John (Guardian Defenders Book 3)

by Kris Michaels

  “Actually, you got the abbreviated entry,” Jacob King spoke as he walked toward them. “Sucks for pizza delivery, but it keeps us alive and in business.” He extended his hand and John grabbed it. “Let’s head in or we are going to miss the sweep.”

  John snapped his head to the right, looking at Jacob. “It’s happening now?”

  Jacob nodded. “We’ve determined the location for all ten. All of them are CONUS and we were able to deploy teams to take them down. From what we’ve ascertained, these people are mainly white-collar criminals with one murderer thrown in. Rich people who could afford to buy a cover. Jewell is tracing money now. The coffers under the assumed names are overflowing. She’s backtracking to see where it is coming from and if it is connected to Stratus or if she can track it back to incidents they were involved with under their previous names. Various agencies around the world would be interested in evidence to substantiate their cases and have these people extradited to the appropriate country and entity once we are through with them.”

  “Any ties to her yet?” Shae asked as they turned and twisted through a myriad of hallways.

  “Other than Lori having access to the profiles? Not that I’m aware of, but I haven’t had a follow-up briefing yet this morning. I was working an overseas situation while the others worked this op.”

  They turned down a hallway that John recognized. The door at the end of the hall was where he’d received his briefing on Lori’s name and the set of numbers. The light outside was a solid red. Jacob stopped at one of the briefing theaters and opened the door. “Ladies first.”

  Shae gave him a quick smile and entered the darkened theater. There were LED lights illuminating the stairs. The theater was ablaze with screens and two consoles of computers with three operators at each console. Jared King was at the floor of the screens facing the ones on the right. He had headphones and a mic on. A man John had met once or twice on the ranch, Nic, was facing the monitors on the left. He was similarly equipped.

  “Jared is running the op with these five teams and Nicolas DeMarco has the other five.” Jacob motioned to the seats at the front of the stadium seating. John sat down and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees as he flicked his eyes over the computer systems the techs were operating. Damn, tech had really passed him by in the years he’d been gone from the game.

  He blinked and leaned back in his chair, watching the men in front of him. Shae reached for his hand and he slid his together with hers. He’d learned how to live on the ranch. Not the daily chores, the cattle, horses, and ever-present repairs, but how to live. Through the ebb and flow of the days and months, he’d tapped into the undercurrent of quality time spent by himself, and yes, with others. He stared at the equipment. Years ago, he would have given anything to explore the operating systems, learn the new software, and figure out how to make it do things for his ‘profession’ that the developers hadn’t intended. He’d used a child’s holographic story software to manufacture holographs that he could imprint on IDs. The simplicity was astounding. But that accomplishment fell flat compared to what they had now.

  After this… ‘situation’ with Lori was done, he was going back to South Dakota. He was going back to living a simpler life. Simpler—but not easier. The challenges he faced every day mattered to the Marshalls. They mattered to the hands that he oversaw, and the achievements and hurdles he conquered mattered to him. He glanced down at the floor. It would be a good life, a perfect place to settle down with Shae and raise a family. Once the shadow of his sister’s treachery was past them. If it ever moved past them. A ghost of a feeling tickled across his skin leaving goose flesh.

  “Final drill down.” Jared King’s voice boomed over his thoughts. “Team leaders, confirm go.”

  The leaders popped off answers in order and the screens populated with similar but different pictures. Helmet cameras. Shae leaned forward but didn’t release his hand. He followed suit.

  “On my count, we go on one.” Jared glanced at his partner up front who nodded at him. “Three, two, one!”

  The audio and video noise quadrupled as the teams rushed forward. Different terrains, different abodes, and two were outdoors, but the teams all moved with the precision he’d become accustomed to when he worked with Sierra Team.

  “Get me a better shot on Team Four,” Jared commanded, and the camera switched to another helmet view.

  “Breaching,” one of the team leaders spoke. The door opened and they moved forward. John glanced from camera to camera and listened as a jumble of voices marked the progress of the sweep.

