by Paige Yancey
“Hey Doc, looks like a VIP just walked in. I’ll put them in room four.”
“Thanks, I’ll be right there.” Finishing up the chart she was looking at, she walked over to the glass door of room 4. Outside the room stood two very large men wearing black military grade uniforms and Kevlar. Both stood with their feet shoulder width apart, and they stopped her when she tried to enter to room, blocking her way.
She tilted her chin while raising both brows. Men in uniform did not intimidate her. “I’m Dr. Monahan, and I am here to see the patient in this room.”
The man nearest her turned away and touched the ear piece he wore in his right ear. From what she could hear of this muffled voice, he spoke German. Each man had buzzed short hair but the nearest one to her had lighter, almost blonde hair, and the one on the left had black cropped hair.
Blondie turned to her, nodded his head, and opened the door to the room. Siobhan walked into the room like she normally did, but this time, there were more men in black military gear and cropped hair surrounding the bed. Blood covered the suit of the man lying in the bed. His chest was moving very shallowly. A woman wearing a red tracksuit stood over him. She had long auburn hair and was speaking German rapidly to the man in the suit. When one of the guards bent to whisper to her, she straightened and glanced at Siobhan.
The Lady in Red spoke in English, “So you are the doctor we’ve been waiting for?”
“Yes, what’s happened to him?”
She waved a hand toward the unconscious man. “He was in accident.” In German, she said to the guard, “Stupid American doctor. Does she not know her own job?”
Siobhan felt like she had been mentally slapped with that comment, and it brought her back to this moment. Moving into action, she stepped over to the man in the suit and put her stethoscope into her ears and listened to his heartbeat. It was thready and indicated a possible heart issue, and she realized that she would need some help in here if she was going to save this man.
Just as she was about to shout for a nurse, she heard the guard say in German to the Lady in Red, “The package is delivered and in the General’s hands. We need to patch up the captain and get back to the meeting point.”
The Lady in Red turned to the guard, “You will do as you are told. We will have time to take out who we have been tasked to.” They both looked at her, and she turned away to call for a nurse.
In German, she said to them, “I need for all of you to step back and let my team inside to help me so we can help your Captain.” She hadn’t spent most of her Army career in Germany without learning the language. Watching their widening eyes, gave her great satisfaction. Because she was female, too often, people underestimated her abilities and intelligence.
Walking over to the door, she shouted for nurses, and a tech to come draw blood. They all swarmed into the room, moving in unison, working on the man with the suit on the bed. Once they stabilized the patient, Siobhan moved to leave the room to check on her next patient. Just as she walked to the door, the Lady in Red stepped next to her.
She grabbed her arm, and in German, said, “Don’t go far tonight. We have much to talk about.” The woman released her arm and stepped away.
Siobhan knew this was not a good thing, and her military instincts came to the forefront in her head. After walking away from the room, she stopped to speak to the nurse at the desk. “I’m going to step away and make a call.”
“All right, Doc.”
She rushed down the hall and into the doctors’ breakroom, and was relieved to find it empty. She needed privacy. From the side pocket of her white coat she pulled out her cellphone and dialed her grandfather. He’d know what to do.
“What’s up, my sweet girl?” he answered.
“Grandad, I just helped some people here at work, and I think I might be in trouble.”
“How so?” he asked.
She explained the situation and the woman in red’s command.
Her grandfather paused and then said, “It pays to be cautious. As soon as you leave work, I want you to meet me and Mable at the bunker. You remember where it is?”
“Of course. I’ll meet you there in an hour, and I’ll call a friend of mine from my military days.”
With her finger, she swiped to hang up her phone then searched her contacts for Hank Patterson, a friend she’d met while still a surgeon in the Army. Now, he ran a business called the Brotherhood Protectors, a group of men and women who helped others. They had all served in the military, and then were recruited by Hank.
“Hank, here,” he answered on the first ring.
She sighed with relief. “Hey, it’s Siobhan…Dr. Siobhan Monahan. Do you remember me?”
“Of course, I remember you. You saved many of my buddies’ lives. What can I do for you, Doc?”
“I am pretty sure I got myself into some trouble here, and I could really use some of your expertise and help right now.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“I work in an emergency room in a suburb of Seattle, and I just helped a patient that I think is possibly a part of a mercenary group or something of that sort. They were speaking German and said something about a package being delivered and picked up, and then meeting up with ‘The General’. They referred to the man I was working on as the Captain, and there was a strange woman who seemed to be their leader. The guard were all dressed in military-grade black gear with Kevlar. They were talking about a package and taking someone out.”
“Do you have somewhere safe you can go until we can get to you?” Hank asked.
“My grandfather has a bunker in the woods about an hour from Seattle. He’ll meet me there with my daughter. I can text you the coordinates.”
“Ok, I will send a couple of my specialists out there to you. It may be a few hours before they get there but don’t talk to anyone else. The lead’s code name is Atlas. We’ll track you through your phone, but no one else will be able to tag on once we get a lock on you. Also, I’ll have my computer analyst start looking into any German militant or mercenary groups in your area, so we know who we’re dealing with.”
