by Dale Mayer
“And Warsaw has been confirmed, so that’s a good place to start,” Gavin said, nodding at Lennox.
“It’s a shit place to start,” Lennox said. “Money buys you everything there.”
“Good,” said Gavin, “because we’ll need weapons. The kidnappers had firepower. We’ll need the same.”
“Do you have a contact?”
“No,” he said, “not in Warsaw. You?”
Lennox thought about it and shook his head. “No, so we need to find one.” Lennox quickly texted Keane but didn’t get an answer right away. Impatiently Lennox waited, and then Keane came back with a phone number for Lennox.
Weapons?
Anything you need but black market. No names, no countries, no affiliations, just money.
We’ll need cash.
It’ll be there in your vehicle when you arrive.
Good. I want to hit the ground running.
Make that running, not shooting. Remember the law in Poland as a little on the left too.
I don’t care if it’s left, right, or center, Lennox answered. They’ve got my sister. You know I’ll erase that country if they do anything to stop me from getting her back.
Hardly subtle, Keane responded. Remember. Stealth in, stealth out.
You remember that, Lennox typed. You guys brought me in on this. I’m not exactly known to be subtle.
You can be when you need to be, Keane typed. And, right now, you need to be.
Why is that?
Because we think it’s a trap.
He sat back, but Keane didn’t say anything else. Lennox looked at Gavin. “They think it’s a trap.”
Gavin replied immediately, “Now that’s interesting.”
“Isn’t it?” Lennox said. “But what kind of a trap?”
“I love that chat box,” Gavin said, “but we need more answers.”
“The trouble with being fast to respond,” he said, “is when we can’t get enough answers to set us free to just do this damn op.”
“True. But we’re on it,” Gavin said, and the chat came back.
Almost immediately more information flowed. The vehicle his sister rode in was a rental. The company that rented it was a shell company, which the Mavericks were trying to track down for more details.
Waste of more time, Lennox thought. He highly suspected that, given the level of professionalism behind this kidnapping, the shell company’s ID had been stolen, or the shell company’s credit cards had been hacked, and still there wouldn’t be a direct tie between the shell company and the real mastermind behind this kidnapping. Ransom note?
None.
So they aren’t after money. Sex? Revenge? Power? Intel? Trap. Have you tracked a direction?
North, but that’s all so far. We’re still running through the videos.
Lennox checked the time. They would be leaving soon. He quickly tapped in, We’ll be in the air in twenty. Or at least boarded.
When you land, we’ll have more for you.
You better. And he quickly shut down his laptop. He looked at Gavin. “Are you ready for this?”
“Yeah, first stop is getting the vehicle, and then we need to get geared up.”
“Vehicle is waiting on us already. So is the money, and now we have a contact for the weapons.”
“That’s good news,” Gavin said. “So we need food, and we need rest.”
“There won’t be any food on this flight,” Lennox said. “So we’ll have to grab that as soon as we land.”
“I guess what we need now then is to get some sleep.”
“Not a whole lot we can do otherwise, so we’ll sleep on the flight,” Lennox said, but he probably couldn’t sleep and knew just more sitting and waiting midflight would eat away at his insides. His sister was not the most patient person he knew. Obviously he wasn’t either. It’s one of the reasons she made such a great doctor. She was driven to help others.
At one point in time, she had considered Doctors Without Borders but had opted for the Red Cross because they headed out to some of the more dangerous areas where doctors were desperately needed. Lennox had been all about her getting a practice in suburbia, and she’d laughed her head off at him. “Me? No, not happening. That’d be like me telling you to go get a job as a bookkeeper at a retail store.”
Something he knew he couldn’t possibly do either. They were both very similar in their adventuresome spirits and even more so in their protective natures.
He wanted to fix the world, and she wanted to fix the people. They were both fools for thinking they could do either.
Chapter 3
Sitting still for hours already—before in the gunmen’s airplane, then in the truck, now in this cage—Helena tried hard for patience, but this whole situation was wearing on her.
By the time they’d spent a few hours in the cage, seemingly all alone, the team had opened up enough to talk a little bit.
“Anybody have any ideas why?” Carolina asked.
“No.” Sasha’s tone was terse.
So far they hadn’t spoken much because they were all concerned about somebody coming in and telling them off, but they appeared to be alone now. They’d been offered no food, no water, and only the one trip to the bathroom. Nobody seemed nearby where the hostages could call out if they did want something.
Helena expected to see several of the men with machine guns hanging around, but they must feel that their prisoners were well secured here. She got up, paced their cage, before coming back to the gate on their cage and its simple lock. She studied it. “Anybody any good at picking locks?’
Carolina snorted. “Really? Us? Not likely. If Lennox were here, that’d be a different story.”
“Well, it’s Lennox we want to see,” a man said, stepping through the entranceway of the long metal building. A man stood in front of them, tall, more Swedish looking than the others so far. Maybe German was a better description, considering where they were, but then it was hard to determine his accent. He had a big ugly scar across his cheek and some burn marks on his neck.
