Dakota’s Delight

by Dale Mayer

  On one of the kitchen walls, she found a computer monitor system and what looked like speakers. She pressed one of the buttons and said, “This is Bailey. I’m looking for Alfred.”

  Her voice floated throughout the entire building, making her wince. She stepped back and waited.

  Ice’s voice was heard next. “When did you last see him?”

  “After I delivered your coffee, I came back here. He had prepped another tray, and I assume he’s taken it, but I don’t know where he went.”

  “Ten minutes ago?”

  “About that.”

  “Give us a minute.”

  Bailey remembered all the monitors, how they could look at inside the house and outside at the property and presumed they were doing a full-on check of the interior of the building. No way an intruder should’ve made it this far in. But, while they were looking west, was anybody studying the east? Still the entrance gates were closed, so somebody must have gone over the gates or underground. … Like in the tunnel. She pushed the button and asked, “Any way to see inside the tunnel?”

  Ice’s voice turned brisk. “That’s on the same camera that’s now out of commission. I need you up here now.”

  Hearing the hard note in her tone, Bailey raced from the kitchen and headed for the elevator. It stood open. She stepped in and closed the doors, willing the elevator to move faster. She hit the third button to go upstairs. Just as she stepped back to wait, an arm wrapped around her neck and a hand slapped over her mouth.

  Her strangled scream escaped but so low she knew no one could hear. She had no air left to scream with. She wanted to fight, yet she had no strength, and, no matter what movement she made, her back screamed in agony. But screaming with agony had to be a hell of a lot better than going down with whatever this asshole had in store for her. She chose the other option—to stand still. And wait for instructions.

  When his voice, hoarse and raspy, whispered in her ear, she knew it was the worst possible outcome.

  The man said, “Bitch, you’ll get yours now.”

  *

  Dakota quickly moved around the outside of the building, checking for any intruder who may have made it through the external perimeter. They were short-staffed, but the remaining people at the compound had all taken appropriate roles as needed to man the security system parameters. His headset crackled.

  “Merk went out the tunnel to check on the blind spot. The new camera is not working.”

  Dakota swiveled, looking in the direction of the bend at the corner of the road, an area they’d thought they’d addressed. But, if that camera was down, somebody helped bring it down. In which case …

  He reached out and pushed the button on his comm. “Has Merk confirmed he made it outside?”

  “No.” Ice’s voice shifted. “Can you check that out?”

  He slipped around the building and raced up the hill toward where the tunnel exit was. Just as he reached a hilltop, he dropped to the ground and inched over to look below.

  “A vehicle is at the opening. So far no sign of Merk.” Dakota made his way down a few feet to a small outcropping. There he crept around to the front where the larger shrubbery was. The tunnel came out just beside it. He crept forward, and the moonlight exposed everything. “Footprints at the tunnel.” As he studied them, his heart sank.

  “Going which way?” Ice asked, her voice hard.

  “The wrong way. You have an intruder in the house. I repeat, you have an intruder in the house. I’m coming in through the tunnel.”

  He took one last look at the truck below. He couldn’t tell if somebody else waited down there as a getaway driver or if the intruder planned to take off in the vehicle once he did whatever he planned to do here. “The truck is still sitting there. No idea if we have a bogey inside. Going silent.” He shut down his communication and slipped into the tunnel.

  Small running lights ran alongside the tunnel, just enough that he could see ahead of him. The tunnel was clear. Moving as lightly as possible, he raced down the long passage. This opening was built well before they had moved into the compound. One of Levi’s greatest finds was when he realized this little secret entrance to the property. But it also meant, if anybody else found it, it now became a weakness.

  Dakota’s heart pounded; Bailey was inside the house. And, knowing her, she hadn’t stayed put either. He wanted to send a message to Ice but couldn’t take the chance. He had to trust everybody was doing their jobs. But he could check. “Ice is Bailey okay?”

