Angels_A Guardians Series Military Romance Read online

  He’d been more than a little relieved to hear that they were all married, because at least that explained why none of them had shown a hint of interest in him. Over-inflated ego, much? Pfft!

  “Beyond Jordan we have Logan McDonald and Evan Williams, two of Alpha’s newest recruits from Charlie and Delta companies. We’ve kept them off the Alpha Company books ‘officially’ in readiness for the Guardians operation.” JT explained, as the two guys at the end of the table nodded in acknowledgement. They were just as big as the other British guys, Danny, and Luke, but looked about ten years younger, at around thirty or so.

  Hollywood guessed that the guy with the dark copper hair might be the Scot, making the guy with the wavy dark hair the Welsh guy.

  “And finally, we have Kris and Yuri Bellikov. They come to us from Gregor’s company, and will be absolutely vital to us on the ground thanks to their ability to speak Russian.”

  Hollywood leaned back so he could see the men around the back of Kellen. They were similar in looks, with shaved heads and packed with muscle, and both looked pretty useful if you needed someone to back you up in a bar fight.

  “And last, but by no means least, straight from the US Marine Corps, we have Hollywood, AKA Don Hillwood, and Kellen Davis, courtesy of Tuck’s Stalwart team, who have very kindly loaned them to us.” JT smiled.

  Hollywood nodded a greeting to his new comrades.

  He watched the waiters come around the table, pouring glasses of champagne, and saw JT pick up his glass, as he stood at the head of the table.

  “I’d like to propose a toast.” He waited for everyone to stand up and raise a glass. “To the success of the Guardians, and to the people whose lives will be improved and saved, every time we win a battle. And to finally winning the war!”

  “Winning the war!” The team echoed, and Hollywood felt a shudder of anticipation somewhere deep in his chest.

  His whole career in the Marines had been about making a difference, and he’d never imagined being able to find a job afterwards that would ever give him the same sense of purpose.

  Looking around the room at the men and women of his new unit, Hollywood had a really good feeling.

  Someone might think he was mad, putting his life on the line to save a bunch of strangers, or stop a drugs or arms shipment, but at the end of the day, it was what he was trained to do.

  All he knew for certain was that he was really looking forward to the next phase of his adult life, and if it gave him the same level of satisfaction as the first phase, he would be a very happy man indeed.

  Chapter 2 – JT

  JT poured two cups of coffee and handed one to David Roan as they waited for the rest of the team to arrive.

  They were ten minutes early for the meeting, and JT was still trying to adjust to the new office.

  Guardians International Security was being run from a suite of offices two floors above Alpha Company, a deliberate decision, as it would make his arrival every day seem perfectly normal to anyone watching the building. He was getting into the habit of going up to the Guardians offices first, and then slipping down the back stairs to his Alpha Company office once he’d checked in with his new staff.

  They were a mixture of former police and military, unassuming looking characters, who would pass for secretaries and assistants, but who could disarm a man without blinking, and take down an assailant without putting down their coffee mug.

  JT smiled to himself. Ok, well maybe that was a little bit of an exaggeration, but it was fair to say that the people David had recruited to the team were more than up to the job.

  “How did your get-together go last night?” David stirred his coffee. “Not too many hangovers this morning, I hope? We need everyone awake and alert for the briefing.”

  “It was really good.” JT laughed. “And to give them credit, the only ones to get slightly tipsy were Danny and Luke, and they were nowhere near drunk.”

  “They were on their best behaviour, hmm?” David grinned.

  “Not so much best behaviour, exactly...” JT snorted. “After the meal, Danny gathered all the new guys together, and explained to them that Hannah, Abbey and Ellen were going to be the most important women in their lives for the duration of the operation. He then explained that if the new guys treated the women in anything other than a sisterly fashion, he, Luke and Jordan would happily take them to one side and beat holy shit out of the lot of them.”

  “How did the newbies take that?” David rolled his eyes, easily able to imagine Danny dishing out the warning.

  “To give them credit, they were pretty cool about it, and took the warning in good spirit.” JT acknowledged. “Hollywood was the funniest. He asked Danny to clarify what sort of ‘sisters’ he was talking about. Apparently, when he was in school, back home in Alabama, Hollywood was taught by Catholic nuns. He explained to Danny that just the mention of the word ‘sister’ was enough to put the fear of God into him.”

  “What was Danny’s response?” David asked.

  “He just grinned and said that was the reaction he was looking for.” JT chuckled.

  The knock at the door had them glancing up, and Logan and Evan made their way in.

  These two were the newest additions to the Alpha Company team, and JT had already been very impressed by their work ethic, and their quiet focus in everything they did.

  “Nice digs!” Evan grinned, looking around the room. “Not as good as the Alpha Company offices, but not bad for something set up inside of three months.”

  “Come in, guys.” JT beckoned them forward. “Meet David Roan, former Chief Superintendent with the Metropolitan Police, and our liaison with all things official.”

  “Good to meet you.” David shook hands with both men. “JT speaks very highly of you both.”

  “Pure bullshit, I can assure you.” Logan smiled.

