Fight By The Team (Team Fear Book 2)

by Cindy Skaggs

  “Where’s here?” she croaked. She struggled until he set her on her own two feet.

  Together the three looked around what looked like a large waiting room, the kind you expected in a large mountain lodge not on a derelict spit of land in Texas. Tables and chairs were in groupings on one side while the other had a smattering of mismatched sofas and chairs. A giant fireplace sat in the center, the chimney climbing into the ceiling above. The space was large enough to seat forty or fifty people comfortably.

  A woman with a long, dark braid down her back stepped from a doorway in the back. “We thought you’d never get here.” She stepped forward. “I’m Janet Fowler. Jake’s mom.”

  No wonder Fowler hadn’t wanted to bring them here. They were raining their shitstorm down on his mom. “Ma’am. Appreciate you helping us out.”

  “That’s why we’re here, but we can talk about that in the morning. Right now, let’s get you settled in your rooms.”

  “If it’s all the same, ma’am, I’d like to keep the patient on the bottom floor.”

  “I can climb stairs, Rosebud.”

  “You’re the medic?” Janet asked.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “You’re not what I expected, but then, Jake is hush-hush about his military time. As it happens, Jake warned me about Debi, right?”

  She nodded, but for once kept her mouth closed. The pain level had to be high to keep her normally chatty self in check.

  “I have rooms setup down here for you. Although Jake didn’t warn me we had another female.”

  Camy grinned. “I’m a stowaway.”

  “I can’t wait to hear that story. These guys don’t seem all that open to surprises.”

  “Oh, well, I’m also River’s sister, so he couldn’t dump me on the highway.”

  “No matter how much I wanted,” he added. Any minute now, Debi would latch onto that name and harass him. The potential conflict built up in his mind. He looked forward to sparring with her. A little too much.

  “You two follow me.” Janet pointed to Debi and Rose before she headed through the kitchen and down a narrow hall. “These rooms once belonged to the on-call doctor and nurse. You’ll find they’re bigger than most. The nearest exit is down this hall another twenty feet. Both windows are barred, but the release button is to the right of the frame.”

  Debi ran a hand over the empty walls, the wallpaper yellowed with age.

  The first door creaked as Janet opened it and motioned them inside. “Debi, I thought this one for you. The pink would hardly do for a man like Sergeant Rose.”

  “His ego is pretty solid. I think he could pull off the pink.”

  “This bed is bigger,” Janet added.

  “Sold.” Debi sat and bounced on the end of the king-sized bed. “Now, what is this place?”

  “Mesquite Manor was a home for the criminally insane in the 1920s and 1930s.”

  “We’re sleeping in an insane asylum?”

  “Oh, don’t worry. The staff slept in these two rooms, so you should be ghost free. The rest of your friends are in patient rooms, however...” Janet shivered. “Follow me, Sergeant Rose.”

  “Just Rose.”

  Janet didn’t even pause for a breath. “There’s a bathroom between the rooms for you to share.” She led him to the room next door, this one closer to the exit.

  The room was plain with a simple bed, brown bedding, a chair, and a desk. A fireplace stood against the wall to the bathroom, and next to it a closet. The window looked out on a hidden grove of trees behind the house. The release for the bars over the window looked new, as did the windows.

  Rose tested the release latch and saw the bars swivel free like shutters caught in the breeze. “I get what this used to be, but out here in the wilderness isn’t the place for bars on the windows. So tell me, what is this place now?”

  “Your home for the foreseeable future. Jake will show you around while the girls and I eat.”

  “Did someone say food?” Debi leaned against the open door frame. “I could eat a horse. Or a ghost horse.” She laughed at her own joke. “Seriously.”

  “Dinner’s ready and waiting. Lauren wouldn’t eat without you. I thought we girls could eat and get to know each other.”

  “As long as there’s food.” She glanced over her shoulder at Rose. “You eating with the girls?”

  “Oh, I think the boys are headed out to the barn,” Janet answered. “I’ll keep the stew warming for you.”

