by Melody Anne
Sleep laughed as he leaned back and took his first sip of coffee — the way this aromatic brew was supposed to be drunk. “Not a chance,” Sleep said. “That’s Smoke’s food. He was out all night on a mission, and you couldn’t pay me a hundred thousand dollars to get between that man and his food.” Then he got a sly smile on his lips. “However, I’ll pay you a thousand dollars right now to eat it, just to see the big man have a meltdown. He’s been up for thirty-six hours, hasn’t eaten in about fourteen, and just had a killer workout. He might eat you if you take his dinner.”
Chad laughed with him. “I’m not scared of Smoke. He might be big, but he’s a teddy bear — a very, very big teddy bear.”
Of course while Chad was saying this, he was also putting the lids back on the food, and sliding the containers into the refrigerator in the exact place they’d been. As he longingly looked at the food he muttered. “Of course, how would he even know the food was missing if he wasn’t here to see it?”
“What’s missing?” Smoke asked in Chad’s ear, making him jump out of his shoes.
“Dammit, Smoke!” Chad snapped, irritated he’d jumped about two feet in the air. He turned and faced Smoke. “You have got to stop sneaking up on people. You’re liable to give someone a heart attack. How a man your size can move at the speed of lightning without making a sound is eerie . . . and wrong. It’s just wrong.”
“What?” Smoke asked with a smirk as he dove into the fridge. “I just came in here for some breakfast.”
Chad rolled his eyes, then decided he was getting out of there. While Smoke pulled out the containers Chad had been drooling over, Chad poured himself his third cup of coffee, left the kitchen, and moved to the conference room.
Brackish was already in there firing up the electronics. “Morning,” Chad said as he sat.
“Mornin’, Chug,” Brackish said, barely glancing up for a fraction of a second before returning to his keyboard.
Brackish had worked his magic over the past few months. There wasn’t a single monitor not in use, presenting an information overload to the average person. Chad had thought this team would be phenomenal, but he’d underestimated them. They were better than the best. He wasn’t sure when they slept because they worked hard, played harder, and still managed to laugh a hell of a lot.
Over the next twenty minutes the team entered the room, Smoke being the last with his hands full of a tray loaded down with food. Chad’s stomach growled at the smells coming toward him. He couldn’t seem to get enough calories inside lately. Maybe it had to do with working out more than ever to make sure he could keep up with his team if he was needed — which so far, he hadn’t been. They were that efficient. But he was still going to be prepared.
The team members all grabbed some food from the tray and Chad smiled as they shot each other a few zingers while stuffing their mouths. They didn’t savor anything but ate as if each bite was their last, a leftover from their years in the service where they might not have time for a full meal for days or weeks. A soldier learned to snarf food for fuel rather than taste.
“Green, if I don’t get an invite to dinner soon, I’m going to have your next assignment be at the sewer plant,” Chad said as he savored the taste of some egg dish Green must’ve made up the day before.
Green laughed. “If your wife isn’t doing her duties, all you have to do is ask,” Green said with a laugh.
Chad looked around as if Bree was going to walk in at any second, then glared at Green. “My wife isn’t my slave,” he said as if she could hear him. “And we share our duties equally. I just like a nice home-cooked meal with the men sometimes,” he added. The entire table laughed.
“Dang, I’m never getting married. You are whipped,” Smoke said as he leaned back. He’d probably just finished off more food in about ten minutes than an entire hockey team could consume after a three-hour game.
“The bigger they are, the harder they fall,” Chad said, not in the least offended.
“I’m far too smart for that,” Smoke said.
“Okay, fun’s over, let’s get the business done,” Chad said, still wearing a smile. “The last time we were together, Brackish handed me a list of names who had a lot of cash moving through their bank accounts. I instantly recognized one of the people on the list. After talking with our boss, we’ve decided to move forward with our investigation of him.” Chad paused, feeling bad for Joseph and what he was going through. “Brackish, please work your voodoo magic on the comp and get us all of the information you can on Damien Whitfield. The rest of you need to do recon. I want daily reports.”
Chad didn’t often tell them exactly what to do, so with his words, they sobered up and stared at him, knowing how serious this situation was.
“Got it, Chug,” Eyes said, instantly reverting to team leader mode.
“Since you know him, share with us all you know so we can save some time,” Sleep said.
“I feel as if I’m betraying him,” Chad said. “This isn’t easy, but I’ve printed out everything that’s pertinent.” He slid papers to the men with Damien’s address, work and phone numbers, and known locations he frequented.
Brackish was typing away on his computer as they continued to talk. “I have his location for this afternoon,” he said after a few minutes. Damn, he was fast.
“How close are you to this man?” Eyes asked. Chad knew he was asking how far this was going to go if this man was truly crooked.
“Close,” Chad said. “But that doesn’t matter. We need answers. And if he’s screwing his family over, I’ll come down harder on him than the law would.”
