Justin

by Kris Michaels

  He pulled out his picks. He worked on the lock while debating his next step. If he signaled he was in and the alarms were neutralized, he sentenced four men on top of those walls to death. If he got downstairs and was trapped? He and Danielle were dead. The locks opened with only the small sounds of tumblers turning. He put his picks away and took out the transmitter. He might be a selfish bastard, but Danielle was a victim of these men and their desire for a horrible weapon. He flipped the lid open, pushed the transmit button and, out of habit, pocketed the device. Nothing would remain to indicate he'd been here.

  He lifted the rug back over the door and prayed it would lay flat after he went down the steps. Holding the rug to the door, he gripped the door handle and lifted. A low creak and a groan of a spring reverberated through the kitchen. It was probably much louder in Justin's brain, but he froze, waiting to hear if the noise had drawn attention. After several seconds, he pushed it open far enough to start down the steps, bringing the door down after him—slowly and carefully.

  Total darkness entombed him. He unzipped a pouch and produced a small LED light. He flipped the switch and attached the light to a patch of Velcro on his vest. A large pantry area and wine cellar were immediately visible. He cautiously stepped down the ladder-like stairs and took the light off his vest to shine it against the walls. There were two doors. The first one was unlocked and led to a storage room. The second was locked. The light was slapped onto the Velcro, and the lock was picked with proficiency. He examined the door to make sure there were no alarms and then pulled it open. A short hallway led to one door. Justin moved quickly. There was no key lock on the door only a thumb-driven deadbolt. He popped the lock and pushed the door open, slowly.

  "Danielle?"

  "Justin?"

  "Don't move. They have a camera on you."

  A small sob punctuated the silence. "I'm so scared."

  "I know you are. I need you to be brave for me. I know you're strong enough to do it. I've seen you rappel off buildings and down a gigantic dam. You are training to climb Everest with me. You've got this. Now I need you to get up and walk over to this side of the room." He saw a plastic pail he hadn't seen on the video feed he'd watched at Guardian Headquarters.

  "What if they find you?"

  "We are dead, Dani, so you need to do exactly as I say. Come on now, babe. Get up and walk over here towards my voice." He could just make out her movements in the dark. He heard her shuffling to stand and then the small pads of her bare feet. The door was still opened only a crack. "Careful now. Find the wall and use your hands to guide you. Move to my voice. I want you right up next to the door before I open it farther. If I open the door too wide, it will be seen in the video feed." He heard her getting closer before he felt her against the door. "Okay, move away from the door about a foot so I can swing it in. I'm going to ask you to be as tiny and thin as you can be, so the door doesn't go into the feed. The infrared will pick it up. That's how they see you in the dark. It is going to be a tight fit through the space, but you can do it." he pushed the door open slightly and then braced it with his foot and pulled the door handle back towards himself, keeping pressure on it so it wouldn't swing open if either of them hit it. He extended his hand to her. "Take my hand, babe."

  Chapter 25

  Danielle reached for the sound of his voice, not really sure if this was real or a dream. She reached out and found him. His gloved hand gripped hers. The feeling of his warm, strong hand supporting her fixed her in reality. Justin really was here. Beyond anything she dared to hope, he had come for her. She gripped his hand and squeezed her eyes shut, stifling a sob.

  "Okay, come this way."

  He tugged on her hand, and she followed. The door was barely open. She squeezed her shoulder through, but the angle of her body against the door blocked any forward progress.

  "Wait. If I flip around, I'll be able to squeeze through easier. She let go of his hand and pulled away before she turned and plastered her back against the wall. "Hold the door tight." She waited until he acknowledged her before she used the door as a brace, and squeezed the right half of her upper torso out.

  "You're doing great, babe."

  She could feel the tension in his arm as he held the door against his foot, not allowing it to move. she pushed through with a gasp of pain. She clutched her right arm to her breast and held the door with her left. She felt the door scrape against her hip, but she was able to move towards Justin, spin her body towards the door and bring the left side through.