  “Thank you, ma’am.” When they reached the kitchen, Rose pulled Debi aside. He pulled a prescription bottle from his pocket and handed her a pill. “Take one of these with dinner.”

  She shook him off. “I’m fine.”

  “I see the way you’re holding your arm. And you’ll delay the healing if you get behind the pain.”

  “Yo, Rose,” Fowler hollered from the other room. “Let’s roll.”

  Rose held the pill out on the palm of his hand. “Take it.”

  She took it and shoved it in a pocket. “Have fun in the barn, Rosebud. Sounds like some sort of weird initiation to me.”

  “So long as we get some answers.” The place oozed creepy serial killer. It wasn’t the ghosts or potential for ghosts that got to him. He couldn’t figure out what kind of country inn, or whatever the hell this place was now, needed bars on the windows. Rose and Fowler walked around the house to a big weathered gray barn. He didn’t see the vehicles anywhere. “What is this place?”

  “I’ll brief everyone at once,” Fowler answered. They stepped through a small door to the side of the big-assed barn doors. The lock had a keypad. “375842. Don’t get it wrong.”

  Rose filed the number away for future reference. “All the keypads the same?”

  “What kind of idiot do you think I am?” Fowler asked.

  “Fair enough. Every door have a keypad?”

  “Most.” They strolled through the door and into an alternate universe. The missing vehicles were parked in what was the biggest garage Rose had seen in the private sector. In the back, stairs led to an office with big windows looking down on the cars. Doors led off to either side. Their boots echoed on the polished cement as they walked up the stairs to the office where the rest of the team worked in silence.

  One wall was lined with electronics. Monitors and displays straight out of NASA mission control. Craft supervised the unpacking of boxes while he setup computers along a long low run of countertop designed for that purpose.

  Rose gave a long, low whistle. “This is a serious investment.” The computers and electronic toys were on the high end of too-damned-much. He walked the length as if inspecting the troops. “You spent your signing bonus on toys, didn’t you?”

  Craft rubbed his hands together in unfettered glee. He jabbed a thumb in his chest. “Only child. My parents are retired and living in Boca. Of course I spent it on me. Fowler spent his on this place. Ryder used his to buy the townhouse for Lauren.”

  Most of that was lost to fraud. A group of unethical men—a banker, a realtor, and a lawyer—had illegally foreclosed on the townhouse. Anything Ryder had left was spent on the Team Fear investigation, because none of them were truly free until they eliminated the threat against them and their families.

  Craft pulled out a monitor and set it up on the nearest vertical space. “What did you spend your signing bonus on?”

  Rose ignored the question as he turned a circle at the end of the control room. The other wall was covered with surveillance equipment. A large screen split into eight divisions that looked like surveillance videos spread across the property. Fowler hit a button on a control panel. The top screen shot showed the front gate clatter closed.

  “What the fuck is this place?”

  “The command post. Come on back.” Fowler led the way to a briefing room complete with enlarged computer display, white board, and other electronic gadgets. They took chairs around a central table that would have made the Joint Chiefs proud.

  Ryder sat, turned t
o the side, and put his boots up on the adjacent seat. “Nice setup. Want to tell us why you have it?”

  “Ten years ago, my granddad left this place to my mother,” Fowler started.

  “Because he was a ghost hunter?” Craft teased.

  “No. Big Jake liked to be prepared.” Fowler paused for emphasis.

  Didn’t take mental calculus to solve that equation.

  “You’re a fucking prepper, aren’t you?” Craft exclaimed.

  Chapter Twelve

  “As in doomsday?” Debi leaned on her good elbow and stared at Janet. This petite woman had prim hair shot through with silver and ran a survivalist training camp for doomsday preppers. “How do you even start something like that?”

  Camy and Lauren added their voices to Debi’s question. The three women wanted to know where they’d been transported. And wondered if it was a good move.

  “Family business. I was a single mom, so when Jake came along, we stayed here and helped out. When Big Jake passed, I took over, but we ran into financial troubles. Big Jake had big plans, you should see the command post, but he wasn’t much of a businessman. Little Jake joined the teams to help pay off some debt and modernize.”

