Bound by Valor (Squad Six #1)

THIRTY-TWO

Leora

“Before,” I said.

“After,” Logan rolled his eyes.

I flicked him hard on his head. He hissed and scrunched his brows.

“I said, after, Leo. You can’t have the mock mission before the damn mission. You might be out of action for a while after the mock,” Logan said sincerely.

I contemplated what he was saying. We were working together to load our gears with maximum effectiveness in the armory. We had plans to figure out how to arm our forces with the best, yet, lightest weapons and keep the team quick on their feet.

“Fine,” I sighed, “I’ll just do the mock in a month, then. If I’m doing it after Operation Icarus, I’d rather do it with the most preparation.”

He nodded as he smiled victoriously, “Good, I’ll whip up your training schedule for after the mission. Be careful though, it’ll be super tough with vigorous training and long hours.”

I curtsied, “Bring it on, Master Lo.”

A shadow passed through his face and his eyes became unfocused. He shook his head and slid three M5 magazines in my vest, along with two knives and five M18 magazines.

“How are you feeling? Light?” He asked.

I did a boxer’s skip and shadow boxed. Then I grabbed the M5 rifle from the table and did ten squats.

I nodded, “Feels okay. I think I can manage with more magz. Or even the 21-round magazine for my baby.”

“Now, now. Calling your gun a baby makes you exactly like me,” Logan laughed as he replaced my previous M18 magazines with the 21-rounds.

“I don’t mind being like you, Lo. You may be inappropriate sometimes,” he made a face as I continued, “And maybe even outrageously stubborn. But you’re loyal, powerful, and a damn good brother to Zarek and Dylan.”

He stepped closer to me and rested his hands on my shoulders. His expression, one of deep agony.

“I’m not…it’s not just Zarek and Dylan that I’m a brother to. It’s you too, Leo. Remember that.”

“You think I’ll die on this mission, don’t you?” I whispered and dropped my head to my chest.

“You’re strong, capable, and hell of a fighter. I don’t doubt you’ll protect yourself. But things can go wrong, very wrong, and you may not be ready.”

I met his gaze, my eyes brimming with unshed tears. As they began to blur my vision, I quickly looked away. But then he pulled me into a hug.

“Just stay away from the firefight. If there’s backup needed, then let Amelia handle it. I can’t lose you. We can’t lose you, okay?”

I could no longer control the sudden urge to sob. Tears flowed down my cheeks and Logan leaned back to wipe them away. Suddenly the door opened and Zarek strode in.

He jerked to a stop, his eyes widening, “You made her cry?”

“I…no…I was just,” Logan fumbled and Zarek grabbed my elbow and consumed me in a tight embrace.

“What did you do?” Zarek snarled.

“Nothing. I just said that I can’t lose her.”

I sniffed and added, “He also said that I’m like a sister to him. That blew the damn flood gates.”

I heard Zarek chuckle and hold on to me a little tighter.

“You said I’m next?” Zarek asked.

“Yep,” Logan’s voice cracked slightly and he cleared his throat, “Leo, you’re ready with the best arrangement. I’ll work with Zarek next.”

I nodded, got out of Zarek’s arms, and started taking my gear and uniform off. Once done, I kissed Zarek hard and fast.

“Bye, Lolo,” I smiled at Logan and he made an annoyed sound as I left the armory.

???

Days passed by in a blur of training, mock missions on the VR locomotive, and intense planning and reiterations. We had multiple contingencies in place.

Out of the twenty-eight mock missions we did, I was only needed for two for Icarus extraction. Logan was playing point on extraction with Dylan as his backup and cover. I was the backup of the backup. Logan and Zarek were slightly pleased that they might not need me after all, which only made me groan.

T minus twelve hours to Operation Icarus

“There it is,” Zane pointed at the projection on the wall showing live satellite feed of the warehouse, “Sixteen trucks rolling in and dropping off the shipment.”

“Most of them contain armored vehicles, I presume. Do we have a number?” Sebastian asked.

Zane shook his head, “We can expect at least ten of them to contain the vehicles. Assuming there are two in each, that gives us twenty armored vehicles. But that’s just an estimate.”

