by Aden Lowe
The cooling unit roared, busily keeping hot tech cool. Damn thing was nearly the size of a box truck. If nothing else, he could kill that thing and let the servers melt themselves. He followed the woman inside.
How the hell was he going to find anything on a bunch of computers? He stopped, awed by the floor to ceiling arrays of flashing lights, all behind glass walls, probably to keep dust out of the machines.
"We can't go past here. The people who work in there have to wear some kind of clean suit. It's really important that no dirt or moisture get in there."
Kellen almost rolled his eyes. "I'm not all that worried about ruining his stuff. What I am worried about is how I might find anything in there."
"Oh, that's easy. I've seen them on a regular computer, just inside the door. They keep track of where everything is. I've heard them talking about it to. That one computer is in charge of making everything work." She smiled, happy to have given a hint.
He sighed a little. That still didn't help him all that much. The likelihood of their main computer being anything similar to his little cheap laptop back in the clubhouse was about nil. Still, he wouldn't know if he didn't try. He started for the door the woman had indicated.
"Oh, wait. You have to go over to the monitor room first. The camera in there will record you if you don't change where it's aimed."
Cameras? Why the hell had she not mentioned that before? "Where's this monitor room?"
"This way." She led him around a warren of glass enclosed rooms, all filled with rack upon rack of busily whirring computers.
Finally, at what looked like the last little glass room, he spotted the monitors. All four walls, from the ceiling to the top of a control console, held row after row after row of ten inch video monitors, each showing something different. He went inside, looking everything over in awe.
Mihalovich's operation seemed to go far beyond what he'd thought. One section of monitors was labeled Prague. Other groupings held labels for a dozen European cities. What the hell?
Finally, he found the screen that showed the room he needed to get into. Now how was he supposed to know which camera to move? He looked at the screen closely, and found a small number label at the bottom left. That little sticker corresponded to a mini-joystick among the hundreds of others on the console.
Kellen was a little surprised the system seemed less than the most modern. Of course, after the investment in that room, he didn't blame the guy for keeping it for a while. He moved the camera he needed, then took a moment to look at some of the other screens.
Movement caught his eye on one of the lower screens. Hadn't the woman said everyone had to be in the auditorium? Seemed like someone else had missed that memo as well. He searched out the right controller and took a closer look at the screen. Fiddling with the little joystick, he managed to follow the dark figure as it darted across an area between two buildings.
And then it left the fucking screen. He searched, frantically, to find it on another screen. As he was ready to give up, he spotted the figure again, crouched in the shadows beside another building. Yes! He found the controller, and managed to zoom in just as the person stood to move again.
This time, he had an idea where to find the next screen and caught the guy immediately. Again, he zoomed in. Something about that figure…curves. The guy had curves. A woman? He watched while she moved to a new screen and zoomed again. Yes, definitely. A woman.
Why would a woman in dark clothing be skulking around Mihalovich's compound? On the same night he'd come, to top it off.
He continued watching, trying to figure out where she was going, and trying to catch a glimpse of her face. Ten to one, it was another employee who didn't make the meeting and needed to get the hell either into the auditorium for head count, or out.
He might as well quit wasting time watching her on dozens of screens. That was getting him nowhere fast. He turned away to head for the computer, then back to the screens. Something about her, the way she moved, or her build…something.
He watched some more, carefully, trying to note what about the woman nagged at some bit of information in the back of his mind. The whole thing frustrated him beyond words. Whatever it was, he just almost had it before it slipped away into the dark recesses of his mind.
Fuck!
She turned, looking straight into the monitor.
Vicki.
Vicki!
Chapter Thirty
Why the fuck was Vicki sneaking around there? Had she not been kidnapped?
Kellen's heart hit his throat and stomach at the same time. He had to get to her, get her out of there.
He grabbed the woman's arm. "Where is this? How do I get there fast?"
She leaned in and peered at the screen. "That's the laundry. He could be heading for the main house."
The main house? Vicki intended to confront Mihalovich! How the hell had she even found out who was behind it all? "You have to take me there. I have to stop her and get her out of here."
The woman just looked at him. "No one gets near the main house. There's all kinds of stuff there to stop intruders."
"Well get me as close as you can. I'll go on by myself."
"I can't. If you go there, you'll get killed and you won't help me get out of here." She set her jaw stubbornly and crossed her arms.
"Look. That's my fiancé. If she gets killed before you get me to her, I'll kill you myself."
The woman paled, nodded. "Okay. Come on."
Kellen followed as she led the way, moving fast, through the shadows alongside buildings, avoiding cameras. Up ahead, he caught a brief glimpse of movement. He would never catch up in time. Just in front of her, the main house loomed like some kind of wicked wizard's castle.
Pausing a second, he whistled, the call of a whippoorwill. Hopefully she would realize it was him imitating the night bird. Moving again, he hurried toward her, then whistled again.
Vicki froze, then turned in his direction.
Pulse pounding in his head, Kellen sprinted for her. "Fuck, Vicki, you scared me to death! Why are you here?" He pulled her to him, wrapping his arms tight around her. "I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you, don't you realize that?" He tipped her chin up to claim her mouth.
