Page 11

Chapter Ten

T hey had the compound partially surrounded, just waiting for the “go” signal, as the teams hid behind trees, shrubbery, rocks, and underbrush.

Brody had hacked into the surveillance system and had most of the camera feeds now playing on loops, so the raiders wouldn’t be spotted until it was too late.

The main gate was guarded, and there were two men patrolling the grounds.

The members of Steel had confirmed Marie and Jocelyn had been escorted, about an hour ago, to the building they suspected housed the surgical suite.

There was no doubt in Devon’s mind his mother would do everything in her power to stay alive until help arrived.

He hoped she had faith in them finding her, since as far as he knew, she wasn’t aware of the tracker in her watch.

When Ian gave the signal, Boomer and Pierce , Steel’s EOD man, would set off explosives, which were attached to the walls on either side of the compound, blowing holes in the rock that others would use to enter.

They both had a few frag grenades to further induce mayhem.

Devon , Ian , Nick , and Brody were designated as Alpha Team , taking the east side, while Foster , Morrison , Reese , and Mancini , Omega Team , were on the west side.

Meanwhile , two vans they’d rented, again with fake IDs , would storm the front gate, and the operatives inside, McCabe , Rook , Flynn , and Chris Jordon , would take down as many of the guards as they could, while creating as much chaos for the enemy as they could.

The goal was to be in and out in under eight minutes—anything longer than that, they’d have to deal with a local police response.

Unfortunately , they had to do this in broad daylight, so the more distractions they provided, the better chance they had of rescuing the principles without harm.

They had no idea how long the doctor and nurse duo would remain alive after the completion of the surgery, which should last several hours.

Devon hated thinking of his mother as an unnamed entity, but when a mission was personal, it had a higher chance of going FUBAR , and this one was fucked up enough already.

There was no way in hell Devon or his brothers were leaving this hellhole without their mother.

She still had a lot of living to do, along with spoiling the crap out of her grandkids.

Whenever she called to say hello, Devon would put the phone to his son’s ear, and he was sure JD recognized his grandmother’s voice, because his face would light up and he’d start cooing to her.

Devon swore the next time they did that, he was going to use his Go - Pro to record it.

When his mother did leave this Earth in another twenty or thirty years, if Devon’s prayers that she lived a long time came true, he wanted lots of video and voice recordings of her so his and his brothers’ future children, Little Bit , and JD had plenty to remember her by.

But , damn it, today was not the day Marie Sawyer was going to meet her maker.

About an hour, give or take a few minutes, after he’d led the women into the surgical building, de la Vega had returned to the main house.

So , unless there was a secret tunnel, or someone had been in there longer than the Steel operatives had been keeping surveillance, there were only eight people in the smaller structure other than the two principals.

They’d seen two women and a man go inside, who they suspected were nurses or medical assistants, as well as Xiao , his bodyguard, and three of de la Vega’s armed men.

With any luck, the latter would come out to see what was going on when the pandemonium started and be taken down quickly.

Xiao should be unconscious, leaving only his bodyguard and the surgical staff left to deal with.

“ Bravo Team , you ready?” Ian asked over the comm system.

“ Affirm ,” was Marco’s reply.

“ Omega Team ?”

Foster’s voice sounded in Devon’s ear. “ Ready .”

“ Echo One & Two ?”

Boomer and then Pierce confirmed they were also primed and waiting.

“ Charlie Team ?”

“ Ready ,” responded McCabe .

“ Alpha Team is ready,” Ian announced. “ Everyone else, wait for the gate crashers. Charlie , on my mark—three ... two ... one ... go!”

From a quarter of a mile up the road the compound was on, the two white vans would be heading toward their target, like they were just out for a Sunday drive.

A few moments passed before Devon could hear them approach and then accelerate.

A split second before the first vehicle crashed into the wrought-iron gate, ripping it from its hinges and demolishing it, through their earpieces, they all heard, “ Cowabunga !”

“ Fucking Flynn ,” a few team members muttered as the explosives blew and all hell broke loose.

“ How’re his vitals?” Marie asked the Russian anesthetist, as she prepared to make a small incision on the inside of Wang’s right cheek.

After changing into scrubs, she’d taken about twenty minutes to interview and examine her patient.

