Deadly Target [IAD Agency 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) (33 page)

“Aww, that’s so sweet, Lynx. From what I heard, you two could make millions if you decided to go into porn.”

“Damn it, Trin.”

Trinity laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m blocking this conversation from the rest of the team. Just wanted to remind lover boy there that everyone on the team can hear him through the comms when I have the feed open.”

This time Gage cursed.

Ignoring him, Mikayla’s attention was pulled back to the street below. “Damn. Open the line to the team, Trinity.”

“Opening the line now.”

“I’ve got an approaching vehicle coming from the east end of the street. Pulling up in three, two, one. Entering the warehouse from the side entrance garage door. Outside guard is following them in.”

“Is it Kelner?” came Sin’s voice.

“Unknown. I only saw the driver. There was a passenger inside the car, but I couldn’t see him. Trinity?”

“It’s him. I have that fucker’s face on my screen, front and center. Primary target’s identity of Arvan Kelner is confirmed.”

“Door is closing. Only the two tangos out in front still outside. All original tangos inside are now on the first floor, along with the two in the car,” Mikayla informed her team as she watched two men get out of the car inside the warehouse. The driver went to the trunk of the car and opened it. Bile rose in her throat and she fought it down with ruthless control. She wanted to let out a vicious curse, but let her voice frost over instead. The hint of icy fury in her tone told her team she wanted vengeance.

“Boss, the driver just opened the trunk and is taking out two women. I repeat, two women are getting out of the trunk. They are having trouble walking on their own and are being taken to the back by two tangos. Five are heading upstairs, three are remaining below in the main area.”

“Copy that.” Sin’s own voice had gone hard as stone. “Lynx, give us locations.”

Mikayla quickly told her team exactly where the tangos were located and listened in as Sin made contact with Bishop and the lead agent of the FBI team. When they were all ready to roll, she heard Sin give the command she had been waiting for.

“All teams, mission is a go. Take out the sentries, Lynx.”

Mikayla took a deep breath then released it on a slow, silent hiss as she pulled the trigger. She was already pulling the bolt action back, extracting the empty cartridge and chambering a new round into the rifle before the first body fell. She pulled the trigger again and the second guard collapsed, a small round hole gracing his forehead.

“Targets down. You’re a go.”

She watched as her team entered the building, guns at the ready, sweeping as they went. She could easily tell their bodies apart from the tangos as the special combat material held in their body heat, showing them as ghosts in dark blue and purple compared to the bright red, orange and yellow heat signatures of the others. She watched the three tangos drop to the ground as they were shot and her team split up to clear the lower level.

“Three down,” Rock informed them in a whisper. “Shit, there are two huge metal containers in here filled with the drug. They’re making this crap in mass quantities.”

That was seriously bad news.

“They’ve got a serious shit-ton of product in this place. Packaged, stacked and ready to go. Liquid and pill form,” Adrian told them. “This would be an epic fucking nightmare if this gets to the streets.”

“Two more tangos down in back. Ground floor is clear,” Sin said softly. “Trinity, Nick is heading out the side entrance with the girls to meet you.”

“Copy that, boss,” Trinity confirmed. “I’ll be waiting.”

Mikayla continued to track her team with her scope, noticing a Mercedes SUV driving down the street out of the corner of her eye. “Nick, hold position. We have a car approaching from the east. Trinity, can you see who it is?”

“Negative. I’m still too far away and the windows are tinted. The car is pulling away now though. Three people in the vehicle but I can’t see faces.”

They could all hear Nick’s low curse. “These women have been drugged with lust dust and I have my hands full…literally. I need to bring them out now.”

“Keep an eye out for that car. Something about it didn’t feel right. Not in this area,” Mikayla said as she tracked the streets below then trained her scope on the figures sitting around the table on the second floor inside the building.

“Nick is heading out. Cover him, Lynx,” Sin ordered.

“I’m on it.”

“We’re going silent and heading upstairs now,” Sin continued. “Rock, Adrian, I want Kelner alive. Everyone else is expendable.”

“Loud and clear.”

Mikayla switched her scope back to normal to cover the outside of the building while Nick made his escape from the building. She saw him open the side door. The barely clad young women were practically trying to climb up his body as he half dragged, half carried them outside. They were obviously riding high on lust dust. Luckily, they had some of Dr. Ellis’s new tranquilizer that would knock the women out and keep them from messing up the op.

Mikayla’s gaze swept the surrounding area, making sure Nick made it to the van safely as Trinity pulled the vehicle to a stop across the street from the building.

Trinity didn’t hesitate. As soon as Nick made it across the street she opened the door and shot both girls with a tranq gun.

“Damn it,” Nick snapped. He tried to retain his hold on both women as they passed out. “Couldn’t you have waited till they were in van?”

“Nope. That one there”—she pointed toward the blonde—“was going for your fly. You want to try explaining that to Katie when you get home?”

“Hell no,” he responded quickly then laid the women in the back of the van.

Suddenly, several things happened at once.

The agents inside stormed the second floor of the buildings. Gunshots mingled with the sound of raised voices and shouts. The weapon fire echoed outside and through the comms and Mikayla heard cursing coming from her team. She wished she were inside with them, but since she wasn’t, she did what she did best and watched their backs.

At the same time, Nick ran down the street heading back toward the building. Trinity caught a glimpse of the Mercedes coming around the corner again and she cursed under her breath. “Lynx, that Mercedes is coming back around!”

Mikayla swung around and saw the SUV turn the corner and idle about halfway down the street. “Something’s wrong,” she whispered.

“What is it?” Gage asked, looking over the side of the building to get a better look.