  She stumbled out past him. The area outside the cell was too dark to know where she was. She groped back and found him.

  "Give me a second." A sudden blinding light pierced the darkness. She blinked rapidly trying to get her eyes to adjust. Justin pulled her against him, and she wrapped her arms around him, but whatever he was wearing jabbed her harshly in several places. She pulled back with a hiss of pain. There was a small LED light attached to the shoulder of his black utility vest.

  "What..."

  "Later. We need to get the hell out of here." Justin grabbed her hand and led her to the base of a ladder. He put his finger to his lips and pointed up. She nodded. He held her hand as he turned off the light on his vest. She heard him pull it off the Velcro and then a small zip. He tugged her hand gently. She stumbled but found the first rung on the ladder. She felt rather than knew they were at the top after about ten upward steps. Justin squeezed her hand, and she returned the pressure. He went still, and she mimicked him although the grooves in the ladder were digging into her bare feet and she longed to shift her weight to alleviate the sharp, biting sensation.

  He squeezed her hand again. She heard the complaining of springs and a door open. A very faint illumination filtered down. She could see the outlines of a trap door. Justin sat on the floor as she came up between his legs. He jerked suddenly and put his hand on her shoulder stopping her from lifting out.

  Red dots danced on Justin's chest, just above her head. She gasped.

  "Motherfucker! Damn it, Justin, we nearly killed your stupid ass. What the fuck are you doing in here? You were supposed to get the fuck out and let us do our job!"

  She felt Justin relax. He stood up and extended his hand down to her. "There are no alarms anywhere in this compound." He spoke as she lifted out of the cellar.

  She tucked behind him, stupefied by the sight in front of her. Three men. Three M4’s with suppressors. The big guy in the middle had two. No. There were three handguns and a bandelier of hand grenades. She shuffled a little farther behind Justin. The types of weapons they carried made them military...or paramilitary.

  "What the fuck do you mean there are no alarms?" The big one walked closer, and that is when Danielle saw the resemblance. This had to be one of Justin's brothers. One of the ones he told her worked for a security company. What kind of security company armed their people with military grade weapons?

  Justin shook his head. "No alarms, Jacob. Not one. Something isn't adding up."

  The man Justin called “Jacob” spun and spoke to one of the men beside him. "Chief, get comms up."

  A voice came down the hall. "Structure secure, Skipper."

  "Roger that. Standby."

  "Comms are up."

  A man held out what appeared to be a satellite phone to Jacob, who brought it to his mouth and spoke in clipped words, “Alpha One, we have the primary."

  "Affirm. Magus?" The voice at the other end was clear in the still of the room.

  "He's secure. Now." Jacob flipped the phone back to the man who had given it to him.

  "Fuck you very much, Jacob. I was secure before your ass showed up." Justin shut the door and reached for Dani's hand.

  She cocked her head and stared at Justin. She'd never heard him use such vulgar language.

  "Yeah, the laser sights trained on your heart told me that, you stupid shit. We could have killed you." Jacob fired the words back at Justin.

  "Not likely. You and I both know to identify a target before
shooting." Justin headed toward the door and pulled her with him. She whipped her head between the men and hurried to keep her feet as Justin strode ahead. "I thought you didn't like guns?" She didn't know why that of all things came out of her mouth, but it did.

  "I fucking hate guns, but I know how to use them. I was trained by the best." Justin walked into the hallway with her hand firmly grasped in his.

  "Where are we?" She glanced at the furnishings. They had a Moroccan feel to them.

  "Libya."

  "Wait...what?" She half ran to keep up with him. Another massive man stepped out of a hallway. He wore what the rest of the men wore but had an M249 lightweight machine gun—the version her father's company made. She recognized the modified stock. She gasped, and half jumped out of her skin when the man's clone stepped up beside him. Danielle danced to a stop, her feet sliding on the hardwood floors. She jerked at Justin's hand as he headed toward the door. "What is going on? Why are you dressed like this, and that’s one of your brothers, right? Do you realize these men are carrying military grade weapons?"

