Signs of Love

by Kimberly Rae Jordan

  The sound of shots and a sudden burst of chatter in Justin's earpiece jerked his attention back to the muddy situation he was currently in. He heard a sudden burst of swearing as another shot rang out. Recognizing the voice as one of his regular team members, Justin swung his head in the direction of where the guy was supposed to have been hiding.

  Those shots had sounded...real.

  Another burst of swearing had Justin scowling. "Stow the language, Delane, and report."

  "Live ammo! I'm hit." Pain laced Delane's words, and Justin felt a lightning bolt of shock race through his body.

  Live ammo? They were on a training mission. Only laser-equipped weapons were being used.

  The chatter in his ear increased dramatically as men reported in locations at Justin's demand. Once all of the team had reported in, he ordered them to pull back to the building where the hostage was being held. Justin barked out an order to Trent, who was monitoring the exercise from inside the compound, to call for an ambulance. They had a nurse standing by in case of injuries during the exercise, but a gunshot wound was beyond her abilities. Plus, who knew if Delane was the only one who was going to need attention before they took out whoever was firing with the live ammo.

  "I've got Delane." Marcus's voice sounded strong and sure in his ear.

  More shots rang out, freezing Justin in place.

  "Marcus!" Delane's shout came through his earpiece. More swearing and then, "They got Marcus. We need some help here."

  "Trent, I need positions on everyone. Who's closest to help Marc and Delane?"

  Justin listened as Trent gave him the information he needed, his friend's voice steady amid the ever-increasing mayhem. When Justin realized he was closest to their location, he said, "I'm going to them."

  "I'm coming from the opposite direction," Alex said. "Meet you there."

  "Justin, I've been in contact with the leader of the other team, and they have no idea what's going on."

  "Tell them to get out of the field," Justin ordered Trent.

  It was hard to believe a rogue shooter had managed to make their way so deep into the compound and on a night when a training exercise was scheduled. This was not a random thing, and it seemed the shooter had just a bit too much information about what was going on.

  Justin's mind raced as he grabbed for the gun on his ankle. He jerked the strap of the laser enabled weapon so it was on his back and moved toward where Trent had said Marcus and Delane were. He tried to contain his thoughts regarding Marcus being injured or possibly worse. Their family didn't need any more death. Marcus's sister wouldn't survive if something happened to him, Justin was almost sure of that.

  Please, God, keep him alive.

  As he neared the location Trent was guiding him and Alex to, more shots rang out. He was close enough to hear the sound of someone stumbling and then heavy breathing in his ear.

  "Alex? Report."

  "Hit."

  What on earth was going on? Someone was picking them off like sitting ducks.

  "The Ops team has gone back into the field, Justin," Trent said. "They're circling around and will try to locate the shooter. Medical support is on its way."

  "I can't move three of them, Trent. I'm just going to have to assess the situation and stay with them. We can't risk anyone else until we get a bead on the guy."

  "Are you armed, Justin?"

  "Yes."

  Another shot rang out, and he jerked. The searing burn of a bullet hitting his left bicep knocked him to his knees. He dropped flat to his stomach and breathed through the initial agony then he began to crawl forward. Trying to keep the pain from fogging his thoughts, Justin managed to say, "How close?"

  "You're almost there. Keep straight."

  Justin knew Trent could see them all on his screen. Right now he would see his dot approaching where Marcus and Delane were. Keeping his voice low, he asked, "How far away is Alex?"

  "Close. He's moving toward Marcus as well."

  A tendril of relief wove its way through his pain. At least Alex wasn't dead and from what he was hearing, Delane was still alive. Marcus was the only silent one.

  "I'm here." Alex's voice sounded strained. "Marcus is unconscious. It looks like he was hit in the thigh and must have knocked his head when he went down. Delane took a bullet to his shoulder."

  Thigh? Shoulder? Arm? "Where were you hit, Alex?"

  "He got me in the leg."

  The shooter wasn't going for kill shots.

  "The Ops team just spotted someone, but they're on the move at a pretty fast clip. Heading north."

  North? Justin pictured a map in his head. He knew more about the layout of the BlackThorpe land than anyone else. There was a road on the northern border of the land. It was possible someone had breached their perimeter from that direction. Unfortunately, they didn't have cameras to monitor every inch of the land beyond the BlackThorpe compound. There was a fence around the outer perimeter, but it wouldn't keep out anyone who was determined to get past it.

  "I'm sending the team in to help you guys out," Trent said. "And notified the emergency response to send additional ambulances."

  Justin settled onto the ground beside Delane as Alex bent over Marcus. He touched a hand to his upper arm and felt the stickiness of blood. Well, there was no arguing that this day would go down as one of his worst in recent memory. As he sat there listening to his team make their way towards them, he wondered at yet another attack on BlackThorpe and its team. First what went down with Eric and then the hacking attempt and now this? It seemed too much to be simply coincidence.

  He didn't have any more time to ponder the issue as they were suddenly surrounded by the other members of the BlackThorpe team. Marcus was the first one carried out. Delane followed and then Alex leaned on one of the other guys. Justin was able to walk under his own steam even though the shot in his arm hurt like the dickens.