T minus two hours to Operation Icarus

Zarek walked over and whispered something to Sebastian and he nodded.

Zarek rested both his hands on the conference table and then his voice filled the room.

“Alright, team, this is it. The moment we’ve trained for. Every drill, every mock, it’s all been leading to this. Rely on your teammates. We stick together, we fight together, and we win together.”

“All right, Captain America,” Logan smirked.

Zarek clapped his hands together once, “Squad Six, report for Operation Icarus and gear up. ”

Every one of the Squad Six members stood up, hands to their side, looking straight ahead.

“Carlton 35543 reporting active, show me go.” Logan bellowed, a mirth in his voice.

“Rivera 32577 reporting active, show me go,” Zarek went next.

“Desmond 39901 reporting active, show me go,” Amelia said.

“Gill 34249 reporting active, show me go,” Kabir chimed in.

Dylan went last, “Desmond 39900 reporting active, show me go.”

Then, all eyes snapped in my direction. I realized then, what they expected from me.

Fuck. I’m part of this squad, aren’t I?

I hesitated for a moment and stood up, “Mateez 41556 reporting active,” I looked at Zarek and smiled, “Show me go.”

Zarek let out a heavy sigh and smiled back. A sense of pride filled my chest. I was incredibly proud of my squad and being part of such an elite team made my heart pound hard. It could have been nerves, or anxiety, but I decided to identify it as excitement and determination.

“I do not miss those days,” Sebastian chuckled.

The team split into two, men and women, and we headed to gear up on the ground floor in the Mobilization Bay. I saw three black X6s parked inside the building with dark tinted windows and no license plate.

Situated near the cars, were two rooms opposite each other. Amelia and Delara asked me to follow them to one and the men strode into the other one. The room was filled with our gear already placed meticulously. I slid into the full-body bulletproof suit and then put on the all-black uniform. I geared up, put my vest on and got out before putting my helmet on. Amelia and Delara were already outside, fully dressed, hovering near a large desk that had nine small cases sitting on top along with our weapons and magazines.

The doors to the men’s room opened and out walked all six of them—Zarek, Sebastian, Dylan, Logan, Zane, and Kabir. They were all fully geared. Their faces were invisible behind the ridiculously badass black balaclavas, helmets and goggles.

Zarek and Sebastian had omitted the full-sleeves black shirt and replaced it with a plain black t-shirt that was too damn temptingly tight on their biceps.

“Holy mother of God of all that’s hot and sexy,” I mumbled.

I heard Delara chuckle, “You’ll get used to this.”

I realized that I probably looked like a penguin with my helmet off, so I quickly put it on and clicked the strap under my jaw, hoping I looked half as badass as them.

Then I continued ogling Zarek and his strong tanned arms, his veiny forearms, and strong thighs.

I get to make love to this man.

I shook my head to stop thinking about a naked Zarek, doing deliciously sexy things to me. Fuck .

Get a grip, Leora.

Amelia whistled and laughed beside me.

“Stop eyeing them,” I whispered to her, “There’s your brother in there somewhere.”

She exaggeratedly shivered, “Yeah, I’m avoiding looking at the hulk, don’t worry.”

Zarek strode towards me and that’s when I saw a small label between his fingers. He placed it on my chest on the left and I saw that it said ‘Doc’ on it. I scanned the room and saw everyone had a call sign label on their chest.

I smiled behind my mask but I was sure he could see my eyes twinkling as he hugged me and kissed me with two layers of masks between us.

“You look sexy as hell, Doc,” he said and I laughed.

“You can barely see me.”

He joined me and laughed softly.

“All right, team,” Sebastian called out, “Grab your earpieces from this box. Get armed and load up in the X6s. Kabir, Zarek, Delara and I will carry the charge backpacks. Dylan, you get the backup charges.”

The team nodded and I picked one of the tiny boxes. As I opened it, I saw it had an even tinier device in it. It was as big as a kidney bean. I put the earpiece in and it pinged immediately, before going hear-through mode.

“This is Ghost, radio check, over.” Zarek’s voice sounded in the earpiece.

“Ghost, this is Gunner, Lima Charlie, over.” Logan .

“Gunner, this is Falcon, Lima Charlie, over.” Amelia .

