by Bianca James
“You?” Jarrad paused and looked over his shoulder.
“I told you, I’ve been watching these guys for a while. I didn’t realize until tonight that you and the other guys weren’t on the same team. Now I’m seeing the big picture.”
“And where in this big picture is my wife?” Jarrad’s tone was skeptical.
And she told them. Everything she’d seen before they captured her and the shooting started.
It all made perfect sense. The three ex-military men looked to each other and silently acknowledged that it made perfect strategic sense. They should have figured out themselves, but it took a cooler head to prevail and point them in the right direction.
Spider walked behind Erin to gather up the rest of his clothing that remained discarded on the floor. As he passed her, the back of his hand brushed against hers. A small gesture but she knew it meant thank you and a lot more besides. Her fingers found his and she gave his hand a quick squeeze as it passed. That brief, moving gesture left her hankering for more. She wanted to feel the warmth of his skin against hers again. All over her body. What was this man doing to her?
“So, what do we do now?” Jack asked nobody in particular.
Erin picked up her H&K machine pistol from the floor. “We saddle up.” She ejected the magazine, inspected it, slapped it home again with her palm and then chambered a round. “Lock and load.”
Chapter 17
Jack, Jarrad and Spider all looked at one another, each equally confused. All equally compliant. Who was this woman and why were they taking orders from her? It was as if she had cast a spell over them as they all nodded in silent agreement.
“When I saw a whole bunch of cabins, like army barracks, not far from here, I knew that’s where they’re holed up,” Erin explained.
Spider spoke up, “The old logging camp, where the workers use to stay back when they allowed logging around these parts. I know the place. Nobody goes there, so it makes sense they’d make that their base. We should have figured that out ourselves.” He looked to Jarrad as he spoke.
“You really think that’s where they have Elle?” Jarrad asked Spider in a hushed tone, not wanting Erin to know he doubted her.
“I’d bet on it,” Jack weighed in. “They wouldn’t split their team up if they were setting up an ambush, using her as bait.”
“It’s a big logging camp. Too big for us to search quickly with just the three of us,” Spider protested.
“Four of us.” Erin added hastily, not wanting to be left out. She slung her weapon over her shoulder to emphasize her point.
“Elle’s a smart woman. If there’s a way she can help us find her, she’ll get the job done,” Jarrad said with confidence.
A nervous silence hung in the air as they trudged down a rutted fire break. Jack and Jarrad took point, leaving Spider to deal with Erin’s sullen silence on his own. Jack and Jarrad were getting smarter all the time where women were concerned. For mountain men, that is. They’d both come a long way since finding their soul mates. Spider still had a long way to go.
“I don’t know why you’re so upset. What’s the matter?” he pleaded.
Erin picked up her pace to widen the gap between them. Spider put his hand on her shoulder to try to slow her down so he could hear what she had to say. She brushed his hand away and continued her petulant stomp along the dirt trail.
“So, we’re not going for the stealth tactical option, then?” Jack commented as he looked animatedly at Erin’s noisy boots.
A mocking snort was her only response as she continued on. Spider trailed in her wake before passing her and stopping dead in front of her, his massive, muscular bulk forming an impenetrable barrier.
“Look, there’s more to this place than you know. It’s not all about the cartel and the war they’ve brought to our mountain.”
“That’s it? That’s all you’ve got to say?”
She was an outsider. A newspaper reporter, no less. He couldn’t tell her. It could ruin everything they’d started to build on the mountain. It could destroy their safe haven.
“This place, this mountain is kind of special. Always has been. Some say it’s the water, others say it’s the mountain air. Some even say it’s a kind of magic. Either way, the women who come here find happiness, a souls mate and even those who were told they could never conceive quickly find themselves pregnant. They don’t go missing, as you suggested. They just never want to go back to the misery of the big city.” His shoulders slumped as he made the revelation. He’d betrayed the trust of the others and exposed them to an outsider. But he had to tell her. He couldn’t lie to her if she was his soul mate.