  “He’s been training his whole life. That’s why he’s such a good shot.” Debi pushed her dinner bowl away. The stew had been amazing, and now she was stuffed to the gills. It was the first home cooked meal they had had since the chaos began.

  “How do you know he’s a good shot?” Janet stacked their bowls and set them in the farm sink.

  “I’d say he’s more of an expert shot,” Debi answered. Once she’d had time to think about it, what Fowler had done, what all the men did was exceptional. “Fowler positioned himself at the top of a bluff. He shot the driver of a moving vehicle traveling sixty miles an hour.”

  “The boy does his granddad proud.” Janet smiled and patted Debi’s hand. “But I think that’s enough for one night. You look beat.”

  Camy stood, her eyes glittering with excitement. “I’m not the least bit tired. This place is beyond, just beyond anything.”

  “Then you can stay and help me with dishes before I show you to your room. There’s no cable, no cell service, no Wi-Fi.”

  “No worries. Fowler already confiscated my phone.”

  “Jake would see to it, I’m sure. Don’t take it personally. Anyone wanting to train at the manor has to leave all electronics before they pull through the front gate.”

  “No kidding. That little wand he has do a bug check is like something out of science fiction.” They had parked out in the middle of nowhere in a pullout off the main highway. Fowler had checked for bugs and trackers on every person, every piece of luggage, and every vehicle before he’d led the way to the manor. “God help the poor sap with a metal plate in his head.”

  “We take OPSEC serious around here.” Janet stacked the dishes on the table. “There is a wall of books in the great room that should help occupy your mind when you’re not on duty. Take the night to get acclimated. Lauren, can you help Debi get settled?”

  Lauren held out a hand to pry Debi out of her chair. “Got it. Thanks for dinner, Janet.”

  “My pleasure. Really. We don’t get many females around here, at least not civilians.”

  Lauren grabbed Debi by the hand and led her down the hall. When they reached Debi’s room, Lauren turned and locked the door. “Do you get the feeling we’re not going to be civilians for much longer?”

  “God, yes. As much as I like the idea of defending myself, I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.”

  “Ryder’s all for it. He had me training in self-defense before any of this went down. After the problems with Echo, he wants me to know how to rope a dirtbag from fifty yards and then truss him up like a calf at the rodeo.”

  “Don’t put me down for that.” Debi’s whole body ached. “Where did they put my lab equipment?”

  “Janet said something about the basement. We can look in the morning. Right now, you need a long bath and a nightcap.”

  “How about a quick shower and a pain pill.”

  “I think we can arrange that.” Lauren searched through bags the men had delivered earlier. “No pajamas. That’s what happens when men pack for you. Sweats?”

  “Grab the gray shirt on the top.”

  “An Army of One?” Lauren pulled a giant shirt from the bag. “You wearing Rose’s t-shirt to bed? Or are you wearing Rose to bed?”

  “Just the shirt. The large size makes it easier to get on and off with the sling.” The warm flush on her cheeks promised she was blushing, and Debi didn’t like it one bit. She nodded at Lauren’s hand. “I see you got your wedding ring back.”

  “I did. Thanks for telling Ryder where to find it.” Lauren dropped the shirt to hold her left hand to the light. Lauren had removed the ring when Ryder disappeared to protect her from the fallout from the fearlessness experiments, but his absence hadn’t kept Lauren free from harm. Echo had ultimately used Lauren as bait to try to trap Ryder, who had nearly snapped when they had dosed him with more of the experimental drug. Now that they’d survived, Ryder and Lauren were stronger than ever and needed the ring and everything it symbolized. That was the secret Debi had told Ryder before they’d knocked her out. Lauren’s ring had been in a jewelry box at the ranch. Lauren rubbed the glistening gemstone. “Is it stupid that my heart about beat out of my chest when he put it back on?”

  “Not stupid at all. You guys have earned all the happiness you can get.”

  Lauren twisted the ring around her finger. “He worries.”

  “About?”

  “Nothing. Everything. He worries that Echo will find us, or that he’ll have a psychotic break and kill me. You know, typical married stuff.”