  “Get down! Federal officers!” The words echoed over and over in one form or another. One woman took off but had no chance of outrunning the team in the five-inch heels she was wearing.

  “Gun!” The word spun every head in the theater.

  “Shots fired.” The team in question filled the middle screen suddenly.

  “Tango Four is down.”

  “Tango Three, watch it, he went to the right.”

  Jared snapped his fingers. “Nic, take the other teams.”

  “Roger that, comms transferred to my headset.” Nic directed the command to one of the computer technicians on his side of the room. A head bobbed up and down. “You have comms with the exception of Tango Team.”

  “Tango Leader, status.”

  “Barricaded suspect. Tango Four is hit in the leg. We’ll need medical.”

  “Does the perp have an exit out a window?”

  “Negative––”

  Shots rang out and the camera dropped to damn near floor level—the team leader taking cover. “Fucker is shooting through the door.”

  “What type of weapon does he have?”

  “Looked like a nine mil.” The team leader looked over at his downed man. “Did you see what he had, Scooter?”

  “A fucking nine mil. Thank God, three inches higher or a larger caliber and I’d be singing soprano.”

  John and Shae chuckled along with everyone else in the room.

  “How many shots have been fired?” Jared directed the question to his computer operators.

  “Standby. Four the first exchange. Six… no, seven during the second exchange.”

  “If he has a standard fifteen-round clip, he has four left,” Jared spoke into the headset.

  “Yeah, unless the bastard had one in the chamber,” Shae whispered.

  “Possibility of one in the chamber,” Tango Team leader replied. John squeezed Shae’s hand and winked. He’d bet anything the woman was one hell of an operative.

  “Do you have sufficient cover?” Jared asked.

  John glanced over to the right. Nic was speaking low and working with the other nine teams. He didn’t see any teams hustling; it appeared the others didn’t encounter resistance.

  “We do.”

  “Knock nicely and see what kind of answer you get.”

  Tango Team Leader laughed, “Hold on.” Through the helmet camera, they watched the man low-crawl over to a table and reach up. He reversed course with a vase in his hand. “Knock, knock, motherfucker.” The team leader pitched the vase at the bathroom door and took cover. It shattered into a thousand pieces and the person who’d barricaded himself inside fired over and over in rapid succession.

  “Did you get a count?”

  “Four. That’s fifteen,” the computer operator responded.

  “Tango One. Your call. Fifteen expended.”

  “Roger that. Tango Two?”

  “Ready.”

  “Three?”

  “Affirmative. In place.”

  “Four, you tucked away?”

  “Roger that, Skipper.”

  “Five?”

  “I’m here and I’m getting bored.”

  “Guardian, we are going through the door. Two, I’ll take out the door and go high. You are low in case that bastard caps me. If he does, you take him out or I’ll come back and haunt your ass. Three and Five, once we breach you have apprehension.”

  Ackn
owledgements rang out and the team leader counted down, “Three, two… one!” They watched as the team leader sprang up and raced to the door. He kicked the door and it flung open.

  “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!”

  “Where the fuck?” The video showed two team members running in and pulling the shower curtain back. A mousey looking man stood in the shower, his hands shaking so badly he could hardly hold the gun. “Tell them I’ll pay! I swear, I’ll pay!”

  One of the men grabbed the empty weapon from the little man. “Who the fuck do you think we are, man?”

  “Stratus?” The little guy swallowed hard and looked down.

  “Oh, dude. You just pissed yourself.” The team member looked straight at the team leader. “Not my turn. I’m no longer bored. I’ll call dibs on taking care of Scooter’s leaky leg.”

  “Thanks, man, good to know I rank above some asshole pissing himself.”

  Jared King shook his head. “Tango Leader, are you clear?”

  “Affirm, sir. Just need to mop up. Literally.”

  “Ambulance is on scene, sir,” the computer operator interjected.

  “Medical on scene. Tango One, I want your apprehension here. Get you and your team on the bird we have waiting. No questions, no talking to him, nothing. We clear?”