  "The Ops team lost the shooter. I'm thinking from the direction he was moving that he has wheels waiting for him on that northern road."

  "Yeah. You're probably right. Call the Ops team back. It's not likely they'll catch him now."

  The flashing lights of the ambulances were visible as soon as they walked through the entrance to the compound. Medical personnel immediately surrounded them, evaluating their condition. Marcus was whisked away on a stretcher first, still not having regained consciousness. Alex was the next to go followed by Delane. Justin waved off the ambulance workers and found the nurse. Missy Grant shoved him into a chair as soon as she spotted him.

  "You should go to the hospital, Justin," she said as she bent over his shoulder. "Just to get this checked over."

  "It barely grazed me, Missy. I think I'm fine with a cleaning and some bandages."

  Missy shook her head as she tsked him. "You boys think you're so invulnerable."

  "Don't think that at all, but the others were wounded more seriously than I was. I need to talk to Trent and the Ops team to figure out what went down out there."

  Missy fell silent as she cleaned the wound from where the bullet had sliced across his upper arm. She put some medication on it and then covered it all with a bandage. Once done, she straightened and began to gather up her supplies. "This certainly wasn't what I thought I'd be dealing with tonight."

  "You and me both." Justin stood and looked around. He spotted members of his team and the Ops team standing in groups. His gaze landed on the Ops team leader and he approached him. "Up for a debriefing on what went down?"

  The man nodded. "Sorry we didn't get hands on the shooter." He had a few choice words for the person who had infiltrated their training exercise. "It was like he just vanished. Although I think he had knowledge of the area which gave him the ability to give us the slip. We're usually better than this."

  "So are we," Justin said with a scowl. "Let's head to command and see what Trent saw on his screens."

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Since he'd left his phone with Trent in the command center, Justin
had to wait until he got there to use it. He called Eric first to ask him to meet Alex and Marcus at the hospital. After that he called Adrianne, knowing she'd take news of Alex's wound better than Melanie probably would.

  The only person he wasn't sure what to do about was Meredith. It was likely she wasn't expecting Marcus home that night, but something told him Marcus would have called her at some point. Justin stared at the floor as conversation swirled around him. He didn't even have a number for her. Maybe Adrianne would have it and could give him some ideas on how to approach his cousin with the news of her brother's shooting.

  He placed another call to Adrianne. After hearing what he had to say, she assured him she'd take care of contacting Meredith. Relieved he could focus on what was happening at the compound, Justin grasped his phone tightly and turned to Trent.

  "Than's on his way to the hospital too," Trent said as Justin stepped to his side. "Figured he needed to know what was going on and he said he'd go there first and then come here if necessary."

  Justin nodded, his gaze fixed on the cluster of dots on the monitor that represented all the men involved in the training...except Alex, Marcus, and Delane.

  "Should you have gone to the hospital, man?" Trent asked, his gaze going to Justin's arm.

  "No. I'm fine." It hurt like crazy, but this had happened on his watch, on his land. He needed to figure out who had managed to infiltrate their exercise. Justin was glad that whoever had decided to take aim at BlackThorpe had done it now and not in the middle of the friends and family event they'd had just a few days earlier. Could someone have come in that way to scope out the place?

  "I sent Rodriguez and Tyler out in a Hummer once we realized the direction the guy was headed in," Trent said. "And as soon as it's daylight we'll get a team out to comb for anything this guy might have left behind."

  Justin rubbed his forehead. "We're going to have local authorities all over this too. Three gunshot wounds isn't something they're just going to brush over."

  "Hopefully Eric and Than can deal with them."

  They passed the next few hours waiting for reports on Marcus and the guys at the hospital. The guys in the Hummer were still out...possibly chasing down nothing. Justin hated the feeling they weren't going to able to get the guy. They were supposed to be better than this. No one got the drop on BlackThorpe guys. But this person certainly had.

  The gnawing in his gut told him that whoever had been responsible for it had taken lots of time to plan it out. And likely they had help on the inside. It would be the only way they would have known about the nighttime exercise with the Ops team.

  After word had come that Marcus had regained consciousness, Justin felt some of the tension ease from his shoulders. But the return of the guys with the Hummer and their report of not finding anything in the direction they'd gone did nothing to rid him of the frustration that ate at him.

  It was coming up on four o'clock when he and Trent left the now-empty command center. Trent had decided to stay at the compound for the night in order to be there in the morning when the teams went back out to look for more clues. Both men were quiet as they made their way to the apartments. Justin had no doubt that Trent was also thinking about a possible connection, but neither of them actually put that thought into words.

  Though he normally would have taken a shower, Justin only took the time to get out of his muddy clothes, swallow a couple of pain killers and fall into bed. He hoped he could catch a few hours of sleep before he had to be back up again.

  ~*~*~

  A sudden high pitch steady shrieking jerked Alana from sleep. When she opened her eyes, they burned as did her lungs when she tried to draw in a deep breath. Panic filling her, she scrambled to her feet and raced for Caden's bed. Without even trying to wake him up and explain what was going on, Alana snatched him from the mattress on the floor, holding him tight when he woke and started to squirm against her.

