by Dale Mayer
“Don’t blame yourself. This should’ve been a no-brainer. A walk through the park. Just info-gathering, like Jackson wanted.” Rhodes was busy setting up equipment in the front seat beside him.
Levi didn’t waste time talking. The river ran parallel to the road. The truck hit the bridge at top speed and skidded around the corner. He cut the lights by the time he was on the other side down the alleyway. He was driving fast, passing several stores. He cut the engine and coasted forward.
He pulled up behind the building, four stores down the block from the hardware store.
They were out of the vehicle and slipping down the walls of the back alley. Rhodes was ahead by ten feet. Levi, with his weapon out, pressed his comm device, looking for an update.
Ice’s voice whispered in his ear, “Harrison went in after Logan.”
“Any word from Logan?”
“No.”
“Did you see anything else from his body camera?”
“No,” Ice said in low tones. “It’s black. Harrison’s too.”
Levi shook his head and picked up speed. Rhodes gained access to the window. Levi followed. With weapons at the ready, they raced down the stairs where they had last seen Logan disappear. They were prepared for an ambush. Who and what they found when they got there was not what they’d been expecting. He heard Ice’s voice gasp in his ear at what she saw from the camera on his own chest.
Both Logan and Harrison were collapsed on the floor. Rhodes did a quick search, but nobody was in the building. At least not down here. Where the hell had their attackers gone? The room was still full of explosives but, by Levi’s count, not as full. He frowned and wondered if the plan was to blow the building with his friends inside.
“Damn it. Looks like they’ve moved out some of the materials. You sure there’s nothing on the videos?”
“Everything’s black. We can see from your camera, but that’s it.”
Rhodes murmured, “Logan’s taken a bullet high in the shoulder, missed the heart, but he’s losing blood fast.”
Levi ran his hands over Harrison, who was lying on the floor in front of them. “Harrison’s unconscious but doesn’t appear to have been shot. I see a head wound.”
Ice whispered sharply in Levi’s ear, “We’ve got activity outside the building. We’ve hacked into their camera system at the ice cream store, and another vehicle is arriving.”
“We have to get the men out of here,” Levi snapped. “Tell us where they’ll approach from– the hardware store or the ice cream shop. We’ll go to the other one.”
“No, you won’t. Four men are getting out of the truck, two going into each building. Heads up, you’ve got company.”
Levi had already moved. He crouched behind the wall of boxes, his mind racing to find a solution. He had to get both his injured men out safely, plus Rhodes. A ton of firepower was down here. He’d put it to good use himself if he could. He studied the benches around him and glanced over to make sure Rhodes was out of sight. Logan and Harrison still lay in the middle of the floor. Good. The men coming would expect to see them there. And that’s when he heard footsteps in the stairwell. The one they hadn’t found yet.
Chapter 9
Was there anything worse than watching your friends and loved ones in danger and not being able to do anything to help them? Ice shook her head.
A second vehicle had headed out from the compound after Levi and Rhodes. As soon as Ice had realized Levi’s vehicle was on the road, another team had followed. Some of Bullard’s men had wanted in on the action and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Typical bad asses couldn’t handle the peace and quiet for a few days. Once they got there, the whole block was likely to blow with all that power converging on it.
In the meantime she could only watch the cameras and wait and worry.
Thankfully they’d kept Sienna out of the loop as much as possible. She’d been here earlier, but then Alfred had directed her back to the office afterward. Ice hated to admit it, but she found herself forgetting about the bright redhead. Then again, life had been anything but calm and peaceful.
“How is Sienna doing?” she asked, casting Stone a glance. “She seems to be fitting in well.”
“I agree. Sleeping now. Doesn’t know anything about this.” He shook his head. “Still can’t believe she’s Jarrod’s sister. I wonder what he knows of her scenario.”
“Who’s to say? She might not have told him anything.”
“And that will piss him off. It won’t be long before we see him here to check on her.”
“Levi heard from him. He’s heading overseas tomorrow. It’ll have to wait until he’s back.” She leaned in to peer at the monitors. “Better if she doesn’t know about how bad this mess is yet. Jarrod might be good with this, but that doesn’t mean she is. Although she likely understands on another level.” Ice gave him a worried glance. “How can anyone not?”
“Trust these guys know what they’re doing.” Stone reached over and patted her hand.
“I know.” She nodded. “I’ve seen them in action before.”
Stone laughed. “That you have. And it’s no different now.”
“Sure it is. They didn’t go in prepared for this.”
“They’re always prepared,” Stone deadpanned.
“If that’s the case, why the hell did Harrison and Logan get taken down?”
Bullard laughed beside them. “She’s got a point.”
“Not everyone who is good gets away,” she reminded them. “Remember, Levi was betrayed in the first place. Not everything has a happy ending.”
On that note Stone nodded soberly. “That’s very true. But we have to trust sometimes. Right now men are running to the rescue. They’re all trained, and they all know what to do.”
Ice slammed down her fist on the table and stood. Her arms then crossed on her chest. She stared out into the night. “That might be. But it still feels like I got the shitty end of the stick.” At the sudden silence from the men behind her, she turned and glared. “You know? I kinda wouldn’t mind being there to kick some ass myself.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” Stone smiled. When in full bloom, it was beautiful to see.
