“Daddy, we need to talk,” Zoey announced and raised her brows dramatically. “It’s important.”
“Can’t it wait?” Reeves asked, then nodded toward the connecting hall. “I need to speak to Bogart.”
“No, it can’t wait,” she insisted and clung to his arm, turning him toward his study. “I want to go to college abroad next semester.”
“We discussed that, Zoey,” Reeves announced while turning somewhat angry. “I’m not leaving you out of my sight. It’s a dangerous world out there.”
“It’s a dangerous world in here,” she countered.
Reeves groaned and shook his head. “Do we have to do this again?” he demanded and seemed reluctant to get into it with his daughter. “You’ve already completed your first two years at college here. There’s no reason you can’t finish them here.”
“Yes, we have to discuss this again,” she demanded and arrogantly folded her arms across her chest.
Her father finally gave in and directed her toward his study so they could talk in private.
§
An hour later, Bogart slipped back into the basement, being sure to avoid the security cameras, and approached the main power breaker. He opened the box then removed a small bottle from his pocket. It resembled a bottle of clear nail polish, but it obviously wasn’t. He liberally applied the gel inside the main control providing power to the basement and security office. He recapped the bottle and returned it to his pocket. Before he even shut the breaker box door, the corrosive was starting to melt away the internal wires' outer coating. Bogart hurried away from the breaker box and paused in the doorway. He impatiently looked at his watch several times then heard footfalls in the corridor. He stepped just out of sight and waited.
As if on cue, a guard walked past. Bogart again looked at his watch. The fumes from the corrosive started lingering in the hallway, and the lights went out. Bogart darted from the room and into the darkened hallway as the guard removed a flashlight from his pocket. He shined the light at the detention room door. As the guard opened the door and stepped inside, Bogart crept up behind him. The guard shined his light toward the prisoner in the chair but then seemed to sense something behind him. As he started to turn, Bogart kicked him in the face with his cowboy boot. The guard dropped to the floor, out cold. Bogart dragged the guard the rest of the way into the room and quickly shut the door. He took a moment to switch off the camera, even though it was currently inoperable, and hurried for the man wearing the hood over his head. He removed Harris’s hood and the duct tape covering his mouth.
Harris gasped and appeared relieved when he saw Bogart. Bogart removed a switchblade knife from his boot and cut the duct tape binding Harris’s wrists to the chair's arms. He then cut his ankles free from the tape as well.
“You need to undress,” Bogart informed him, “and make it fast. We won’t have long before they check on you if the camera doesn’t come back on.”
Harris eyed him skeptically but did what he asked. Bogart undressed the guard and tossed the guard’s clothing to Harris. Once Harris had his clothing off, he immediately slipped into the guard’s clothes. Bogart hurriedly dressed the guard in Harris’s clothes. Harris then helped Bogart move the guard into the chair. Bogart swiftly removed a roll of duct tape from his pocket and bound the man’s wrists to the chair. He tossed Harris the roll of tape. Harris did the same to the man’s ankles and then placed a piece of tape over the man’s mouth. Bogart placed the hood over the man’s head, and both headed for the door. Bogart switched the camera back into the ‘on’ position before leaving, even though the power was still out. They entered the corridor just as the emergency generators came on. Bogart indicated which direction they needed to go and hurried Harris along the corridor.
§
The younger, second shift guard fiddled with the monitors within the security office as the door opened. He looked back at the older guard who entered the room. The older guard seemed frustrated but not riled.
“What happened?” the younger man asked.
“Power went out, but it didn’t affect the entire house, just the basement,” the older guard replied. “The backup generator already kicked on. How’s everything in here?”
The younger guard groaned and again fiddled with the controls. “Only half the cameras came online with the backup generator,” he scoffed. “We lost half the cameras.”
“I’ll check on our V.I.P. guest,” the older guard informed him.
“That one’s working,” the younger guard replied and indicated the screen.
Both saw the bound man within the chair with the hood over his head. It didn’t appear as if he had moved.
“We’re good,” the younger guard informed him. “He’s not going anywhere.”
“These power outages happen too often,” the older guard remarked, seeming disgusted. “The security system in this place sucks. Which cameras did you lose?”
“We still have on the front gate and the main entrances to the mansion,” the younger man reported.
“Good enough,” the older guard replied. “Contact the power company. Tell them to send someone out here to fix that right away.”
§
Bogart hurried Harris, now dressed in the guard’s uniform, to the large, detached garage located behind the mansion. Seven of the eight garage bay doors were closed. Only one bay door remained open, revealing a sleek, black sedan within the darkened bay. Since it was after six, it was already starting to get dark outside. Bogart and Harris disappeared inside the garage and paused alongside the expensive car. Bogart handed Harris a semiautomatic pistol, which he slipped down the back of his pants. He then gave him the keys to the sedan.
“You’ll find a pair of sunglasses on the passenger seat,” Bogart informed him. “There won’t be anyone manning the gate this time of day. Anyone sees you, just give a finger salute to the brow and keep driving.”
“Maybe you should come along,” Harris just about insisted. “You know we’re going to raid the place.”
