Warrior's Heart: Iron Portal Series (Paranormal Romance) by Laurie London Page A

waited, Shane and Arlo talked in hushed tones about an upcoming motocross event at Reckless. Shane had a boy who was going to compete for the first time. Vince found it curious that these two were criminals by night and regular dudes by day. In a way, just like Zara was. He wondered how long it would take to find his own place in this world.
    It killed him to think about his conversation with her. She’d had tears in her eyes as she tried to talk him out of going. He’d wanted to drag her into his arms, soothe away her fears, but he knew that the moment he did, he would have caved. He would do anything to make her happy—except agree not to go on this raid. She’d have to accept that this was something he had to do.
    “Ready, gents?” Shane said, jerking Vince from his thoughts.
    Arlo motioned his head in the direction of the streetlamp. “You going to take care of that?”
    “Guess I’m going to have to.” Shane pulled a gun from his pocket, screwed on a silencer, and took aim at the streetlight. The first shot missed completely. The second one ricocheted off the pole with a loud metallic ping.
    Arlo cursed under his breath. “Does someone need their eyes checked?”
    Shane’s expression said he wasn’t amused. “If the marksman in this group hadn’t broken his wrist doing yoga, this wouldn’t be an issue.”
    Vince glanced over and noticed for the first time a black cast peeking out from under Arlo’s sleeve.
    “For your information, I didn’t break it doing yoga. It was Pilates.”
    “My bad.” Shane rolled his eyes. “Big difference.”
    “It is, but whatever. A really hot chick at the gym was having problems with one of the machines. I tried to help her, it slipped, and this happened. But it’s all good. She felt terrible. Made it up to me later.” He grinned.
    Shane raised a brow. “One night in the sack is worth being incapacitated for weeks?”
    “For the record, it’s been more than just one night.”
    Vince was getting impatient. They needed to get this show on the road. “Let me try.”
    Shane handed him the gun. “Be my guest.”
    He held it in his hands to get a feel for how the weight was distributed and thought about the last time he’d fired a gun. It had been with his father at the shooting range on Abbott Street. Vince had done so well that day that he’d gotten his picture taken. He wondered if it was still posted on their wall.
    He took aim at the streetlight and fired. It popped and the place went dark.
    “Nice work,” Arlo said. “You can do all the shooting from now on.”
    He gave Shane back the gun, and they jogged across the street.
    The gate consisted of two chain link sections padlocked together. The sign in front read: Army Surplus. Deliveries Only. Keep Out.
    Several small, hunching shadows, one larger than the others, ambled across the road in front of them. Raccoons. They slipped through a break in the fence.
    Shane held up a pair of wire cutters and snipped the air. “Maybe I won’t be needing these after all.”
    Vince and the men headed over to the break. It wasn’t big enough, so they did have to make a few more cuts. After they squeezed through, Vince pointed to the first building. “There’s the entrance. Next to that delivery bay.”
    Before they’d taken more than a few steps, Arlo grabbed their collars. “Stop,” he growled, jerking his chin toward a security camera on a tall pole.
    He threw a rock to see if it was motion sensitive. It didn’t move.
    “I’m not sure that it’s even on,” Arlo said, “But we need to assume it is. Vince, think you can hit that as well?”
    “Yep.” He took the gun from Shane, and with one shot, he took out the camera.
    Vince’s ego swelled when he caught the two men giving each other a look that said they were impressed as hell.
    Shane picked the lock and soon they were inside, snapping on their flashlights. Numerous rows of wooden crates were stacked fifteen or twenty feet high. Arlo peeked inside a few