Page 4 of Silver Sanctuary (The Silver Springs #3)

Two

N othing like being in full SWAT protective gear to start the morning out right.

Nash looked around the building. Everything was dark—too fucking dark.

They should have briefed using night vision goggles, but those were a pain in the ass too.

The team would just have to take their luck with flashlights and their handguns.

Their mission was clear: locate the kidnapping victim in the house and take down the suspects alive, preferably, but the team's safety, and the safety of the victim was top priority.

“Reaper, you in position?” Nash’s voice called out over the comms line.

Gunner was the team’s sniper and he had an incredible record.

The most impressive shot Nash ever saw him take?

The shot that saved Lily when she was in a bad situation a year ago.

He'd pulled the trigger knowing his wife was only mere inches away from the target.

Yeah, that had solidified the insane respect he had for his teammate.

“Yeah, Wings. I’ve got a lock on the hostage. Back room. South corner of the house. Two suspects, both with firearms. Can’t see the rest of the house. Unknown number of assailants inside.”

“Copy that.”

Nash’s heart pumped heavily in his chest. It was going to be an intense breach, and a tactic he hadn’t run in a long time. Shotgun resting against his shoulder, he nodded to Gage.

“Breaching on three,” Gage communicated as Nash lined up the first shot. “One. Two. Three?—”

BANG.

Pump. Aim.

BANG.

Pump. Aim.

BANG.

All three shots landed exactly where they needed to, the door to the house exploding inward as soon as Nash’s boot made contact with it.

Then, it was game on. Gage went into the house first, Nash right on his back. The two men swept through the first room, a large and mostly open space. No assailants, but the second Gage stepped into the hallway, he was firing at a target Nash hadn’t been able to lay eyes on.

“One down,” Gage’s voice called out. Steady, sure, ready to continue.

Nash nodded, and they followed through on their sweep of the building. Room after room was eerily empty as they made their way to the south end of the hall.

“Reaper.” Nash’s call for information was informal, but after working for so long as a team, he knew Gunner would immediately understand what he was looking for.

“Two still in the room. One by the door. One on the hostage.”

“You have a shot you can take on the one by the hostage?” Gage asked.

“I could take both of them in my sleep, Tracker.”

“Do it. We’ll sweep the room. ”

Two thuds, right in succession. Nash didn’t need the confirmation to come over the headset to know Gunner had hit both targets.

“Both targets are down. Team one: enter room to confirm.”

“Copy that.”

Nash locked eyes with Gage, whose hand was already on the doorknob.

A quick nod, and… nothing happened. Of course, the fucking door was locked.

Gage nodded, lining up his body and kicking against the lock.

It took two tries before the door went flying open.

Nash entered the room first, with Gage hot on his six.

Both suspects were in fact hit, and Nash signaled for Gage to check the first.

Then he completed the sweep, locking onto the hostage in the center of the room.

“Finally, assholes.” Hawk rolled his eyes as he typed away on his laptop. “It was like you didn’t even care that I was in danger here.”

“End of training exercise. Stow all weapons. Turn off all comms. Await instruction from your team lead.” Stone’s voice boomed across the simulator floor as the lights came up in the building.

Nash took a second to appreciate the cardboard cutout suspects.

Gunner’s shot lined up perfectly, right in the center of their heads.

“Shut up, Phoenix.” Sebastian strolled into the room, nodding at Nash and Gage. “You guys did good. Fifteen seconds off of what I would ideally like to see, but I know that door gave you more trouble than you were anticipating and your pivot was clean.”

“Cap, next time—” Hawk started to complain, but Seb just held up his hand and shook his head.

“If you don’t want to be the helpless hostage, Hawk, try running your ten-mile faster. You were last in the group. That’s how the cookie crumbled.”

Hawk nodded. He’d taken a ton of razzing from the guys at the meeting that morning.

And Nash was positive he wouldn’t be living it down for a long time.

But that’s what friends were for. Especially guys who you’d been around for so long that they weren’t just your friends any more, they were your family. Your brothers.

“Look, guys.” Sebastian waved Stone and Gunner into the room.

“I don’t want to be a hard ass. We’re out of the military, and I know that means we have more time away from training, and things can get lax.

But this center, the training that we are doing here, is important.

It’s the top one percent of law enforcement and military that are going to be here, using this facility, taking classes from us.

We have to keep our skill levels sharp. So sharp that if Uncle Sam called us back tomorrow, we’d be ready to answer that call in a second. You hear me?”

The room sounded with all the men’s voices agreeing.

“Good. Hawk, did you get the information you needed for the scenario you’re writing up?”

“Yup. My notes and the video from the exercise should be enough to get me where I need to go. You want that ready for the team that’s coming in next week, correct?”

“That’s correct.” Sebastian tapped his knuckles against the top of the table. “Let’s schedule time to run it again this week before I have to head out to Colorado with Emma and Addie.”

Nash was fine with that. The week would go by faster, and then he would finally get to see Lacy and Embrie at soccer tryouts.

As if Cap heard his thoughts, he walked over to Nash and clapped him on the back.

“How’s everything going with the youth soccer program?”

“Good. I know you saw I got Dolly’s son Beau to agree to coach with me. He played in college, so I figured that was a smart route to go.”

“You think he’ll be a good addition? Didn’t want to ask Hawk.”

“It’s not hockey, Cap. I don’t know anything about it.” Hawk chuckled as he packed up his equipment.

“Yeah, and he definitely couldn’t have read anything about the sport. Certainly not at the eight-to-twelve-year-old level,” Gunner jabbed.

“Christ. I’ve been gone so long I forgot what it was like trying to have a regular conversation around you assholes.” Seb laughed.

“Aw, Cap. You know you love us.” Stone chuckled.

“And miss us,” Gage added.

“Yeah, I do. Now shut the fuck up and let me finish talking to Nash. For fuck’s sake, I’m investing my money in these kids, I gotta know if they’re actually going to get some skills out of it or if Nash and Beau are just going to throw them pizza parties every week on my dime.”

“If Addie was playing in the league, you wouldn’t be such a hard ass.”

“Oh, absolutely not. But since my daughter is a literal angel who twirls through the air and has her sights set on being a prima ballerina one day, I get to make sure this guy runs my soccer team how I want him to.”

“I promise, Cap. Only one pizza party at the end of the season. And lots of skills will be learned.”

“I’m holding you to it, Nash.”