Steel Trap: A Jack Steel Action Mystery Thriller, Book 4

by Geoffrey Saign

  “So we have no clue if Edwards is the leak.” Bishop swiveled in his chair. “Maybe we have a Russian mole in the CIA.” He liked that idea even less.

  Jones continued. “We accessed airport manifests, camera feeds, vehicles. We have nothing. We have people on the ground searching. We know where Edwards landed in Florida, but not much after that. For security, I told Edwards to keep the hand-off location to himself until shortly before it occurred.” He shrugged. “We don’t even know where it happened.”

  “Then let’s work it backwards,” said Bishop. “Find everything you can about Steel. Associates, girlfriends, partners, bank accounts, credit cards, family. Everything. Find him, we find our men.”

  Jones stood up. “How do we treat Steel and his team?”

  Bishop thought on that. “Hostile until we know otherwise. Outside of Edwards, he was the only other person that knew the hand-off location. Maybe he cut a deal with the KGB officer, Dima Borodin. Maybe Steel’s daughter was threatened. Do we know where she is?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Find her,” said Bishop. “I talked to my counterpart in the KGB. Dima is on his own. KGB won’t acknowledge that he works for them anymore.” He leaned forward. “I want that flash drive. If we lost those men, we better have something to show for it.”

  CHAPTER 32

  Lucian walked up to the cell bars, gesturing to Steel. “It’s time for you and Therese to meet Rose and the bees.”

  Therese rocked back and forth on the floor, staring at the cement. Steel squatted beside her. “I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you.”

  She looked into his eyes, and then slowly got to her feet.

  Four men assembled to escort Steel and Therese from their cell. Lucian had his HK P30L pistol in hand. Steel thought about the OTF knife hidden in his belt. He could maybe get out of the handcuffs, but they would kill him. This wasn’t the time to use it.

  “Good luck, Steel.” Matt lifted his hand to him.

  “See you soon.” Steel hoped that was true. When he walked out of the cell, he glanced sideways, down the other hallway. There were three cells on either side. At the end was a closed door on the south side. He wondered how many women each cell held. It made him sick. Therese remained at his side, eyes lowered, arms crossed. Terrified. Steel wanted to buoy her up, but he didn’t want to lie to her either.

  Lucian and his men remained a half-dozen steps away from him and Therese, their guns aimed at him. It was pointless to try anything. He wondered who Rose and the bees were. A woman and killer bees? Lucian felt like a sick deviant to Steel, so who knew what perverse things he did to entertain himself or his men.

  They were motioned up the stairs and down a short hallway toward a door. To the right another closed door led into the house.

  The outer door opened, and Steel stepped out into the sunlight. Late afternoon. The air, warm and humid, felt fresh compared to the cells. Steel was glad to have sunshine on his face. As they walked him past the house, he observed everything. Therese’s description had been accurate; very large compound, high perimeter fence, vehicles, a tower atop four telephone pole struts, guards everywhere, and a helicopter sitting far to the east inside the compound.

  He wondered where they were in Florida, and how far he’d have to run through the surrounding marsh to reach a road. Even if he could escape, Therese and Matt would never make it out. Still, if the opportunity came, he would take it. Then he would come back for the others.

  They walked south along a twenty-foot-wide dirt corridor between the buildings.

  The house was square as Therese had said, and the garage huge—it held at least a dozen vehicles. Weapons and other gear lined the inside walls of the garage.

  When they were past the buildings, Steel glanced back. The house had a back door. Another way out.

  The dry ground led down a slight incline to the perimeter fence, seventy yards south of the buildings. A locked gate blocked access to a dock, which had a small speedboat tied up to it. A narrow canal ran south from the dock through the marsh. Steel filed that away for future use. The boat would make everything workable. It gave him hope. If he could get Matt and Therese to the boat, they could all escape.

  Halfway to the back fence, a stretch of land fifty feet long and ten feet wide was enclosed on both sides by a ten-foot-high chain link fence. The top of the fenced corridor was open, and several inches of straw covered the ground inside it. Also the lower four feet of the fenced corridor had a fine mesh screen clipped to it on the outside. That puzzled Steel. They were trying to keep something from getting in or out.

