Operation: Endgame

by Christi Snow

  As Cassie followed Ricky out the door, two large men joined them, one walking in front of them, one walking behind them. They walked down to the end of the hall and headed up the stairs. As they walked, Cassie tried to take in all the details of where they were being held. The downstairs appeared to be vast. There was a whole network of doors down the main hall, all closed. But there were also two other hallways which veered off to both the left and the right leading to even more closed doors.

  Ricky led her up the stairs to what looked to be a normal upscale suburban home. The house was indeed built around a central atrium. When they crested the top of the stairs, Cassie looked up to see a huge bank of windows that looked out over an immense jungle garden. There were stone paths, surrounded by foliage, several fountains, and even a small waterfall. She gasped in surprise at the beauty of it, which was in such complete contrast to the stress of her situation.

  Ricky turned to her and smiled, “It’s beautiful, is it not?”

  The smile on his face turned her stomach, but she gritted her teeth and smiled back at him. “It is. It’s so serene and peaceful looking and so lush and green for West Texas. I would have a hard time going anywhere else in the house when I could be out there.” Cassie tried to glance surreptitiously around what she could see of the house, but unfortunately, besides the central atrium, there wasn’t much to see besides more hallways.

  “Excellent. We’ll dine on our breakfast out there this morning.” He gave a slight wave to the man who was preceding them down the hall and he moved further into the house, supposedly to redirect their breakfast onto the patio.

  The lush garden patio was surrounded on all four sides by floor to ceiling windows. As Cassie followed Ricky down the hallway, she couldn’t see any doors leading out into the area. They continued down the hall and turned left. This hall was obviously leading to more of the “living” part of the house as Cassie spied more open areas and doorways. There were several along this hallway. They passed one which obviously led into a living area, but the windows were shuttered so Cassie couldn’t see anything about the neighborhood where the house was located. The décor was retro modern with a nod towards the 50’s design of the house. There were low slung couches, metal and glass tables, and a large stone fireplace surrounded by a plethora of painted built-in bookcases. It looked like some of the rooms inter-connected by other doorways besides just the hallway they were traveling down which made it impossible to judge just how big the house was.

  Suddenly Ricky stopped in front of one of the large glass panes in the hallway and reached up to the metal frame. Hidden within the metal was a handle, which Ricky now pulled out and twisted. As he twisted the handle, the large glass pane swung inward into the house. This large window was actually a doorway out to the atrium area.

  Ricky led her along a stone path that meandered through the lush foliage. The roofline was open to the elements, but Cassie spotted space heaters disguised as statuary and stone urns along the edges of the paths. They came to a low stone wall and as they came around it, Cassie was surprised to see it hid a fireplace and several tables. One was filled with a buffet of breakfast foods. Another was filled with drink choices. Then finally, there was a quaint circular table which had been set up to serve two people for eating.

  Ricky reached the edge of the table and pulled out a chair for Cassie to sit down in. As he sat in his chair, he gestured to an older man standing in front of a coffee machine. He promptly brought over a cup of coffee for Cassie. Ricky gave her an indulgent smile, “A venti non-fat latte, just like you enjoy.”

  Cassie murmured her, “Thanks,” as she took a sip. It tasted just like her lattes she bought almost daily from Ricky. Although it twisted at her guts to do so, she gave him a soft smile. “It’s delicious. Just like you always make.” She knew she needed to play up to his ego.

  He answered, “If I’ve learned nothing else on this little adventure, I’ve learned how to make a good cup of coffee.”

  She looked at him, thinking back to their time at the coffee shop. She’d always viewed him as a harmless flirt, albeit a very good looking one, when she knew him as her barista. Now, in his custom made suit and people at his beck and call around every corner, Cassie wondered how she had missed this aura of power surrounding him. He was obviously a person very accustomed to being obeyed. He was still very good looking and the charm flowed from him, but now she knew what flowed underneath all of that surface veneer, she couldn’t believe she’d ever been taken in by his act.

  While they chatted about inane topics, the older gentleman faded into the foliage and two young girls in black pants and white shirts came out and served both Cassie and Ricky their breakfast. After the food was dished up, he waved a hand at them to dismiss them. They were alone in the atrium now and Ricky turned to look at her as they began to eat. “I have to admit I’m surprised at your easy acquiescence of this entire situation.”

  She looked at him and thought carefully about how to respond. “Quite honestly, I think I’m still in shock. I’m having a hard time taking it all in. Do you mind if I ask you some questions about all that’s happened?” She needed to learn whatever she could about him and his operation if she had any hopes for escape.

  “Of course, my love.”

  She managed to hide her shudder of revulsion as she thought back to when she met Ricky early in the fall semester. “I guess I just don’t understand how this all happened. If you’ve had Chris since his crash, why has it taken so long for you to approach me?”

  “Aw, yes, well we didn’t realize at first who exactly your dear brother was. We thought he was just normal American military scum. Up until that point we kept him alive because he had some intelligence information which we needed. But one day, I was watching your gorgeous interview on the video game and realized you had the same last name as the poor soldier whom we captured. After that it just took a little bit of research to find your connection. Not only siblings, but twins. I knew he was brought to me by fate.”

