Silver Shield Security Box Set

by Dee Bridgnorth

  There were so many things going through his mind, but most were thoughts about his family. So far, Kendra was his only grandchild and it was time for him to get to know her properly as well. How had he missed the fact that she had his wife’s eyes?

  General Carter’s heart was heavy, but his senses were still very sharp. He sensed the presence of the man even before he spoke.

  “Good Evening, General.”

  General Carter slowly turned around and locked his gaze on the muzzle of the pistol that was pointing at him. He glanced up and smiled.

  “Hi, Copeland, I’ve been expecting you.”

  Derek lifted his brows in surprise. “You knew I was the one behind all this?”

  “I had my suspicions.”

  “What gave me away?”

  “You just did,” he said with a shrug.

  “Well then, you understand why I can’t let you live. I have immense respect for you, Sir, but this is business. Nothing personal.”

  “Really, Copeland? What is more personal than my life?”

  “For men like you, I suppose it is an honor to die in service of your country.” This time it was Derek who shrugged.

  General Carter stared into the eyes of the young man. They were bright and intelligent, filled with wit. Derek Copeland was one of the best intelligence analysts he had encountered in his long career. Why was he throwing it all away? He couldn’t stop himself from asking.

  “Why? Greed, General. Pure, honest, greed,” Derek replied.

  The general nodded. He understood greed, how it drove a person to barbarous heights.

  “What of your partner at the White House? What was his motivation?”

  Derek shook his head. “I did not come here to have a conversation, General.”

  “Yes, you came to end my life.”

  “Yep.”

  “So the least you can do is answer my questions.”

  He saw indecision in the man’s eyes. He was aware that even though almost everyone at the Pentagon had gone home for the night, there were still a few night owls who stayed behind to work and anyone of them could walk in on them. But if there was one thing Carter got to know about Derek Copeland, it was that he liked to walk a tightrope. He believed entirely too much in his own intelligence. He would want to see how far he could push his luck and still escape.

  “He has a pretty little mistress who has a taste for high luxury and he wants to keep her happy.”

  “Thank you, Derek.”

  “What for?” Derek asked, a trace of unease creeping up his spine.

  “For providing the missing piece of the puzzle.”

  He saw realization dawn in the man’s eyes just before he jerked once then crumbled to the floor.

  “That was a close one,” Jade Han said as she carefully stepped over the prostrate body on the floor.

  “Is he dead?” General Carter asked.

  “Should be.”

  He walked towards the man, then bent down and felt his pulse. Nothing.

  Suddenly, exhaustion threatened to take over, but he held himself upright. He walked to a closet and brought out a bottle of brandy. He took a swig from the bottle, then put it back in the closet. He glanced at where Derek’s body lay on the floor. A pool of blood had gathered. He glanced away. Why did it feel like he’d just taken out a close friend? Over the past few years, the young man had spent time with him. They had even gone fishing a number of times. It had not occurred to him that Derek Copeland had become a friend, but from the ache in his chest region, it seemed the younger man had indeed been his friend.

  “Are you okay, old man?” Jade asked.

  General Carter glared at her. “Have some respect, young lady.”

  She laughed.

  “Okay, Sir. I’ll leave this for your men to clean up. I’ve got to go.”

  He nodded and she turned to go. He noticed her uneven gait as she walked.

  “How’s the knee?” he asked when she was at the door.

  She paused and looked back. “Healing,” she said with a shrug, then walked out the door.

  After she left he walked back to his table. He had his reasons for engaging her to do this. He had not wanted anyone in active service for this job, and even injured, Jade Han was one of the best. He picked up the phone and dialed. It was time to clean up the mess here and leave Wayne to clean up the mess in Kansas.

  **

  7:00 p.m., the warehouse outside Dodge City, Kansas

  There was something almost heady about knowing that a machine you created worked just the way you meant it to work. It was a sensation that should have brought a lot of satisfaction and some amount of joy to Wayne Carter. However, the opposite had been the case as he’d watched CID hum to life once Jack had put the microchip inside. His rage had mounted when he had seen the delight on Jack’s face.

  “This is one hell of a machine, Carter. Don’t you think so?” Jack had said, shifting his gaze to Wayne before looking back at the machine.

  Wayne hadn’t bothered to reply, not that it mattered because Jack had gone on speaking.

  “Now all I have to do is sync this baby with the other four dozen machines out there.”

  What the hell? How on earth had Jack known about the advanced function of CID? Wayne had been the only one who had known about that because he’d designed CID to be the mother drone. A mother drone had the ability to take over command of a fleet of drones and dictate their behavior as well as their destination. He had not shared that small programming fact with his team. Then he had remembered that one of the plans for CID Six Thousand had also been stolen.

  Wayne hadn’t said a word, but his outrage must have communicated itself because Jack had turned to him with a laugh.

  “What? You didn’t think I would know about that feature, did you? How arrogant of you, Carter,” he said, laughing some more. He programmed the machine as Wayne had watched with growing horror.

