Chapter Thirty-eight
Scott and the tactical team stormed up the stairs and then burst through the door into the hallway outside Brett and Kady’s room. They quickly positioned themselves around it, and Scott shot the lock off with his carbine. As soon as the door fell inwards, another team member tossed a flashbang grenade into the opening.
The explosion was deafening, and Scott ran into the room, the gun ready to fire. He glanced around, and saw no one, then moved into the living area.
“Check the bath!” he shouted.
As one of the SWAT-garbed men opened the bathroom door, Brett slammed down with an expensive vase, smashing it over the man’s helmet.
It stunned him, and Brett then elbowed the man in his face. Brett kicked the man and then threw him through the shower doors. Glass shattered everywhere.
The other two men turned and were aiming to fire at Brett when they both suddenly dropped onto the floor, squirming. Small darts stuck out of their necks, attached to wires that strung out the French doors.
Blue Leader and his team entered the room, their guns aimed at the other tactical team members. They tasered them as well. Soon, all of the tactical team had been subdued and cuffed. They waited for the police to arrive and book the criminals.
Brett was panting from his exertions, and sitting on a sofa in the living area. He surveyed the damage and hoped David had the situation well in hand. Suddenly, he noticed that something was not right. He stood, and walked through the hotel room. He snatched off the protective hearing muffs that the Blue Team leader had given him and Kady.
“Kady!” he called out.
There was no answer. She had been hiding in the second bedroom closet. He began to go into the room and searched the area with his eyes. His features took on a hard look, as he tried to locate his lover.
“Kady!” he shouted again.
But, as Brett looked around the empty room, he realized that Scott was not anywhere to be seen.
And Kady was gone!
Chapter Thirty-nine
Scott had Kady at gunpoint. He forced her onto the second balcony, just as the Blue Team was entering the main hotel room. Holding his pistol against her head, he had whispered to her to not make a sound.
He threw a black rope over the edge of the balcony, watching as it uncoiled and hit the ground near the pool. He then stepped back and unclipped a small pouch from his tac suit. He handed it to Kady.
“Open it, and put it on,” he whispered. He jabbed her ribs with his gun.
Kady opened the pouch, which contained a small vest with steel snap-buckles.
“Put it on,” he said, more insistently.
Kady kicked out and hit Scott solidly between his legs. He crumpled, but grabbed her with his left arm, and slammed her face with the fist holding the gun.
Kady rocked back and fell to her knees. Scott stood over her and slapped her against the side of her head.
“You bitch!” Scott hissed. He pointed the gun in her face.
“Put. It. On. NOW!” he commanded with a hiss.
Whimpering from the pain, Kady complied, and then Scott quietly and carefully snapped two carabiners to the buckles on the vest.
He turned her around so that she was facing away from the room. Scott snapped his own vest to hers using built-in straps.
He holstered his gun, and then leaped off the balcony, taking her with him. Kady had shouted, but the noise from the ongoing fighting hid her screams.
The mechanism Scott had attached to the rope caught, and they glided down to the ground, where the SUV had been waiting a short distance away. He dragged Kady into the open doors in the back of the vehicle, and leaped in on top of her, as Reighland ran up from behind a dumpster. Reighland sat in the front seat, slamming the rear door shut as he moved past it. He jumped into the passenger seat, grabbing the handle and slamming his own door shut. The SUV had taken off in a cloud of white smoke, the tires squealing.
The black SUV sped down the highway. Kady was sitting next to Scott in the back seat, and Reighland rode in the front. The driver pushed the vehicle at extralegal speeds.
“Hurry back to Ocaba Bien! I need to get this finished!” said Reighland.
He turned in his seat to face Kady.
“You’re quite the little bitch, aren’t you, my dear girl?” he said. “I don’t see why my brother gave a shit for you at all.”
Reighland was seething with anger.
Kady, her face bruised and hurting, began to cry.
“Oh, Brett!” she cried.
