Free fall, p.1
Free Fall, page 1
Free Fall
Brotherhood Protectors Colorado Book #7
Elle James
Twisted Page Inc
Contents
Free Fall
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Epilogue
SAVING KYLA
Chapter 1
Afterword
About the Author
Also by Elle James
Free Fall
Brotherhood Protectors Colorado Book #7
New York Times & USA Today
Bestselling Author
* * *
ELLE JAMES
Copyright © 2022 by Elle James
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
© 2022 Twisted Page Inc. All rights reserved.
ISBN-13: 978-1-62695-376-5 (Ebook edition)
ISBN-13: 978-1-62695-378-9 (Paperback edition)
Dedicated to my travel buddies Mike and Nora who put the A in Adventure. Love you guys so much. When do we leave for the next great trip?
Elle James
Author’s Note
Enjoy other military books by Elle James
* * *
Brotherhood Protectors Colorado
SEAL Salvation (#1)
Rocky Mountain Rescue (#2)
Ranger Redemption (#3)
Tactical Takeover (#4)
Colorado Conspiracy (#5)
Rocky Mountain Madness (#6)
Free Fall (#7)
Colorado Cold Case (#8)
Visit ellejames.com for titles and release dates
For hot cowboys, visit her alter ego Myla Jackson at mylajackson.com
and join Elle James's Newsletter at
https://ellejames.com/contact/
Chapter 1
With the roar of aircraft engines filling his senses, Matteo “Tayo” Perez waited for the cue that would launch the mission for his team from the 10th Special Forces Group out of Fort Carson, Colorado. A long way from the Rockies, they flew over the European continent on a top-secret tasking, only a handful of people knew about.
“Five mikes,” their team leader JT announced in the radio headset, holding up five fingers, the roar of aircraft engines drowning out most communications. The men knew what the five fingers meant and prepared. Five minutes until they neared the border between Poland and Belarus. Five minutes until the jump.
Tayo nodded and checked his rigging for the hundredth time since climbing aboard the C-130. He put his hands on his weapons, the magazines of ammunition tucked into his vest and adjusted his oxygen apparatus. He was prepared for the jump, his favorite part of the job.
The quiet before the chaos of battle. The adrenaline rush of Military Free Fall from tens of thousands of feet above the earth. The ground and their mission rushing up to meet them. Army Special Operations. Hoorah!
Tayo adjusted his oxygen apparatus and pushed to his feet.
JT opened the side door of the aircraft and stepped back. One by one, the twelve members of the Operational Detachment-Alpha team shuffled to the door and stepped out into a dusky sky, the sunset a thin orange line across the western horizon. Flying over Poland, they were to perform a High Altitude High Opening (HAHO) jump and float across the border into Belarus, landing in the dark in a farmer’s field outside the small town where Russian soldiers were holding a Ukrainian general.
Americans weren’t supposed to be in Belarus. If caught, they were under orders to say they were independent mercenaries. They had no identification documents on them and weren’t wearing US uniforms. The US was not supposed to be involved in the war Russia had brought to Ukraine.
Tayo’s team was to get in, find the general and get him out without letting on they were US soldiers. If they killed a few Russians along the way…so be it. Some sacrifices were unavoidable.
The one thing they couldn’t do was let on that they were American. The last thing the US needed was to initiate World War III.
The Russian leader had his finger on the nuclear button, rattling that nuclear saber with threats to NATO and the United Nations. The Special Operations team couldn’t afford to set off a nuclear war that could devastate all of Europe, with lasting effects on the rest of the planet.
When Tayo reached the door, he gave JT a thumbs-up and stepped out, plummeting downward. As soon as he left the plane, the engine noise diminished. Not long after, he released the chute from its rigging. The canopy unfurled and yanked Tayo up from his fall to the earth. With his GPS guidance in hand, he turned toward the drop zone, following the silhouettes of the other members of his team.
“Comm check,” JT said into Tayo’s radio headset inside his helmet.
One by one, the men made contact.
“Tayo, check,” he said when it came to his turn.
All twelve men were good to go. In the fading light, Tayo counted the other eleven parachutes, reassured that they were all heading in the same direction.
He floated for a long time, breathing oxygen until he’d descended below fourteen thousand feet. At that time, he removed the breathing apparatus and inhaled fresh air that didn’t have a rubbery smell or taste.
The silence was at once calming and unnerving. He chose to focus on the calming aspect.
The trick of parachuting into hostile territory was dropping in unseen. If any of the Russian troops spotted even one of them falling from the sky, they’d all become slow-moving targets for the Russians to pick off one by one.
