“Mother--” Ross began to curse then cut himself short. His overwhelming anger turned to concern. He removed his cell phone from his pocket and frantically typed into it while eyeing Monroe. “Call Holden. Tell him to get the feds here right away.”
Monroe nodded and removed his cell phone. He paced the room surrounded by bars while Bogart just stared in silent horror at the little girls within the cells.
“What the hell?” Bogart gasped, not sure he understood what he was seeing. He then turned angry and looked at Ross. “Ross, what the hell?”
†
Jackie and Zack hurried along the first-floor corridor while keeping watch for any guards. Jackie felt her phone vibrate against her thigh, surprising her. It was a private phone and only the team and Holden had the number. She stopped and looked at the small pocket of her tactical yoga pants. She apprehensively removed the phone, pressed a button, and stared at it. Zack soon realized she wasn’t behind him, looked back, and returned to her. Jackie saw the simple text: Remove Zack now!
As Zack approached, he saw her phone and his look became curious. “What is it?”
Jackie replaced her phone to the small pocket and looked at him with little reaction despite the chill that ran down her spine. “Ross’s transmitter isn’t working,” she easily lied. “He wants us to wait for them at the rendezvous with Kirk.”
Zack eyed her a moment then nodded. “They’re on their way then?”
She nodded in response. As Zack stared into her eyes a moment, she felt her heart racing. For whatever reason, Ross wanted Zack removed from the mansion, indicating something had happened. Jackie had to sell it without him catching on. Unfortunately, lying to Zack wasn’t as easy as it sounded. He nodded, although she wasn’t sure he was convinced. They continued along the hallway. Rather than cross the busy part of the mansion, they were about to slip out a rarely used side door when Zack suddenly stopped and glanced back at her.
“Ross’s comlink stopped working, huh?” he questioned, giving her a strange look.
“Can we discuss this at the rendezvous?” she snapped and immediately regretted her unfounded anxiety.
“Yeah, sure,” Zack replied while shrugging. She attempted to walk past him toward the door. In an instant, his arm moved across the opening and stopped her. “Why you?”
She stopped short of his arm, groaned softly, and looked at him, although she wished she hadn’t. “Why me what?”
He shrugged casually as if not the least bit bothered by the sudden change of plans. “Just wondering why he would contact you rather than me?” Zack seemed to consider his own question as if working out some secret plot where everyone was conspiring against him. “I mean, I know you’re more eye-pleasing, but I’m usually the contact.” His look then turned frighteningly demanding. “So, again, why you?”
Jackie groaned, hoping it came off as irritation rather than concern. “Beats the hell out of me, Zack. Maybe you should ask him.”
Zack stared into her eyes with a look that forced her heart to skip a beat. He knew she was lying. She didn’t doubt he was watching her pupils or counting her heart rate by the vein in her neck. She knew he had some secret super power to detect when someone was lying to him, and if he called her on it, she wasn’t sure how she’d cover. He finally straightened and removed his arm from the doorway.
“Okay, so let’s go,” he announced in a casual, non-threatening tone.
Chapter Five
Zack and Jackie hurried across the side driveway and approached the van halfway between the staff wing entrance and the eight-car garage. Kirk stood outside the van casually leaning against the door as Zack headed for the side door.
“You’re riding shotgun,” Kirk informed him with little emotion.
Zack glared at Kirk and picked up his pace to the side door. He had to know they were hiding something from him. Kirk bolted from where he had been casually reclining and attempted to stop Zack, but it was too late. Zack pulled open the side door with added vigor. Fifteen bruised and battered little girls cowered on the van floor, clinging to one another and trembling when they saw him. Zack’s expression momentarily shattered then morphed into something unrecognizable and frightening.
Ross jumped out of the van. “Zack,” he warned firmly. “Holden has this under control.”
“Glad to hear,” Zack replied before turning and darting across the property.
Both Kirk and Ross were too late to stop him before he bolted. He disappeared into the darkness, forcing both men to stop.