  He watched her as he related his tale and Cassie worked hard to keep what she hoped was a neutral look on her face.

  “You’d already caught my fascination on the videogame, but when I realized the connection, I tracked you down, both your life in Lubbock and your summer European tour. Over the summer I listened to you speak several times.” He grinned at her.

  Cassie couldn’t hide her shock at that revelation. This entire farce had gone on so much longer than she’d realized.

  “You, my dear, were enchanting. Even grieving for your lost brother the way you were over the summer, your passion for military matters shone through. Suddenly, I knew. You were the woman for me and I would do everything in my power to win your heart.”

  He glanced down at her coffee cup. “It didn’t take long to insinuate myself into your daily life once you returned to Lubbock. You do like your lattes and I felt like we were developing a connection.” His face hardened.

  Right now she could feel this latte curdling in her stomach, but she needed to keep him open and talking. “I don’t understand. You say you cared about me, but then you hurt me.”

  He shrugged. “What can I say? I am a passionate man. Seeing you with him,” his voiced sharpened when he talked about Jake, “well, let’s just say I lost my temper a bit. Your disloyalty hurt me.”

  Her disloyalty? He was certifiable. He almost killed her for a slight against him that she couldn’t possibly have known about.

  “I’m so sorry, my love. I took my anger out on you, when it should have been him. I realized that after I saw the photo in your office. He deserved my anger, not you. I cannot explain to you how difficult it’s been to watch him with you. The fact you let him into your home, into your bed…” His face hardened in anger and she visibly flinched.

  He smiled at her when he noticed her reaction. “I’m sorry, my dear. You’re here with me now and that’s all that matters. Your little friend will be taken care of soon and then you will truly understand I�
�m the man for you.”

  How the hell was she going to get them out of here? She had to focus on Chris. “Of course, I’m thrilled and more than a little grateful to have Chris back in my life. Thank you for that.” She peered at him from under her eyelashes and continued on. “I don’t want to do anything which will change that. I want him to remain safe and in my life. I’m not completely happy about the changes that have happened here, but I’ll do whatever I need to do so Chris remains cared for and whole. I would ask one thing of you.” She looked up and met his eyes.

  “I only want you to be happy, my love.”

  Cassie felt a shudder of revulsion creep through her system at his endearment, but she worked to keep it from showing visually. “I know you have other plans for me, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been with Chris. I’ve missed him horribly, as I’m sure you understand. I’d like to spend time with him and monitor his recovery.”

  Ricky looked at her with suspicion and she worked to keep her face clear of any of the harsher emotions which were flowing through her. She needed to earn at least a small portion of his trust if she was going to get Chris and her out of this situation. “I thought he was dead for six months. Surely you can understand my need to have him nearby. I need that for my own peace of mind.” She tried to ease his mind. “At this point, I just want Chris near me to make sure he’s okay. Nothing else is as important.”

  “I understand the importance of family, so I can understand and accommodate your need in this situation. But for my show of faith in you, I need a reciprocal show of faith from you.” He looked at her questioningly.

  “Thank you. What would you like me to do?”

  “It’s very simple.” He swung his arm out towards the house. “I’d like to show and explain my operation to you.”

  Cassie gave a genuine smile this time. She knew he was posturing on her behalf, but anything that gave her more knowledge would help in her bid to get Chris and her out of this situation safely. “I’d love to see it.”

  Chapter 45

  Jake answered the front door with a cell phone tucked into his ear. Standing there, looking more than a little exhausted, was Colton. Jake reached across and clasped Colton’s hand in a handshake as he pulled him into the house, while he continued to talk on the phone. He walked over to the kitchen counter and listened to whoever was on the phone. He filled a mug with hot coffee and pushed it across to Colton who gave a short nod of appreciation.

  “Thanks, Max. I really appreciate any help you can give us on this…the sooner, the better. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.” As he pushed the off button of the phone, he looked over at Colton. “Sorry about that.” He gestured at the phone.

  “No problem. Have you made any more progress towards locating her?”

  “Not yet, but that was a spec ops guy out of Columbia I know. He has access to the files in Ricardo Ramirez so he’s going to do a little digging to see if he can find any properties our friend Ricky, or one of his associates, may own in Texas.” He looked at Colton with a critical eye. Unlike the twins, Colton’s coloring was dark. His hair was almost black, it was so dark. He had a typical military cut, but kept it a little longer on top. The last twelve hours had taken its toll on him. His hair was standing on end like he had run his hands through it over and over again. His blue eyes were bloodshot and rimmed with dark circles underneath them which showed evidence of the fact he had been flying from overseas all night long. At 6’3”, Colton had always been a big guy, but his normally muscular physique had gotten even larger since Jake had seen him last. The guy was obviously spending a lot of off hours working off his frustrations about the job and his ex-wife at the gym. “You look exhausted, Colt.”

