Maverick (Elite Ops 2)

“Black Jack clear.”

“Hell Raiser clear.”

Each obstacle was taken care of.

Micah climbed quickly down the tree, shoved the gun back into the pack, and sprinted for the front gate that barred the entrance to the estate.

They slipped quickly for the gate and ran for the guards’ barracks. There would be a few more sleeping in there. They were taken care of quickly. Wild Card and Hell Raiser stepped inside, back-to-back, and used the remaining tranquilizer darts on the six men sleeping there. They’d be sleeping for a while longer.

The guns were shoved into a single pack along with the night-vision devices. P-90s were pulled from another pack and distributed along with extra clips. Micah strapped on a Kevlar vest and utility belt loaded with other goodies. Once he was weaponed up he lifted his fist to his shoulder in a signal he was ready to roll. Within seconds the others gave the same signal.

There was no radio contact, nothing spoken. Black masks covered their faces, and thin gloves protected their hands.

As one of the five of them sprinted across the grounds to the back door, Hell Raiser split off to the garage to secure a vehicle.

Black Jack pushed in the security code they had acquired, and within seconds the door was clicking open. Micah slid the knife from its sheath at his thigh. No gunfire unless there was no recourse.

The light of the back hallway glinted off five blades as they moved silently into the house.

The cook was sitting at the kitchen table, his heavy body perched on a chair that looked too small for his girth as he flipped through a magazine.

He was sleeping permanently after Micah twisted his neck, then laid his head carefully on the table. Micah worked his way to the far entrance to the kitchen, checked the next hallway, and lifted his fist in an all clear as Black Jack did the same on the other end.

They split off then. Maverick and Wild Card took the back hall and rooms while Black Jack and Heat Seeker took the other side of the house.

Minutes later they met at the central staircase.

Wild Card was now sporting a slash on his arm from the soldier who had very nearly surprised them in one of the bathrooms. Micah was minus a blade after burying it into the bastard’s throat and leaving it there.

He jerked another from inside the Kevlar vest and started up the stairs, the others moving in behind him.

He had lived for this moment for six years. For the last six weeks he hadn’t even lived; he had merely breathed. Orion’s death was imperative. The message he had left with Ariela’s pendant around Risa’s arm had been unmistakable. He knew how to hurt Micah, and he would, if the team didn’t back off.

There was no backing off.

Stepping along the hall, each man split off and begin entering bedrooms. They were empty. Orion didn’t like guests, it appeared. At least not this early in his retirement.

Moving up the next flight of stairs, Micah turned and headed for the master bedroom.

He knew where Orion slept. He knew who he slept with. He knew that tonight one of them would die, and Micah had no intentions of being the one defeated.

He stepped to the door, then pulled free an electronic key from his belt. He inserted the key into the lock, pressed the activity button, and waited until the little red light turned green. A second later the tumbler snicked quietly, signaling the door was open.

He opened the door slowly, his eyes narrowed against the dim shadows of the room as he restrained his smile.

Orion.

He slept in the middle of the large bed. On each side a young girl slept. They couldn’t be more than fifteen. One looked as though she had cried herself to sleep. Both had been kidnapped several weeks before from their parents’ homes and brought here to Orion.

Micah stepped into the room.

It was definitely Orion. His features were the same as the ones that had been caught on the camera outside the elevator the night Risa was attacked.

He had an appointment to leave the island in the morning to travel to a Swedish plastic surgeon. It was a meeting he wouldn’t make.

Micah stepped to the bottom of the bed.

Only a thin sheet covered the assassin and his little beauties.