Page 75 of Secrets Along the Shore

“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.”

“Theyshouldbe. 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.