Yes, they could rock back and forth beneath the canopy, but they would still be descending at basically the same rate. If the Russians were half-decent shots, they’d have a chance at taking all of them out. At the very least, they could pile into their vehicles, rush to the drop zone and finish them off.
Or, they could drop quietly into the farmer’s field, unnoticed, unexpected and completely undetected.
Tayo ran through the different scenarios and what he’d do should any one of them come to fruition. He had his rifle and could fire from the air, providing a small amount of cover for himself or his teammates.
His gut told him they’d land without incident. Once on the ground, they would need to move quickly to get into the town, find their target and make their way back across the border into the Ukraine where a Ukrainian helicopter would swoop down, pick them up and carry them back to the border of Poland.
All too soon, he neared the GPS coordinates. Ahead of him, several of his teammates were just touching down and gathering their parachutes.
Tayo guided his chute, aiming his landing in the field near the others, tucked his limbs close to his body and braced for impact. At the last moment, he flared his canopy, slowing him enough that he landed gently in the freshly plowed soil. He quickly gathered the silks and rolled them into a wad, released the harness and kicked dirt over all of it to keep it from blowing away.
The team spread out in a wide V, JT taking point and using hand signals. The less they used their radios, the less chance there was of someone picking up on their movements until it was too late.
The field was a kilometer from the edge of the village. Intelligence reports had identified one building within the town where the Russians were holding the Ukrainian general. Satellite images had identified the little town and a cluster of military vehicles and armored personnel carriers near the village square at the village center.
While JT and two others set charges on a couple of the APCs, five others would establish a perimeter around the target building. Tayo and the remaining three team members would enter the building and clear it, room by room, until they found the general, secured him and got him out of the building.
Alive.
The Ukrainians needed their general to continue their fight against Russian aggression. Every little win helped bolster their flagging spirits as the Russians leveled cities and tortured innocent civilians while the world looked on, refusing to join the fight. The fear of the Russian leader giving the order to launch nuclear missiles into Europe had every nation on edge and hesitant to join the Ukrainians in their struggle to maintain control of their country.
Tayo moved quickly, keeping up with the others. Ahead, JT arrived at the edge of town, slowed and eased into the shadows. His two wingmen joined him in the alley between buildings. Soon, the men in front of Tayo were swallowed up by the shade provided by the buildings against the full shine of moonlight bearing down on the little town.
Fortunately, scattered puffs of clouds skittered between the ground and the moon, giving occasional blackout conditions and allowing the men to move through the town, building by building, making their way to the town square and the two-story government building centered at one end.
As indicated by the satellite images, the town square was nothing more than a parking lot for 3 Russian tanks, 4 armored personnel carriers and several military trucks.
JT and the other two demolition experts placed the charges and the detonators on the tanks’ and APCs’ tracks.
Tayo, Mick, Tom and Gordy approached the two-story building and the sentri
In passing the supply trucks, Tayo glanced inside. The driver lay across the bench seat with keys dangling in the ignition, an AK-47 leaning against the passenger door. The back of the truck was empty but for a couple of discarded boxes.
Tayo moved on, careful not to disturb the driver. The explosions would wake him soon enough.
Coming in from either side of the building, easing up to it in the shadows, the four men split. Mick and Tom circled behind the building quickly.
Tayo and Gordy gave them time to get in position. Then they moved in.
Gordy made a small noise to distract the two guards in front.
Moving in silently, Tayo attacked the man nearest him from behind, dispatching him with his knife.
By the time the other man turned to see what was going on, Gordy had him by the throat, quickly silencing him. They dragged the sentries into the shadows between the buildings and converged on the door.
“Breaching,” Mick reported from the rear of the building.
Tayo tested the doorhandle. It was locked. Standing in front of the building, the two men were exposed to any Russian soldier or Belarus citizen who happened to wake up and see them. The clouds that had been covering the moon chose that moment to shift out of the way, allowing the moon to shine brightly down on the two soldiers.
Gordy pulled out the small crowbar he’d brought with him, fit it between the door and the frame just above the handle and made quick work of prying the door open with only a little cracking wood sound.
But even a little sound could be enough to alert the men in the trucks or those inside the building.
Once Gordy had the door open, Tayo raised his submachine gun with the silencer and ducked inside the doorway, moving quickly to one side of a wide entryway.
A Russian soldier emerged from a room to one side of the hall, rubbing his eyes.
Gordy came through the door at that moment.
Tayo fired, the weapon making a soft poomf sound. The man dropped where he stood. Gordy hurried forward and dragged the man behind a table.
Tayo ran down the hallway, pushing open unlocked doors. Inside the first room, soldiers lay sprawled on the floor asleep. Tayo dispatched them before they woke. Gordy cleared the room on the opposite side of the hallway.