“Lennox?” Carolina asked with a frown. “What’s this got to do with my brother?”
“Everything,” he said. “You’re the bait. The rest of these people are just here to keep you compliant. It’s Lennox we want.”
Carolina and Helena exchanged hard glances, and Carolina spoke up. “What do you want to see my brother for?”
“A little payback for his betrayal,” the man said, his hand going up to his neck. “He owes me.”
“Well, not that we want to get in between the two of you …” Helena said quietly, “but what are your plans for us?”
“Depends on whether Lennox behaves himself or not,” he said. “You can all go free if I get Lennox,” he said with a laugh. He waved his hand. “Sorry about the lack of hospitality. These certainly aren’t the most comfortable cages, are they? Though Lennox knows all about cages too. He’s done enough intensive mind warfare training to understand the psychological effects of being in a cage.”
Carolina and Helena exchanged confused looks, followed by shrugs.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Carolina said quietly. Her voice low, almost contemplative, she said, “I haven’t heard much about his missions, so I’m not sure what happened between the two of you.”
“He hurt me and mine …” the man said. “That’ll never go down well in my book.”
“Have you contacted Lennox to let him know we’re here?”
He laughed. “Hell no. I can’t make it too easy for him. He’s on his way. I know that for sure. You guys were taken from a very public spot, so he’s backtracking now to find you. We can’t make it too complicated, and we can’t make it too easy. But never forget that it’s Lennox who we truly want, so, if you guys behave yourselves, then you’ll be released unharmed.”
Something Helena completely didn’t believe. “Is there any chance of food?” she asked. “We traveled a lot getting here, and most of us didn�
�t get to eat before we left.”
He looked at her for a moment and then shrugged. “Sure,” he said. “I’ll get them to rustle up something for you.” He turned and walked back out.
She looked over at the others.
John and Sasha stared at her. “You asked for food?” Sasha said. “How about letting us go?”
“That’s not something he’ll do,” Helena said quietly. “So I looked for something he might be willing to give.”
“Besides, we need food for energy,” Carolina said. “No point in starving ourselves and being so weak we can’t go anywhere if we do get the opportunity.”
“And Lennox?” John asked.
“My brother,” Carolina said. “He was a Navy SEAL, until he started some new job recently, only I don’t know the details.”
“And next you’ll say that he doesn’t betray others,” Sasha said, her voice hesitant, and yet her tone held obvious contempt for Lennox.
Helena glanced at her. “Lennox is one of the most honorable men you’ll ever meet,” she said. “The only reason he’d have hurt this guy or someone close to him is if there was a damn good reason for it.”
“But it sure explains why this guy’s pissed.”
“He can be as pissed as he wants,” Helena said. “It won’t change the fact that Lennox is pretty damn smart.”
“And you’re expecting him to come here and rescue you? Both of you?”
“All four of us, yes,” Carolina said. “That was a guarantee as soon as we were grabbed.”
“Which is, of course, why this guy grabbed us,” Helena said. “Unfortunately this isn’t good.”
“Why?” Sasha asked. “Carolina’s brother can just come in, and they’ll grab him and release us.”
Helena looked at Sasha. “Do you think it’ll really be that easy?”
Sasha’s face closed down. “The guy said he would.”
“So he did.” Helena walked over to where Carolina sat quietly on the floor and joined her. “But you know talk’s cheap, Sasha. Let’s see what these guys do when the time comes.”
Just then the guard walked in, and he carried a tray.
Helena hopped to her feet and asked, “Is that food for us?”
He nodded. “There’s lots of it, just not much variety.”
“That’s fine,” she said. “Thank you. We also need liquids. Water would be good.”
“I’ll bring some water,” he said.
As she watched intently, the guard held his rifle pointed at them, pushed open the gate to their cage, and said, “Everybody stand back.”
As they all obediently moved to the opposite wall, the tray was placed on the floor, and then the gunman backed out. As soon as they were locked up again, the guard said, “Now you can eat.”
Helena walked over to the tray and took a look. She counted at least two buns apiece and some sausages, plus a big bowl of potatoes. Only one fork. She looked at the others. “Anybody else hungry?”
“Doesn’t matter if we are or not,” Sasha said. “As Carolina said, we need food.”
“Indeed.” Helena reached for a bun, opened it, popped a sausage in, and started to eat. She then made another sandwich to-go. Helena walked to the back of the cage and sat down, handing Carolina one of the sandwiches, but she shook her head, then winced. “No,” Helena said, “you need food.”
Glaring at her, Carolina grabbed the sausage in a bun and said, “My head hurts. My stomach’s queasy. And I’d rather have vegetables.”
“We can’t do anything about your head or your stomach here. Sorry. As for the food, it doesn’t matter what you’d rather have,” she said blandly. “This is what we have available, so you’ll eat it.”
With a heavy sigh, Carolina followed through, and Helena glanced around, all four of them sitting with one sausage and a bun in hand.