“Okay,” Eyes replied. The lightheartedness of earlier had evaporated.
“Where’s he going to be?” Green asked Brackish.
“It appears he has a meeting with Hudson Anderson, the builder at the Anderson Veteran’s Center at 0900. He’s blocked out the entire day,” Brackish said.
“Do you have a map for the screen?” Eyes asked.
Brackish smiled. “Duh.” he answered as the complex with all of its buildings popped up before Eyes was even done asking the question.
“Will we be able to get inside, or do we watch from a distance?” Green asked.
“This is a secure facility with gate guards and security throughout. They’ve amped that security team up since an attack happened there with Katherine Anderson. The only way in is to live there, work there, or have an escort. I’ve arranged for passes for those of you who go inside. Just let me know who that will be,” Chad said.
“Smoke’s assigned on his op right now and Green needs to head to the docks,” Eyes said. “Brackish will be working his geek stuff, so that’ll leave Sleep and me to head inside.”
“I might personally escort you, not sure yet,” Chad said. “After our meeting I’ll make some calls and get back to you on that.”
“Sounds good,” Eyes said. “What else is on the agenda?”
They finished up, then Chad told them to take two hours of free time before he excused himself and went to his office. He called Joseph, giving him an update of what was happening that day. Joseph was under far too much pressure at this time, and he wanted to keep him updated on the team more than usual to help get his mind off his wife’s surgery. Joseph said he’d call the center and have passes waiting for Sleep and Eyes, allowing them access to all departments and buildings.
By the time Chad got back to the conference room, only Brackish was left, the other men having gone to the firing range. They couldn’t take sitting still for too long. Chad appreciated that about them. He decided to join them. He was good, damn good, when it came to shooting.
He approached just after Sleep had shot. “Nice job, brother,” Green said with a laugh. “When you’re ready to shoot farther than twenty-five yards, let me know and I’ll show you how it’s done.” Chad noticed the scoreboard with some numbers on it. He looked through the glass and saw their targets, the bullseye nearly too small to see. They took pride in being the best, an
d they didn’t cut corners to get there.
Sleep pushed a button, and his score popped into a slot, putting him in the number three position. Green leaned against the wall with a cocky grin. Of course, he was at the top of the leaderboard.
Chad rapped on the window, letting Sleep know he was stepping inside. Sleep alerted the other men they had a new man entering. “I want in,” Chad told them as he stepped up to the group.
The men set their weapons down at each station and took off their ear protection then smiled. They all loved a challenge, and beating the boss was the greatest one of all. Chad might just surprise them.
“What’s the game? What’s the buy-in? And do I get any warm-up shots?” he asked as he pushed in his numbers on a keypad, his gun vault opening, and his Glock .45 sitting there like she was a work of art on display. He also grabbed four of his fully loaded magazines, pulled out his eye and ear protection, and then moved to the last remaining open bay.
“You get one mag for practice if needed, however if you need more than five rounds you probably shouldn’t waste your money, though I’ll be more than happy to take it,” Sleep said to Chad. “Then the competition is on.”
Chad got into position. “Going hot,” Chad called as he lined up his shot.
He hit his target on the practice round, but he was off a little, his first shot an inch low and to the right. The next three shots were within one sixteenth of an inch of each other, all bullseyes, and his last shot went directly between the triangle that the last three had created. He pushed the button, bringing the target to him, and gave himself a pat on the back. Not too bad. The guys looked it over.
“Not too shabby, Chug,” Eyes said.
“What’s the game?” Chad asked.
“Baseball. We get three shot increments over nine rounds. Outside ring is worth one run, middle worth two runs, inside worth three runs. You can get nine runs in one inning if you’re lucky, but that’s rare. The kicker is if anyone gets the same score as you during the inning, then no one scores. Only the highest score for the inning gets points. After nine innings if there’s a tie, we get one shot at the bullseye. Tightest bullseye wins,” Green said.
“Are we all shooting at the same time?” Chad inquired.
“Not normally, but we’re tight on time, so yes,” Eyes said.
“Okay, what’s the buy-in?” Chad asked. “And how much are you all going to cry when I kick your ass the first time I play?”
“For you, Chug, it’s one dollar because we’re all concerned with you being so much older than us. We don’t want to take too much out of your retirement funds,” Sleep said.
“It’s a hundred buy-in, and this time I’m going to win. These guys always cheat,” Smoke said with a smirk.
“It’s not cheating,” Sleep called. “You just seriously suck.”
“You beat me by one run last time. I think Brackish rigged the computers,” Smoke said.
“Let’s do this. The terrible attempt at trash talk won’t throw me off my game,” Chad said as he threw down a hundred-dollar bill.
Eyes grabbed the money and slid it into a locked metal box inside a safe that a nuclear bomb wouldn’t break open. Every time Chad thought this facility was impressive, the men did something else that boggled his mind. They made it better and better each day. Of course, with nearly unlimited funds and genius level IQs, that wasn’t difficult to accomplish.
