by Dale Mayer
Bullard turned to Stone and asked, “Do you have satellite imagery here?”
Stone snorted. “In progress. We lost our contact with one and haven’t got everything functioning quite at 100 percent yet. We weren’t expecting a strike on the home front on day one.”
That was a bit of an exaggeration, but Ice knew exactly what he meant. She turned to Bullard. “Do you have it?”
He nodded. “Absolutely. Hard to operate if you don’t have eyes in the sky with this.”
Ice’s gaze went from Stone to Bullard. “Can you log in from here to your system and bring those eyes on this scenario?”
Stone spun in his seat to stare at her. “That’s one hell of a damn good idea.”
Bullard already worked on the keyboard nearest him. She didn’t look too closely. One of the big things about this type of work was security, and that meant not looking over everybody’s shoulder.
“Stone, which monitor are you giving me for this?”
Stone got up and fiddled with the equipment. Within seconds the center one in front of Bullard went black before it lit up as a new system came online.
Both Ice and Stone leaned in as Bullard brought up the coordinates of the compound. Instantly Ice could see the outside of their building where the control room was. The darkness, the truck still parked in the compound, the roof. It was cool and a little unnerving. It meant that anybody at any time could keep tabs on them.
She watched and wondered. Bullard quickly changed the satellite focus to the town where most of their men were. To think they were only ten minutes out made her want to jump into the last vehicle and go get them herself. But this sitting by and waiting … Devastating. Her nerves were stretched thin, and she couldn’t stop squeezing and opening her fists to ease the tension.
When a softball landed in her lap, Stone said with a smile, “Squeeze that instead.”
She snatched it up and squeezed to her heart’s content. The resilience of the ball was enough for her to squeeze as hard as she could without breaking it. She grinned. Perfect.
“There.” Bullard leaned forward and tapped the monitor. He zoomed down to check out the vehicles they’d been tracking but couldn’t see anyone.
Shit, that meant Dave and Paul went inside. Unless one was waiting in the vehicle. But she knew Dave, and he was never one to step back and let another stay in a dangerous position.
She watched as Bullard suddenly pulled the view back so they could see the entire length of the block again. Then he switched the angle slightly, and the van that Dave had mentioned showed up. Hell, yeah, that was a military-looking vehicle.
They could see Merk approaching from the front and another man had gone around the back of the building and had come up behind the van. She figured that had to be one of Dave’s men. But it was hard to keep their eyes on both positions. And, this far apart, they couldn’t actually see each other very clearly. The van suddenly turned on flashing lights and ripped forward at a hell of a speed, as if it knew it would be under attack any moment. The two men fired, aiming for the tires. But the vehicle kept on going.
“Any way to get a plate number?” she asked.
The satellite zoomed in as much is it could, and she caught four letters. LH, B, and K. She quickly wrote them down. Dave’s voice filled the air. “Paul has disconnected the timer. Removing the camera system. We’ll be out in two minutes.”
Bullard asked, “What about the two men you sent after the van? Did you hear back from them?”
“Merk just now checked in. The van left. They took out one tire, but that didn’t slow it down.”
Specialized tires then, Ice thought. Definitely a military vehicle and looking for trouble. If not looking, ready for trouble. She held her hand to her mouth and whispered, “Levi, you okay?”
“I’m fine.” His warm reassuring voice crackled in her ear. “You should have Logan and Harrison coming in any moment.”
She shifted her glance to the GPS tracking monitor, and, sure enough, the truck was just a mile away from the front gates. She took off her headset and stood up. “I’m heading to the medical bay. Those two will need help.”
Bullard dropped his headset and followed.
Good timing to have him and his men visiting. Bullard was a fully licensed doctor, having training in the military. As he stepped through the doorway, he said, “Stone, it’s over to you.”
Stone waved them off. “I’ll turn on the speakers in the medical room.”
“If you need us,” Ice said, “just let us know. Bullard could probably handle it all on his own, but, just in case, I want to be there.”
