by Desiree Holt
“I can’t wait.” She stood on tiptoe and brushed her lips against his. “Now let’s go see about your company.”
Chapter Thirteen
The kitchen was full of people when they walked into it. Zoe had trouble adjusting to the site of the slender Serita stirring pots on the stove, the rifle propped against the wall, ready at hand. Every seat at the kitchen table was filled with men she’d never seen, poring over what appeared to be an aerial map of the ranch. Marty and another man leaned against one wall, drinking coffee, with Keith and Dean against the opposite one. And all the men were armed.
A man looking distinctly out of place in a sport coat, slacks, and tie looked up at their entrance.
“Well, Miss Lombardo, it’s nice to finally lay eyes on you,” he told her.
Zoe looked at Zak, unsure of what to say.
“Meet Detective Joe Morales of the San Antonio Police Department,” he said.
Zoe’s knees wobbled, and she gripped Zak’s hand more tightly. “You brought him here?”
Was he going to arrest her after all? Had she been foolish to trust Zak in this? No, that couldn’t be right. No one else seemed to be concerned.
“Don’t worry,” Zak told her. “He’s here at my invite. He’s on our side. Finally.”
“Oh,” was all she could manage.
A man with a lined face and chocolate brown hair, who looked to be in his forties, was directing the conversation at the table. Zak touched his shoulder, and he looked up.
“Allen Fairchild, meet Zoe Lombardo.”
The man reached up and shook her hand. “I’m happy to finally get to meet you, Miss Lombardo. We hope to get you out of this and shut the operation down at the same time.”
Zoe looked from one man to the other with curiosity.
“Allen’s with Homeland Security,” Zak explained. “He and I had an interesting visit today. That’s how I learned about the arms trade and a few other things.”
Allen turned his attention back to the table, pointing at various places on the map spread out in front of him, asking questions that Frank answered clearly and concisely.
“Okay.” Allen leaned back in his chair. “We know they’re out there. When Zak told me what was happening, I called Washington and got the satellite imagery for the area, real time.”
“Did it show anything?” Zak asked him.
“Sure did. We know that a helicopter dropped them at the back end of this property. Probably right after the flyover. We just aren’t sure exactly how many there are. We think they’ll wait until the hands that are out there head back to the barn before moving in. That way they can get everyone at once.”
“You mean they plan to kill everyone here?” Zoe couldn’t quite wrap her mind around such a horrendous thought.
Allen Fairchild’s face was grim. “Unfortunately, to these people, human life has little value.”
“You don’t think they know we’ve got reinforcements?” Frank asked. “What with the Guardian helicopter and yours coming in just a little while ago?”
“They can make a guesstimate. Also, we don’t know if they’ve got more men coming in from the highway. But I’d say that’s a good possibility. I’m willing to bet when they saw us land they called for reinforcements.”
Zoe leaned against Zak, twisting her fingers together. “Isn’t this a little overkill just to get rid of me?”
“I think this is as much about the files you saw as anything else. Nate got careless, you got inquisitive, so you both had to go.” Fairchild looked at Frank. “Call your man down in the barn, tell him to have the hands start back here but at a steady pace. If they’ve been cutting calves out of the herd, they can drive them down here and nothing will look out of place. Bring in some of the ones riding fence, but have a couple of them conceal themselves strategically so we get some advance warning when our friends start to move in.”
“Is it safe for them to be moving?” Zak asked. “Shouldn’t they just find someplace to hide?”
Fairchild shook his head. “We can control things better if everyone’s here in the same place. They’ll be okay riding in. The Russians won’t pick them off one at a time. If one body falls, the other hands will radio in what’s happening, and they don’t want that advance notice going out.”
“I’ll do it right now.” Frank rose from his seat, went to a corner of the kitchen, and called Randy on the radio. Zoe could hear him repeating Allen Fairchild’s instructions.
“All right, children.” Allen pushed his chair back from the table. “You all have your marching orders. Zak, where can you and Zoe and I talk privately?”
“My den, where she’s been working on codes.”
“Excellent. And Miss Lombardo, you can tell me what exactly you’re looking for in those files and how far you’ve gotten.”
Serita followed them in with a tray of coffee and pastries. Zoe thought if she got out of this alive, she might never drink coffee again.
“Okay.” Allen took the chair at one corner of the desk and cradled his mug in his hand. “Miss Lombardo, why don’t you go first? Zak tells me you’ve been trying to decipher what someone’s done with the programs you wrote for the simulations and the games adapted from them, but you’re having a problem.”
“Yes, and it’s giving me a headache. I do this for a living.” She pushed her hair behind her ears. “You’d think it would be a simple matter since I wrote the original programs, but I get just so far and I’m stuck.”
She told him everything she’d been working on since Zak brought her the laptop. Trying to take apart the few programs Nina had been able to download. Recreating from memory some that she’d written.
“You can do that?” he asked. “Without notes to refer to?”
She gave him a tiny smile. “My codes are my babies. They’re usually branded into my brain. Plus, when I discovered I had an aptitude for this kind of stuff, I also realized I had…not a photographic memory but an extremely retentive one. I could remember what worked and what didn’t and what strings of code could be repeated from program to program. It’s why I was able to grow Lombardo Simulations to the point it was at when I met Nate Dunning.”
