Page 37 of Secrets Along the Shore (Beach Read Thrillers #1)
CHAPTER
SIX
His gaze drifted around the bulletproof van that Gage drove.
Paul had taken a seat next to him, also geared up to face whatever threat they might find in the home.
Behind them, Adam and Adele sat together.
They spoke softly, but their kisses could be clearly heard.
Was that a regular thing with them? Smooching right before a mission?
Maybe. Maybe it was. This job held a lot of risk. That time “alone” that they got together could be their last memories of each other.
Was that hard? He’d never know.
The van jostled along the bumpy road as Gage drove toward the mansion. Tyler held his rifle, his finger resting on the trigger guard. The mission was about to start. Just a few more blocks. Then he’d be doing what he’d trained for.
“You ready for this?” Paul whispered.
“Yeah.” Tyler nodded .
“One more block, then I’m pulling over,” Gage slowed the vehicle. He’d park a block away from the mansion so anyone outside or near the windows wouldn’t notice the van waiting near the property. After another couple of seconds, he stopped the vehicle and threw it into park. “Twenty minutes.”
Tyler didn’t need the reminder. He opened the side door and stepped outside.
The clouds hiding the moon and stars served as a good cover.
With the black clothing they wore, the team would blend into the shadows.
He checked their surroundings to ensure they were clear before moving away from the van.
“I set a timer on my watch,” Paul adjusted his hold on his rifle.
“We won’t be in there twenty minutes.” Tyler spotted the edge of Viktor’s mansion roof. Tall trees hid most of the home from sight, but they provided a perfect spot for Adele to perch with her sniper rifle.
Adam held Adele’s hand with his free one. “Hey, I don’t want to be in there any longer than you do, but if we rush this, we could mess up.”
“Yeah, and if we take longer, we could end up dead. So could our targets.” Tyler gestured to the dart gun Adam held in his hand.
“The drugs will only keep Viktor’s men down for so long.
” Drugging the men would give them an easy way to subdue them without the sound of gunshots—even suppressed shots would be loud.
Adam glanced down at his weapon. “They should be out longer than twenty.”
“They should be. I’m not taking the chance that they aren’t.” Why was this team already turning on him? They’d barely started the mission. If they kept this up, how did they expect success?
“We need to move. We’re wasting time,” Adele whispered, her hand on Adam’s shoulder.
“Lead the way, Reid.” Adam gestured.
Tyler pressed his rifle against his shoulder as he led the way to Viktor’s property. Instead of following the sidewalk to the front gate, he turned right at the block and stalked to the fencing covered in vines. The tall trees hid him and the team from view.
“Are you sure it’s not electric?” Paul whispered, keeping his rifle up and covering their six .
“It’s not. This is Croatia, not America.
” Different rules here. The mobster could have illegally had it put up, but in a city like Dubrovnik, it’d be more noticeable than in more remote areas.
People might accidentally stumble into it, with it so close to the sidewalk.
Tyler yanked some vines off the fence to get a better look at it.
The diamond shape of the chain-link was too small to be a foothold.
“We’re not all going to get up that.” Adele huffed. She was right. It was over six feet high. None of them could climb over without help. Or get back over either.
Tyler muttered under his breath.
Adam holstered his dart gun at his hip and cupped his hands. “Hey, honey, I’ll help you get over,” he spoke softly to hide their presence.
“Hold up.” Tyler lifted a hand.
The couple paused. Adele lowered her foot from her husband’s hands, but kept her hands on his shoulders. “We’re eating away at time.” She wasn’t wrong. Especially since Tyler wanted to get it done in fifteen minutes.
“We’ll be stuck leaving someone on the other side when we come back.
” No. That wasn’t going to work. The team should have come out there to check the fence, but because Viktor had his men watching the home, they hadn’t been able to.
If they had come, the Croatians would have been on high alert.
Tyler was going in partially blind. A fact he hated, but couldn’t do anything about.
“Or we could use my wire cutters,” Paul whispered, holding up the object.
Tyler frowned at him. He might have mentioned that sooner. They only had so much time.
Adam shifted away and grabbed Paul’s shoulder, shoving him toward the fence. “Get to it.” He shifted his M4 from his back and took up the Army Ranger’s former position.