  “Speak for yourself.” Evan laughed. “I’m awesome.”

  “No, you’re ‘awful’, asshole!” Logan snorted. “You never could spell for shit!”

  JT glanced at David and rolled his eyes.

  “Does this sound familiar to you?” He grinned. “It’s like Danny and Matt all over again, from ten years ago.”

  “How’s Matt doing?” Roan asked. “I haven’t seen him since January. How’re Suzy and the new baby?”

  “They’re doing great.” JT smiled. “We’ve got that new contract with the football club, and Matt has been busy co-ordinating the new team working with them. He’s doing a brilliant job, and we’ve even been approached by another club, looking to change their security arrangements at the start of the new season. If we can sign them up as well, we’ll need to expand the Midlands base by another fifty staff.”

  “Wow!” David nodded his head. “It sounds like you’re moving fast into the sports arena.”

  “We’ve worked with sports stars from the beginning, but with the soccer teams, it opens a lot of new doors.” JT nodded. “Plus, it means we can stay clear of all those snot-nosed teenage boy-bands. I swear, there was a point when I was ready to get them arrested for bad behaviour myself. I would have happily stood up as a witness against them. Obnoxious, entitled, talentless spoiled brats!”

  “I remember when you went with that one band on tour, and they kept running naked through the hotel fountains.” David grinned.

  JT grimaced.

  “Don’t remind me.” He winced. “I was trying to cover them up, while apologising to all the old ladies in the hotel lobby, at the same time as blocking the view of the paparazzi photographers outside the front doors.”

  “You should have just let the photographers take the pictures and flood the internet with them.” Hannah said from the doorway. “From what Danny told me at the time, they didn’t exactly have much to show off, so the embarrassment would have taught them a lasting lesson.”

  “I actually bumped into the lead singer a couple of months ago.” JT smiled. “He’s married with three or four kids, and he and his wife are running their ow
n garden centre. How times change.”

  Hannah was followed into the conference room by Abbey and Ellen, and they helped themselves to coffee before taking their seats at the table.

  Hannah pulled out her laptop and set it up, and was just walking along the wall, flicking on a row of TV monitors, when the rest of the men in the team walked through the door.

  “Grab a coffee guys, and then take a seat.” JT instructed, as Gregor and Tuck were the last to enter the room.

  Tuck gave him a curt nod, which told JT everything he needed to know about the status of the operation, and he made his way to the head of the table.

  When everyone was seated, all the coffees stirred, and teaspoons placed on the table, JT breathed deeply before beginning to speak.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our first operational meeting.” He smiled. “Just so everyone understands the situation, whilst we’re working completely independently of our governments, and do not directly take orders from anyone in Whitehall or Washington, we are still answerable for our actions, and the decisions we make. So, to ensure that we have every decision documented, all of the operational meetings will be recorded for posterity, and copies kept securely by Hannah, on a ‘just in case they’re needed’ basis. They won’t be handed over to the authorities unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

  JT paused while everyone digested this information. Nobody seemed in the slightest bit worried about the news.

  “Ok, then I’m sure you’ll all be keen to find out about our mission, and exactly what this operation entails.” He smiled. “I’ll pass you over to David Roan to give you the background.”

  David stood up as JT took his seat.

  “Thanks, JT.” He nodded, before turning to face everyone. “Our first mission involves the trafficking of a group of around a hundred women from Turkey, across Europe to Rotterdam.”

  JT looked at the assembled team members and noted the faces of the men and women as they changed, from being engaged and enthusiastic, to angry and determined.

  “We have a member of the trafficker’s inner circle reporting directly to us, so we’re able to know their every movement and every change in plans within minutes of it happening.” David continued. “We’ve been brought into play as the ‘fixers’ who are going to arrange an auction in Rotterdam, where the women will be sold to the highest bidders. That gives us an ‘in’ with the traffickers, and we’ve managed to get an agreement to insert a small team of security personnel, whose job it will be to ensure that the product arrives in Rotterdam in good condition, and more importantly, unmolested by the various police forces along the route.”

  “If we know where these women are being held, why don’t we just free them?” Kellen asked, obviously confused.

  David smiled sadly at Kellen, as if understanding where the man was coming from.

  “At the moment, not all of the women are in the same place. By the time they are, they’ll be on the back of lorries heading across Turkey. I agree, it sounds logical that if we know where they are, we should just go in and get them. But we’re not just looking to intercept one shipment.” He explained. “If we simply release this group, the traffickers will change the route for the next group. We’ll have saved a handful but lost the chance to save many more. But, if we plan this properly, we’ll have the opportunity to save many more potential victims and maybe even shut down this particular organisation for good.”

  “Of course, that won’t be the end of it. It never is.” JT frowned. “But if we can get a foothold with this group, and make the right contacts, that could allow us to infiltrate a much wider network. This is a vitally important first mission, not only because there are a lot of lives on the line, but also because we need to make contacts, so that it will be a stepping stone to the next operation, and the one after that. It’s going to take time and a lot of luck, but we could be starting something that will bring a large number of organisations to their knees. Whether we end with the gangs in prison, or in the ground, it doesn’t really matter. We just need to end them.”