“My cover is still intact,” Bogart insisted. “I covered my tracks. They won’t be able to trace your escape back to me. With a little luck, they won’t even know you’re gone for a few more hours.”
“We won’t find anything when we raid the house, will we?” Harris asked, now seeming slightly defeated.
“Nope,” Bogart replied. “Follow procedure anyway. Reeves has influence on all the right people. He can get them to do anything in exchange for his silence.”
“I know. He was a low-life blackmailer who made it to the big league,” Harris scoffed then appeared curious. “This doesn’t seem like your kind of mission. Why are you working this case?”
“We learned through our sources that not only does he have sensitive information on government officials and military operations, but he also has confidential information on Ross and the guys. Maybe even Jackie. He has enough on the team’s secret operations to complicate our lives significantly.” Bogart offered a tiny, unsettling smile. “Since I’m the only one without a background to speak of, I was the best option to go undercover.”
“How long have you been here?” Harris asked.
“Six weeks,” Bogart informed him. “After we discovered Reeves’s operation, the guys had Othello beef up security at the lodge just in case our home was compromised.”
“Six weeks?” he remarked, then shook his head. “Have you found anything?”
“No, nothing,” Bogart informed him, then hesitated. “Well, not finding anything is actually something. I installed a device on Reeves’s computer. Othello hacked it and found sections had been whitewashed. I’ll need to keep searching for some sort of flash drive.”
“Maybe we’ll find it when we raid the house,” Harris announced, then revealed his concern for the man. “Are you sure you don’t want to come along?”
“No, I’ll be fine,” Bogart informed him. “You need to go, and I need to get back inside and start working on my cover story.”
> “Thanks, Bogart.”
“Tell Monique and Colleen I said ‘hey’,” he announced while grinning.
“I will.”
Bogart watched as Harris got into the sedan and pulled out of the garage. The black, luxury car drove at a steady, slower pace down the long, winding driveway toward the massive front gate. Bogart waited until the car passed through the open gate before hurrying back to the house. He glanced at his watch. It was only six-thirty. He’d made good time. The family and, more importantly, Decker was still having dinner in the dining room. With the power outage being confined to the basement, the rest of the house would be none the wiser. If the security guards believed the power outage was just a fluke, they certainly wouldn’t interrupt Decker at dinner to mention it. As far as the guards knew, the prisoner was still tied up in the detention cell.
Chapter 4
Michigan, eight o’clock in the evening Eastern Standard Time. The airport hotel lounge was moderately full that evening despite the early hour. The lounge had a long bar that encompassed most of the back wall with enough seating for twenty patrons. The moderately dark atmosphere was meant to lend a romantic vibe, but it made the room feel somewhat seedy, like some olden day speakeasy. There were booth tables along the walls and smaller tables in the center. Most of the clientele seemed to be middle-aged businessmen traveling alone. The bar’s ‘days gone by’ atmosphere may have kept most of the traveling businesswomen away, particularly since there were nicer hotels just a few miles further away from the airport. Holden and Zack entered the dimly lit lounge and looked around. Holden was about to speak while pointing to a nearby table when Zack headed for two seats at the bar. Holden groaned and followed him. Both men ordered beer on tap and drank in awkward silence. Holden shifted and seemed to be searching for something to say.
“Did Rayner and Scorpio have a happy reunion?” Holden finally asked.
“I suppose,” Zack replied without looking at the man seated beside him.
Holden nodded and looked away. Making small talk with Zack wasn’t exactly easy. Despite all the time Zack spent at their house, Jackie was always around as sort of a buffer.
“Has Scorpio’s shooting improved?” Holden asked, making a second attempt to strike up a conversation.
“No,” Zack replied.
Holden rolled his eyes and minded his beer. Second effort attempted and failed. A few minutes of awkward silence passed before an attractive, young woman dressed almost too nice for the lounge approached them. She paused alongside Holden and appeared to be waiting for the bartender, who didn’t seem interested in taking her order.
“Service is so slow around here,” the attractive woman announced, then turned to face Holden.
Holden cast a look at her out of the corner of his eye but didn’t really pay much attention to her. She remained facing his profile and retained her smile.
“Was your flight delayed?” she asked, attempting to start a conversation with Holden.
Holden glanced at her, managed a tiny smile, and returned his attention to his beer. “My wife and I have a flight in the morning.”
“Smooth,” Zack muttered from his other side, just loud enough for him to hear.
“Buy me a drink?” she pressed while smiling sweetly at Holden.
Holden raised his left hand and wiggled his ring finger without looking at the young woman. “Still married,” he announced.
The young woman giggled and moved a little closer to Holden. “That’s okay,” she remarked. “She doesn’t have to know.”
Holden reached inside his inner jacket pocket without looking at the woman and flipped open his badge at her. Her eyes widened at the sight of the FBI badge, and she immediately took a step back while managing a tiny, nervous smile.
“Maybe another time,” she announced while fidgeting then hurried away.
As Holden returned his badge to his inner jacket pocket, Zack grinned and chuckled.
“You knew she was a hooker the moment she walked up, didn’t you?” Zack remarked without looking at him.