She snickered. “We need to set up a practice location. I feel like I’m getting rusty without training.”
“Or is it you just need a target to let out frustration?” Bullard challenged.
She grinned at her friend who knew her too well for her own good. “That too.” She caught sight of the camera, the men racing down the stairs, and pointed to the monitors.
“Here we go,” Bullard said.
Ice watched and listened as grunts filled the air, followed by a few thuds and blue language. Although on Levi’s side there wasn’t much to listen to. He took out the first man instantly. In the background she could hear more grunts and groans as Rhodes took down the second man. The room was dark, the camera swiveling from side to side and then up and down in a crazy motion as Levi fought. Rhodes’s camera was even worse.
But suddenly the jerkiness stopped as Rhodes took a deep breath and straightened. “Damn, it took a little longer than I’d hoped.”
Levi’s chuckle was dry. “Maybe we’re all out of practice.” He added, “Two men. Both down and secured. Send a team to collect them. Medical attention needed for our two.”
Stone answered, “Got it. Two more unfriendlies unaccounted for. Watch your back.”
“Rhodes and I are going after them. Using the connecting door into the hardware store.”
“Keep the comm lines open and the cameras on,” Stone said. “We’re recording everything.”
“Going silent.” Levi’s comm went quiet, but his camera kept running the video. The four of them in the control room watched in silence as Levi and Rhodes approached the door, tested it to see if it was unlocked, then Rhodes pulled out his pick and quickly unlocked it.
Both men entered at the same time—one going low, one going high, guns at the ready, sweeping the area in front
of them.
The camera swept the apparently empty room slowly. If that was the case, where were the other two men? Nervously Ice watched as Levi did a quick search of the entire area. It was a decent size with several places where people could hide, but it still looked to be empty.
Levi turned suddenly. “Movement in the other room.”
Immediately he and Rhodes raced to the doorway and flattened to each side. And waited.
Ice watched, tensing as the seconds ticked by.
Bullard reached out a gentle hand to cover hers, and she jerked back, the first she was aware of how her fingers were clenched into tight balls.
“You really care, don’t you?” Bullard asked in low tones.
She glanced over at Stone’s blank face, and then, with a shuttered look, she gave Bullard a curt nod. Why was he asking? He knew where her heart lay.
He squeezed her fist gently. “He’ll be fine.”
Her gaze locked on the screen in front of them. “This is new for me,” she admitted. “I’m usually dropping off or picking up, but my focus is on the helicopter and keeping her in the air, not watching the people I care about moving through scenarios where I have no control.”
“No. I can see that would be an issue, but you should be getting used to this.”
“Maybe I am. But it’s not usually Levi I’m watching,” she said, her voice dry. “Makes it a little different with it being him.”
Bullard chuckled. “That it does.” He pulled away his hand, and they both settled back to watch in silence.
Surely this would be over soon.
*
Levi didn’t know what he expected to see. This was the room that should hold all the answers. But it appeared to be empty. Slowly he straightened as Rhodes was off to one side of an old empty basement.
Shelves on the wall were covered in dust, and Levi took a few steps forward and shone his light into the dark corners. Nothing. He didn’t know what he’d heard earlier, but nothing was here now. Rhodes reached out and cupped Levi’s shoulder. He turned to see Rhodes pointing at a far corner. Another door. That should lead upstairs to the hardware store.
But the layout of the basement was wrong. Here was a door but no stairwell, which meant it was on the other side of the wall and had to go into the office upstairs. But it didn’t, as Rhodes had seen that room and nothing was there. Unless they’d missed another trapdoor.
Then he realized something else. This room was too small. Only about half the size of what it should be.
He turned to look at Rhodes and saw he had already figured it out. With his fingers to his lips, Rhodes slipped over to the door, Levi right behind him. With the lights out they listened. Sounds of people came from the basement underneath the ice cream shop.
He’d already heard from Ice that it was his team. The door in front of them was ajar. Not by much, just enough that somebody on the other side could hear any intruders. He slipped to the side, and with a nod to Rhodes, they burst through together. Expecting gunfire, they were surprised at silence. Until they turned on their flashlights and saw the storekeeper Levi had spoken with, his body riddled with bullets.
They hadn’t heard any shots fired, and, from the dark color of the large pool of blood, it appeared the man had been killed much earlier. This space was smaller than the size of the room they’d just come from. There was a stairway in the middle. If this was the storehouse, it would make more sense. The shelves in this room were empty, but they were not covered in dust. So whatever had been on them had been recently removed.
He walked over and bent down beside the body. Not only had the storekeeper been shot, he’d been pulverized with the bullets. This wasn’t just an execution; this was an attempt to destroy the man’s face. But there was no mistaking the earring plug on the left earlobe or the odd freckle pattern on the back of his right hand. This was the same clerk. Levi went through the man’s pockets, but whatever ID he might have had on him had long since been removed.
“Recognize him?” Rhodes asked.
Levi nodded. “The clerk who worked in the hardware store upstairs.”
“Well, I guess he’s out of a job now,” Rhodes said.
