“I am.” Ed stepped up. “I didn’t do shit except sit in theright hand seat from the refueling stop. Just get me some coffee and I’m good.”
“This way. I just made a fresh pot.”
Greg waved Amin off and led the three men from Phoenix to thedouble-wide serving as Grainger Caldwell headquarters. Rick noticed that evenin the short time he’d been gone trim had been added at the bottom, pottedtrees stood on the porch on either side of the door and a tall flagpole hadbeen set in concrete just to the side. An American flag flickered in the faintbreeze.
“Nice,” he commented.
“I thought we should make a statement here,” Greg told him.“I didn’t want it looking too much like a cut and paste operation, not withoutall the other contractors showing their asses.”
Stepping inside the manufactured home, Ed looked around andlet out a soft whistle. “Not bad for temporary quarters.”
“Hey. I expect to be here at least two years. A cot in amonk’s cell didn’t quite do it for me.” He headed into the kitchen and took alarge plastic mug with a lid from one of the cupboards. Filling it from thecoffee pot, he handed it to Ed. “All yours. Amin will introduce you to the twoguys assigned to the first shift. When you get through, come on back in here.There’s food in the fridge.”
“And a place to sleep, I take it.”
“Yeah. There’s one bedroom besides mine and that big couchyou saw in the living room. You can fight over who gets what.”
Ed and Rick conferred in a corner for a moment, then Edchecked the clip in both of his guns, picked up his coffee and headed out thedoor.
“Now, gentlemen.” Greg rubbed his hands together. “I’vemanaged to score some steaks for us and I’ve got a barbecue set up on the backpatio. Shall we have at it?”
Before moving to the kitchen to help Greg, Rick gazed ascasually as possible at the papers on Jordan’s desk. What was it he had seenthere the last time? If only something would jog his memory, something wouldstand out but there was nothing there that he wouldn’t have expected.
Dinner was as relaxed as a meal could be under thecircumstances. With guard duty looming for all of them, they kept the liquidsnonalcoholic. Finally it was time for Mike to relieve Ed. He took his owncoffee traveler and headed out the door.
When Ed stumbled into the trailer, Rick and Greg weresitting in the living room, going over the plans for the next day. Ed looked asif he could barely keep his eyes open.
“Guess my coffee didn’t do much good,” Greg joked.
Rick raked his partner with a critical eye. “You okay?” Edwas obviously exhausted but the caffeine should have recharged him.
“Yeah. I just can’t seem to shake the fatigue. Maybe wepushed it too much. I’m for bed.”
“Maybe you should eat something first,” Rick urged.
“Yeah, I saved you a steak,” Greg told him.
“I don’t think I could stay awake long enough to eat it. I’mheading for the bedroom. Wake me when you need me.”
“I think I’ll stretch my legs for a while,” Greg said,hoisting himself out of the big armchair. “Maybe wander over to the dorm andsee if the usual card game’s going on. Do you want me to take a shift?”
“No. Just catch enough shuteye that you’re alert in themorning.”
Greg laughed. “No problem there.”
Rick watched him go, frowning. He just knew something wasn’tright but he couldn’t pin down what it was. Tomorrow he needed to reach out tohis contact and see if the man had any more information for him. Setting thealarm on his watch, he stretched out on the couch and willed himself to sleep.He needed whatever rest he could get.
* * * * *
Kelly felt as if she’d lived through a week in the pastforty-eight hours. Her sleep had been sporadic, broken not just by weird dreamsbut by Xena’s unusual behavior. Usually the dog slept on the floor next to herbut the past two nights she’d climbed onto the bed again, stretching out nextto Kelly and whining in her ear all night.
This morning she startled her by waking her with a growl andtrying to push her out of bed. Grabbing the gun she kept on the bedside tableat night, Kelly had shoved her feet into loafers, taken a thorough trip aroundthe house, Xena padding along beside her, then checked the monitor for theoutside security cameras. Living alone as far away from people as she did, thatsecurity system gave her as much peace of mind as her gun and Xena’s presence.
But she’d found nothing. Not even a sign that anyone washanging around or had been there.
