by A J Storm
“Um, brother, I’m going with you. I want this guy,” Creeper shouted.
Chaos was shaking his head at his brother. “I know you do, but he’s seen you and Lyle. He knows who you are and will kill you before you even fire a shot. He wants you more than he wants Nova, so she can watch you die. No. You stay behind until we control the scene.”
Creeper didn’t fight back, which concerned Chaos. He’d have to keep his eyes on Creeper and warn Howler to do the same.
“I’m guessing Viper has all the hostages together in one room from the way he talked on the phone. He won’t put Nova with them. I imagine he’ll let her see her family is alive, then he’ll take her to another room. It’s what I would do. I want three or four snipers posted at the big picture window from the outside. After you take out the guards at the back of the house, stay and guard it. I don’t want any of those guys running out, especially Viper. Oh, and when we walk in, be aware he will have several of his men guarding them in whatever room they’re in. Don’t shoot the family but be advised some hostages will scream once gang members are shot. Everyone else will be warned something is going down at that time. Three men will follow behind Howler and me, searching for Viper and Nova.”
Chaos waited for complaints or comments. “Is there any further discussion or questions?” When no one spoke up, he ordered everyone to pack their equipment and meet in the underground garage.
“There will be four very large cargo vans downstairs for you to load into. They will drop you a mile and a half from the gate, and you’ll make your way through the trees along the side of the road of the property. Nova, Ben, and his crew will ride with you, and you’ll drop them at a mile from the gate. When you get to Elgin, Nova, pull over until the vans return from dropping everyone off. Then you can start toward your ranch. By the time you drop Ben and the boys off and reach the gate, everyone should be in place and ready.
Nova was sitting in Elgin with Ben, Jay, David, and his deputy, waiting for the vans to drive by on their way to drop off their cargo. To say she was uncomfortable was an understatement. She didn’t know any of these men, but Creeper assured her they were good guys. He knew Ben, and he vouched for them. So did his brother, Howler.
“I’m just relieved I didn’t have to be crammed in the back of one of those vans with all those pale faces,” Ben joked. All the men in the car laughed at his statement.
“You need your eyes checked, old man. They weren’t all pale, and there were even a couple of tribesmen on his team. I wonder if he needs another member?” Jay teased.
Ben glanced at Nova. “Don’t take us seriously, Miss Nova. We’re just playing around. We do that to prepare for the gravity ahead of us.”
“No problem. Staying with Creeper the last few months, I’ve seen it a lot. Except he and his teams get a bit unruly when they release the stress. Oh, here they come on their way to the drop.” They all sat and watched the four vans pass, then make a left-hand turn onto the road in front of the ranch. “Shouldn’t be too much longer now,” Nova stated.
“How far along are you?” Ben asked.
“Almost twenty-one weeks. I’ve just started showing, and the baby is moving now where I can feel it.”
“My wife is thirty-six weeks pregnant. It’s our third baby. We’re trying for a boy,” David said from the back seat.
“This is why this man has taken your family hostage, isn’t it? He wants you and the baby back,” Ben asked.
“He wants to sell the baby, not keep it. Viper isn’t capable of loving anything but power and money.”
“Then what we do today will be an act of justice,” Jay announced.
Twenty minutes went by, and the empty vans turned onto the main highway and passed by Nova’s car.
“Here we go, fellas—ready, set, go.” She pulled onto the highway and turned left at the first road off the highway. Ten minutes after she turned, she pulled over and stopped. “Good luck, guys. This is one-half mile from the gate. It’s over this hill and down at the bottom. You won’t have as far through the trees to get there. I’ll wait until you’re well inside them.”
Nova viewed each man slide through the trees and disappear before she put her car in gear and took off. She was terrified—for herself, her family, Creeper, for all the men willing to do this for her. Never in her life had she ever done anything like this. It took every bit of courage she had to run away from Viper, never mind trying to pull a scam on him. A scam which could get a lot of people killed.
There’s the gate. Shit. There’re seven guards—one more than Chaos counted on.
She slowly pulled her car up to the closed gate which was now opening to let a man walk out. Her finger pressed the down button, allowing her window to open.
“I’m afraid you can’t get in there today. The family is busy and not seeing anyone,” the deadly looking man announced.
“Why don’t you use your cell phone and tell Viper that Nova is here?” Her voice felt shaky, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“No fucking way. Hey, guys, boss was right. Nova showed up. Yeah, I’ll call him.”
He stood back from her window. She didn’t know whether he was trying to hide what he was saying to Viper or not, but she couldn’t hear them. He finally walked back to the car, giving her the once over.
“Boss says to drive on up to the house. He’ll meet you outside.” He turned and shouted to the others, “Open both sides, boys. She’s going through.”
26
The creep backed away while Nova pulled her car through, continuing up the gravel drive. Looking back in her rear-view mirror, she saw them close the gate, then six of the seven fell to the ground, shortly followed by the seventh man. Nova hit her brakes to study them, but no one moved, and the rest of the teams were pouring out of the trees. She drove on over the hill and around the curve until she saw the three bunkhouses with guards out front.