“I don’t know…”

“We’ve got the target in custody. Shut the fuck up, Kelner. You’re finished,” Sin’s voice barked out over the comms then he cursed viciously a second before the second floor of the building exploded.

Glass shattered as the windows blew out. Thick black smoke billowed up out of the newly created holes, trailing up and out into the open air. Gage threw his body over Mikayla’s as the blast of the explosion rocked the surrounding area with its shock wave. He covered both of their heads, trying to keep them safe from flying debris.

The impact lifted Nick clear off his feet so his body slammed to the ground, momentarily stunning him, and Trinity was thrown back into the van with a jarring thud. Mikayla struggled to push Gage off of her as she scrambled back to her knees. She lifted her head and her heart nearly stopped.

No. God, no.

This can’t be happening…

“Sin! Rock! Adrian! Team one, report!!” she screamed.

The silence that answered her was deafening.

“They can’t be…”

Mikayla and Gage stared at each other in abject horror as they waited for a response from one of the men inside the building, but there was nothing. All they could hear was the residual rumble from the blast through their comms. Mikayla held her breath as she silently prayed her team was okay. Fear mixed with rage as she called out again. “Goddamn it, someone answer me!”

The seconds seemed like an eternity as she waited. The flood of relief she felt as they heard a voice call out over the comms almost made her knees buckle.

“We’re still here. Repeat, inside team is A-OK,” Sin said.

“Ears are ringing some. Shit, someone tripped a fail-safe and the fucking office blew. We won’t be getting any data off those computers,” Adrian responded.

“We’ve got a big problem! There’s purple shit coming from the sprinklers,” Rock yelled.

“Get your masks on!” Sin ordered them.

“We need to get out of here!” Arvan Kelner screamed.

Oh, holy hell…

“Fuck! Nick, don’t go back in! Stop!” Mikayla cried out in panic as she listened to the conversation going on inside.

Nick got up and ran toward the building. He slid to a stop outside the side door, looking up at her in irritation as he heard her command. He wanted to be back inside helping the team and didn’t understand why she stopped him.

“They put the lust dust into the sprinkler system! Don’t go in!” Mikayla yelled out as she swung her rifle around to train it on the idling SUV.

“Why the hell would Kelner do that?” Gage asked. “He just dosed himself!”

“I don’t think it was him!”

Adrian’s voice rang out over the comms. “Fuck! Lynx, Kelner said the crazy bitch booby-trapped the damn place. We’ve all been dosed.”

“Who did this,” Sin snarled out. “Who do you work for?”

Before Kelner could answer the SUV peeled out down the street, trying to get away.

“Lynx! Stop them!” Trinity screamed as she shifted the van in gear to try to intercept.

Going with instinct, Mikayla aimed low and shot out the front tire without thinking. The SUV kept going so she pulled the bolt action back, extracting the empty cartridge, chambering a new round in one fluid motion and shot another tire of the speeding vehicle. She cursed as the SUV careened onto its side, went up on the curb then flipped over, crashing into Trinity’s van.

“Trinity!”

“Fuck, that hurt…but I’m still functional,” Trinity said then swore a blue streak as shots rang out. “We’ve got three tangos firing from the downed SUV. I’m pinned. Gotta move. Cover me!”

“I’m on it,” Nick said as he returned fire, taking cover around the corner of the building.

“I have no joy. On my way.” Mikayla picked up her rifle and was up like a runner off the mark. She heard Gage’s muffled curse as he ran after her down the flight of stairs to the ground level.

“What the hell is going on?” Gage yelled as he followed her.

“Kelner works for someone. I think the boss is in that car!” Mikayla called back to him as she flew down the stairs.

“Son of a… If you get shot, I’m gonna really be pissed at you!”

Mikayla laughed. “Love you too, and back atcha!”

“I mean it, Mikayla. If you get hurt I’m gonna spank that pretty ass!”

“Only if I get my turn after you’re done.”

Gage knew he was completely lost in love for the woman racing toward danger when his dick pulsed with interest at her words. He had never let a woman spank him before, but he was a little worried when it came to Mikayla. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her and, hell, he might actually enjoy it. Christ, he must be sick. Getting a hard-on in the middle of an op when they were being shot at couldn’t be a normal reaction.

But as Gage followed her down the stairs, listening to her laughter float back at him, something became crystal clear. Here they were, racing into god only knew what and she was enjoying herself. This wasn’t just something she was good at.

She loved her job.

“We can still fucking hear you assholes!” Rock yelled at them through the comms as Mikayla and Gage burst out of the building on street level at a dead run.

Shots rang out coming from the downed vehicle. Nick fired back at the SUV while Trinity took cover behind the van as she returned fire. Mikayla and Gage dove behind a parked car across the street from the firefight as another car came screaming around the corner, three men firing wildly from the opened windows.

“Shit! They have backup!” Nick shouted as he dove for cover. “Second vehicle on the scene. Multiple shooters! Denver cops should be on their way!”

“We’re coming out!” Rock yelled. “Bomb totally fucked the second floor, but we’re working through it.”

Mikayla fought with Gage as he tried to push her behind him, away from danger. She yanked at his shirt, pulling him down further as a bullet pinged far too close to his head for her comfort.

“Damn it, Gage! Stay the hell down!” she ordered him. She all but climbed on top of him as she propped the barrel of her rifle in between the side mirror and the front window of the car. She got into position and waited for a shot to line up.

“Come on, come on…” Mikayla whispered

She took aim and fired at the driver of the new car. The window exploded and the vehicle veered off, crashing into a parked car. Driver dead, the three other men in the car jumped out and began firing back at her.

“Driver is down. Second vehicle is neutralized. Three shooters still active from the second car. Three on the first.”