"Your granny's with me," an unfamiliar male voice informed her.
She hit the brakes. "Who is this?"
"You don't have a lot of time for questions if you want to get your granny back."
Her vision swam in tears. "Don't you dare hurt her. You can have me."
"I don't want you, I want those two vials. I'm betting you know where they are."
She wanted blood.
If she turned those vials over to him, people would die. Many people. Nathan's warning that she would feel differently if her family were threatened or harmed hit her. The urge to kill this man was so strong she couldn't deny it.
"If you don't, I'll just be done with Granny."
"No, I do know. I'll bring them to you."
"Perfect. By now, you surely realize I'm well aware of who you are in contact with and that I have people inside law enforcement. So believe me when I tell you Granny will die if you call anyone on any phone. Come to this address."
Her heart racing from fear and anger, Terri scribbled down the address. By the time she got there, she'd have a plan on how to get her grandmother to safety before she handed over the vials. She would have to. Because once she handed them over, Terri understood her grandmother and innocents would die… and she would, too.
"Maybe her grandma tried to reach Terri, but got her voicemail like I've been getting, and left a message on their home phone," Nathan suggested as Stoner followed him into the courtyard behind Terri's home.
"I hope so, but I wouldn't put money on it."
Neither would Nathan. He opened the back door to Terri's house and listened, then ceased all verbal communication until he and Stoner had secured the house. Nathan went to the home phone system. A light blinked with messages.
The first one was her grandmother at the airport in Chicago, telling Terri her flight info. The next one was her grandmother in New Orleans stopped in traffic a mile from the house. Nothing else.
"I think the traffic jam is suspect," Stoner said.
"Me, too."
The house phone rang. Nathan let it go to voicemail so he could listen to the caller before picking up. A hang-up.
Stoner walked in from the living room. "Someone just checked out my SUV. Male. Operative."
Nathan nodded and moved into the dark hallway. Stoner took up another position inside the living room.
The door to the kitchen opened slowly a few minutes later, followed by the barrel of a weapon. Once inside, the man started forward, checking the house the same way Nathan had. When he reached the hallway, Nathan made his move.
He hit the guy hard, knocking him back into the kitchen. The intruder caught his balance and swung the weapon up, but Nathan was on him in a nanosecond. He shoved the weapon arm up and back against the doorjamb, knocking the gun loose. This guy was big and lean with muscle, but fury blasted through Nathan on an adrenaline wave nothing would have stopped. He caught him around the throat with his forearm.
A flick sounded and the tip of a blade pierced Nathan's shirt, breaking the skin.
"Back away, fucker, or it goes all the way in," the guy warned.
Stoner stepped into view and put the barrel of his 9 mm H&K against the mans forehead. "Drop it. They can patch a knife wound, but I doubt we'll find all the pieces to put your brains back together."
The operative actually pressed on the knife. If Nathan didn't need to find out what this guy knew about Terri, he'd have grunted with the pain, but Stoner would kill the bastard at that.
A slew of cursing spit out of this bastard's mouth before the knife clanged against the hardwood floor.
"Who are you?" Nathan demanded. When he didn't get an answer, he said, "If you've hurt Terri or her grandmother, I promise to make your death slow and agonizing."
"I don't have Terri," the guy answered.
"Then who are you?"
The man didn't answer.
"NOPD?" Nathan asked.
"Do I look like a fucking pig?"
Not really. Nathan scrunched his forehead in thought, then it dawned on him. Of course. "You're with the agency she works for."
The man's features went blank." What agency, gringo? I don't know what you're talking about."
Yeah, right. "What's your name and why are you here?"
"Why you here, gringo? You here to hurt women or you just want to steal something?"
Nathan tightened his grip while Stoner searched him for a wallet.
The man banged his head back into Nathan's face, slamming him in the nose. Damn, it hurt, but not enough to make him loosen his hold. He'd been trained in the army to stay tough even while being beaten with the stock end of a rifle. And that was nothing compared to what prison trained him for. A little slap on the nose wouldn't do anything except piss him off.
