“I didn’t order these.” Jillian pointed to the plate.
“Comes with the meal. I’m sure your man can help you finish them.” The waitress pulled a bottle of catsup out of her apron and plunked it down on the wooden table top. “Need anything else?”
Jillian shook her head.
Drake lifted her hamburger bun and removed the three slices of dill pickle from her burger. She shuddered as he ate them. He slid his side dish of carrots toward her, and she pushed the stack of onion rings and fries towards him, so she could get to the carrots. It was as if they’d been together forever. Neither had much to say as they happily stuffed their faces with food. She slowed significantly when she’d eaten all her carrots and was halfway through her burger. Drake continued to attack his plate of food until the plate was clean of all but a small amount of gravy.
Drake pushed his empty plate away and leaned back in the booth. “The ranch is just east of here. If you want, we can be there by nightfall.”
Jillian paused as she set her iced tea down. “Oh.” She glanced back at him.
He lifted and eyebrow and leaned forward. “What’s wrong?”
She shrugged. “Nothing, it’s just that I’m…okay, honest communication, right?”
“Absolutely.” Drake nodded.
“I want this last night. I’m afraid of meeting your people, and I want one more night of just you and me.” She shrugged again and lowered her eyes to her half eaten meal. “I’m being selfish.”
Drake reached across and lifted her chin. “I understand. I gave you the option in case you were tired of sleeping bags and hotels.”
“As long as you’re with me, I’m fine.” She could feel her face flush, and the cocky smile on his face told her he saw it, too.
“Then south it is.”
Drake dropped his black credit card on the table for the waitress. Between them, they’d paid cash for most of their purchases over the past month, the exception being her camera, the occasional hotel stays and this meal. They waited for the receipt. Drake tipped the waitress, and they headed south out of town.
Jacob, Justin, and Jared King sat with Nic Demarco and Zane Reynolds in one of Guardian’s secure briefing rooms. Jewell was at the computer console when Jade flew into the room. She sank into the seat next to Nic. “Did I miss anything?”
“No, we are waiting for contact,” Nic replied in a hushed whisper.
Jade glanced at Justin. “Do you know what this is about?”
He shook his head. “We received a coded transmission from Chief.”
“I have them.” Jewell put the call through to the briefing room speaker. “Go ahead, Tatyana.”
“There is a threat to Guardian. Mike and I were working a lead that we were given on my sister’s location. I used some old contacts. They had other information.” Taty’s voice was rushed and whispered, almost … afraid.
Jade’s eyes shot to Jacob who’d sprung to his feet. “Are you safe?” He blurted out the question on everyone’s mind.
“We are. For now. Please, I don’t have much time.” They could hear Chief’s voice in the background although what he said was indistinguishable. “The Russian Mafia was alerted to the Guardian operatives in their organization who work undercover. I know several high-ranking members who were not arrested during the international sweep. Chief has questioned one that we have…borrowed, yes?”
“What information do you have for us?” Jason leaned forward in his chair.
“They have pictures and names. Mike, Dixon, and Drake. The doctor…um…Blue. The pictures were taken when we made the exchange in the warehouse in New York.”
Jade’s gut clenched hard. “How? Who is distributing the information?”
“Stratus.” Tatyana’s word froze the room.
Jade felt a hand tighten around her heart. The name had been whispered for years, but only recently had there been proof of the organization’s existence. The groundswell of evil around this organization made any of the fuckers they’d taken down before seem like toddlers. Shit was about to get real.
“The man we have said he was contacted by a person who claimed he worked for Stratus. They paid the Bravata to go after us, and they have moved extensive assets into the United States to that end. Assassins and teams. The Bravata does not know where we are based. They search, monitor airports near New York and D.C. They weren’t looking for us here, it is how we were able to gain access to our asset. The twins are in danger.”
“Send us your location. I’m sending a team after you to get you out.” Jason stood up and started pacing.
“It will be in the dead drop email as soon as we can get to a computer. It could be days. The man we have will need to come back with us. We believe he knows more than he’s saying. I must go. We have to move.” The line went dead.
“Jewell, get Drake on the line.”
“Assassins monitoring airports in the New York and DC area,” Zane said as he turned to Justin. “The sniper. He could have been targeting Drake, not the professor.”
“Doctor.” Jewell corrected.
“Right. But think about it. If that assassin were after Drake, it would make sense of the lack of any connection, intent or indication that Doctor Law had been targeted. She isn’t the target. Drake is.”
"What about the emailed threats against her?" Jared posed the question.
"Scare tactics, maybe? There is absolutely no connection between those emails and any threat that I can find, and believe me, I've searched. The only connection that makes sense is the one to Drake." Jewell stared at the men as she finished, "The police in San Jose arrested the people who broke into her apartment, they admitted to seven other breaking and enterings in the local area."
"The mugger?" Jared shot back.