By the time the first rays of the sun chased the night fromthe sky, the dogs in the kennel were announcing their demands to be fed. Hertwo assistants would be arriving shortly and she had a full training schedulefor the day, so she showered, dressed and began the day’s routine.
But both workers had commented on her apparent air ofdistraction and Xena’s unusual behavior. The Ovcharka ran back and forth in thetraining area, pulling at Kelly’s jeans with her teeth and disturbing the otherdogs until, over Xena’s loud protest, Kelly had to put her in the house.
By the time the day was finally over she was exhausted bothphysically and mentally. When she went in the bedroom to strip off her clothesand throw on a robe, Xena bumped into her hard, pushing her toward the bed,then knocked her cell phone off the bedside table where she’d placed it beforeundressing.
Sighing, she picked it up and flipped it open. Xena sat downon her feet, locking her in place.
Call. Right now. Something’s wrong.
Okay, okay. I’m calling. Give me a minute here.
We should have gone with him.
Shoulda, coulda, woulda, the truth is we didn’t. I’llcheck on him, okay? And maybe you’ll let me get some sleep tonight?
Go ahead and do it. I see things in my head I don’t like.
“Okay, okay. I’m making the call,” Kelly said out loud andsighed. “But you’d better not be wrong or I’m going to feel like a fool and anidiot. And we won’t get invited to Maryland again.”
Taking a deep breath, she speed-dialed Dan Romeo’s cellnumber.
* * * * *
The first thing Rick noticed when he left the trailer torelieve Mike was almost complete blackness. The floodlights he’d insisted onsetting up around the compound were out.
Shit! Now what?
He checked to make sure his AK-47 was ready to fire, slungit over his shoulder, then pulled his Glock from the small of his back andracked a bullet into the chamber. Standing still for a moment to orient himselfto night vision, he started slowly toward the warehouse, moving in a lowcrouch. Although the big sliding doors were closed, from the far side of thebuilding he heard the rumble of what sounded like large truck engines. Mike wasnowhere to be seen, nor were the two GC security guards.
Rick’s stomach knotted and the tiny hairs on the back of hisneck stood up. Still in a half crouch, he made his way to the warehouse,pausing every few seconds to spin slowly around and check behind him. As hemoved closer to the building, he noticed a pile of something crumpled at theside door. Approaching it with caution, hoping it wasn’t a disguised IED, hewas stunned to realize it was Mike crumpled on the ground, out cold.
“Hey,” he whispered, squatting down next to him. “Mike.Michael. Come on, get up. Snap out of it.”
But Mike’s body was completely limp, devoid of any response.Every nerve in Rick’s body went on full alert. For a moment he debated goingback to Ed and waking him but first he’d see if he could catch a glimpse ofwhat was going on. And where were the fucking guards?
Pressing himself against the metal wall of the building hemade his way to the corner, the rumbling sound growing louder and louder as hemoved closer to it. What he saw made anger boil up in him like scalded water.Six huge convoy trucks, lights off, were idling behind the warehouse at theentrance the construction equipment would use. At least two dozen men weremoving quietly in and out of the building, carrying the arms and munitions theC-130J had delivered just that afternoon.
Swinging his rif
le to the ready position and using the wallfor protection, he fired a shot into the air.
Everything stopped, a frozen tableau, then the dim bodiesswung around to his direction. In the beam from someone’s flashlights he madeout Amin holding a crate of ammunition.
“Amin! What the hell’s going on here?”
Someone started toward him and he fired a shot at theirfeet. The person stopped where he was.
“Did you hear me? Everyone away from the warehouse. Now.”
From the corner of his right eye he saw someone open thedoor to the nearest truck. A rifle cracked and searing pain tore through hischest. He never heard the second shot as he crumpled to the ground.
Chapter Seven
It had taken Kelly hours to get to sleep. Every time sheclosed her eyes she saw images of Rick, images that faded as quickly as theycame and left her with a great feeling of unease. Dawn was lighting the skybefore she finally fell into a deeper sleep but she slept fitfully, restlessly,pieces of dreams floating in and out of her mind. Strange, because untilrecently she wasn’t given much to dreaming. She was one of those rare peopleable to completely blank her mind when she fell asleep.
