by Margaret Kay
She pulled at her hands. They were secured tightly. She brought them up to her face. In the darkness she couldn’t see how they were bound. Pulling on them, she had the sensation of a single, thin wire or rope keeping them together. She brought them to her mouth. It was a zip tie. She couldn’t even try to chew it off. She dropped them back to her abdomen as the car took a sharp curve, suddenly jostling her. Then she remembered that there must be a trunk release. She raised her hands and reached towards the side, feeling for it.
In her head she repeated the words, they will find me, they will rescue me, over and over while she concentrated on steadying her breathing. She felt along the walls where her hands could reach, trying to locate the trunk release. She rolled on her side, but couldn’t reach high enough to where she thought it should be. She reached up while doing a partial sit-up. She held it as long as she could while feeling for the release. Finally, her hand found it, but a sharp turn rolled her and slid her along the carpeted floor.
Sloan hung his torso over the back seat and reached to grab his backpack where the handheld tracker locator was stored. He pulled it out and then re-sat himself in his seat. “So, we can identify right where she is when we catch the bastard who took her.”
Sherman nodded, grateful. He watched the traffic on the highway pass, frustrated that they sat there, doing nothing. Through his comms, he listened to Yvette give orders to Cooper and Garcia on the changing direction they should head to intercept Brielle’s tracker.
“Sounds like she’s heading right towards us,” Lambchop said.
“That general direction, anyway,” Yvette agreed. “Coop, continue north. She’s maybe two miles ahead of you.” The seconds dragged into minutes. Finally, Yvette spoke again. “Target vehicle just exited fifty-three onto Palatine Road, heading east.”
“Shit, she is heading this direction,” Lambchop said. “Control, do we have any idea the make and model of the vehicle?”
“Negative, Lambchop.”
Yvette continued calling her location out. Cooper and Garcia were a few miles back. They’d hit every stoplight.
Lambchop pulled the car up to the exit from the strip mall and waited. Brielle was within a mile. Mother, driving the other SUV, pulled up behind him. They waited. Sloan handed the tracker locator to Burke, who sat in the front passenger seat. He aimed it at the cars.
“She’s approaching your location, Lambchop, one block back, half a block,” Yvette said.
Lambchop eased the vehicle out onto the right lane of the four-lane road.
“She just passed you,” Yvette broadcast.
Mother pulled his car out with that notification. There were only three vehicles between him and the other Shepherd Security car. Jackson had his tracker locator out too. He was scanning the cars in front of him. Unfortunately, he also picked up the trackers from the other team in the car ahead of them. His money was on the white cargo van in front of them.
They all stopped for a red light. He swept the tracker locator between the three cars ahead. “I think I have something! The silver Ford Taurus in the left lane,” Jackson broadcast.
Burke handed the tracker locator to Sherman in the backseat. He aimed towards that same vehicle, nearly beside them. “Positive identification,” he said. “The tracker is pinging from that car.” The target car was back a half a car length. Looking through the windows, he could only see the two men in the front seats. “I have what looks to be two Caucasian males in the front seats. I do not have a view of the backseat from my location.”
“Neither do we,” Mother reported.
Lambchop let the target vehicle pass him. Easier to tail a car from behind it. “I’ll be damned,” he swore as the target car pulled into Chicago Executive Airport. “Do you have this Control? Do you see her tracker entering the airport grounds?”
“Affirmative,” Yvette replied. “Go get them. You’re in a more controlled space. You are cleared to proceed.”
The target car veered off, heading towards the private hangars. Just their luck. The two Shepherd Security SUV’s converged on the target car, which had slowed as it approached the first hangar. One cut it off from the front, the other pinned it in place in the back. Before either SUV was in park, the men jumped out, weapons trained on the two occupants of the car as they swarmed it.
“Hands! Let me see your hands!” The men shouted, the many voices overlapping each other.
“Stick your hands out the windows,” Lambchop yelled as he joined the others after he had put the SUV in park.
Outmanned and outgunned, both car’s occupants complied.
“Where is she?” Sherman demanded. He pulled the car door open and was shocked to see blond-boy from Louisiana. The man didn’t answer. Sherman pulled him from the driver’s seat and threw him against the side panel of the car. He kicked his legs apart and covered him as Sloan came in and searched him.
“I’ve got a nine,” Sloan announced, pulling it from inside the man’s coat.
“Got a .45 on the seat,” Mother announced from the other side of the car after he had pulled the passenger from his seat. Burke searched the man while Mother kept his weapon on him. He pulled a fifty caliber from a holster at the small of the man’s back. Then he secured his hands behind his back.
“Where the fuck is she?” Sherman growled in blond-boys face; the barrel of his weapon pressed into the man’s stomach. Blond-boy’s hands too were secured in cuffs behind his back.
Brielle heard voices she recognized. “Help! I’m here, in the trunk.”