Joking in their line of business helped to ease the pain and release some of the stress, not to mention getting the adrenaline back down to something manageable. They stood in the center and studied the small room.
“They’re long gone,” Levi said. “If it was me, I would be.”
“Ready to move upstairs?” Rhodes stood at the bottom of the steps.
Levi didn’t bother answering. He came up behind Rhodes, and together they crept upstairs. As expected, the trapdoor was open. The products on the shelves appeared to be undisturbed. They did a quick sweep of the store, but nobody was here now.
“Stone, how do I get this out of here?” Levi pointed his camera toward the security video system up in the corner.
Stone’s voice crackled in his ear. “Check behind the counter, and make sure no timer or some kind of a detonation device is attached. With these guys, we can’t take that chance.”
Rhodes’s voice carried across the store. “Come over here, and take a look at this.” Underneath the counter, they saw a monitor system that appeared to be a full computer. The outside camera video was being streamed. Settling his camera on the system so Stone could take a look, Levi asked, “Have you ever seen anything like this, Stone?”
Bullard whispered in Levi’s ear. “I’ve seen something similar. Not exactly the same setup, but this is no good either. That whole place is rigged to blow. If you touch any of the cameras, it’ll all explode.”
He could hear Ice’s voice muttering right on top of Bullard’s, making his heart ache and his stomach clench. He couldn’t think about those two now. He didn’t dare.
Ice’s gentle voice said, “An old building like that will take out the ice cream parlor beside you. Wouldn’t be at all surprised if it’s rigged to take out the whole block.”
He exchanged glances with Rhodes. With all the firepower downstairs and next door, it would take out a lot more than just the block.
But he sure as hell hated to leave it.
He studied the wires going to and from. There was no detonator. There was no timer. There was nothing that said this was actually the main location of the triggers. He’d have to find another setup. Bringing up the layout of the store in his mind, he tried to remember how the clerk had reacted when Levi walked in and through the store. The guy kept glancing at the mirror in the far corner. A camera had to be up there, or was there more than that? On a hunch Levi walked over, pulled out a ladder stacked against the wall, and stepped up to take a better look. Once there he could see the flashing light in a watch being used as a timer. Only it wasn’t ticking. “Stone, what do you think?”
“A simple setup,” Stone said, his voice thoughtful. “We still can’t take a chance since we can’t see anything else down there. Just because they have one system doesn’t mean they don’t have a fail-safe.”
“What is that likely to be?” Levi asked. With Rhodes at his side the two of them shone their flashlights as they examined the simple bomb. Depending on how it was set, this thing could go off at any time. As he looked at it closer, he realized touching the cameras would likely trigger the bomb. And while they didn’t have the ability to take down the cameras, somebody was likely watching them right now.
On instinct he gave the guy on the other side of the digital feed a thumbs-up. Whatever the heck they were up to, they’d done a hell of a job here.
And now they’d know Levi was on to them as well.
Chapter 10
One of Bullard’s men checked in. At the sound of Dave’s voice, Ice leaned closer to Bullard’s microphone.
“What have you found, Dave?” Bullard glanced at the monitors, but nothing showed Dave’s location. Ice waited and watched while Bullard tried to communicate with his men.
Stone manipulated the dials and buttons on one of the top row monitors and
brought up the GPS signal on the truck Dave drove.
“We just passed a black military-looking van parked in the shadows at the end of one of the blocks,” Dave responded. “Not on a driveway but pulled off the street, more like an empty lot.”
“What?” Bullard asked.
Ice leaned forward. “Dave, can you send two men to check it out?” She looked over at Bullard with an apology for speaking through his set rather than her own. But hers was tuned now for Rhodes and Levi.
Bullard disconnected his headset so the speakers ran through the room as Dave said, “Two men have just been dropped off at the end of the block. They’ll trek their way back. We’re less than one minute out from the hardware store.”
Ice chewed her bottom lip. Damn, she was no good with electronics or IEDs. They really needed Evan to join the team. He was a specialist in that area. “Remember it’s rigged to blow,” she warned.
“No worries.” Bullard told Ice. “Paul is an IED specialist. I presume he’s still in the truck with you, Dave?”
Ice watched the dotted line as it moved on the monitor. Every one of the vehicles on the compound had GPS tracking. Very quickly the vehicles would be lined up outside the store. And that bothered her. A lot. “You do realize how many of our men are in danger if that place goes?” She caught sight of Stone’s nervous twitch. “Stone?”
He gave a clipped nod. “If they planned to bring everybody in so they could take them all at once, then they’ve done a pretty decent job of it.”
Levi’s voice crackled in his headset. “If Paul’s here, send a man to keep everybody the hell back. We’ve got Logan and Harrison loaded into the truck. The two unfriendlies we’ve taken out have been secured and are now on the back of the truck as well.”
“Any sign of the two missing?” Stone asked, his voice hard. Cold. “I can’t see a sign of anyone else on the monitors.” He shook his head. “Levi, I don’t like this at all. Get the hell out of there. Those two men have to be somewhere.”
Ice searched the monitors, and they watched Dave’s truck pull up close to Levi’s. They could only do that and wait.
