My Warrior (Bewitched and Bewildered #12) - Alanea Alder Page 0,48
Gage steered him over to the meeting.
Aiden looked at the group. "We'll do a three-prong attack again. Tau, you're assigned the back. Chi, the westerly side exit, and my group will go in the front." He tapped his earpiece. "Were you able to hack the closed camera surveillance circuit yet?" he asked.
Meryn's voice responded in their ears. "Yup, I have good news and bad news."
Aiden rolled his eyes. "Good news first, Menace."
"Good news is I don't see anyone in the building."
Aiden exhaled. "That's great. What's the bad news?"
"Bad news is that the camera mounted in the main storage room is black. Not staticky. Black. With a faint glow around the edges. I'm willing to bet it's been painted."
Every single person in their group began to cuss, including his mate.
"Sonofabitch," she murmured.
"We're heading in, baby. Let me know if our situation changes."
"Will do. By the way, I overrode their security system, so all the doors should be unlocked, and no alarms will sound," she added.
"You take such good care of me," Aiden said.
"It's because you're really good with your penis," she answered, causing more than one of men to choke on their own spit as they inhaled a laugh.
Aiden closed his eyes as a flush worked up the back of his neck. "Thank you, babe."
"Menace is out," Meryn replied.
Aiden opened his eyes. "Move out."
Ari led his men around to the back of the building. Knowing that Meryn was monitoring their advancement and suppressing any alarms was huge. He reached forward and pulled on the door; it opened with ease. He looked back at his unit, and they grinned back at him. He could really get used to this. Quietly, they made their way through the halls that smelled like lemon disinfectant. He heard movement to their right as Aeson, leading Chi, appeared in the hallway, coming in from the west.
They had almost made it to the main storage room when they heard a deafening roar. He and Aeson took point and ran to the door that led to the front of building. Despite wanting to run through, he held up his fist. He pointed to Aeson who peeked through the cracked doorway. When the older fae spun around and slid down the hallway wall, Ari knew what they'd find.
"Gage, stay with Aeson, the rest of you are with me," he ordered.
He opened the door and led them into the large, mostly empty room. Along one wall, Aiden's team formed a semi-circle around a stack of bodies. They walked up. "Sir, did you need me to call Rathais?" Brie asked.
Aiden nodded. "He and River will need to head to thru the portal, then on to the palace…"
"I'll get them," Darian said quietly, walking away from the pile. "If I go, I can bring them directly back here, and they can start processing the scene sooner."
Ari had never seen Darian look so broken. Oron walked up behind his brother. "I'll go with them. Darian can drop me off at the palace so I can update the queen in person, then he can pick me up to bring me back here."
Darian shook his head. "No. I'll drop you off, but you need to stay with the queen. This is going to kill her."
Oron looked torn. Every warrior knew that there were no two people that Oron loved more than his mother and baby brother. "Are you sure, Dari?"
Darian took a deep breath. "Yes. It's time we started protecting her for a change."
Oron looked around the room. "Where's Aeson?"
"I'm here," the warrior said, walking in with Gage.
Oron looked over at Darian then back. "I'm leaving him in your care."
"I give you my word that nothing with happen to our prince," Aeson promised.
Aiden scowled at Oron but didn't say anything. Ari knew that the commander wanted to add that he wouldn't let anything happen to his own unit brother, but by not saying anything, he acknowledged that the request was just as much to help Aeson as it was to protect Darian.
Brie approached, tucking her phone back into her vest. "He said they'd be ready by the time you got there."
Aiden waved Thane over. "I'm assuming there's a barrier."
Thane nodded. "It's identical to the one we saw in Monroe."
Aiden looked over at the pile. "Considering the reaction we got in Éire Danu last time, let's wait until we have processed the scene and transported the bodies before we take it down."
Thane eyed the walls. "That works. I want to study this a bit more as well."