Rock Her (Rocked, #1)

by Liz Thomas

  Jack’s eyes were swollen. He had been beaten. But he stirred and tried to open them without success.

  “Kip?” Jack croaked. “Is that you?”

  “It’s me, Jacky. I am going to get you out of here.”

  “Oh, shit, Kip,” Jack said. “You shouldn’t have come. They knew you’d come.”

  “What?”

  “That’s right, Mr. Jones.” A voice sounded off from behind. Kip whirled around to see three men staring at him from a dark shadow. The voice was in perfect English. American English.

  “Step forward, show your hands!” Kip shouted.

  “Wow, he knows the drill,” a second voice said.

  “I’m not kidding,” Kip said. “Step forward now, or I’ll spray the dark with bullets and drop you.”

  “Relax, Mr. Jones. We’re coming. Or should I call you Mr. Parker?”

  Kip stepped back in shock. Whoever this was in the dark knew his real name.

  “Stephen James Parker, do I have that right?”

  What the hell is going on?

  “He should know the drill, Reynolds,” The first voice came again. “This is not his first time in this situation. We have us a real bonafide war hero here.”

  Reynolds. Kip knew that name. He had heard it recently. Didn’t Sparks mention that he thought he saw a Reynolds when they stopped in Germany? Reynolds is the cop that was watching our room the other night. What the fuck is going on!!!

  Then another voice echoed in the dark as they stopped forward. The voice spoke Pashto, and Kip would never forget the voice as long as he lived. The doctor that tortured him during his captivity! Kip felt as if he had just stepped into the twilight zone.

  It took all of Kip’s discipline not to squeeze the trigger on his M-16 and spray the area with rounds. But his curiosity overwhelmed his hatred.

  “Who, the fuck are you!” Kip yelled. “And, God damnit, I told you to step forward into the light! Hands where I can see them!”

  “We’re doing as you asked, Mr. Parker. Just have patience.” Then, there they were. All three of them. The doctor drew his gaze first, and Kip resisted the urge to spit when he first laid eyes upon him.

  Then he saw Reynolds, slightly taller than the doctor but shorter than the third man, who Kip had never seen before in his life.

  “I know, you and you,” Kip said, “But who the fuck are you?”

  “My name is unimportant, Mr. Parker. Let’s just say that Senator Murphy send his regards.”

  “Senator Murphy?” Kip asked. “That asshole that Annie wrote the biography about?”

  “An unfortunate lapse of judgment on his part, I am afraid.” The taller man said. “If he had done a little more planning, none of this would have been necessary, you see?”

  “No, I don’t fucking see!” Kip yelled. He heard Jack moan behind him.

  Kip spoke to Jack without turning or taking his eyes off the three men before him. “It will be alright buddy. I am going to get you out of here.”

  “Now, asshole with no name,” Kip said, “what the fuck is going on? So help me I’ll drop all of you.”

  “Relax Mr. Parker. Or Jones. Whichever you prefer, I really don’t care.” The man said. “You’re girlfriend wrote a biography about the Senator. The published version really was benign, but she took notes on everything the senator said. It seems he told her about a two week stay in the Florida Keys. Those two weeks happen to coincide with the disappearance of a young college female that was vacationing down there. New evidence has been found in that case, evidence that could implicate the senator, should his whereabouts during those two weeks come to light. There were other records, of course, but they have all been eliminated. Shit Parker, Jones, we searched high and low for that notebook. But we just could not find it. So, proper security says when you can’t find the notes, eliminate the writer of the notes.”

  “Holy shit!” Kip said. “All this and all of the attempts on Annie’s life have been about some dickwad senator?”

  The tall man laughed. “He is a dickwad, isn’t he? Unfortunately for you, though, that dickwad is going to be running for president. And we intend for him to win. But during vetting we discovered this little inconvenience that could cause some serious trouble for him. We can’t let that go.”

  “Who the fuck is we?” Kip asked.