“Thank you, Hank. Will do” She hung up the phone, changed her clothes and grabbed her purse from her wall locker.
Rushing out of the locker room and flagged down her shift manager.
“Hey Jill, sorry I have an emergency at home.”
“No Worries Siobhan, your shift is almost over, let me know if you need anything.”
“Ok thanks will do.”
She headed the back way out of the building to the employee parking garage. Her grandfather always drove his old Chevy truck but made sure it was always in good repair and running beautifully. They’d agreed that she should have the latest model vehicle since she was a doctor and took Mable to her ballet classes when she wasn’t working. Her grandfather took Mable to most of her practices, but didn’t want to give up his truck, and traded vehicles when needed. She had a nice big black 4Runner with all the latest gadgets.
As she walked up to her car, she noticed a black SUV parked to the side of the parking lot. At first, she thought nothing of it, but then the hairs on the back of her neck came to attention, and all those years of being in the military kicked in. Looking around the parking lot, she did a quick sweep of her surroundings and picked up her pace, not quite at a run, but a speed walk. She kept her gaze focused ahead so as not to draw attention.
The last few steps seemed to take an eternity, but she reached her vehicle and jumped in. With a push to the start button, she revved the engine and put her car into gear. With a few quick turns in the parking lot, she was on the main road headed to the bunker.
Watching her rearview mirror, she saw the black SUV swing onto the road behind her. So much for getting this done quickly.
Atlas felt a dread wash over him when he heard Hank call for him. After having worked for Hank for several years now, he normally was sent out with a group of guys, but this would be his first mission as lead, and with a newbie no l
ess. Since he always had a go bag, he grabbed it and headed out of the ranch house and the helicopter his boss kept on standby for special missions.
He nodded at Brotherhood Protector Wooten, codename “Soldier”. He was new to their civilian group but had served in the military as spec ops for SEAL Team 6, just like Atlas, and always looked as if he was still active duty. Hair high and tight, clothes pressed with a crease, and spit-shined boots.
The helicopter they boarded for the flight to Seattle was no ordinary civilian helo. It had been upgraded and was large, like the ones he’d flown while in the military. He hadn’t flown in a helo since that fateful day when he’d been injured. Those injuries had resulted in his being medically discharged.
Shaking his head, he pushed those memories aside. He needed his head on straight so that he could go through the current scenario and decide what needed to be done. Of course, his first priority was getting to the woman and her child, and make sure they were safe. Next, they’d need to figure out who the people who threatened her were and what they wanted. Once they were neutralized, Atlas was going to have a long conversation with Dr. Siobhan Monahan. The women he’d fallen for at first glance. For years, he’d regretted the fact he’d left her after their one and only meeting, and hadn’t heard from her, until now.
Before Atlas realized it, the helicopter was descending, and they were touching down. He grabbed his pack and jumped out, making sure that his six-foot-one frame was slightly hunched over so as not to be decapitated by the blades circling overhead. Soldier ran alongside him with his own go bag in hand. Their boots pounded on the pavement as the helo took off in the starless night sky.
“So, what’s the plan, Atlas?” Soldier asked.
As they ran to the other side of the helicopter pad atop a bank building to head down the stairs, he didn’t miss a beat, talking loudly over his shoulder, “First things first, we need to find Dr. Monahan, and get to her daughter and grandfather in this so-called bunker. Then we need to decide what needs to be done before we go after these guys.”
Just outside of the building they exited, a driver stood by to deliver the vehicle they’d be using while they were protecting Siobhan and her family. It was early morning now but still dark out. Very few cars could be seen driving the streets in the area where they’d landed.
Both men stowed their bags in the trunk of the black SUV and jumped into the front of the vehicle, Atlas driving and Soldier riding shot-gun. His teammate pulled out his phone and opened to the GPS app, which was synced to Siobhan’s phone so that they could track her movements and get to her.
Soldier turned toward Atlas and directed him to turn left. “I think she’s in trouble. It looks like she is taking more than a normal amount of turns, like she’s trying to lose someone. We better hurry.”
Atlas felt a chill go down his spine and let it flow out of his body as he turned the SUV in the direction Soldier said to turn, picking up speed as he straightened up on the road.
“We’re close now, but it looks like her vehicle has picked up speed. If you turn right here, we’ll come up next to her.”
Following the directions, Atlas swung the vehicle out on the road, just as a smaller SUV that matched the description in the file of one of Siobhan’s vehicles sped by them with a large black SUV close behind it. Not wasting any time, Atlas sped down the road behind the dark vehicle and pulled up next to it on the two-lane street and moved his vehicle to clip the side of its door. Just then the other vehicle’s windows cracked open and a gun poked out.
“Gun!” Atlas bit out as he moved Soldier out of the way.
He slammed his foot on the gas and sped past as the back window of their SUV shattered under the gunfire. He zagged in front of the dark SUV and pressed the brakes. The SUV swerved to avoid crashing into them and ran into a street sign. Atlas picked up speed to try to catch up to the smaller vehicle that had passed them earlier. As they came up close to the vehicle that the GPS indicated was Siobhan’s, it sped up again. Atlas flashed his lights at her and the driver slowed down slightly, he pulled up next to her and rolled down his window and motioned for her to do the same. He pulled out his cellphone and called the number that Hank had given him for Siobhan. She answered the phone, “Hank?”
