, almost didn’t breathe as they waited for the patrol to pass. They needed to sneak into the compound and take out the one guy. Bombing the place would be easier, but it was too risky. Civilians would be killed if they dropped anything on this place.

“Ready?” Wild asked over coms.

“Ready,” Peach said before moving out of the shadows. They raced across the expanse and into the door that would lead them into the rooms where the man spent his time.

He moved through the second door and went down a flight of stairs. They’d received intelligence that had given them the path to take, which would wind them around the compound.

It was just him and Harry doing this part of the mission. Andy was in the safest place. They all insisted Andy not go in, even though he wanted to. The risk of death was too huge, and though he didn't want to die, he couldn't allow Andy to take the risk.

They’d made it to the second set of stairs when Wild’s words made him freeze. Maybe he shouldn’t have stopped, but they had people approaching Jax and Andy’s positions.

“Keep moving,” Harry said.

“Fuck,” Peach whispered.

Harry was right. There wasn’t anything he could do from in here. Jax would have to keep Andy safe. He listened intently while making his way through the next passageway.

He heard Jax struggling with someone, then something that sounded like a person calling out for help. But it wasn’t Jax. Jax said he was fine. Peach breathed easier as he went up the next flight of stairs.

“We’re almost there,” Harry said.

"Fuck, this is long. We need to get in there fast, deliver the poison, and get out."

They came to the final door, and Peach paused long enough for Harry to come up beside him. Peach could have come in alone, but they needed this man dead. If something went wrong, they still had to take him out.

He met Andy's gaze before he pushed open the door and stepped in. Darkness cloaked the room. The man could be in the shadows, and for a moment, Peach worried that he was. But then he spied the guy in his bed.

The sound of snoring reached his ears, and he guessed this was going to be much easier than he’d first thought.

Peach moved silently across the room to the bed, accessing the auto-injector device containing the solution that would kill the man but leave little trace. It was an ingenious way to off the guy, making it look like he’d died in his sleep, but it meant they had to be up close and personal with their kill.

He was positioned about six inches, right at striking range, when the man woke up. The whites of the guy's eyes were huge, and he reached for something. But Peach couldn't allow the man to call for or alert his guards that someone was in his room.

Peach moved quickly, shoving the flat end against the guy's shoulder and pressing the button. The auto-injector delivered the medicine, and Peach extracted the needle while holding the man down. It would take at least forty-five seconds for the medicine to hit the guy’s heart. He would be gone shortly after that.

Peach counted the seconds and was almost at thirty-five when a door flew open. Harry moved into action, kicking the intruder and knocking him sideways.

Forty-five seconds had to have passed. Peach moved to Harry’s side, assessing the situation. “He’s down. We should go.”

“Check the target’s pulse.”

Peach moved to their target and made sure he was gone. After a quick thumbs up, Harry motioned for him to follow.

Getting in had been challenging, but now the inhabitants of this compound might know they were under attack if the guy Harry had just killed sounded an alarm. They had to exit quickly but just as silently as they had been entering the building. They raced down the stairs, retracing their path. When they got to the set of stairs that they had to go up, two guys stepped into the hall.

Harry attacked first, punching the closest man. That left the other guy open to pull his weapon. No way would Peach allow Harry to get stabbed with the wicked knife the dude pulled.

Seconds counted for everything, and Peach jumped into action. They were too close for him to raise his rifle, so he kicked the hand of the knife wielder, knocking the knife to the ground.

Peach didn’t hesitate and kicked again, sending the man stumbling against the wall. If he stopped for one second, he would be dead, so he moved close and did what he had to do.

Harry finished with the guy who’d attacked him. Peach moved up the stairs, knowing Harry would follow. They were almost out. A few meters separated them from the outside. He thought they had it when an explosion rocked the path in front of them. If they’d not stopped to fight those guys, they would have been in the blast radius.

“Fuck!” Harry gasped as he stumbled back.

“Another path out,” Peach said over coms.

They would have to fight their way out. The man they'd come here to take out didn't care about the civilians living in this compound or anyone else. The warlord would take every woman and child out if it meant he would survive. But he hadn't survived, so now someone else was calling the shots, and he, too, would kill every one of the people they'd forced to move in with them.

The women and children were shields to these people. They didn't care who got hurt in the crossfire. He had no doubt that people died in that blast, and he was one hundred percent positive that the explosion had been set by the terrorists and not the US military.

“You guys okay?” Wild asked over coms.

“We’re fine. A little rattled. We need to find another path.”

“We’re working on it,” Wild said.

They weren’t sitting ducks, but they had to take into account that the enemy knew they were there and would destroy themselves in an attempt to kill them. They needed to get free of this place fast.

“The door to the right,” Harry said.

Peach followed, keeping tabs on their six as they twisted through the room and down halls. Harry found a set of stairs and they took it up, finding a window they could look out and determine their location.

After orienting themselves, Harry bounded up the last three steps into a large room. Peach thought they were about to escape, but two men stepped out, blocking their path, guns at the ready. They'd fallen into the trap, and there was no escape.