Ross shook his head. “He’s going to get his ass killed one of these days.” He glanced at Jackie. “Think you can talk him off the bridge?”
“I’ve got this,” Jackie announced while removing two tactical batons from her back belt holster and took off into the darkness after Zack.
Ross shook his head and glared at Kirk. “Zack’s about to do something stupid. Fire up the van,” he remarked. “We may need to make a hasty getaway.”
“The feds will be here in twenty minutes,” Kirk reminded Ross. “I think we can hold off Cosmo’s men that long.”
“It’s not Cosmo’s men I’m worried about,” Ross remarked. “I don’t want to hear another lecture from Holden about body count.”
†
Jackie cautiously entered the garage with a tactical baton in each hand. She was about to check the corners and behind the door for mansion security guards, but both men were already laid out on the floor. Despite that she was only moments behind Zack, he somehow managed to find the secret weapons compartments in just a few seconds and was playing with plastic explosives.
“Zack,” she scolded and approached. “You’re not solving anything by blowing up the uncle’s hidden stash.”
“Maybe not,” he replied without looking at her, “but it’ll make me feel better.”
“Forget it,” she remarked. “We need to go. You know the moment you entered this area, a silent alarm notified Cosmo’s men. We have only a few minutes before they swarm this place.”
“Then we’re in luck,” he replied. “I only need a few minutes.”
“The FBI will be here soon,” she insisted. “You can’t be here when they arrive.”
He cast a look at her. “In what world has a fed ever got the slip on me?”
“I know you go a little crazy when someone harms a child, Zack, but this is the wrong place and time to lose your head. We need to go.”
Zack suddenly spun to face her with a look that sent a shiver down her spine. “Tell me, Jackie,” he snarled. “When in your life have you ever collected scattered body parts of children blown up by their own government? And for what? Because we were nice to them? Gave them candy and toys? Made them smile for once in their short, miserable lives?” His look didn’t soften any. “I once told a little girl there were no monsters, but there are. If I have to become a monster to stop others, so be it.”
He finished setting up the plastic explosives and put it on a timer for ten minutes. Zack straightened proudly and faced her as the clock counted down.
“We can go now.”
Two armed guards appeared from the outside entrance, cutting off their escape route. The main house door opened to reveal four more armed guards. Both looked at the guards closing in on them.
“I must be getting slow,” Zack muttered.
As the men raised their weapons, Jackie and Zack dove to the floor in opposite directions, rolling behind expensive cars on either side of the aisle. The men fired their automatic weapons at them, missing their targets and hitting the cars.
“You idiot,” one of the men from the house entrance cried out. “Don’t wreck the cars!”
The six men split up, leaving one at each door, one along the left wall behind the sports cars, and one along the right wall behind the classic cars. The two remaining men walked the center aisle. Each man kept watch on his side. Jackie was practically wedged beneath one of the sports cars, hidden by the shadows of its tires. She watched shiny dress shoes
pass on both the front and rear of the car, listening to the sounds their shoes made as they walked along the concrete floor. Someone needed to tell Cosmo’s hired goons that fashion wasn’t everything. A good pair of tactical boots wore better and reduced unwanted sound. Being silent and invisible had its advantages.
While keeping her tactical batons extended above her head, she rolled out from under the car and sprang into a crouching position. She heard a man let out a groan. The loud thump of his head hitting the car immediately followed, which subsequently set off the annoying car alarm. Like clockwork, the rapid gunfire followed. Zack successfully created a loud diversion. And the games would begin. Jackie saw her intended target several feet in front of the car. She leaped onto the car hood, causing the alarm to sound. As the man turned toward her, prepared to fire, she was already leaping through the air in a roundhouse kick as she dived off the car hood. She struck the man and knocked him backward against the car on the opposite side of the aisle.