  “No,” Ice said her voice terse. “She was looking for Alfred, then ordered to return to the safe room given the camera issue but hasn’t’ arrived. I’m looking for her.”

  Shit.

  He made it all the way through the tunnel without seeing signs of anyone. And that wasn’t good. Just as he approached the tunnel entrance to the house, he found a crumpled body. Using his cell phone light, he checked, finding Merk, on his the side, blood oozing from a head wound.

  He clicked on his comm and whispered, “Merk’s down. I repeat, Merk’s down. Head injury needs medical attention stat. Six feet from house entrance inside tunnel.”

  He didn’t wait for a response but turned off his comm as he slid up to the tunnel’s entryway into the house. He unlatched the closures, sliding open one of the two doors just enough so he could search the area in front of the double doors. Two deliberately mounted mirrors were inside so, if each door was pushed open half an inch, one of the two mirrors would be in sight, giving a visual of the hall. It was empty. He slipped out.

  Now where had the intruder gone?

  On the main floor Dakota silently went to the right and checked the kitchen and dining room. Nobody was here, but someone had been. Trays of coffee—some full cups, some empty cups—sat on the counter. He did a quick sweep of the main floor living room, TV room, even the boardrooms down here. Over three thousand square feet in just one long section. And it was empty. That meant the asshole had gone upstairs.

  He also didn’t know how many intruders there were. Dakota took the nearest stairwell and did a quick search up it. Stairwell empty. Dashing downstairs again, he hit the elevator button. It took its time. As if it had come down from the upper floor. It was empty.

  He headed back to the stairs and raced up to the second floor. There he slipped around the corner. This floor had a lot of the bedrooms. He could go through and search every room, but he had no way to know where everyone was without giving away his position to the asshole. What he needed was the alarm to give the alert that an intruder had made it inside and upstairs. He tapped his comm, issued the order.

  Instantly a harsh rhythmic beat whipped through the house. He heard several of the bedrooms bolting shut from the inside. That was good. That meant some of their people, assigned as the backup team if needed, were locked in and safe. He raced down to his room, made a quick check. It was empty. Then he opened Bailey’s room. Unfortunately her room was completely empty too.

  While standing in her room surveying the hallway, he clicked on his comm and said, “Bailey is not in her bedroom. She’s nowhere to be found.”

  Ice’s voice came through clear. “I can see her. She’s on the third floor, walking in view of our cameras. But she’s not alone. Single gunman, assault rifle over the shoulder, two handguns, one at the back of her neck. Alfred is also missing. I repeat, Alfred is also missing.”

  Shit. When things went bad, they went bad in a big way. Somebody needed to get to Merk and find Alfred, but taking out the known gunman was priority one. Ice would be organizing the others to help. Dakota would make his way to the top floor before he did anything else.

  Just as he stepped into the hall and around the corner, the elevator doors opened. Levi and Rhodes exited, both armed and ready, grim looks on their faces. Dakota gave them an update.

  Levi nodded. “We’ve moved Merk into the medical clinic. Stone will stay with Ice in the control room. She’s unarmed.”

  “The gunman and Bailey are upstairs, heading t
oward the offices or the control room.”

  “Some asshole has blueprints of this property,” Rhodes said in a furious whisper. “That is something we need to fix.”

  Dakota nodded. Not that it would be easy. “Could have come from any number of places.”

  The three split up, taking three different ways upstairs. Dakota went straight to the roof. From the roof, he could climb down a fire escape on two sides. It would allow him to come around and enter Levi’s bedroom, then proceed to the hallway. With any luck from there, he should see the gunman and Bailey.

  He made it down the nearest fire escape, popped open the window and slipped into the bedroom. Crossing to the main doors, he slid open a small panel on the interior wall which gave him not only a view of the outside hallway but a clear space to shoot through.

  And there was the gunman. He stood, looking around as if heading for a particular room. Dakota didn’t waste a moment. As the gunman turned and shifted away from Bailey, Dakota fired. The shot slammed into the man’s gun-hand, and the pistol went flying. The gunman roared and went after his second gun. But Levi was on him.