  Now Wayne had to live with the knowledge that a killer machine was being released to kill people in the most horrific way and he had been the one to create that machine. It was a heavy burden to live with, one that almost brought him to his knees. He kept his face expressionless, he didn’t want to give the madman anything else to work with. He could not even make a move until he was sure that both Emily and Kendra were out of harm’s way.

  There was a beeping sound suddenly and Wayne realized that it was O’Neal’s phone when the man brought the mobile device to his ears.

  “Yes, what’s up?” O’Neal said shortly into the phone.

  Then he turned pale. Wayne found that reaction interesting. What could have made the man lose color?

  He ended the call and moved swiftly to where Jack was standing. Very quietly so that Wayne could not make out what he was saying, he spoke to Jack. Wayne might not have heard what O’Neal had said, but Jack’s reaction was loud enough that everyone heard him.

  “How the hell did that happen?” he growled at the other man.

  “We found Miss Hutchins tied up and the females were gone.”

  Wayne’s heart skipped a beat. Emily and Kendra had escaped? He hoped to God that they had gotten away. He needed to know if they had gotten away so that he could plan his next move.

  “What the hell have you bastards done with my family?” he asked in a hard voice.

  Jack pulled out his gun and trained it at Wayne’s head. “This is all your fault. You planned this somehow. What the hell did you think…that you could fucking fool me?”

  “How on earth could I have planned this when I’ve been here the whole damned time?”

  “Wait,” Jack said, turning back to the computer. “They’re still there. How come the video feed shows that they’re still there?” Then he paused and watched for a few minutes. “Goddammit to hell!” he growled. “The video is on a loop. I’m gonna kill somebody. Get Barret in here pronto!”

  “Ah, Sir…” O’Neal began, then hesitated.

  “What the hell are you waiting for, idiot? Ge
t Barret here now!”

  “I’m sorry, Sir, he was shot along with five others.”

  Jack went still. “What the hell?”

  “They must have gone after them and were shot in the process.”

  “Six men down! How in hell is that possible? It was just one woman and a child.”

  Wayne almost laughed outright then. Just one woman…Emily was a hell of a lot more than just one woman. She was a force of nature and could hold her own with any male operative. Okay, so that was completely an understatement. She was several cuts above most.

  Suddenly, Jack focused his gaze on Wayne.

  “You,” he said in a voice that was filled with menace. “You are planning something. I can feel it. I don’t know what it is, but you can bet that I am going to find out. I should blow your brains out now, but I won’t, not just yet.” Keeping his eyes on Wayne he said, “O’Neal?”

  “Yes, Sir?”

  “Search the entire place, including the surface. Shoot at sight.”

  Wayne did not react, but he felt the dampness on his forehead as he broke out in sweat. At that moment he prayed with all his might that Emily would have gotten as far away from the area as possible, with Kendra. He had to trust that Emily knew what she was doing and she would do anything to keep their child safe. He knew that. He just needed to get his racing heart to believe it as well.

  “Get Amanda in here,” he said.

  A few moments later Amanda was escorted into the room by a couple of guards.

  “Hi, baby, are you feeling okay?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  “You at peace with your conscience?”

  “I-I don’t understand,” Amanda said with a frown.

  “You let them go, didn’t you?”

  “No! I—”

  Jack laughed. “You really must think I’m a fool.”

  “But Jack, I went to ask about food—”

  “Shut the fuck up! This is for messing with me.” And with a barely-there smile, he pulled the trigger.

  Wayne didn’t even know he was going to move. As far as he was concerned, she deserved what she was getting. But when it came down to it, he found that he could not let her die just like that. So when Jack pulled the trigger, he found himself sailing through the air and knocking Amanda Hutchins down in the process.

  The bullet whined as it flew past his ears and he felt a sharp pain on his cheek. As he went down, his shoulders hit one of the armed guards and he also went down. Wayne immediately grabbed the loaded automatic weapon from the man and fired three shots, three of the guards went down.

  Wayne knew that he was so badly outnumbered and there was no way he was going to get out of there alive. But just when he was so sure that he was toast, the roof collapsed on them.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Somehow, Emily and Kendra made it to the highway. She was just about to step out to the highway when her device vibrated.

  “Emily, are you okay?”

  “Yeah, Russ, we’re fine,” she replied. “What’s the plan?”

  “Did you make it to the highway?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, step out and one of us will be there in a van.” He described the van to her.

  So she went to the highway and waited, leaving Kendra hidden away with instructions to do her best to make it into town if anything happened to Emily.

  Barely a minute after she stepped out, a van sped past then slowed to a halt. Emily could see that it was the exact van that Rusty had described, still she waited. After a moment, the van began to move back. It didn’t stop until it was right in front of her. The glass was tinted, so she couldn’t see into the van. She had no idea who was driving it until the person stepped out.

