Intense

Travis quickly selected a high-powered silencer sniper rifle. I picked out a smaller submachine gun with a silencer, an extra pistol, two hand radios for communication, and a belt of stun grenades.

“Fine choices,” Gun said as we stepped back out of the van.

“Thanks, Gun,” Travis said.

“Anything for America.”

We turned to leave, but Gun quickly ran in front of us.

“Hold on, hold on. One last treat. Here you go.” He held out a folded up map.

I took it. “This is?”

“The power plant. Blueprints. Heard you were going there, so I snatched these for you.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Snatched?”

“Stole, whatever. Want them or not?”

I grinned at him. “Thanks.”

He nodded, turned, got back into his van, and then drove off.

“What a weird guy,” Travis said as we got back into the car.

“Contractors,” I mumbled. “We’re always outsourcing to contractors these days.”

Travis laughed as he pulled back into traffic and we drove off to battle.

We left the car in an outcropping of trees about a half mile away from the power plant. We set off at a jog, heading closer and closer to the fencing line that surrounded the plant.

The night was clear and cool as we moved. Even weighed down with guns and gear, we still were moving at a pretty brisk pace. I guessed Omar couldn’t move as quickly as we could, since he was dragging along Tara’s parents and whoever else he had in his group.

That was the only advantage we had. They were stronger in numbers, though we were stronger in training. I had to hope that was going to be enough.

Soon we made it to the perimeter fence. It was tall and topped with barbed wire, though that didn’t always mean you couldn’t get in.

“Plan?” Travis asked.

“You head left; I’ll head right. Radio me if you find an entry point.”

“Roger.”

“Switch your radio to six.”

He nodded, fiddling with his radio. “Got it.”

“Radio if you find something.”

Travis melted into the darkness without another word.

I set out, sticking low and moving fast. I didn’t know if Omar was inside already or not, so splitting up was a risk. If we stumbled across Omar’s group, or if he had left guards behind, we might be at a huge disadvantage.

I couldn’t help but have nagging doubts. Alone in the dark, skirting along the fence, I kept thinking to myself how maybe I’d fucked up, maybe I’d picked the wrong target. But no, that picture in the motel had all but confirmed it for me. This was the only thing that made any sense.

And still, as I moved along the fence line and saw nothing, those nagging doubts ate at me. I couldn’t fuck this up. I couldn’t fail now when I’d never failed at a mission before. Granted, this was very, very different from any other mission I’d ever been on, but it was also the most important.

And then my radio cracked to life. “Captain, found a breach in the fence. Over,” Travis said.

“Stay there. On my way. Over and out.”

I clipped my radio to my belt and turned, heading back toward Travis at a fast jog, relief spreading through me. A few minutes later, I spotted him up ahead, crouched down next to the fence.

I stopped and moved up next to him. He spread the fence wide open. “Someone cut in here,” he said. “Did a thorough job. Looks recent too. See how shiny?”

I looked closely, and sure enough the links were shiny. “Okay. This is where they went in.” I pulled out my map. “We came down here.” I pointed. “That means we’re just about . . . here.”

Travis nodded. “And look. Control room.” He made a direct line with his finger.

“Shit,” I said.

“Plan?”

I thought for a second and then nodded. “You go this way, with your rifle. I’ll head in up this way. We’ll trap them here.”

He nodded as I pointed. “Piece of cake.”

I put the map away and then slipped in through the fence. Travis came on my heels as we ran across the space, keeping as low as we could.

There was a single door ahead marked by a red emergency light. I couldn’t hear any alarms, so unless they had somehow disabled them, we were still in time. I pressed myself up against the wall as Travis gently pushed the door open.

It moved inward with no problem. “Clear,” Travis said.

We moved inside together into a long, dimly lit hallway. It was a service tunnel, meant for cleaning staff and maintenance crew. From the looks of the door, Omar’s crew has used thermite to cut through the heavy-duty lock.

We got to the end of the hall. There was a T-junction there, and we stopped in the middle.