At first, Matt was not sure he had gotten through to him; the anger on Raleigh’s face was more than telling and a visible sign that if the Senator so much as spoke outta line, Raleigh would gut him like a fish.
“Wait here, Chief! Chance and I will go get Warren. All right?”
“Fine but make it quick. I don’t know how much time Sammie has.”
“We will, but wait here! And I mean it, Chief. WAIT. That is an order.”
***
Raleigh
Raleigh paced back and forth in the large room, waiting and trying to keep his cool as the image of Samantha played over in his head. It killed him to think that those bastards had put their hands on her, and it wasn’t the first time. The guilt played over in Raleigh’s brain—if they had only had the chance to get to Saheed and Jahan when his unit rescued Samantha all those years ago, the Al-Balshera brothers wouldn’t have her now. Thoughts played around in his head. Does Samantha know these are the same men who killed her partner, stripped her bare, and beat her? I can only pray she doesn’t.
That mission had brought them together initially so many years ago, and once again Samantha was in mortal danger from the same men who had emotionally scarred her for life. The more he thought about Samantha tied to that chair, a bomb strapped to her chest, the angrier he got, and he punched his fist through the wall. It wasn’t until he heard the sound of his phone pinging that he stopped, grabbed his phone from his jacket pocket, and opened the message app. It was another video, and Raleigh’s heart stopped as he viewed it.
Samantha’s uniform jacket and shirt were torn open now, exposing her breasts. The bomb still strapped to her torso had been moved down, and Samantha was screaming profanities and kicking at the men. The younger man, Jahan, began to accost her while the older brother Saheed attempted to speak, but the more he tried, the louder Samantha became until Saheed turned and using the buttstock of his weapon, busted her in the head, knocking her out.
“You have two hours starting now.” Then the video ended.
Raleigh screamed and punched the wall again. “Fuck! Matt, what the fuck is taking so long?”
At this same moment, Matt and Chance were just making their way into the common area with the Senator. Raleigh instantly reared, grabbed his sidearm, then grabbed the Senator, shoving him into a chair and hand-cuffing him to the seat back. Raleigh pushed his 9mm handgun into the Senator’s temple. “I am gonna give you one chance to tell me the fucking truth or I am gonna shoot you in the fucking head right now. I wanna know where the fuck they are holding Sergeant O’Hara, and I want to know what the fuck you know about this?”
The Senator hedged back, doing all he could to avoid Raleigh and the weapon he held against his temple, but the more he fought, the harder Raleigh held the weapon.
“I swear I don’t know anything!” Warren pleaded, adjusting himself in the chair.
Raleigh pressed the gun harder as the Senator pleaded. “I swear if I knew, I would tell you! Do you think I wanna die?”
“I know this. If you don’t tell me something now, I will kill you anyway,” Raleigh demanded.
“But if you kill me, you will never find your sergeant.” Warren stared at the men with a half-smile.
“So, you do know where they are holding Samantha?” Matt interjected himself in hope that Raleigh would calm down, but the smile on the Senator’s face only enraged Raleigh, and he pistol whipped him before Matt could stop him.
Warren’s head flew backward as the pistol struck him in the brow, cutting just above the right eye. As the blood ran down his cheek, Raleigh grabbed the Senator by his collar and pulled him closer, looking him straight in the eyes. Raleigh’s face turned somber and softer as he spoke.
“Look, I am asking you, not just for me but for an innocent person—Samantha did nothing to you or to your associates. If you have any idea where she might be, please, I am begging you to please tell us.”
The Senator paused for a few moments and regained his composure as Raleigh stood waiting. Chance walked back into the room with two cups of coffee. “I have a couple of ideas, but you have to promise that you get me immunity and get me out of the state somewhere safe that they can’t find me. If they do, they will kill me and my family. This is way bigger than just some small-time terrorist cell. This goes deep inside our government. Deeper than you can ever imagine.”
