Mountain of Evil_Trident Security Omega Team_Prequel

by Samantha A. Cole

  The kid … Jesus, the kid did something completely unexpected. He lunged in front of his father’s weapon to protect Mallory. “No! Don’t—”

  But the bastard had already begun to pull the trigger and didn’t stop. The gun discharged, and the kid’s body jolted when the round struck his chest, throwing him to the ground. Finally having clear shots, Reese and Darius opened fire, riddling the older man with bullets until he was no longer a threat. His body danced as it absorbed the impacts before falling at the base of a tree. The reports from the weapons echoed then faded around them as everything returned to normal speed in Darius’s mind.

  Foster rolled off Mallory and immediately checked her for any sign of being hit. Darius rushed over and kicked the pistol out of the dead man’s hand as a precaution, and then did the same to the rifle lying next to the kid.

  Turning his weapon back to Darrell, who was once again struggling to get out from under the boot holding him down, Reese barked, “Don’t fucking move, asshole.”

  Sitting up, Mallory assured Foster she wasn’t injured, then cried out when she spotted the young man who was covered in blood and gasping for air a few feet away from her. She scrambled over as Darius dropped to his knees in the snow and ripped open the kid’s coat so he could try and stop the bleeding. Mallory grabbed the injured man’s hand. “Billy Ray! Oh, God, help him, Darius! He’s the one that let me escape. Billy Ray, you’re going to be okay. You saved my life.”

  Billy Ray’s pain-filled gaze fell onto Mallory’s face. He swallowed hard twice before attempting to speak. “Are … are you o-okay, Su-Susan?”

  Yanking the emergency kit from his deployment bag, Foster quickly found the trauma dressings and ripped the package open as Darius used his knife to cut Billy Ray’s shirt. Reaching out, Mallory wiped the snow from the injured man’s face. “Yes. I’m fine, thanks to you. And I lied—my name’s not Susan. It’s Mallory.”

  His relief was evident as he struggled to breathe. He was dying, and there was nothing the others could do about it. “M-Mallory … I like-like that name. Pretty.” His gaze searched hers, possibly looking for forgiveness. “I-I’m so-sorry.”

  Having heard the shots, the rest of the team came running from opposite directions and slowed as they took in the bloody scene before them. After assuring themselves none of their teammates or Mallory had been shot, they hurried to help the others anyway they could.

  “Sh. It’s okay. Don’t talk. You’re going to be fine,” Mallory promised Billy Ray in a soft voice. A quick glimpse told Darius Mallory didn’t believe her own words, but she repeated them anyway for comfort. “You’re going to be just fine.”

  Her gaze flickered to where Darius’s hands were applying pressure to the wound covered by a thick, white dressing, before returning to the dying man’s face. She gently stroked his forehead. “I would’ve been honored to be your girlfriend.”

  Billy Ray Greenly died with a small smile accompanying a look of awe on his face. Tears rolled down Mallory’s cheeks as she continued to stroke his brow after he’d taken his last breath then stilled. Once again, silence filled the air. Darkness would be upon them soon as the sun began to set behind the clouds.

  Shaking his head at the senseless bloodshed, Darius got to his feet. He gave Mallory a few more moments to grieve the death of her unexpected savior, then extended his hand to help her up. “Come on, Mal. We have to find shelter for the night. I promise we’ll send a recovery team out for him when we get to Ouray.”

  Accepting his hand, she stood. With a final glance at Billy Ray, she turned and walked away.

  *****

  With CC in the co-pilot seat, Babs lifted the Blackhawk off the ground with frustration just after 8:00 a.m. There had been no sign of the missing girl, nor word from Omega. Ian had lost contact with them after an update with them early yesterday morning. Since then, he’d been trying to get ahold of them via the SAT phone after the snow had started, with no success. Back in Tampa, Nathan had assured their boss the satellite needed for the team’s connection was working properly and in the right position for them to receive calls. They just weren’t answering. It was either turned off, had malfunctioned, or something far worse had happened. She just prayed it wasn’t the latter.