  The laughter jarred Debi’s stitches. “Nothing normal about our situation.”

  “I’m sorry I pulled you into this.”

  “About that...” Debi wanted to tell Lauren the truth, but settled on a partial truth that was a long time coming. She cleared her throat. “I have a confession. You know how a new owner bought the bar awhile back?” When Lauren nodded, Debi continued. “Well, the new owner was my father.”

  “The world’s biggest academic snob owns the bar?”

  “No, he bought it for me.” Debi swallowed. “It was a guilt offering after he kicked me out of the program and banned me from the research labs.”

  “What, he’s trying to buy your affections?” Lauren’s voice rose at the insult. “That dirty son of a carpetbagger. Why didn’t you tell him to shove it?”

  The instant outrage warmed something cold inside. “I knew you’d see it my way. And I didn’t say anything because I was hurt and offended. The little weasel didn’t even have the decency to offer it to me in person. He sent a lawyer. I didn’t want a part of it, refused to do more than make deposits and pay bills until Ryder left and you were hurting for money.” She’d wanted to help her best friend without it seeming like a handout.

  “You’re the reason all of us waitresses had to wear skimpy outfits?”

  As lies went, this was big. “Your tips went up, though, right?”

  The deep bruise on Lauren’s cheekbone flexed with a frown. “You are so not forgiven.”

  “I know.” Debi stood and headed toward the bathroom. “I didn’t know what to do. Thanks to Barry and darling Dad, I will never work in a lab again.” She flipped on the bathroom light and was treated to a ghastly reflection of herself in the medicine cabinet mirror. She glanced away. The pain of her father’s disloyalty hadn’t eased with time. “He didn’t believe me. Part of me wanted to tell him to shove his guilt offering up his tight ass, but the other part figured he owed me for ruining my career.”

  “Both reactions were right.” Lauren gave her a one-sided hug to avoid the injury. “So I guess now that you’ve spilled your guts I have to forgive you for keeping something this big from me.”

  “Sorry.” Debi titled her head to the side and put on her most inno
cent expression. “It’s not you, it’s me?”

  “Please. Don’t use that tired excuse.” Lauren helped Debi remove the sling and get ready for the shower. “Need anything?”

  Her toiletries were waiting for her in the shower. “I don’t think so. Give me a few minutes and I’ll holler when I’m ready.”

  Lauren stood at the door with a fierce expression, a look made tougher by the fading bruises on her face. “For what it’s worth, your biological is an asshole, and he was wrong. He should have listened. Taking Barry’s side over his daughter’s word was a dick move.”

  Tears stung, but Debi battled them back. “Thanks for being my friend.”

  “Well, it’s a hardship, what with you being so ugly and mean.”

  Debi choked out a laugh. “We don’t have to hug it out or anything, do we, because I’m half-naked here?”

  “Nah, save the half-naked hugging for the owner of the king-sized t-shirt.”

  “We’re not—”

  “Keep telling yourself that.” Lauren slammed the door closed on a laugh.

  “I always knew shit was hitting the fan.” Fowler stood at the head of the table, one hand in a pocket and the other holding a stale cup of coffee. “I joined Team Fear for the signing bonus. Used the money to upgrade what Big Jake had already started. I’m not going down easy.”

  Rose leaned back in his seat. This place was a lot to take in. “For a safe house, this place is stellar, but we can’t bring our shit to your door.”

  Fowler nodded. “Appreciate it, man, but I gave Janet the choice. She wants us here. What’s more, it’s the best place to set up shop. The manor is completely off the grid. The power comes from the wind turbines. The name on the title of the land is a dummy corporation, so there’s no tracking it that way. Janet doesn’t even have a social security card.”

  “Internet?” Craft asked.

  “IP address traces to Singapore. If you do any high-level snooping, you need to run it deep. This place is mostly of the grid and I’d like to keep it that way. All the satellites see when they pass is a torn-up barn and a condemned building. That’s what we want them to see. We have regular survivalist groups who do their annual training here, but we rescheduled everything for the next few months. Winter is slow anyway. Things keep going into the summer, we’re going to have to reevaluate.”