“Just how stupid do you think I am? Really? Magic Mountain? Sounds more like a good name for a theme park,” she scoffed.
Okay, that didn’t go as well as I planned in my head, Spider thought.
“It’s all true. You can ask Elle and Cassie when you meet them.” He stood firmly in front of Erin, not wanting to let her past until she acknowledged that she’d at least understood what he’d said, even if she didn’t believe it.
Erin tried to nudge her way past him. He remained unmoved, arms folded, a mountain of a man who wouldn’t budge. Now it was his turn to be stubborn. He looked over his shoulder to see Jack and Jarrad continuing on without them. They had no desire to get involved with Spider’s domestic situation.
“If you’re going to be a dick about it, then forget it. I’m over it and I’m over you.” She stepped off the path and tried to go around.
Spider watched her go past, following Jack and Jarrad with her weapon slung over he shoulder.
Chapter 18
“Shouldn’t we wait for Spider?” Erin asked as they surveyed the disused logger’s encampment.
Jarrad kept watch below but glanced askance at Erin, “Thanks to you, he’s probably sulking somewhere and doesn’t want to see you right now. He thinks you’re his soul mate and the mountain men take that kind of thing very seriously.”
“So I gathered.”
“We need to get closer if we’re to have any chance of finding her or a clue she’s left for us.”
“Diversion,” Erin looked at Jack. “You and me?”
Jack looked at her uncomprehendingly. It had been a long time since someone had given him orders.
“We work our way noisily through the forest over there,” she pointed to the boundary of the encampment furthest from their position, “and draw at least some of them away, leaving Jarrad to do his Army Ranger scouting stuff.”
“It might work,” Jarrad agreed. “But be careful and don’t take any chances. Jack…look after her.” He put his hand on Erin’s arm. “Thanks.”
She got the impression that was what passed as an emotional connection for Jarrad. She gave him credit for trying.
Most of the perimeter guards were busy chasing down the decoy infiltrators, leaving Jarrad a fairly free run of the place, but that didn’t mean he could be sloppy. That wasn’t his way. The army had trained him well. Never get too complacent.
As he drew near a small utility building in the center of the compound, he could hear a rhythmic tapping sound. One short tap then silence for a beat of a three, then the single tap was repeated again.
Morse Code.
Elle was signaling the first letter of her name ‘E’ in Morse Code.
Clever girl.
And then the tapping stopped.
Now he knew where she was. He also knew he should wait for backup. Every instinct instilled in him during his training told him not to be a lone wolf but to muster the troops and work as a team. Do it once. Do it right. That’s the way they did it in the military.
But it was his soul mate Elle and their baby that was at stake.
There was no time for backup. She’s stopped signaling. She could be hurt.
Or worse.
Jarrad spun around the corner, used his heavy boot heel to kick the flimsy door open and stormed inside, gun up, ready to take out anyone who stood in h
is way.
The room was empty.
All that remained was a broken, ramshackle of a chair and a wet puddle of blood on the floor. A broken arm of the chair lay next to a length of water pipe protruding from the wall.
Jarrad was still processing all this when he heard the blast of the shotgun and felt the impact. Point blank in the chest.
The H&K machine pistol fell to the floor, his hand no longer able to hold it.
His final thought before the darkness—Sons of bitches!
Chapter 19
“What was that?” Erin squeaked. She jumped as the loud report caught them both off-guard.
“Nothing good,” Jack whispered. “I can tell you that for sure. Sounded like a hell of a blast. Mossberg shotgun if I had to guess.” Jack’s face darkened with concern.
“We need Spider. And more guns would be comforting, too,” Erin suggested. She was trying to maintain a brave face. She moved closer to Jack as if she hoped to draw strength from him.
Jack cocked his head to one side. Erin heard it too. Footsteps coming toward them. From behind. They were being surrounded.