The men each lined up in their lane, then waited.
“Gentlemen, Release. The. Kracken!” Eyes yelled, punctuating every word with his dorky smile while making sure they could all hear with their earplugs in.
A volley of gunfire exploded. Sleep and Eyes were the quickest to fire, their shots almost identical. Chad was only a fraction of a second behind them. Green and Smoke were much more methodical. Their shots rang out, and fragmented pieces of paper fell to the ground in a crazed pattern that mimicked butterflies being flung around in a hurricane.
It was all over in about ten seconds, each person calling out clear as they set their handguns down. Eyes was the last to yell clear, then everyone removed their earpieces while bringing their targets forward. Eyes pushed the button where their scores lit up on the screen Brackish had installed.
“Shit,” Smoke muttered as Sleep’s name appeared on top with two points.
“I want a rifle competition,” Green said, grumbling as he looked at his paper with a frown.
“I refuse to do those with you anymore, unless you give me at least a thirty-point head start,” Smoke told him. None of them could compete with Green with a rifle, especially past the four-hundred-yard mark. They’d only gone out to a long range twice but his score each time was better than the rest of them combined.
“Let’s get back at it, girls,” Chad said with a laugh.
They kept going, the next seven innings bringing lots of jabs and mountains of confetti. They were within five points of each other by the bottom of the eighth, Chad and Sleep at the top. The ninth inning ended with Chad and Sleep tied. Green was one shot behind, Eyes three shots behind, and Smoke fuming in last place at six points behind, his worst performance so far.
“Okay, it’s one shot at the bullseye to determine the winner,” Sleep said.
“Let’s do this,” Chad replied, his adrenaline pumping.
Chad and Sleep got into position at their stations, then waited for Eyes to give them the green light. They fired within half a second of each other, set down their guns and pushed the buttons to send the targets back to them.
The papers came back, and it was a tough call. But Chad knew who the winner was before the score flashed on the screen. He let out a laugh.
“That was fun. Good job,” Chad said as he patted Sleep on the back. There wasn’t even a sliver of red showing in Sleep’s bullseye. He was the clear winner. The score flashed up on the screen, and Sleep beat him by one single point.
“Oh yeah, I love taking your money,” Sleep said. “It feels so much better than an honest day’s work.” There were several groans from the men as Eyes pulled the funds from the lockbox and reluctantly handed it over to a gloating Sleep. “I might go to the spa with this.”
“You would, you girl,” Smoke said.
Sleep didn’t even reply, just made a fan out of the hundred-dollar bills and waved them in the air, earning him a few rolls of the eyes.
“That was a good start to the day,” Chad said. “Now Eyes and Mr. Moneybags, let’s get going. We have access to the veteran’s center, and I need to get in and out by 1400 hours. That’ll give us about four hours on site.”
“Sounds good. I’ll go change, grab a car, and meet you out front,” Eyes said.
It didn’t take long to get out of there and arrive at the veteran’s center. Their IDs were at the security checkpoint and the guard let them in. They drove inside and parked, then walked from the parking area to the man-made lake in the middle of the center.
“So, this is where it all began,” Eyes said, looking humbled to be at the lake.
Chad stopped in his tracks and looked at Eyes. “What are you talking about?” he asked.
Eyes smiled. “Did you honestly believe we wouldn’t figure out where our team began?” he asked with a laugh.
“You weren’t told anything about our benefactors,” Chad pointed out.
Sleep laughed. “Come on, Chug, we have Brackish on our team. We knew the first week who’d funded this operation, how much was put into it, and why it began. When you sent us on the assignment to Pike Place Market to follow the Andersons we knew exactly what we were doing. We just thought we’d let you think it was all secret.”
Chad chuckled. “You guys are good,” he admitted. “This situation rocked the entire family, me included. I love Joseph and Katherine. They’re good souls and I’m grateful to be married to Bree. It’s been life changing, that’s for sure.”
“What they do for everyone, especially vets, is incredible,” Eyes said. “This place is phenomenal.”
“W
hen will it all be done?” Sleep asked.
“It was done, but they keep adding more buildings when they see something they want or need,” Chad said. “That’s why they’re here today. That’s why Damien’s here. There are a lot of stories the Andersons are involved in, and if Damien turns out to be a monster, it’s going to hurt this incredible family more than I can say.”
“We’d better get to work then and do our job,” Sleep said, all business.
“Damien should be over at the current build site,” Eyes said as he looked down at his phone at a secure feed Brackish was sending over. “Yep, he’s there, wearing a white hard hat with an American flag decal on the side.”
Chad looked at him with confusion plastered all over his face.
“Brackish took control of a satellite and has it set on the coordinates of Damien’s phone. I’m sure that phone is sitting in Damien’s pocket, meaning we get to see exactly where Damien is.