  Oh, how she wished she could talk to him, but she didn't have the time to explain what was happening. She skidded to a halt just feet from the door to the hallway as she realized that was where the smoke was coming into her apartment. There was no way they'd be able to go out into the stairwell.

  When flames flickered on the carpet under the door, Alana began to back away. Outside, she could hear shouts and the sound of sirens growing louder. Panic tightened around her lungs, and she struggled to draw in air even as it stung to breathe. Her only choice was to try a window and hope that someone would be there to help them get from their second story apartment to the ground.

  Turning, she ran back to Caden's room and set him on the floor by the window and worked to lift it up.

  "Mama?" Hearing the fear in the raspy voice of her son increased her efforts to raise the old window that seemed to be stuck in place. Caden rarely spoke though he knew a few words. Mama being one of them.

  She paused in her efforts to quickly sign everything will be okay then turned her attention back to the window. Her nails ripped at the wood, but she didn't stop. She had to get Caden out safely. He was pressed against her legs now, and she could feel his body shaking badly.

  Suddenly, there was a loud rush of noise in the main part of the apartment. Figuring it was nothing good making that kind of noise, Alana started to beat against the glass, hoping that maybe she could break the window and get them out that way.

  "Please, God, help me." Tears blurred her vision, as much from the smoke as from her own emotions getting the better of her. "Help us."

  The smoke started to gather in the room now, creeping toward them with ominous intent. Please, God. Please, God. Please, God. She just couldn't stop repeating it over and over in her head.

  Suddenly, Caden's grip on her legs tightened. She looked down, barely able to see him in the thickening smoke. She managed to blink away tears and saw him pointing toward the door. Afraid of what she would see, Alana glanced over her shoulder as she pounded harder on the glass. But instead of a wall of flames, she saw a huge hulking figure in firefighter gear coming towards them.

  Relief flooded her as she plucked Caden from the ground and shoved him into the firefighter's arms. "Please, save my son!"

  “I'll get you both out, ma'am. Follow me." His voice was muffled as he turned to go back toward the main part of the apartment.

  Alana froze. That was where the flames were.

  She could hear the man talking as he disappeared into the smoky haze that filled the living room. Alana began to shake, fear rooting her to the floor. Unable to save herself, her only thought was that at least Caden would be safe.

  ~*~*~

  Justin dragged himself out of bed after managing to get six hours of sleep. He took a shower, trying his best not to get the bandage on his arm wet and then made some phone calls. He heard a knock on his door and opened it to find Trent there.

  "You got food in here? The fridge in that apartment is empty," he said as he walked into Justin's kitchen.

  Justin nodded. "And there's coffee, too. Help yourself to whatever you want."

  Though he usually ate supper in the cafeteria, he had food for breakfast and lunches in his apartment. He leaned against the counter as he placed the call he was dreading.

  "Hey, Beth."

  "Justin? What's wrong?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "You don't usually call at this time of day. What's up?"

  Justin took a deep breath and let it out before he said, "We had a little incident during the training exercise last night."

  There was a pause and then Beth said, "What kind of incident? Are you okay?"

  "I'm fine. I got winged by a bullet, but it's just a scratch, basically."

  Trent lifted an eyebrow at that description and clearly Beth didn't believe it either.

  "You were shot? Are you at the hospital?"

  "No. I'm at the compound. I told you it wasn't bad. The nurse bandaged me up. In a few days, I'll be good as new." He knew she probably wasn't going to be convinced until she could see him
in person. "But there were others more seriously injured, Marcus being one of them."

  "Oh no! Is he going to be okay?"

  "I just spoke to him, and he's also going to be fine, although it might take a bit longer for him to recover. He took a bullet to the leg. Alex and one other team member were also shot, but we’re all going to be okay."

  "What on earth happened? Aren't you supposed to use fake bullets or something for the training?"

  Justin gave her a quick run-down of what had transpired and then once again tried to reassure her he was fine. He promised to stop by later that day to let her see that for herself. "I've got to go. Still have some phone calls to make, but I'll see you later."

  "You better. If not, I'm going to come there."

  "I promise I'll be there. How about I come for supper?" He would try his hardest to make it by then.

  When Justin hung up, Trent picked up the remote for the flat screen in the living room and turned it on. In the small apartment, the television was visible from the kitchen as well as the living room.

  “Checking to see if our little shooting made the news?" Justin asked as he went to the fridge to pull out stuff to make sandwiches since it was nearly noon.

  "Yeah, but I'm hoping that it didn't. You just never know what got out once the guys arrived at the hospital. Three gunshot wound victims might stir some interest."

  Justin hoped Trent was wrong, but in this day and age, it was better they prepared for the worst. With the volume up, they worked to make their sandwiches as they waited for the local noon news to start.

  Justin had just gone to grab them a couple of drinks when the news started.

  "An early morning fire has claimed the life of one person. Around four o'clock this morning, a fire broke out in an apartment complex in the 300 block of—"