But tonight, once again Xena’s dream was invading her head.She was running in the dark, someplace unfamiliar. Every few feet she pausedand sniffed the air, then took off at a steady pace again. Everything was inshadows. Indefinable.
What is it, Xena? What do you see? Smell? What is it,girl?
A vague image took shape in the darkness but she couldn’tmake it out. Then Xena began barking, racing toward the shape, nose lifted intothe air.
A sharp crack split the darkness and millions ofmulticolored fragments exploded everywhere.
Kelly awoke sweating and panting, pushing at the weight onher which, once again, was Xena. But this time the dog wasn’t whining. She wasgrowling and shoving at Kelly, pushing her off the bed.
Her lips pulled back to bare her teeth as the growl grewlouder. When Kelly still sat there, trying to pull herself together, Xenabarked, so sharp and loud it shocked her.
Rick! Oh, God. Rick, Xena, is it Rick?
He needs help. Right now.
What can I do?
Call. Make sure everyone knows Rick’s in danger.
After all the research she’d been doing on The Lotus Circlewebsite, Kelly was even more tuned into the silent exchanges between her andXena. Her hand trembled as she reached for the phone.
* * * * *
Dan snatched up the cell phone from his desk the minute itrang. Rick had called on arrival in Baghdad and again after the merchandise wasoffloaded. He hoped this was him or one of the others calling to give him anupdate before they set up their routing for the night. He was worried becauseit was more than ten hours since he’d heard from anyone there again. Trying notto act like a nervous mother, he’d forced himself to wait for their call,hoping this was it.
“What the hell’s going on there?” he barked into the phone.
There was a pause, then a female voice said in a tentativetone, “Mr. Romeo?”
Dan looked at the phone, then did his best to bite back hisanxiety. “Yes, this is Dan Romeo.”
“This is Kelly Monroe. Did I, um, catch you at a bad time?”
Dan blew out a breath. “No. Yes. I’m not sure. What can I dofor you?”
“Have you spoken to Rick recently?”
Dan tightened his hand on the phone. “Not for the lastseveral hours. Why?”
“I think something’s very wrong. Something bad is happening.Or has happened.” In an uncertain voice, she explained to him the situationwith Xena. “I know you must think I’m crazy.” This was the same worry she’dexpressed in the last phone call. “But I’m telling you, that dog hassensitivities you can’t even imagine. Something’s wrong and Xena knows it. Shetold me.”
A muscle jumped in Dan’s cheek. “Actually, crazy is the lastthing I’d think you were. Especially right now. I haven’t heard from anyonethere in several hours. In fact, I was hoping you were one of them.”
“Can you please try to call Rick?” she pleaded. “And let meknow what you find out?”
Dan began to roll the pen from his desk back and forthbetween his fingers. He knew well enough not to discount psychic warnings.They’d saved Mark’s life and Mia’s and recovered a valuable electronic robot.For the Hallorans and Romeos the psychic gifts had become integrated into theirlives.
“I’ve been on The Lotus Circle website,” Kelly went on whenhe didn’t answer her. “I’m not the only one linking mentally with their animal.There are more people with the same situation. And Mr. Romeo? The dog’s usuallyright.”
“All right. I’ll try to reach them. I’ve got your numberprogrammed into my phone. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
“Thank you. Thank you very much.”
Dan disconnected the call and picked up the secure satellitephone in front of him. With an uneasy feeling, he punched in the numbers forthe phone his men were holding in Iraq.
* * * * *
The first thing Rick was aware of when he opened his eyeswas something heavy on his chest. The intense pain followed instantly.Somewhere around him voices were cursing, familiar voices. What was wrong? Whathad happened to him?
“Son of a bitch. Help me here.”
Mike. That’s was Mike’s voice.
Rick wanted to tell him to get the elephant off his chestbut he couldn’t seem to make any sound except a gurgle.
“Can you hurry your ass up?” Mike hollered.
“Coming, coming, coming.”
Ed? Was that Ed?
“I rousted the medics from the dormitory. They’re on theirway.”
“Well, I hope you told them they don’t have too damn muchtime to get here.”
