39. Odie

The lead we had was small, but we had gone through every other option available to us. We heard a rumor about a dinner party being held at a mansion six hours from our location. The dinner party wasn't what tipped us off though. Many known buyers in the sex trafficking world were all flying in for it. That's what tipped us off, so we dug a little and found out about the party.

I didn't think Lucinda was dumb enough to host such an event so close to us and a short time after taking Ellie, but after busting a handful of auctions and holding houses in the last three days, this was all we had left. It was all repulsive, and I despised Lucinda even more, despite not knowing how much of what we had handled the last few days actually connected to her. It didn't matter. She was a part of the world, and it all needed to rot away.

Lucinda was also the one who placed all of those men on the list we had on file. We didn't know how many were coming in, but our current total that we knew of was seven. No one was ever able to pin enough on them for an arrest, but we all knew they were scum.

This was why my aunt had gone under the radar for so long. She gave enough information that she seemed to be the best at her job, but really, she was hiding the biggest busts of them all on purpose. I wouldn't be surprised if she was more involved than we knew.

The one piece I truly didn't understand was why Ellie? She was a high-level target and knew what the plan was. After finding out Ellie knew and had told all of us including our father, why didn't Lucinda back off? What was in it for her?

Was she planning on framing someone else? That might work for the council, but she would never be able to pull it off on us. The world would know what a horrible person she was.

That was probably part of it. Taking Ellie would throw us off her trail, especially if she wasn't home when the initial abduction occurred, then she could find her or pretend to search for her at the very least. Whoever was caught with Ellie would be sentenced almost instantly. The council was many things, but they never allowed Primarchs to besmirch their name. That was why hiding Mine for the time being was so important.

They knew everyone's identity, so slipping her into society wouldn't work. We would have to fake like we were mated to a Human for the rest of our lives and hope we found a Witch that wouldn't share our secrets. Trusting one would not come easily after Vaila, if I ever did trust another enough.

Mine couldn't go through that again, so I would do whatever I needed to make that happen.

"Thinking hard or hardly thinking, Cap?" Sloane asked from next to me, falling back into his old habit of referring to me as his captain.

Iker was driving with Leona in the passenger seat. Cy was behind us in the third row with tech all around her. Sloane had a laptop on his lap and was feeding her information as we went along.

Usually, I would drive, but given the situation, Iker pulled the Omega card and demanded I get in the back. If I pushed, he would have given in and let me drive but only because he respected me and my position. Because I respected him as well, I let it go. Besides, I'd be speeding, and this wasn't exactly an on the books sort of mission, so I couldn't pull out my identification and get out of it.

"You don't have to call me that, Sloane." I stared out the window, watching the trees fly by. We had two hours left, and I was antsy to get there, but we didn't have much to go on. My leg bounced, and I bit at my nail, an awful habit I had kicked years ago.

"You might not be one of us anymore, but you'll always be my captain. Should we go over everything since we are almost there? Maybe we missed something that could be useful."

I nodded absentmindedly. The trunk was filled to the brim with all the weapons and surveillance gear we would need. I wasn't worried that we wouldn't have the supplies needed to complete the mission, but I was worried this was all fake news and we would once again be at square one. Or we were too late or there were simply too many people there.

We had Leona and Iker on the stealth team for a reason. I was less susceptible to the Omega pheromones, except for Mine's who would control me until the day I died, and Iker was able to block them for me as long as I was close by. Sloane and Cy were on the back end as Alphas to make sure everything went smoothly.

"All right, where to begin?" Sloane started. "The seven men we know that will be in attendance are Sylvester Carlo, Michael Pimenta, Claud Ganon, Merrel Furgis, Jason Klun, Harold Hammon, and Palmer Sweitz. Lucinda may or may not be there. We have the blueprints of the mansion and the layout of the grounds. We will stop thirty minutes before the mark and make sure everyone has memorized it." What he meant was he would take over driving and the rest of us would stare at it for those thirty minutes until it was seared into our brains. Thankfully, once you've infiltrated one mansion, the rest feels familiar. "We were also given some information from an inside source that we aren't sure we can trust. That information states that multiple other men and women will be in attendance as well but unwillingly." I closed my eyes. Hope warred within me. I hoped Ellie was there, but I also hoped she wasn't and this was all some ruse set up by Lucinda and my sister was safe and untouched somewhere.

"Is that all we have?"

"We've worked with less, Cap." He was right, but that didn't make me feel better.

"Cy, how are we coming on routes?" I asked, not looking back.