  He turned and looked past her to the three men standing in the hallway with them because the man she believed was Justin's brother, the man he referred to as Jacob, had followed them out of the kitchen.

  "Chief has the point; Doc is on our six. We need to move." Jacob strode past them and opened the main door a crack. Dani heard a low whistle, and Jacob opened the door further. He exited the house using tactics she'd seen swat teams use on television documentaries. He rolled out the door, his weapon leveled at his shoulder, and then sank down, low scanning the exterior of the building. "Justin, you and Danielle on my six. Double D, you’ve got our back. Now move."

  Justin stepped out and crouched low, following his brother. His hand clasped hers, and she followed his lead until they reached the gravel. She tried to keep up, but the rocks dug into her feet. Justin paused and looked back. "Shit." He pivoted and dipped down draping her over his shoulder. "Hang on. I'll let you down when we get over the rocks."

  Danielle grabbed onto his shoulder and the back of his vest. They moved twenty feet before he dipped forward and placed her on her feet. Jacob halted and held his hand up in the air. Like a rock, Justin dropped to the ground and pulled her with him. Jacob held his ear as if he was listening and then swiveled behind him. He pointed at someone and motioned. Danielle moved her head. She watched the two men trailing them separate and disappear into the darkness. Jacob's whisper traveled the small distance to them. "Incoming. Large caravan. We need to find cover."

  "There are several outbuildings on the other side of the vehicles. If we can get to them, we can use them as cover to make a break for the stairs and go over the wall."

  "How do you plan to get her down that wall? We'll have to find another way out of the compound."

  "I'll get myself down that wall as long as you have a rope long enough." Danielle hissed back. Justin squeezed her hand.

  "She can rappel, and she's damn good at it."

  Jacob nodded and gave a low whistle. "To the outbuildings by the trucks. Now."

  Dani rose off the grass and ran after Justin. A shooting pain lanced the ball of her foot. She stumbled but ran on. Something had cut her, but whatever it was wasn't embedded in her foot. The gravel started again, but Danielle waved off Justin and hobbled through the sharp rocks. By the time they got to the back of one of the buildings, she could feel blood oozing from the bottom of both feet.

  Justin pulled her down beside him and made her sit. He stripped the gloves from his hands and carefully fitted them over the toes of her feet. After working each toe into one finger, he pulled the rest of the glove down almost to her heel. He opened his pocket and pulled out a sheet of tape strips. He used them to tape the gloves to the heel of her foot. "It's not perfect, but it will be some help."

  "Headlights," Jacob spoke softly to them. "It won't take long for them to realize the guards are down."

  "Where's the rope?"

  Jacob motioned with his hands again, and a tall man with an eye patch materialized. He kneeled down, and Jacob opened his pack, extracting a rope about fifty-feet long.

  "Get up there, get the anchor secured, and get the fuck out of here. I need to be able to concentrate on the shit storm that is going to hit in less than three minutes."

  "Give me a gun, I'm trained."

  "I know you are. I was briefed, but..." Jacob grabbed Justin. "Take care of your woman, get her the fuck out of here. Take one of the vehicles and get gone. Do you understand me?"

  Justin hesitated for a moment.

  Danielle’s gaze shifted between the two brothers, both warriors, both chiseled out of the experiences of their pasts—different experiences resulting in different scars—but they'd both been through a refining fire. There was a strength in Justin she’d always known was there, but now it was specific and focused.

  "Go, get out of here." Jacob spun on his heel and sprinted to a forward position, falling to his knee while he pulled out loaded magazines from his ammo pouch.

  Justin grabbed Danielle's hand. The gloves on her feet felt awkward, but the padding helped. She followed him up the stairs and stifled a scream. A man slumped against the wall. Half his head had been blown off.

  "Come on." Justin stepped over him, but she jumped, and followed him along the walkway on the top of the wall. "Here." He pointed to an abutment that they could use as an anchor. She held the length of rope as he tied off and tested the knot.