The pressure on Rick’s chest eased but he felt himselffading again. Voices blurred around him and he could have sworn someone waswhispering in his ear. Something important but he couldn’t make it out.
“Hey! Get the hell out of here.” Mike shouting. “Gofind your people. Right now.”
“Damn it, keep that pressure on and get the rest of thesepeople away from here. We don’t need a damn mob scene.”
Why is Mike shouting so loudly? And what’s wrong with mychest?
Feet shuffled on the tarmac. Strange voices babbled, thenreceded. New voices joined the others and someone knelt at his side.
“Mr. Latrobe? Mr. Latrobe, I’m John Malone. I’m going to domy best to take care of you. Just stay with me, okay?”
Okay. I’m not going anywhere.
He would have laughed if it hadn’t hurt so badly.
“He needs blood,” someone said. “Anyone know what type heis? Christ, someone did a number on him. Hey, Sam, hustle it up, will you?”
“Thank God Grainger Caldwell insisted on a complete medicalsetup here, including whole blood.” Ed was muttering under his breath. “In caseof on-the-job accidents. This sure fits the bill.”
What did Ed want with blood?
“This is gonna be tricky.” One of the strange voices.“I’ve got to clean up the blood, prevent air from moving into the wound andstave off infection. Ted, let’s pump him full of antibiotics as soon as we getthe IV started.”
More murmuring. More running feet. Something about arefrigerator.
Then pinpricks in his arm, like the stick of needles.
“Okay.” Another strange voice. “Listen, guys. We’re going todo our best to stabilize him but he needs to get to a hospital.”
“Can you fix him up so he’ll hold on just until tomorrownight? We’ve got a medical plane coming with a surgeon. It’s on its way.”
“Yeah but—”
“Just do it. Whatever it takes. And I want one of you withhim at all times.”
“Okay, okay. I guess all that time as a medic in Afghanistanis finally going to do some good.”
* * * * *
Mike was standing outside by himself away from the trailer.This was the third time he and Dan Romeo had spoke
n.
“I’m telling you, Dan. It’s the biggest clusterfuck you eversaw.” He kept glancing toward the trailer, hoping Ed was riding herd on themedic with Rick.
“What the hell happened?”
“That asshole Jordan is knee-deep in this and now he’sdisappeared. Left everything behind, as a matter of fact. Just split. Hisso-called right-hand man, Amin, is less than useless. Couldn’t even keep hispeople together. And I’ll bet whatever GC is paying us he’s involved in thistoo. That look of injured innocence and concern doesn’t quite cut it with me.”
“How did they take care of so many guards? They couldn’tpossibly shoot them all.”
“My guess? Jordan and/or Amin doped the coffee they servedwith dinner. That’s what they did to us. Ed barely made it through his shiftbefore collapsing. I drank more than he did and I only made it to the front ofthe warehouse. I’d say Rick passed on it. Don’t know if that makes him lucky ornot.” He wiped away the sweat beading on his forehead. “Everything’s gone butthe construction equipment. Every last rifle, gun, bullet. Even the Humvees.”
“They planned this carefully,” Dan said, anger underlininghis words. “Damn it all to hell anyway. What about the local security people?”
“All gone,” Mike told him. “Only the ones we brought overare still here, trying to shake off the effects of the coffee. And royallypissed by the way.”
“This was a major operation,” Dan pointed out. “Jordan’sonly part of it. God, Charlie Grainger will bust a blood vessel over this.”
“This is my fault. I recommended Jordan. I said if I waswrong about him you could skin me alive, so you’d better sharpen your knife.”
“I don’t even want to hear that, Michael. We did a completerundown on him. And Rick spent a lot of time with him getting this thingtogether.”
“Rick said he had a funny feeling,” Mike pointed out. “Toobad we didn’t pay more attention to it. Or Kelly Monroe and that weird dog.”
“Forget that now. We have to focus on the current situation.And buddy, I’d still trust your judgment any day.”
“We will discuss this later but right now we need toget Rick out of here,” Mike told him. “Ed and I will stay on for a few days andsee what we can come up with.”
Scent of Danger Page 10