  Bailey, now free, raced to the far wall. She flattened herself just out of Dakota’s sight. Dakota opened the bedroom door and jogged to her side. He planted himself in front of her and said, “Did you see a second man?”

  She shook her head. “No. Only the one guy grabbed me in the elevator. I didn’t see anyone else.”

  Levi had already cuffed the gunman’s hands behind him. But the man was still bucking and fighting, twisting to get a good kick at Levi.

  Dakota slammed his boot into the man’s head. He crumpled, silent. The last thing they needed was him sending out any alerts to a second gunman.

  Rhodes joined them, then stepped up to the control room door, where Ice could see his thumbs-up sign. Instantly the door opened.

  She came out, took one look at the gunman on the ground, took one of the two weapons Rhodes held and said, “I have to get to the clinic.”

  Bailey looked at her. “Is someone hurt?”

  Ice moved toward the elevator. As it opened, she called out, “Merk.”

  Dakota tried to stop her, but there was no stopping Bailey when she wanted to go. She raced ahead, just barely making it into the elevator before it closed.

  He stared at the closed door. “Damn.”

  This was not exactly how he thought the evening would end.

  Chapter 11

  “I can help,” Bailey said as she reached out to the side of the elevator for support.

  Ice shot her a sideways look. “That statement would carry more conviction if you could stand on your own two feet.” Her voice was calm.

  “Just give me a moment,” Bailey said with a half laugh. “I’m not used to being held at gunpoint.”

  “You may not be used to it, but you handled yourself well.”

  Bailey shook her head. “All I could think about was the number of times, when my husband was dying, that I had wished I could die instead. The number of times since his death where I had wished the fight would be over, and I could go join him. And then suddenly, a gun’s at my head, and all I can think about is how much I want to live.”

  Ice turned to look at Bailey and smiled a breathtaking smile. “And that was the right decision. Because, even in death, those left behind have to grieve. But when you do accept there is a life for you again, and you understand you have to struggle, it doesn’t matter what happens. The future is about having a chance at life, and it’s worth it.”

  “For a moment, I could see my husband’s face. That smile he had just before he passed away,” Bailey admitted, feeling tears clogging her throat. “And I thought I would join him. And then there was this split second … like I was shifting through time, and I saw Dakota’s face.” She shook her head. “I’m sure he’d be laughing at that right now.”

  “Dakota would not laugh at that. He’d be honored.”

  “I don’t even know him.”

  “You know what’s important about him. You know he’d never leave an injured woman on the street. You know he’d never leave anyone unprotected and in need of assistance. You know he’s honorable, has integrity, and would do anything to help anybody. It doesn’t matter what other qualities he has when those are at the core. You can work with all the rest.”

  “I don’t even know if he has a girlfriend,” Bailey said quietly, in case anybody else was within hearing range.

  They exited the elevator, walking down the hall toward the medical clinic. Bailey almost ran to keep up with Ice—her long legs ate up the miles.

  In the medical clinic, Sienna and another woman stood at Merk’s side. Sienna looked up with relief. “I can’t find any other injuries. Looks like one blunt force trauma to the head.”

  Ice nodded. “It could be much worse,” she announced.

  “It could. This is bad enough though,” the other woman said.

  Ice reached over the table Merk lay on. “Katina, he will be fine. If anybody in this house has a hard head, it’s Merk.”

  Sienna chuckled. “I would’ve said Rhodes deserved that award.”

  Bailey stood at the man’s feet, her gaze studying his posture. “Did you check for breaks or anything else?”

  Sienna nodded. “A quick search. Why? You see something?” She joined Bailey at the table.

  “His knee looks off,” Bailey said.

  “Head trauma first. Knees later,” Ice said.

