Free Committed by Sidney Bristol Page A

weekend with Rapunzel.
    He couldn’t resist.
    Damien pulled out his personal cell phone and stared at the notification bar. No new messages.
    Rapunzel should have been cared for and looked after on Friday. It made him grind his teeth to think about her finding comfort in someone else’s arms, but there was nothing else he could do about it. He had expected some word from her yesterday, but now it was Sunday and still there was nothing, from her or Yamamoto.
    Damien bit the bullet and resorted to text messaging. He hated it, preferring to just call a person when he needed to talk to them, but it wasn’t the time or place.
        
To Yamamoto: How’s my switch?
    “If there aren’t any more questions, we want to be in place in fifteen minutes.” Gio paused and the room fell silent. “Okay. Stay safe, stay alive. Getting these bad guys isn’t worth losing anyone here. Let’s roll.”
    The room erupted in movement, officers calling to each other, organizing their individual teams.
    “Damien.” Gio beckoned him to where she was in conversation with two suits, easily recognized because of their clothing, completely inappropriate for the field. A suit was always properly dressed for the camera, rarely for the job at hand.
    “Damien, I’m afraid Archer isn’t going to make it in time. He’s on his way in from a wedding and is still about ten minutes away. Can I swap you out with him?” Gio turned to the map. “That’s going to put you in the east ditch.”
    Right in the middle of the action, where he wanted to be.
    “Sure thing, boss.” Damien grinned.
    Gio suppressed a sigh, and actually didn’t roll her eyes this time. He liked to ruffle her feathers a little every now and then. “Okay, they should load up to drop you soon. See you in an hour.” She gave him a fleeting smile and turned her attention back to the suits.
    Damien heard them mention a press release and a news conference, and barely resisted the urge to shudder. A suit he was not. Damien might live out his days fighting in the inner-citytrenches, and he’d be perfectly happy to do so. It got his blood going, the adrenaline pumping, and each suspect he got to stare in the eye while reading him his rights was one more who wouldn’t plague innocent people for a while.
    He grabbed his flak jacket from where he’d stowed it under his chair and strapped it on. The trailer was almost empty, so he headed out to one of the vehicles that would drop them off. Despite the large contingent of manpower, the area was quiet. People moved like shadows in the near darkness, doing their best to remain silent and undetectable. They couldn’t know if Valdez had scouts coming to the location early to check it out before the meet.
    Damien wasn’t bothered at all by the last-minute change. As a senior agent, Gio had wanted him with the teams swooping in, which would have meant that the first wave got all the immediate action. With Agent Archer delayed, Damien would be taking charge of his team, which consisted of a half-dozen DEA agents and a complete complement of Chicago SWAT officers in full gear.
    An unmarked van, outfitted for SWAT purposes, was idling with the last group loaded and ready. Unlike the suits, these were Damien’s kind of people. He’d worked with many of them before, and knew them on a first-name basis. Benches lined the sides of the van, and officers were sitting and standing, packed in as tightly as they could be.
    “I’m trading places with Archer. I’m Special Agent Damien Moana. We’re going to get real close for the next little while. Let’s roll,” Damien called out, and slapped the top of the van.
    “Glad to see ya finally decided to arrive, Moana,” one of the officers drawled.
    Damien chuckled. “Thought it about time I put in an appearance. How are the kids?”
    “Good, good. Youngest has her birthday party later today.” The man sighed. “Christ, ten eight-year-olds is all I need.”
    The van rolled forward and all