by Rebecca Deel
They’d offered her one. After careful consideration, she’d refused. Their plan hinged on her carrying off her part without a hitch. If she heard something pertaining to Adam, good or bad, over the ear piece, she may not be able to conceal her reaction. No, if there was word about her brother, Zane promised to let her know when she wouldn’t endanger anyone with her reaction.
Remy circled around to the back of the house as directed by the gate guards. The wedding was to take place on the first floor of the massive white stone mansion in the large ball room.
Claire shivered as she surveyed the back of the house. Maybe it was her imagination, but the place reminded her of a mausoleum. Cold, lifeless despite the caterers bustling in and out of what she assumed was the kitchen.
“Nice of Collins to send us to the servant entrance,” Lily said.
“He’s making a statement, all right,” Remy agreed. “Josh, we’re at the back of the mansion.” Whatever her security team heard through their comm system must have satisfied them because after a slight pause, they began to gather her bags.
She turned, nuzzled Zane’s neck before asking against his skin, “What about weapons?”
“Got it covered.” He brushed a gentle kiss over her ear, his action, like hers, preventing the possibility of a lip reader catching their conversation. “There’s a concealed compartment underneath the seat of my chair. We have guns and ammunition.”
“Why would you take such a chance? Zane, the gate guards would have killed you if they’d found the stash.”
“Haven’t you learned by now no one pays attention to the man in the wheelchair?”
She pressed her lips against his in an urgent kiss. “They’re fools.”
He eased away from her a scant inch as Remy and Lily climbed from the vehicle. “Do you mean that?”
“Zane, you are no less dangerous that the rest of your teammates.” In fact, he may be more dangerous because people underestimated him.
He held her gaze a moment longer before activating the lift pad. Once it was in place, Lily opened the side door and hoisted one of Claire’s bags and shoved it inside, motioning for her to check the equipment.
While she made a big show of examining each piece of equipment and replacing it in the bag, Lily reached under Zane’s seat, her movements blocked from view by her husband. Once the guns were distributed and concealed, Claire zipped her bag.
Zane caught her hand in his. “Your only concern is the photography, Claire. We’ll take care of the rest.”
She nodded. “Time for me to go to work.”
In the chaos of the kitchen, no one paid attention to them. More than one person almost ran into Zane or dumped the contents of a bowl or pitcher on him. To her disgust, they didn’t notice him until it was almost too late. While the invisibility paid off at the gate with the guards, Claire hated that Zane was right.
When the path between appliances and people was narrow, Zane signaled her to follow Remy. He trailed after her with Lily at his back. All of them carried equipment bags, though Claire usually condensed it to two. Dividing her equipment gave her a good excuse for so many assistants.
Clear of the kitchen, they followed the flow of people to the ballroom. There the florist had decorated an arch with tropical flowers at the front of the room. White candles were on every available flat surface, ready for a lighter to set the wicks ablaze. Workers arranged chairs at an angle to the arch. A white satin runner lay waiting for the attendants to roll it down the aisle formed by the chairs. Three crystal chandeliers hung from the high ceiling.
“Ah, there you are.”
Claire turned to face Peter Collins whose eyes glittered with satisfaction. Goosebumps surged up her back. Any reason he had for satisfaction couldn’t be healthy for them. Man, she hoped Durango and the SEALs had enough weapons to fend off an army. She forced a smile to her lips. “Mr. Collins, you have a quite a showplace here.” Truth, even if she hated the place. “Your daughter’s wedding will be spectacular.”
“Thank you, Ms. Walker. She was insistent on marrying Wes here at the compound. Of course, I was honored that she chose her home as the site of the wedding.” He reached into his jacket.
When Zane’s arm wrapped around Claire’s waist, she felt the tension in his muscles. He’d warned her to expect him to react that way if there was a possible threat to her safety. She figured her boyfriend would toss her behind him should Collins draw a weapon.
