Page 83

NYX

“Atlas, come in,” I said.

We were finally in the helo headed back to the extraction point. The night had been long and the morning too while I waited for the storm to finally let up enough for us to fly. It was still drizzling but the wind had died down and that’s all we cared about.

“Atlas—”

“Ah, so that’s his name.”

North sat up straighter as a voice that definitely wasn’t Atlas came over the comms unit.

“Who is this?”

North demanded.

“You can call me Roland.”

“Roland—it seems you have something of mine,”

North answered.

“Well isn’t that convenient,”

Roland said. “You have some gold I’m dying to get my hands on. How about a trade?”

North looked at me and I shook my head. He held up his hand.

“That’s not going to happen,”

North said.

“We’re in quite the pickle then,”

Roland said, his smirk audible through the line. “How about if you don’t tell me the location of the gold, I kill your man.”

“The way I see it, you kill my man, you don’t get the gold regardless,”

North stated.

“Are you that kind of man? Are you willing to push me to test that theory?”

“Here’s the thing, Roland. You kill him—I come after you. You don’t—I still come after you,”

North’s voice was deadly. “Either way, you’ve already pissed me off.”

There was silence over the comms. It stretched for so long I started to get nervous, then Roland came back on.

“Sounds like you’ve made your choice then. See you soon.”

The line went dead and dread filled me. I hoped we weren’t going to be too late.

Mads dropped us into the woods near the compound.

Lachlan and Knight went one way, while I went the other with North. I could hear the helo take off towards the compound. This time West had joined us and he and Mads had some surprises for our new friends.

“In position,”

Knight said over comms.

“Copy—hold for the signal,”

North said.

I was crouched with him on the edge of the treeline, the compound in view across a small clearing. It was a large two story concrete establishment.

“Missiles away—”

Mads voice said. “Impact in three…two…one…”

The explosion as the missile hit the line of vehicles near the building was enough to rock the ground around us and I could feel the fire radius from all the way across the property. Chaos ensued. Men were running everywhere trying to get eyes on the helo but the forest limited visibility and Mads was already out of range. Using the distraction, North and I took off across the space headed for the building. We cut through the chaos with ease, dropping anyone who was in our path. We were able to reach the front doors before anyone even started shooting at us and by then it was too late. North and I swept into the rooms, clearing them one by one.

I was in my element—no distractions, no noise in my head—this was after all what I’d been conditioned for. Except this time, I was emotionally invested in the target.

“Second missile impact in three…two…one…”

Mads said.

We heard another explosion rock the grounds followed by machine gun fire.

North and I were in a hallway when three men burst from a doorway on our left. The gunfire in the space was deafening but I dropped one, North the other while the third dove back the way he’d come. I edged around the doorway, slowly revealing the room while North watched our backs.

I went down low and bent around the corner to shoot the man in the leg. He grunted and fell to his knees. North held him at gunpoint.

“Where’s the prisoner?”

he demanded.

I watched the door near North’s shoulder. North jammed the butt of his AR into the man’s face but the man just sneered and spat at North’s feet. I bared my teeth in irritation but North was already moving, his knife in his fist.

“Last chance,”

he snarled as he brought the blade up.

“Fuck you,”

the man hissed.

North shoved the knife into his neck and ripped his comms unit from him so he could listen to the enemy chatter.

“Knight, Lach—report in,”

North said.

“Clearing the east wing now. No sign of Atlas,”

Knight said.

North appeared to be listening to the enemy comms for a moment. “They’re regrouping. Clear an escape route—we’re headed to the lower level.”

“Copy,”

Knight answered.