Sherman pushed blond-boy against the car, his knee delivering a sharp blow to the man’s groin. “Fucker!” Then he released him to crumple to the ground. He leaned into the car and hit the trunk release. He rushed to the rear of the car as the trunk raised, revealing Brielle lying within. “Fuck,” he cursed aloud, his anger at the two men who put her there increasing. “Brielle, God! Are you okay?”
Brielle couldn’t stop the tears at the sight of Brian. She’d held them till now, knowing she had to keep her thoughts focused if she was going to survive. She reached her bound hands up towards him. He reached beneath her and cradled her in his arms as he lifted her from the trunk.
Sherman sat her to her feet and swallowed her up in an embrace. “Baby, are you okay?”
Brielle nodded against him. She felt her hands being gently pulled from between them. Her eyes met Jackson’s, and she watched him snip the zip tie, freeing her hands. She immediately wrapped her arms around Brian and leaned into him. A chill invaded her, and she shook uncontrollably.
“Baby, you're freezing,” Sherman said, feeling Brielle tremble against him. She wore only her pajamas. He took his coat off and draped it around her shoulders. He looked her in the eyes. “Did they hurt you?”
“I don’t know,” Brielle admitted.
Sherman passed her to Jackson, who still stood beside them. He closed the gap between him and blond-boy in two large strides. Anger surged through him. He threw two rapid punches, connecting his fist with the man’s stomach. He put all his weight and muscle into it. Blond-boy moaned as each punch made contact. He doubled over.
“That’s enough,” Lambchop said, pulling Sherman off. His gaze burned through blond-boy. “Who sent you?”
As expected, blond-boy remained quiet.
Sherman drew his weapon and pointed it at blond-boy’s head. “You heard the man. Who the fuck sent you?”
“Go fuck yourself!”
Sherman’s gaze was serious. “Answer the question or I’m going to shoot you in the head.”
“You aren’t going to kill me. You’ll never get your answers if you do.”
“I’m not going to shoot you in that head.” He dropped his aim to the man’s crotch. “I’m going to shoot you in this one. Then my buddy over there, our medic, is going to crowd in here and save your life, getting that bleeding under control because there will be a lot of blood when I blow your dick and nuts away. There always is. And then you’ll live the rest of your life wi
th one bag at your waist collecting your piss and another that you’ll shit into because the bullet will also obliterate your asshole. Now who the fuck sent you?”
“I want a deal, and protection,” Blond-boy proclaimed. “And keep this psycho away from me!”
“You hurt my woman. You damned well better believe I’ll go psycho on your ass!” Sherman shouted.
Lambchop laid his hand to Sherman’s shoulder. “Bring it down a notch. He’s going to roll on who sent them, and you really don’t want to do him real harm in front of Brielle.”
Sherman’s eyes flashed to Brielle. She stood beside Jackson, shivering. She had a traumatized look on her face. “She’s freezing out here. I’m going to get her into a car and blast the heat.”
“I’ll come check her out as soon as we have these two secured,” Sloan said.
Just then, the car with Cooper and Garcia pulled up close beside them. The two men were out of the car seconds later.
“Big Bear wants Razor and Jax to take the lead. We’re to take them to the DEA office on South Dearborn, turn them over to the DEA, one to a car,” Cooper said.
Jackson nodded. He figured as much. He and Razor were the two team members onsite who carried DEA credentials.
Lambchop led blond-boy over to the SUV he’d driven. He sat him in the rear passenger seat behind the driver’s seat. He pulled the floormat aside, revealing a metal ring securely bolted to the frame of the car. “So, here’s the deal. You get one chance to ride comfortably. You blow this and your wrists will be chained to the floorboards.” He pulled a reinforced strap from the side of the car and threaded it through the man’s arms, still secured behind his back. The end snapped into a buckle at the base of the seat. Then he fastened the lap and shoulder strap over the man. He reached in his back pocket and produced a set of ankle cuffs. “Don’t kick me,” he warned the man. He secured one of the cuffs on his right ankle, threaded the other open end of the cuffs through the metal floor ring and then fastened it onto his other ankle. When he was through, he looked the man in the eyes. “Thank you.”
Mother led the other detainee over to Cooper’s car and mirrored Lambchop’s actions. This man struggled against Mother as he tried to thread the back of the arms restraining strap through his arms. “Sit the fuck still or you’re riding on the floor,” Mother growled in his face. “I’d prefer to treat you like a human being, but it’s up to you. Your friend is cooperating, will get a deal. That’s an option for you too.”
“Fuck you, man. I’m as good as dead if I do that.”
“Your choice,” Mother said to him. The man continued to struggle.
Garcia stood behind Mother. “Enough of this shit, you ride like an animal.” He unthreaded the tether, and pulled the man to the floor, wrists first. He took hold of the ankle restraint cuffs and secured it to the cuffs around his wrists at the man’s back, pulling it tightly so the man had no wiggle room. He was pinned to the floor. Then he went to the opposite side of the car and opened the back door. He secured the man’s ankles in another set of cuffs and also secured those to the bolt under the floormat.
