"I told you the family would support you, sis." Tweeter reached over to stroke tears off her cheek. "Stop crying, Imp. You're killing me."
"Ren will be fine with it." Lacey sounded confident. "The days before he left to go after Trujo he was walking on air. He loves you, sweetie. Don't doubt that. And it's time for him to become a father. Remember, he has a few years on you. He sowed all his wild oats. He's due to settle down and start a family—with you."
As Lacey continued stating her opinions on what Ren might or might not do, Keely closed her eyes. She hoped Lacey was correct, but she was so emotional at the moment she couldn't think about any of this logically. She'd just have to wait and see what Ren said. Maybe she'd let him release some sexual tension first and then in the afterglow while they cuddled she could just slip it in.
As she nodded off to sleep, Tweeter said, "Shh, Lacey, she's asleep."
* * * *
Keely startled awake to Tweeter's cursing, Lacey's stifled screams and being tossed from side-to-side within her seat belt. She reached for the sissy bar and managed to croak out, "What's going on? Did we blow a tire?" She looked at her brother and was shocked to see a fierce, deadly look on his face.
"Someone is trying to run us off the road." Tweeter's voice was grim, and for good reason, there were thousand-foot drops off the roads in this area of the Bitterroots.
She turned in her seat and watched another large off-road vehicle approaching them from the rear at high speed. "He's coming fast, Tweetie."
"I see the fucker. Hold on." Tweeter took evasive maneuvers in an attempt to keep the attacker from getting a direct hit on them.
Keely felt under the seat and pulled out a semi-automatic machine pistol. She checked the magazine and found it fully loaded with armor-piercing rounds. Ya-hoo. Flicking off the safety, she lowered her window. "Where should I aim? Think the vehicle's armor-plated like ours?"
"No, it's a definitely maneuvering more like a street vehicle rather a military-equipped like this one. Go for the engine block, sis."
"Get me a shot, Tweetie. Stay down, Lacey. Once I start shooting, they'll shoot back and they might also have armor-piercing bullets. The seats will help stop those." A white-faced Lacey bent over in the back seat, lowering her profile.
"Fuck, sis, with the way you shoot, they'll be dying and frying and too busy to shoot back."
"Let's hope." Keely released her seat belt, braced herself against the wild movement of the Hummer as Tweeter continued to weave the vehicle, then turned in her seat. With her back on the dashboard and her feet planted against her seat back, she lowered the window to a cold blast of air. Her shot selection was limited; it all depended on Tweeter getting the assholes to come up on the passenger side and not the driver's. Plus, she'd have to take her shot right before the bastards attempted to ram them.
Keely waited as Tweeter used every defensive driving trick in the book. The pursuing vehicle attempted to counteract Tweeter's tactics, but failed. The pursued usually had the advantage in that they knew where they were going, the pursuer had to guess. It didn't take long for her to realize with the way the road curved, she had a better chance of shooting the bad guy's engine from the driver's side of the Hummer. She hit the window button and rolled her window up.
"Sis?" Tweeter kept his eyes on the road and the mirrors. "What's up?"
"Driver's side will get me a kill shot. So once I'm set in the back seat, go right, left, right on my mark. I'm gonna take them out on one of the upcoming curves." She climbed into the back seat after tossing the gun over first, then assumed the same braced position on the rear driver side and lowered the window. She kept an eye on the curve of the road and when Tweeter had the best chance to hug the mountainside of the curve, she shouted, "Go for it."
As Lacey prayed next to her, Tweeter performed the series of swerves. The pursuers followed Tweeter's evasive actions, but there was enough of a lag time that she could see an opportunity for a shot. The other driver's slower reaction time and less-than-adequate equipment would kill him. "One more time, but sharper, Tweetie."
"Can you get them?"
"Yeah. Give me a few more patterns." The pursuing driver lost control in his attempt to follow them and struggled to regain it. The way the guy drove bothered her. Why hadn't he tried to ram them? He had several opportunities before Tweeter had turned up his level of evasion. That was odd. "Wonder who they're herding us to?" she muttered under her breath.
