Operation: Endgame

by Christi Snow

  “Cass, you have to go.” He was still gasping for air. “If you get the chance, you escape. Don’t worry about me. Please just go. I love you Cass. You need to just go. Forget me. Please.”

  “Shh, relax. Remember, shallow breaths. Come on Chris, I need you to do this for me. Stop talking. Just relax.” She simply ignored what he was saying. She wasn’t going to debate with him when he was struggling for every breath. “Shh.” She continued to brush her fingers across his brow trying to get him to relax. His breathing continued to be harsh, but she could feel his tense muscles slowly start to release.

  She didn’t know how much longer he would be able to handle this type of torture. He’d obviously already suffered months on end of it. She knew he had to be hitting the limit of what his body could survive. She had to figure out a way to get him out of this.

  She continued to talk to him, trying to get him to relax. She told him about Colton and what had been happening in his life for the last six months. She told him about Jake and her. How happy he made her and how happy she was Jake had finally accepted their love for each other. Chris never said anything, but she knew he was listening and taking it all in as she talked.

  She squeezed his shoulder and laid down beside him. “I love you, Chris. I never truly believed you were dead. No matter what they said. We’re going to get out of here. Jake’s coming and he’ll get us out and we’ll all be together again.” His breathing finally evened out and Cassie was pretty sure he’d fallen asleep. “I love you, Chris. Don’t give up yet. I still have the knife tucked into my boot. I just have to find the right opportunity to use it.”

  ***

  “Cassie, wake up. I think someone’s coming and I need your help.”

  Cassie awoke to Chris whispering in her ear and the events of the last twenty-four hours came crashing over her like waves. She sat up quickly and reached for Chris. Her head and face were pounding, but she knew that was nothing compared to the pain he must be feeling.

  “Chris, are you okay?”

  “Yes,” he answered although his breathing was still a little harsh, “but with my hands cuffed behind me, I can’t sit up. I need your help.”

  She reached under his arms and helped to pull him in a sitting position. She heard a sharp intake of breath as she pulled on him. “I’m so sorry. I know this hurts.” She whispered to him.

  Before she could say anything else, she heard the key in the door and it swung open. Ricky was standing outside the door with three of his men. “Go get them and bring them out here.”

  Cassie scrambled up and tried to help Chris stand, but two of the burly men pushed her out of the way and grabbed him by his armpits. The other man grabbed her by her upper arm and they followed the two men carrying Chris. They deposited him into a folding chair in the middle of the room while she was handed off to Ricky. Seated next to Chris in another folding chair was a police officer. He’d obviously taken a beating, but his head was bowed so she couldn’t tell anything else about him.

  Ricky turned her to face the two seated men. “Tonight is very important to me.”

  When Ricky started talking, the police officer looked up and gave her a subtle shake of his head so she wouldn’t acknowledge him. It was Officer Pete Larson, one of the uniformed officers who had regularly watched her house.

  Ricky continued, “How you behave tonight will determine whether these two men live or die.” Cassie gave him a startled look and then turned to meet Chris’ eyes. She felt her stomach churning at the pleading in his eyes. She knew he wanted her to leave him to whatever happened, but there was no way she could live with that. She’d just gotten him back and she’d do whatever she needed to if it meant keeping him safe. “I need your full cooperation tonight. The entire time we’re gone there will be two men standing here monitoring what’s happening with us. If there’s any indication at all of you betraying me, their orders are to kill them immediately. If that happens, their blood is on your hands.” He reached down to her cuffs and unlocked them. “I’m assuming I can trust you without these.”

  Cassie gave a curt nod. She didn’t trust her voice enough to use it. How the hell were they going to get out of this? Ricky planned to move Chris and her to Columbia with him tomorrow after he took care of Jake tonight. She didn’t know what exactly Ricky had planned for tonight, but knowing Ricky’s ego in all this, he wanted her to witness Jake’s downfall. She only knew Ricky didn’t plan to let Jake live through it. She also knew once he had Chris and her out of the country he would continue to use Chris to manipulate her, until one or both of them died. All their lives were hanging in the balance and she couldn’t see a way to get them out of this. Her only hope was one small knife in her boot, Jake, her brother who was in no physical shape to fight, and a beat-up police officer against six heavily armed men with guns.