Cooper went to the door of the SUV where Sherman and Brielle sat. “Birdman, Shepherd wants you to go pack up some of her things. She’ll stay in the apartment on nine until this is sorted out. We’re pretty sure your place is safe for the moment but be on alert. The mission will be postponed for twelve hours. There’ll be a briefing this afternoon.”
Sherman appreciated that Shepherd had already thought that far ahead. “I’ve got to warn my brother and find a place for him to stay.”
“He can stay with Madison and me, if you want,” Cooper offered.
“Thanks, Coop. I’ll let you know.”
Cooper nodded and then closed the door.
Brielle watched numbly as Cooper and Garcia got back into their car. They drove away, followed by the other SUV. Danny slid into the driver’s seat as Rich entered the front passenger side of their SUV.
Gary got into the back beside her. He dropped his medical backpack on the floor between them. “Now, let’s take a look at you. Are you hurt anywhere?”
Brielle shrugged. “I don’t know. I know my head hit the wall when I was struggling with them.” She raised her hand and grasped her forehead. “Yes, my head hurts.”
Brian held her hand as Gary shined a penlight into each eye. He took her pulse and her blood pressure and checked over her head as Mother drove the SUV to Sherman’s condo. Gary produced a water bottle from inside his pack and prompted her to drink.
Sherman watched Sloan check Brielle over. Sloan was being thorough. He appreciated that.
Sloan made eye contact with him. “I think she’s fine, just shook up.”
“Thanks,” Sherman said. He looped his arm around her. “We’ll get you packed up and settled in at HQ before we head out.”
Brielle had forgotten they were heading out of town on a mission. She didn’t want Brian to go. Even though she would be at HQ and safe, the thought of Brian not being with her frightened her. “I know it’s your job, but I wish you didn’t have to go.”
Sherman wished he didn’t have to go either. He kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry, babe. You’ll be safe at HQ.”
“I know I will,” Brielle said bravely. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me.”
Sherman pressed another kiss to her head. “I know you’ll be fine. I’ll still worry about you though.”
As the SUV pulled into Sherman’s subdivision, all four men’s phones pinged with a new voicemail. It was from Shepherd. That was odd.
“Begin message. I’m sending this message out to all Shepherd Security personnel and their family members who carry agency phones. At zero seven hundred this morning, there was an attack against our agency. The Birdman’s residence was broken into and our new agency Special Projects Manager, Brielle Jarboe, was taken by two assailants, who are now in custody. Brielle entered the panic code into the security system, which alerted Ops. Our personnel intercepted and recovered Brielle promptly. She is unharmed. We are investigating how his residence was compromised. I expect that this was an isolated incident, but I urge you to all be more cautious than normal until we confirm if any further threat exists. As soon as we have information, I will share it with you. Contact me or Cooper with any questions or concerns. End message.”
Immediately, Sherman’s phone came to life with text message after text message pinging it, Sienna, Kaylee, and Elizabeth sending group text messages to check on Brielle. Then it rang. It was Ops. “Sherman,” he answered.
“Did Cooper tell you that Big Bear wants you to move yourself and Brielle into the apartment here at HQ until further notice?” Yvette asked.
“He did. We’re just arriving at my residence now.”
“He’s pushing off the mission until tomorrow and replacing you with Cooper. There is a new briefing scheduled for Alpha and Delta Teams at fourteen hundred this afternoon. Both you and Brielle will receive invitations.”
“Thank you for letting me know, Yvette.”
“No problem. Take care of your girl. She has to be shaken up.”
“Yeah. We’ll pack up and be back to HQ within the hour, I’m sure.” He filled the others in on what Yvette had just told him.
Then they all exited the car and went to his front door. Doc opened it from the inside when they reached it. “It’s clear.” He stepped back and let the others pass into the house. “How are you doing, honey?” He asked Brielle as she passed him.
“I’m okay,” she replied.
“What hit the wall here?” Doc asked, pointing out the spot near the security panel where the drywall was dented.
“That would be where my head hit.”
“Oh, baby,” Sherman said, pulling her more tightly against himself. “Come on, let’s go pack a few things.” He led her to the bedroom. “Where’s your phone?”
“I think I left it in the bathroom.”
“I’ll get it,” Sloan volunteered. On the bathroom co
unter beside the phone, he immediately recognized what was there. It was the wand to a pregnancy kit and the plus sign was blue. He knew what that meant. “Sherman,” he called.
Within the bedroom, Sherman had just grabbed a couple of empty backpacks from the closet when he heard Sloan call. “Start packing a few essentials, mostly tops and underclothing. You’ll get away with one or two pairs of jeans. I’ll be right back.” He joined Sloan at the doorway to the bathroom.
