Code Name: Aries by Janie Crouch

23

Ian

A two-man team for a full offensive wasn’t a great plan, but I didn’t have a choice.

The rest of my team was on their way with an ETA of one hour, but I wasn’t waiting. Sarge and I had fled the scene of the crime. I’d put a call in to Callum to get his people out there.

Yet another thing I was going to get a lecture about.

Mosaic had killed Tippens rather than let me take him. That meant he had information that they didn’t want us to have. And if that information was about Wavy, then I wasn’t going to wait, no matter what it might cost me. If I got arrested for anything I did today, I would take it.

As long as it was later.

If they moved her again, I might never find her.

Tippens had said it was too late, but I didn’t care. I refused to accept that as a possibility until I saw it with my own eyes.

The location Tippens had provided was in the warehouse district down by the docks. Sarge shook his head as we drove around. “There’s no way this can be a lab like the nursing home. Too many people coming in and out.”

He was right. This was the kind of place to keep dead bodies.

Too late.

I parked way too close to the warehouse for any true stealth, but I didn’t care.

Sarge muttered a curse as I opened the car door and started running toward the corner warehouse, but I didn’t care about that either. I was going in. I wasn’t going to wait. I’d wasted thirteen fucking days. I wasn’t going to waste one minute more.

If there was so much as a chance that Wavy might still be alive, I would get her.

A flying tackle caught me about twenty yards from the door. Sarge and I went sprawling into an alley, hitting the ground hard.

“I don’t know what the fuck you think you’re doing, but you need to use your brain,” he said.

We both jumped back up to our feet, and he grabbed me by my shirt and slammed me into the wall.

“What you’re about to do is not only going to get you killed, but possibly her too.”

I swung at him, my fist connecting with his jaw. He took it without flinching, didn’t let go of my shirt. Sarge was older, but he could still take a punch. I swung at him again. This time, he blocked it. “I’m going in. You heard what Tippens said.”

“I heard Tippens say it was too late, and if Wavy’s dead, then that sucks, and we’re going to have to deal with it. Damn it, Ian, I was willing to let you torture that man to find out where she was. If she’s in there and she’s alive, the guards will have orders to kill if the building is breached. You going in there half-cocked is going to get her killed as well as you. Now use your fucking brain, and let’s see if we can get her out alive.”

He was right. I lowered my fists. It was hard to see through my own cloud of fury. “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “Don’t be sorry. Be smart. We do recon until backup arrives, and then we go in fast and hard. We get her out if there’s any possibility to do so.”

I nodded. He let go of my shirt, and we headed back toward the warehouse.

“Let’s see if we can find some windows or doors and get eyes inside,” I said. “We won’t engage until help, back-up arrives.”

He nodded. “I’ll take the south side of the building.”

“I’m going up the fire escape. There are some windows up there. We’ll communicate via phone.”

Sarge was right. Now that I could think through the terror and fury that had consumed me, I knew that rushing in was the wrong plan.

If there was any chance Wavy was alive, I had to come at this strategically.

I jumped up, pulled down the ladder for the fire escape, and ascended silently. I didn’t touch the door that led out to the fire escape. That would be the most likely place for a booby trap or alarm. Instead, I jimmied open the nearest window and fit myself inside.

Sarge had been right. There were at least eight armed guards. If I had gone rushing through the door, I would have done nothing but gotten myself killed.

He was also right that this was not a lab like the previous building we’d infiltrated. No medical procedures could be performed here. There were only guards. But if there were guards, there had to be something worth guarding, especially eight guards.

They were standing and sitting around, chatting with each other, obviously not expecting any trouble.

I reported my findings to Sarge via text. He shot back that there were two guards in a roving patrol around the perimeter of the building.

Ten armed guards mean something important.

His response was immediate. I concur.

We both continued to observe. No one seemed to be making radio contact with the patrol guards. That was a good sign.

Landon texted that the rest of the team, including Finn Bollinger, was ten minutes out. I let him know that I was inside the building, getting myself into a more strategic position.

Why were the eight of them huddled around that corner of the building? They were young, not necessarily the best guards, and if there’d been a TV or, hell, even a dirty magazine, I would have understood more.

But they were sitting around the large crate in the corner of the room.

I watched them, forcing myself to keep an icy calm. They weren’t chatting with each other; they were tossing remarks at the crate. Every once in a while, one of them kicked at the wood or hit it with their fists.

Taunting.

For the first time, hope grew inside me. Someone was inside that crate. I shot a text off to both Sarge and Landon.

