by Linzi Basset
“Good. The four of you get Mr. Yale to the plane. Reed and I will take care of the other target. Be sure to keep him safe and secure. If we’re not at the rendezvous point in thirty minutes, take off without us. Is that understood, Luke?”
“Got it.”
Rock set a grueling running pace toward the farmstead. His silent fury at Reed for fucking up was a reprimand in itself. One Reed knew would burst once they got back home.
“Which room?” Rock snapped as they stepped inside the quiet house.
“Up the stairs, last one on the left.”
“I go in alone. Keep a lookout and stay out of sight. I don’t want to raise alarm here by killing anyone unless it’s absolutely necessary. They’ll get the message soon enough.” Rock didn’t wait for a response as he ascended the stairs, his tread quiet and light. The door was locked but the key had been left in the lock, which indicated Sheila Maddern was alone. He slipped inside and stood quietly for a couple of seconds to allow his eyes to adjust. He walked toward the bed. She was lying on her back, her naked body bathed in the silvery beams of the moonlight shining through the window.
He palmed his knife, smiling at the familiar weight and the prospect of feeling it slice through skin and muscle. His grin turned evil. He’d been instructed to kill her but no one had said how it should be done. At least he’d be lucky enough to have some fun, to feed his lust for the smell of fresh blood, oozing from a warm body, desperately fighting to survive, to take one more breath, praying for a chance at life.
There would be none. Rock thrived on killing with his blade. It offered such satisfaction, a sense of achievement and exhilaration that was much more thrilling than watching a bullet tear through a body.
He traced the sharp point of the knife over her belly, watching with a smirk as her eyes popped open. She froze as the knife met flesh, soft and pudgy.
“No! Please, I’ve got money,” she whimpered.
The squelching sound floating through his mind was invigorating as the tip of the blade sank deep enough to make her squeal in pain.
“None of that,” he growled as he covered her mouth and cut it off at onset. She tried to bear back but Rock twisted the blade, all the while sinking it deeper and deeper. His smirk widened as he watched the skin tear to shreds as he rotated the knife, exulting in the sickening sound of his brutal gouging. Even more exhilarating was the dark fluid spreading over her white skin and staining the bedding below her.
“Let this be a lesson, Mrs. Maddern.” Without warning, he jerked the serrated blade all the way until the shiny metal disappeared inside her thrashing body, leaving only the handle pushing against broken skin. “Never overplay your hand.”
Her muted despair and broken sobs were sounds of brilliance in his ears—guttural chokes mixed with a soft agonized roar. He smiled as he slowly pulled out the blade.
“I could leave you like this to bleed out. Painful, but since I enjoyed myself too much, it’s going to be much too quickly for my taste.” He cackled a laugh at the terror in her eyes. Mind fucking a victim was part of the fun and he reveled at the fear he elicited.
Sheila continued to moan, convulsing, and trembling like a caged animal as thick streams of blood flowed freely from the gaping hole in her stomach. She whimpered as he ran the sharp edge of the knife around her jawline leaving a stinging pain from the pencil-thin cut in its course.
“Don't worry, Madam President. This time it’ll be quick.”
The last word was still echoing in her mind when she felt the warmth of her own blood spill over her chest. There was no pain as the surge of endorphins flooded her mind. Even untied, she was helpless to defend herself, completely lame from the excruciating pain in her stomach.
To Rock using knives was an art form, a lethal one.
“Give my regards to your maker, Madam President,” he mocked her as with one brutal slash, the razor-sharp blade cut through her larynx, severing the carotid artery and jugular veins. A second pass tore open the skin tissue and cartilage to penetrate her windpipe. She choked as her ability to breathe and the blood circulation to her brain was compromised. Her breath staggered in her chest as she felt it set in—exsanguination. Her eyes bulged wide as she gasped one final time. Her struggling stopped; her body went limp.
“Now … for the message.” His movements were precise, like those of a surgeon wielding a scalpel. His smile broadened as he finished the garish job and stepped back.
“And so it ends.”