  Yesterday around noon, the snowstorm had finally forced Babs and the pilots of the two SAR helicopters to return to the small airport. They’d managed to stay in the air for about ninety minutes after the flakes had started falling. Even though they were on the northern edge of the storm, the increasing snowfall and wind had made for poor visibility, grounding the helicopters for its duration. Having been on many search and rescue missions and troop extractions over the years, she’d hated leaving a team out there on their own without communications, especially in a storm. She knew the men and one woman on Omega could handle themselves in any situation—they wouldn’t have been hired by the Sawyer brothers if they couldn’t—but she still had a bad feeling about whatever was happening on that mountain.

  “TS-actual, this is TS-one-five,” Babs voiced into her headset’s microphone. “We’re up and heading for the route Omega should be on.”

  “TS-actual copies. Bring those idiots home.” Despite Ian’s growled, derogatory response, she knew he was worried about the team too, even though he had full confidence in them.

  After she’d gained altitude and banked the aircraft to the west, the two SAR helicopters took off as well. They’d be heading northwest trying to locate the missing girl, while Babs and CC were en route to Omega’s last known location. From there, they’d follow the route the team was supposed to be taking back to Ouray. If they heard the Blackhawk buzzing overhead, they’d most likely know she was searching for them, since there’d be no other reason for the military-grade bird to be in that area. They’d find a way to signal her somehow.

  With their camouflage tactical clothing, it would be hard to spot them among the green and brown landscape, even with the snow on the ground, unless they were out in the open. As for Mallory Hart, she’d reportedly been wearing a red coat, which should make her easier to find, but that depended on a lot of different circumstances. Was she just lost? Injured or sick? Did she want to be found? Or had something sinister happened to her?

  Checking the coordinates on the instrument panel, Babs adjusted the helicopter’s trajectory. Beside her, CC consulted the map he had on a tablet Ian had given him, and then pointed to a cliff. “According to Boss-man, that’s the rock they had to scale down. They should have camped about a mile or so west of there.”

  Since they didn’t know if the team ever made it to the bluff, Babs decided to check the campsite first. Once they verified there was no one in sight, she reversed direction and headed east, while CC scoured the landscape below with his binoculars. Babs called out every time she saw a heat signature that was large enough to be a person on a screen in the instrument panel, but each time, CC confirmed it was an animal.

  For approximately fifteen minutes, they continued, in a grid pattern, north to south and then back again as they made their way east. Suddenly her co-pilot shouted, “Hey! Over there! Ten o’clock!”

  Babs whipped her gaze to the left and then let out a relieved sigh. There was their team, standing in a small clearing about three and a half miles west of Ouray. They waved at her, and she briefly waggled the chopper from side to side to indicate she’d spotted them. It was too small an area for her to try to land, but she could still get close enough for a better assessment of the group. There were nine people, and standing between Abbott and Knight was a young woman wearing someone’s camo jacket. She could only be the missing hiker out there in the middle of nowhere. After another quick head count, Babs realized there was an extra male among them too. Hovering overhead, she could see his hands were restrained behind his back.

  Flipping a switch to activate the speaker system on the underside of the aircraft, she announced, “Glad to see you! Anyone hurt?”

  Several of the team members gave her a negative sig
nal as CC gave her the coordinates for a larger clearing about a mile southeast she could use as a landing zone. She relayed the information to the team and after they acknowledged her, she pitched the bird in that direction. “TS-one-five to TS-one-actual. We found them, and it looks like they have the missing girl and one restrained tango with them.” She rattled off the longitude and latitude of the team’s location. “They’re heading for an LZ about one and a half klicks south of that. We’ll be bringing them home.”

  “TS-one-actual to TS-one-five, copy that. Any injuries?”

  “None reported, but will update when we have them on board.”

  “Copy that, and good job.”

  With the snow, it took the rag-tag group about twenty-five minutes to navigate the rocky terrain, and Babs had the helicopter on the ground waiting for them. She grinned at them as one by one they climbed aboard. Each one was dirtier than the last. “Just so you know, Boss-man said you failed, and you’ll have to do the training run again,” she teased. “You’re coming back up here in two weeks with fifty pound packs this time.”