  Chapter 48

  Jake parked his truck in front of the Administration building and started the quick jog across the street to the heart of Memorial Circle. He did a quick perusal around the dark campus, but couldn’t see any movement coming from anywhere. He still had on his body armor and had his pistol tucked into the back waistband of his jeans. He was sure he wouldn’t have it for long, but he had to try. He also had a knife tucked into the top of each of his boots and one hidden in the lining of his leather jacket.

  It was cold tonight and he tucked his hands into the pockets of his jacket as he stood there. He glanced at his watch and looked around the abandoned circle once more with no sign of anyone around. He was getting a bad feeling about this. The prickling was starting at the base of his neck as he felt his adrenaline kick up a notch.

  Then he realized what was causing the bad feeling as he saw the approach of a low-flying helicopter coming from the East. It was coming in fast at only about 50 feet off the ground. When it reached the middle of the circle, it lowered its altitude even more and Jake could see the side door slide open. His stomach dropped when he saw Ricky standing there with one arm around Cassie’s neck and the other holding a gun to her temple. Ricky nodded to one of the men standing on the other side of the door and he lowered down a harness rope attached to a winch mounted to the exterior of the helicopter.

  Obviously, Jake was supposed to use that. Being an Air Force PJ meant he was no stranger to helicopter extractions, but he knew as soon as he got on that helicopter, the chances of him seeing the sunrise went down dramatically. But that didn’t matter when there was a gun to Cassie’s head. He’d do whatever he had to, including forfeit his life if it meant saving hers. He quickly rubbed at his left eye with his right hand to signal the SWAT team to stand down and looped the extraction harness around his body.

  Cassie held her breath the entire time they were pulling Jake up the harness. It would be so simple to just drop him and kill him now. Cassie hoped Ricky’s sense of honor and competitive nature was such he wouldn’t choose that route. She breathed a small sigh of relief when Jake was finally pulled aboard the helicopter and the door was shut. He immediately sought out her eyes while they searched him for weapons. When he saw the bruise marring her jaw, his eyes darkened in fury and his jaw clenched. She wiped the outside of her eye with her right hand and could see he read the signal from their childhood. He gave a small imperceptible nod. Ricky sat down in one of the plush chairs within the large helicopter and pulled Cassie into his lap. “Welcome Captain Madsen. We’re so glad you could join us. Now strip.”

  They continued to hover over Memorial Circle and Cassie didn’t understand what Ricky was planning. Jake kept complete eye contact with her while he took off his clothes under the watchful eye of two of the gunmen standing beside him. When he got down to his boxer briefs, he halted, but Ricky waved the gun at him. “All of it. We can’t have any pesky little trackers on you, now can we?”

  Jake lowered his underwear and stood there naked and arrogant, while the man gathered up his clothes and boots, opened the door, and threw them out. He didn’t even flinch with the cold air whipping through the helicop
ter. He just stood there proudly with his hard body straight and tall while he glared at Ricky. It obviously cowed Ricky some as he nodded towards his men who punched him in the gut and then threw a pair of scrubs at him. “Put those on.” Then he turned to the pilot and signaled for them to go.

  They were only a short ride from the warehouse so within minutes they were setting back down on the ground. Ricky pulled Cassie off first. Then his two henchmen pushed Jake out the door, followed by another guy holding a rifle closely behind. As soon as they’d all disembarked, the helicopter took back off.

  As they headed towards the door, Cassie looked around scrambling for a plan. She had to figure out how to get the knife out of her boot. They’d only have one shot at this and if she failed, Ricky would kill both Jake and Chris. Cassie felt the weight of making this decision settle in the pit of her stomach like a lead ball. The guard who’d been following them stayed outside the doors of the building, so that left Ricky, the two guards pulling Jake along, and the two guards on each side of Pete and Chris…five men, all with guns.

