Defending Hannah

Chapter One Benjamin “Midas” Grant sat in the back of the C-17 flying into Panama in the dead of night. Earlier that day he and his team had been given a mission to rescue hostages who were in the custody of a human trafficker. His team’s mission was to get the hostages out, and download information from the dealer’s computer, and highjack a shipment of drugs before being flown out tonight at Calzada Larga Airport. A secondary Delta Force team from Texas was there for support. Ben had worked with Bulldog’s team several times over his seven years being a Delta Force. Ben looked over at his teammate, Hound, who had contacted his FBI contact a week ago to find a kidnapper in Portland to help his friend find a missing woman. Hound was their computer genius and would be downloading the data from the computer. Ben could get by on a computer but nowhere near Hound’s level of skill. Ben went over what he needed to do one more time in his head. This was the stuff he lived for. Not settling down. There was no room in his life for a woman unless it was just for a romp in the sheets. His mom thought at thirty-three he should be looking to settle down, but Ben lived to stop terrorist and rescue hostages he didn’t think he could ever give this life up until he couldn’t do it anymore. Only one woman had ever made him contemplate that once. Hannah O’Connell. She was everything a high society miss should be. Fashionable, well taught and for some unfathomable reason, she had wanted him. Her parents, of course, didn’t approve but they didn’t stop them from hanging out during the summer. It was the only time Hannah could escape her mother’s scheming to turn her only daughter into the toast of Portland. Her Father, Charles ran a shipping empire and wanted only the top of the line for his family. Both sons had gone into business and Hannah was expected to become some corporate tycoon’s arm trophy. Hannah wanted nothing to do with that lifestyle. She used to make up all kinds of stories where he would ride in on a horse and rescue her like she was some kind of princess and he, the knight. He may be a farm boy from Texas, but he wasn’t stupid. There was no way he could steal Hannah from the O’Connell’s, and there was no way he would ever get their blessing. He could still remember when they first met. His family used to travel out to Portland every summer and one summer he met Adam who had taken Hannah under his wing because even her brothers couldn’t be bothered by her. She had done nothing wrong except be born a girl. Ben and Adam had taught her to fish and hunt. Ben told her he wanted to be a soldier when he got older and would make up missions to go on and to see if he could avoid the enemy. Hannah hated always being the enemy, and she always gave them hell when she finally found them or when he finally gave up on hiding because it was taking her to long. His calling came into question the last summer before he left for boot camp. All thoughts he engrained in his head about friend only Hannah O’Connell died and turned into a new direction. He couldn’t surrender his dream now. She was too far out of his league. A woman like Hannah would never understand his drive or passion and try to force him to leave the Army. Not a chance. Ben shut down his thoughts of Hannah. It was time to go to work. Ben checked his weapons one more time and did a mental mapping of Alejandro’s mansion and grounds. He and his team were to HALO, High altitude low opening jump to the west end of the property and make their way to a warehouse near the beach and rescue the hostages being held under the warehouse and find the office that was down there. Bulldog’s team would secure the shipment. The light at the end of the C-17 turned from red to green and blared an annoying alarm before a crew chief member pressed a button that opened the rear door. Ben stood up and led the way. Time to save the day. Ben eased onto his stomach and looked through his NVD’s to check the perimeter. It looked like Bulldog and his team was already taking down their targets and securing the shipment. Well damn, he thought. They were good, he’d give them that, but so was his team. “One to six,” Ben whispered into his mic. “Six to one go.” Came a static reply. “One moving in.” “Ten-Four.” Ben checked his surroundings once more before moving out of the cover of the trees towards the building. The grounds were relatively quiet, and Ben easily navigated around the security. Unease crept up his spine, but Ben kept going. This was what he was trained for. Alejandro didn’t have many security cameras set up or guards patrolling the fence. This was almost too easy. This guy was a renowned trafficker and was selling weapons to ISIS. You would think he would have more security on his property to protect his investments. He hustled across a clearing, feeling exposed until he came up to the west side of the building. He pressed himself against wall blending into the shadows. He listened to hear if someone had spotted him, but there was no cry of alarm. He signaled his team to move up watching their surroundings. The team quickly emerged from the foliage and raced to the building. They slid along the building until they saw a window above them. Ben nodded to Doc and pointed up. Doc glanced up at the window and nodded. It was fifteen feet above the ground. Well overhead but with a boost Ben could help him clear it. Bending his knees and cupping his hands Ben gave Doc a boost up. Doc grabbed the windowsill and peaked inside. “Clear,” he whispered and pulled out a knife and pried the window open. He hoisted himself up and dropped down inside silently. The rest of the team quickly followed. The height was too tall for him to jump by himself, but he had to try. He took a few steps back and took a deep breath. He could have asked for a rope and hoisted himself up but where would the fun be in that? Besides, he saw Jackie Chan do it in a movie once, so he could do it too, right? He was named Midas for a reason. Ben ran to the wall and jumped at the last second and dug his boot into the concrete and pushed up. He reached out and grabbed the window sill. He was barely hanging on by his fingertips. Not quite a Jackie Chan move. Ben felt his grip slipping. He was exposed just dangling from the window. A rookie could take him out without even trying. The toes of his boots crapped along the concrete making more noise than he would have liked. His hands were sweating, loosening his grip even more. Just as he would have fallen Doc’s head popped out of the window and grabbed Ben’s arms and pulled him up. Once he was inside he sighed in relief and thanked Doc. “Not so golden after all.” Doc smacked him on the back and moved through the room. Ben scowled at him, but Doc’s back was already to him, so it was a waste. It was the first time he had ever tried doing that. Give him a break. Ben lifted his weapon at the ready and the team swept the area. It only took a few minutes to do a sweep of the warehouse, but he didn’t see anything that would indicate a door leading under the warehouse. Ben was about to call it quits and meet up with Team Two to formulate a new plan when Hound, their youngest teammate held up a hand to stop them. Ben wasn’t one to question Hound. If he picked up on something, they all paid attention. “What have you got?” Ben asked crouching down next to him. Hound pointed at the floor behind two crates. A small crease in the floor was covered in dust. There was the trap door and the crates were the camouflage in front. They jogged to the trap door and it took a bit of muscle from three of them to move the crates and lift the door. It was pitch black below them. “Switch off NVD,” Ben ordered, and they flipped up the night vision goggles. Weapon ready Ben peaked down into the hole and made sure it was clear before jumping down. He carefully made his way down the hallway until he came to a heavy metal door with a latch. The door appeared to lock from the outside. Strange. There was no time to ponder the mystery though. They had an office to locate and hostages to save. Ben quietly turned the hatch and eased the door open. There was only one hallway to go down. He moved along the wall, they checked two rooms that were empty except for a metal lab table. He turned the knob to the next one, but it was locked. Locked meant something important was behind it. Good thing there wasn’t a lock that could keep his team out. “Sunshine, lock,” he called back. Sunshine, the pretty boy of their team, kneeled in front of the door and pulled out several tools from his kit and smiled in triumph after a few moments when he heard the click of the door unlock. “There isn’t a door out there that I cannot unlock,” he said proudly before pocketing his tools. Ben smiled; sometimes it was the little things that gave one the most joy. He pushed open the door and rushed in weapons aimed but stopped short at the sight before him. “Holy s**t,” he said in disbelief.