Broken

Part 3

Coco's Point of View

Angel, Creeper, EZ and I quietly crept up to the side of the house. I came to a stop near the living room window and motioned for the guys to do the same. The curtains were closed when I peeked through the window. Aside from the living room lights, I couldn't see much of anything. I turned and leaned my back against the wall, staring at the guys waiting behind me.

"I can't see anything," I mumbled, "We're gonna have to go in blind...On three."

A sheen of sweat had formed on my brow and I felt uneasy. My stomach was in knots. It was a little too quiet in the house for my liking and part of me wondered if maybe we were too late.

"Coco, come back to us," Angel mumbled, "We need you strong. Whatever you were just thinking about, get rid of it. We can't afford to think those thoughts, not if they involve Sophia."

Angel was right, we couldn't afford to go in thinking negative thoughts. I gave my head a quick shake and wiped the sweat from my brow. I turned towards the front door, gripped the handle of my gun that was tucked in the back of my pants and took a deep breath. I couldn't shake the uneasy feeling as I looked down at my shaking hands. It wasn't going in there and killing whoever was in there that was bothering me. It was not knowing what was beyond that front door. The guys and I had no idea what we were about to walk in on.

"Ok boys, on three," I whispered as I counted down on my fingers, "Now!"

Angel pulled out his gun and with one swift kick, the front door flew open with a bang. We followed Angel into the house and the scene before us was horrific. There was blood everywhere and both of Sophia's parents were now dead, but that wasn't the worst part in my opinion. The blood and gore never bothered me. As a marine sniper I had seen many unimaginable and unfathomable things and over time I grew immune to it. The part that bothered me was that the masked man didn't even react when we busted the door open. Second, it was seeing the masked man hunched over Sophia's lifeless body, her pants pulled halfway down her legs, watching him run his greasy hands over her.

I desperately wanted to shoot the man until there was nothing left of him, but I knew we needed him alive to get the answers we needed.

I nudged Angel. "We need him alive," I whispered. The rage in Angel's eyes said it all and I shared in his rage.

I raised my gun and without hesitation, I pulled the trigger, hitting him in the back of the thigh. The masked man cried out in pain and I was on him in an instant, knocking him off of Sophia and holding him in a headlock on the floor.

Angel rushed over to Sophia and placed two fingers against her neck to check for a pulse. He looked over at me and nodded his head. I felt a surge of relief rush through my body.

"She's good," Angel reported, "Do you want me to take her?"

"No, I need you here," I replied as I looked over at EZ who was already making his way across the living room, "Hey boy scout, I need you to get her to the hospital. Sophie's best friend is a doctor there, Dr. Laura Santos."

EZ nodded in response as he knelt down beside Angel.

"Don't let her out of your sight brother," Angel said quietly, running a hand through Sophia's long black hair, "She's special to all of us."

Despite the situation, I couldn't help the small smile that tugged at my lips. Angel would deny it until he was blue in the face, but it was obvious to everyone in the room that his heart would shatter if anything happened to her. All of our hearts would break, but Angel was the only one hiding his true feelings. He was consistent in denying the fact that he had feelings for her, but it didn't take an idiot to see that there was something there.