“Falcon, this is Cipher, Lima Charlie, over.” Kabir .

“Cipher, this is Specter, Lima Charlie, over.” Zane .

“Specter, this is Ranger, Lima Charlie, over.” Sebastian .

“Ranger, this is Titan, Lima Charlie, over.” Dylan .

“Titan, this is Shadow, Lima Charlie, over.” Delara .

“Shadow, this is Doc, Lima Charlie, over,” I ended the radio check and the team nodded, arming themselves.

After a few seconds of silence and everybody eyeing each other, Sebastian’s voice echoed in the Mobilization Bay.

“Roll out, people!”

We poured into the X6s. I stuck with Amelia and Zane while others settled into their cars. The engines roared and when the garage doors opened tall and wide, the cars screeched out and joined the traffic.

A sense of irrefutable dread burned through me. I took deep breaths and closed my eyes to get my shit together. I was not going to let the nerves get the best of me. Not today.

Zane pushed a button on the dash, “This is Specter. Channel 415 entry point ETA is in 34 minutes.”

“Copy,” Logan’s voice came through.

“Copy,” Dylan joined.

When we reached the location that was a mile trek away from Warehouse 67, we saw multiple NYPD’s cop cars swarming the manhole near an alley.

“Don’t mind the blue, I called them,” Sebastian’s voice came through the car’s comms.

All of us, except for Zane, streamed out of the cars and gathered around near the cops. Zane reversed his car and drove off to the nearest private helipad where our rescue bird was waiting.

“Thank you, Officer Lee,” Sebastian shook hands with one of the officers on scene, “We could really use your help.”

“Too many favors, Blackthorn. You owe me a drink,” Lee laughed, “Or maybe ten.”

“Looking mighty sharp, Mr. Blackthorn,” a female officer joined their conversation. Sebastian went a bit stiff.

“Officer Grayson,” he nodded, “Are you the one patrolling the alley?”

“Indeed, I am,” she spoke in a low voice. Something about her gaze told me she was either pining over Sebastian, or imagining stabbing a voodoo doll of him. I couldn’t quite figure it out.

“Ranger, time,” Zarek mumbled.

“Right. We’re heading in,” then Sebastian turned to Officer Grayson, “Don’t fuck up, Grayson.”

Grayson gave him an amused smile and we all walked over to the open manhole, our flashlights in our hands. Sebastian climbed in and spoke through the earpiece, “All clear. Proceed.”

We all jumped in one by one. I followed in last and felt hands on my hips as I hung from the manhole. Zarek helped me down and kissed through the mask again.

“Shame that I can’t feel your lips, Mi Corazón,” Zarek whispered and suddenly I wished I could see his face.

“Good luck, Zarek. Come back to me in one piece,” we clunked our helmets together, a brief respite from the chaos that was to follow.

“I love you, Leora.” He whispered. Unfortunately for him, the whole team heard him through the earpiece. His declaration was followed by a series of ‘aw’s and ‘ew’s.

I saw him roll his eyes behind the goggles, “Sentrix mute.”

“Too late for that, Mr. Rivera.” I chuckled.

I saw his eyes crinkle with laughter and he pressed another masked kiss on me. “I fucking love you, Dr. Leora Mateez. Please, don’t let me fall. ”

I nodded gently, my gaze never leaving his, “I love you, Mr. Zarek Rivera. And I won’t.”

I didn’t bother muting, but no one responded in my ear. Our bubble burst just as Zarek unmuted himself.

“Ghost, lead,” Sebastian said and Zarek strode off ahead of the group.

I clipped the flashlight to the side of my helmet and remained at the back of the spear formation, closely stepping forward with Amelia.

The tunnel was now slightly lit and I could see how ill-maintained the tunnels were. The cement was cracked and jagged, the walls were damp and humidity filled the narrow space. We came across a path crossing ours, and Zarek held up a fist. Logan and Dylan peered through and swiftly angled their gun towards the left and right side of the crossing path.

“Gunner, left side clear.”

“Titan, right side clear.”

We continued on. Every now and then Amelia and I would turn back and study the darkness. No one had followed us in. No one was anticipating our arrival. After the mile trek, we finally reached the manhole underneath Warehouse 67.