"There are three options I think would work for this, depending on how we want to play it. Every entrance will be manned. These players don't mess around with their safety. It will be on lockdown while also allowing them to move around freely. Although they all want to ensure they aren't attacked, they also hate being told what to do and pinned down. We can use that to our advantage." The one thing that remained the same with each raid was that fact. They required security but refused to give up their freedom, so there were always holes to exploit. "Option one is going in through the front door and blasting anyone who gets in our way until we get to the only room in the mansion that's big enough to host the event. It's a shorter path than option two. However, it might tip them off faster." If we killed them fast enough, that wouldn't be a problem. "Option two is going in through the servant entrance. This leads through the kitchen where they will no doubt be preparing for the dinner. If they hate these people even an ounce of much as we do, they will let us through. If they don't, that's many more people we would be guaranteed to fight through." Neither plan sounded great. Either way, this was a tear down everyone in our path mission.

Cy continued with her intel. "I pulled up past purchases for the mansion. They had a security team come in and secure every window and door. We could try to hack it and disarm one of them. I could start now, but as always, this could tip them off if they have someone good on the inside."

"We could send out an alert through the company stating there may be some glitches with the cameras and storage due to an update that is currently rolling through, then mess with random ones to throw them off. We could even rotate starting immediately if we can get into it." Sloane and Cy always worked well off of each other, and I truly couldn't ask for a better team.

"Start there. Worst case, that does nothing for us, but it shouldn't hurt any of the other plans if we need to change course," Cy said as she continued typing on her laptop. "Anything else? We have an hour and a half until we get to our drop zone."

"No," I said, knowing we never followed the script anyway. We all knew each other well enough to change plans at a moment's notice. That's how we worked, and this wouldn't be any different. "Once we get there, we will find a place for you and Sloane, then scout around the area. It will be dark then, so we can stay out of sight long enough to get an idea of what course is best."

It was five p.m. now, and I knew we were pushing it on getting there in time. Hopefully, the meal went long. It was already starting to get dark, and my nerves grew even more. I stopped my shaking, forcing my body to relax even though every muscle was tense and wanted to rip into the assholes who stole my sister.

Finally, we pulled up to where we would leave the SUV. We all put on our uniforms and gear, ready to start our hike in. The mansion was set back in a forest with plenty of land around it to keep snoops out, but that wouldn't stop us. Nothing would.

We ventured in, traversing the area easily thanks to GPS and the maps Sloane and Cy got us. There didn't seem to be a great spot for them to camp and keep an eye on things, but the trees were large, so at the very least, they could snipe a bit and warn us of anything big coming our way.

They dropped their gear, and we were on our way, circling the property. Nothing seemed out of place. There were over twenty cars here, and my stomach dropped. There were far more than seven men here tonight to sample whatever the host was handing out.

Near seven-thirty, it was time to engage.

"What option are we going with?" I asked over the coms.

"Three and two. I have the static on a loop. In about a minute, we can take out the guards at the front door, and you can get in without being noticed. It doesn't seem like they have anyone immediately inside the doors. Get ready." Sloane counted down. "Aimed and ready."

I held my breath from where we stood beside the house. The driveway was long and wide, circling a well groomed garden, leaving some of the cars within maybe twenty feet of us.

"Leona, set off a car alarm. When they go to turn it off with the keys, we will fire."

Leona picked up one of the decorative rocks and palmed it.

"And go," Sloane commanded.

Leona threw the rock, set off the alarm, and just like we planned, one of them pulled out the keys. Before they could click the button, Cy said, "Fire."

Shots rang out, but thankfully, they were well masked.

All three of us took off. Iker grabbed the keys and turned off the alarm as Leona shoved the bodies off the porch and into the large bushes. I opened the door and peered in, checking all sides.

"Clear."

Leona and Iker lined up behind me as we entered the house and closed the door behind us. The room where the event would be held was straight ahead. We started that way, then veered off when we heard voices coming down the hall.

The party goers were exiting and going off to who knew where to do who knew what.

My stomach flopped again. I peeked around the corner, not recognizing either person. They weren't on our list. If we had time and the ability, we would save every single person in this shitty place. So I wasn't going to leave them behind if I had anything to say about it.

We stayed hidden as more of them rounded the corner.

"You need to move. The cameras there are about to switch to a live stream. Move ten feet to your left. You'll be hidden until they rotate again," Sloane instructed.

We moved and laid low, waiting for further instruction.

"Where do you think you're going?" a familiar voice said, and I saw red. "I told Lucinda she couldn't trust you, but she didn't believe me. I was honestly surprised you helped me kidnap Ellie. I figured you'd betray us right then, but you surprised me. This, however, is not so much of a surprise, Alastor."

"Happy to disappoint. We will be going unless you have some master plan to keep us here," a masculine voice said.

"It's Ellie. She's right there, Odie. You're in the clear in twenty seconds. Hold tight."

Those twenty seconds felt like an eternity, but when they ended, revenge would be ours.