Page 72 of Gator
“Two more down,” he said.
“Guards neutralized,” Axel said. “We’re coming in.”
“Let’s move these guys to the kitchen so we can clear the house and go find your boy.” Wolfe grabbed the guy who’d been sittingat the table inside the front door and jerked him up, shoving him towards us.
I wanted to leave my guy on the ground and go search for Julius, but I knew Hawk was right. We had a procedure for a reason. Thermal imaging wasn’t infallible, and clearing the house was essential.
I hauled the guy up off the floor, and Hawk and I both pushed them down the hallway they’d come from. The rush of adrenaline that came from breaching the house was starting to fade, and all I wanted was to find Julius and get him home.
We walked into the kitchen, and I gave the guy I’d taken down a hard shove. He stumbled into the room, and I grabbed him, pushing him to the floor so he was leaning against the wall. Then I pulled out my gun and pointed it in his face.
“Where are the hostages?”
He looked at me and sneered, but didn’t answer. I was all out of patience. “There are more than one of you here. I don’t have to keep you alive to get answers, so if I was you, I would start talking.”
The sneer on his face morphed into fear, and from the look on his face, I knew that he was about to talk when all hell broke loose.
Axel and Maddox came in the back door at the same time Kat’s voice came over the radio, urgent but calm.
“Two bodies coming at you on your right. Looks like they’re coming up the stairs.”
A door burst open. Wade Roarke lunged through it, gun drawn, eyes wild. He held a crying Latino woman in front of him, using her like a shield. The back door was his closest possible escape, but Maddox was standing in it, blocking his way. Before we had time to react, he fired, hitting Maddox square in the chest.
A loudooofescaped Maddox’s throat as he fell backward through the door.
Wolfe barked out, “Tuck—now!”
They moved together in what looked like a well-rehearsed dance, because it was. This was the shit we trained for. Wolfe grabbed the girl, pulling her away, and Tucker tackled the shooter from the side like a goddamn freight train, wrapping the man in a textbook takedown.
She pinned him with both knees and wrenched his wrist, forcing the gun to clatter to the floor. Her hair was in her eyes, and she looked too young to be this terrifying, but we knew this was the real Tuck, and that was why we were so glad to have her on our team. She was a fucking badass.
Axel knelt over his brother, so we couldn’t see him, but Kat’s voice came over the com. “Vitals are spiking but stable. He took the brunt to the vest. He’s conscious, and he’s breathing.”
“You good, Maddox?” Wolfe called out.
“M’fine,” he croaked, which translated to he’d be fine, but holy hell did it hurt. Taking a shot square to the chest like that was no joke, even if you were wearing protective gear.
Tucker flipped Wade over on his back and started to pull him to a seated position, but before she managed it, Axel was across the room. He stared down at him and, with a completely blank expression, put one bullet into Wade’s knee. The man howled, the sound raw and immediate.
“That’s what you get for shooting my fucking brother.”
Wolfe rolled his eyes the way he always did when dealing with the twins. “Put a fucking tourniquet on it before he bleeds out,” he growled.
Axel didn’t flinch. He yanked his belt off in one motion and cinched it tight around Wade’s upper thigh.
I didn’t wait to see what happened from there. I headed for the basement. For Julius.
I went through the door, starting down the stairs. The room came into view. I saw mattresses on the floor, people huddled close in fear. But where was Julius? I scanned the dim interior, heart thumping, desperate to lay eyes on him. We saw each other at the same time. He and the boy from the club were sitting together, but the second he saw me, he pushed to his feet.
“Harlan!”
He rushed towards me, and I took the last two stairs in one big step and, just like that, I held my entire world in my arms.
Chapter twenty-three
Julius
Gator held me tight as my heart raced. That had been the most terrifying experience of my life. Being down in the basement and hearing what sounded like the door being busted down and fights happening all over, and not being able to see what was going on.