"Not long. She has to get back to work. She'd planned on two weeks including your wedding. She'll be leaving almost as soon as we get back." Matt sighed. "We'll plan a trip out to see her in a few months. Geo will want to see where she lives, and I think giving Geo a chance to travel will be fun."
"He'd love it." Noam grinned, then glanced at Bryon. "So what will you and Becca do now for a wedding?"
"I'll leave that up to her. She'll try and make me run down to the courthouse for a quick wedding, but I'll refuse. I want her to have a real wedding. We'll plan something but she really wants Faith there, so it may have to wait until Faith can get more time off." Bryon hated waiting, but he would do whatever Becca wanted. "Becca will have to work around her schedule as well. She took her two weeks to come here and then go on our honeymoon. That's all changed now, but she can't easily get another two weeks off work."
"Where did you plan to go on your honeymoon?" Noam asked.
"Fiji." Bryon sighed.
"Wow, that sucks missing that trip."
"We can plan it again, but I was really looking forward to having her to myself for a week." Bryon didn't want to think about all the time they'd missed together. "But we've saved kids and that is more important. I know Bec and she wouldn't choose a vacation over saving kids. She would have wanted things to go just like they have." He glanced down as a text came in on his burner phone. He read it and then looked up. "It's Carter. He's been tracking people on the elevator. He says everyone who should be on this floor is here. He also found a video of them bringing the children up to the floor around three in the morning last night. Said there was a woman with them, and he never saw her leave. That means we might have one another person to deal with."
"Do we drug her?" Archer asked.
"Play it by ear. My guess is she's there to take care of the kids. We have no way of knowing how involved she is. At the least confine her. Tie her to something. If she fights us, drug her. If we have to drug her, don't leave her in with the kids after. Drag her out with the others. I don't want the kids freaking out because she can't move." Bryon set his phone down after sending a quick text back to Carter. "This changes nothing. We should have expected they'd have someone caring for the kids all day and there for them after the men finish with them."
"How do you guys do this all the time?" Archer asked. "I'm a nervous wreck."
"This one is different. We usually have weeks of planning and know what we're walking in on." Kacey shrugged. "Tonight, we have no clue what we're going to find. We're taking down a congressman, and we are at a location with thousands of cameras and tourists. You can't compare things. I'm nervous too."
"We all are, but we're the best and we're going to be successful tonight. In a few hours, we'll be home, relaxing with a cold beer, and planning our trip home in a few days." Bryon leaned back. "It will all be over soon." He hoped his words were true because his own nerves were about to push him over the edge.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
They'd been lucky enough that Bryon could watch from their room door as Matt walked down the hall and spoke to the guard outside the room where the party was being held. The plan was for Matt to take down the guard, then the rest of them would join him. The issue was, would Matt be able to take down the guard?
The man guarding the party room wasn't very big, but Bryon knew from experience that size didn't always matter. If the guy was trained, he'd be ready for an attack. Hopefully, Matt appeared harmless enough the guard wouldn't feel a need to be worried about anything. All Matt had to do was get that needle into the man's neck and push the plunger. The drugs would do the rest.
Bryon held the door barely open, watching through the crack as Matt approached the guard. He smiled and said something Bryon couldn't hear. The guard smiled back. A moment later, Matt reached into his pocket, pulled out the invitation, and handed it to the guard. As the guard focused on the paper, Matt quickly pulled out the syringe and had it in the guard's neck before he could react. The guard jumped and swatted at Matt's hand, knocking him back.
"Be ready," Bryon told the rest of the group. He prayed that Matt had been able to inject the man with the drug before his hand had been swatted away. He didn't have to wait for long to find out. Within seconds the guard started to fall and Matt quickly reached out, easing the large man to the ground before there would be any sound of him falling. "Let's go." Bryon swung the door open. There was no turning back now.
The team moved, getting to Matt's side quickly.
"Did he get the full dose?" Xander asked, bending to pick up the syringe and looking at it.
"I think so." Matt nodded.
"Yeah, it's nearly empty. Good work." Xander pocketed the syringe to dispose of later, then handed Matt a black mask to put on.
Matt took the mask and slid it over his head as Bryon took the key card from the guard.
"Once we're in, don't hesitate. We don't know who's armed." Kacey pulled a gun from his pocket. They only had two since none of them could fly with guns when they came to Vegas. Archer and Carson had brought two back with them when they'd traveled home with Beau. Hopefully, it was enough. They hadn't planned on a big sting at the time to prepare and get more. While Danny had guns at his home, they couldn't use them because of the risk of them linking back to him.
Xander pulled his gun out. "Ready."
Bryon took a deep breath, then quickly slid the card into the lock. The moment the door opened, they all rushed in. They'd planned on arriving a little late so that the others would all be there, but not late enough that anyone would have time to attack the children. They couldn't be sure of their timing, but as they hurried into the room, Bryon was relieved to not see any children around yet and all of them men standing around a bar to the side of the room.
"Don't move." Xander pointed the gun at the men as the rest of the team rushed at them. Within seconds, Noam and Kacey had two of the men down, syringes still stuck in their necks. Bryon grabbed another man who dropped his glass. Glass shattered on the floor at their feet, but Bryon ignored it. He blocked a fist that came at him and countered with the syringe, managing to get it into the man's neck and barely push the liquid in before another fist caught him against the jaw. He fell back, pain coursing through him, and he saw stars for a moment before recovering. Ignoring the pain, he watched as the man fell to the floor. Unsure if he'd gotten enough of the drug into him to keep him down for long, Bryon pulled out a second syringe and injected the man. It wouldn't hurt him but would take longer to wear off than others who just got one dose.
"Clear," Xander called. "Everyone is down."
Bryon stepped back and looked around, stunned it had been so easy. It showed how good his team was that there hadn't been a shot fired or any major fight as they took the men down. He stared at the men on the ground, wondering what was wrong with a man to make him want to hurt innocent children. It was something he'd never understand. "Secure the suite and the kids." Bryon moved to start searching the suite to make sure there weren't any other adults other than the woman watching the kids around while Archer and Noam went to the bedroom where they assumed the kids were being held.
"We're clear." Matt came in after checking the second bedroom.
"Kids?" Bryon asked.