  The east end of the fenced corridor had a heavy screened gate. But the west end ran up to a thick, ten-foot-square Plexiglass cage with dozens of one-inch-wide holes drilled on all sides. Inside the chain link fenced corridor, a handle was screwed into a sliding door of the Plexiglass cage. On the west side of the cage, at ground level, an enclosed Plexiglass chute three feet square and twenty feet long led west from an opening in the Plexiglass.

  Lucian’s men stood on both sides of the chain link fenced area and the cage. Rough-looking, some wearing stubble, all of the men carried pistols and machine guns. Hard men. They wouldn’t run from a fight.

  Lucian tapped the Plexiglass with his fingernails. “Don’t worry, we’ve done this many times before. With enemies, with brothers of the women we kidnap, and even with husbands and wives. They all enjoyed it.”

  Steel ran through options for escape but couldn’t find any.

  The near side of the Plexiglass cage had a hinged door. A man opened it.

  Therese was dragged away from Steel’s side. She yelled, “No! Let me go! No! No!”

  She struggled until a man backhanded her. She dropped to her knees in stunned silence, blood on her lip. Enraged, Steel wanted to fight, but men pulled him back by his arms, a gun to his head.

  Two men dragged Therese by her arms on her knees, across the dirt and grass and into the Plexiglass cage. They forced her onto her stomach. One man used thin rope to tie her wrists behind her back. The other tied her ankles together and heaved her lower legs a foot off the ground with thin rope, which was fed out of the cage through a hole, where it was tied tightly to a tall metal stake. Therese could wriggle around a little, but she couldn’t turn over. She quietly rested her head on the Plexiglass floor, facing the chute.

  Dima and Lucian were smiling. Around the fenced corridor and cage, Lucian’s men were making bets with excited voices and expressions. Steel didn’t get it, but it bothered him. Would this traumatize Therese for life? What if this was Rachel? Fury welled up in his throat.

  Four men pushed and pulled a large, enclosed crate across the ground up to the far end of the Plexiglass chute. Steel couldn’t see what was inside it.

  Lucian bent over, peering through the Plexiglass. “Can you hear me, Therese?”

  She sniffled.

  Lucian smiled. “Of course you can hear me. Let me explain Rose and the bees. In the crate at the end of the chute is a twenty-foot, two-hundred-pound Burmese python. We call her Rose. She is quite big and quite hungry. We have not fed her for a long time. You know, if pythons get a big meal, like you Therese, they can go six months to a year without feeding again.” He chuckled. “Once we open the crate, Rose will crawl down the tube to you, wrap around your body in seconds, and in one minute squeeze you to death. Rose will need an hour to swallow you.”

  Therese was silent and wide-eyed as she stared up at Lucian.

  Facing Steel, Lucian bowed. “But Therese can be saved! Inside the fenced corridor, near the Plexiglass sliding door, is a knife. And in the opposite corner,” he kicked the bottom of the fence near the cage, “is a small cooler. In the cooler is a syringe of antivenin.”

  Near the Plexiglass cage, in the south corner of the fencing, Steel spotted a large dagger stuck in the ground. A much better weapon than his OTF knife for a snake that big. The small white cooler in the opposite corner was obvious. Why did he need antivenin? Steel waited. Lu
cian was crazy.

  Lucian continued. “Steel, you will be released at the end of the corridor. You will have to run the gauntlet to save poor Therese. All you have to do is reach the knife and cut off Rose’s head.” He lifted his hands, viewing his men. “Has anyone ever made it to Rose?”

  “No!” came the cry from the men.

  Lucian waved mockingly at Steel. “You see, Steel, in the corridor there will be bees. And if they sting you, you will have a hard time doing anything, much less reaching the knife and Therese. To save yourself you will need the antivenin shot in the cooler. We suggest your thigh. It should be an IV, but it’s the best we can do.” He grinned and waved a hand.

  Steel didn’t understand. He had heard African bees could be quite deadly, but how could Lucian keep them from flying out of the chain link fence? And he had never heard of antivenin being used for bee stings.

  “We were going to just have some fun, but...” Lucian swung around to Steel. “Steel, if you don’t reach Therese, I think we’ll let Rose eat her today. My beauty has starved long enough.”