Then , she’d scrutinized the x-rays, discussed the reconstruction options with him, and mapped out the changes she would make and where her incisions would be by using a surgical marker on his face.

That had taken another forty minutes or so, and she was proud of herself for pretending this was any other day back at the hospital where she maintained her practicing privileges in Charlotte .

A few minutes into the physical exam, it’d become clear to her that, although he’d said he lacked formal medical training, Albano knew what he was talking about when it came to the procedures.

To her surprise, he’d hung on her every word and had even made a few suggestions of his own.

This wasn’t the first reconstruction he’d been involved in.

However , as they’d prepared to start the surgery, instead of staying and watching as she’d thought he would, he’d disappeared, leaving Antonio and Wang’s bodyguard behind to make sure Marie didn’t do anything stupid.

She’d been instructed to change the shape of Wang’s jawline, cheeks, nose, chin, and forehead.

The first three features required her to access the bones through incisions inside his mouth so she could shave and move the bones to alter their shape.

The chin, forehead, and nostril area of the nose would get silicone injections.

The final combination was not one she would choose for any of her patients, for aesthetic reasons, but it wasn’t her call.

Even though she’d do her best, she honestly didn’t care what the bastard looked like when it was all over.

While injecting silicone under the skin sounded simple enough to most people, it called for a physician who knew what they were doing to avoid disfigurement or nerve damage.

Also , it was a slow process to ensure the skin looked smooth and natural after the post-operative swelling went down.

With that and the contouring of the facial bones, they could be here for up to seven or eight hours.

Since no one was insisting she hurry up, it was obvious they knew what she was doing was quite tedious.

Again , that was something in her and Jocelyn’s favor.

While Wang was asleep, he wasn’t completely unconscious, which would’ve required him to be intubated.

But that was impracticable, since she needed access to the interior of his mouth for the jaw and cheeks.

Instead , between the lidocaine injections she’d given him to numb his face and the sedation cocktail the anesthetist had administered, Wang was resting peacefully.

While it might take a bit to rouse him without giving him another drug to counteract the first ones, he could still wake up on his own with enough non-pharmaceutical stimulation.

So far, Marie had completed working on her patient’s nose, shaving down the slight bump in his cartilage and injecting a small amount of silicone to alter the shape of the nostrils just a bit.

Although Jocelyn’s hand had been shaking at the start of procedure, she’d quickly fallen into the familiar routine of assisting the surgeon.

The other two nurses stood by and assisted efficiently enough when Marie asked them to.

The unnamed bodyguard was also in the sterile surgical suite, wearing a mask and scrubs over his clothing, but he’d refused to coverup the holstered gun at his hip.

Meanwhile Antonio had stayed in the pre-op room doing who knew what.

As she shifted to get the correct angle she needed, the floor shook under her feet, and Marie’s hands froze.

The tremor didn’t last long, but it’d still been noticeable.

And she wasn’t the only one who’d felt it because everyone else was glancing around, wide-eyed.

Since there were no windows anywhere in the building, they couldn’t see outside, nor could they hear anything through the thick walls.

The bodyguard’s eyes narrowed, and he stepped over to an intercom on the wall next to the door.

Pushing a button, he asked, “ What was that?”

Antonio’s voice came through the small white box. “ Don’t know. Probably a small earthquake. We get them all the time.”

The bodyguard glared at Marie , with an evident frown despite his mask, then pushed the button again. “ Confirm it.”

A bored sigh preceded one word. “ Fine .”

The hair on the back of Marie’s neck became energized, sending a shiver down her spine.

That hadn’t been any earthquake. She’d bet a million dollars that whatever had shaken the ground had been at the hands of Boomer , Trident’s explosive ordinance disposal technician.

Her boys were here, but she had to keep working like nothing was wrong until they got into the building and took out the bodyguard, who’d moved closer to Jocelyn , his weapon now in hand.

Taking a deep breath, Marie tilted her head from side to side, working out a few kinks that’d settled in her neck.

Wang was still sleeping, but every now and then his hand with the inserted IV catheter would twitch, letting her know he wasn’t completely under.

Knowing she had to do something, otherwise the bodyguard would get suspicious—more than he already was— Marie made a small incision on the inside of Wang’s cheek.

If , in fact, she’d been wrong, and that had been a minor earthquake, she’d keep praying and waiting. Her boys would be here soon.