Guards interested in large crate in the northwest corner. Taunting. Someone’s in there.

One of the guards took a stick and poked between the slats, and it was all I could do not to pull out my gun right there and kill him.

Stay frosty, boss, Sarge shot back.

Fear does not exist in this dojo.Landon with another line, this time from Karate Kid. I almost smiled.

And then all hell broke loose.

The guards got a call and went on high alert, guns out. They left their taunting to focus on the incoming threat: us.

Five of them turned and headed to whatever posts they were supposed to have been at, but two of them turned their guns inward, toward the crate. Fuck.

I typed as rapidly as I could. Guards on the move. I’m heading toward that crate.

I shoved my phone into my pocket. I wouldn’t have time for any more messages. I pulled out my weapon and bolted for the stairs. I wasn’t using tranqs this time, which meant firing would let everyone in the entire building know exactly where I was, but I would rather be the target than Wavy inside that wooden cell.

I stayed in the shadows as much as possible but didn’t sacrifice speed for stealth. My eyes were pinned on those two guards, who were unlocking the door.

I pushed faster, hitting the metal stairs with enough noise to wake the dead. I sighted my weapon and shot, hitting the first guard just as he opened the lock. He fell. Was he dead or merely wounded?

As expected, that drew the attention of everybody in the whole fucking building to me. I still ran toward the crate, grunting as I took a bullet in the fleshy part of my side. It didn’t affect my ability to run. At this point, nothing short of a bullet through the head was going to affect my ability to run. As bullets flew at my head from the other direction, I fired at the second guard but missed.

And then I heard firing from the other side of the building. Sarge. He was drawing their attention.

Some of the guards turned to go after him, but I kept running. I shot the second guard as he opened the door of the cell, and he fell dead to the ground. But now, I was out of ammunition.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a different guard as he trained his sights on me.

I wasn’t going to make it. He had a clear shot. I could only hope that I had bought Wavy, if that’s who was in that crate, enough time for the others to get here and get her out.

A shot rang out, and I waited for the pain, but I didn’t feel anything more than the bullet I’d already taken in my side. A second later, two more shots rang out.

I spun in the opposite direction. Finn and Landon ran toward me, opening fire without any concern for their own safety. Sarge covered them from somewhere deeper in the warehouse. A few seconds later, all was quiet.

The rest of the Zodiac team covered any guards who were still alive. I kept moving toward the crate, praying to a God I’d never put much faith in that it would be Wavy and she would still be alive.

I threw the lock to the ground and pulled open the makeshift door, then came to a halt. Inside, a lone, naked figure lay on the floor near the farthest corner. Inside the crate was dim, but what I could see made me want to vomit.

Then go rip the heads off of every person who’d ever been associated with Mosaic.

It was Wavy, but she was . . . broken.

“Wavy?” I dropped to my knees and crawled toward her slowly. I didn’t want to frighten her. What the hell should I do? “Wavy?”

She let out a pitiful moan, and then scooted back, away from me.

My heart broke into a thousand pieces.

I stopped where I was, about five feet from her. “Wavy, it’s Ian. We’re going to get you out of here, Rainbow.”

She still tried to back away, although she could barely move.

“Oh, my God. Oh, my fucking God.” Finn’s voice came from behind me in the doorway of the crate. “Is she, is she—”

“She’s alive,” I answered.

“We’ve got medical on the way,” Landon called out.

Finn dropped beside me and crawled closer to her. “Wavy, it’s Finn, sweetheart. We’re here, honey.”

She didn’t continue her pitiful attempt to move backward. It was almost like she’d given up.

She was covered in blood and scratches and bruises. There wasn’t a clean inch of skin anywhere on her. Finn and I crouched lower so we could crawl closer, trying to make ourselves as least threatening as possible.

“Wavy, it’s Finn, sweetheart.” Finn sat up a little bit and pulled off his shirt. “I’m going to cover you, okay? Would that be okay? Are you cold?”

I wanted to say something, anything, but she was responding better to Finn’s voice. He was her brother. She’d known him a lot longer and, God, maybe she was never going to want anything to do with me for the rest of her life.

And could I really blame her for that?

Finn moved closer and draped his shirt over her torso. Her eyes finally opened. She didn’t say anything but her fingers reached out toward us. Finn touched them, and she didn’t flinch or withdraw, but she didn’t do or say anything else.

I sat there next to them feeling more helpless than I ever had in my entire life.