  Chapter 25

  Justin turned from tying the anchor rope just as a swipe of headlights broached the confines of the compound. He took the heavy rope from Danielle and dropped it over the wall. They were shielded from direct vision of the road.

  "I need a knife." Danielle held out her hand. He didn't have the time to question her intent, so he handed her his switchblade after he popped it open.

  She started splitting her skirt down the front. "I can't climb down in a pencil skirt."

  A burst of automatic gunfire flattened them to the ground and served to drive home the danger his brother and Alpha team had willingly put themselves in—for him—and he was supposed to leave them to it? Bullshit.

  "Get yourself ready to rappel down. I'll be right back." Justin crouched low below the wall and ran back to the man who lay dead at the top of the stairs. He pulled a Russian assault rifle from under the body and grabbed the blood-soaked ammo pouch from the man's belt. He hated weapons, hated them, but he'd be damned if he wouldn’t help his brother.

  Justin locked and loaded the weapon and switched the selector to fire...he hoped. He couldn't read Russian very well. Slipping up over the wall he surveyed the area. He could see Jacob and his men. The enemy was advancing from the flank. That put the twins in between two forces. Justin took aim and let out a breath before he pulled the trigger. His target gave a cry and went down. He terminated three more men before they found his position and started firing at him. Justin ducked below the wall.

  Danielle was there directly behind him. Her fingers were busy freeing a fresh magazine from the ammo pouch he'd laid down beside him. "This is an AN-94. Move the selector one more time towards you. It will do two-round rapid fire bursts. You can scatter them quicker."

  Justin nodded, flipped the selector and popped back up over the wall. He managed to clear his clip with the short bursts. He also saw Jacob's team moving forward. They fought as one. It was incredible to see.

  A bullet thunked into the wall next to him and he dropped down and hit the extractor button to clear the magazine. Expended brass rolled around him, disturbed by his movement. Danielle handed him a fresh magazine. "Jacob's team is advancing. If I can keep their attention, they'll have a better chance."

  Danielle nodded. "Then keep their attention. I don't want to leave them here any more than you do."

  His eyes flared at the comment. The woman continued to amaze him. He lifted and identified his target before he fired.

  "Justin!" Danielle's scream swung him around. A ma
n in a khaki uniform had her on her knees, her hair fisted in his hands, and a gun pressed to her head.

  "Drop the weapon, or she dies." Her captor jammed the barrel hard into the side of Danielle's head.

  He could see blood trickle down the side of her face where the skin had already torn, and Justin raised his hands and slowly bent down. The barrel of the gun he held leveled at the man's chest. He'd pull the trigger, but if the bastard jerked, a bullet would kill Danielle.

  Justin kept his eyes on the man, his finger on the trigger. He knew without a doubt that as soon as the weapon left his hand, Danielle was dead and so was he.

  Justin could see someone approaching from behind. The dark uniform and boots crept up, telling Justin whoever it was didn't want the man holding Danielle to know he was approaching. Justin glanced up and spoke to keep the bastard's attention on him and not on whatever savior happened to be stalking the fucker.

  "She's valuable. She's the one you're keeping as blackmail. Kill her and you have no leverage." Justin kept lowering his gun, slowly.

  "She's going to die on video—”

  Justin watched as the person behind the man reared up, shoved a fist through the crook of his arm and broke the hold he had on Danielle. In one smooth move, the aggressor brought a knife across the man's throat, damn near severing his head. Justin was up and had his weapon pointed at the man with the knife before the dead body dropped to the ground. Danielle scurried on her hands and knees to the wall behind Justin.

  "Joseph?" Justin set down his weapon. "What the fuck?"

  His brother wiped his knife on his black battle dress uniform and sheathed it. "I didn’t get an invite to the party, so I decided to crash it. Not nice to keep us from the fun."

  "Us?"

  An explosion rocked the front of the compound. Justin twisted in time to see what appeared to be a rocket slam into the rear end of the vehicle convoy parked outside the compound.