Chapter 3

• “I could have brought us here.”
• Brody put the SUV into park and turned to glare at Tess. She just wouldn’t let it go, but what else was new? “I would rather take twenty minutes to drive here and save your strength in case we need to get out of here in a hurry.”
• “I can do both . . .”
• Gritting his teeth, he ripped the keys from the ignition. “No.” Not wanting to pound the topic any further into the ground he got out, pulling his vest with him. Shrugging into it as he looked around, his stomach tightened. For a brief minute he was going to blame her for the reaction, but then he realized it was that feeling he got when things were about to go wrong. He grinned; maybe that was his extra talent, gut instinct. It was either that or his skill was getting shot—often, he had five bullet scars to prove it.
• They were out in the middle of nowhere with, from the looks of it no one around. Looking back from the direction they came from, a deserted road was laid out. A few half-collapsed buildings were scattered around the edges of a large parking area, Brody had parked behind the largest one there, hiding the truck from view if you were pulling into the parking lot. Turning back he studied the fence surrounding a large building. Empty parking lot, no movement near the building—all of it seemed wrong.
• Tess stood on the other side of the hood looking through one of Grayson’s little inventions, high tech binoculars that could take pictures or videos and send them back to their creator. “I don’t see anyone, not even any vehicles.”
• Brody moved around beside her, pulling his own binoculars out of his pocket to look through. “Get Jennah on the mic and see if they have any intel on what this place was.” He scanned along the building and Tess was right, not a single sign of movement anywhere. “Awful lot of security for a place that looks abandoned. Fences are probably electrified.”
• “Turn on your mic, Jennah’s on.”
• Shoving the earpiece that dangled around his neck into his ear, he continued to look along the perimeter of the building. “Jenn, any info on what this place was? It’s not going to be easy to get into.”
• “All we came up with is it was some sort of Government storage facility.”
• Tess moved back beside him. “Storage for what?”
• “We don’t know. I’ll get Grayson ready to help with bypassing alarms.” Jennah mumbled in a way that told Brody she was bothered.
• “Everything good there?” He lowered the glasses and looked down at Tess. “Start zooming in and sending the shots over to Grayson.”
• Jennah sighed. “Yes, sorry. Dom was giving me an update then was cut off.”
• He didn’t like the sounds of that. “Probably needed to focus elsewhere, Jenn —some of those places are a little unsavoury and he’d have to make sure Smithy’s ass was protected.”
• “You’re probably right.”
• “They’re sent.” Tess’s voice vibrated through the little speaker in his ear.
• “Rather than walk through the front gates, we’re going to head around to the smaller gate near the south side.” Brody informed all listening.
• “Get me a straight on shot of that.” Grayson’s distracted voice mumbled through the system.
• Without waiting for him, Tess began moving towards the building. Brody paused and scanned the entire area before following along behind her. The fact that there was no sign of movement didn’t sit well with him at all. “This place is a little too vacant.”
• “Think we’re too late?” Jennah asked.
• His stomach told him no. “No. My gut says otherwise.”
• “Mine says I’m hungry, but I just ate. . .” Jennah laughed.
• “I’m sending the best shots I can get from this angle.” Tess whispered into the mic.
• “You guys are going in?”
• Brody noted the concerned tone in Jennah’s voice. “We won’t find out much standing here looking through a fence. Tess can get us out if we run into any problems.” Stopping, he knelt down beside Tess. Switching the mic system off, he leaned down beside her. “We’re going in hot—I don’t like how quiet it is.” Tess stuffed the binoculars back into their case and nodded as she snapped open the clasp on her gun holster.
• “This system is all for looks, not much resistance.”
• Hearing Grayson’s voice, Brody turned the system back on. “Did you get the keypads on the door?”
• “Yeah, easy to bypass.”
• “Whenever you’re ready.” He moved towards the gate. “Moving to the gate now.” He didn’t have to look to see if Tess had his back, out of all of the team he was the most comfortable with her keeping bullet holes out of his ass. Trying to ignore the burning in his gut, he moved forward to the gate. Something just wasn’t right. It was almost dark, but they shouldn’t be able to move in like this, out in the open without seeing any life around them. They shouldn’t be able to walk right in.
• “Pop the bottom of the panel open and pull out the black and yellow wire—carefully.”
• Brody followed the instructions Grayson was saying quietly.
• “You’re going to cut the black wire, but only score the yellow one—do not cut it all the way through.”
• Pausing, Brody looked over at Tess with Grayson’s warning. Not everyone could play with wires with their eyes closed like Grayson could. Tess handed him some small pliers. “Right.” Keeping his hands as steady as he could he cut through the black wire and then with his breath held nicked the yellow one. “Am I exposing the wire on the yellow?”
• “Enough to touch the black one to it. Make sure it’s the end coming from the box and not the end to the gate. The gate end will most likely just set off an alarm.”
• Pulling the wires gently, Brody moved the end that led to the gate out of the way. The light was fading faster than he’d like, and he didn’t dare use a flashlight. Just because they walked right up to the gate, didn’t mean they were going to be able to walk right in; the less attention they drew to their location the better. “And when I touch this to the wire, what happens?”
• “The gate will unlock.” Grayson snorted. “I don’t know how long the timers are set by looking at pictures, so get your asses through and close it again.”
• Tess moved over to the gate, ready to open it and pass through.
• “Here goes,” Brody mumbled more to himself then anyone listening. As soon as the wire touched the other exposed metal there was a small click inside the box. “Now.” Lowering the dangling wires, he turned and followed Tess through the gate.
• They moved over to squat down beside a stack of wooden pallets. Tess scanned the area at the far end of the yard. Brody leaned around and checked the roof. Still no sign of anyone. “Got that door figured out?”
• Grayson made an annoyed sound into the mic. “It’s easier than the damn gate.”
• “Good to know.” Nodding to Tess, he moved out behind her as they booked it across the yard to the single steel door. Brody knelt down by the pad on the door, Tess almost touching his back as she watched. “Let’s make this quick. I don’t like being out in the open like this.”
• “I’ve got two possible choices here—are there two or three lights on the top?”
• Frowning at Grayson’s words, Brody looked over his shoulder feeling as if he was being watched. “Three, two lit up red beside each other the one on the right not at all.”
• “Yeah it’s the one I thought. Hold down the zero and pound key at the same time.”
• “And what does that do?” Brody held his hand over the pad.
• Grayson snorted at the other end. “Plays the national anthem—it opens the damn door.”
• “That easy?” Brody wasn’t an expert, but that seemed a little too simple.
• “Yeah. It’s a design safety in case there’s a power glitch—those units are known to reset and that’s the only way you can bypass them until the codes are re-entered from the main system panel.”
• “I’ll take your word for it.” Brody looked once more over his shoulder and then held down the keys. Both lights turned green and the lock clunked inside the door. “We’re in.” Opening the door, he drew his gun up and ready.