Chance walked up to Warren and pulled up a chair next to him. “So why don’t you tell us?”
Frustrated, Raleigh stopped Chance. “We don’t have time for this.” Raleigh begged, “I promise and so do these two. Now please tell us.”
“I gotta hear them say it. Then I will tell you!” Warren repeated.
“Fine. I promise!” Matt sounded off then Chance, “I promise. Now please tell us.”
Warren straightened in his chair and nudged his head toward the handcuffs. “Will you loosen these, please?”
Raleigh obliged then sat down in front of the Senator. “Spill it!” He paused. “Please.”
Chance and Matt stood waiting just behind Raleigh, in case the Senator said something that Raleigh didn’t like, to hold him if he tried to strangle the Senator.
“There is only one place they could be holding your sergeant, and that would be the old jeans factory on the edge of town. It is one of my holdings that the ARC had me purchase.”
Raleigh looked back at Matt and Chance, all three men confused. “ARC? What’s the ARC?”
Warren smiled. “You don’t know what the ARC is?”
Raleigh replied, “No, should we?”
“If you don’t know, you will. But right now, it is way too complicated and will take too much time to explain. Right now, you need to get to that factory before they kill her, and they will kill her. And you need to get me somewhere safe—me and my family—and you gotta do it on the down low, because if anyone sees you around my place, they will kill my family and hunt me to the ends of the earth.”
“Don’t worry, Senator, we will take care of it.” Raleigh stood up and motioned for the other two men to follow him.
“Matty, call the general, apprise him of what’s going on, and tell him we are gonna need the squad for a mission. Can you do that?” Raleigh asked.
“Yeah, no problem. But I am going with you,” Matt explained.
“No problem. We are gonna need all the fire power we can get to get her out alive. We don’t have much time. Saheed sent a video and said we have,” Raleigh checked his watch, “less than two hours now to meet his demands. So that leaves us less than an hour to get the guys suited up and briefed to hit the factory.”
“All right, no problem,” Matt responded, grabbing his cell and taking off out into the hallway.
Raleigh then turned to Chance. “No one knows you around here, so you should be able to go in with the Senator and retrieve his family and get them to a safe place. Can you do that?”
Chance replied with, “I got you, brother!” then headed over to the Senator.
“Let me know when you are safe.” Raleigh gave him a nod then grabbed his cell to call in his squad.
Chapter 23
Samantha
As Samantha started to come to, her head was splitting. At first, she thought she was waking from a nightmare until she realized that the headache was real and that she was coming face to face with the same demons who had haunted her nightmares for years. Feeling the cool chill of the now-evening air that blew through what she could tell was an old abandoned factory, she shivered, trying not to move and not catch the attention of the two men who were her captors.
Sitting as still as she could, her eyes still closed, she tried to think of all the options she had—zero, zero options. Her only hope was that Raleigh got there in time. She could hear the ticking of the clock on the bomb that was still strapped to her chest, and she started to pray and think of all the good memories she had in her life. There weren’t many except the last six months with Raleigh. So many great memories and many firsts with Raleigh
. At least before dying, I will have finally known how to love and be loved.
Choking back the tears she knew would come, she thought about what it would’ve been like to spend the rest of her life as Raleigh’s wife, to have his children and make a life for themselves. She knew she had to be positive, and she knew, just knew, deep in her heart that Raleigh would make it, and she would get to watch as he took revenge on the men who took her. She knew he would make them pay and no one would stop him from killing both with his bare hands. Those were the positive thoughts she needed, and as she thought about how Raleigh would kill them, she smiled.
When she heard the slamming of a door behind her, she prayed it was Raleigh and his men, but instead it was the younger Jahan who was on the phone. He had returned without Saheed; she knew because from what little Pashtu she remembered, he was speaking with Saheed who, by the sound of it, was getting on a plane back to Afghanistan. Fuck. Looks like we won’t get Saheed today, but when Raleigh gets here, Jahan, you will die. I swear to you, you will die at his hands.
