by Dale Mayer
At least until Merk’s fist connected, then the protests died.
And the screams began.
Inside she hit the security room and found Stone and Alfred already studying the monitor screens.
“Did you see anything?” she asked.
Stone’s huge head nodded slowly. “It’s not like any of them made an attempt to hide what they were doing.” He brought up the cameras on three corners of the building. He hit Replay on the first, and she could see two of the men scaling the fence and jumping over the side. On the far-side camera, it was the same thing but with only one man. The last two were just as obvious at the middle of the fence.
“They said they were paid a thousand bucks to break in.” She shrugged. “They really seem to think it was just a lark.”
“And probably was,” Stone said. “But we have to ask the bigger question. Why would anybody do that? To test our defenses? To see just how easy it would be to gain access? Or to see how fast we would react?”
“Or …” Ice mumbled.
“Maybe throw us off the scent,” Stone continued, “and, while this distraction was happening, others were doing something else.”
Alfred nodded.
Shivers ran down her spine at that thought. “Any sign of more intruders to back up that last theory?”
Stone reached out to tap the first monitor in the series of six. “This camera is blind.”
“Shit. I’ll go check it out,” she said.
“Rhodes went to look, but”—Stone studied his watch—“he should’ve checked in by now.”
“I’m on it.” Ice hurried to the door, then paused. “What was his last location?”
“I’ll check the other floors,” Alfred said as he rushed out, his rapid footsteps clipping against the tile floor.
Stone reached across the desk and punched a code into a small unit on the side. Instantly a light flashed with a corresponding number below it. He lifted it, and they both read the location. “Rhodes is down in the kitchen.”
“That could be anything. But I’ll go there first. Tell Merk and Levi.” Ice cast her mind back to what she’d seen since she had returned to the building. While the men were outside with the first batch of intruders, she hadn’t been particularly aware of anything going on inside. She’d made the amateur mistake of assuming the danger was outside. Not any longer.
Moving carefully she slipped her way down to the kitchen again. She saw no one nor signs of anyone having been inside. At the kitchen doorway she stopped and listened. Nothing—the place was silent.
But definitely not empty. Rhodes was at the kitchen table, unconscious over the wooden surface. She raced to his side and checked for a pulse. Thank God, it was there, though barely. Not a good start to their venture. Maybe it was a good thing. They’d gotten soft. As the men had healed, they’d been planning this new life, but from the comforts of home wasn’t the same as actually living on the edge of danger again. Previously they were honed to be at their best when they went on a mission, but, back on home ground again, they could relax. With the new company they didn’t understand what they’d walked into. There might never be any relaxing; something they hadn’t considered.
She tapped her ear comm. “Stone, Rhodes is alive, but he’s been hit. He’s at the kitchen table.”
“An intruder heading toward the inside garage entrance,” Stone warned through her crackling headset.
She stopped, reoriented herself, and silently raced forward.
At the garage—really, at this point, this was their work area for the development of machinery—the door was open. She didn’t know what this new guy was after. Maybe he was just seeing what was here, but the last thing the team needed was to have somebody checking out their place.
Crouching low, she went through the double doors and hid behind one of the freestanding tool kits. The intruder headed straight for the large truck Levi had driven earlier. Interesting.
The guy opened the door and checked inside. He didn’t enter or climb in, just merely leaned forward.
What was he looking for? The laptop? Every vehicle was equipped with one, and, although they were still getting some of their systems set up, those were targeted to immediately download any new data to the main computer banks as each of the team came back to base. Then wiped the laptops clean for the next time. So, even if the laptops were stolen, nothing incriminating or confidential would be on them. But that didn’t mean the team wanted to give anything away either.
He snagged the laptop and tucked it under his arm.
Along the far side, she lined up a shot, ready to pull the trigger, when the target froze and dropped to the ground. What the …? Voices sounded in the distance. Several men. That should be Levi. Was he bringing the first group of men inside?
The intruder hopped to his feet and ran to the back of the big truck. She didn’t take a chance. Lining him up in her sights again, she took the shot. The man dropped, screaming in outrage. The laptop tumbled from his arms and slid across the floor.
In her ear, Stone asked, “Ice?”
“Yeah, I hit him. Turn on the lights, will you? Any more assholes where they don’t belong?”
Instantly the huge garage filled with lights.
The man on the ground held his thigh with one hand. But in his other he held an automatic weapon. Of course he did. Whatever happened to carrying a baseball bat?
“Drop the weapon,” she snapped.
The intruder sneered. He pointed it in her direction.
She pulled the trigger a second time. His weapon fell to the cement floor while a wild bullet from his gun slammed into the ceiling. The idiot screamed again as his hand oozed blood.
He should have listened to me.
She approached carefully and kicked the weapon out of his reach. “Stone, he’s down.”
“Merk is on his way toward you. Can you handle him alone until then?”
She laughed. “He’s got two bullet holes in him. He’s not going anywhere.”
“Damn.”
The admiration in his voice did her heart good. Stone was never one to give praise, but he didn’t stint on it either. And just hearing that tone made her feel better. A lot better.
“Ice, where are you?” Merk’s voice rang out behind her.
