Chapter 148

Only a few hours later, Valkyrie very quietly got herself ready in her combat gear, tied her hair up, gave Nadia and Laila kisses on the cheek and left the room. Downstairs were her brothers. Saracen, Dexter, Ghastly, Erskine and Anton. They were also dressed in combat gear and weaponing up.

When she entered they nodded to her. On the coffee table was a new holster – her new gun holster. She put it on, Ghastly helped her adjust it, and she loaded up. This was not her first mission with a gun, and it wouldn't be her first mission she may have to kill someone by a long shot, but it was the first time she was so well armed and prepared going in. The holster felt very official.

Silently, they loaded in the minivan leant to them by the American Sanctuary and set off. It was only three in the morning but this was necessary. It took them two hours to get into the nearest major city where their suspect was. They parked not far from his building and Anton and Erskine, covered up so their combat could not be seen, left the blacked-out van and took a stroll around to the other side of the building. Valkyrie and Dexter jumped into the front seats after them.

Next was the waiting game. They were still and patient, waiting for any sign of someone leaving or returning. They didn't have a description of their guy, but they were told it was a male working alone from this building. They had to trust the American detectives knew what they were talking about.

Their half-hour of scoping went by. No lights went on, no sounds, no inklings of knowledge from Saracen. A whisper through the headpiece from Anton and they were out of the car.

Quick as they could, Valkyrie and Dexter jumped from the car and ran at the building, Valkyrie slamming the front door open with her boot. She screamed for everyone to put their hands up, but no one was in the front hall. She and Dexter ran through the front of the house and met with Erskine and Anton in the middle. There was an upwards staircase and a downward one. Saracen came in behind them and indicated there was two upstairs and two down.

Valkyrie and Dexter went up, Ghastly backing them up, while the other three went down. It was living quarters upstairs but that didn't stop them being armed – a large man, extremely large, almost twice the size and weight of Anton, jumped out in front of Valkyrie and grabbed the end of her gun, yanking it painfully from her hands. She barely even lifted her eyes to see his face before it was gone.

Ghastly and Dexter responded with gunfire but the man's clothing was bulletproof – his face and feet weren't as it was discovered. Valkyrie grabbed her gun back from the very dead man as he fell down and put it back up as another man came through the door holding a pinned grenade.

"Stop!" She demanded, and the man hesitated. He was a scrawny man, pale, of Asian ethnicity. "Drop the weapon and get down on the floor and we won't shoot!"

The man started shaking in fear but it didn't otherwise move. He was the only other person up here, and Valkyrie didn't want all her suspects killed.

"Drop it! Now!"

The man did, but it caught on his finger and the pin came out. She could see the shock, horror and fear on the man's face as he watched it fall but Valkyrie was already moving. She booted it into the room, a small bedroom with just a mattress, and pulled the man out, closing the door behind her. Her brothers had already grabbed the man and were running, Valkyrie coming after them. A moment later was a house-racketing boom.

The poor man had peed himself in fright and was relying on her brothers to frog march him downstairs as his knees were shaking so bad. He kept saying something in another language but Valkyrie didn't understand. It could be a ploy, but she suspected he was a prisoner or a slave, brought here only to work for whoever was in charge - not unheard of in any country. She patted him down and did find a single bullet but no guns. She threw it to the floor and looked him in the eyes. There was only fear reflecting back at her. She was satisfied with his innocence, such as it was.

Downstairs there were bullets flying so Valkyrie and Dexter left Ghastly to hold their prisoner and went downstairs to back up their brothers. It was dark, so Dexter flipped a light switch and stayed on the stairs for the high vantage point while Valkyrie jumped the bannister and landed next to Saracen who was holding back a man in a room down the hall. Together, they shot at the man when he leant out of his hidey-hole and slowly they advanced around the boxes and broken furniture as there were roars of anger and pain behind them from the other gunman and their brothers. There was a lull in her and Saracen's battle and Saracen immediate jumped up and she followed blindly. They stormed over to the man and Valkyrie kicked the semi-automatic out of his hands before he had the chance to fix his next lot of bullets to it. A few kicks and quick movements from Saracen and he expertly had the man on the ground, unable to move and totally vulnerable.

"Who are you?" Valkyrie shouted.

"None of your fucking bus–"

"Cub, watch out!" Saracen roared and Valkyrie turned just as another grenade was thrown right behind her. Valkyrie had no time to do anything other than shut the door to their room. Only a second later the grenade exploded, shaking Valkyrie to the ground.