“I got this,” Stone said. “Go. They’re entering the gate now.”
Ice, gun at her side, raced straight for the medical clinic. Inside she hit the lights and bolted to the one side door; a large garage door was on the other side. A series of doors kept any kind of danger outside but allowed them access to the patients. By the time the garage door opened, the truck was backing up.
She was grateful to see Harrison walking, a little shaky, but at least he was ambulatory. Logan on the other hand was bleeding badly.
She got Harrison into the bed beside Logan, had him lie down, and said she could check his head wound when she had a moment. Logan was a priority. With the other two men standing by, she stepped up to assist Bullard. He had already cut away Logan’s shirt and was cleaning the wound, ready to go in after the bullet.
Blood pulsed sluggishly from his shoulder. Not good.
She quickly took care of the rest of his shirt, watching as Bullard went to the medical cabinet to pull out anesthesia. He administered a shot, waited all of ten seconds, and tested the area with his fingers. When Logan cried out, Bullard motioned to the driver and Alfred who was now standing at the doorway and said, “Come in and hold him down.”
With eyebrows raised, the two men raced in, one on each side, and secured straps around Logan’s ankles, hips, and chest. Then they held his head firm.
Ice had seen a lot of surgeries—she’d done a lot of field medicine. But she was damn glad Bullard was here for this one. He went in after that bullet, and he was taking no prisoners. The good news was it appeared to have gone straight in and embedded in the bone. She brought over the X-ray equipment and set it up.
Bullard stepped back, rearranged the angle to find what he wanted to see. Everybody retreated, and within minutes, he had the image he needed.
Then Bullard went to work. She stayed at his side while he cut, stitched muscle and tissue closed, cleaned out the wound before closing up the injury. She kept busy cleaning up after Bullard. But finally he was done. They put a clean bandage on Logan’s shoulder, and, now that Bullard had a moment, he set up an IV. She watched him do the last part in surprise.
He glanced over at her and shrugged. “I just wanted to make sure, in case we have to go back in, that I have an easier way to knock him out. This will do it in seconds.”
She nodded. That IV provided an instant pathway for nutrients and drugs. She had no problem with it. If they were in a hospital, it would have been set up immediately. Field doctoring, yeah, not as easy.
With Logan resting comfortably, Bullard and Ice switched their attention to Harrison. Not that the head wound was anything to ignore. But thankfully this particular one wasn’t terrible. With a few stitches Bullard had the small gash closed.
Bullard patted Harrison on the shoulder and said, “You’ll be fine. You’ll have a hell of a headache for a few days, but after that, you should be pretty good. No active duty, just lots of rest.”
Harrison glared at him. Ice wanted to laugh. “No active duty” was a death sentence to these men. But there was plenty for them to do here now. Harrison was hell on wheels with electronics, so he’d be a good hand to have around.
When she could finally take a breath, she stopped to survey Bullard washing up at the big sink on the side. She smiled. It was not exactly how she’d planned to christen the medical clinic, but there could be worse way
s. She walked over, adjusted the thermostat as the other two men brought out blankets and covered up both patients, ignoring Harrison’s complaints about not being allowed to go to his room.
She leaned close and whispered into Harrison’s ear, “Somebody needs to keep an eye on Logan.” She glanced to Logan in the nearby bed, then his injured shoulder, and added, “Please stay here, Harrison, and let us know if things change in Logan’s condition.”
At that Harrison instantly subsided. Nobody wanted to leave Logan alone. And this was a perfect answer for both of them. Bullard patted her on the shoulder and put Harrison’s cell phone within his reach. She tested the Call buttons on both men’s beds, making sure they went directly to Stone in the control room, and told Harrison, “I’ll get you hot coffee and something to eat.”
He reached out and grabbed her hand. “Thanks, Ice.”
She shook her head, nodding toward Bullard. “You mean, ‘Thank you, Bullard.’” But she squeezed Harrison’s hand gently, understanding what he meant, then turned and walked out of the room.
