Rialto (Unbreakable Bonds 8)

“Focus, gang,” Rowe interrupted, putting them on track again.

“Scarecrow is in the crow’s nest,” Lucas said darkly.

Hollis had been initially surprised to hear that Lucas was taking up the sniper position, when it was supposed to be one of Noah’s specialties, but apparently Lucas was damn good with a gun, particularly at a distance. He also suspected that it was Rowe’s attempt to keep the daddy out of the line of fire as much as possible.

“Confirming two guards out front. I can see at least two more people walking around in a room on the second floor. I’m blind to the rest of the warehouse. No one approaching,” Lucas continued.

“Wizard in position and sees all,” Gidget chimed in from her remote position at the office. “They’ve got a security system. Fancy one. Lots of cameras. Everything is quiet in our part of town on the police bands. Standing by.”

“Lion and Tin Man at the south entrance. We’ve got one guard,” Rowe finished the roll call.

“I don’t understand why I had to be the Tin Man,” Snow mumbled.

“It’s a perfect fit for you.” It sounded like Ian was just barely holding back his laughter.

“Should have made him a member of the Lollipop Guild,” Lucas added.

“Shut up, Scarecrow.”

“Shut up, everyone,” Rowe snarled. “Wizard? You ready?”

“Yep!”

“Work your magic.”

Hollis held his breath as he waited. A couple of seconds ticked by with nothing, and then it was like watching a wave of darkness sweep over the city as one block after another went down. There were no lights for as far as they could see. An eerie hush fell over everything, suffocating and thick. The sounds of cars was softer and farther away than they had been. Crickets and other night creatures stopped stirring and seemed to hold their breaths. They knew something was about to happen and they wanted to watch.

“Oops…” Gidget whispered. “That was a little bigger than I was expecting.”

Someone chuckled and Hollis swore that it was Garrett or Dom. It confirmed that Gidget managed to take down more of the electrical grid than she’d been initially aiming for.

“Don’t worry about it, Wizard. How much time do we have?”

“At least five minutes, but I’ll try to stretch it longer.”

“Go!” Rowe ordered.

Hollis rocked on the balls of his feet and launched himself forward, moving directly toward the door he’d been watching. He heard only the tiniest scrape of rubber sole across the pavement as Ian followed. His heart pounded in his chest, and his fingers tightened around the gun in his hand. This one was loaded with tranquilizer darts, but they each had a second gun and two magazines loaded with real bullets.

For now, they were going in quietly and taking down their drug dealers with tranq darts. As Noah had said, they were starting off civilized since they weren’t cops, but they were willing to fuck shit up if things went south.

Hollis had a feeling that it wasn’t going to take much for the whole mission to go to hell fast, but he was hoping it wouldn’t.

“Two guards down. Flying Monkey and Wicked Witch heading inside,” Dom said. His voice was deadly serious and cold. Something Hollis was sure he’d never hear from the man.

“Glenda is holding position,” Garrett said with no small amount of frustration. Hollis couldn’t blame him. A large man crashing through the skylight would throw the entire mission out of the covert category fast. He was one of their last lines of defense if things went to shit.

“Tin Man and Lion inside. One down,” Rowe whispered.

Hollis reached the side, the metal handle cool even through the leather gloves he was wearing. Very carefully he turned the handle and winced to hear the loud whine as the door opened. While it wasn’t locked, the door apparently wasn’t used often or maintained. He was pretty sure he’d announced to everyone in the warehouse that someone was coming through the side-fucking-door. Wonderful.

“Down!” Ian barked and Hollis immediately dropped to his knees, his head tucked down to his shoulders. In the darkness, he could see Ian lift his gun in both hands and squeeze off a round. The guy who had been standing in the now open doorway grunted. He was a monster of a man, standing close to seven feet and as wide as a refrigerator. He looked down at the dart that was sticking out of his chest.

Ian gave a little shrug and fired a second dart into his chest. With all his bulk, the fucker probably needed it.

The man swayed and fell forward. With one hand, Hollis grabbed the guy’s bicep and made sure he fell as quietly as possible.

“Nice job, Dorothy,” Lucas said from his perch. “Pay attention, Toto.”

Hollis looked over at Ian to see him give a little shake of his head in the darkness, but Hollis couldn’t argue with Lucas. He needed to pay better attention if he was going to keep Ian safe.