“Over here.” She kept the gun trained on the man swearing at her feet. He glared at her with a darkly veiled promise of retribution. She knew, if he had a chance to come after her, he would. But, for now, with a bullet in his thigh and one hand, he was pretty screwed. She’d deliberately taken out both on the same side to make any other ideas he might have a lot harder.
Merk arrived at her side in seconds. He took one look at the man on the ground and grinned. “Just like old times. Things have been a bit too quiet around here.”
Merk picked up the man’s weapon and quickly emptied the magazine.
“What is Levi doing?” she asked, as the other team members hadn’t moved into the garage. Even after hearing the gunfire.
“One of the men is talking. Apparently somebody knows somebody, who knows somebody, who knows somebody who’s got money.” Merk snorted. “It’s typical. Hey-anyone-know-someone-who-wants-to-make-a-fast-buck line.” He shook his head. “And these chumps went for it.”
“Not this one.” She motioned at the man on the floor. “The others maybe, but this guy headed straight for Levi’s truck. Looking for the laptop.”
Merk’s gaze sharpened with interest. “In that case we need to keep this one.” Then his view widened. “Just wait until Rhodes sees the mess in here. You know how he feels about keeping this place clean.”
Ice winced at that. “Can’t blame me. Better I got blood everywhere than letting this one take the laptop and make a run for it.”
“The laptop is probably already clean.”
“I’m still not mopping up this mess.” She holstered her weapon and walked to the injured man.
“Fuck off,” he snapped, twisting in pain.
Sh
e examined his leg and his wrist anyway.
Merk stepped on his chest to assist Ice. “Nothing quite like a size fourteen boot to stop your lungs from expanding.”
“No doubt.” She straightened, then walked over to collect the laptop and return it to the truck. “He’ll live. No arterial damage. Bullets went right through.”
Then, as if realizing what she’d said, she turned to look at Merk in horror. “If I damaged the cement floor, Rhodes’ll think …”
“Don’t worry about it. He gets annoyed about careless shit, but he can see this was necessary.” He reached down and hauled the injured man to his feet.
Sweat poured off his face, and, with a sudden jerk upright, all the color washed out of his skin. That’s when she realized the man was going into shock.
She walked to the workbench and grabbed one of the stools, bringing it back and shoving it under his butt. “Sit,” she ordered. Thankfully he sat and didn’t give her any more arguments. “Stone, did you tell Levi who we’ve got?”
Her earpiece crackled. “He knows.” Stone added, “He’s got his hands full at the moment.”
Right. She needed to finish with this guy and tie him up so he couldn’t go anywhere. She opened the medicine cabinet sitting on the shelf. Quickly she bandaged him and placed a tourniquet above the hole in his thigh.
Back at the cabinet, she picked up some wire and quickly ran it around the guy’s ankles, tying each securely to the chair legs. She studied his wrists, one bloodied, and wondered about the sensibility of tying them behind him. But he’d been the intruder. He’d been the one spying on them. His injuries could hold for a little while.
She forced herself to be ruthless, grabbed his arms, pulled them together, and quickly tied them up with the wire tight enough that it would cut into his wrists if he struggled. With the snips in her hand, she cut off the excess and returned the snips and wire to the cabinet.
She looked over at Merk. “You okay to stay here with him?”
“He’s secure on the chair.” He looked at the distance to cross and then back at her. “Want to push him out to where the others are? Then we’ll have them all together. Easier to guard that way.”
“Good idea.” She hit the button to the closest garage door. With Merk pushing their captive along, they headed out across the driveway to where the group of men now waited. Hopefully the team was done using the intruders as punching bags.
She wasn’t squeamish, but she liked to think she still had some heart.
*
Levi watched the trio approach. He ran a quick gaze over Ice first, noting her bloody hands and a slight shakiness to her long, lean frame. Everyone saw her as cold. He knew different. The woman was fire on the inside but gave an icy exterior to everyone else.
She also hated violence. They’d both seen more than they should. It hadn’t taken a lot of persuasion to convince her to come with him in this new venture. He’d felt guilty for all of ten minutes, then remembered how many times she’d put her life in jeopardy to save somebody else. He knew—one day, one time—she just wouldn’t be fast or safe enough, or the gods would be against her. And that he couldn’t stand.
While he’d been running the missions with her, he could keep an eye on her. She’d be furious if she knew he thought that way, but it was hard not to when she was the most precious thing in his life. He met her gaze in the harshness of the floodlights. Once again she wore that mantle of professionalism. Like hell. She was anything but a mercenary. Ice was a die-hard true patriot and the only woman he could ever picture as the mother of his children. Too bad he didn’t figure that out sooner. Now his weakening aversion to family was a bridge which his injury had stopped him from crossing.
But he needed to.
He refocused on the prisoners again.
The man with Ice had double injuries, but this one had a different look. The others were yokels, just guys out for a lark, making some beer money. This one, not so much. Levi turned to the men on the ground already, pointing to the new guy in the chair. “You know this guy?”
The five men nodded. “He’s the one dared us to do this. And said he’d make this pot all that much sweeter if we got in and out without getting caught.”