  “Fuck that shit,” Mancini retorted as he helped the girl into the bird. “If we do, he can come with us to make sure we stay on target.”

  After getting the restrained man into the helicopter, McCabe was the last one to board, and Babs did a double take over her shoulder at the jacket he was wearing. It was covered in blood. It was then she noticed some of the others had blood on their hands and clothing, mixed in with the dirt. Lifting her gaze to McCabe’s, she took in his grim expression, but all he said was, “Let’s go, Babs. And do us a favor and leave out the roller coaster ride this time.”

  “Roger that. Buckle up, boys and girls. Let’s get you home.”

  CHAPTER 12

  Ian paced back and forth in the snow and slush at the small airport. The runway and helipads had already been plowed this morning, and one of the latter was currently empty, waiting for the Blackhawk to return. The two SAR helicopters had landed a few minutes ago after the pilots had been alerted the missing girl had been rescued. Even though Foster had called him from the bird, assuring him everyone was safe and sound, he still needed to see it with his own eyes. Abbott, Foster, Knight, Mancini, McCabe, Morrison, and Reese had not only become his employees, they’d become part of his extended family. And like every patriarch, he’d worry every time they went out on a mission until they all returned in one piece—not that he’d let them know that.

  An ambulance idled nearby. The EMTs had been sent to evaluate Mallory Hart for any injuries or effects of exposure to the elements she may have incurred during her ordeal. They’d probably transport her to the hospital as a precaution. Her parents also anxiously awaited their daughter’s return along with their three sons, her boyfriend, the sheriff, several SAR team members, and a few friends.

  Angie sat in the passenger seat of the SUV Ian had driven to the airstrip, with the heat on high. He hadn’t wanted her standing in the cold with the rest of them, but she’d insisted on accompanying him to see for herself the team was safe. She loved the new additions to the Trident family as much as she loved the original team members, and being pregnant had her in nesting mode. She needed to make sure all her ducklings were in a row before she could relax again.

  Back at the gated entrance to the property, the sheriff’s deputies were keeping the press at bay. After Mallory had been missing over a day, the local newspapers and TV networks had picked up the story. The number of reporters had doubled after another twenty-four hours with no sign of the vanished hiker. It wouldn’t be long before they discovered her disappearance was related to the manhunt for three brothers and their father who’d robbed a bank and killed two people thirty miles away, as Foster had reported. When that happened, it would be a free-for-all to scoop the other reporters. The last thing Ian needed was to have his team’s pictures splashed all over the internet, TV, and print editions—it would seriously fuck with their ability to work any covert ops.

  The unmistakable thumping of the military-grade helicopter started low and slowly increased. Ian scanned the sky, trying to spot it since the precipitous topography of the surrounding area made it sound like it was coming from every direction.

  The sheriff approached and pointed to Ian’s right. Sure enough, there was the big, black bird heading straight for them. With Babs at the controls, it flew into range, then like a majestic eagle, landed gently on its assigned helipad. As the rotors slowed, McCabe slid open the side door and stepped down. He turned and grabbed the arm of the one Greenly family member who hadn’t been killed and pulled him down onto the tarmac. Two deputies stepped forward and took him into custody.

  Reese was out the door next, followed by Knight, who helped their rescued charge down from the helicopter’s bay. With a hand gesture to keep her head low until they cleared the reach of the overhead blades that were still moving, he hurried the young woman into her waiting family’s arms. Her parents embraced her with such relieved emotion, Ian knew it would be quite a while before they let her out of their sight again.

  As the rotors slowed to a stop and Babs shut down the engines, the rest of the exhausted team poured out of the aircraft, carrying their deployment bags and gear. They strode over to Ian who introduced each of them to Sheriff Collins. After a round of handshakes, backslaps, and thanks, Reese handed the lawman the rifles recovered from the Greenly men as McCabe placed two small, canvas bags on the hood of the nearest patrol car with a clunk. “One of these has three 9mm and two .380s in it. The safeties are engaged, but other than that, we didn’t mess with them. Figured for forensics and evidence, you’d need them as intact as possible with minimal handling. The other bag is knives, IDs, and a few other things we took off the bodies in case any animals decide they’re hungry.”