One by one, they checked each room.
Mick and Tom met them halfway down the hallway.
Tayo tipped his head toward the staircase. He led the way up the stairs on silent feet. At the top, he and Gordy went left. Mick and Tom turned right.
After two rooms, Tayo tried the third door on the left. The handle wouldn’t turn. It was locked. He motioned for Gordy to apply his pry bar.
Gordy shoved the flat edge of the bar between the door and frame and gave it a forceful tap with the heel of his palm.
Wood split and held.
Quickly, he hit it again.
A loud crack echoed in the hallway, and at last, the door swung open
Voices sounded in the room beyond. Shouts in Russian reverberated against the walls as four soldiers leaped to their feet, reaching for weapons.
“We woke the bear,” Tayo murmured, spun through the doorway and to the side, aimed and pulled the trigger on his submachine gun.
Right behind him, Gordy dove through the door and came up firing. Their silencers made quiet work of the carnage.
Not one of the Russian soldiers managed to fire off a single round. Unfortunately, their shouts alerted others in the building.
Tayo ran through the room to the door on the other side. It too was locked. He reached out a hand.
Gordy slapped the pry bar against his palm.
Knowing they didn’t have much time before the remaining soldiers in the building woke and came running, Tayo jammed the bar into the woodwork and pried open the door.
Inside, a man dressed in a camouflage uniform with the blue and gold Ukrainian flag on his shoulder struggled to his feet. His face was swollen, with dried blood on his split lips and a gash near his left eye. Both eyes were swollen almost shut. His hands were bound with coarse rope behind his back. When he pushed to his feet, he pitched forward and would have fallen if Tayo hadn’t caught him first.
“Do you speak English?” Tayo asked.
“A little,” the man said, his voice cracking.
“We’re here to free you. Can you move on your own?”
The man nodded.
Tayo ran his gaze over the man. He was bruised and weak, but he was standing on his own. “Stay close to me.”
“I will,” the general said.
“Target secured,” Tayo said into his mic.
He pulled his knife from the scabbard on his hip and sliced through the rope securing the man’s wrists. Tayo grabbed the man’s arm and ushered him past the dead guards in the other room.
Gordy led the way out into the hallway.
Tom and Mick emerged from rooms at the far end of the hallway. Tom gave Tayo a chin lift and headed for the staircase. He and Mick led the way down. Gordy covered Tayo and the general’s rear as they descended to the ground level.
“Exiting to the rear,” Tom said into Tayo’s headset as he turned toward the back of the building.
Tayo and the general followed.
They weren’t halfway down the hallway when men stormed through the back door, guns held in front of them.
Tayo pushed the general to the ground and put his body between the Russians and the Ukrainian general.
Mick and Tom opened fire, taking down the Russian soldiers only for more to come in through the back of the building.
“How’re we looking out front?” Tayo asked into his mic.
“Got people moving about,” JT said. “Ready for some noise?”
“Yes. And we’ll head out the front,” Tayo said.
Gordy gave him a silent nod and turned toward the front entrance.
With Mick and Tom holding the attackers at the rear of the building, Tayo, the general and Gordy ran for the front entrance.
They’d just reached the door when JT called out, “Fire in the hole.”
A second later, an explosion shook the rafters.
Gordy opened the door and took point.
Tayo followed with the General behind him. Mick and Tom followed behind him, walking backward, covering their six.
Outside, in the square, all hell had broken loose.
Men leaped from the backs of trucks and emerged from other buildings on the square. They ran into the open, wielding their weapons, appearing confused, as if they didn’t know which way to shoot. Some aimed at their own people.
Gordy ran toward the cluster of vehicles parked in the square. Tayo and the general followed. Tayo glanced over his shoulder.
Mick and Tom ran after them.
In the first few minutes of confusion and darkness, with the only light coming from the fire from the damaged tank, the team and their mission blended into the chaos.
“Make for the southeast corner of town,” JT said into Tayo’s headset.
Thankfully, Tayo and the team had good heads for direction and had studied the satellite images to know which way was southeast. They swung wide of the destroyed tank and slipped between the other tanks and vehicles still parked in the square.
As they passed an armored personnel carrier, a Russian soldier leaped out in front of Gordy and shouted in Russian. Apparently, he’d been blasted awake and had left where he’d been sleeping without his rifle. In his hands, he held a grenade, his finger looped through the pin.
Tayo grabbed the general and shoved him behind the corner of the APC. Then he ducked his head around the vehicle in time to see Gordy swing his rifle around and aim at the man with the grenade.