  “Make no mistake… you’ll be exposed to things that no decent human beings would ever want to see.” David warned. “And you’ll have to stand by and watch things which go against everything you were ever taught about right and wrong, without lifting a finger to stop them. It will all be for the greater good, knowing that the big picture will see so many women and girls go free, but it won’t be easy, and if you don’t think you can handle it, then now’s the time to say.”

  JT watched the team-mates glance around the table, obviously looking for the first one to decide they couldn’t go through with the operation.

  To their credit, nobody bowed out.

  “Ok, then if you’re all still willing to go through with this, Hannah will start filling in the details.” JT explained. “We’ve got less than a week to get you all up to speed before we fly you out to Turkey.”

  David stood up ready to leave.

  “I wish you all good luck on this mission.” He nodded. “For the sake of all the women we hope to rescue, I really hope you’re as good as they say you are.”

  JT watched his friend leave the conference room and turned back to the team.

  He sincerely hoped they were all up to the task.

  Chapter 3 – Hannah

  Hannah waited for everyone to take a seat and open the folder in front of them.

  “The group we’re following have a base just outside of Moscow, but they rarely go back there.” She began. “They have properties in Ankara, Turkey, in Sofia, Bulgaria, in Zagreb, Croatia, and in Stuttgart, Germany, to name but a few that we know about. If you look at the map, you’ll find that the locations are strategically placed to be on the delivery route from Turkey to Holland. Rotterdam, to be specific. The victims are kidnapped or collected from various countries, and then shipped to Ankara to start their journey across Europe. The pictures in the folders are of the properties we know they use, as well as the trucks they use to haul the containers across the continent.”

  Hannah pulled up a map and cast it to the big screen in the conference room.

  “If you look at the monitor, you can see the exact route they’re following. Apparently, it’s been successful for more than two years, with a shipment on average every two to three months.” She pointed at a red line. “From Rotterdam, the women can be put on a ship to the UK, or anywhere in the world.”

  “How are they transported?” Kellen asked, glancing up from the folder in front of him.

  “Mostly by container, on the back of a truck.” Hannah confirmed. “It makes them easier to offload onto a ship when they get to Rotterdam. Occasionally, if they’ve picked up women in Eastern Europe or central Russia, they’re transported in smaller numbers in trucks until they reach Sofia, where the cargo is joined up and put in the back of the larger unit already travelling from Ankara. If they’re from southern Russia, they’ll be transported to Ankara either through Georgia, or by boat across the Black Sea.”

  “How many are transported from Ankara in any one shipment?” Yuri asked, frowning at the map.

  “For the past eighteen months, the shipments would average between fifteen and twenty women. The last two shipments have been larger, and we recently received intel that says the next shipment could be anywhere from eighty to a hundred.” Hannah replied, trying to keep the growl from her voice.

  If there had ever been a time when she’d wanted to be a man going on a mission, this was it. But then again, she’d probably shoot first and ask questions later, which wouldn’t be much good for the operation.

  “And do we know where these women come from?” Hollywood asked, looking extremely agitated.

  “The ones being shipped directly from Ankara could be from Asia, or they could be from Iraq or Iran.” Hannah explained. “Some will be Russians, and there’s a strong likelihood that there will be quite a few from Syria. There are tens of thousands of displaced Syrians trying to travel north into Turkey, thinking that it
’ll provide them with a stepping stone into Europe. Unfortunately, they think that if they travel in groups of three or four women together, that the larger numbers will keep them safe. It doesn’t. The traffickers pick them all up, kill the older women and traffic the younger ones.”

  “What age range are the women they’re moving?” Kris asked. “And are they all females?”

  “The youngest we know about are nine or ten, and while the older ones are more likely to be female, the younger ones, the children, could be either male or female. The traffickers cater to several markets, each one more sordid than the last.” Hannah explained, trying to keep her voice controlled. “They’ll keep the older ones in their forties and fifties, using them to keep the younger ones from causing trouble along the way, but generally, if they’re forty or over, they’ll sell them as domestic slaves once they arrive in Rotterdam.”

  “Fucking assholes!” Hannah heard the grumble from the other end of the table, but she couldn’t really tell who it came from.

  “So, how do we know all this shit?” Evan wondered. “I mean, traffickers don’t usually publish their itinerary.”

  Hannah smiled.

  “No, they don’t.” She agreed. “We have two sources of information. Firstly, the official channel, from whom we get the details they want us to have in order to facilitate their business. That’s the contact we’re dealing with to set up the auction at the other end, in Rotterdam. They obviously don’t sign their name to anything, but I have a hunch I’m probably dealing with the sister of the man who runs everything. Then we also have someone on the inside who is leaking information out. They’d already contacted me, even before the Guardians ever existed, and they’ve been communicating with me constantly for the last six months. Between the two of them, they’ve given us enough information not only for us to get a foot in the door, but to actually come up with a credible plan to rescue the women.”