  Chris and Pete were still in the chairs in the center of the room with a man standing guard on each side of them. Chris’ head was hung down on his chest and Cassie quickly formulated a plan. Ricky had hold of her arm in a punishing grip, but she turned to him and pressed her hand up against his chest in a lingering touch, “I know you have plans for tonight, but may I please check on my brother first, then I promise not to interfere?”

  Ricky gave a victorious look at Jake whose eyes were darting between her and the men in the chairs. “See, she already wants to please me. Of course, Professor, you may go check on him.”

  She knew Jake had just been taken by surprise with the mention of her brother, but she hoped he wasn’t so shocked he missed her signals. As she walked to Chris, she extended the first finger on her right hand and slowly swirled it which meant “Be Ready” in the signals they’d used as children. She only hoped Jake, standing behind her, saw the signal.

  Chris was sitting on the left of Pete who was watching her closely. Their armed guards stood on the outside of each of them with their guns at the ready. She sat down on her haunches on the outside of Chris’ chair between him and his guard and leaned down as if to check his temperature. As she did so, she reached into the inside of her boot, grabbed the knife, and whispered to Chris, “Be Ready.”

  She came up in an arcing movement and stabbed the guard over Chris straight through the throat with the knife. She saw the shock and horror in his eyes as she yanked out the knife and the blood from his jugular vein started spraying. She quickly yanked the gun out of his hands and turned the gun towards Ricky.

  He had a gun trained on her, but didn’t move against her. Instead he smiled and said, “Darling,” and started to swing the gun towards Chris. It took mere seconds from one action to another, but it felt like a lifetime. She shot Ricky straight through his forehead before he had time to make another move.

  Jake and Pete both realized she was up to something so they’d been prepared. Jake had taken down one of his guards with a roundhouse kick which enabled him to punch and disarm his other guard. Pete had come up from his seated position using his head to throw his guard off balance. That worked as a momentary distraction until Cassie could reach his side and train her gun on the guard. “Drop your weapon, or I’ll shoot.” He quickly complied.

  Jake was holding both of his guards under gunpoint, so she yelled at him, without looking away from the man she had under gunpoint. “Jake, are you okay?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “There’s a room in the back corner which can be locked from the outside with no other ways to get out. Move them in there and then come help me find the keys so we can get Chris and Pete uncuffed.”

  Jake made quick work of locking them in the room, and then he rushed back over to her side. He quickly reached up and brushed a kiss against her temple before moving over to the man she held at gunpoint and rifled through his pockets. He found the keys and started to rush towards Chris, but Cassie said, “No, remove Pete’s cuffs first and stick them on this guy. Then Pete can watch over him while we take care of Chris.”

  Once Pete was unlocked, he took over holding a gun on Ricky’s man. This allowed her to drop her combative pose and rush over to Chris’ side. He’d barely moved during the fight. Jake was removing his cuffs with shaking hands. He looked at Cassie as she rushed up; his eyes filled with confusion and unshed tears. “How?”

  “It’s a long story, but he needs an ambulance. He’s in bad shape. Be careful with him. His knee is shattered and I’m pretty sure he has a couple of broken ribs, maybe even a punctured lung.”

  Jake lowered the unconscious Chris out of the chair and onto the ground where he could examine him better. “Cass, hand me your watch.” He reached up to her to take the watch and started checking Chris’ vital signs.

  She glanced around the warehouse. “There was still at least one guard outside. I wonder where he went.”

  “I don’t know, but the police should be here soon. I’ve got a gps microchip in my thigh so they know where we are. They’ll bring an ambulance. Chris, can you hear me? He’s coming around.”

  Cassie could hear the approaching sirens, but she didn’t want to look away from Chris’ feverish eyes. “Cass?” he started coughing.

  “Shh, the ambulance is on the way. We’re all okay. Jake’s here.”