Rock breathed in deeply, exulting in the tangy smell of her lifeforce soaking the bed as he wiped his knife clean on the linen.
He took a mental photo of her mutilated and bleeding body, parking it in a special compartment in his mind, to regurgitate over later as he replayed every slash, every gauge at his leisure.
Life was good.
It always was after an invigorating kill.
Chapter Sixteen
“Do you have confirmation that Rebecca Lomas and Evans were at her house on Block Island last night?” Stone glanced at Parker as he cranked the chopper’s engine, ramped it up to fast idle before engaging the rotors. It was their first operation using the sleek silver and black Sikorsky S-97 Raider—a well-spent asset since they were expanding with branches in California and New York.
“Confirmed. They had dinner on the patio overlooking the ocean. If you ask me, they seemed very lovey dovey.”
Shane laughed. “And you established that from a satellite view?”
“No, old timer, that would be a tad difficult,” Zeke mocked and groaned as Shane elbowed him in the side for his trouble. “That’s the beauty of virtual power. We used a micro drone.” His smile was filled with pride. “We developed a bug-sized unit that can get within a couple of feet of our targets without being detected.”
“Impressive, but I doubt Rebecca Lomas is Evans’ type. For one thing, he likes them young and perky. She definitely doesn’t qualify,” Kane said as he settled in for a nap during the predawn flight.
“Do you still wish to interrogate Yale before we go to Block Island, Shane?” Stone increased the collective pitch, gripped the cyclic, and nudged the helicopter in the direction of the mainland.
“Yes. I want to try and prod him about his children. My gut tells me they are somehow involved with SPEONUS as well.”
“Anything that can help our search,” Zeke said. “So far we’ve had no luck finding any signs that they even exist. For all intents and purposes, they died in that airstrike ten years ago.”
“Yale knows more than he’s leading us to believe, especially if he claims he’s the one in charge,” Shane speculated. “He’s too cocky and that concerns me. If SPEONUS has an entire backup operation already in place, it means they have shadow leaders, which could be anyone close to the White House to corporate leaders supplying financial backing. That’s why he’s not concerned. He knows they still have the power to achieve what they set out to do.”
“If we can cut those strings, we stand a chance at crippling them and forcing them to be negligent.” Ace glanced at Stone. “I’m wondering if raiding Rebecca Lomas’ house and capturing her at this point is the wise thing to do. We need to end their reign and to do that, we need to know who the big players are.”
“I tend to agree with Ace,” Hawk said. “We believed we achieved that with the first raid and we were wrong. We can’t afford to give them yet another opportunity to regroup.”
“You’re right,” Stone said, his expression thoughtful. “Let’s first see what we can get out of Yale and then do reconnaissance. Evaluate, plan, execute, regroup, stabilize. It’s a never-ending cycle in warfare.”
“Yeah, and once we know what we’re now dealing with, we go into the offensive, hit them with surprise, and end their motherfucking diabolic scheme,” Kane said.
“What do you know,” Parker chuckled. “The old-timer is actually listening … hey! Watch the crown jewels. Ava is gonna be mighty pissed if you cause damage to her mighty sword.”
&
nbsp; “Oh good lord, save us all,” Kane muttered amidst the laughter of the rest of the team, still slumping against the door with his eyes closed.
The rest of the flight was a mixture of pleasant sparring and serious speculation on how to get Yale to talk. By the time Stone set the chopper down in the valley of the farm in Tampa, they were eager to each get their turn at the traitor.
Stone’s steps slowed as they approached the secret entrance to the bunker. He looked around for signs of life. There was nothing apart from the melodious chirping of birds.
“Something’s wrong.”
“I feel it too.” Shane stood next to him. “The hatch is ajar but there’s no one in sight.”
“Walk lightly. Stay alert,” Stone rasped through clenched teeth. The team drew their weapons and proceeded cautiously. “Hawk, you Ace and Zeke scan the area outside. The rest of you, on me.” They followed him inside. “No lights,” he said as they encountered a pitch-black hallway. The interior had been designed with sensor lights. The fact that they didn’t work, worried him.