Scott laughed.
*****
Brett was frantic. He had actually punched one of the Black Dog team out of the way when he saw Kady and Scott leaving through the window. His heart was in his mouth, thinking that Kady had been killed by the fall. But, he watched as they ran to the black SUV, and saw Walter Reighland leap into the front seat. It sped off, tires squealing.
Brett ran down the fire escape stairs, three at a time. By the time he had reached the first floor, the local Sheriff, and other police had begun rounding up Reighland’s tactical forces. They surrendered without a struggle, sensing that they were outmanned and outgunned. It didn’t hurt that Captain Spalding and the Black Dog Security forces had them surrounded.
The Captain spoke briefly with the Sheriff and Police Supervisor and then gestured at the balcony where Scott and Kady had rappelled down. The Sheriff ordered two deputies to secure the area.
Brett walked up and began to try to get David to let him take one of the Black Dog vehicles to chase after the black SUV.
“Dude, relax!” said David to his friend. “She’ll be okay until we get there. I promise!”
“How can you be so sure?” exclaimed Brett. He was worried sick and wanted to immediately leave to follow. “We need to move!”
“Brett, trust me,” said his friend. “Look!”
Spalding pointed to where another helicopter was settling in across the highway. This one wasn’t as big as Reighland’s, but it was more streamlined and looked ready for serious business.
“Let’s go! Green and Red Teams, come with me!” he ordered.
Chapter Forty
Ted and Sarah whispered to each other. She had been crying, not believing that Walter Reighland had died more than two years ago. Ted tried his best to comfort her but was also struggling with his own feelings. The woman he loved had shown him some facets of herself that he had never imagined. She was obviously bisexual and had no qualms about her confidence in what she wanted for her own sensual enjoyment.
However, she had never acted like this before, and it was taking some time to process this new information.
Jonathon Reighland was another matter entirely. When Ted could, he tried working out what the possibilities were to escape and get to the authorities.
He knew Reighland had probably killed his twin brother, Walter. Then, he used his appearance to dupe and con a series of Walter’s friends and professional clients, to further his own ambitions.
Ted thought that Ghent International, Inc. must have somehow uncovered some evidence of wrongdoing while their software was being used. Martin certainly knew the answers to some of these questions. Ted needed to find out what Martin had discovered, as soon as possible.
Ted made a decision. He hugged Sarah tightly and kissed her passionately on the mouth.
“Wait here, sweetheart, I’ll be right back,” he said.
Sarah watched as Ted walked out of the room and simply punched their guard in the throat. The man collapsed, and Ted took his side-arm and strode down the hallway.
As Ted passed cameras, he shot them out with the gun. The reports were suppressed, so he didn’t raise much concern. He figured that soon the guards monitoring the surveillance would respond, but he had already made his plans. He ducked into a stairway and began moving up towards the top.
Ted got to the roof of the building. He noticed some odd looking devices, with
antennae.
“That figures,” he muttered to himself. He shot some the devices and then ran the gun empty. He took the gun and swatted the remaining devices, crumpling them.
“Fucking cell phone blockers!” he fumed.
Chapter Forty-one
Ted’s phone suddenly buzzed. A slew of messages was coming in, delayed by the effects of Reighland’s communications blockade. Ted narrowed his eyes, reading the text messages that Martin had sent to him.
PLEASE REPLY ASAP!
IMPORTANT!
WHERE ARE YOU? URGENT I SPEAK WITH YOU!!!
TED, YOU AND SARAH NEED TO GET AWAY FROM OCABA BIEN ASAP! CALL ME!
WALTER REIGHLAND IS DEAD.
JONATHON REIGHLAND IS TWIN BROTHER OF WALTER. EX-CIA OPERATIVE.
VERY DANGEROUS. ON ALL DHS / INTERPOL TERRORIST HOT LISTS.
WILL SEND TEAM TO RETRIEVE YOU AND S
The last message cut off suddenly in mid-sentence. Ted knew what had happened.
