Encrypted Connection

Blaise: Eleven

Blaise cleared his throat and hid his grin.

When Joey woke him up this morning, or tried to at least, everything came back to Blaise in pieces as he got up and ready.

And frankly, he was embarrassed.

He hadn't meant to unload all that on the kid, and he promised himself he'd cool it from now on. Be cool. Be calm. Back off.

But right now, he couldn't worry about any of that.

The team split up, one parked six houses back from Madame K's compound, and the other six the other way. Blaise accessing the map Joey had thrown to their pads, marking points of ingress and egress. He set the teams in his head, and then he dolled out responsibilities.

As he was doing so, he couldn't help but remember that one of the eleven he was assigning to this detail had turned.

Even still, he repeated what Joey said in his headset to the open com mic, and he gave the team their assignments.

"Brick, you ride with Silvo and me. Paul–Jade, take the back. Roberts–Deeks, left side. King–Llanes, right side. Coats–Vega, find us a cool egress if we need it. We apprehend Madame K and Serkov. We make sure the girls are safe. We get in and out."

He waited a moment.

"Any questions?"

They all negged out, and that was all Blaise needed.

"Move out."

They stood out like a sore thumb in the mostly suburban neighborhood, but they kept to the property lines, Blaise, Silvo and Brick moving with eyes on the front gate.

"Breaching property," Silvo said, then putting his long gun to his shoulder.

He took lead, Silvo behind, Brick bringing up the rear.

"Paul and Jade, set your breach," Blaise said, and Silvo set the remote charge in the locking mechanism of the large, wrought iron black gate in front of them.

Blaise knew that Joey had taken care of the cameras.

"On my count. One, two," at the next count, two simultaneous explosions happened, and just as Blaise knew they would, Jade signaled that the assailants were moving towards them.

That left Blaise and his team to go in almost undetected.

Almost.

Tap. Tap.

Two bodies fell, Blaise kicked their weapons away and Brick flipped them and zip tied them just incase.

The front door was unlocked.

"We're in."

The working parts went to work, and Blaise could hear gunfire in the distance. He trusted his team to be smart and draw fire, not put themselves in danger.

Silvo took down a few men coming up from the basement, handguns drawn, and Blaise covered the stairs and banister. They were moving fluidly now, and Blaise signaled to the basement, and they went down in formation.

"Coats–Vega. Ready with egress?" Blaise asked quietly.

"Copy that," Vega came back, "Vans at the door. Suspect subdued as they tried to flee."

A bullet whizzed by Blaise's head as he was about to turn the last corner.

Silvo plastered himself against the wall as more flew their way.

Blaise took down low, giving cover, and Silvo slipped to the other wall, and it was only a matter of time before they'd cleared the way.

Brick stayed close, and when Blaise finally opened the last door, satin red and decked out in black fixtures–there was nothing.