“No, it’s Atlas, remember he said he would be sending us to help you. Pull over in the alleyway up ahead.”
“Okay,” the other vehicle’s window came down, and he could see reddish blond hair swept up in a pony tail and a pale face that shined like a beacon from the dark interior. He motioned for her to pull over into an alley up ahead.
They followed behind her, and as he stopped his vehicle and exited, she jumped out of her car and leaned her back up against it. With quick strides, he was next to her and she leaned toward him, almost falling over. Putting his arms around her waist, he kept her on her feet. Her breaths came hard and fast.
“Oh, am I glad to see you guys, Atlas,” she panted. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
Her breathing was slowing down, and his grip on her waist loosened. “What happened when you left the hospital? I thought you would be at the bunker by now?”
“When I left the hospital, there was an SUV following me. I was able to lose them for a short time and went to my house to make sure my family made it out safely. There, I grabbed a few supplies. Once I left, they found me again, and I’ve been trying to lose them ever since.”
“We need to get you to the bunker and your family, and then we can make a plan for what we’re going to do next.”
Atlas turned to Soldier, who had come up beside them while they were talking.
“Boss, we better leave her vehicle, just in case they’ve somehow planted a tracker on it.”
“Good thinking, Soldier.”
He glanced down at Siobhan. “Grab your stuff, and we’ll go in our vehicle.”
She looked around and grimaced. “All right, if you think it would be the best thing, but can we move my car to a safer location?”
“We better leave it here for now. Hank can have a tow company come pick it up shortly to store it until we come get it.”
She nodded. “That sounds good to me. Let me just grab my stuff.”
“Here let me help you with that,” he said, tossing the keys to Soldier. “Start our vehicle, while I help Dr. Monahan. Call in an anonymous tip to the cops for our friends back there.”
“Roger”
“Atlas, you guys can call me Siobhan,” she said and then turned her face away, but not before he saw a blush come over her pretty face.
Holding her in his arms had felt good, as if they’d been together always. He’d dreamed about her for years especially after his accident.
When she bent over to get the bags out of the back seat of her small SUV, he noticed how her jeans stretched over her firm, round bottom. With great effort, he turned to see what she was doing and reached past her to grab for one of the two bags she was trying to haul out.
“Let me get that for you.”
“Thanks,” she said, her gaze sliding away. “I’m ready when you guys are.”
He put her bags in the trunk and made sure she was ok in the backseat before climbing into the driver’s seat. “Where to, Siobhan?”
“Just head straight on this road. It leads to the old highway that will take us out to the woods where the bunker is.”
Once on the road again, Siobhan sat silently in the backseat. Atlas kept looking at her in the rearview mirror, seeing her as he remembered.
After a while, she said in a soft voice, “We’re almost there. Turn down that dirt road just ahead on the right.”
Visibility was horrible because of the near-pitch darkness caused by the thick canopy of trees overhead, so he had to slow down to see the small dirt road.
“You’ll follow this road for a few minutes. I’ll tell you when to stop. We’ll have to walk a short distance into the wood.”
They drove a few more minutes through the down the road past more trees.
>
“Pull over here.”
He did as she directed and parked his vehicle. Then he walked toward the trunk to get their bags.
“I can take that,” Siobhan said. Her hand came over his to stop him from grabbing the second of her two bags.
When their hands touched, he felt it deep down, and his cock sprang to life. Clearing his throat, he said, “After you.”
They all pulled out flashlights from their bags.
Siobhan began to turn away and said, “Follow me.” She seemed to hesitate just as he heard a branch break behind them. He grabbed Siobhan and motioned for Soldier to take cover. Just then a rifle shot rang out somewhere in the woods. Atlas pulled Siobhan to his body and they fell behind a large bolder to their right.
He leaned over to pull his handgun from his back holster, then whispered to Siobhan, “Stay down.”
Chapter 2
Siobhan’s heart beat so rapidly she felt it like it would push right out of her chest. Hunkering down behind the rock, she couldn’t see what was happening in the forest. Atlas and Soldier each had a fire arm out with what looked like night vision scopes on them and were darting glances around boulders to see where the shots were coming from. From where they had taken shelter from the gunfire, she could just make out the entrance to the cave where her grandfather had installed an underground shelter. The headlights from their SUV lit the side of the cave, even though it was about 25 yards away in the woods, there was also a slight path through the trees, and she knew that the entrance was not easily seen if you didn’t know what you were looking at. Little Mable and her grandfather would be safe in there, but how she could get to them without being noticed?
Atlas hunkered down again.
“We are really close to the entrance,” she whispered. “What’s our next move?”
He motioned to Soldier with hand signals then looked back at her. “We’re going to create a distraction so you can get to the shelter, and then will come back for you guys once the area’s clear of the danger.”
“If the others see where I go, they’ll know where to look.”