  “You are one hardcore son of a bitch, you know that?” The man continued without answering. “You protected that bitch like nobody’s business. Even took out our first assassin. No one has ever done that before. Ever! We are quite impressed. Then you even thwarted our third attempt at the hospital. Our man at the NYPD said we had nothing to worry about. But your girl survived.”

  “I had nothing to do with that.” Kip said, starting to put pieces together in his head.

  “Really?”

  “Annie survived your shooter before I even got there.”

  “Huh,” The tall man grunted. “I am going to have to have another talk with the good Lieutenant Porter. Seems he was less than truthful about what went down.”

  “Porter?” Kip said, incredulously.

  “Oh, yeah. How do you think we got the info about you coming to this shithole part of the world? And how do you think we retained our watcher here, Deputy Reynolds?” The man smiled. “He knew the faces. Told us the best way to draw you out. Quite the asset to have on this mission.

  ”Why did you need to draw me out? What the fuck?” Kip started to lose his temper. He was still in the dark about what was happening. And that pissed him off to no end.

  “Like I said, Parker, uh, Jones. You are one serious bad ass mother fucker. We don’t come up against guys like you every often. But we have before. And we learned our lesson. WE knew there was no way a hit was going to be pulled off on your girlfriend, Ms. Beecher, with you around. The only way we could pull it off was to get you away where our assassin could work unimpeded.”

  “Oh, Fuck!” Kip said.

  “Ah, now he gets it, Reynolds!” The man laughed, and Reynolds joined in. Then the doctor cackled, and Kip just about squeezed off a round into his head. But he stayed his finger.

  “So, this whole fucking excursion was a set up to get me away from Annie?” Kip asked.

  “’Fraid so, buddy.”

  “And you think you’ll be able to pull off an assassination on base, and get away with it?” Kip asked again.

  “Well, we have an inside man,” The man said.

  “Sparks! Fuck me!” Kip ground his teeth.

  Kip saw Reynolds and the tall man look at one another. Reynolds shrugged, and then looked back at Kip.

  “What makes you think I won’t just squeeze the trigger and drop all three of you?” Kip asked, still grinding his teeth.

  “What makes you think there are only three if us, Mr. Parker?” The man said. And Reynolds laughed again. Then, for the first time, perhaps because he knew to look for it now, he saw movement in the shadows behind the three assholes.

  “Now, drop your weapon, and maybe we can work out a deal where we all walk out of this building alive,” The man said.

  Kip, could not see how many were behind the three he could see. But Kip was working out a gamble in his head. He knew that when he walked into the place, Jack and everything behind him was well lit. The odds of anyone hiding back there were slim to none. He was willing to risk it all on the gamble that all of the tall man’s muscle was in the shadows behind him.

  Kip lowered his weapon across his chest and down, until it was pointing to the floor. As he did so, he pulled one of the grenades from his belt, yanking it from its pin.

  Just then three more men, Taliban, from the looks of them, stepped forward to just behind and on either side of the tall man.

  “Drop it all the way!” Reynolds yelled. So Kip let go of it and it clanged to the floor. The timing was perfect, as Kip had planned. The grenade’s clip flew away and the grenade hit the floor at the same time as the rifle, so the sound of it impacting the concrete was unheard. Unheard,
that is, until it rolled to their feet.

  Kip heard an ‘Oh, Shit!’ And he threw himself across Jack’s body to protect him from any shrapnel. He placed his hands over Jack’s ears just before the grenade detonated.

  Kip felt impacts of shrapnel hit him in the back, his vest taking the bulk of it. He also felt small pieces rip through his arms and legs, but he held tight to Jack.

  When the concussion was over, he turned around to find all of the men in pieces, spread out across the room. All of their bodies were torn to shreds. No one could have survived such a close detonation of a grenade.

  “Jacky, you alright?” Kip asked Jack.

  Jacky nodded and grunted that he was okay, at least not wounded from the grenade.

  Kip stepped away from him and toward the six bodies that littered the floor. He looked at all of them and then stepped to the body of the dead doctor. He stood over him and spit on what was left of his face. “Good riddens to you, asshole! I hope you enjoy fucking old whores in hell for eternity.”

  Then he walked back to Jack and helped him down from the steel rack.

