Baby Love (The American Soldier Collection 14)

* * * *

Nina snuck into the bathroom and made the call. She heard the guards assigned to her say that some strange vehicle was circling the building and that they’d caught some guy trying to sneak his way into the tenth floor apartment where she was being kept under watch. Mirella apparently knew a lot of people, and they were getting closer. Too close for her to feel safe.

As much as she wanted to believe that Nicolai and his men could protect her, she wasn’t feeling too confident. She needed to get out of this town, and as she dialed the number, she hoped that she was making the right decision and that her gut was correct.

“Nina?”

“I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if calling you is right, but I need your help. I’m in trouble, Dominion. Can you help me?”

* * * *

Jessup and the team were heading into Bailey’s. They didn’t know why they’d decided to go there, just that it made them feel somehow closer to Nina because she had worked there and it seemed like a good idea. As they pulled the SUV into the parking spot and piled out of the car, they heard the sound of a roaring engine.

“Get down!” Corona yelled out as he ran around the front of the SUV.

They ducked down as gunfire erupted over their vehicle. Horns were honking and bullets, which nearly took them out, hit the front windows of Bailey’s.

“Get in!” Atlanta yelled as he ran around the front of the SUV and they all got into it and sped from the scene.

Corona got on the phone with Viktor and told him what had happened. He gave him their location and the license plate of the vehicle as they followed behind, with multiple cars between them. As they followed the vehicle, Atlanta slowed down.

“What are you doing?” Jessup asked as he checked his weapon like his brothers were doing.

“They didn’t see us following them. Dumb fucks,” Atlanta said.

“Or they’re luring us in for a trap. Remember what Nina was thinking. She could have been right. Mirella could know we’re after her and that we care about Nina,” Corona said to him.

“What the fuck do you want to do? Run and hide with our tails between our legs? Not after all the fucking years we’ve run in blind and gung fucking ho in the middle of shit-ass countries tracking down terrorists. This is fucking local gangs shit. A drive-by? Give me a fucking break.” Atlanta was all fired up and pissed off like the rest of them.

“Fuck it. Let’s give the bitch what she wants,” Freeman said.

“Viktor has men on the way. They’re dealing with the police at Bailey’s, too. He said Polo has men close,” Corona told them.

“I hope not too close, or they’re going to wind up dead if they’re in our way,” Jessup said, and they chuckled.

“Let’s end this shit,” Atlanta sated.

“Let’s go,” Corona ordered, and Jessup was more than ready to move on and end this so they could see Nina and make things up to her.

As they followed the vehicle into the abandoned parking lot of the empty building, they knew this was going to be a shit show. Then they saw the other vehicle pull up way behind them as about six armed men jumped from the drive-by vehicle and headed into the building.

“We’re being trapped in,” Atlanta whispered, rolling slowly closer to the parking lot and the building.

Corona’s phone went off. He answered it. “Yes.”

Corona disconnected the call. “Polo’s men are behind us. We’re taking lead.”

The air was so thick it felt as if they could cut it with a knife. Jessup felt his adrenaline pumping, his military experience and training kicking in immediately as he and his team exited the vehicle and made their way into the building.

They hadn’t expected to be met head-on by gunfire, but as the room ignited in flashes, they fired back as Polo’s men joined in behind them. Jessup and his team took in their faces, to be sure not to kill them by accident, and they did the same. But as the shots lessened and they heard a few people running up the stairs, they knew they had been successful in taking some of the people out.

They all remained together, looking at the dead bodies and making sure they were not going to resurrect and kill them. Polo’s men remained, like shadows. They must have realized it was safer to stay with them than risk being mistaken for the enemy. But as they got up the stairs, they heard the scattered footsteps and knew they needed to split up.

Jessup and Freeman went in one direction with two of Polo’s men. Corona and Atlanta went in the opposite direction with Polo’s other men. That was when Jessup saw Mirella holding a gun and trying to pull open a window to the fire escape.

“Hold it right there, Mirella. We got you,” Jessup yelled out, and they all pointed their guns at her. They could hear more gunshots in the background.

“Fuck you!” she screamed out and went to climb out the window. Jessup and Freeman started to run forward, but the sound of gunfire and bullets hitting Mirella stopped them in their tracks. She slumped over against the window, dead.