by M. C. Cerny
Jacob was on her like prey. He really hoped it wasn’t her and her friend who had screwed up their operation here seven ways to Sunday. “Come on out, miss. I just want to talk to you. It’s okay. We’re a security team. You won’t be in any trouble if you just cooperate.”
Jacob could hear her heavy breathing as she struggled to keep it under control. Her shoes clicked on the flooring as she tried to hide. Hauk barked once, then twice, alerting him to her presence near his location on the second level of the warehouse. She could feel the animal’s hot breath and the bottom of his large paws as he jumped up to herd her where he wanted her. Katie chose that moment to run out from her hiding spot, charging towards him and hoping to make the back staircase.
“Stop!” Jacob was in pursuit.
He watched the accident happen as if it were in slow motion. The woman feigned to the right, then left, where she tripped over a pipe in her ridiculous spindly shoes. As she caught herself, a chain on the floor got caught on her heel. She tripped again but, this time, she was unable to right herself and she fell hard, hitting her head on the floor. Holstering his weapon, Jacob rushed over. She was unconscious and, as he turned her body over, a large lump was already forming on her forehead. This could only get worse. She was going to have a hell of a shiner tomorrow. Her cheek was scratched, but he’d recognize her face anywhere, even in the dark. His gut clenched as he gingerly brushed hair back from her face. It was the stunningly beautiful Katie Wilson, the reporter from Channel 10 news. Fuck.
He heaved a heavy sign and called Nick on the com. He knew this shit storm was going to take some cleaning up. “Nick, we have a problem.”
“We couldn’t tell by the gunfire,” Lulu chimed in, obviously on the same frequency.
“Lulu, get off the channel and call Julian. Advise him we’ll need medical assistance, and let Eli know that I’m bringing one, possibly two, civilians back,” Jacob barked.
“Okay, geez,” Lulu muttered, signing off.
Jacob gingerly moved Katie so she wasn’t a tangle of limbs. Hauk stood watch over the woman, nudging her leg with his nose. “I know, boy. She’s hurt, but not too bad. Hopefully, we can get her out of here quick.” Jacob tried to make her more comfortable, arranging her limbs and checking for other injuries. Blood was coming from her left arm and the back of her head.
“Oohh, my head. M-my arm…” Katie came awake too quickly and tried to put her hands, shaking and unsteady, over her face. Jacob gently held her hands down, shining his headlamp into her eyes, blinding her. His hands, much larger than Katie’s wrists, held her still. The pain in her skull seemed to swell up and recede the more she fought being restrained.
“Katie, relax. Sheesh, you’re more trouble than Lois Lane. Can you tell me if any of your limbs hurt?” Jacob ran one hand down her leg, checking for broken bones. She squeaked at the contact and he assumed her legs seemed fine.
“No, I’m okay. I’m Lois who? Are you Superman?” Dazed, Katie looked at Jacob in the darkness, her eyes squinting, the pain from hitting her head still raw and flooding her senses. It felt like tiny knives were stabbing her head, and the waves of pain made her nauseous. It was a turbulent ocean of pain, and the tide was going to take her under.
“Looks like I am tonight. Just keep breathing steady for me. I want to make sure you’re not hurt anywhere else before I move you again. We’re going to get you out of here.”
His com began ringing in his ear, but he ignored it for the moment. He checked Katie’s pulse. He ran his hands up and down her other leg, nothing seemed broken. He moved his hands over her hips and rib cage, which was dragging in shallow breaths. They seemed fine, but when he got to her arms, he saw the problem. A long, stubborn splinter had embedded itself into her fleshy left bicep. That didn’t worry him. Only the bump on her forehead and the scratch on her cheek worried him now.
Hi com ringed again. “Jacob, we have some other complications. It looks like Cosovo and his men may have rigged some of these buildings to blow so I suggest you get the hell out of there with the civilians.” The usually calm Nick sounded worried now, enough that even the preacher was cursing. Yeah, this was some bad shit.
“I’ve got one civilian with head trauma and one shot, likely dead. We’ll probably need to clean up his body, though. The woman looks to be okay, just some superficial flesh wounds, possible concussion. She’s in and out of consciousness.”