Thumbing the safety off, Erin raised the barrel of her machine pistol, ready to take out whoever was trying to get the drop on them.
The dense foliage began to part.
Erin moved her finger from the trigger guard to the trigger, ready to fire.
“Did you hear that?” Spider whispered anxiously as he stepped through into the clearing, parting the large tree branches like they were twigs. “I think they got Jarrad.”
Erin looked at Spiders ashen face in the soft glow of the moonlight. He was plainly concerned for his friend and fellow mountain man.
“Are you alright?” She reached out and placed her hand over his.
Spider took her hand and gave her a comforting squeeze. “I’m fine. But where’s my gun?”
“Take this.” She handed hers to Spider after flipping the safety back on. “Jarrad took yours. Doesn’t sound like he even got a shot off.”
“We need to sort these bastards out now. I’ve had about enough of them.” Determination laced Spider’s words. His face became a series of hard planes, washing away the Welsh dimples that had so softened Erin to him. He was all soldier now and he meant business.
“Is there any chance Jarrad could still be…” She couldn’t bring herself to say it aloud.
Spider shook his head morosely. Shotgun blasts never had a happy ending, not even for someone Jarrad’s size.
But, Elle was still one of their own. Part of their family. And she carried Jarrad’s baby. It was time to go to work. They owed her that. They owed Jarrad, too.
“I’ve got an idea.” Spider’s eyes glinted like diamonds. Even in the faint light of the forest they sparkled with cunning, piercing through the veil of sorrow from the loss of his dear friend.
He handed his weapon to Erin. “Here, take this. You’re going to need it for what I’ve got in mind.”
“Oh, shit,” Jack mumbled under his breath, “this can’t be good.”
Chapter 20
The Russian built Mi-28 was never designed to win a beauty contest. But what the purposeful and heavily armed helicopter lacked in beauty and elegance, it more than made up for with absolute, uncompromising brute strength. And it was one hell of a brute, bristling with cannons and a variety of armed missile launchers it sat on the disused logging camp helipad like a giant insect. A gigantic, angry insect.
Jack recognized the dormant beast as the same type of helicopter, given the reporting name ‘Havoc’ by NATO, that had saved his life during a covert mission before he was medically discharged from the army. Another lifetime ago, before he came to the mountain. Somehow, it looked far more menacing on the ground. Or maybe because it was in the enemy’s hands.
“And you can fly that monstrosity?” Erin asked.
Spider’s eyes lit up in sheer admiration. “She’s beautiful,” he whispered.
“Until she starts firing missiles at you or trying to turn you into a bloody mess with those cannons,” Jack grumbled.
“Maybe I just see beauty everywhere,” Spider shot back quickly. Too quickly as he shot a furtive, sideways glance to Erin.
Laying alongside him, Erin felt his eyes upon her. She blushed, hoping neither of the men noticed.
He’s not talking about the damn helicopter anymore, is he?
“Let’s get cracking. That brutish beast isn’t going to fly itself,” Spider snapped, more to himself than at the others. He needed to refocus on their mission.
Jack and Erin readied their weapons to cover Spider as he made a dash for the mighty gunship. Spider was counting on them, or as Erin preferred to think of it, on her.
Before she could change her mind and ignoring Jack, for the moment, Erin hurriedly leaned into Spider and kissed him on the cheek.
“Good luck,” she whispered, her voice wavering between pride in his mission to save his friend’s wife and fear that he might fail.
Spider’s throat constricted as he looked into Erin’s crystal blue eyes. He couldn’t find the words, not that he could have said them, anyway. He nodded in silent acknowledgment and sprinted down the slope toward the helipad.
“What have you done to him?” Jack taunted. “He used to be one of the hardest men I’ve known. Around you, he’s like a pussy cat.”
“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She felt the heat of her blush prickle around her collar.
A smile started to form on Jack’s lips, but before he could make a smart comment, Erin’s unyielding glare made him think better of it. Sometimes the smartest thing to say is…nothing. He’d learned that lesson. More than once.