Inside she was shaking. What the hell would she do if Bullard wasn’t here next time? She was not a doctor. Sure, she had great medical training, but that was not good enough if somebody needed a real doctor. She could only be expected to do so much here. And, if she’d been alone today, she would have failed.
Bullard reached out and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “You did great today.”
She turned to look up at him, her feet slowing as they made their way back to the control room. “If you hadn’t been here, I couldn’t have done what you just did.”
“And hopefully you would not have needed to. How far away is the closest hospital?”
“Forty minutes, driving like hell. Too far away in a situation like this.”
“But, in that case, the men would handle it differently. They’d have phoned for an ambulance and met them halfway. The men would’ve been stabilized for the trip to the ambulance, and the paramedics would’ve taken over then. Logan would have been brought into surgery immediately.”
“If the hospital wasn’t too overrun,” she muttered. She held out her hands to see the fine tremor whispering through her fingers. “The adrenaline rush is something else.”
Bullard reached across, grabbed her hand gently, and squeezed it. “It’s not adrenaline. That’s shakiness. It’s shock. Get a hot cup of coffee and some food. Then deliver some to Harrison.”
She withdrew her fingers and smiled. “I’m taking my coffee straight up to the control room. I need to know Levi is okay.”
Bullard nodded in understanding, but she could see the disappointment in his eyes.
She knew what he wanted. But it wasn’t anything she could give him. At least not at this point in time. If anything ever happened to Levi, then maybe … But she couldn’t expect Bullard to wait. She wanted him to be happily hooked up now. He was a good man.
In the kitchen she quickly dished up two bowls of the rich beef stew Alfred had simmering on the stove and poured two cups of coffee. She delivered a cup and a bowl to Harrison, and, by the time she made it back to the kitchen, her food was missing. She looked at Alfred and asked, “Did you take the other cup of coffee and bowl of stew?”
“I gave it to Bullard. He’s gone to his room with them. He needed to get cleaned up.”
She nodded and quickly dished out two more cups of coffee and two bowls of stew, all on one tray. “One of these is for Stone,” she said. “He’s too damn stubborn to come down and get them himself.”
Alfred smiled. “He’s too scared,” he corrected. “He doesn’t want to miss anything and have his friends put in any more danger, not if he can help it.”
Chastised, she nodded. “I know.” She gave Alfred a small smile and carried the tray to the control room. As she walked in, the first thing out of her mouth was “How is Levi?”
“He’s fine,” Stone said. “They’re all on their way back to base.” She set the tray down between the two of them, and his face lit up beautifully. “Oh, nice. I could really use some of this.” He looked around hastily. “Unless one of these is for Bullard?”
“Bullard’s gone for a shower,” she said easily. “He took his coffee with him.”
“Shower?” Then his gaze landed on her clothing. She’d yet to change, and he winced. “How is Logan?”
“He’s resting comfortably. He has to be watched, of course, but he’s holding. He should pull through with no trouble. And Harrison,” she added before Stone could ask, “has a minor head wound. We’ve stitched it up, but he’ll have a hell of a headache. But he’s fine too. He stayed in the sick bay to keep an eye on Logan.”
“Good,” Stone said with a sense of satisfaction. “That gives us at least ten maybe fifteen minutes to eat our food and get seconds before the men get back and scarf it all up.”
“Chances are the men will say exactly the same thing when they get in and see most of the stew gone.” She grinned. At Stone’s horrified gaze, she shook her head. “You know Alfred. Of course it’s not even close to being gone. He made what looks like enough to feed twenty men down there.”
She lifted her spoon and took a sip of the broth. Rich meaty flavor filled her mouth. “Oh, dear God, this is so good. I’m so glad he’s home.”
Stone picked up his spoon filled with the rich beef mixture and put it in his mouth. Within seconds he was moaning, enjoying the savory taste. “I hope there is enough for twenty men. I plan to eat at least enough for ten.” That was the last thing he said until he’d hit the bottom of his bowl. Then he sat back with a sense of satisfaction and reached for his coffee. He looked over at Ice and said, “You know something? For all the ups and downs, headaches, and problems, life is really not too bad.”