A mocking smile appeared on Collins’ face. “Oh, come now, Mr. Murphy. Is the overreaction necessary? This is my daughter’s wedding day, after all.”
Behind his back, Lily rolled her eyes. Right. Nothing was an overreaction in this den of danger. Talk about toying with them. Collins believed he had them in his clutches. Claire prayed he was wrong. She didn’t want the team to suffer injuries or maybe die. All she wanted was her brother out of this compound and back on U.S. soil where he’d be treated for injuries.
“I take Claire’s safety as seriously as you take the safety of your family, Collins.”
“Pity Ms. Walker didn’t choose a more capable champion.” With that verbal jab, Collins withdrew a check from his pocket and handed it to Claire. “As per your order, my dear. Now, I have a few matters of business to attend to.” He indicated the linebacker-sized man standing feet away, arms folded across his massive chest, scowl on his face, the same man who’d confronted them in front of the church earlier in the day. “When you’re ready to begin photographing Lilah, Carl will escort you to her suite.” With that, Collins left.
Claire handed the check to Zane. “Can you shift the money from his account and to mine immediately?”
He grinned. “Yes, ma’am. As soon as you and Lily start work in the suite, I’ll take care of it. What do you plan to do with the money?”
“Donate it to charity.” She didn’t want to benefit from Collins’ money. She understood money was an inanimate object, but the thought of benefiting from Collins’ drug business made it seem dirty. The charity could do some good with the money.
She motioned to Carl who lumbered closer. “We’re ready to begin. I need Lilah, first, please.”
She and the others were led to a set of double doors on the second floor. From inside came the laughter of several women. Carl reached for the knob.
“I can handle it from here,” Claire said.
“I don’t go in, you don’t go in.”
“Your guards at the gate searched us for weapons.”
Carl lifted his chin in Remy and Lily’s direction. “They don’t need no weapons.”
Of course, he discounted Zane. She hated to have the hulking bodyguard watching her every move and knew she’d have to work harder to get Lilah to respond naturally. “Fine. Stay out of my way and my light.”
“Whatever,” he muttered. After a perfunctory knock, he opened the door and stepped inside the suite.
Claire followed Remy. Oh, man, this would be interesting. Ten beautiful women lounged around the living room in various states of attire, most in casual dress, a couple already in silk bath robes. “Lilah?”
“That’s me,” said the slender blond seated on the love seat. “Are you the photographer Daddy promised me?”
“I’m Claire Walker. Congratulations on your upcoming marriage. You must be excited.”
“Try delirious,” commented the redhead to Lilah’s right. “She’s been counting down the days for months. We’re down to mere hours. I suspect she knows the exact number of minutes, too.”
Lilah Collins consulted her diamond encrusted watch. “Three hours, forty-five minutes, and thirty-eight seconds.”
That brought on a spurt of laughter from her attendants.
“Are your hair and makeup people here?” Claire asked.
“Setting up now in the spare bedroom.”
“Great. This is Lily, her husband, Remy, and my boyfriend, Zane. Lily will assist me in setting up the shots. Zane and Remy will be out here. Focus on yourself and forget I’m here. M
y job is to document this momentous day for you. I’ll set up a few shots, but consider me part of the background noise of this day. Since I’m a late addition, I’ll have to shoot the formal poses after the ceremony. I promise to be as quick as I can.” She smiled. “I’m sure you’d rather enjoy the post-wedding festivities. The scents in the kitchen are amazing.”
The bride beamed. “Daddy promised me the best of everything today. I can’t wait to see what he planned.”
Didn’t seem to Claire that a man like Collins would handle the details of his daughter’s wedding and reception. She pulled out her camera and began work. “Do you know where you’re spending your honeymoon?”
“Hawaii. Daddy arranged it for us.”
Huh. Claire wondered if this groom was in “Daddy’s” hip pocket. After several shots of the bride and her attendants, she followed the women into the room where the hair and makeup experts were waiting.