“I’m impressed.” He gave her a tired smile. “If you ever want a job with the government, just give me a call. Zak has my card. We can use people like you.”
Heat rose in her cheeks at the compliment. “Thanks, but I think, after this, I’d like to go back to what I do best. Running a small company and handling one client at a time. Big business and the limelight haven’t proven to be advantageous for me.”
“Okay,” Fairchild prodded her. “So you’ve tried to crack the new codes someone inserted into the programs you wrote, without success. Do you have any idea why?”
She shook her head. “The problem is, there are symbols in there I don’t recognize so I don’t know how to get past them.”
“Probably because they are characters from the Cyrillic alphabet the Russians use instead of what you’re used to. It makes the program very specific and proprietary.”
Her jaw dropped. “They’ve had Russian programmers rewriting my codes?”
“Since this whole operation is run by the Russian mob, I’d say that’s a good bet. I’d have to have one of our guys look at it to be sure, but that’s the easiest answer.”
“But why? For what reason? Zak said he thought Nate wanted my company to launder money through. They don’t have to rewrite programs to do that.”
“The money laundering was only a small part of it,” Allen said. “Zak told me your arguments with Nate began over the names of clients and suppliers you’d never heard of. That was the mechanism for the laundering. But if you made an issue out of that, everything else would have fallen apart.”
Zoe sipped at her coffee. “And if Nate was just a figurehead, like Zak said, and he called too much attention to the situation by arguing with me instead of giving me a plausible answer…”
“He became a liability that needed to b
e removed at once. The company was operating efficiently. He was replaceable.”
“So what were they doing with my company and my programs?”
Allen crossed his legs, took a long swallow of coffee, and gave her a searching look. “Has Zak told you about the people Nate and Caz Morgan have been meeting with at Caz’s ranch? People from countries on the international watch list? People running vast terrorist groups?”
Allen nodded. “They could hack into your computers and erase everything on them, but they needed to physically retrieve or destroy hardware, like your laptop and your notebooks. That’s why they set the fire at your company, too.”
Zoe raked her fingers through her hair. “I just can’t believe this. It’s…it’s my worst nightmare come true. This looks like I was helping terrorists, doesn’t it?”
“It did at first,” Allen agreed. “But then I had a long talk with Zak and discovered the mafiyah had set you up as their fall guy. In more ways than one.”
“Did… Did Zak tell you about my being drugged at the party and waking up with the gun in my hand?”
“Yes, and I’m not surprised. Rohypnol is used in great quantities by the Russians. They drug the girls they buy for use as prostitutes and to sell in the white slave market. Anyone at that party could have slipped it into your drink, walked you into the den, and waited for you to pass out.”
“I’ve tried to remember who I was near, who I talked to,” she told him, her voice hitching with frustration. “But I just can’t. Oh. Wait.” As if someone had briefly opened a door, pieces of images flashed through her brain.
“Remember something, kitten?” Zak asked, his arm still reassuringly around her.
“Yes. I spent some time talking to Caz, which surprised me because he usually just gave me his glamour boy speech, then spent his time on the clients. The money people.” She looked at Zak. “I can’t believe I was caught up in something like this. I must have a stupid sign on my forehead.”
“These people are pros,” Zak told her. “This is a big operation. Caz Morgan and Max Detwiler are just the tip of the iceberg. The problem is, the trail stops with them no matter how hard we look. We’re hoping the head honcho will show up today to finish the job himself. Usually, they don’t, but this is an exception.”
“You think he’d do that, whoever he is? Expose himself like this?”
“You’re the last piece of the puzzle to get rid of. He won’t want to take the chance of anyone screwing it up. So yes, I think he’ll be here today. If for some reason he doesn’t show, then we can at least get information out of the people we capture.”
“You think you’ll be able to do that?” she wanted to know. “Get them to give up the name?”
Allen’s smile was pure malice. “Oh, yes. No question about it.”
Frank chose that moment to come in with a report. “Randy radioed that the boys will be here with the calves in about twenty. And all the fence riders but two are back in the barn. They took it nice and easy, so they didn’t arouse any suspicions.”
“Good, good. And everyone else?”
“Ready for whatever happens. The rest of your men are here, too.”
A tall man dressed all in black, wearing a bulletproof vest with the strap of a semi-automatic weapon slung on his shoulder, appeared behind Frank.
“We’re good to go, Allen,” he said. “I thought we’d pair each of our guys with a ranch hand.”
“Fine.” Allen looked from the tall man to Zak and Zoe. “Meet Dyson Trumbull, the team leader. I don’t doubt that we’re all safe in his hands.”
Zak shook hands with the man.
“Nice to meet you,” Zoe told him.
“I’ll set a perimeter and deploy everyone where I think they’ll do the most good,” he informed Allen.
“You don’t think they’ll try to attack from the helicopter, do you?” Allen asked.
“They might, although I think this time they’ll want to get up close and personal to make sure no one escapes. Besides, if they do decide to try, we can blast them out of the sky in a heartbeat.” His grin had little warmth to it. “We have shoulder fired missiles with us just in case.”