She watched the GPS bringing the rest of the men back into the compound and knew that Levi was safe and sound. She nodded back. “You’re right. Life’s not all bad.”
*
Levi had just walked into the large bay where they dealt with electronics when he heard the alarm sounding in the medical bay. It took him a second to understand what was happening. He dumped the security system from the store and ran. When he skidded inside the medical clinic, both Bullard and Ice were already there. Harrison was sitting up, pointing at Logan.
“He woke up for a moment and sat up, and then his eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed. It looks like fresh blood on his bandage.”
Levi reached out and gripped Harrison’s good shoulder and told him to ease back. He studied Bullard, who ripped open the bandage on Logan’s other shoulder. Sure enough it was bleeding. Not badly but enough.
Harrison reached up and rubbed his forehead. “Damn. If only I caught him earlier. I told him to lie down, don’t move.”
“He wouldn’t listen anyway,” Levi said. “He was still in fight mode so his instinctive reaction would’ve been to escape.” His gaze found the stitches in Harrison’s head wound. It looked painful, but they were all used to getting more than their fair share of knocks on the head. “How you doing, Harrison?”
Levi hoped to pull Harrison away from what was going on in the next bed. And it worked. Harrison rolled back slightly, looking up at Levi.
Harrison gave a lopsided grin and said, “Head hurts like a son of a bitch, but it’s still working.”
Levi nodded. “Good thing. We just brought in the electronics from the store. Their surveillance system was rigged to a bomb. We couldn’t find the trigger, but, with some of Dave’s men, we disarmed it and brought the whole mess in here to look at.”
Harrison brightened. He instantly tried to pull back the blanket and swing his legs to the ground. Levi wasn’t having anything to do with that. He pushed Harrison back down. “You need to stay here until your head heals a bit more.”
“My head is just fine,” Harrison snapped. “And I’ll heal much faster if I’m doing something. Those assholes took me out, and I’m looking for a little payback. I might find something in all those electronics, e
specially from a laptop. Did you bring one?” he asked hopefully.
Levi gave a curt nod. In truth, Harrison was a wizard with that shit. They were all decent, though he had a gift.
But they had a lot of men here right now, and Harrison was injured.
As if seeing Levi’s refusal about to come off his lips, Harrison growled in frustration. “Look, let me just come and see. Maybe I can do nothing, and, if my head starts hurting or anything feels wrong, I’ll come back and lie down. I only stayed to keep an eye on Logan. And you see how well that went,” he said bitterly. “Just let me do something I’m good at.”
Levi frowned. Two men down was bad news. He needed them both back up as soon as possible. But he also understood what it was like to feel useless. He’d spent enough months in bed himself. Had to stop sometime. And Harrison had been in bed alongside Levi, Stone, and Rhodes too. They all understood the frustration.
Cautiously Levi said, “Fine. But only for two hours. Then you agree to lie down again.”
“Perfect. I can figure out a ton of shit in two hours.” Harrison threw back the blankets and cautiously sat up. He lowered himself to the floor and straightened. With a confident smile, he said, “I’m good. Lead the way.”
Levi looked at Bullard and caught Ice’s glance. Levi asked a soundless question about Logan, and, when she nodded and gave him the thumbs-up that meant Logan would be fine, he could feel the weight of the world roll off his shoulders. He already felt responsible for the injuries that had sent him and his unit onto this path of private security. He didn’t want to be responsible for Logan’s today as well.
“Let me know of any changes in his condition,” he said to the pair still working on the unconscious man. “Harrison’s coming to spend a couple hours with us, taking a look at the electronics we brought back from town.”
Bullard waved him off, making him feel that much more confident about Logan’s condition. Levi turned back to find Harrison already at the doorway, waiting for him impatiently. That was the thing about his men. They were really hard to keep down.