The men not busy shooting at Zack’s shadow turned their attention on her and opened fire, successfully driving the men away from either escape route. As they fired, Jackie was already landing from her flying kick and rolled between two luxury cars. The Rolls Royce had taken nearly a dozen hits before the men ceased fire to descend upon her. Zack slid over a car hood on his hip and struck one of the guards with both feet, knocking him into the next car and setting off more alarms. As soon as Zack’s feet hit the floor, he was already punching the man and attempting to relieve him of his automatic rifle. Another guard fired at him. Zack spun the guard, allowing his man to shoot his own comrade in the back with several rounds and successfully shielding Zack. Zack held the dead guard against him, secured the automatic rifle, and fired back. Several guards went down.
Jackie jumped across one of the cars, setting off another alarm, and scaled the roof. She slid down the hood as a guard fired at her, but she was already pivoting her body and knocked the gun from his hand as she rode the hood. She landed softly and looked around. They successfully laid out the six men, but the car alarms were nearly deafening.
“Stop the bomb, Zack,” she ordered.
He proudly carried the assault rifle over his shoulder while walking past her toward the outer door. “Nope.”
She looked at her watch, groaned, and hurried after him for the outside door. The outer door opened to reveal another guard and Cosmo with their semiautomatics aimed at them. Zack allowed the assault rifle to fall into his hand and immediately shot the guard. Cosmo leaped to the floor. Zack tossed the assault rifle aside and practically jumped on top of Cosmo. He pulled him to his feet and held him in a fatal headlock, skillfully applying pressure. Jackie stared helplessly awaiting the fatal crunch. She had to stop him somehow even if the man deserved what he got.
“We need him alive,” she shouted. “He’s not the ringleader and you know that. Don’t do it!”
Zack sneered and finally cast Cosmo aside. He fell to the floor and tried to catch his breath while Zack attempted to collect his emotions. Jackie knew he was pissed at her, but she had to stop him. Jackie approached them as Zack removed a zip tie from his thigh pocket. He reached down to grab Cosmo. Cosmo suddenly flipped over and struck Zack in the temple with a tire iron. As Zack collapsed to the ground, disoriented and bleeding, Cosmo grabbed the Bowie knife from Zack’s boot and leaped on top of him. He rammed the knife downward for Zack’s throat. Jackie grabbed the wrist holding the knife and caught Cosmo around the neck from behind. She attempted to keep him from impaling Zack, but she was losing her footing. He would soon toss her off him if she didn’t overpower him.
Without a second thought, Jackie tore into Cosmo’s throat with her hand, ripping his larynx from his neck in one swift motion. Cosmo gasped and wheezed, unable to catch his breath as blood poured from his throat. As the life seeped from his body, the knife fell from his hand. Jackie jumped off his back and tossed him off Zack. Zack lay motionless a moment while clutching his bleeding head. He seemed to have no idea where he was. Jackie stared at the man’s bloodied throat in her hand, gasped, and dropped it. She trembled a moment then looked at Zack. He stared back at her, although unable to focus.
“Jackie,” he gasped softly.
She didn’t respond. She knew he was talking to her, but it didn’t register.
“Jackie,” he again gasped. “Snap out of it. We need to get out of here.”
Jackie finally looked at Zack, pulled herself together, and helped him to his feet. He leaned heavily on her as they attempted to run from the garage. Jackie knew the explosion was about to come although it seemed to take forever. The explosion finally came and rocked the ground beneath them. A powerful force threw them to the ground, although she was uncertain if it was actually Zack tackling her to the ground. She looked back and saw the massive fireball that was once the garage. The ringing in her ears was almost more than she could handle. Ross and Kirk ran for them, finally seeing them as the flames brightened the entire area. When they realized Zack couldn’t maintain his balance, Kirk tossed him over his shoulder and carried him toward the van. Ross grabbed Jackie, who could barely stand from the force of the explosion, and half dragged her alongside him.