  “Absolutely clear, sir. We’ll be on the first thing flying.”

  “Affirmative.” Jared turned to Nic. “Everyone good?”

  “Seamless. All primaries have been apprehended and are being expedited here.”

  “Perfect. We’ll start with Mr. Pissy Pants.”

  “He definitely looks like the weakest link,” Nic chuckled. “I take it we are going to play dominoes. Drop one, spin them on the others, and then work the entire haul.”

  “That’s the plan.”

  John looked over at Jacob. “What are you holding them on?”

  “Take your pick. Stratus is a recognized terrorist organization. We have reason to believe they purchased these fake identities from Stratus for the intent of alluding apprehension.”

  “Throw in proceeds of foreign crimes and material support for terrorism and they will be going to jail for a long time. We pretty much live in the confines of the Patriot Act,” Jewell King spoke from behind them. The woman cocked her head. “Hi, I’m Jewell.”

  “Shae Diamant.” Shae smiled at the woman then looked between her and Jacob. “Is everyone who works here a King? You two are definitely related”

  Jewell laughed, “Nah, but there are a lot of us.” The woman gave a short whistle, and all heads turned her way. “Once we have the video backed up and teams taken care of, Collen, Durbin, Richard, and Amal, you’re needed in Theater Four. We have forty-five minutes until go-time. Let’s get it cleared up.”

  The operators spun and picked up the speed of their furious typing. Jared King walked over, his headset and mic still draped from his shoulders. “Give me five minutes and we’ll head to the conference room.”

  Jacob stood and stretched. “I’m in that op. Going to grab a bite to eat with my wife before it starts. You two good here?”

  John nodded and they settled back down in the chairs.

  “Impressive operation.” Shae motioned to the monitors.

  “Do you miss it? Being in on the action?” John tried to look interested in what was happening ahead of him, but he had to know if this was something that ran in her blood like it coursed through the Kings and the people who worked here at Guardian.

  “No. There is an adrenaline rush, sure, but my time doing this type of thing is over. With this one exception. And you know what? I’m okay with that. I was carried on a wave, out of the Army, into the Mossad. I had nothing or no one to entice me to settle down.”

  “Until now.”

  She smiled and bumped his shoulder. “I know this guy.”

  “You do?”

  “I do. He’s pretty amazing, although sometimes he smells of horses and cows.”

  “Ah, that is a detriment to any relationship.”

  “Nah, he’s worth it.”

  “Good to know.” He dropped his arm over her shoulders and soaked in the warmth of her by his side.

  “Do you want anything to drink or eat?” Jared King asked as they walked into a huge conference room.

  “Your brother insinuated that getting pizza into this place is next to impossible.” Shae lifted an eyebrow and Jared laughed.

  “My brother didn’t mention that we have other ways to get food. He likes to mess with people. It is his favorite pastime. I can get you whatever you’d like.”

  Shae laughed and waved him off. “I’m not hungry.” She turned to John. “Are you?”

  John sighed. “More anxious to get this done than hungry.”

  “Well then, let’s get to it.” Jared closed the door behind them and picked up a remote. The walls, which were glass, obscured so no one could see in. He hit another button and a large screen dropped from the ceiling. Powering it up, he tapped on his tablet for a few moments and slid his finger, casting the document on his device to the screen. “This is a graph of the people we tracked from input received through interviews, yours included, Shae.”

  She nodded. There were names she recognized on the graph. Following the crosshatch of lines from person to person, they didn’t seem to tie back to anyone. Dead ends abounded.

  “Shit.” John’s words sounded like he’d been gut-punched. She turned to look at him, and he’d lost all the color in his face.

  “What?” Jared asked at the same time she did.

  “That’s her.” He nodded toward the name that seemed to intersect with all the others. “Lorelei Wilde.”

  Shae tried to catch up with him. “Wait? What? How do you know?”

  He swallowed hard. “It’s her actual name.”

  “Her name isn’t Lori Baker?” Jared’s confusion was obvious.

