Colt (Devil's Nightmare MC #10) - Lena Bourne Page 0,68
working in teams of two and will each get a house and a target to extract from. There will be no repeats or second chances. Any wives or children living in that house are not to be harmed under any circumstances. Gag them and tie them up if you must, but work hard at not waking them up in the first place.”
Ace and Rook approach the table, as do Mac and Eagle. Cross assigns each team a house and a target. Me and Blaze will be bringing in a younger guy who has no wife. Of the two nights we were staking out the town, he spent both of them in the company of three club whores in the upstairs bedroom of his house, with the windows open and the lights on.
“Rook will be in charge down there,” Cross says. “But you, Colt, will be the eyes and ears.”
His words dispel the vivid memory of the moans and groans that echoed in the nighttime silence from our target’s house.
“He’ll direct you to the houses and he’ll call a retreat if things go sour. I want you all to listen to him.”
The look in Blaze’s unblinking eyes as he stares at me is part shock, part happiness, and part dumbfounded surprise.
“You’ve got an eye for detail and the presence of mind to put two and two together even when you don’t like the answer,” Cross says to me. “And you tend to improvise with good results. So I’m counting on you to know when it’s time to get out down there.”
I nod, swallow hard, and wish I could blink because I’m sure I must look as stupid as a fish right now.
“I won’t let you down, Cross,” I assure him and mean it completely.
He nods. “I’m holding you to that.”
Then it’s time for the nitty-gritty of the planning. Hawk produces a whole new set of photos and outlines the path we’re to take into the town for each of the teams. We’re getting there in two vans, while a third, driven by Hawk, will be waiting to transport the prisoners back to the bunker. Hawk meticulously points everything out on the photos and a map. It takes a good forty-five minutes before he’s finally done and looks up at us, grinning. “Of course, you might have to wing the whole thing. So memorize the face of your target, know him well enough that you’ll know him anywhere. I really would rather not repeat this mission. It’s gonna be much harder the second time around.”
“Is everyone clear on their tasks?” Cross asks, and everyone either nods or says yes.
“Then stay safe out there, as always!” Cross says, and this time the agreements from the crowd of my brothers are louder and more heartfelt.
He tells us to be ready to ride at eleven PM and to tell none of the others about our mission tonight. Keeping secrets from the brothers? When did this happen? Then again, Cross has always handled everything on a need to know basis, so I let it go. As we leave the room, Hawk hands us night vision binoculars and some fancy looking walkie-talkies and shows us how to use them. He also gives us soft, transparent earpieces through which Cross will be able to address us all at once.
“I really should’ve used these on the last job,” Hawk mutters as he fits mine into my ear.
He seems to be talking more to himself than me, so I stay silent.
I have the time to call Brenda now, talk to her for a couple of hours before I have to leave. A huge part of me wants that and nothing else. But this job is too important to let distraction in. As Cross said. There will be no repeats. But once it’s done, nothing will keep me from spending at least a month with Brenda. Preferably naked.
21
Brenda
Monarch sat me on the back of his bike, smiling as he hissed dire warnings for me to sit still, do as I’m told, and not even think about running. I did think about running, thought about the thick, hissing shrubs that scared me enough to turn back hungry the other night. They’d be thick enough to hide in, but then what? Who knows when Colt is coming back. I have no money, since all my belongings are stuffed into Monarch’s saddlebags, and between him and his three cronies, they’d find me before I got very far.