Kirk tossed Zack into the van while the little girls watched the barely moving man. Ross helped Jackie onto the floor alongside him. Despite her ringing ears, she could now hear Beck cursing through her ear transmitter and Holden in the background demanding to know what the explosion was. As she sat on the van floor, she didn’t have the strength to answer him, and she certainly wasn’t about to explain things to him right now. Jackie sat mostly sedate on the floor alongside Zack where he lay. She stared at her blood-covered hand and relived what she had done to Cosmo in the garage. The horrible image played over and over in her mind. She couldn’t believe she’d killed him with such violence and so easily. Her body subconsciously trembled. Zack attempted to stare at her as best he could from where he lay, unable to sit up. She could hear Zack speaking to her, but she wasn’t sure what he was saying. When she finally snapped out of her trance, she looked down and realized Zack was holding her bloodied hand.
“It’s okay,” he softly repeated.
His words barely registered but his reassuring voice did stop the images from replaying in her mind. Several little girls collected around Jackie and Zack. They held frayed pieces of fabric from their worn, tattered clothes to Zack’s bleeding head, attempting to nurse his injuries. Although Jackie would never mention it to anyone, she was certain she saw a tear in Zack’s eye while the little girls took care of him. She knew, in his mind, it had been worth it.
Chapter Six
Zack sat on the exam table still fully dressed in his black combat fatigues with his arms folded across his chest. He wore a disgusted look on his face and refused to acknowledge or cooperate with the nurse attempting to take his blood pressure. Jackie sat in a chair near the door with her temple propped against her fist and stared at him with disappointment. The less than cheerful nurse eventually gave up.
“The doctor will be in shortly,” the nurse huffed and left the exam room.
Jackie immediately straightened in her chair and received a firm glare from Zack.
“Don’t,” he scoffed.
“Don’t what?” she muttered.
“Don’t lecture me like I’m a child,” he remarked without removing his arms from across his chest. “I don’t even know what I’m doing here. I’ve lived through worse head trauma than this.” He thumped the bandage taped to his temple. “Doesn’t even hurt anymore.”
“You’ve been hallucinating, Zack,” she informed him. “I won’t even mention the added irritability.”
“You sound just like your mother,” he scoffed and looked away. “She was a ballbreaker too.”
Jackie rolled her eyes and ignored the comment. There was a soft tap on the door before it opened. A man familiar to Zack entered the exam room and adjusted his white lab coat.
“Zack,” Dr. Sherman announced chee
rfully. “It’s been a while.” He then glanced at his watch. “Almost a month since your last brush with death visit.”
“Your bedside manner needs work, Doc,” Zack muttered then shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t need to be here. Ross is being a paranoid little bitch. He gets a girlfriend and suddenly he’s Mr. Sensitivity.”
The doctor chuckled softly in his throat. “I’m sure he’d appreciate hearing that.”
Dr. Wade Sherman was a distinguished looking man in his late forties with gray throughout his once dark hair. He had served as a doctor in the Marines and became close to Whiskey Tango Foxtrot during their many missions. He was also the one they counted on to do most of their patch jobs without too many questions. Zack, in particular, had limited patience with the doctor on that score alone. He’d seen a little too much of the good doctor as well as the other way around. He shined his penlight into Zack’s eyes, causing him to sneer with irritability.
“Hmm, you’ve got one beauty of a concussion,” Dr. Sherman announced. “Bull riding or jumping out of a plane without a parachute?”
“Cut the bullshit, Doc,” Zack grumbled. “Tell Ross I’m fine so I can get the hell out of here.”
“Ross said you’ve been hallucinating,” Dr. Sherman remarked while raising a brow. “That’s pretty serious.”
“I took a wallop two days ago,” Zack remarked. “So my brains are a little extra scrambled. I’ll be fine in a few days. Besides, Ross was exaggerating about the hallucinations.”
“Zack,” Jackie again scolded.
He cast a glare at her. “Stay out of my psychosis, Jackie dear,” he snarled back. He shook his head and looked at the doctor. “Balls of brass Ross sends in Jackie whenever he thinks I’m being ‘bratty’.”
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