Tyler held his rifle close and kept an eye on the opposite direction. He glanced down as Paul went to work on the fencing. The American was on his knees with the wire cutters. He snipped one thin wire at a time. This was going to take a while .
“Those better be sharp,” Adele muttered, gripping the sniper rifle case in one hand and her SIG-Sauer in the other.
“They’re not too bad.” Paul snipped another wire.
Sure they were. Tyler scanned the road and surrounding homes while Paul clipped away at the fencing.
Each snip made him wince. They needed a silent entry.
At least, they weren’t too close to the house at this spot.
Through his scope, he eyed a dark form two blocks down.
It stood stick straight. A tree. Still, he didn’t let his guard down. He couldn’t afford to slip up. Not now.
After about a minute, Paul stood and tucked away the wire cutters. “Done.”
Tyler checked behind him. Beside Adele, the fence had been cut in half.
They needed to bend the wires out of the way.
“Paul, take my spot.” He lowered his rifle as Paul shifted to guard their six.
Tyler grabbed one side of the fence and worked it back, making sure that the cut wires pointed away.
The last thing they needed was getting stabbed by those.
On the opposite side, Adam did the same.
Once they had a clear path through, Tyler lifted his rifle and inclined his head toward the fence. “Go. Move.” With his back to the fence, he guarded the area and allowed them to enter first.
Adele stepped past the fence and kept her SIG up. Her husband followed, his rifle raised as they stepped deeper into the shadows under the trees. Paul went next, having to turn sideways to move through the two feet of open fencing. It was a little snug, but the American wasn’t skinny either.
After a final scan of their surroundings, Tyler pushed the fence farther apart and entered the property. Rifle pressed against his shoulder, he crept through the shadows. Patches of moonlight appeared on the ground. The clouds parted, revealing the full moon.
Crap. They needed darkness for cover.
He avoided the moonlit spots the best he could.
At least, the team wore black gear. Stepping over a fallen branch, he checked his team.
On his right, Adele climbed up a tree with Adam’s assistance.
Paul stood on the far side of the tree, guarding them.
Tyler shifted to their location. As soon as Adele was settled, they’d move in .
A dark spot on the ground a few feet away, had to be the ditch.
After that area, the land sloped upward toward the house.
This side of the hill would provide some cover, but they’d be in trouble at the top.
It’d be perilously open. The overhead images Tyler studied at Von’s house showed that no trees lined the walkway up to the house.
Not even plants. The side of the home with the sunroom had cover up until about twelve meters.
Another reason they had to be silent and stealthy.
“She’s good,” Adam whispered.
Tyler gave a nod, his gaze drifting along the crest of the hill. The tops of the trees on the opposite side of the property were visible, but nothing else. It looked like a steep slope. The area closest to the side of the home had less of an incline. It’d be easier getting up there.
“It’s clear,” Adele said over coms.
“Copy.” He gave one more scan of the area. “Von, we’re in position. Kill the power.”
“Copy.” Twenty seconds later, Von added. “Power is off. Be careful in there.”
“Roger that.” Tyler led the way up the hill, taking it diagonally. At the top, he paused to survey the building. The windows were dark. Everyone inside should have been asleep. Except for Viktor’s steady security, which Adam would take out with the dart gun.
Careful steps brought him across the open grassy yard to the glass walls of the sunroom. About three feet of stones were under the windows. The clean panes couldn’t be opened, but ran the entire length of the wall.
“I thought there was supposed to be a door,” Paul whispered.
There was. Von had found it on the house blueprints. Tyler frowned. This was the wrong wall, wasn’t it? He stepped back and pictured the prints in his mind. Yep. Wrong wall. How’d he get mixed up like that? His memory. The TBI.
No. He wouldn’t let that stop him. It was a minor mistake that cost them all of ten seconds.
He shifted around to the wall connecting the sunroom to the house.
A locked door kept people out. He grabbed the handle and shoved on it.
The glass in the door rattled, sounding like it was knocking against something .
Crap.
“We break that glass, someone’s going to hear.” Adam shifted behind Tyler. “Let me pick the lock.”