Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 82187 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82187 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Smoke curled lazily in the space between them.
Wes stood motionless, shoulders squared, eyes locked on the fallen guard.
A jolt of pure relief and disbelief rocketed through Law’s mind.
He stared at Wes for the briefest heartbeat, adrenaline roaring in his ears.
He inhaled, trying to steady his breathing. The look in Wes’s eyes said everything Law needed to hear…
I love you, and by your side is where I belong.
“Jesus, Wes…” he whispered, the words ripped from his throat.
“Nice work, Wes. Now move!” Free barked. “Celebrate later.”
Backup officers began handcuffing the ones with their faces pressed to the dirty floor, barking orders not to resist.
The Alpha team had already filed out of the room and was moving up the stairwell.
“I fuckin’ hate stairwells,” Ruxs muttered as they stacked at the next landing.
Green scoffed. “Then take your lazy ass to the elevator.”
The fourth floor was clear, no materials, workers, or guards. Law thought they were almost home free until Free’s voice cut in sharp over the comms.
“The fifth floor is hot. There’s a reinforced metal door on apartment 506. End of the hall.”
“Means Mercer is in there,” God informed. “Prepare to breach.”
Law’s helmet glowed with crimson overlays across his visor, mapping out Free’s data thermal shapes moving behind the door.
It was a lot…too many.
By now, the men behind that door were ready and waiting for them with all the fight they had.
It was either kill their way out or go to jail for the next twenty years.
A trembling heat prickled under Law’s skin before crawling up his spine.
“Okay, this is it, fellas,” Free told them. “Remember the breach formation…do it just as you rehearsed.”
God raised his fist, then made a series of crisp hand signals, as Day pressed tight against his back.
Hart moved forward. “Shields up.”
Five SWAT operators rushed forward, positioning ballistic shields as tall as doors in front of them.
They planted their boots wide, shields locked edge-to-edge, forming a wall of steel.
Syn slapped an adhesive charge to the doorframe and eased back behind the line. The metal blew inward with a violent concussive thud.
In front of them, God, Day, Hart, Syn, Ruxs, and Green formed a tight wedge, weapons raised and ready.
Tech and Steele were in front of him and Wes, but their presence did little to ease his fear.
A deep boom shook the hallway as the charges blew, shredding locks and hinges in a burst of smoke and shrapnel.
Instantly, muzzle flashes illuminated the darkness as automatic fire hammered into the shields, sparking off the hardened plates in vicious bursts.
Law flinched hard, feeling the vibrations of each shot in his teeth.
“Go! Go!” Hart roared.
The SWAT team surged ahead, shields absorbing the hail of bullets, as they pushed the barricade into the room like a battering ram.
Wes fell in step beside him and, without a word, they dropped low on either side of the shield wall.
Steele’s hand was still on his shoulder, ready to pull him back if something went wrong.
Wes opened a compact igniter from his rig and fired a burst of controlled flame that shot across the ceiling, creating a brilliant sheet of blue-white light blinding the shooters on the left side of the room.
At the same instant, Law cracked two silver capsules and hurled them high over the top of the shields.
They burst in midair, pouring a dense white smoke that rolled across the gutted apartment, veiling the team’s movements and choking the men firing as they clutched at their throats for air.
Behind the wall of smoke, his helmet lit up with Free’s silhouettes, showing exactly where the shooters crouched.
But that wasn’t for him to worry about as he and Wes were pushed back out of the door.
God and Day went in low and fast, moving like twin predators through the swirling debris. Hart and his men surging in behind them, tasers crackling, shields raised.
“Atlanta police! Get down!” God barked, his voice a weapon in itself. “On the ground! Face down! Hands behind your back!”
“Drop your fuckin’ weapons!” Hart thundered while driving the wedge forward.
Smoke billowed throughout the apartment in rolling waves of white and gray, pulsing under the strobing flashes of his own pods.
Law peeked around the corner, watching the melee in awe.
“Do you wanna catch a bullet in the eye?” Wes snapped, “Get your ass back.”
“They got him,” Law whispered. “That’s him back there.”
Mercer stood near the back of the room, face twisted in rage, arm raised with a pistol.
The team surged through the smoke like phantoms.
Hart’s men fired an endless barrage of rubber bullets at the guards protecting Mercer.
Syn grabbed a gunman by the wrist and twisted it until he dropped to the floor. Ruxs threw a man into a wall, headfirst, hard enough to knock a hole in the drywall. Green tackled two more guards before wrestling them into zip ties.
God grabbed one by his collar and threw him to the ground so violently that Law heard the crack of bone.