She drew back a little and stared at him. "Why are you here?"
"I came to get you, thought he had them grab you." He took her hand. "Come on, we have to get out of here."
Vicki planted her feet and her face hardened. "No. I came to kill my cousin. He had my father killed, and my mother. I can't let that go."
"Vicki, this guy is bad. We have to get out of here right now." Terror made his voice crack.
"No, baby. Just no. I'm going to kill him. One way or another. Tonight. You can help me, or leave." Her mouth hardened to a tight line, telling him very clearly that she could not be swayed.
Kellen felt like he'd been sucker punched in the balls, downright sick. "Little girl, I just found you. I can't lose you. Not now. Please. Come with me."
She shook her head while tears glistened in her eyes, eerie in the blue security lighting. "I can't, baby. I want to. But I just can't." She turned away and started for the house.
He caught up. "Okay, if you're doing this, so am I."
"Wait for me!" The woman. He'd forgotten her. "You can't leave me."
Vicki looked from the woman to him questioningly.
"She helped me find you." The rest could be explained later. He turned to the woman. "If you're coming in, you have to do exactly as we say."
"I will, I promise." She nodded vigorously, fear making her eyes wide.
Kellen turned with Vicki and let her lead the way. "There's defenses to keep people out. Watch out."
"I know what they are. We're good. Now hush and follow." She moved ahead, winding around a small shrub, avoiding the manicured walkway. Past the shrub, she slowed, as if counting her steps, the paused for him to catch up. "Don't step there." She pointed to a small, odd-looking patch of grass.
Rather than go to the door, she led them to a window. "He never locks this, depends on his booby traps to keep anyone from getting this close." She raised the window easily, as if she'd done it a million times, then hopped up to the window sill and slipped inside the dark room
Kellen followed, every survival instinct he possessed screaming for him to turn away, to get the fuck out. And yet he was powerless to act on those needs. The need for Vicki was far more powerful.
He found himself in a dark bedroom, right behind Vicki, and turned to help the woman inside after she made a sound indicating she couldn't manage.
"We wait here. Maybe half an hour. He'll be almost done with the meeting, check his updates one more time while he has a brandy, and then he'll turn in." Vicki closed the window. "Come on." She crossed the room as confidently as if the light were on.
What the hell? Had she been there before? Surely not, since she'd seemed to know hardly anything about this cousin.
Kellen and the woman followed her into a huge closet, filled with movable racks, and stepped behind a rack filled with heavy coats, mostly fur or wool. Who the fuck needed that many coats?
Vicki touched his arm, shushing him. A door opened nearby, and a woman's voice hummed a pleasant tune. Low light came from the room beyond the closet and the woman moved around, probably preparing the room for Mihalovich to enter. Soft music started, and then the door closed.
"That was his personal maid." Vicki's low voice filled the closet. "He'll be here soon now."
Once more, Kellen wondered how she knew so much. When this was over, he had to find out.
They waited until Kellen figured maybe ten minutes had passed. Heavy footsteps came from somewhere nearby, then the door opened to fly back and hit the wall. A man entered the room, grumbling under his breath about something. And still they waited.
Kellen had a good view of the room, just over the collars of the coats, so he watched, determined to learn all he could about the enemy.
The man came to the closet and stripped down to his boxers. He paused at the mirror and turned this way and that, apparently admiring the still-heavy muscles and nearly wrinkle-free face.
Kellen held back a snort. Someone had indulged in enough Botox to kill a horse.
Seeming in a better mood, the man crossed to the window and raised it, then climbed into the bed the maid had turned back. With a deep sigh, he reached into his boxers.
Kellen had seen enough. He had no intention of watching some sadist jerk off. He looked away, anywhere. In the room beyond, the man made all sorts of noises as he did his thing, finally ending with a frustrated growl.
Kellen turned back to watch as the man grabbed a phone.
"Bring one up." He sat up and tossed the phone to a nearby table. "Stupid. Stupid. How they let one little woman get past them? Should have them all killed. Make example." He went on to mutter more, but Kellen couldn't make it out.
After only a moment, a soft knock came at the still open door. "Sir? I have one."
"Well, what you wait for? Bring her." He stood. "I require her tied."
A man came in, dragging a thin blonde woman, stripped naked except for the gag in her mouth. He shoved her down onto the bed and with practiced movements, pulled leather straps out from where they'd been tucked at the edge of the mattress, and strapped her down spread-eagled. He stepped back and glanced at the man, apparently waiting for an okay.
Kellen's throat tightened. Surely this wasn't what it looked like.
"You may stay and participate if you wish."
The second man nodded and proceeded to strip without a word. Apparently 'if you wish' meant 'you must'. Naked, he stood awaiting his next order.
Without another word, Rudolfo climbed onto the bed again and knelt between the woman's legs.
The wild sexual games at the Raiders parties was one thing. This was entirely different. Kellen had no intention of waiting to let that poor woman be raped. He slipped his knife from his belt, and moved, silent, into the room.
Rudolfo focused on the woman, doing something Kellen couldn't see that made her thrash and try to cry out. Bastard. Watching, the other man waited his turn, willing and able.