“Fuck!” Shane’s voice sounded gruff and raw as he switched on a flashlight and the bright beam fell on the prone body of one of the Secret Service agents just inside the door. The pool of blood confirmed he was dead before Shane knelt by his side to check his pulse. “He’s been stabbed in the throat,” he growled. “Jesus,” he said as he noticed severed fingers on the floor. “It’s not his.” He followed the beams of lights down the length of the hallway that settled on the second dead body. Even over the distance, they could see that half of his skull gaped open where a bullet had exited.
“How the fuck did they find this place?” Parker stared in disbelief at the splatter of blood and brain matter on the wall as they approached.
“Rebecca Lomas is a clever woman and it would be easy to find any properties we own. That’s why we moved everyone to Castle Sin for the time being,” Shane clipped. Anger reverberated through the dank space filled with the stench of death.
“I know that but there’s no fucking way they would’ve known about the bunker or on which property it is.” Parker looked at Stone. “There’s another fucking traitor in our midst, but this time I know it’s not from anyone at Castle Sin. We’ve ripped apart everyone’s entire life. They’re all clean.”
“Parker is right. It’s someone who knows the coordinates of this place.” Stone waved his hand in front of the sensor to unlock the door.
“Which means it has to be one of the Secret Service team detail appointed to guard our prisoners,” Kane cleared the first room. “No one else knows about it.”
“We’ll do an in-depth background check on all of them once we get back to BSE,” Parker said in a dark voice.
“Kane, you and Parker check the rest of the bunker.” Stone said as they cleared another room. “There was supposed to be at least another two or three agents on duty. Shane, let’s check Yale’s cell.”
“What for? We both know he won’t be there,” Shane clipped but followed him down a flight of stairs leading to the cells below.
His expression was grim as the empty cell confirmed his statement.
“We should’ve had more security here. It’s our fucking fault those men are dead. We were complacent, Stone. We knew what SPEONUS was capable of and should’ve taken more precaution.”
“Yeah, but it’s too late now.” They met up with Kane and Parker again once they confirmed that Yale was gone. Their stoic faces were proof enough of what they’d found in the other rooms.
“I’m going to check the CCTV footage. I want to know who the fuck did this,” Parker sneered as he stalked off. “They killed the guard in the office as well. Not sure why he didn’t sound the alarm when the two outside were—” He glanced at them over his shoulder. “He’s the fucking bastard who ratted out the location. Why else wouldn’t he have woken up the two agents sleeping?”
They followed him into the guard’s office. Kane helped him to move the dead man hunching over the desk to the floor. The pool of blood on the floor gave the room a sickly-sweet butcher shop odor.
“Any way to recognize the fucker?” Shane snapped as they stared at the shadowy figures on the footage.
“No. They wore night vision goggles and gloves. We can dust for fingerprints but we won’t find anything.” Parker continued to scan the footage. “This was a professional hit. Assassins, if you ask me.”
“We need to inform Mateo,” Stone said grimly. He hated that more lives were lost. “Darius, the one shot in the head in the hallway … he was about to become a father. How many more good men with families have to die … we have to end this and fucking quickly!” He was infuriated that people who were supposed to protect and serve the American people butchered them in a quest for more power.
“Outside perimeter is clear,” Hawk said from the doorway. “It looks like a fucking warzone in here.”
“They’re all dead,” Parker said grimly. “Zeke, we have another mole. I think it might be this guard since he didn’t activate the alarm when the two outside were killed. We need to confirm that as soon as we get back to BSE.”
“Got it.” Zeke looked at Shane. “Yale and Sheila Maddern? Are they alive?”
“Fuck! Sheila!” Stone growled as he and Shane stormed toward the door. “She was moved to the farmhouse. If this guard is the culprit or one of the agents on the detail, they would’ve known. Let’s move!”
They arrived at the farmhouse with the chopper in less than five minutes. The early light of dawn was spreading as they approached the front door of the house, the sun opening up as a blooming flower on the horizon, rising to send petals of gold to warm the earth.