And bottom-line, who in the heck cared? The pursuit vehicle was the enemy and she had a "baby on board" to protect. She leaned out the window, bracing her body the best she could. She ignored all distractions and concentrated on her shot.
The less-stable street vehicle weaved crazily in the cold and wet conditions, not built for the kind of tactical maneuvering the driver was forcing upon it. In mere seconds, she imagined the shot in her head, plotting trajectories and planning where to hit the engine to do the most damage. If she could she would also take out the driver. Engine first though. Had to stop them.
"Last chance, sis, then we lose the S-curves." Her brother's voice was cool, controlled, his confidence in her made her smile. Any other man would have been screaming at her to shoot.
"Gotcha—go, go!"
Tweeter swerved right toward the edge of the road, to the point they were on the shoulder and shooting up gravel, road salt, ice and snow, then he jerked it to the left, then just as quickly back to the right. Keely took her shot as the pursuer attempted to follow to the right and failed. Her first blast of shots took out the engine. Smoke and steam billowed, but the driver didn't slow.
"Watch for it!" Her brother, accomplished driver and all around strategist, used his rear view mirror and positioned the Hummer to give her another shot.
The damaged vehicle still pursued, but not as fast as before. She switched to single shot and sighted down the barrel. For a split-second the steam coming out of the engine died down and she saw the raging gaze of the driver. With Tweeter holding the Hummer steady, she placed her shot in the middle of the driver's forehead. The pursuit vehicle—now without a driver to steer through the curve—crashed through the guard rail and disappeared over the side of the mountain. No one could survive the thousand-foot drop.
Keely let out the breath she'd held after that last shot and slumped on the floor behind the driver's seat. "Shut the windows, Tweetie. It's freezing in here." She could have done it herself, but her hand shook too much. "I think that has to go down as my best shots ever."
Lacey helped her into the seat behind the driver and fastened the seat belt. "God, that was amazing. I mean, I knew you were a good shot, all the guys said so, but from a swerving car at high speed. Jesus." The older woman took the gun Keely still cradled against her chest and placed it on the floor, then sat back in her own seat. "I texted an SOS to Sanctuary while I was bent over. Quinn texted back that the helicopter is coming to get us."
Tweeter pulled into a lay-about. He kept the engine running and turned to look at Keely. "Damn good shooting." He frowned and reached over the seat to stroke a finger down her cold, wet cheek. "You okay?"
Keely patted his hand with her trembling one. Adrenaline overload had her shaking like an aspen in a high wind. "Yeah. Fine. Let's avoid doing that again for awhile. My stomach can't take all that motion." She coughed and swallowed, fighting the nausea with sheer willpower. She reached through the split between the front seats for her Pepsi, still safely snuggled in the cup holder in the console and took a few sips. "God, I needed that." Picking up the gun Lacey had taken from her, she automatically checked the weapon, ejecting the partially filled magazine. She took the full one Tweeter handed her and shoved it home, then set the safety and put the gun next to her feet in case she needed it again. "Got any extra ammo? So I can reload that magazine?"
"Keely, you look green." Tweeter crawled over the console and got into the back seat with the two women. "Maybe you'd better lie down."
She shook
her head. "Think, big bro. What were those assholes really doing?"
Tweeter nodded. "I know what you're thinking. I agree. We need to get off this road."
Lacey looked from one to the other. "What? Weren't they going to drive us over the edge?"
"No, they could have done that at any time. They were herding us. Someone is waiting on us further up the road. Get back in the driver's seat, Tweetie—we need to go back the way we came. Lacey, get ready to give the chopper coordinates for the pick up." She looked out into the winter wonderland covering the rough terrain. It was snowing harder now, the wind picking up. Her stomach clenched at the worsening conditions. God, any later and she wouldn't have been able to make the shot. To add to her gut's discomfort, her neck itched like someone was watching them. Well, hell. "My gut and itchy neck say we need to get out of here now, Tweetie."