  Steel glanced at Dima, unsure if Lucian was joking.

  Dima said sharply, “That will cost us a million each.”

  “But it’s worth it to keep Rose and my men happy, don’t you think?” Lucian lifted his hands high again and slowly turned to include all his men. “Should we let Rose eat today?”

  His men began chanting, “Rose! Rose! Rose!”

  Dima frowned, but said nothing. Steel understood then that even though Dima had hired Lucian, he couldn’t control him.

  “Please don’t,” sobbed Therese. “Please. I’ll do anything you want. Please. Please.”

  Lucian wagged a finger. “You should have said that earlier, girl.” He regarded Steel. “I think if you don’t reach the antivenin, we won’t help you either, Steel.”

  Dima’s voice hardened. “We need Steel for tonight—”

  “I know!” Lucian whirled on Dima. “For Agapov and his flash drive.” He leaned closer to Dima, his voice menacing, a finger raised in front of Dima’s face. “I’m tired of hearing what Agapov wants, what Agapov needs, what Agapov demands. If he kills with a sniper, he is a coward, and I know how to deal with cowards. Maybe he belongs in the cage with Rose next time, huh?” He leered at Dima. “This is my home, not Agapov’s!” He raised his arms in the air, looking at his men. “This is about what we need, what we want, right?”

  Lucian’s men lifted rifles and shot pistols, cheering loudly.

  Dima turned livid but didn’t speak.

  Lucian shrugged. “If the girl is gone, Steel’s team will still come. And if Steel is dead, we’ll drag him out to lay at our feet, and just say he’s unconscious.”

  Steel wondered who Agapov was; someone pulling Dima’s strings. He also realized Lucian thought he was putting him and Therese in an impossible game he couldn’t win. The madman expected both of them to die.

  Lucian grabbed the sides of Dima’s shoulders. “You worry too much, my friend. It will all work out.” He spoke louder. “Unless you want to tell my men that they can’t have some fun with the man who killed their friends today?”

  Dima remained quiet as Lucian’s men glared at him.

  Throwing his arms into the air, Lucian exclaimed, “Wonderful! Let’s begin!”

  Lucian’s men hauled Steel to the far end of the fifty-foot length of fencing, where he was shoved into a three-foot-long enclosure formed by a chain link door in the inside and outside. Steel felt like a bull in a rodeo bucking chute, waiting to be let out. He heard Therese sobbing. There had to be more to the game than Lucian had explained. It sounded too easy. What was he missing?

  The betting had ended, the men quiet, watching. To the west, at the far end of the Plexiglass chute, a man lifted up a sliding door in the crate. It was dark inside the wood box, but in moments a very large snake head poked out. The men along the perimeter shouted in excitement.

  Therese cried out when she saw the snake. She turned her head to face Steel. “Help me, Jack! Help me!”

  “I’m coming, Therese!” He glared at Lucian.

  The Burmese python crawled into the tube, its tongue flicking out into the air. The snake was as thick as a telephone pole. The dark-colored snake had brown blotches bordered in black. Steel had seen the exotic species before, but this one was exceptionally large. In Florida they were weaking havoc with native species. Still, he didn’t like killing anything for entertainment.

  “Isn’t Rose beautiful?” cried Lucian.

  Lucian’s men continued shouting in excitement, chanting, “Rose! Rose! Rose!”

  A key on a loop of rope was tossed over the fence near Steel’s feet. He sat down hurriedly, grabbed the key with his hands, and unlocked the handcuffs. Standing, he rubbed his wrists. The inside door slid open, and he bolted four steps into the corridor, but stopped abruptly.

  Twenty feet ahead of him, dropping down from above and hovering six feet off the ground, were a half-dozen tiny drones, the size of bumblebees. Lucian’s bees. The drones would have cameras. Steel guessed the operators were in the large van in the garage.

  Lucian grinned. “Our bees sting with timber rattlesnake venom that we harvested.”

  Steel finally understood why he might need antivenin. Taking off his shirt, he ripped it in two and wrapped the pieces around the palms of his hands. He strode forward, eyeing the python, which was already halfway down the chute to Therese.