  “Tamika?” Emily had never been so glad to see another person. She hurried to the other woman and they hugged tightly.

  “Quick, get in, I have instructions to get you to safety,” Tamika said when they stepped back.

  Emily hurried back to where Kendra was hidden, but the girl was already walking towards them.

  “This is your daughter?” Tamika asked.

  Emily beamed with pride. “Kendra, meet Tamika. She’s one of my best friends and I trust her with your life.”

  “Hey,” Kendra said with a shy smile.

  “Oh baby, come here, darling” Tamika had tears in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around the girl. “Okay, let’s go. We’re not safe here,” she said briskly as she stepped back.

  “No,” Emily said.

  Tamika stared at her in confusion. “What are you saying, girl?”

  “You take Kendra to safety. Don’t stop till you are in Chicago. I’ll meet you up there.”

  “You’re going back for Wayne,” Tamika said with understanding in her eyes.

  Emily nodded.

  “Alright, you are the boss,” she said with a salute.

  Emily turned her attention to Kendra. The girl had tears running down her eyes.

  “Please be careful, Mom.”

  Emily nodded. She used the pad of her thumbs to wipe the tears from Kendra’s face, then pulled her in for a hug.

  “I’ll see you in Chicago.”

  She watched them drive off and when the van was out of sight, she turned around and jogged all the way to the warehouse. By the time she got there, it was dark outside.

  She managed to locate the tunnel. She knew she was going to have to slide in somehow. The risk was real, for all she knew there could be guards stationed just by the exit. They would shoot her on sight. She could not afford that.

  She was still wondering what she was going to do when she found a vent. From the way it was placed, it looked as though it led down to the underground part of the warehouse. If it did lead to the area where Wayne was being held, it would be worth the risk. With a deep sigh, she crept into the vent. It was not big enough for her to stand, so she had to crawl on her belly.

  She was still crawling through the vent an hour later, or it could have been half an hour. She wasn’t sure anymore. She was tired, sweaty, and had stuff sticking to her hair and body that she did not even want to think about. But it paid off because she could hear some voices. She listened intently and thought she recognized Wayne’s voice.

  “Can you state your locations?” she heard Rusty’s voice through the spare wrist device she had taken from Tamika.

  “I’m inside, hidden between some boxes. I can see Wayne from where I am,” Drew’s voice came in a harsh whisper.

  “Okay. Ace can’t speak so he’s typed in his location,” Rusty said. “Emily? Are you in position?”

  “I’m crawling through a vent, not exactly sure where I am, but I can hear voices,” she said in a whisper. She peeped through an opening and saw several armed men. She could not see Wayne, but she did see someone who looked like Jack Chance.

  She needed to find a way to get in without anyone seeing her and that would mean looking for an opening in another room. She began to crawl forward but stopped when she touched a weak spot. There was an area that wasn’t solid and she wouldn’t be able to put her weight on it.

  “Damn!” she muttered under her breath. She needed to find a way to get past that spot.

  She was trying to edge past when she heard a gunshot followed by three rapid shots. Without thinking twice, she used the butt of her gun to hit the weak spot and then used her bodyweight to place pressure on the spot. The plaster gave way and she fell through.

  Emily braced her body for the impact. She hit the floor and rolled, firing as she crawled behind a table for cover. At the same moment, both Ace and Drew rushed in and got into the fray. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Jack Chance grab Wayne’s drone and rush out of the room. She cast a quick glance around and satisfied that the others could handle the remaining guards, she hurried after him.

  She saw him disappear towards the larger room that had the elevator. Running after him, she entered the room and was met by two guards. They were as surprised as she was, but before th
ey could fire their weapons, she hit one with the butt of her gun, spun around and kicked the other at the side of the head. They both went down.

  She moved towards the nearest wall and kept her back pressed against it, then crouched down. There were so many large cartons and tables that it was easy for anyone to hide. She knew that Jack was in there somewhere, but she could not see him. She watched, alert for any sign of movement.

  “Coming back here was a big mistake, Emily Silver.” Jack spoke from behind one of the tables to her left.

  Emily slowly crept towards the direction from which she had heard his voice.

  “I came back to take you down,” she said, trying to figure out exactly where he was. Knowing that she was also giving away her position, she moved away from where she had been hiding.

  “Nah, you came back for Wayne Carter. I wonder how he would feel when he knows the level of your deception.” He had moved. His voice was now coming from somewhere a few feet from the elevator.

  She knew that his ultimate goal was the elevator. She didn’t think there was another way out of that room, unless he wanted to go back and face Wayne and the guys, which she was sure he wouldn’t want to do. So she changed her tactic. Instead of moving towards his voice, she decided to approach the elevator from the other side and slowly inched towards it.

  She heard the amusement in his voice and wanted to slap off the smile she knew would be on his face. Why did he keep referring to her deception?

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

  “Does your husband know that meeting you was not an accident?” he asked.