  “I wish I had a cell phone now!” Kip said. “I’ve got one, or I had one, but they took it. Not sure where they put it. Kip looked around the room. He saw a table behind where Jack was hung on the rack. On it was Jack’s flask and his cell phone. He ran to it and check for a signal. Nothing. But he had different plans anyway. He went back to the ruined bodies and opened Jack’s phone. He took pictures of all of their faces, taking extra care to make sure that Reynolds and the tall man were clear and well lit by the flash. When he was sure he had what he needed, he flipped it closed and picked up his rifle. He made sure he had a chambered round and that there was no damage to it from the grenade, then he threw his arm around jack and helped him up the stairs.

  Kip and Jack made it out to the road without incident, but a crowd was beginning to gather. Another explosion in the Serena hotel was nothing to get excited about, but there were still rubberneckers in Afghanistan. He and Jack hurried across the street and took cover in and alley between buildings. Kip reminded himself that there was still danger. Lone Americans should not be walking the streets in Afghanistan.

  “Kip, buddy,” Jack said, Panting. “Leave me here. You’ve got to get back to base and save Annie. I am just slowing you down.”

  “Hell no, Jack. I don’t leave men behind.”

  “I’m not one of your men, Kip,” Jack stuttered. “We’re civilians. You’re not in the Marine Corps anymore.”

  “You’re as much one of my men as I have ever had, Jack,” Kip said to him. “I won’t leave you on the street. These people are animals. They find out you’re American, they rip you to shreds.”

  “Then get me to the whorehouse, Kip. I’ll be safe there. I’ve made friends.”

  Kip looked at Jack to see if he was serious. He looked it.

  “Are you sure?” Kip said.

  “Well, if not, at least I’ll die happy.” Jack laughed. Kip smiled at him, and lifted him to his feet. Jack did not look badly damaged. But he limped and was in extreme pain at being beaten.

  Kip and jack made it to the whorehouse and Kip burst through. The same old bearded man jumped to his feet when Kip dragged Jack through. Kip propped him up against the wall just below the man’s desk. Then Kip took the man in his grip, pulling him close by his collar.

  “I am leaving my friend here for a good time. He better be here and alive when I get back, understand?

  The old man nodded.

  “And bandage him up! Understand that, too?”

  The old man nodded again.

  Kip kneeled down to say goodbye to Jack. “I’ll be back for you, you got it?”

  “Yes. Go, Kip, go. Annie needs you,” Jack hissed.

  Kip rose and headed for the door. He heard jack call out for one of the whores. “Where’s Nadia?” Kip smiled as he left the building. He knew jack was in his element here and would be fine for a couple hours at least.

  Kip approached the gate with his rifle slung across his back and his hands raised. “I’m American!” He said.

  Annie sat in the first row of the makeshift concert arena and watch Stabbs and Lock and several Marines set up the stage. Sparks sat next to her and Lydell sat on the other side. The sun was dropping and the outdoor halogen spotlights had just kicked on.

  Sparks watched as Corporal Dale approached. His perfectly pressed uniform and high polished boots stood out among the rest of the Marines that were present.

  Dale stepped behind and walked sideways between the rows of chairs until he sat down directly behind Annie. Sparks watched him all the way, noting that it was odd that he chose a seat in the second row when there were so many in the first.

  Sparks had spent enough time with the NYPD to know that something was wrong here. He turned in his seat and gave Dale a nod, and noticed Dale’s gaze was fixated on the back of Annie’s head. He ignored Sparks nod.

  Dickhead, Sparks thought.

  Then a commotion broke out to the right of the stage. Uniformed Marines were surrounding someone and holding him back from the stage. Sparks leapt to his feet and limped in that direction. Annie started to follow. But then he remembered his sole purpose of being there was to protect Annie, so he turned back around.

  Just as he did, he saw Corporal Dale pull his holstered weapon free and aim it at the back of her head. Sparks dove for the Corporal as the shot rang out, distracting everyone in the area, including the excited marines at stage right.