"Shit. Fuck. Damn. I never bet against your itchy neck." He pulled up the area map on the GPS. "We can take a small forest access road and meet the chopper at…” He read the coordinates off to Lacey who typed them into her phone connected to Sanctuary's communication systems by a satellite relay that only the NSA knew about. Keely was really glad she worked out the deal with the NSA: She'd find the DoD turncoat and SSI got to piggyback on the NSA satellites for communications in the middle-of-nowhere-Idaho. The fact that they also optioned her for other NSA work was just fine. She did most of her work on the computer and it would be something to do while she stayed at home and raised Ren's child.
"They're in the air and on their way." The tension in the older woman's voice was tighter than the skin on a movie star's butt.
"We're out of here." Tweeter put the car in gear and backtracked a mile or so to the ranger access road leading to a fire tower and the only flat land that could accommodate the jet helicopter. The Hummer handled the off-road drive easily.
"What will we do with the Hummer?" Lacey said.
"We won't all be going on the helo." Keely closed her eyes against the terrain moving up and down with the vehicle's rough motion. She was queasy and knew it was a combination of the pregnancy and the adrenaline overload. "You and I will be on the chopper, and Tweetie and some of the guys will go after whoever is waiting to ambush us between here and Sanctuary." She sighed. "If I weren't feeling so sick to my stomach and just frick-fracking tired, I'd argue with Ren about it."
"But you won't, Imp."
"No. I'm carrying his child, and the doctor warned me this pregnancy could have issues since I did get pregnant so quickly after going off the pill."
"You didn't fucking tell me that." Tweeter glared at her in the rearview mirror.
"I would've. But we had to get home, and I wasn't planning on the fun and games." She glared back. "You know what this means, don't you?"
"That Ren will hear about all this before he puts you on the helo?"
"No, but that will probably happen."
"No probably about it. If you don't tell him everything, I will. He needs to know."
She stuck her tongue out at him. He laughed. "And what I was getting at before you took a detour is that someone is still spying on us at Sanctuary." She looked out the window at the trees lining the narrow track leading to the fire tower. "Or someone is watching our comings and goings then following us. They could've followed us to Couer d'Alene, then set this up for the return trip."
"Maybe we should've taken the helo?" Lacey suggested.
"Hell, they'd have just sabotaged the helicopter in Couer d'Alene to keep us on the ground." Tweeter pulled into a parking area for the tower. There was just enough of a clearing to land the jet helicopter. "Lacey, tell them we're here."
Lacey, her lips thinned to the point of disappearing, entered the message. "They're five minutes out." She looked from Keely to Tweeter and back. "What do the bad guys want? To kill us? Or to capture Keely?"
Tweeter looked over the seat. "Depends on who was chasing us. In this instance, it looked like they wanted Keely; that was a herding maneuver. If we hadn't taken them out, we'd have found a roadblock with firepower down the road."
"So who's behind this latest attempt?" Lacey asked, her brow furrowing. "The traitor or Trujo?"
"I don't think this is the DoD traitor. He wants me dead." Keely rubbed a hand over her tired eyes. "I think this maneuver smells more like Trujo. He lured Ren out of Idaho by sacrificing those two men who attacked me, knowing we'd track them to Florida and him. Then his men waited for me to leave the security of Sanctuary. I'm just so pissed I fell for the money trail; in hindsight, it was too easy. Ren is gonna ream us all new assholes." She sighed and leaned her head back. "I'll never get to leave Sanctuary again, not until after the baby is born."
Lacey sat up and gasped. "Who's that coming up the trail?"
Both Keely and Tweeter turned to look where Lacey pointed. "Shit. Shit. Shit," Tweeter said, "Get out of the car and inside the tower base."
Two vehicles followed them up the access road, their lights signaling their approach.
"Dad would kick our butts if we approached an enemy with lights running." Keely opened the rear driver's side door.
"Hey, let's be glad Dad didn't train these fuckers." Tweeter armed himself with a submachine gun he pulled out from under the driver's seat. "Lacey, take this." He handed Quinn's wife his sidearm, which he'd pulled from the holster under his jacket.
Keely was happy to see Lacey knew what to do with it. She picked up the submachine pistol and snagged the extra ammo for it Tweeter had under the seat.