***
Raleigh
As the men arrived at the post office to prep, Raleigh was pacing back and forth in the common area as Matt packed the van for the raid on the old jeans factory. When Bryant strolled in, he took a seat at the conference table, Macalister behind him. Adams arrived, then Jackson limped in and took a seat next to Bryant.
Bryant was the first to speak up. “Well, Chief, we are locked and cocked and ready to rock. Where we headin’?”
Raleigh paused and stood in front of the white board. He had already taped three maps of the area and one of the building itself that Chance had pulled before he left with the Senator to the safe house. “Thanks, guys, for comin’. I know it was short notice, but that’s the nature of the business we are in. We have a mission across town.”
“Across town?” Bryant questioned.
“Yeah, across town. It seems our old friend Saheed Al-Balshera is right here in Fayetteville and is planning to blow up the old jeans factory. And just so you know, he has Sergeant O’Hara, he has the bomb strapped to her, and he has threatened to detonate it. He wants…well, I will show you the texts on the overhead.”
Turning on the projector that sat in front of him on the table, Macalister stood up and flipped the lights off. The words then came into view on the white board in front of them.
We want a flight out of the country and the release of all our bank accounts. If these two things happen then we will release the woman once we get to Afghanistan.
If we do not get what we want we will blow up two national monuments in Washington, DC, every three hours until we do. We will contact you in two hours.
The men all leaned back in their chairs as Raleigh walked over and switched the lights back on. “So there ya have it, guys. We gotta get in and get these motherfuckers before they not only kill Samantha but thousands of others.”
Macalister leaned up in his seat then slammed his palms into the conference table. “The motherfuckers ain’t gettin’ away this time. What’s the plan, Chief?”
As the other men echoed Macalister’s sentiment, they made their way over to the white board as Raleigh began to lay out the plan. It didn’t take long, and the men had their individual jobs and a strategy. Go in, defuse the bomb, and end this with the deaths of the two brothers—Saheed and Jahan.
“Okay, guys, how close are you to getting ready?” Matt asked as he grabbed the last box of ammunition and loaded it into the van.
“Just gotta grab my vest and I will be good to go.” Macalister was the first to answer.
“Me too,” echoed Adams, grabbing his bag then rummaging through the contents.
Jackson walked over to Raleigh. “Chief, what would you like me to do? I wanna help, but this cane is gonna hinder me a bit.”
“Jax, I’m gonna have you in the van monitoring communications and calling in the cavalry if we need it. Oh, and Matty—did you call the locals and let them know we will Start Patrol time at the transformer station down the road, half a mile from the factory?”
“All right, Chief. I’m not much for being in the support element, but if it means saving your girl, then I’m good to go. She’s one hell of a keeper, Boss,” Jackson said with a smile. “I hope you plan on putting a ring on that finger?”
“Thanks, Jax. I think she is pretty great, too. Why don’t you go check commo before we load up?” Raleigh then focused his attention on Matt, who was just finishing on the phone with the Fayetteville Police Department.
“Sure will, Chief,” Jackson replied as he headed out the back door of the post office.
While the remaining men suited up, Raleigh waited for Matt to finish his call with the locals then he could suit up. Matt still needed to call the general to let him know the plan and the coordination with FPD.
When Matt finished, he yelled for Raleigh. “Hey Fitz, the general is good to go. He will run interference with the locals just in case this goes south.”
Raleigh looked up at Matt; a fire in his eyes told Matt he probably shouldn’t have used the phrase “goes south,” and he immediately tried to back track.
“Man, I didn’t mean…”
“I know what you meant, Matty. Everything will be fine. We will get in there and get Sammie out and kill those motherfuckers before they can do anymore damage to anyone else or anything else. Why don’t you go suit up? I’m gonna need ya in on this one. You think you are ready to play with the big boys again?” Raleigh patted Matt on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, I got your back, Matty.”