"Carlos Delgado," Stoner said.
"What agency is he with?"
"There's no badge. Only his license."
Nathan tightened his hold again. "So what are you doing here, Carlos?"
"Pissing you off."
Stoner held his gun up to Carlos's forehead. "Let's just off the bastard and then work on saving Terri and her grandmother."
Before Nathan could move, Carlos lifted his feet and kicked Stoner back. The sudden shift in weight was enough to bring Nathan down, too. Carlos spun before he swept his feet out from under him.
A shot rang out.
Nathan and Carlos froze as Stoner stood up with the weapon trained fully on Carlos. "Enough with the dancing. The next bullet is between your eyes."
"All right," Carlos said, moving into a stance they all knew meant he was waiting for an opening to disarm Stoner.
Stoner lowered the gun to Carloss crotch. "Should we continue splitting hairs?"
"Not down there, amigo. Take the eyes, please."
Nathan pushed himself back to his feet and exchanged a look with Stoner. "He's obviously well trained. I say Fed."
"He has the look, but he fights like someone from the streets, not one of them Ivy-trained overachievers. And he doesn't reek of military."
Stoner had a point.
"Fuck it, shoot him."
Carlos didn't even flinch as Stoner squeezed the trigger. He didn't plead, beg, or even blink.
"Damn," Stoner said as he fired the bullet so close to Carlos's face it would have killed him had the man even breathed, "I thought I was stone cold. You make me look scared."
A muscle worked in Carlos's jaw. "You gonna shoot me or just play games?"
Nathan stepped forward. But before he could speak, his phone rang. Seeing the caller ID as Terri, he snatched it up and answered.
"Nathan, I need you to come get my grandmother." Terri carefully enunciated each word.
Every alarm in his body rang. This wasn't like her and the underlying tone of her voice said she was scared, "Where are you?"
"I'll tell you in a minute. You have to come alone," Her voice quivered and his gut tightened.
"Tell them I understand."
"Good," She gave him an address in the St. Bernard Parrish.
Nathan gripped the phone so tightly that he was surprised it didn't shatter. "I'm coming to get you."
"I know," she whispered. "I'm sorry."
"No, they'll be sorry."
The line went dead.
"Was that Terri?" Carlos asked.
The concern in his voice was too real to be feigned, "Yes, I have to go."
"Where is she?"
"In trouble, as usual."
Carlos cursed in Spanish before he sneered at Stoner, "Put the damn gun away. We're obviously on the same team, I came here to check on Terri and make sure she was okay."
Nathan shook his head. "Then you'll understand why we don't trust you."
Carlos took it in stride. "I don't trust me most days. However, I'm an expert at… difficult extractions. Give me the address so I can get her back and give her a piece of my mind."
"Like hell," Nathan growled. "You let them take her. He's the only one going with me."
He pointed at Stoner.
Carlos sent a dismissive glance at Stoner, then raked Nathan with black eyes. "I didn't let anyone take shit, boy. And I can level the same thing back at you. How you let her get taken?"
Nathan hated the fact that he had a point.
"What I thought," Carlos said. "She don't listen to me or you. Now we got to go get her." He looked at Stoner. "You got any experience?"
Stoner smirked at Carlos with bored patience. "I'm former army intelligence, Special Forces, on contract to the U.S. government now for national security. That good enough for you, amigo?"
Carlos returned the stare with one that said he was less than impressed. "It'll do."
Nathan shoved his phone in his pants pocket. "I'll take your number and call if we need you, but"he stepped close to Carlos"if you show up where you aren't invited and put her at further risk, I'll kill you before they get a shot at you."
"Trust me. You're a rookie." Carlos gave them his cell number. "You can't fight these people alone."