Two hours later, she changed memory cards and followed Lilah into her bedroom for photographs of the bride in her wedding dress. Claire had lost count of the number of weddings worked and the dresses photographed. This one beat all the others. She suspected the jewels on Lilah’s dress were the real deal.
Fifteen minutes later, she and Lily left the suite with Remy and Zane, and followed Carl to photograph Wes and his groomsmen. That process was less time consuming than with the women. Most of the men enjoyed mugging for her camera. All of them flirted with her and Lily, which irritated Zane and Remy.
By the time they returned to the first floor, setup for the wedding was complete and guests were arriving. Working fast, Claire photographed the decorations. Minutes before the ceremony began, she photographed the beaming bride coming down the curved staircase on her father’s arm. Lilah and her bridesmaids were beautiful.
As she documented the bride’s progress toward the ballroom, she noticed Zane’s concentration and knew Durango and the other two SEALs had begun their own work. Claire prayed they were successful. She was afraid if they didn’t find Adam tonight, she would lose him forever.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Zane kept close tabs on Claire as she moved around the room. He wished he could be on his feet to guard her back. Unfortunately, he not only wasn’t on his feet, but also wasn’t maneuverable in his wheelchair in this crowd. So he stuck to his job, watching his girl and monitoring the communications and security system of Collins’ estate.
He’d positioned his chair against a wall in a corner, away from the roving eye of the security cams in the ballroom. Every system had blind spots. He and the Fortress operatives had studied the schematics of Collins’ estate and security system on the plane, committing them to memory. He was in the only place in the room where work on his laptop wasn’t visible to the security cams littering the room. He also had a security filter on his screen, making it impossible for anyone to see what he worked on unless they were directly behind him. “Josh?” he murmured.
“Almost in position. See anything?”
Zane switched screens to the one subdivided into all the security cam feeds from Collins’ compound. Once Durango and the SEALs were inside, he’d monitor the internal camera feeds as well. He scanned the split screen. Nice. Durango was as good as their reputation said. They were concealed well. “Negative. You’re good.”
“Thirty seconds.”
“Copy.” He cued the loop he’d spliced together while Claire took pictures of Lilah and her entourage. Zane couldn’t believe Collins’ daughter had ten bridesmaids. The wedding ceremony might take a long time. Good for the Fortress operatives and their search for Adam, bad for Claire’s peace of mind. Every minute she waited for word on her brother would feel like an eternity.
“Zane,” Josh murmured in the ear piece.
A few finger strokes later, his loop was running in the system. “Go.”
“Copy.”
Music filled the ballroom as the chamber orchestra began to play. Conversations faded as the doors at the back of the room opened. The groomsmen filed in one by one, followed by the best man, groom, and a member of the clergy, all wearing the latest trend in tuxes.
Throughout the procession, Zane monitored the rescue team’s real time progress in breaching the compound. A couple of close calls later, they were at one of the back bedroom windows at the darkest corner of the house.
“Shut down internal security.”
At Josh’s command, Zane cued the internal security program he’d written overnight with Jon’s help. Once he was positive his program was running in place of Collins’ internal security, he signaled Josh that it was safe for the operatives to enter the house.
Lilah Collins entered the room to the gasps of several women in the audience. Zane shifted his attention from his screen to the bride for a few seconds. Some dress. He couldn’t begin to guess how much this wedding and the honeymoon cost Collins.
His lips curved. By the time this night was over, Fortress would cost Collins a lot more than his daughter’s celebration. The drug kingpin handed Zane the financial keys to his kingdom by giving Claire that check. Of course, the other man didn’t believe Claire would have a chance to cash the check. All Zane had needed was a place to start. The checking account and bank routing numbers had given him access to a lot more information than Collins could have dreamed. Fortress was going to leave their calling card in Peter Collins’ accounts. Big fat zeroes. One series of keystrokes was all it would take to clean out the man’s accounts. Zane couldn’t wait.
