85. Cin

85

Cin

A momentary lapse in concentration is all it takes for men to die in combat. I've seen it happen. Take your eye off the ball and the enemy soon has you by the balls. Like the day Levski was too busy joking around with Bonnet to spot the bump in the road that hadn't been there the day before.

It detonated as the Humvee rolled over it.

Madden, Hunter, and I survived the blast, but Hunter lost a leg and bled out within minutes. By the time they medevaced us out of there, Madden was delirious with the heat and pain.

I wasn't much better, but I had enough life left in me to drag him away from the scene. We were lucky the enemy wasn't nearby, waiting to pick us off one by one.

We survived to fight another day.

Well, I did.

Madden blamed himself for not watching the road. For not ensuring Levski remained focused instead of winding Bonnet up about a girl they both liked, a stupid girl who worked in the coffee shop on base.

He was never the same after that. Losing half his platoon ripped his heart out. His anxiety levels went through the roof and even after the docs cleared him to return to active combat, he suffered from debilitating flashbacks, nightmares, and all the other classic symptoms of PTSD most of us are aware of but choose to ignore.

I was almost relieved when psych had him benched and then medically discharged. Only it wasn't the same without him. I soon realized that my place was with him, not taking part in a pointless, unwinnable war, tens of thousands of miles from home.

So once my contract ended, I left and never looked back.

I need to focus on the task ahead right now. My safety and that of the guys with me depends on it. I'm the only one of us here with active combat experience. These guys are no strangers to violence, but we can't afford to make a mistake.

Not with Tessa's life on the line.

"The security system is down," Quinn chirps in my ear. "Madden and Kade are inside."

"It's go time," I tell the guys waiting behind me. We have a team in place to handle any trafficked women we find. Two of the female staff that work for the charity are on standby to help us move the victims.

These women are already traumatized. Seeing a bunch of heavily armed dudes will probably freak them out even more, so I figured it was best if at least one female came in once we had the place locked down.

We could have got the cops involved, but from what Quinn's discovered, quite a few of them are in on this trafficking ring, either by way of accepting bribes to turn a blind eye or because they are members of the club.

All the people involved in this will go down, one way or another. But that's Quinn's problem. Once we have Tessa home safe, he'll dismantle the entire operation. No doubt it will be a huge coup for him.

Not that I care about that. I've not even met the guy, although he seems like someone I'd get along with from the conversations we've had.

The door from the warehouse is unmanned. There would normally be a guard on duty but he's checking a faulty fire alarm Quinn triggered. We move in, heading down to the lower level where the people destined for the auction are being kept.

I examined the blueprints for this place earlier. It's massive. Far larger than we realized. The club takes up half a block but the underground area extends to a full block. All of it has been developed without any official oversight.

The only reason Quinn found the blueprints was because he hacked into Mashkov's private server. While he was there, he found a lot of interesting information, including extensive records linking Alberto's brother, Dante, with Mashkov's operations.

It will take time to figure out how deep the entanglement goes, but for now, Alberto is unaware.

He's on board with this operation, but we've kept him in the dark about Dante. Kade suspects Dante would have told Mashkov we were coming if he knew. He thinks that's the reason Tessa was moved at such short notice.

It was too much of a coincidence that Mashkov removed both Tessa and Chloe less than an hour before we arrived at the mansion. He had to have had a tip-off.

The guards we encounter are easily dealt with. They clearly weren't expecting trouble. When we finally enter the holding area for the women destined for the auction, it's worse than any of us expected.

There are at least 20 women, all locked in cages. I scan each one, frantically searching for my girl, but she's not there.

"I'm looking for a woman with red hair," I ask a skinny blond woman as she's helped out of her cage.

"There was a redhead," she says in a low voice. "They took her a while back."

Fuck, are we too late? My focus slips as my mind runs through the scenarios. If she's been moved out of this place, it could take weeks - months, even - before we find her.

I can't let that happen. This ends tonight.