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Slipping the ski mask over my face, I turn to look at my partners in crime. My family. The boss of the Havok Brotherhood, an organization that screams power. The brothers who run the Reapers, an organization that sparks fear in anyone who has heard of them. Hannah. Part Fallen, part Brotherhood, part Reaper, the link between us all. And for as much shit as I’ve given her, the one who slips in like a thief in the night and slits throats in our name, making sure we never lose the ones we love.
“There’s no way for us to communicate once Charles cuts all the tech, just remember,” Hannah instructs. “So we have to rely on time. Twenty minutes. That’s all we get. Twenty minutes before he has to play his part and ‘fix’ the breach. Twenty minutes to take out as many bodies as possible, find Zeke and Cole, and meet right back here at the vans. Does everyone understand?”
We all nod in unison, as Hannah pulls her phone from her pocket and dials Charles’ number.
“Alright Charles,” she starts. “Let us know when we can infiltrate.”
“Working on it right now, Han. Just a few more minutes, I’ve built a program to disrupt everything on the premises. I just need a few more moments to execute it. When the lights all go out, you’re good to go.”
“Got it,” Hannah replies.
“Hey,” Travis whispers, nudging my arm. “We’re gonna get them. I’ll never forget the way you stuck by my side while we saved Spencer. I won’t leave your side man.”
“Thanks. It means… everything.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Just then an audible surge zips through the crisp night air, and all the lights surrounding Grove House go out, every window showing nothing but darkness.
“Alright, twenty minutes,” Charles’ voice chirps through the phone speakers. “The cells are in the basement, all the guards have keys, so just swipe them from the first body you drop.”
“Got it,” I mutter.
“And Riot?” Charles starts.
“Yeah?”
“Please bring my son out alive.”
“I will. But not for you. Fuck you old man,” I mutter under my breath.
Hannah shuts the phone off, jamming it in her pocket and we all hit the timers on our watches. Twenty minutes in and out. Hannah and the brothers disappear off to the left, intending to take up the backside of the house, while Travis and I run off to the right, intending to go in right through the front doors. Guns blazing.
Snow crunches beneath my boots as I run through the tree line, and when we make it to the front doors, I press myself on one side of the front door while Travis presses himself against the other side. We each slip night vision goggles down over our eyes, and pull our Glocks out, clipping the suppressors on as we hold them up, but keep them close to the vest.
Travis reaches one hand out, gripping the doorknob and flinging the door open. Filing into the house one at a time, we can see the layout of the entire interior, as well as the mercenaries on patrol that were not prepared for a full fledged outage. This mission is different from the last one, because we are not functioning on defense. We are on the offense.
See a body? Drop it.
Two men patrol the open loft above us, and I take aim. Pulling the trigger, I take them out one at a time with shots to the head. The sound of their bodies hitting the floor is loud enough that two men come running into the room from the side.
“Travis, look out,” I hiss.
Whipping around to the side, he fires off three shots, taking the two men down.
“Go check them,” he whispers.
With a nod, I run swiftly over to the bodies, taking cover behind Travis. Digging throughout their pockets, I find two sets of keys which I quickly shove into the pockets of my cargo pants.
We continue moving quietly throughout the first floor, taking out the men we come across as we check the doors for the entrance to the basement. Charles was right in the fact that we would be able to take the men on easily this way, but the clock is working against us. We’re approaching the ten minute mark when I finally find the right door.
Making my way down the concrete steps quickly, I’m hit with a thick pungent odor the further I descend. Urine, vomit, blood, it all swirls together in the air, making me sick to my stomach. Glancing from side to side, there are cells all around us. Most of them are empty, but each cell I pass that contains a caged woman makes my heart ache. I want to open the cells and let them all out, but Charles has warned us against it time and time again. So like a selfish bastard, I turn the other cheek and keep looking for the two people that I can set free. The ones we came for.
As we near the opposite side of the basement, I start to give up hope.
Did we get it wrong? Maybe they aren’t even here.
“Riot,” Travis whispers, as he turns and runs to the left. “Keys!”