"Let's get settled in and take these fuckers out." Tweeter retrieved a bag out of the back of the Hummer then led the way to the tower which had a cabin at the base for rangers to sleep over during fire season. He shot out the lock with another handgun he'd pulled from the bag, then ushered her and Lacey inside.
"Tweetie, I need to be the one to climb up." She knew he meant to get above the enemy and pick them off. "I'm the better shot. Hand me the sniper rifle you have in that bag."
Her brother frowned but quickly assembled the weapon he'd already begun pulling out. "There's not much protection up there. You'd be better off down here behind the mattress and the walls. No telling what they'll be shooting."
"They don't want me dead, if my guess as to who's behind this attack is correct." She was betting her life and theirs on it. "So, I imagine they'll try to wait us out." She headed for the interior stairs leading to the first exterior platform level. "Plus, the helicopter will be a sitting duck. I need to take as many of them out as I can. Demoralize them, maybe chase them off. I won't let them take pot shots at Ren and the guys."
He didn't argue against her conclusions. "Shit. Ren will kill me."
"Better than Ren being dead. Once he calms down, he'll admit I'm the better shot. You and Lacey can lay down cover fire for me."
Tweeter slammed his hand on a door jam. "This sucks, sis." He handed her the sniper rifle.
"Ren thinks Tweeter's going up into the tower." Lacey smiled grimly, holding up her Blackberry. "I sort of lied."
"Thanks." Keely started to climb, the sniper rifle slung across her back, extra magazines zipped inside her fur vest.
"Hold it, sis." Tweeter slipped a headset on her, the receiver in her ear and the microphone hugging her cheek. "It's just us on this frequency—for now. Once the guys realize we have ears, they'll single out our frequency." Which meant Ren would know who was on the tower, shooting at the enemy. Well, it wasn't like they could keep it from him forever.
"Thanks. Wish me luck."
As she climbed, a voice shouted from the outside. "Hola, you in the cabin. You can't get away. We have your vehicle blocked. We want Keely Walsh. The rest can go free."
"Yeah, sure, right, and I believe in the frick-fracking tooth fairy." She muttered, cautiously sticking her head above the first level platform's floor. She slithered onto the metal decking and remained low.
This platform was about twenty feet in the air and should provide some good s
hots. Once again she blessed the men of SSI for having weapons with high-caliber bullets. She could take out an armored vehicle at eight hundred yards with the ammo in the sniper rifle. A few assholes would soon become kibbles and bits with the type of firepower she had. She'd take the vehicles out first. Trujo's men would regret picking on a pregnant, hormonal woman.
Her dark clothing allowed her to blend into the metallic structure of the fire tower. The platform had a railing that would allow her to shoot through the slats. She belly-crawled to the side where Trujo’s men had parked their vehicles, blocking the trail out. Using the night vision device—or NVD as her Dad liked to call the scope—she zeroed in on the lead vehicle's engine, then found the second vehicle's engine. Looking down, the trajectory for the shot was an easy one hundred yards away. The wind had died down, so no trouble there.
Now to find the mercs. She peeked through the scope again, and found a group of them hovered around the back of the Sanctuary Hummer. The NVD's image enhancement was to military specifications and gave her an excellent view of what they were doing. "Frick-fracking hell."
"What's wrong, sis?" Tweeter's worried voice came over the headset.
"They're pawing through our things. My new lingerie! Perverted bastards."
Tweeter snorted back a laugh. "What's the head count?"
"Hold on a sec, Tweetie." Were all the bastards fingering her bras and thongs? Or had some stayed with the vehicles? She wanted to know where all the targets were before she started shooting. She swept the scope back to the enemy vehicles, soon to be hunks of worthless metal, when she gasped. "Trujo is here." She'd recognize his features, even though they were colored an eerie green due to the NVD. The bastard was just getting back into the lead vehicle.
"Well, shit." She heard Tweeter telling Lacey to inform their team. "The State Police are on their way. Ren called them. Also, a second Sanctuary chopper is on its way with heavier ordnance."
Keely knew that meant air-to-ground missiles. One way or another, Trujo wouldn't get off this mountain alive. She was going to make it sooner.
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