“Yeah, I saw her prowling the room when we first entered,” Holden replied and sipped his beer.
“See that woman in the corner?” Zack asked and gave a slight nod to their left.
Holden managed to look across the room out of the corner of his eye. A woman in a white dress sat at the corner booth alongside a young man.
“The one in the white dress?” Holden asked and again minded his beer.
“She’s giving him a hand job,” Zack casually remarked.
Holden turned his head and had to look more closely. He suddenly tensed and again minded his beer. “Christ,” he muttered under his breath.
Zack chuckled lowly into his glass of beer. “For a classy place, this lounge is notoriously skanky,” he remarked.
Holden eyed Zack and raised a curious brow. “You think this place is classy?” he mocked.
“By my standards,” Zack remarked with a casual shrug. “The beer is expensive and watered down, but the floor show never disappoints.” He then indicated the mirror behind the bar. “These are the best seats in the house.”
Holden glanced at the large mirror behind the bar. They could easily see the entire lounge through the mirror without turning their heads from where they were seated. Holden smirked and chuckled.
“I wondered why you wanted to drink in such an expensive bar with lousy beer,” Holden remarked with some humor.
“Entertainment value alone is worth it,” Zack replied with a sly grin on his face. “Kirk and I would hang out here during long layovers and play a little game.”
“What sort of game?”
Two hours later, Holden and Zack had a pile of dollar bills on the bar. Both men laughed while appearing moderately buzzed.
“Okay, last game of the night,” Holden announced, then indicated his cell phone face down on the bar before him. “Jackie should be returning to the room soon.”
“Winner takes all,” Zack remarked while sitting up straight on his bar stool. He scanned the mirror behind the bar and zeroed in on his next target. “Man in the polka dot tie with the woman in the red skirt.”
Holden scanned the mirror for the couple in question. “Okay,” he announced.
“They’ve been arguing the last two hours,” Zack informed him.
“Yes, I noticed.”
“She’s going to either pour beer on him or slap him across the face in the next ten minutes,” Zack announced.
Holden suddenly chuckled. “I’ll take that bet,” he replied. “You’ve been wrong almost sixty percent of the time.”
“Bullshit,” Zack scoffed and indicated the pot. “Most of that is your money.”
“Whatever,” Holden groaned and waved his hand. “There is no way that woman is going to react in that manner. Did you see the size of that diamond ring? She’s not risking pissing him off.”
“Now, we wait,” Zack remarked with a low chuckle.
Both men sat in silence and kept an eye on the mirror, watching the couple at the distant table. The woman in the red skirt suddenly slapped the man across the face then dumped her beer on his lap. Holden groaned loudly and slammed his palms on the bar top.
“Brutal,” Holden cried out.
Zack chuckled while collecting the pile of dollar bills. Holden threw his hands in the air while watching the woman storm from the lounge.
“Why?” Holden exploded. “Why’d she do it?” He then glared at Zack. “You saw something. What did you see that I didn’t?”
“When he came back from the bathroom, he palmed the waitress’s phone number,” Zack informed him.
Holden groaned in irritation. “Where the hell was I when that happened?”
“I misdirected you,” Zack replied with a tiny shrug as he placed the money in his pocket. “I got you to watch that man on the other side of the bar.”
Holden suddenly glared at Zack with a surprised look on his face. “Did you scam me?”
Zack grinned
and chuckled, then sipped his beer. “I most certainly did.”
Holden groaned and shook his head, then wagged his finger at Zack. “You are an evil man.”
“Common knowledge, Holden,” Zack casually replied. “You can’t seriously be realizing that just now.”
“I’m going to the bathroom,” he muttered with disgust and walked away from the bar.
Holden was only gone a moment when his phone dinged. Zack picked up Holden’s phone, saw a text message from Jackie, and pressed the button. The thumbprint ID screen popped up. Zack removed a latex glove from his pocket, slipped it over his hand, and placed his thumb over the thumb plate. The cell phone unlocked, and the message was revealed. Zack stared at the picture of Jackie up to her chest in the room’s whirlpool tub. The message read, “Waiting for you.” Zack groaned with desire, frowned, and reluctantly pressed the button to exit the screen. He set the phone back down on the bar. When Holden returned from the bathroom, Zack casually indicated his cellphone.
“You’re being paged,” Zack announced with little emotion.
Holden checked his phone, grinned at what he saw, and placed a few bills on the bar. “Remember, we’re leaving at eight tomorrow morning. Don’t stay up too late,” he informed Zack. “See you in the morning.”
§
Colorado, ten o’clock in the evening, Mountain Time. The back of Reeves’s mansion revealed just how isolated the estate actually was. The large, in-ground pool with a swim-up hot tub was nestled on the back patio. Not far from the pool was a fire pit, which contained an outdoor grilling station, a table that seated ten, and outdoor sofas built into the area surrounding the pit. A gorgeous, white gazebo took up a large piece of property not far from the fire pit. The driveway continued past the house and to the massive garage in back. Bogart walked across the back yard beyond the eight-car garage with his cell phone to his ear.
Witness Protection 9: S.N.A.F.U. Page 3
