Page 41 of Single Mom’s Mountain Men (Mountain Men Reverse Harem #1)

Mitch

" S omething is wrong."

Charlie mutters the words after our bikes rumble to a stop, about a mile down the hill. We're hidden by the trees and foliage, having taken a convoluted dirt road to the area. The warehouse, which is really just a blue container, sits at the top of the hill, barely in view.

This is as close as we can get without them spotting us.

As I retrieve the guns from my backpack and start setting them up, I wait for Charlie to finish his thought.

When full minutes pass without him elaborating, I finally snap. "This isn't the time to play mute Charlie. What’s wrong?"

He glances over at me while screwing the silencer to his rifle.

We had managed to keep a few guns from our special ops days – standard issue M16A2 assault rifles replete with thirty round clips and several thousand rounds of ammunition – which had been carefully stored away, locked in one of the sheds.

We also have a small but very deadly supply of M67 hand grenades, a few flashbangs (that make a big show of light and noise for distraction purposes, but don’t actually cause any serious damage), our pride and joy of our collection – a Javelin FGM-148 hand held anti-tank missile launcher complete with half a dozen Javelin heat seeking missiles each of which could knock out an entire modern tank, and which we all agreed would not be required on this particular occasion – and a few other tools including infra-red night surveillance equipment, trip wires, and some additional bits and pieces we couldn’t bear to leave behind .

Hopefully, we won't have to use it all, but we're prepared to.

"He told her to meet him at a diner, alone," Charlie says. "Do you think he trusts that she'll actually do it? I mean he gave her more than enough time to get help."

"What, you think it’s a trap?"

"I don’t know."

I bite my lip, considering it for a second.

Then I instantly press the Bluetooth device at my ear, calling Lloyd.

"Hello," the man answers.

"You guys at the diner?"

"Yup. We're opposite it. We didn't want to walk in and tip him off."

"But you got eyes on him? Correct?"

"Yup."

"Good. We'll let you know when we have the girls."

"Roger that."

I hang up and face Charlie. "Lloyd confirmed that Keegan is there. Right now, we just need to extract the girls, safe and sound. Got it?"

Charlie nods and unlocks his safety.

And then we creep up the hill, staying camouflaged by the woods.

Violence pumps through my blood as I approach, a rage that I haven’t felt since watching my men gunned down in front of me.

I want to kill this Keegan guy. I don’t just want to beat him up a few times and then send him off to jail, no. I want to end him so that he never has the chance to do this to anyone ever again.

But as we climb, I remain focused, keeping my eyes out for any boobytraps. I doubt Banker's men are that trained in setting those. They've always seemed like regular grunts to me. But we can't be too careful, especially when we get close.

They're two men standing in front of the warehouse with assault rifles casually resting on their body.

"You see them?" I ask Charlie.

"I see them."

"Good."

Charlie cuts behind me and then circles around so he can get a clear shot. I also aim at the one on the left, right in between his eyes.

Almost in unison we shoot, and the two men fall back, their bodies clanging against the metal walls.

A few seconds later, the door opens, another goon clearly checking to see what happened. He doesn't even get the chance to look around before Charlie plugs him too.

Then I'm racing for the open door, throwing a flashbang inside before I enter.

Loud shouts echo along with shrill feminine screams. I identify two more men, standing next to the girls and take care of them quickly, one shot each.

And then I scan the interior making sure there are no more doors where anyone could come through, before I head over to grab the girls.

They shriek when I touch them.

"It's okay, girls. It's me. "

They stop screaming.

"Uncle Mitch?" Katie inquires.

"Yes. It's your Uncle Mitch." I squat and drag them into my arms. They hug me tight around the neck and I take a second to inhale them, feeling relief flood through me.

"We were so scared," Katie sobs. "It was our dad. He showed up at the daycare and then when the lady at the desk was on the phone, he came to us and whispered that if we didn't go with him, he would hurt Mom."

“That’s why we told her we wanted to go with him,” Maddie concurred while sniffling.

"Don’t worry," I assure them. "Your mom is okay. We’re going back home to meet her, right now."

I hear the door open behind me, and spin around and aim, but it's only Charlie walking in.

"The coast is clear," he says. "But we gotta get out of here."

"Is that Uncle Charlie?"

"Yes." I let them down so they can run to him, and Charlie picks them, kissing each on the cheek.

As we walk out, my earpiece alerts me that Lloyd is calling.

"Lloyd."

"We fucked up," His voice is frantic. "It's not him."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I sent Jags in to pretend to order a drink and check the place out for any more escape routes. He just confirmed that it's not Keegan in that store. It looks like him and with the hat and suspicious behavior we thought it was but no. He sent a decoy."

I instantly share a look with Charlie who likely heard the entire conversation through his earpiece.

"You take them," I say. "I'll speed back home. "

Charlie nods and I run for my bike.

I try to call Wes on the way home, but there's no answer. Patty isn't answering her phone either, and I feel sick to my stomach with worry.

Please let them be okay. Please.