Off in the distance, Viper stood on the porch, his arms crossed over his chest. Nova had a feeling this wouldn’t bode well for her. It didn’t take her long to pull up next to the house. Viper didn’t move—he made her come to him, which she slowly did.
Instead of walking to him as she had always done—with her head down—Nova took each step with courage in her heart and glaring him in the eyes. It didn’t matter that she was quaking on the inside, he would never see her cower again. She stopped a few steps away from him.
“You’re showing. There’s more beauty in you now than there’s ever been—pregnancy becomes you,” he gushed with pride over something so mundane as impregnation. It was if he were the only sperm donor on the planet.
Viper fisted her hair, jerking her head back, taking her mouth. She didn’t move her lips when he crushed his against her, nor did she stroke over his tongue when he thrust his in her mouth. Her hands never touched his body, except to save her chest from being smashed. Nova was non-responsive although her eyes clearly showed the disdain she had for the man.
“You’ve changed,” Viper sneered.
“You kidnapped my family,” she retorted.
“You left me and hid, taking our baby,” he shouted.
“It’s never been our baby, Viper. It’s only been yours to do with as you want. All you saw was an opportunity for money.”
Viper draped his arm around her waist, pulling her toward the front door. “Have it your way, woman. You’ll regret this.”
I already do.
His touch no long calm, he jerked her into the hallway and stood her inside the archway into the formal living room. “Here’s your chance to greet your family and see no one is hurt. Say your hellos and get it over with. We have things to discuss.”
Seeing her parents and sister on the floor, wrists and ankles bound, was the point Nova lost her composure. Her mother literally wailed, and her eyes filled with despair. Her father did his best to calm the woman—he was always the family’s silent strength. He seldom let his emotions show.
Willow’s eyes filled with tears but smiled
at Nova. “Everything will be okay, Nova. Stay strong.”
“That’s enough,” Viper growled, jerking her out of the doorway and up the stairs. “Which room is yours?”
“The one at the end on the right.” He pulled her into her old bedroom, throwing her on the bed. Fear overwhelmed her for a second, and Viper caught it in her eyes.
“I love when you’re afraid of me—means I control things. But don’t worry—not going to touch you. You’re pregnant for Christ’s sake.”
Nova got her moxie back and shook her head, staring at him. How dumb can one man be?
“This is how this is all going to happen, Nova. You have two choices. One, you leave with me and my boys, no one gets hurt, and we all live happily ever after. Or two, you refuse to go with me willingly, and I have the guys shoot your family and all the workers on the ranch, and I still take you with me. It’s your choice.”
Nova understood she needed to keep Viper talking, but her brain couldn’t produce a logical response at that moment. She panicked until her hands reminded her of why they were in this situation—the baby. I’ll talk about the baby.
“Viper, I want to keep the baby.”
Shock and awe covered his facial expression. Nova could see it. “Why?” he asked.
“I’m carrying it—it’s mine. It’s part of me, and I want it. It moved and poked me, Viper. I want to keep it,” she repeated her initial wish.
“Nova, you know I can’t let you do that.”
“Why not? Who’s it gonna hurt?”
“I don’t want a baby, Nova. I told you that already and where the baby would go when it’s born. It will bring in a lot of money. You’ll get over it, baby. I promise.”
She tried not to, but she turned cold. Trying her best to stall the conversation, she was already too far gone with her emotions. Nova started crying.
“I won’t forget my baby, Viper. I can’t turn my back on a living being I helped create and carry for nine months. I’m sorry you can just walk away without a care.”
“God, fucking women. You need to be more like me. You’d be better off.”
“What’s going to happen to me once the baby’s born?”
Their eyes locked. Viper wasn’t answering her. The outcome wouldn’t be a good one, her gut told her. She couldn’t help but remember the woman who had been dumped out like last night’s garbage. Nova closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.
“Viper, I want to know.”
“I don’t know. If you were a compliant female, I’d say you’d be impregnated again by someone other than me. Honestly, Nova, you’re not compliant—far from it. You’ve fucked up this whole operation by running away and exposing me. I simply don’t know what will happen.”
Nova couldn’t stall him anymore. She was totally absorbed in her lack of a future and her baby. Her brain was past formulating more conversation. From somewhere downstairs, the sound of breaking glass caught Viper’s attention. He headed for the door of her bedroom.
The teams were all inside the gate. Chaos signaled for a third of them to split off with Mac toward the bunkhouses. The rest started climbing the hill toward the house, away from the driveway.
Once the crest of the hill was within viewing distance, he sent Creeper and Lyle with the second third of the snipers over toward the pasture fence on the left side of the main house. They were to follow the fence until they could see the house, then crawl to the back and up to where the guards were positioned.
Chaos and Howler took the last third straight over the hill to the house. Once they crested the top, they hit the grass, crawling to the front. The distance to the house would test any man’s strength crawling on his belly, but the reason for doing it stayed in the forefront of their minds.