"Again, a man matching the description that Doctor Law gave the campus police was arrested and charged with petty theft. Purse snatching." Jewell pulled a pencil out of her messy hair and bit down on it several times. "A threat against Drake makes sense."
Jason wiped a massive hand over his face and blew out a large breath. “Fuck me. They’ve been mostly off the grid. Jewell, get his electronic profile and shit can it. Make him disappear.”
“On it.”
“Jared, where is Dixon?” Jason’s words cut across the room.
“Detroit the last time we had eyes on him. His father’s a slimy son of a bitch. He’s got Dixon working in Detroit. He’s not going to trust him right away. This operation could take months and based on what we know about the fucker, Dix may never get in a position to take him down. It was a shot in the dark.”
“One we couldn’t afford to pass up. If he gets in, we will have our first look into an organization that could be connected to the people who control Stratus.”
Jade sat forward. “Wait, someone controls Stratus? We didn’t know that. Did we?” Justin sent her a look that would have normally cautioned her to tread lightly, but what the fuck? “You think Dixon’s father is mixed up with Stratus?”
“We don't know.” Jared shared a glance with Justin.
“But if Stratus knows Dixon and Drake were working with us during the takedown of the Russian Mafia, then they have to know Dixon is a plant.”
“Holy fuck. When was the last time he checked in?” Jacob spun and pointed at Jared.
Justin put a hand on Jacob’s shoulder. “Believe it or not, we want Dixon’s father to know he worked with Guardian. Worked being the operative word. Dixon’s assignment is to crack open a foothold for us, to get a look into Stratus. He knows the risks. We talked about it at length. It was his decision.”
“Jason, you sent him in as a fucking sacrificial lamb?” Jacob roared.
“No, I sent in a trained professional to get us information and access. Information we can use to fight a battle that has been swelling off your scope. You have no idea what is coming down on top of us.” Jason shook his head and reiterated with a murmur, “No idea.”
Jared put his hands in his pocket
s. “Then tell us, Jason. Tell us what the fuck is going on. We’ve all seen the pressure you’re under. We can tell something is happening, but none of us are involved. What’s happening? What is keeping you here, away from your family, away from us?”
“I can’t. Not yet.” Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “Jewell, do you have Drake?”
“Ummm…yeah, on it.” Jewell turned back to her systems.
Chapter 17
Drake smiled because he was fucking happy. The windows were down, the music throbbed over the stereo and Jillian had her hand stuck out the window bucking the wind. It was a perfect day. They were singing the chorus to an old Guns N’ Roses song when the phone system in the SUV activated, cutting off the music. Jillian giggled when he belted out the remainder of the chorus and hit the button to accept the call.
“Alpha-Five prepare to copy.” Jacob’s voice shattered the lighthearted mood. Drake took the vehicle off cruise control and pulled over.
“Go ahead.”
“A threat has been identified. Your identity was compromised. We have reason to believe you were the target at MESE, not Dr. Law. What is your exact location?”
“What the fuck? Who? Why?”
“Russian Mafia were the actors. You were identified and targeted by Stratus.”
Drake gripped the steering wheel and held on. His thoughts spun as he tried to wrap his mind around the implications of that statement. “Stratus. Why me?”
“Not just you, Chief, Maliki Blue and…”
“Dixon.” Drake shot a look over at Jillian. “Have you made contact with him?”
“We’re working on it.” Jared’s voice broke in. “Where are you?”
“They are sitting on 141 South of Sundance, Wyoming.” Jewell’s voice answered for Drake.
“How close is that to the ranch?” Jacob fired the question.
“Four, maybe five hours? There is no straight way there from here.” Drake considered which roads to take.
Jewell broke in. “Joseph’s place is closer.”
Drake blinked and looked at the surrounding area. They were maybe an hour away from one of Joseph’s safe houses. He’d flown there, but that was years ago. “I’ll need landmarks, I flew in last time.”
“I’ll get that information,” Jewell confirmed.
“Jewell, I’ve used my credit card, recently. How good are the people tracking me?” He needed information. The transition from staying one step ahead of an unknown threat to becoming a defined target marked by a known assailant required him to use every asset he had, and Jewell’s information was vital.
“I don’t know the answer to that. I’ll clear your electronic history. If they are sophisticated enough to track you, nothing I’m going to do after the fact will prevent them from finding where you’ve been. It’s where you are going we need to protect.” He could hear her working the keyboard.
“Can you disable the GPS system on the rental?” Drake glanced at the white button with the blue star on it. The rental company could track him, and any college-level hacker could find a backdoor into the GPS system. Hell, he’d done it with Dixon just to prove the detailed process they found on the internet to hack the system was accurate. They’d been bored, and it had been a distraction.
“It’s on my list. Working it, I promise.” He could hear her fingers flying over the keyboard. “I’ve dropped the directions to the safe house to your cell. Memorize them. I’m turning your service off in five minutes. You know what to do with the brick.”
