Gotta know who has your six, and which six you need to cover.
“Let’s get to it, so we can get what we came for and get the hell out.” Ghost took command of the conversation. “This fine-looking gentleman is Hollywood.” He pointed to the dark-haired operative to his right. “The big guy to his right is Beatle, next to him are Fletch and Blade, and that big guy over there is Truck. And this”—Ghost slapped the chest of an extremely tall man on his left—“is Coach.”
“Will there be a test afterward?” Bones feigned concern. “’Cause I’m better with faces than names.”
The group chuckled at the man’s joke, but Garrett was too hyped up to laugh.
“All right,” he took over. “Now that introductions are over, let’s go over the op one last time. This one needs to be perfect, gentlemen.”
“Copy that.” Ghost gave him a nod. “You lead, we’ll follow. And trust me when I say, every man on my team understands exactly where you’re coming from on this.”
“He’s right.” Trucks deep voice rumbled through the warm night air. “We’ve been where you are, brother, so we know what’s at stake.”
Coach chimed in next with, “Our orders are to treat this as your op, but we’re also treating your girl as if she were our own.”
Hollywood, Beatle, Blade, and Fletch each gave him a solemn nod. It was all the confirmation Garrett needed.
From this point on, these guys had their backs. More importantly, they had Avery’s.
After running through the plan one final time, the two teams began their trek through the Dominican countryside.
Dressed in black to keep with the night’s cover, they wore protective helmets and night vision goggles, bullet resistant vests, and gloves. Between the ten of them, they had enough firepower to take out a small village.
By the time they reached Garcia’s mansion, they realized that was exactly what they would have to do.
“Delta, you positioned and ready?” Ghost asked his team through the coms.
“Affirmative,” each man responded to their team leader.
The next voice over the coms was Digger’s. “Falcon, Ghost, and I are taking the front. Coach, Blade, and Fletch have the rear. Beatle and Bones, you good to go on the east?”
“Affirmative,” Bones responded for both men.
“Hollywood and Apollo, you good on the west?”
“Ready to rock and roll, boys,” was Apollo’s answer.
Ghost turned to Garrett. “You ready?”
Garrett pushed down his fear for the woman he loved and nodded. “Let’s do this.”
With his next breath, he took out the men standing guard by the front door with two succinct shots. At the same time, the others eliminated their marks, clearing the way for both teams to approach the residence without detection.
Thanks to Emilio Garcia’s obvious arrogance, the man believed he was so untouchable, he hadn’t bothered constructing any type of barrier between his mansion and the trees surrounding the property.
A dumbass move on his part, but it sure made their jobs a whole hell of a lot easier.
Moving in, Garrett, Ghost, and Digger took out three more men standing post toward the corners of the house. Almost as one complete unit, the two teams worked together to bring him that much closer to Avery.
Garrett was still kicking himself for not telling her his true feelings sooner. But if he got to her in time, if she was still in that house and she was alive…
It’s the first damn thing I’m going to tell her.
Making as little noise as possible, the team entered the dark residence with ease. Garrett had noticed two lights on when they’d still been outside. One on the main floor, far west corner, and one on the second floor toward the center of the house.
Thanks to Shadow’s computer genius, she was able to send them blueprints of the home prior to taking off in Charlotte. That’s how Garrett and the others knew the lit room on the bottom was Garcia’s personal office, and the room upstairs with the light on was a guest bedroom.
If he was a betting man, which he normally wasn’t, Garrett would say Garcia was in his office, and Avery was in the top bedroom.