Chaos glanced behind him to check on the progress of the others and how well they were staying close. The fact they blended into their surroundings shocked him. He didn’t think the ghillies would be that beneficial to their needs for camouflage, especially with the pastureland. The tan color was perfect.
It took over thirty minutes to crawl from the top of the hill to the front yard. They’d moved close enough to set up their guns and cover them with a material made from the same ghillies. Straight down his row, Chaos could see each sniper in place and focused on the guards.
Simultaneously, they aimed and fired their rifles, knocking each man back and to the ground. Chaos fired his gun from the end and shot a guard stationed on the side of the house. Creeper and Lyle would have the same advantage point from the back of the house.
Chaos had ordered Mac that once the bunkhouses had been taken, he was to send half of his third to the opposite side of the house from where Chaos was. Ben and his group were in that team, making good use of their skills.
Team members immediately moved to pull the bodies off the front where they could be seen. Chaos and Howler took their twelve and crawled to the front porch, leaving their sniper gear behind. Knives and Glocks would be their weapons to free the hostages and take down Viper.
Howler and Chaos nodded at each other with Chaos thinking everything had gone as planned without a misstep. That is until he heard a window break at the back of the house.
Hot would be the way Creeper would describe his mood, and it wasn’t the sexy kind of hot. He was angry. Ticked off at his brother, Viper, himself, but mostly for not being allowed to go inside with Chaos and Howler. Yes, too close to the situation was the why, but his brother was aware more than anyone of Creeper’s skill and stealth abilities. The frontline had always been where he shined the most.
Stomping through the grass over to the fence, Creeper pulled Lyle aside. “I’m going against Chaos, but I don’t care. I can’t sit back and wait for everyone else to jump in and start the fight. You can come with me or not, but as soon as the guards in back are disposed of, I’m going in the back door.”
“You aren’t going alone, man. I’m going with you, whether you want me there or not,” Lyle offered.
They continued following the fence through a few bushes and trees until they got within view of the back of the house. The team members put on their ghillie suits and crawled their way to the beginning of the yard. There, they set up their rifles and focused on their targets. On the same mindset, they fired almost simultaneously, bringing down their prey. Bodies were moved to the side, and as the member walked to dismantle their rifles, Creeper and Lyle went to the back door off the patio.
Creeper tried the door, but it was locked. A four-paned window was the top half of the door, so he hit one of the panes on the bottom with his Glock, breaking the glass. His hand slid carefully through the open section and reached for the lock.
“We’re in. Unfortunately, someone probably heard all the noise—forget surprising them,” Creeper complained.
Upstairs, Viper heard the glass breaking while he was in Nova’s old bedroom. He turned around, pulled out his gun, and quickly walked out in the hall to peer over the railing to the floor below. Nova had followed him out into the hall. Viper jerked his head around and growled at her, “Get back in there and do not come out again.” She knew he would hurt her if she didn’t.
When she followed his orders, he stood on the platform where a person could see everything below in the hallway. Two men silently stepped through the kitchen, passing by the family room into the main hallway. They were unaware they were being watched.
Viper was capable of being quiet himself when moving toward an object. He stepped down the stairs with as much stealth as he could muster and met them at the bottom. “You’re mine,” he threatened as he pointed his gun and aimed at Creeper.
Lyle threw himself in front of Creeper, knocking him down, but not before he took a bullet in the chest. Creeper was in the process of aiming at Viper when Lyle pushed in front of him. He fired as he was going down to the floor and managed to hit Viper in the thigh.
At the other end of the hallway, Chaos and Howler were moving toward the melee at the bottom of the stairs. Shots were alre
ady being fired from the formal living room, but luckily, the twelve snipers behind Chaos and Howler were taking care of the situation. The butler was the only one who had been hit, but it was just a graze across the shoulder. In a matter of seconds, all the guards in the room were taken down.
Viper limped into the family room, trying to get to the back door and outside the house. Creeper was on his feet in seconds, looking down at Lyle, torn between staying with him and going after Viper. Chaos told him to go with Howler, he’d take care of Lyle. As they moved down the hall, Chaos knelt beside Lyle and barely felt a pulse.
Pulling out his cell, he dialed 911 and asked for a helicopter to fly into Austin to the hospital. He also reported the gunfire. Taking off his shirt, he placed it over Lyle’s chest and pressed to stop blood flow. He wanted to be with Creeper and Howler to take Viper down, but Lyle required his attention, and he couldn’t leave him.
The snipers were cutting through the zip ties and releasing the hostages. However, they kept them in the living room since Viper hadn’t been contained.
27
If a human was capable of slithering, Creeper and Howler showed their prowess at it. With their guns drawn, a trail of blood led them into the family room. At first glance, they didn’t see anyone.
Howler slid beside the pool table while Creeper took the other side of the room and used the sectional as a shield—no Viper. That left only one place perfect for him to hide—behind the bar.
Creeping in that direction, Howler barely missed getting hit by a round fired at his head. Viper had no intention of giving up.
“You all right, Howler?” Creeper yelled. No sense trying to hide their positions. The lawyer knew where they were.
“Yeah. I ducked in time—it missed.”