  She set about cleaning the wound, and Bailey watched in astonishment as Ice clipped and cut the hair back, checked the bones around the wound, telling Katina to grab the portable X-ray machine. Instantly a professional stainless steel–looking machine was wheeled over, and Ice took images. When she returned with a digital copy on the tablet in her hand, she said, “He has a concussion, but no bones were broken from that wound. We can deal with this.”

  She quickly set about stitching the wound closed. With that done, she turned and checked out the rest of him. “His blood pressure is fine. He’ll have a nasty headache, and he’ll be plenty pissed when he wakes up.”

  “If he wakes up,” Katina said in a small voice.

  Bailey understood how Katina felt. The number of times Bailey laid beside her husband when he was so ill, and she knew waking him up was for her sake, not his. It would have been so much kinder if he’d just closed his eyes, took his last breath and left this existence. But still all she wanted was for him to wake up.

  Ice did a quick physical check of his knee. “It’s puffy, as if he’s fallen on it. We’ll ice it, but there’s good movement, no breaks that I can see from here. I’ll go ahead and X-ray anyway.”

  Bailey realized how silly she was to think she could help. Ice had this more than in hand. And, with two other assistants, Ice didn’t need Bailey. She slowly made her way to a set of chairs off to the side and sat down.

  Ice glanced at her sharply. “Are you okay?”

  “Just realized you don’t actually need me here.”

  “It depends,” Ice said. “The night’s young. I’ve had as many as four in here at a time. And then there aren’t enough spare hands. I can’t do everything all at once.”

  “And if it gets really ugly?”

  Ice raised her head from studying Merk’s knee and stared at Bailey. “If it’s that bad, I warm up the chopper, and we fly to the hospital. Every one of these men and women who live in this house are under my care. I’ll do my damnedest to make sure they get the best care that’s available.”

  And Bailey believed Ice. This place was one hell of a unit. They were all so very blessed to have this home and each other. “Did anybody find Alfred?”

  The two women looked at each other. Ice said, “I believe the men are searching for him now.” She glanced over at the second bed. “Chances are he’ll be here in a few minutes.”

  Bailey stood back up again and walked over to the double glass doors, stepping into the hallway. “Where’s his room?”

  Katina walked t
o her. “Let me show you.” Katina led Bailey to one of the lower floors.

  “Why would Alfred have his rooms down here?”

  “He actually has an apartment here all to himself. It’s not belowground on his side.”

  They walked up to an unassuming-looking door, and Katina rapped on it hard. There was no answer. She tried the handle and pushed it open. “Alfred, are you here?”

  There was no answer.

  Katina flicked on the light switch. They both did a quick search to make sure he wasn’t lying injured somewhere.

  Bailey noticed the glass doors on the opposite side, set into a rock wall. “Amazing. How did he end up with this?”

  “The room itself was here before, actually built into the rock, but Levi and Ice finished it for him.”

  Bailey loved the natural beauty of the room, the light shining bright inside. She turned and headed back out. “We should tell Ice that he’s not here.”

  “Absolutely. Let’s do a quick tour down here to make sure he’s not anywhere else.”

  With Katina once again leading the way, Bailey visited a massive fitness room, various storerooms, multiple cold rooms, and a myriad of empty rooms. The place seemed to go on forever.

  “This place is huge!” she exclaimed when they opened another room that appeared to be a huge walk-in storeroom.

  Katina nodded. “It is indeed.” Up ahead was a large double freezer door with a lock on the outside. She pulled the key from the side, unlocked the door, and, with Bailey’s help, they pulled them open to reveal a huge walk-in cooler. Thankfully no Alfred in there. With the doors closed once again, and the lock back in place, the two women retraced their steps to Ice.

  At Ice’s look, Katina shook her head. “No sign of him anywhere, and, yes, we checked inside the cooler.”

  “I’ll take that as a good sign.” Ice nodded. “The defense team hasn’t found a second intruder yet. But they are on it. With Merk taken care of for the moment, I’ll join the search for Alfred.”