  Sparks fell over the chairs that made up the front row and Dale staggered back in horror at what he had just done. Then, regaining his composure, he raised his weapon again and aimed it at Annie, who screamed.

  Stabbs and Lock leapt from the stage toward her, but she was too far away for them to reach her in time. Then Lydell swung his arm upward and knocked Dale’s nine millimeter toward the sky, where another round cracked from the barrel. Dale knocked Lydell in the mouth with the butt of his pistol and took aim again at Annie, who stood frozen just as Stabbs and Lock reached her. But it was too late. Dale had the weapon leveled at her face.

  Then another crack filled the twilight sky and Dale’s head exploded into a fountain of blood and brain matter. His body collapsed onto the chairs in the second row.

  Stabbs and Lock reached Annie at the same time and tackled her to the ground, falling on top of her. When they all looked up they saw Kip walking combat style toward them with his rifle pointed at Corporal Dale’s dead body.

  Soon the entire stage area was crawling with Marines. Kip was disarmed and frisked. Corpsmen were called and checked everyone out. Sparks, amazingly, was found to be breathing and more than a little pissed off.

  When he was loaded on the stretcher all he could say was, “Shot twice in one week! Fuck me!”

  Kip was finally released when he explained satisfactorily what had happened. A platoon was sent to pick up Jack and return him to the base and check out the basement of the Serena Hotel.

  The Camp commander was on site. He recognized Kip from his in country days. Kip tried to explain again everything that happened. The camp commander filled Kip in on a few missing pieces, too.

  “I never heard from Corporal Dale about your missing band member.” He told Kip.

  “And, there is no base rule about not having females in your rooms here. I suspect the Corporal made that up to try to keep Annie away from you. I don’t think he relished the idea of making the assassination attempt a public one. You threw a wrench in the works. What happened in front of the stage was a last resort.”

  Kip laid in bed with Annie that night, explaining all that he had learned about who was trying to kill her. She could not believe it any more than the camp commander could at first. But Kip had pictures of the dead bodies, and Jack to back up the story. Sparks verified that one of the men was indeed Deputy Reynolds from the NYPD. The other man could not be identified. The doctor was notorious and a wanted terrorist. Kip would get credit for taking him out.


  “But, Kip, I don’t even have that notebook anymore,” Annie told him. “I pitched that thing after I finished the book.”

  “They didn’t know that, Annie,” Kip said. “They said they had to be sure the information did not get out. Not being able to find the notebook, they turned their sights on you.”

  Annie shivered at the thought of it. A government conspiracy to have her killed.

  “But Kip, there is no proof. Not without identifying the body in the basement of the hotel.”

  “The man told me that the other loose ends had already been taken care of, though,” Kip told her. “I suspect there are a string of dead bodies that are connected in some way to the Senators’ travel. Now that we know the whole story, maybe it can all be put together.”

  Annie thought about it for a moment. “I hope so Kip. Otherwise all of this may not be over.”

  Kip considered that. “I don’t know Annie, maybe. I guess I’ll just have to keep you safe until we are sure.”

  “Just until then?” Annie asked.

  “Well, for my purposes you’ll just never be safe.” Kip smiled.

  “I am glad to hear that!” Annie said.

  Amazingly, Jack was well enough to pull off the USO concert the next day. He did not have to walk to play the drums, and with enough Jack Daniels in him, he felt no pain.

  Sparks and Lydell, who attended with their heads bandaged, was able to watch the show from the front row. And the whole affair was one of the most heavily guarded concerts in history.

  One week later, the band landed back at John F. Kennedy Airport. As they walked through the terminal toward a waiting taxi, Kip spotted a newspaper stand and walked over to pick up a copy of the Wall Street Journal. The front page story was an article about Police Lieutenant Porter stepping down amid scandal. He showed it to Annie.

  “You’re The One” By Rev Theory

  As they climbed onto the motorcycle Lydell ran up to them. “Kip, I’ve got Cocoa Cola on the phone. They want to sponsor a world tour.”

  “No shit?” Kip said, smiling.

  Lydell scratched his still bandaged head. “I never kid about business, Kip.”