  He looked over at Jake and gave him an incredulous look. “Never thought I’d see you again,” he rasped out with a grimacing smile.

  “Damn, man, I’ve never been so happy to see anyone alive as I am to see you.”

  “You saved us.”

  Jake looked at Cassie and smiled, “No, she saved us. You have an incredible sister.”

  Chris smiled at them. “Bout time you figured that out. You…good together.” He started coughing again, but this time he couldn’t seem to stop. A trickle of blood trailed out of the corner of his mouth.

  “Jake?” Cassie looked up at him alarmed.

  “I know, I see it, but his pulse rate and blood pressure are okay. They aren’t good, but there’s no reason to get alarmed yet.” Although even as he said that, Chris faded into unconsciousness again, and that did worry him.

  Suddenly, the SWAT team swarmed into the building. Pete quickly informed the leader of the team, “The building’s secured. Three detained. Two down. There’s one missing who was on the exterior of the building.” He glanced over to where Jake was monitoring Chris, “and we need an ambulance.”

  The team leader responded, “We got the guy outside. He was running away as we drove up. He’s already in custody.”

  As the SWAT team leader started talking into his radio, Jake added, “Tell them we need Detective Brian Barnes and Colton Robertson on the scene as soon as possible. Both of his siblings are headed to the hospital.”

  Cassie looked up startled, “Colt’s here?”

  Jake nodded. “He came home as soon as he heard you’d been kidnapped. He’s worried sick about you, but he’s in for a shock.” He glanced back down at Chris.

  “It’s a shock for everyone.” Cassie reached down and brushed Chris’ shaggy hair off his forehead. The inside of the warehouse was getting crazy with activity, but finally the paramedics showed up and started working on Chris, pushing Cassie out of the way.

  Shortly behind them came Colton. When he saw her, he rushed over to her side and gathered her up in a huge hug. “Are you and Jake okay? They said you’re both going to the hospital via ambulance.” He looked over with confusion at Jake who was ticking off Chris’ vital signs and injuries to one of the paramedics. With all the flurry of activity around Chris, Colton couldn’t see him.

  “Colt, we’re both fine,” she started to talk, but Jake came up behind her and gently ran a probing hand around her jaw and head.

  “Actually, they’ve agreed. You’re going in the ambulance too. I want you to get your head checked and make sure you don’t have another concussio
n. That way you can stay with Chris too.”

  Colton’s eyes widened with shock as he whispered, “Chris?” He whipped around to where the paramedics were working just a few feet away. He looked back questioningly at Cassie before he rushed over to see the man on the stretcher. “Oh my God, how’s this possible?”

  Cassie reached up and put a soothing hand on his arm. “Ricky’s had him this whole time.” She swallowed hard. “He’s not in good condition, but he’s alive. We’re all alive.” She gathered both of them into a group hug and they turned to watch as the paramedics prepared the stretcher to go out to the ambulance. “We’re all going to be okay.”

  Chapter 49

  Cassie stood at her French doors watching huge fluffy flakes drift down past the window panes into the drifts below. The scene was magical as was the scene inside her home. All her guys were home and it was Christmas.

  Colton was reading a novel on the couch in front of the fire. Chris had been released from the hospital earlier today. He was already in bed for the night, but he was here and right now she was so thankful for that. Jake walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her as he whispered into her ear. “Let’s go for a walk. I love it when it snows.”

  They bundled into boots, coats, hats, and gloves and headed out into the hushed world beyond. As they walked with arms interlinked, Cassie marveled at the simple quiet of the falling snow. She could hear the quiet rat-tat-tat of the snowflakes falling on the branches of the trees like a quiet romantic symphony just for the two of them. They wandered down her street in the quiet and headed over to the campus without even discussing it. At this very moment in her life, everything was perfect.

  They continued to walk on and as they reached the edge of Memorial Circle, Jake started talking. “Cassie there’s something I need to tell you.” They were standing under the arches of the Chemistry building looking out over the lit buildings of the campus as the snow continued to fall.