The unmistakable clatter of Kalashnikov assault rifles and the bright muzzle flashes from the tree line rudely interrupted their standoff. Trails of dust marked the impact of bullets at Spider’s heels as he zig zagged across the concrete landing pad.
Trying to get a bead on the shooters, Erin and Jack fired short, controlled bursts toward the shooters. The entire field of fire was soon hazy with gun smoke, making it equally difficult for both sides to hit their targets.
Just as quickly, though, the smoke cleared as the massive rotors of the Mi-28 began to spin through the air, accompanied by the whine of the jet turbines that powered them. Spider had made it.
“We’d better get out of here before she’s fully spun up.” Jack grabbed Erin by the arm, directing her to further up the slope.
“Don’t we need to cover Spider?” By her expression, she was clearly concerned for his safety.
“Trust me, he’s not the one who needs looking after right now,” he shouted as they ran full speed, away from the increasing pitch of the engines.
Within seconds, the giant insect was aloft and rotating 360 degrees on its axis. Panicked bursts of gunfire bounced harmlessly off the choppers armor plate. Then, suddenly, the loud clatter of the Kalashnikovs was drowned by the deafening boomf-boomf-boomf of the turret mounted 30mm canon in the Mi-28. Spider had unleashed the sting of his new toy. His angry insect was spitting venom.
Thirty seconds later, although it felt much longer to the Armenian gangsters, swathes of forest were laid flat. Not a living creature stirred. The empty cannon whirred back and forth on its mount, eager to be fed more ammunition. The choking odor of ammonia from the vast number of 30mm rounds it had spewed out hung in the air like a deadly pall.
Erin stared wide eyed and silent at the wake destruction unleashed by just one of the helicopters armaments. Jack was right. Spider wasn’t the one who needed protection.
Erin was speechless. But her lips silently formed the words.
“Fuck me.”
Chapter 21
The blazing lights almost blinded Jarrad when they removed his hood. Having the hood removed was all well and good, until someone pointed a cluster of high intensity lights in your face.
He blinked away the glare and shook his head to clear a foggy sensation. Shotgun. Searing pain. D
arkness. How was he still alive?
At least they wanted him alive. That had to be a good thing, right?
Then he remembered the high tech, self-contained taser shell hitting him in the chest. Just because he was a bulky mountain man didn’t mean he couldn’t feel pain. Right now, he was feeling a hell of a lot of pain. The long, barbed spikes were still deeply embedded in his chest. Only the small, winged canister remained visible.
It hurt like hell, but nowhere near as much as the surge of electricity that the shotgun fired XREP self-contained taser pulsed into his convulsing body upon impact. It had dropped the muscular, fit ex-soldier like a puppet with its strings cut. He recalled convulsing and writhing in agony on the floor before a rifle butt to the head rendered him unconscious.
Finally, his vision started to adapt to the harsh lighting. Crystal white LED running lights, connected to a 12 volt battery were the cause of the insane brightness in the room. And then he noticed Elle, strapped down to an old wooden workbench, like a macabre carpentry project.
“Give him one more shot,” a commanding voice instructed, clearly directing someone else in the room.
Shot of what?
The sharp accent marked the man giving the orders as East European. Then his memory, disjointed by the electrical impulse of the taser and whatever they were drugging him with started to piece together. The cartel. They had captured Elle because he wasn’t there to protect her and him because he had to be a hero and couldn’t wait for the rest of the team.
Stupid.
“Another dose of Carfentanil could kill. He’s had enough already.” Another voice with the same accent came from behind Jarrad, so he couldn’t see him, but he sounded concerned. So was Jarrad.
Jarrad had worked in bear country long enough to know that Carfentanil citrate was a powerful opiate based sedative used to sedate large, powerful animals, such as bears and elephants. Too high a dosage and the outcome would be fatal. But why were they using it on him?