“Okay. It’s in your hands then.”
At that moment, the phone hooked to the landline rang, and everyone in the room stared at it.
Chapter Fourteen
Zak finally reached out and lifted the receiver. “This is Zak Delaney.”
“Ah, Mr. Delaney. I am so glad you answered the telephone yourself.”
The voice was definitely Russian, although the accent wasn’t terribly thick. Someone who’d been here a long time, then. And muffled to disguise it.
“I assume it’s your men who invaded my ranch,” Zak said. “What do you want? Me? Come and get me.”
“Such a brave man.” The chuckle was pure evil. “But no, you are not the treasure we seek. And there is no need for you or any of your people to get hurt.”
“Yeah? Then back off my land, and we’ll talk.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. But if you will send the charming Miss Lombardo outside and have her stand in the middle of the clearing by the barn, we will pick her up and all of us will be gone.”
“Sorry,” Zak told him. “No can do. I guess you’ll have to try and take her.”
“It would be a shame to have to destroy your property for the sake of one worthless woman, Mr. Delaney. Surely you’re smart enough not to endanger everything for her.”
Zak gripped the phone so hard his knuckles were white. The man was baiting him, and he couldn’t afford to let his temper take over. “I think we might have a few surprises of our own.”
“Then, how is it you say? Game on, my friend.”
He broke the connection, leaving a seething Zak holding dead air.
“Our friends?” Allen asked.
“In the flesh. I suspect they think, as a last resort, they can launch another explosives attack and get rid of us all at once. Unless, of course, I send Zoe out to them.”
Fairchild grunted. “Their last two attempts at that didn’t turn out too well for them. It drew attention they didn’t want, and Zoe’s still alive. But all the same, I’d better tell Dyson to get ready with the big guns.”
He excused himself and went in search of his team leader.
Zak started to reach for her, but she stood and went to stand by the window.
“Zak.” She spoke without turning to look at him. “I really don’t want to die, but I don’t want everyone else to die, either. Maybe… Maybe I should do as they ask and turn myself over to them. Maybe I can convince them they have nothing to fear from me. Maybe…”
“Maybe nothing.” He moved up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, holding her softness to his body, inhaling her essence. “No way in hell am I allowing you to be a sacrificial lamb. And trust me. They don’t want to listen to any argument you might have. So no, I’m not even listening to such an idiotic idea. We have plenty of people here that know what they’re doing. Let’s let them do their jobs.”
She took a deep breath, obviously trying to pull herself together. He knew the last thing she wanted was to turn into some sniveling female in front of everyone and embarrass both of them. That just was not Zoe.
He nudged her hair aside with his cheek and pressed his lips against a sensitive spot on her neck. “I’m going to go check on what’s happening, but first I have something to tell you.”
“And what’s that?”
He wasn’t surprised at the tension in her voice. He hoped what he had to say would ease that a little. “I love you. I don’t know when I’ll get to tell you again, so I wanted to be sure to tell you now.”
“Oh, Zak.” She turned in his arms. “I love you, too.”
He brushed his lips against hers. “When this is all over, I’m going to take the time to show you properly.”
He meant every word of that. He was done trying to protect himself, and from what? A woman who loved him as much as sh
e did? He was ready to do anything to keep her safe. Too bad he couldn’t take back all the time they’d wasted being apart. It was as much his fault as hers, and he was done with it. He wanted a life with her. If he had to die protecting her, he would, because she meant that much to him, but he sure hoped it didn’t come to that. Not when he finally realized what they had together.
The sound of the door opening startled them, and Zoe jumped backward.
“Sorry.” Allen Fairchild stood in the doorway. “Dyson said they’ve spotted a helicopter coming in low over what Frank says is Cattle Ridge. I believe they’re going to try some kind of one-two punch—men on the ground and an attack from the air.”
“What should I tell my people?” Zak asked.
“Not a thing. We’ve got it covered. Dyson and the team have a little surprise for our friends. Just wanted to keep you in the loop.”
“I feel as if I should be out there with everyone,” Zak told him.
“Your job is to take care of Miss Lombardo. Leave the rest to us.”
“I’m coming into the kitchen, just the same,” he told the older man. “It’s just as safe as this room and at least we won’t feel so isolated.”
“Come on, then. You’ll be just in time for the fireworks.”
Zoe shuddered and gripped Zak’s hand tightly as he led her into the kitchen.
The scene had changed slightly. Serita was standing in the doorway to the pantry, rifle held loosely in her hands. Three men, all wearing bullet-proof vests and loaded with paraphernalia Zoe couldn’t even identify, were stationed at the windows, holding what looked to her like very lethal weapons. The air was thick with the tension of the moment.
Allen Fairchild, who stood near the window, plucked a radio from his belt. “Dyson, anything yet?”
Static crackled in the air, then the rough voice answered. “Not yet. I just— Wait. We’ve got something in our sights. It’s a plain black helicopter. Where’s Frank?”
A second passed, then Zoe heard Frank say, “Here. This is the same one we saw before.”
“Okay,” Dyson told him. “Everyone get ready. Shooters, get set.”