  “Jet-lag will do that to you. There’s nothing easy about overseas flights and I’m too tall to get comfortable enough to sleep in that cramped seating. Besides, unless I’m the one flying the airplane, I just don’t like to fly. Do you or the police have any new leads at all?”

  “No, and it’s damn frustrating. I gave them the information you gave me about Ricky and his connection to Philip and they’re working to locate them and all their acquaintances within the city. They all just appear to have dropped off the edge of the earth.” Jake shook his head in frustration. “We still have the meeting tonight at midnight to work towards. Hopefully, Cassie will be there and we can snag her.”

  “So where do things stand with that?”

  “Brian’s working within the department today and they’re setting up snipers on campus. I’m supposed to come alone, so there’s no way to take someone in there with me.”

  “Are you comfortable with that?”

  “No, but there’s a little known fact about Memorial Circle.” Colton looked at him questioningly. “When they built it in 1948, they also built a substructure underneath it which connects to the administration building. It was originally built as a bomb shelter for the administration with the circle being their escape route if they needed it. There’s a hidden access panel under one of the benches around the perimeter of the circle. The police department’s staging a SWAT team in that substructure. The issue is the access point only allows one person to move out of the substructure at a time, so it’ll be hard to maintain the element of surprise. I’m supposed to keep their focus away from the exit point. There are so many holes in the plan especially if Cassie’s there. She could get caught in the crossfire because that doesn’t provide any cover for her. I’m just hoping we find her before then.” Jake rubbed a hand over his tired eyes. He hadn’t slept since Cassie disappeared off the patio the night before. Every time he closed his eyes, the visions of what could be happening to her started bouncing around inside his head until he felt like he would go insane. His nerves were shot as he thought about all the things that could go wrong.

  ***

  That afternoon, Jake and Colton went down to the police station to meet with Brian and the SWAT team to work out the final details of how the plan would go down at Tech tonight. He and Colton made a few alternative plans just in case things didn’t go as they hoped, like the gps microchip Colton had inserted into the inside of Jake’s upper thigh. Colton had to call in a favor from a friend who worked in Homeland Security to gain access to the technology, but at this point they were pulling every string they had.

  Because Colton had come into the country on a military flight, he’d been able to bring his own service weapon, so he was as well-armed as Jake. When they’d left the house, they’d both left wearing body armor, not knowing when the chance to nab Cassie may arise. At this point, they wanted to be ready for anything.

  Because of the nature of this military competition Ricky had worked up in his mind, Jake figured he would want Cassie to witness his downfall. As such, he assumed she would be brought with Ricky to the meeting tonight. But that definitely wasn’t assured. It was agreed upon by all that unless Ricky or one of his guys actually acted like they were going to kill him, the police force would stay back until Cassie was on the scene. At that point, Jake’s entire purpose in the operation would be to protect her from whatever was happening. Colton would be standing by in the command and control van helping to monitor the situation.

  There were so many unknowns to the entire situation. It made Jake’s skin crawl and he felt that warning prickling at the base of his neck. They’d worked out a series of signals Jake could make to signal the team. It was too risky for him to wear a wire, knowing Ricky would be expecting it. Instead they were relying on the hand signals Jake, Chris, and Cassie had developed when they’d been playing war games growing up. By using their childhood signals, Cassie would have a clue about what was coming and could react accordingly too.

  Jake prayed they’d never need to use any of these plans. He still hadn’t heard back from Max and was afraid that lead wasn’t going to pan out for him, although he really needed a break about now. He was fully aware of every single minute that passed by with Cassie in captivity.

  Chapter 46

&n
bsp; Cassie rushed into Chris’ room. She’d been allowed to check on him twice throughout the day in the midst of all of Ricky’s posturing. Unfortunately, those visits lasted for only a few minutes each time before she was rushed off to view another bit of Ricky’s operation.

  The day had been incredibly exhausting as Cassie tried to gather information while also maintaining a pleasant front in the face of a man she now loathed. Fortunately, the day had been successful in the fact she had a good idea about the layout of the house now. She also had a fairly good idea of who all was in the house and where most of them were working.

  She’d been surprised the night before that Melissa was part of the operation. It turns out she was simply a decoy used to distract Derek and to gather information about the events going on in Cassie’s life.

  Unfortunately, she also found Joel Reyes, one of her favorite students and the one Derek felt had been acting suspicious the day of the final, within the house. Joel was Ricky’s nephew and a lieutenant in his organization.

  For some reason, his betrayal hit Cassie harder than any of the others just because she had always loved having him in her class. He was intelligent with such a promising future. She knew when it came to debating military skills Joel would always have insightful comments. He pushed the class and her in turn with his debates. Knowing he was caught up in Ricky’s vast and powerful organization was devastating as she knew his future held only death and betrayal. That was the reality of life within a drug cartel. When she’d come across him in the house, Ricky had bragged endlessly about his brilliance at inserting Joel within her classroom. While Ricky talked, Joel simply ducked his head and refused to look her in the eye, but she could see the look of sorrow he tried to hide. She couldn’t worry about that now though. She had to get Chris out of here.