“Tully? Where’s my friend, Tully? Ooh.” Katie squeezed her eyes shut and tried to still the ringing in her head. She tried to sit up, but Jacob held her down.
“Be still, Katie.” Jacob tone was clear, but Katie wasn’t listening. “I’m just going to pull this splinter out. Breathe in deep, then breathe out for me.” Jacob applied an uncomfortable amount of pressure to her arm. She’d probably bruise, but at least the splinter would be out.
“I need to call the police and find Tully.” Katie kept struggling to get up, despite the blinding pain in her head. Jacob pulled the splinter out, quickly. “Ouch! Why did you do that?” Even though Jacob’s face was casted in shadow from his headlamp, Katie saw him holding a long sliver of wood up, smiling. He began binding the wound with dressing from his med kit, tying it off.
“Easy, Lois Lane. You’ve knocked your coconut pretty hard.” Jacob kept a strong arm on her shoulder to keep her still.
“My friend. I need to find him, make sure he’s okay.”
Jacob looked back behind his shoulder to the unmoving body behind them. Shaking his head, he knew it was not the time to give her bad news. “We’ll take care of him; just relax if you can,” Jacob said.
Katie seemed to not be processing information clearly, another sign she probably had a concussion. She struggled, getting increasingly agitated. Despite hitting her head pretty hard, Jacob made the decision to subdue her before things got out of control. “I’m sorry about your friend, Katie.” Jacob took a small syringe from Hauk’s med kit backpack and injected her with a light sedative, just enough to knock her out for the quick ride. Hauk paced back and forth, whimpering and sniffing Katie, nudging her hand with his cold nose.
“Tully?” Whimpering, Katie’s eyes darted back and forth, unfocused. Jacob would have Julian examine her when he got her back to the warehouse, since it was closer.
“Good night, sweetheart.” As the metal plunger was pushed into her arm, Katie winced and the drug took immediate effect, relaxing her tight facial muscles.
Jacob’s ear bud beeped and Nick spoke to him again, relaying the danger of their situation. “Julian can take a look at her at headquarters, and we can stage the guy’s body in about an hour to look like an accident. Just get out of there, Jacob. Lulu is grabbing the vehicle so head out ASAP.”
“We’re heading out now.” Jacob carefully picked up Katie and carried her out of the building, while the rest of his team secured the perimeter and cleared the area so it could blow up as rigged. He motioned for one of his other teammates, Mason, to pick up the body and to follow him out. Hauk was right on his heels, alert to the dangers and ready to act if Jacob sent him forward.
He reached the SUV and got in the back seat, laying Katie across his lap. Hauk jumped in behind them. Unfortunately, her friend was bagged and in the trunk. Lulu drove, hitting the accelerator and spinning the tires in the gravel. Nick sat up front with her. As the SUV pulled away, the warehouse exploded into the night sky. Heat radiated off the building and it shook the ground, but the SUV’s protective frame kept the vehicle moving smoothly.
“Picking up dates on company time? Tsk, tsk, Jacob.” Her bright copper hair peeking out from under her black skull cap, Lulu had turned around in the seat to look over the new female. Though it had been a warm evening for the Op, all had worn black microfiber turtlenecks, skull caps, and fitted cargo pants inside black laced-up boots.
“Wasn’t planned, Lulu, Just my good fortune. Please drive with expediency and carefully.” Jacob gritted his words. It wasn’t Lulu’s fault any more than it was Katie’s, but a pic
kle was still a damn pickle.
“I always do.” Nick, who sat next to the attractive and petite driver, grunted. Lulu punched him in the arm, accelerating and making the short drive to their warehouse in record time.
She turned back once more to glance at their unconscious occupant. “Hey, that girl is the one on TV, news 10 or some shit like that. You know, the one Jacob has a hard-on for. Eli and Julian are going to shit a brick when they see her. She’s a nosy reporter,” Lulu huffed in disgust.
“A fit, Lulu. They will have a fit.” Nick half-smiled, enunciating his preferred description of the situation to Lulu, and shook his head.