Reighland’s thugs must have followed Martin and caused his accident. He thought for a few moments and then ran back into the stairway. He could hear voices, as the guards ascended towards him.
He grabbed Sarah and ran down the corridor.
“Keep up!” he yelled. As he ran, he clubbed another camera off its perch.
Sarah, dazed and unsure, picked up the carbine from the unconscious guard. She followed Ted. But, he ran like a man possessed.
Soon, she fell behind and shouted his name as he rounded a corner.
When she got to it, Ted was nowhere to be seen.
But, just then, she heard Kady, screaming.
She ran towards the noise, bringing the gun up.
Chapter Forty-two
Reighland and Scott jumped out of the SUV before it even stopped moving. Wrenching Kady from the rear seat, Scott forced her to follow behind Reighland.
The doors and spectacle of Ocaba Bien rose above them, but this time Kady wasn’t as impressed by all the glamour. She was worried about Brett, and also her mother. She wasn’t sure where they were, and she hoped they were safe.
“Come, my dear girl,” said Reighland, with a well-defined tone of disdain. “There is still so much for me to do this evening.”
Scott manhandled Kady into the foyer, and she ran to keep up with the men. Her heels wobbled and she tried to kick them off, but Scott just gripped her.
“Move it, slut!” he yelled. She spun around to glare at him, and he averted his gaze. She thought he looked ashamed at what he had uttered, but couldn’t be sure.
“Get going,” he said, this time with not as much rancor.
“OK, but my heels hurt my feet when I am running,” she said. “May I take them off? Please?”
Scott stopped and waited for her to remove her shoes.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Welcome. Now move it,” he replied.
Kady thought she had seen something in Scott’s face. It had softened just the tiniest bit, and she had no idea what had occurred.
They continued down the corridors, and Kady noticed that a lot of the attendants had suddenly vanished. Ocaba Bien was not the burgeoning palace of excitement and pleasure that it had been only a few days ago. The players from the Grand Ball had left or were staying in their rooms.
“Where is everyone?” she wondered aloud.
Reighland laughed.
“They have all gone, my dear, to do my bidding in the boardrooms of all the corporations in the world!”
He marched into a conference room and began speaking into the thin air, talking to invisible workers.
As he did, some monitor screens came alight. Kady was able to see feeds from a variety of news sources, and also some that appeared to come from closed-circuit surveillance cameras.
Suddenly, she spied Brett and the Black Dog teams. They were still outside the hotel!
Kady’s heart sank at the sight of Brett. She yearned to be with him and to let him know how much she loved him. Kady felt that she would never see him again.
“You see, here at my brother’s elegant resort, I can implement my plans in total comfort and without interference. It’s a problem, to be sure, that he was so set against my attempts to profit from his earlier work. His natural philanthropy and caring for his fellow man was an indication of his personal weakness from the time we both were able to think. I was born first, and he followed me out of the womb. And, for the rest of his life, he followed me,” said Reighland.
Kady stared at him. She knew Walter Reighland and had no idea why he suddenly was speaking about a brother.
“What do you mean? You’re Walter?” she asked, confused.
Reighland laughed. It’s timbre scared Kady. She had not ever heard such a chilling laugh.
“Oh, no, my dear! I am not Walter!” he said.
“My name is Jonathon. My brother is the man you and your mother have come to know and, dare I say it, love.”
“He was a weakling, and a simpering fool who thought that all roads led to Ocaba, and his insistence on worshipping those foolish shamans and that tired old religion ultimately led to his downfall. Too bad he wouldn’t play ball.”
Kady looked at Reighland with staring eyes. She was horrified to think that this man may have been intimate with her mother, pretending to be the sweet man she had known.
“Who are you?” she said. She felt close tears, remembering the gentle man who had helped her understand the finality of her father’s death, so many years ago at the zoo.
“My brother, Walter, was the man you knew. He is dead. That fool. He tried to stop my plans!” said Jonathon.
