Rescuing Bryn: Delta Force Heroes, Book 6
Page 20
“A piece-of-shit, nineteen-ninety Corolla. She’s been incommunicado for about two hours, give or take fifteen minutes or so.”
Dane could hear Truck talking to someone in the background, and he paced while he waited for the other man to get back on the phone.
“Okay, I’m on this, but here’s the thing. I’d be out there in a heartbeat if I could, but you caught me at the worst time possible. I literally would do anything for you, brother, but I cannot leave right now.”
Dane’s stomach dropped. He’d thought Truck would have his back. He’d thought—
“But I’m already getting the rest of the team on this. They’ll be wheels up in twenty minutes. They’re comin’, Fish.”
“Everything okay with you?” Dane asked. He was mired in his own worry about Bryn, but couldn’t ignore the warning bells that were going off in his head about what Truck had said.
“I’ve got an appointment that I can’t miss. You know I would if I could. But it’s literally a matter of life and death. If I don’t do this today, I’ll lose my chance.” His voice dropped. “Kills me. Fucking kills me that I can’t be there. But I’ve got your back. I’ll be the liaison with Tex and I’ll contact the local PD for you while you search.”
Dane had no idea what could possibly be a matter of life and death for his friend, but now wasn’t the time to get into it.
“Dane? I think I found something.”
The words came from the front door of the library, and Dane turned to see Bonnie standing there, motioning him to come back inside.
“Hang on, Truck.”
“I’m here listening.”
Dane appreciated his friend more than he could say at the moment. He stalked back into the library and into Rosie’s office, keeping Truck on the line. “Did you get in?”
“Yeah,” Bonnie said. “She looked up two books that had been checked out about two months ago. Design and Build Your Own Doomsday Bunker and Dangers of Fertilizer. She then accessed the patron database to look at the application of the person who borrowed them. A John Smith.”
“Is the address on the application?”
“Yes, of course.” Bonnie recited it out loud.
“Get that, Truck?” Dane asked into the phone.
“Check.”
“That has to be where she went.” Dane turned to Bonnie, who was now looking at him in concern. “Thank you. This is exactly the information I needed.”
“Is she all right? You’ll find her?”
“I’ll find her,” Dane said with conviction. “Thanks.” He headed for the front door once more.
“I’ll call Tex. Give him the info you got there. In the meantime, be smart. Hang tight and don’t do anything crazy.”
“She’s out there,” Dane told Truck. “She needs me.”
“And she’ll get you,” Truck retorted. “As long as you hold on to your shit. You need intel. So hang the fuck on and wait for me to get back to you. Do not head out to that address on your own. Bryn is tough. Whatever is going on, she’ll hang in there until your backup can arrive.”
“I don’t like it.” Dane told Truck something he already knew.
“And Hollywood didn’t like it when he knew Dean had his woman, but let his team do what they do best.”
Dane knew Truck had a point. “I’ll hold off, but you call me the second you find out any information.”
“I will.”
Dane sighed in relief, then asked what had been nagging at him. “You gonna be able to do this and get your life-and-death thing done?”
“Yeah. I might be out of pocket for thirty or so, but I’ll make sure the team is there and ready and you have all the info you need before I do.”
“I owe you.”
“Fuck off,” Truck bit out. “You don’t owe me shit. I gotta go call Tex.”
Dane frowned when Truck hung up on him, but shook it off and stalked toward his truck. He thought he’d head to Bryn’s apartment again. Maybe, by some miracle, she’d returned there and he could call Truck back and tell him to call the guys off.
She hadn’t. Ten minutes later, Dane sat in his truck staring unseeingly at Bryn’s apartment. He wanted to go to the address he’d been given by Bonnie, but knew Truck was right when he’d said he needed information before rushing into a potentially volatile situation. The last thing he needed was to become a hostage himself.
When his phone rang, Dane impatiently answered, knowing it was Truck. “What’d you find?”
“It’s not good,” Truck said bluntly. “Tex looked up the address and found out who he really is. I have no idea, more of his computer voodoo shit, but his name is actually Joseph Knox, and he’s on quite a few watch lists. Failure to pay taxes, domestic violence, assault with a deadly weapon, and general assholedness. And that’s all in the last three years. Before that, he spent time overseas.”
“Fuck,” Dane swore.
“Yeah. He flew to Paris, then vanished. Surfaced two years later in England. He was deported after being arrested as a suspect in one of the subway bombings they’d had over there. They didn’t have any evidence to directly tie him to the blast, so they sent him home.”
“Jesus. So he spent time with the terrorists over there?” Dane asked unbelievably. “How in the hell has been allowed to go about his business here?”