Jacob was absorbed in Katie’s presence and ignored the banter between his colleagues in the front of the vehicle. Hauk, who now lay down on the floor, had picked up his head and rested it on Jacob’s knee. His black nose was cold, wet, and nudging the unconscious woman, whining. Jacob put a hand on top of Hauk’s head to quiet his companion. The dog looked up at him, his eyes soulful and darting to look at Katie. Jacob scratched behind his ears gently to reassure his longtime friend.
“I am fully aware of her identity and until we figure out what she was doing in the warehouse, I’ll make her my responsibility.” Jacob cradled Katie’s head. He noticed that it was bleeding from a cut on the back of it. “I need another gauze pad or something. She has a cut on the back of her head. I need to staunch the bleeding.” Smudges of dirt covered her face, and Jacob was pissed that he hadn’t realized her head wound was this serious. He should have kept her awake and damned the consequences of her seeing their headquarters. Nick riffled through one of the medical kits in the front and opened up a gauze pad for him to hold against her head.
“Julian can probably give her stitches and get the bleeding to stop,” Nick tried to reassure him as they pulled into their warehouse garage. Mason was close behind in the other vehicle.
Jacob brought Katie to the Medical Station and laid her down on an exam table, flipping on lights as he went and grabbing a thermal blanket to cover her with. Julian finished bandaging one of the team members up, who had arrived just moments earlier, on the other exam table, then came over to examine Katie.
“What happened in there, Jacob?” Julian had been briefed by Lulu as they made their way back. He looked down at the pretty woman lying on the table. “Well, now, she certainly looks familiar,” Julian chuckled. He eyed Jacob as he lifted Katie’s wrist and checked her pulse, while listening to her heartbeat. “Heart sounds strong. I’m guessing you used a mild sedative?”
“Yes. I’m not totally sure what happened in there. I don’t think we got much Intel, but Katie and her friend were in the building before we got there. We need to identify him, as well as go over the data on his portable video camera and, possibly, Miss Wilson’s phone.”
“And Miss Katie Wilson would be doing what over there?”
“Damned if I know, but she’s probably going to be missing sooner rather than later. She hit her head trying to get away from me. I pulled a splinter out of her left bicep. It might need a stitch or two.”
“Just peachy. We’ll need to see what she knows when she wakes up, and probably start some beta blocking drugs and retrograde memory hypnotherapy.”
“Are you serious?! Half that stuff destroys soldier’s brains! You’re not touching her!” Jacob pointed his finger at him and pushed himself in front of Julian, who was holding a capped syringe in his hand and watching him suspiciously.
“It’s just one option, Jacob. I didn’t say it was the one we were necessarily going with. I have to see what she remembers when she wakes up. Also, I’m sure Eli will have some input, but I don’t need you telling me how to administer treatment to my patients.” Julian reached into a cabinet and pulled out a glass vial of medication.
“Don’t you fucking touch her until I get back,” Jacob snarled, standing his ground. Julian was unsure what his longtime friend was going to do.
“I don’t need to remind you of the seriousness of this current mission and who we work for right now.” Julian continued to administer treatment and examined the back of her head, carefully turning her onto her side for better access to the wound. He continued speaking as he put on fresh gloves and began cleaning the bloody mess. “If ‘Big Brother’ finds out someone saw something, let alone that she’s a reporter, they’d have her disappear off the planet…and I don’t mean into witness protection, either.”
“They wouldn’t get involved in our Op without serious windfall,” Jacob countered back.
“Are you forgetting about Rick Chambers and the CIA? You’re acting a might bit protective. What’s gotten into you?” Julian backed away and rummaged through a few cabinets to find what he needed to begin suturing the wounds. “You know I could have you removed if necessary, but I really would rather not.” Jacob knew he had to back down or Julian would pursue this with Eli. Julian unlocked another cabinet and took out several bags of IV solution. “You should probably go and get yourself cleaned up a bit. You’ll frighten her when she wakes up.”
“Let me know when you begin the treatment because I’d like to be here. She probably needs stitches in her arm, too.”