"I lost rookie status long before you were born. I don't intend to fight them," Nathan replied. "Marseaux wants me. I'm going to trade places with Terri. You got a helicopter close by?"
"I can get one."
"Then get it if you want to help. If we need the cavalry, you won't reach us fast enough without one."
"At least give me an airport or location close to where you're going."
"Lakefront Airport." Nathan looked at Stoner. "Let's go."
* * *
"He's coming," Terri told the man who identified himself as Duff, which she doubted was his real name. She used her free hand to close the cell phone and placed it on a small desk.
"Make yourself comfortable and have a seat." Duff stood at the front of the ravaged classroom, pointing his gun at her sweet grandmother like a demented teacher picking on a helpless student.
Broken windows did little to dissipate the smell of mildew crowding the air in the abandoned school, another casualty of Katrina.
Terri lifted the two vials lying on the desk into her left hand, careful to keep her 9 mm aimed at the deadly capsules.
Her bluff had worked, almost. But not as she'd planned.
Spiked blond hair, tall and slender, the man who had identified himself as Duff was attractive for someone insane. He clearly enjoyed this.
He'd broken out in laughter at her offer that she'd hand over the vials as soon as her grandmother was delivered to the closest police department where someone could call to confirm she was safe.
Duff suggested what he considered was a better idea. Call Drake and Terri could walk out with her grandmother or he'd kill both of them right now. That's when she'd found out there had been ten vials originally and Duff's people only needed six, right now. Losing this pair carrying the virus and the antidote would be inconvenient, but wouldn't delay their schedule.
However, if he delivered the two she held at gunpoint he'd be handsomely rewarded. So he'd deal if she would.
Terri had to choose. Her grandmother's life for Nathan's.
Noooo. Bile lurched up her throat every time she thought about what she was drawing Nathan into. His voice echoed in her mind: Trust me. I can handle this.
Trusting a criminal had almost gotten her killed last time, but there was no one she trusted more at the moment. BAD would come in with a team. That might work or Duff might be alerted and kill her grandmother.
Nathan was highly trained and as stealthy as a ghost. He would find a way in without putting her or her grandmother in danger. She just wished she knew he would have a way out. Terri wasn't leaving without him.
"Don't want to sit down?" Duff taunted. "Then hand me the vials so you can both leave as soon as he gets here." He grinned, toying with her like a cat played with a mouse.
She scoffed at him. "Contrary to many obnoxious jokes, blondes aren't stupid."
Terri split her vision between the vials and her normally robust grandmother, who now huddled next to Duff looking frail and old. Grandmas intermittent silence mixed with low murmurs scared Terri. She needed her grandmother lucid enough to escape when she gave her directions.
"If not for your being a nuisance and Drake's interference, this wouldn't have happened." An arrogant smile tilted his lips.
Now Terri understood what drove Nathan to hunt down his brother's killer. If anything happened to Grandma and Terri survived, she would hunt this man to the end of the earth.
Even though she'd met plenty of snakes like this, she still didn't understand them. "Why are you killing people? Are you part of a terrorist group?"
Duff laughed, his gun bobbing carelessly around her grandmother. "Terrorists? Be real. Don't compare me with those bottom feeders. Their vision is too narrow and self-serving. Like they deserve to inherit this world? They're no more capable of ruling than the rest of you ignorant fools."
Weird and mental guy, but Duff was hinting at his leaders. Terri asked, "So who does deserve to rule?"
"The most enlightened geniuses of our generation."
Geniuses. Could this be some wacko cult? If so, this would be the first one sophisticated enough to bring in a deadly virus. No, this was too international feeling. And, if this group was truly made up of geniuses and possessed any serious level of organization, the world could be facing something far worse than a cult.
Terri narrowed her gaze at him. "So these killings aren't about some terrorist demand?"
"A terrorist demand is trite compared to what we fight for."
Keep him talking. The more she learned, the more she could use to find these bastards and stop them. If she lived. "So what are you fighting for?"