Two armed men—the same guard and the same scarred man—came back with four bottles of water, but they could pop them through the bars without opening up their cage again. Helena hopped up, popping the last of the first bun into her mouth, collecting the bottles. Then she handed them out to everybody. “Thanks,” she said to the scarred man, who seemed to be the leader of this group.
He nodded, and both turned and walked out of the building.
Helena eyed the massive bowl of potatoes on the tray and the one fork, then looked around to the others and asked, “Anybody want any?”
Carolina immediately shook her head, her hands going to her temples immediately. “I don’t,” she said. “Potatoes aren’t my thing.”
Helena looked at John; he nodded. “Go ahead and have some,” he said. “There are lots.” She picked up the bowl and ate until she was full, then passed the bowl and fork off to John.
She wasn’t sure where her appetite had come from, but she also knew her blood sugar could drop, and she’d suffer then. She planned on getting along and playing nicely with their kidnappers and waiting for Lennox to arrive. She had no doubt he was on his way. One thing she knew for sure about Lennox. When you didn’t want him, he was always around the corner. And, when you did want him, he was still around the corner.
Only he wasn’t hers to want.
With the vehicle rented—in Lennox’s name, since this was an obvious setup, and he wanted to acknowledge that from the get-go—he and Gavin were back on the road. However, on all missions, the guys wore gloves, even now in a vehicle clearly rented for him. It was a SEALs rule that had carried on into the Mavericks. It was a good rule. Gave the SEALs and the Mavericks the ghostlike quality of slipping in and back out again that they desired.
Gavin drove, while Lennox found the briefcase under the front passenger seat. He quickly went through it: one sheet with some addresses, lots of money, and two handguns. He looked at the guns, frowned, and said, “I wonder if we’ll need those to get the rest of the weapons.”
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised,” Gavin said. “Nothing’s easy over here.”
“I haven’t done much in Poland. You?”
Gavin shook his head. “No. Russia, yes, but I haven’t been here before.”
“Well, we are where we are,” he said. “So let’s get to it. I need a full arsenal before I go in after my sister.”
“Did anybody ever come up with any intel as to why?”
“No,” Lennox said, “and that bothers me. There should at least be a ransom note, even if just as a diversion or to start the bargaining.” He checked with Keane and asked again, but still there had been no communication from the kidnappers. “So why?” he asked Gavin.
“That’s the question, isn’t it? Why your sister? Was it random or directed?”
“I feel like it’s very directed.”
“I do too,” Gavin said. “So how many enemies do you have?”
“You mean, how many enemies does my sister have?”
“Good point,” he said. “That’s possible too. Is she that argumentative?”
Lennox laughed. “No, but she’s fiercely loyal,” he said. “I’d say the ex-husband is probably her only real enemy.”
“Would he do something like this?”
“I doubt it,” Lennox said softly. “If he did, I seriously misjudged him. I was pretty damn sure I’d scared the shit out of him, and he would never even be in the same country as my sister.”
“Sure, but maybe he’s in Poland?”
“Last I heard he was working out of Quebec.”
“But maybe that’s changed?”
“Time to find out.” He sent a message off to Keane, who came back with a reply five minutes later.
He’s still in Quebec. Showed up for work this morning.
“Would he have arranged this from a distance?” Gavin asked Lennox.
“Not if he had any clue I would be involved,” Lennox said. “And, if it involves Carolina, I’m involved. I made it very clear what I would do to him if he ever hurt my sister again.”
“Then it’s not likely him then,” Gavin said with a note of satisfaction.
“I’m surprised you left him alive.”
“I am too,” Lennox said. “Thought for sure I’d kill the bastard. He did time, and he’s still facing other charges. But he’s working hard to keep his nose clean now, last I heard.”
“What about other women?”
“No confirmation on that, but, had I heard even a whiff of anything like that, I’m pretty sure he knows I’ll come around snooping, so he’ll keep it on the straight and narrow.”
“I hope so, for his sake,” Gavin said.
“I don’t know about that. I hope the bastard crosses the line,” Lennox said. “Then I can take him out. One less abusive male on the planet sounds good to me.”
“What about you? Enemies? Personal? Work?”
“Same as you,” Lennox said, leaning back, closing his eyes. “Probably at least half a dozen, if not twice that.”
As he sat, reflecting, a couple missions came to mind. One had gone bad, where another SEAL had been compromised. Another one, where a soldier had died from friendly fire. The shooter had been doing a training exercise. He’d turned and hit a couple of his unit. Several of them had been injured, but one had died. The deceased’s family had accused the rest of the team because they hadn’t protected their son.
But they had, from external threats. Just no one had seen the internal threat coming.
There’d been missions where Lennox had had to turn in a team member because he had betrayed their country. Lennox wasn’t proud of the fact that he had worked with these traitors, but Lennox sure as hell wouldn’t let one go out on more missions and endanger more of his friends and teammates.
“There’s always one or two unexpected wild cards, isn’t there?” Gavin said.
“Always,” he said. “You do your best but …”
“Right,” he said. “So anything else? Anything personal? Any married husbands angry that you have been screwing their wives?”