Scott had been holding his carbine lightly, generally pointing it in Kady’s direction. He was ready for action but seemed uncertain about something. Emotions played on his features, and Kady noticed he appeared to be battling with himself.
“Walter Reighland was my twin brother, born fourteen minutes and nine seconds after I,” said Jonathon. “He was always an albatross around my neck! He was weak and compassionate! No head for hard business and hard decisions! No wonder he managed to lose respect from his peers!”
Scott was looking at Jonathon Reighland when he came to the shocked realization that his Uncle had killed his father!
*****
“Dad!” shouted Brett, pointing at the ground.
The pilot nodded and began to lower the helicopter towards the beach. David’s forward observers had breached the secure perimeter of Ocaba Bien and managed to find Ted as he ran down the halls, breaking the surveillance cameras.
As the Black Dog helicopter set down on the beach, Reighland’s army came running out of every door and corner, shooting at the Black Dog teams. The gunfire was loud and fierce, and a couple of shots ricocheted off the armored bubble of the chopper. Its blades churning up the sand, David, Brett, and the others jumped onto the sand and dodged and ran at the defenders.
Two Black Dog men were hit and fell on the walkway just off the beach. As the medic diverted to attend to them, the other team members cut down the opposing forces.
The battle was short and decisive. After only fifteen minutes, the Ocaba Bien force was decimated. Sensing the battle was lost, they began to throw down their arms, and knelt on the ground, hands overhead.
The Black Dog Teams moved in and secured them, cuffing their hands with zip ties.
Captain Spalding surveyed the damage and directed team members to begin routing out the stragglers.
*****
Reighland was livid, staring at the various monitors and seething at not having managed to kill Brett. His teams were being arrested and taken into custody by the Sheriff and local police. There were patrol cars all over the parking lots surrounding the hotels. The cameras gave different views of the scene, but it was clear that the Black Dog forces had won.
“Son of a whore!” he shouted, banging his fist on the desk.
Chapter Forty-
three
Scott looked at Kady.
He looked at Jonathon Reighland.
Then, he looked back at Kady.
“Uncle Jonathon, how did my father die?” he said.
He was pointing his carbine at Reighland’s chest.
Jonathon Reighland stood very still.
He looked at Scott and slowly turned to face him.
“Scott, my boy!” he soothed. “I misspoke. Of course, your father was a very great man. He had vision and a sense for helping the weak – I mean, the unfortunates of the world.”
Reighland slowly began to walk towards Scott.
“How did my father die, Uncle?” said Scott.
Kady watched as Scott fought to control himself. His arms shook from the tension he was feeling, and the gun muzzle wavered back and forth across Reighland’s torso.
“It’s as I told you, Son,” said Reighland. “He had an accident. He died in the Amazon rainforest. He had fallen into a ravine.”
As he spoke, Reighland moved even closer to Scott. Scott trembled and let the carbine fall to his side.
“I’m not your son, Uncle Jon,” he said. Scott’s face twisted in anguish, the fact of his father’s murder eating at him. His guilt at having helped the killer ate at his conscience.
Kady moved close to Scott and put a gentle hand on his arm. He flinched, looking at her with agonized eyes. She saw him in a new light and felt compassion and pity for him. Her eyes filled with tears as she tried to prevent him from making another grave mistake.
“Scott! Don’t! The police will arrest him and he’ll get what’s coming to him! Please, don’t throw your own life away!” she begged.
Scott looked at Kady. As he turned to face her, his gun wavered from Reighland.
“I was wrong,” Scott said to her. “I’m sorry!”
“You dumb son of a bitch! Move away from her! Nobody double-crosses me you asshole!” shouted Reighland.
He was pointing a Glock at Scott, aimed directly at his head.
Scott pushed Kady aside and tried to regain Reighland in his sights.
A single gunshot rang out.
Billionaire Stepbrother - Addiction: The Complete Series Page 19