“Hmm, yeah. I saw it. It’s pretty deep. Just go ahead and debrief with Eli; I can handle this.” Julian began a cursory medical exam for other injuries. Ignoring Jacob’s presence, he set to work rolling up the sleeve of her dress and starting an IV. Pissed off, Jacob slammed the door behind him and headed upstairs to debrief. Julian cleaned out the wound in the back of her head and carefully stitched it closed. Luckily, it was a clean split so he could avoid shaving any hair away because God only knew what kind of fit Jacob might have then. He’d probably accuse him of “scalping” her or something ridiculous like that. She remained unconscious during the procedure, but started to wake up when he placed clean gauze under her head to absorb the residual bleeding. He still had to clean out and stitch her arm up.
“Ohh, my head. It’s so bright. Where am I?” Katie tried to move her head, but felt cool hands on either side of her face keeping her immobile. Her limbs still felt weak and her arm felt like it was burning.
“Just relax, Miss Wilson. You have a serious head injury, which required stitches, and a concussion.” Julian gave her the least amount of details possible as he tilted the overhead exam light so it shined in her eyes, forcing them to close so she couldn’t ID him later.
“I feel really nauseous.”
“I can give you some medication for that. Can you tell me what you remember?”
“Where’s Tully? Is he here? I need to speak with him.” Her words sounded slurred and he had to lean down to hear her. He turned up the IV fluids so he could inject her with a sedative and anti-emetic to prevent her from vomiting all over his medical facility. Head wounds were his least favorite to medically deal with.
“They’re working on him, miss. You need to relax. Can you tell me what you remember?”
“An explosion. I remember an explosion, and a man. Is he here? The man who was with me?”
Shit, thought Julian. How much of the explosion did she remember, and could she identify Jacob? “We’ll get you fixed up and in a private room. I’m going to give you something to relax you so I can stitch up your arm. Just stay very still for me.”
“Okay.” Katie could only register the pain she felt, the bright, blinding lights, and nothing else. She felt pinching in her arm and a deep pressure, but her vision became blurry and out of focus right before everything went dark.
Using a key and passcode, Julian opened a black metal refrigerated cabinet in his office. He took out three vials and relocked it. He went back to Katie to administer the drugs. They were better off making sure Katie would not recall the evening’s events in their entirety. While Julian had reservations about what he was doing, he had to think of the team first.
Eli was typing furiously, updating large computer screens and databases for the team meeting in the upstairs office that overlooked the warehouse Op headquarters. “
Jacob, just the person I needed to see. What the hell happened out there? Are we running a day care center now?”
“I have no idea. Someone must have leaked Intel on Cosovo and involved two civilians. Unfortunately, two nosey, news-related civilians, but I don’t know how they are connected to the warehouse.” Hauk had followed Jacob upstairs and lay by his feet as he sat down at a large glass-and-metal table.
“Obviously. We’re continuing to collect Intel, but it looks like tonight’s mission was some kind of setup; unconfirmed, of course. Those fuckers got away and blew up whatever they had brought into port. The area is teaming with news vans and police right now. Rick Chambers just called to chew my ass out for blowing up what he thinks could have been a shit ton of evidence.”
“Wonderful.” Jacob idly tapped his leg, trying to logically make sense of what happened tonight.
“The one bit of good news is that her friend’s video camera picked up some interesting feed prior to you kids showing up, along with one of the cameras on Hauk’s backpack. It’s mostly in Russian so I’m having it translated right now. If we’re lucky, it may not be a total loss.”
“Damn Cosovo.”
“Any idea what the reporter and her friend were doing there?”
“Not a clue. I understand a team is on their way to her apartment to look for clues of some kind, mostly if anything is on her personal computer. Clint and Rush went with them.”
“They are, and I’ve also developed a preliminary cover story for her injuries and her friend’s death. We have his car downstairs, almost ready to go to the drop site.” The phone Eli carried at his belt beeped with a message. He grabbed it to reply with a text before turning his attention back to Jacob.
“Ready? For what? I just assumed we’d…” Jacob trailed off, taking a small folder Eli handed to him.
“Here, read this. You know we have to protect our identities and whereabouts just as much as we do theirs. We will make it look like a completely random and unrelated event to tonight’s mission.”