Kellen got close enough and darted in, going for the second man as the biggest threat. He grabbed the man and slashed across his throat with one movement, letting him fall to the floor as blood spurted. He turned to go for Mihalovich, but Vicki already had him.
Her knife pricked the skin at the base of his skull. "Move and I sever your spinal cord." A handful of his hair gave her leverage to carry out the threat.
"Who you are?"
"You don't recognize your own blood? I'm Veronica Mihalovich. The one you've been trying to kill. Mind telling me what the hell that's about?" Her low voice barely carried to Kellen. "And by the way, make a sound, and I'll gut you. You answer quietly."
Mihalovich grimaced and gave a tiny nod. "Your father cheated me. I had to make it right."
"My father was an honorable man. How do you think he cheated you?"
"I give him his start and he walk away. He was meant to work for me but he went his way."
"And that was cheating?"
"He took the profits he would make me. Then refused to pay back." Mihalovich tensed, ready to risk it and fight back.
Vicki didn't give him a chance. She drew her blade across his carotid and waited while he bled out. Calm as she would be in her own house, she turned to the woman strapped to the bed. "I'm going to cut you loose. Understand?"
The woman nodded, wild-eyed with fear.
Vicki removed the gag first, then the straps. "Don't make a sound." She helped the woman sit. "If you come with us, we'll get you out of here. You can go to the police, and with your word, they'll raid this crazy place."
The woman nodded, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Kellen grabbed a robe and pair of pajama pants from the closet. They would be huge, but at least she would be covered. Passing them to Vicki, he searched some more, and found a pair of slippers she might be able to manage. The woman would slow them down significantly, but he couldn't very well suggest leaving her behind. Not after what she'd obviously been through.
He slipped back through the window and waited to help the women out. Once more, Vicki led them past the booby traps and out to the main grounds. Sure of their destination, she started across the lawns, not bothering with the shadows.
Kellen whispered a question, looking around for guards or someone to spot them and raise the alarm.
Vicki shrugged and replied in her normal voice. "No one's here. He sends them home immediately after the evening meeting. No one is on the grounds after that, beyond his maid and one male security officer, who is now lying dead in that bedroom. We're good."
The idea seemed crazy, but considering what he'd seen throughout the night, he couldn't muster surprise. Mihalovich had clearly been insane. He followed Vicki out through a larger gate in the wall, not the one he'd entered.
"I have to go get my bike." His sense of direction would have to get him there.
"My car is right there. We'll wait for you." Vicki indicated a big black SUV in the driveway of a nearby house.
Kellen nodded and set off at a jog. The bike turned out to be far closer than he'd expected, just around the corner. He rejoined Vicki in less than five minutes. The woman who'd helped him was nowhere in sight.
"She went on to her house. I guess it's nearby. She was going to grab her family and get the hell out before it hits the fan."
"Good."
Vicki drove fast, leading the way to the Police Precinct Station. First time in his life Kellen liked seeing that many cop cars in one place. Unwilling to risk being detained, they watched the woman up the steps and through the front door. She would be okay from there.
Two blocks
away, Vicki pulled over and climbed out, carrying a small duffle bag. Without a word, she swung on the bike behind him and wrapped herself around him.
Chapter Thirty-One
Anxious to get them as far from Pittsburgh as possible before things at the Mihalovich compound went up in flames, Kellen leaned on the throttle, pushing his bike hard. Every moment was a torment with Vicki's body pressed up tight against him, her thighs wrapped around his hips. He wanted nothing so much as to stop and make love to her. But not yet.
Two hours down the road, he finally took an exit and pulled into a little gas station so they could stretch and get a drink. Back outside, in the deep shadows where he'd parked the bike, he took her in his arms.
"Little girl, you can't do shit like that. I seriously thought I'd lost you."
"Baby I had to. He was a mad dog. I had to put him down." She pulled him down for a kiss. "Don't be too mad at me."
He actually laughed. "I'd have been furious if I hadn't been so scared. Now I'm just glad to have you back." He took her mouth in a hard kiss that hopefully said everything he needed it to. Finally he pulled back and leaned his forehead against hers, catching his breath. "How did you find out all that?"
"I went outside for a minute at the Rattlesnake. One of his men came right up to me and started talking. He didn't want to get caught. He actually brought me up here, told me all the secrets of the compound as we drove. When I went in, he went his own way, saving his ass."
"You're kidding. All we had to do was find the right one and ask?"
She shook her head. "No. He wouldn't have told anyone else. Only me."
Finished with talk, Kellen kissed her again, loving the way her tongue met his on equal terms. Encouraged by her little moan, he slid his hand under her shirt to brush the curve of her breast. "You can tell me to stop any time, little girl." He bent to nibble at her neck.
She gave a sigh. "No, don't stop."
With rough hands, he lifted her shirt and freed her breasts from her bra and tasted her. She tugged at his belt with a little whimper, and he eagerly assisted, then opened her jeans. They fell to the ground with a whisper of sound as she kicked free of them and plastered her body to him. Her nails sunk into to his ass cheeks, pulling his hard-on to her belly.