  “No, that is an alias she worked under at the Agency.”

  “Baker? Not Smith?” Shae asked.

  “Family ties weren’t to be advertised. They can be used against you.”

  “So, your real name isn’t John Smith?”

  “No, I took the most common name in the country when I took Guardian up on their offer.”

  Shae dropped into a chair and stared at the chart. She jerked her head from the screen to him. “What’s your legal name?”

  “John Smith is my legal name now. I was born Johnathan Wilde.”

  “Jewell, could you come to my conference room, please? We need your assistance.” Jared put the phone back down in the cradle. “She’ll be here in a minute and we’ll pull the information we have on Lorelei Wilde. We did a cursory check as she was mentioned by…” Jared slid his finger across his tablet. “Here. She was mentioned as a possible acquaintance of one Shamus O’Brian, who was connected loosely through business with Brittlyn Meyers. Ms. Meyers is Stratus. We’ve been monitoring her telephone, office, apartment, and travels for almost a month. Intelligence that we’ve gathered has doubled our knowledge of this bubble of Stratus. Since the Fates have been taken out of the picture, Stratus has splintered. We believe that the organization has withdrawn into secluded nodes and is trying to reorganize.”

  At a knock at the door, Jared cleared the screen and opened it. “Hey, you guys. Whatcha need?”

  “Lorelei Wilde.” Jared nodded to the screen. “How far did you dig on her?”

  “Um, let’s see.” Jewell sat down and started tapping on the tablet she’d brought with her. “Ms. Wilde, where are you? Ah, here we go. We did a level-three data mine. Basic background search, financials, schools, arrest history. Why?”

  “That’s my sister.”

  “Ah, no.” Jewell shook her head. She tapped her screen several times. “This is Lorelei Wilde.” A picture appeared.

  John and Shae spoke in unison, “That’s her.” The woman who’d had her tortured still made her gut churn. She pulled her eyes away from the screen.

  “What?” Jewell squeaked. “No,
this is your sister.” She tapped furiously and another picture appeared.

  John swore under his breath and scrubbed his face. “That’s not Lorelei. That’s a woman who Lorelei hired on several occasions to double for her in our father’s scams. Paula McCann.” She did bear a striking resemblance. Shit.

  “You think Paula McCann died in that car explosion, not Lorelei?” Shae asked.

  He shot a look at Shae. Why the hell hadn’t he thought of that? “Damn it. It could have been. I was a long way away.” John turned to Jared and Jewell. “Where is Lorelei now?”

  Both dropped their attention to their tablets. “New York. Tribeca. Recent credit card usage,” Jewell chirped and continued tapping.

  “We need to get eyes on her,” Jared spoke to Jewell and grabbed the door handle.

  Jewell acknowledged him, “I’m on it.”

  John arrested Jared’s movement with a hand on his arm. “Shae and I are going to be on the team that takes her down. Get us to New York. Now.”

  Exiting the facility was straightforward and expedited by Jared King. He opened the door to the parking facility and a black SUV pulled up. “This is your ride to the airport. We have Sierra Team flying into New York. They were diverted in air, but you’ve worked with them so we’re rearranging missions. They will land thirty minutes before you and meet you at the private terminal. We’ll have the op configured and brief you and Sierra Team when you arrive.”

  They piled into the SUV. Privacy glass kept them separated from the driver. Shae grabbed John’s hand. “I’m sorry.”

  John’s head snapped in her direction. “Why?”

  Shae shrugged. “Even though she ordered my…” She cleared her throat and continued, “… and she sold those profiles to criminals, she’s your sister.”

  John was silent for a moment. “I appreciate it, but Lori is alive. Which means the woman who I thought was her died in her place. Murder. She sold covers to criminals. She ordered your torture, and she is part of Stratus. How high up in the organization is yet to be determined. Speculation aside, she stole years of my life from me.” He turned and stared at her. The anger in his eyes surprised her. “Don’t worry, I plan on making sure that my sister pays for everything she’s done. Everything.”