“As ready as I am gonna get, brother,” Matt replied, grabbing his bag and placing it on the table.
***
When the van pulled up to the transformer station, the local Fayetteville Police Department was already there with the SWAT van and six cruisers. Raleigh’s heart was pumping so quickly it felt like it would pound right out of his body. He wasn’t nervous about the OP; he was nervous something would happen to Samantha, and he couldn’t bear the thought of losing her. He sat for a moment, trying to get himself together, but the only picture that kept playing over in his mind was the video of Samantha, her jacket and shirt ripped off her body and the bomb strapped to her chest.
He wanted to kill them both with his bare hands for ever laying a finger on her, but he had to somehow put it to the back of his mind and get straight. He had to defuse that bomb as soon as he could get to her.
He wanted to hold her right now and never let her go, and he was determined that once they got her out safely he would never let her out of his sight again, no matter how stubborn she was. And he knew she would be just that, as mad as an old wet hen and stubborn as a jackass, but he did know one thing. What he loved most of all was her fierce independence and her strength. Never in his life had he met anyone as strong as Samantha. Strong, beautiful, and independent, she was everything he had ever dreamed of in a woman and so much more. When they got outta there, he would make sure everyone knew it.
“Fitz. Fitz. You awake?” Macalister tapped him on the shoulder. “It’s go time, Boss. We need to brief those locals so they don’t fuck shit up.”
“Yeah, I’m awake, just goin’ through everything in my head. Hey, once we get these motherfuckers, I am gonna need you to bring in the bomb suit as quick as you can so we can get Sammie outta that vest.”
“I got you, Chief,” Macalister replied, sliding open the van door as he and Bryant got out. So did Matt, who was driving, and Raleigh who walked ahead of the men to the Chief of Police.
Raleigh shook the man’s hand and then proceeded to explain the who, what, where, and whys of the situation.
The Chief of Police was more than happy to let Raleigh and his unit go in. “Hey, y’all are the experts at this kinda stuff. We will run perimeter, and my SWAT team will go in with ya, if that is agreeable with you, Chief Fitzgerald?”
“Of course, Chief Hardy. We are a man or two short, so the extra man power is appreciated.”
“I will let my
team know, and they can suit up. Let’s say ten minutes?” Hardy said as he turned to walk toward his SWAT van.
“All right, ten it is. We will be right here loadin’ up.” Raleigh turned to his men. “All right, guys, you know the deal. You know what we gotta do, and y’all know we gotta do it quickly. The clock is ticking, and right now we are twenty-five minutes before they set off that bomb. Once they are set, that gives us fifteen minutes to get in, get those motherfuckers, and defuse that bomb before it blows up twelve city blocks.”
Jackson poked his head from the van. “Hey, Chief. Commo is good to go. Whenever you are ready.”
“Thanks, Jax. We’ll be ready in five minutes for commo check.”
The remaining men all replied one after the other. “We’re ready, Chief. We got this.”
***
Jackson came over the intercom. “Commo check.”
“This is Macalister, Over.”
“I got you Mac. Over,” Jackson replied.
“Adams, check. Over,” Jackson called.
“This is Adams, Over.”
“This is Bryant. Will you marry me, Jax? Over.”
“Shut the fuck up. Over,” Jackson replied.
“This is Chief. Stop with the funny shit, Bryant. Save it for the bar.”
“Sorry, Chief,” Bryant replied. “Just trying to break up the tension.”
“I know, Bryant. We’re good,” Raleigh replied. “Jax, check the SWAT team. They on?”
“Stand by, Chief,” Jackson replied then called the local SWAT to check their radios.
“Yep, Chief, they good to go.”
“All right, let’s load up,” Raleigh ordered as the men all loaded into their vehicles and drove the half-mile trip to the old factory. Just shy of the factory, they parked the vehicles and then headed to surround the building from all sides. Bryant took the sniper position on an adjacent rooftop to where the Senator said they had been staying.
A Warranted Box Set Page 37