For a moment as he stared at Lilah, he wondered what Claire would look like wearing that same gown, then realized his girlfriend would prefer something more simple and elegant. Whatever she chose would be perfect. Yeah, he was a sap, all right. Totally gone over a woman he’d known for a few days. Guess it was time to face up to the fact that he was no longer teetering on the edge. He was in love with Claire Walker. He hoped she might feel the same about him one day because Zane knew there was no one else for him. No question in his mind that the beautiful photographer was his soul mate.
“We’re in,” Josh whispered.
Zane mentally yanked himself on task. There would be time for daydreams about a wedding to Claire after they were on American soil and he convinced her to take a chance on him. “Copy.”
Now came the most dangerous part of their mission. Finding Adam in this compound. Chances were good Claire’s brother was in the extensive basement of this house or one of the outbuildings. According to Durango’s leader, thermal imaging didn’t indicate Adam was being held in an outbuilding. No signs of extra security around them, either. Zane had a feeling Collins wanted Adam close to interrogate the Marine at will without inconveniencing himself or risking his daughter stumbling on the prisoner. Zane doubted Lilah would go to the basement. No reason.
The schematics showed multiple rooms in the basement with a secured steel door to enter that part of the house. Rumor said Collins loved persuading people to talk himself. Zane bet the basement was soundproofed. After all, Daddy couldn’t have his baby girl asking about screams coming from the basement.
Claire finished snapping shots of Lilah walking the aisle and headed to Zane. She brushed his mouth with her own. “Anything?” she whispered.
“In progress. No problems.” Yet. A matter of time. No mission ever went as planned. Hopefully, he’d have Claire out of here before trouble hit.
Another soft kiss before she turned to take shots of the ceremony.
He returned his attention to his computer screen, trusting Remy and Lily to watch Claire while Zane tracked their team’s progress inside the mansion.
“Clear,” he whispered at Josh’s soft query.
Immediately, the operatives clad in black moved. Thermal imaging scans had revealed no occupants on the first floor aside from the guests in the ballroom and the catering staff putting finishing touches on the food displayed in the massive dining room. Chairs were set up around the edges of the room as well as the patio and under a tent lit with strings of whi
te lights.
Zane noted the appearance of one of the security detail, heading for the operatives’ location. “Trouble on your six.”
“Copy.”
The team scattered into various empty rooms on that hall. Hopefully, the guard was simply patrolling, not conducting a room-to-room search. If he did, the operatives had to neutralize him which gave them on an even shorter mission clock.
The bride reached the front of the room on her father’s arm, stepped under the arch beside her groom, and the wedding ceremony began in earnest. The flower girl and ring bearer were the highlight of the program, in Zane’s opinion. As the lengthy agenda moved forward, the flower girl must have grown tired of standing because she sat on the floor in the middle of the first song. When one of the bridesmaids urged her to stand, the little girl refused, to the amusement of several audience members.
Another scan of the corridor showed the security guard opening the first door. Oh, man. This wasn’t good. “Opening doors,” he whispered.
“Copy,” came the murmured reply.
The guard stepped out of the first room, then into the room where one of the Fortress operatives hid. He didn’t come out.
“Guard is down,” whispered Jon. “Clock’s ticking.”
“Copy.” This from Josh. “Z?”
“Clear. No electronic chatter.”
“Go.”
The operatives slipped back into the dimly-lit hall and headed once again for the staircase leading to the basement. They located the door without further incident. Then came the next tough assignment, breaching the security on a door with a separate alarm system, one Zane couldn’t disable remotely. They didn’t have much time before another security guard came looking for the one Jon had either knocked out or taken out. The team was vulnerable until that door was unlocked.
Quinn crouched and shrugged off his pack. Seconds later, he began work on the electronic lock. Zane prayed the device he and Jon jury-rigged for this job did the trick without triggering a silent alarm. Two tense minutes later, Quinn turned, looked up at the security cam on which Zane watched and gave him a salute.