“Roger that. Archangel, if they come after us, I’m taking them out.” Dixon wasn’t looking for permission, rather clarifying tactics.
“Of course, authority granted.” He heard Jason’s acknowledgment.
His phone vibrated in his hand, and he glanced at the incoming text from Jewel. “I have the directions. Skipper, you’ve got to find Dixon.”
There was a pregnant pause before Jacob answered, “I will do everything I can to make sure Dixon stays as safe as possible. I’m not going to try and sell you a line of horseshit. He’s pretty much on his own, and he is looking over his shoulder already. He’s one smart son of a bitch. Smarter than you.”
Drake huffed, “One fucking point, Skipper.”
Jacob’s voice mellowed as he took over. “We’ll do what we can without putting him at risk. Let us worry about that situation, D. Get your ass off the grid. Joseph has a secure Sat link. Let us know when you’re bunkered in.”
The music blared back over the speakers when the phone link disconnected. Drake reached up absently and turned it off. His focus remained on the phone. He looked up, got his bearings and re-read the directions again. He handed the phone to Jillian and paused. Her face was ashen, and her huge brown eyes had tears in them. “Are you all right?”
“No.” She whispered.
Drake checked his six and made sure there were no threats. He reached out and cupped her cheek with his hand. “What’s wrong?”
“They want to kill you. They were shooting at you, not me? The things that happened on campus and at my apartment...that was just, what...random shit?”
He could see the confusion in her expression. "It would seem." He had to admit it looked exactly like random shit. Drake scrubbed his face with his hands. He needed a minute to figure out the shift in the dynamics because he was flying by the seat of his pants right now.
She grabbed his arm and then threw up her hands in a frantic motion. “Okay...okay... How do you stay safe? Who protects you? Why aren’t your people coming out here to protect you?” Each question got louder and the pitch higher. The last word verged on hysterics.
He reached out to her trying to calm her down. “Hey, sweetheart, listen, this isn’t as bad as you think—”
She batted away his hand. “Isn’t as bad as I think? Didn’t he just say someone was trying to kill you? That you were too far away from your home base? That you couldn’t drive five hours? That the threat was real? That’s what they said, right? Did I get this wrong?” Her voice lifted to octaves he hadn't heard before.
Okay, so maybe not the right thing to say. Drake lifted his hands and spoke like he’d talk to a skittish colt. “A couple things I need you to understand here. First, if I was capable of taking care of you when we believed someone was after you, then I am by default capable of taking care of both of us if someone is coming after me. Second, we don’t know how sophisticated or well-funded these goons are. They could be muscle-headed numbnuts who couldn’t find their asses with two hands and a road map.” The corner of her mouth lifted. “Now get to memorizing these directions. We have,” he shot a quick look at the clock on the dash, “three more minutes, then that thing becomes a brick, and I toss the battery.”
“Why toss the battery?”
“Because there are programs that can track any inactive cell phone regardless of the service connected to it. Guardian has such a program, and we work under the premise if we can do it, our enemies can. Watch your six. Always.”
“Six?” Jillian echoed.
“Think of a clock face. If twelve o’clock is straight ahead, then six o’clock is directly behind you. Keep looking behind you.”
“Oh.” She took the phone but placed a hand on his before he could start the car. “Promise me you won’t let the directionally challenged, muscle-headed numb nuts kill you.”
Drake winked at her. “I’ll do my best.” Drake opened the back of the phone, pried the battery out and chucked the pieces out the window. He made sure the road was clear and headed out, hyperaware of the vehicles meandering down the scenic roadway. He found the turn off he needed and watched for anyone tracking him. There was no threat from behind, and Joseph’s safe house was off the grid. The only coms he had were a secure Sat phone and a computer linked to a secure Guardian system. If the house was found and the computer compromised, the hacker would run into Godzilla. Jewell’s pet would hand them their asses, and then Guardian would start tracking them. All precautionary measures, but necessary when
dealing with the shadow world.
“Turn right, up here. That’s the junction we’re looking for, isn’t it?” Jillian pointed to the road sign. It looked like someone had unloaded a shell or two of buckshot at it, but it was the sign.
“Yep. Okay. Seventeen miles. We’re looking for a red reflector on a pine tree and a ghost of a road somewhere off to the right.”
“You’ve been here before?”
“Yeah, flew a helicopter over. The guy who owns the place was in a bad way. Another friend of mine, Chief, took a bullet that was meant for Joseph’s wife. The Cartel was tracking her because she had information they didn’t want made public. Do you remember hearing about the Morales Cartel?”
“Vaguely. They were involved with dirty politicians, money laundering and drugs, right?”
“Yeah. Joseph’s wife was the one who got that information to us.” Drake painted a broad picture because he couldn’t share the details.
“But your friend was shot at this safe house?”
“Yeah. An assassin was up on the ridge behind the house.”
“So this safe house isn’t really safe, is it?”
Drake (The Kings of Guardian Book 11) Page 14