“Mr. Sinclair? I didn’t expect to see you this early? Is there a problem?” The farm manager was startled as he opened the door to start his day and found the seven cousins arriving on the doorstep.
“Mrs. Maddern, where is she?”
“Upstairs, last room on the left but I suspect she’s still asleep.” He smiled wryly. “She doesn’t get up until noon most days.”
His discomfort didn’t slip Shane’s attention but he banked it for further exploration at a later stage as he followed Stone to the first floor.
“Door is still locked,” Stone said as he turned the key.
“That means shit—Jesus Christ,” Zeke exclaimed as they walked into the room to the dead and mutilated body of Sheila Maddern.
“Fucking hell, this is brutal,” Kane said as he walked closer. “Good god,” he exclaimed as he pointed to her face. “Her eyes have been cut out.”
“This was more than a quick kill. The bastard wanted her to suffer and she bled out slowly. I’d say she choked on the blood in her lungs,” Hawk said in a somber voice.
“Parker was right. This was done by someone with no conscience, who enjoys killing,” Shane rasped. “Meticulous and precise. Definitely an assassin with knife skills that he had perfected as an art form.” He pointed to her face. “Removing her eyes … I suppose it serves as a warning that SPEONUS has eyes everywhere.”
“What the fuck happened here?” Mateo Rogers walked into the room. His jaw locked as he looked at the woman on the bed. “The bunker! We need to check on my men.”
“I’m sorry, Mateo, they’re dead. We just came from there.” Stone paced the room. “Who on the detail is new or you don’t know well?”
Mateo struggled to focus. It was the first time agents on his had team died. “None are new. They’ve been in the Secret Service for years.”
“And the security guard in the guard office last night?”
“Max Summers? He’s the newest member of the security guards of the USSS but he’s proven his worth through and through.” He frowned as he searched his memory. “Although, coming to think of it, Agent John Lewis swapped the schedule for the guards without my knowledge yesterday. That’s why I’m here, to find out what the hell is going on.”
“I guess we have our traitor,” Parker said. “Zeke, let’s get back to the bunker
. I want to get all the historic CCTV footage uploaded to the BSE cloud. One way or the other, we’re going to find the motherfuckers who did this.”
“Yeah, I’ll hack into NASA’s live feed. We might be able to find where they took Yale if we’re lucky.”
“I’m sorry about your team, Mateo, but we have to get back to BSE to regroup. This changes everything, and until we know where the fuck Yale is, we have to put our trip to Block Island on ice. We need to be ready to move as soon as we have more intel.”
“I want to help.” He held up his hand as Stone opened his mouth. “I owe it to these men, to my president who I have failed to date, Stone. Let me help.”
“Very well. For now, you can assist us by going to USSS headquarters and find out everything you can about Agent John Lewis and Max Summers. The more intel we don’t have to search for, the quicker Parker and Zeke might be able to find the link to SPEONUS and who approached them.”
Ten minutes later they were in the air on their way back to The Seven Keys Island. The mood during the trip was somber.
Parker and Zeke were off the chopper before the rotors stopped moving, eager to find information on the assassins.
Ava, Parker’s fiancée, who was also an IT guru looked up as they walked into the operation’s hub.
“What are you doing back this early? I didn’t expect you back until tomorrow.”
Parker yanked her from the chair into his arms. He hugged her as he buried his face in her hair. There was nothing that made a human being appreciate life and the vibrant desire to have a fulfilling and happy future than having witnessed a gruesome death.
“We need to get married, Ava. I’m not going to wait until next year. I want you as my wife and I want us to have a baby.”
“Woah there, my love. Where does this urgency come from?” She stared at him, stunned by the depth of emotion and fear in his eyes. Understanding dawned. Something terrible must have happened to unsettle him to this extent. She cupped his cheeks and kissed him tenderly. “I love you with all my heart, Parker Sinclair, but you know me better than to make a demand like that without an explanation.”