Saracen had lain over their man already and was safe, but Valkyrie was winded, had dropped one of her guns and her eardrums were broken from being so close to the blast. Saracen was also in bad shape but nothing like her. A piece of the door was embedded in her hand. She hadn't worn her gloves because it was already so warm.

She hissed out in pain but refused to scream. She writhed on the floor for a moment, all reason out of her head from the pain, but as soon as it came she was able to overcome it and sit up. She grabbed her gun with her good hand, being very careful not to move the other, and stood up on shaky legs. She couldn't hear a thing, her eyes were watering so badly she couldn't see anything but shapes, and she was confused. Saracen was on the floor with their man and Valkyrie walked out the hole in the wall. There were sparks and colour in the direction of her brothers. She saw purple and knew that was Dexter, stumbling forwards. She blinked rapidly, her head telling her sit down, don't get closer, but her legs just kept moving anyway. She wanted to stop this man now.

Something pushed into her and she fell down, landing on her bad hand, and she screamed. She saw a big figure, massive, aim something at her and without hesitated, she shot first.

She heard nothing but ringing in her ears but did feel the hand on her shoulder and someone picking her up. She passed out not long after, but with the knowledge that they had succeeded.

.*****.

She awoke sometime later in the back of a van with a doctor wrapping a bandage around her mud-covered hand. She felt her head and her stinging ears and realised she could hear again and within a second, all her memories came back.

"Where's my family?" She asked the doctor who almost jumped out of her skin.

"Oh!" She gasped. "I didn't know you were awake! Your family is fine Miss Cain. They're being processed by the detectives."

"Processed?"

"Yes. Debriefed, I think they say in Ireland, but less formal. You can go home soon I think," she smiled, though it was filled with tension.

Valkyrie just nodded and soon the doctor was finished with her job and Valkyrie was allowed to leave the van. Well, she wasn't, but she was well enough to do so without the doctor calling someone to force her back in. Anton, Erskine and Dexter had been hurt also in the fight, but they looked to be minor wounds that were being treated as they talked with someone official. They seemed irate and were talking loudly. Valkyrie sat close by and listened in, getting angry also when she found out what was going on. They were taking over their investigation.

"Yes, but this isn't an investigation," the man in the suit kept saying. "You are a squad sent in to grab the suspects, not detectives!"

In the end, they backed down and left, but they were all seething mad. They hadn't realised that they weren't able to follow through with taking a case from start to finish. They really were just a squad being used to take down dangerous criminals so the American's didn't have to risk their own skin. It almost hurt to be treated like that, but after a phone call with Corrival where he chewed them out, they realised it was a political thing. They were being used because they were good at it, and as long as they were there, the American's were going to send them all over to stop as many high profiling criminals as they could. Unfortunately, Valkyrie knew of more than a few infamous criminals. She wondered how many of them they were going to have to take down.

They got home and sat in the living room.

"Well," Erskine sighed, rubbing his shoulder where a bullet had grazed him. "That went terrifically."

They grunted back.

"Aww, come on guys," he responded pleadingly. "Don't be mad. It's only nine in the morning, you can't be mad all day."

"Yes we can," Valkyrie told him immaturely.

"Val! You weren't meant to be on my side!"

"Nope. I'm mad," she told him, taking her harness off. She didn't deserve cool things. She had gotten blown up.

Nadia came out of the kitchen dining area with a smile then and locked eyes with Valkyrie. Her anger seeped away like a little traitor.

"Hey," Nadia said, looking over them all. "I made breakfast if you want some?"

They all nodded and they split between the too-small dining area and too-small living room. Her hand hurt like hell, but after her warm waffles and chopped fruits with a really good citrus smoothie, plus a few leaves, she felt a ton better. She used a flannel to 'wash off' quickly – they didn't have the room or literal time for everyone to have baths every time they went out of the house – and change her clothes. Then she changed her mud bandage with some help and they were all set.

Their first proper day in America as a family.

I wish I could post the next chapter immediately after this but I don't have time and my bf is going to get mad if I don't come to bed seeing as it's half midnight! I enjoyed myself anyway ;) just so people know, I will be doing some time skips in America, I cannot go over everything. The American Section is to allow time to go by in Ireland anyway. I'm writing roughly the time Nadia has her eighteenth birthday right now - a reader is talking to me on Discord and got to see the spoilers, if you comment you may get the same luxuries :P Trust me, it'll be the best birthday ever!