"No harm in telling you since you, unfortunately, will not be here to see the results of our labor." Duff's shoulders tipped back, full of self-importance. His eyes glowed with the chance to brag. "We're committed to protecting the world from itself. There is no one nation with the intellectual capacity and true power necessary to rule all nations, but there is a governing body of geniuses that will one day emerge when the world is ready for their leadership."
Lunatic. Zealot. Moron. Take your pick, any of those would fit this man. Terri sorted through all he said, but came up blank. No terrorist group. No particular nation. What did these people want?
The door behind her opened.
She froze.
"Don't shoot her, Teto," Duff called out. "She's got a gun on the vials."
A sob from her grandmother reached Terri's ears. Tears threatened at how afraid her grandmother had to be. God forgive her, but Terri wanted these men to die.
Footsteps tapped coming up from behind her, then passed on her left and walked toward Duff A Hispanic man wearing a camo T-shirt and jeans walked up to whisper something to Duff, who smiled and said, "You have everything ready?"
"Yes."
Duff turned to Terri. "Our company has arrived."
* * *
Nathan stopped just inside the tree line and studied the expanse of weed-ravaged playground between him and the school through his night-vision monocular. The sun had dropped out of sight, leaving the world tinted with twilight. Stoner peered through a pair of night-vision binoculars, sweeping them slowly across the terrain.
"They know I'm here." Nathan recognized a trap.
"Yep. You set?"
Nathan reached in his pocket and pulled out the Army Ranger coin and offered it to Stoner. "Keep it this time."
Stoner lowered the glasses, looked at the coin, and shook his head. "Not yet. I think it's got one more life in there for you. I'll call Carlos as soon as I have Terri and her grandmother."
Nathan shoved the coin back into his pants pocket. "I hope you're right about the coin, but either way, get them out of here."
Waiting any longer wasn't going to lower his chances of being shot on the way to the school. Nathan pointed to the right and Stoner disappeared into the woods. If Nathan didn't take a slug going straight in, he'd meet Stoner next to the entrance door, which stood wide open.
He kept low to the ground, zigzagging across the field until he reached the door. A minute later, Stoner arrived with his monocular in place. Nathan led the way into the dark building. Light shined from one doorway. When he neared it, he peeked around the corner and took in the scene.
Terri stood with her back to him in the middle of the room.
Two men at the head of the classroom faced her, with Grandma between them.
Nathan raised his monocular and stepped into view. "I'm here. Let the women go."
Everyone in the room tensed except for Grandma, whose lips quivered.
"In due time." The one holding Terri's grandmother had spoken. "Put your weapon down."
Nathan tossed his gun onto the closest desk. "Who are you?"
"Me? I'm Duff." He grinned. "And this is my partner, Teto. Want to introduce your partner?"
"What do you want?" Nathan kept his eyes on Terri, who hadn't moved a muscle.
"Terri knows what I want, don't you?" Duff said.
She nodded.
"Bring the vials up here and we'll trade, as agreed."
When she moved, Terri lifted two small vials off the desk in front of her and carried her SIG in her other hand.
Nathan realized she'd been holding them at bay by threatening to shoot the vials. His heart hammered at each step she took forward, but he couldn't move and risk getting her shot.
When Terri reached the front, she held up the two vials with the weapon pointed at her hand. "I'll blow my hand off if you try to trick me. Turn my grandmother loose first."
"Terri, don't, they'll"
"I know, Nathan. Please take my grandmother out of here."
"As you wish." Duff led her grandmother by the arm to the center aisle, then instructed her to walk straight forward.
When her grandmother reached Nathan, he took her arm and whispered, "My friend Stoner will take care of you. I'm not leaving without Terri."
Tears streamed down her wrinkled face. She trembled violently. He eased her out the door and passed her off to Stoner, who had been close enough to hear everything. Then Nathan turned back to Duff. He realized then that Terri intended to give her life to free him and her grandmother.
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