Merk snapped, “So how come he wasn’t at the fence with you?”
The same guy answered, “He wasn’t supposed to come with us at all.”
“Shut the hell up, Farraday,” one of the other men snarled.
Levi smacked him across the face. “A little too late for that shit.”
The man just glared at him. “You got no right to hit us. We’ve done nothing wrong.”
Levi sent a sinister-looking smile the man’s way.
The guy instantly fell silent as he caught sight of Levi’s face.
“You’re trespassing. No one gives a shit if I just pop you off right now.”
Eyes wide with fear, the man held up his hands. “No, no.”
“Why the hell shouldn’t I?” Levi asked. “You’re nothing but a lowlife, making money off other people. Spending all your time trespassing, breaking into private property, and stealing. Law’s on my side.”
“We didn’t steal anything,” he spat. “It was just a lark. The sheriff will let us off with a warning, that’s all.”
Merk leaned down and put his handgun right on top of the guy’s kneecap. “But I won’t.”
The man cried out and screamed, “No, no. I didn’t do anything. Don’t hurt my leg.”
Ice linked her arm into Levi’s and tucked him up close. “And then this guy …” she said with a nudge to the other man she’d brought over. She turned to gaze directly at Levi and added, “He went straight for your truck and then the laptop inside.”
Levi’s eyebrows shot straight up. “Now that’s an interesting twist. Confirms the yokels were a diversion.” He pulled out his phone and walked away, calling his friend, a Texas Ranger he’d known for some twenty odd years. “Mike, how are you doing? Got a little problem.” Skimming the details, he quickly explained his dilemma.
“I can have the five locals picked up if you want,” Mike said. “If you don’t want to give them a bullet, turn them into assets. I can scare the crap out of them, but, if you can use them, the opportunity is right there. Fear is a hell of a motivator.”
“I’m good with that.” Levi looked forward to it.
Mike hesitated for a moment and said, “What are you thinking to do with the sixth man?”
“Oh, you won’t be seeing him,” Levi said. “I have people who want some time with him.”
After a few chuckles, Levi cut off the call. He walked back to the sixth man and took a picture of his face. A click of a button would send it to Jackson. He quickly dialed the number he knew by heart.
Chapter 6
The next day Ice waited at the front door when the vehicles pulled in. Bullard and his crew had come in a day early, after all that was happening here. When he hopped out and opened his arms, she ran into them. Bullard was a hell of a man and a very good friend. He’d tried to take her away a long time ago, but she wouldn’t go.
Her heart was with Levi, and, although their circumstances were tough, she couldn’t leave. Not while she had a chance to regain what they had. But she knew, if there was ever a place she’d go to, it would be to Bullard’s.
That just made his arrival all that much sweeter … and harder.
When she stepped back, she walked to Dave, Bullard’s right-hand man, and gave him a big hug. Finally she turned and acknowledged the four men who came with them—Sean, Paul, Jason, and Andrew. She knew them all, not well, but enough to be on a first-name basis. “About time you got here. You missed all the fun again.”
Bullard laughed. “Not even enough to fly over for. Let’s get some heavy artillery in here. That’d be fun.” He stopped in the middle of the open yard and surveyed the compound. “Wow. A little too much cement for my liking. The place really could use some pools and green grass. But, as far as security, you’ve got nice bare
bones.”
Levi walked out and shook Bullard’s hand. Ice couldn’t help poking the lion as she hooked her arm through Bullard’s. He tucked her up close, knowing where her heart lay, even if he wished it were elsewhere. She watched Levi’s frown deepen.
Tough shit. Levi needed to do something to change the status quo. She was damn tired of being friend-zoned. She fell into step with them as Levi took Bullard and his men on a tour around the outside. She listened with half an ear as they discussed in great detail where and how the new system could be installed. She expected full training when it was up and running. It would be huge in terms of safekeeping the compound, but she was hoping the applications would be wider spread, as in saving the men when they went into the field.
Next they all checked out the inside. What she loved best. As they entered, she took the lead and quickly showed Bullard’s group the hidden staircases, the security control room, and the two escape routes inside and out—only visible if you knew where to look.
In the kitchen, everyone arranged themselves around the table. Alfred brought out coffee and a huge platter of coffee cakes, and she gave a happy sigh.
“Yay to having Alfred home.” The others cheered while she got up and brought plates for the treat and spoons for the coffee.
Stone arrived as everyone dug into the cake. He wheeled up to the table with a big grin on his face.
Carrying his coffee, Dave walked over. “What’s this I hear about the last prototype not doing its job?”
“May be me just doing a little bit too much, too fast,” Stone admitted a bit sheepishly. Refusing to look at the others, he added, “Sored up fast. I had to stop using it.”
Dave nodded in understanding. “Pressure points are the biggest thing you’ve got to watch out for. I’d like to take a look. Might be able to help.” He pulled up his jeans so Stone could see his.
As she sat beside Dave, Ice could see the blade runner foot of his prosthesis. It had a beautiful etched design on it.
Stone’s face lit up like magic. “Maybe after coffee,” he said hopefully, then looked around the table at the group of people and added, “Or maybe tomorrow.”