Cease Fire. Janie Crouch

supportively. “My wife was pregnant with twins, so I know what cranky looks like. And you’re only a little bit like that.”

      The rest of the team chuckled, even Derek, their leader, so Roman knew he’d been pretty bad. John Cornell and Saul Poniard, two guys not part of the normal SWAT team, were with them—Poniard probably still trying to get bonus points like he had at the wedding—looking both confused and amused at the banter. Cornell studied them all like they were science projects. The guy gave Roman the creeps.

      “I’d be irritable, too, if I had almost been blown up,” Ashton Fitzgerald, the team’s sharpshooter, said. “Oh, wait, I was almost blown up.”

      Lillian rolled her eyes again. “You found the love of your life in that situation, Fitzy. Weber didn’t. So you’re not supposed to be cranky.”

      Fitzgerald held out his hands in mock surrender. “I’m just glad you guys aren’t mocking me about being Summer’s handyman anymore.”

      Even Roman had to smile at that. They’d teased Ashton mercilessly over his crush on Summer Worrall and the fact that she’d thought he was her condo building’s handyman for the longest time.

      “Oh, I’m sure she still thinks you’re handy.” Liam wagged his eyebrows. “Just for more than fixing her sink now.”

      “All right, boys and girls, it looks like nobody is getting a beer tonight,” Derek said, breaking in. “We just got a call. Emergency hostage drill at the simulator.”

      Nobody groaned out loud, but everybody wanted to. Not that they minded being thrown extra training at the end of a long day. They expected that, even welcomed it, to keep the team focused and prepared.

      Their apprehension lay with the training center itself. Everyone glanced in Fitzgerald’s direction, since he’d been the one almost killed in the very first training op in the simulator months ago.

      “Don’t look at me. As long as we don’t have to wear the suits, I’m all for it,” Fitzgerald said.

      Derek nodded. “No suits. No suits for the foreseeable future.”

      The mesh suits, which were supposed to have simulated a gunshot wound by giving the team member a small electric shock, had malfunctioned and shocked Fitzy’s body over and over, until the SWAT team had finally cut the power to the whole building and saved his life.

      The suits were great in theory, but in practice ended up being a bust.

      With rumors that it had been deliberate sabotage.

      “The call is one hostage and one perp. Federal office building.”

      “One bad guy, boss? Seems a little lax, doesn’t it?” Lillian asked.

      Derek shrugged. “Maybe they’re taking pity on us since we’ve already put in a fifteen-hour day, but somehow I doubt it.” The SWAT truck pulled up to the training simulator. “So let’s be ready for whatever they’re going to throw at us. Poniard, Cornell, you can come in, too, but you’ll need to stay back.”

      John Cornell nodded, but Poniard looked disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to be part of the action. The guy definitely wanted to be SWAT.

      The multimillion-dollar training simulator was designed to be different every time a team went in. The designers could pull up multiple scenarios and realistic-looking robotic bad guys, who were pretty accurate in terms of their “choices” and actions. Some of the best video game programmers and computer engineers in the world had developed the system. Once they got all the kinks worked out—for example, the suits not accidentally almost killing someone—law enforcement groups from all over the country would come here to train. Omega was very fortunate to have it in their backyard.

      The team entered the giant warehouse-type building, into a holding room. There they traded out their real weapons for simulated ones. They weighed about the same and even felt very similar, but shot light beams rather than bullets.

      The countdown was given, the door opened and the team walked into a replica of any generic urban area. This time it was a downtown situation, at night, with rain. Actual mist was simmering in the air around them. Darkness surrounded them except for what little light the streetlamps provided.

      “Cornell, Poniard, this is as far as you go. Everybody else, keep your eyes peeled,” Derek said. “One perp can’t be right.”

      Roman couldn’t agree more. The Omega SWAT team got called in for cases bigger than what local PD could handle, or if a situation occurred on federal property.

      One bad guy in one office? Omega wouldn’t be called in for that, and it didn’t do that much good to train for it, either. But they would, regardless.

      “Fitzy, Liam, head around back. I’m sure there’s some sort of fire escape on a building this old. Lil, find us a completely separate way into the office in case we need it. Roman and I will take the front. Let’s use cameras to see what we’re dealing with here, and watch your backs.”

      Everyone took off in their assigned direction. Fitzgerald and Liam were the first to check in.

      “We’ve got a visual on the suspect and the hostage. Hostage is female, according to the dress she’s wearing, tied to a chair, and has some sort of sack over her head. Suspect is pacing back and forth,” Fitzgerald reported.

      “Or pacing as much as a robot can,” Liam added.

      “Okay, pacing means agitated,” Roman commented. “Agitated means unpredictable. And like Derek said, watch for a partner.”

      Roman and Derek were at the office door, which opened to a hallway. Derek positioned the camera cord under the door; that would allow them to get a visual feed from the room. Roman guarded the hallway to make sure no one would be able to come up on them unawares.

      “Okay, confirm that,” Derek said, once the camera was in place. “Looks like we don’t have anybody else in the front room, either. I can see the suspect pace by.”

      “Derek, I found a way into the air vent and have a good view of the entire room.” Lillian’s voice came through very soft in their ears. “Believe it or not, I think this is just a one-person gig. I can take him out without killing him and we can end this right now. Still have time for the beer and more of Roman’s crankiness.”

      Roman rolled his eyes. This was too damn easy. “Maybe they’re keeping it simple this time. We’re always ready for the big baddies, but sometimes we just come up against a lone wolf.”

      “Let’s hold for five minutes and see what happens,” Derek said. “Because this is a damn waste of good beer time if this is all they’ve got for us.”

      Five minutes came and passed with nothing but the “hostage taker” continuing to pace.

      “Okay, we breach on my mark,” Derek finally said. “Lillian, you take the guy out without killing him, everybody else enters to give her any backup she needs.”

      “Roger that,” the team echoed back.

      Roman wasn’t sure what he was expecting, maybe ninjas falling out of the sky or a bomb under the conference room table.

      But nothing like that happened.

      Maybe, like he’d told Derek, this was an exercise in restraint, to make sure the team was ready to handle a situation that required less brawn and more finesse.

      But it still sucked.

      The team entered the office building at the same time Lillian dropped from the air duct. She rolled as she landed, and shot the suspect in the shoulder, causing the simulated gun he held in his hand to fall to the ground.

      Within moments the rest of the team had “cuffed” the bad guy so he could do no further harm to anyone.

      Mission over.

      “Okay,” Liam said. “That was almost as relaxing as getting a beer.”

      Fitzgerald