  Mancini held out a piece of paper to Collins. “Here’s the coordinates of where the three bodies are located. One is near that second cliff we scaled, and the others are together a few miles south of there. We marked some trees with red and white locator paint.” The aerosol cans were no bigger than a travel-size hairspray and easily fit in with their regular gear. They were great to mark a trail with, if needed, or in this case, the locations of dead bodies.

  The sheriff nodded and waved over two of his deputies to take possession of the weapons. “I appreciate that. I’ll also need whichever weapons of yours that were fired and a rundown of who took what shot for the investigation. I’ll get the guns back to you as soon as we close the case. Unfortunately, that’ll probably be a few weeks.”

  Foster snorted. “If we can go someplace warm so we can thaw out our balls, we’ll go through a whole debrief.”

  Beside him, Abbot grinned. “Well, I don’t have physical balls, but my metaphorical ones could definitely use a hot coffee and an even hotter shower.”

  “Let’s head back to my office,” Collins replied. “I can supply the coffee, but the showers will have to wait until we get your reports on paper. We’ll try to get you in and out of there without the press getting any photos. I’ll tell Mallory she’s got to keep your identities a secret. She’s a good kid, and I trust she’ll keep quiet.”

  Before they had a chance to load up into Babs’s and Ian’s vehicles, Mallory rushed over to them. She had a white blanket from the ambulance around her shoulders, and McCabe’s jacket in her hands. As her parents stood at her side, she held the jacket out to its owner who’d turned around to face her. “Thanks so much, Tristan. I’m sure you want to get out of that other one.”

  The big man glanced down at his chest as if he’d forgotten he had a dead man’s coat on. Noting the three large, exit holes on the back, which were covered in blood, Ian couldn’t wait to hear the entire story.

  With a wry grin, Tristan removed the garment and gave it to the sheriff as evidence. Before he took his own jacket back, he bent down and gave Mallory a brotherly kiss on the cheek. Her smile grew as one by one, the Omega team said their goodbyes to her with either a hug or a kiss or both. With her go
ing to the hospital and the teammates going to give their official accounts of what happened before heading to the larger airport where their jet was waiting for them, they probably wouldn’t see each other again. As her parents thanked the operatives, Mallory thanked each one and said goodbye. “I’m going to miss all of you. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you enough.”

  When it was the last man’s turn to say goodbye, Darius held out his hand to her father first. “Mr. and Mrs. Hart? You’ve raised an incredible daughter. If it wasn’t for her courage and the training you’d given her over the years, things would probably have turned out a lot differently. I’m sure it doesn’t have to be said, but you should be damn proud of her.”

  Her parents agreed with him, and once again, expressed their thanks. Turning to the young woman, he handed her a piece of paper he’d quickly jotted something down on. “Here’s my cell number and email; if you ever need anything or get down to Florida for anything, give me a call.”

  The statement was spoken in a way that brooked no misinterpretation—the two had obviously developed a brother/sister relationship out in the wilderness. Ian knew if the girl ever did need anything, Knight would make sure he was there to help in any way he could.

  Mallory stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his waist, her head resting on his massive chest. The corners of his mouth ticked upward as he returned the embrace. After a moment, she leaned back so she could see his face, which was still covered in grime. Her soft words were reminiscent of a line from The Wizard of Oz when she said, “I think I’ll miss you most of all, Batman.”

  *****

  Glancing up from her sketch, Angie smiled at the bodies strewn about the jet’s cabin. The team was exhausted. Ian had wanted to leave for the airport as soon as everyone had taken a quick shower, however, Mallory’s family had insisted on treating everyone from Trident to lunch. They had to head back to Tampa and wouldn’t be there tomorrow when her parents were throwing a thank you luncheon for everyone involved in the search and rescue at the American Legion hall.