  The drones flew at him; two at his upper body, two lower, two to the sides. Taking up a defensive stance, he flicked out his hands at the two closest drones, pawing one and knocking it to the ground, where he stepped on it, smashing it. Whirling, he swung at several of the drones, gave snap kicks at two more, and then fled. The men along the fence shouted in excitement.

  The python was nearly to the cage. Therese struggled with her bonds, while the yelling and cheers escalated.

  Lucian’s men chanted, “Rose! Rose! Rose!”

  Two of the drones flew ahead of Steel and turned to face him at eye level. Assuming the rest were going to come at him from behind, he jumped to the side of the enclosure. There he slapped down another drone with his hand, grinding his heel into it on the ground.

  One of the drones came in at his side and stabbed him. Steel felt it—like a bad bee sting. Whirling, he tried to knock it down with his forearm, but it flew backward.

  He heard a thrumming and looked down. In the hay lay a coiled snake. It blended with the straw. Black chevrons on its back and a reddish hue along its sides made the species obvious. Timber rattlesnake. Without thinking, Steel jumped back as the snake struck out, just missing his leg.

  He jumped again, to the middle of the enclosure, where another drone hit him in the back with its stinger. Whirling, this one he knocked down with his arm and stomped it.

  “Jack! Please!” begged Therese.

  Steel glanced ahead. The python was crawling beneath Therese’s raised lower legs and curled around them. One of Dima’s men cut the rope holding Therese’s legs off the ground.

  Steel grimaced. One minute. Ducking a drone flying at his head, he knelt and swept another drone out of the air with his palm, smashing it with the side of his fist into the ground.

  He bolted forward, but felt faint, a little groggy. Stumbling, he almost fell. Another sting bit his right calf. Whirling once more, he swung at a drone hovering close to his chest. Knocking it down, he tried to stomp it, but missed. It flew off again.

  “Jack!” Therese’s voice was weak.

  Steel panicked. The python had its whole body wrapped around Therese, its head near hers, its tongue flicking out near her lips as its coils tightened around her. Steel panicked. Pythons could sense the heartbeat of their dying prey, and every time Therese exhaled, the python would tighten its coils.

  “Hold your breath, Therese! Don’t exhale!” he yelled hoarsely.

  More thrumming. Another rattler was curled up in the hay in front of him. Two drones were flying around him. Tak
ing off his belt, he flicked the end of it at the rattler, sending it crawling away.

  Looping the belt, he swept it through the air and knocked down another drone. After stepping on it, he charged toward the knife in the corner.

  Another rattler was curled up near the dagger. Steel didn’t hesitate. Sweeping his looped belt in a sideways motion, he caught the snake’s neck and sent it flying a few yards away.

  Therese was choking for air, her eyes bulging.

  Grabbing the dagger, he was aware of the men along the cage and fence still shouting. His vision blurred. A drone flew at his face. Jerking his head to the side, he slammed a fist into it, smashing it into the Plexiglass. Gripping the door handle, he slid it open.

  Stumbling to Therese’s head, he dropped to his knees, grabbed the hissing snake just behind the head, and stabbed the knife through the lower jaw from beneath, into its head. The python went limp in his hands.

  The chanting and shouting ended abruptly.

  Therese’s eyes were glazed, her breaths quick and shallow. Steel was running out of steam. He didn’t want to pass out before he got the antivenin—he couldn’t trust that Lucian would give it to him, especially after killing Rose.

  Rising and stumbling back into the fenced corridor, he leaned his shoulder against the Plexiglass and slid along it to the cooler. Leaning over, he flicked off the top. A syringe rested on ice packs. Picking it up, he jammed the needle into his thigh, depressing the syringe. Lucian glared at him from outside the fence, clenching his gun. Steel didn’t care.

  Dropping the syringe, he used the Plexiglass to lean against as he crossed the corridor once more. While he stumbled toward the cage, he rolled up his belt and stuffed it into one of his pockets. He didn’t want them taking it. Just before the cage door opening he fell to his knees. Disguising his hand movement, he grabbed the smashed drone lying in the hay. He also concealed the movement to stuff it into another pocket as he regained his feet.