“Nothing could be proven. Traveling isn’t against the law,” Truck noted. “Anyway, he’s married, and her parents have filed several reports about the fact they think he’s brainwashing their daughter, but there’s not much the cops can do because every time they question her, she swears she’s not being abused in any way and that her place is with her husband. Sounds like typical Stockholm syndrome to me. This guy’s address is literally in the middle of no-fucking-where, and regardless of how you approach, he’s probably gonna know you’re there before you get within a hundred yards of it.”
“You think he’s posing as a prepper for cover?” Dane asked.
“Sure of it,” Truck told him.
“If he’s acting like one, he’s probably got the whole setup then. Where’s the best place for a bunker on the property?” Dane had a gut feeling if Bryn was there, that’s where the asshole would’ve stashed her…if he hadn’t shot her on sight. She’d said she was just going to drive by, but if Knox had surveillance, he would’ve seen her. The thought of a brainwashed terrorist getting hold of Bryn made his skin crawl.
“Southwest edge of the property. It backs up to a large hill with a stream nearby. There are trees everywhere, clumps of them here and there. Enough for some cover, but not enough that the entire property is concealed. Bryn’s car is nowhere to be seen, but there’s an outbuilding next to the house. They could’ve stashed it already. They’ve had time.”
“Got it.”
“Wait for the team,” Truck ordered.
“You know I can’t do that,” Dane told Truck in a quiet, determined voice. “Bryn’s out there, and I have no idea if that asshole is hurting her. If he feels superior to women, he’s not going to take Bryn’s intelligence well, and she probably won’t be able to keep her mouth shut. It’s how she is. Don’t tell me to wait.”
“He’s checked out books on fertilizer,” Truck told him urgently. “It’s why Bryn felt the urgency to see if the address existed in the first place. But in case you’ve forgotten your fucking training, it means that he could blow her up before you get anywhere near her if he feels threatened.”
“Fuck!” Dane swore.
“Listen to me, Fish,” Truck ordered. “I fucking outrank you and you’ll do what I say, hear me?”
“He’s got Bryn.” Dane’s words were soft and tortured.
“I know. But you’ve got six of the men I trust most in the world on their way to you. They aren’t going to let anything happen to her, but you have to fucking let them get there to help. Got me?”
“Yes.”
“You trust me?”
“Yes,” Dane repeated.
“You trust them?�
�
Dane took a big breath and said, “Yes,” as he exhaled.
“Good. I’ve talked with Fletch. We’ve discussed the best way to roll with this. They’re studying satellite maps so they know the lay of the land. You’re gonna need to roll with the punches when you get there. You’ll have six men at your back, but your job is Bryn. And only Bryn. Hear me, Fish? Get the hostage out. Leave everything else to the team.”
Dane liked that part of the plan. “I can do that.”
“Good. Fletch’ll contact you the second they land. He’ll give you an ETA on when they’ll get to you. Your job is going to be to distract Knox as much as possible. Say whatever you need to. Do whatever you need to.”
“Got any ideas? The last thing I want is for him to prematurely detonate any fucking fertilizer he’s got stored up there,” Dane said.
Truck was silent for a moment, then said, “Islamic culture dictates that men are superior to women, and it’s given me an idea on how you might get in there and get your Bryn out without starting World War Three or having Knox blow up the fucking mountain.”
“Talk to me,” Dane ordered.
The two men spent a few minutes discussing Truck’s idea and refining it. They went through possible scenarios and the best way to approach the extremely volatile Knox without setting him off.
When they were done, Truck said, “Fish…”
“Yeah?”
“I’ll be really pissed off if you get yourself killed. I didn’t spend an hour holding your arm together for you to go and keel over in the middle of bum-fuck Idaho.”
Dane chuckled, but it wasn’t a humorous sound. “I’m not promising anything. Bryn’s all that matters.”
“Fuck that. Listen to me, Sergeant,” Truck ordered, obviously knowing his tone was harsh enough to get Fish’s attention once more. “You can’t help her if you go in there all pissed off and emotional. Turn that shit off, now. Use your head. You’re smarter than this, and from what you’ve told me, Bryn sure as hell is as well. You can’t beat Knox if you go in there with guns blazing. That’s what he’d be expecting. You need to outsmart him. That’s the only way you’ll get Bryn and yourself out of this. Lock your emotions down and do what we talked about. Your team will have your back. Got it?”
Dane took a deep breath. Truck was right. As much as it pissed him off, he was right. “This guy isn’t going to look favorably on cops coming onto his property. He wants to keep where he is and what he’s doing a secret. He might’ve used his real address on the fucking library card application, but he used a fake name. He’s not that smart, but he’s intelligent enough to have a plan in place in case someone comes sniffing around…like Bryn did. He hates all things authority. If the local PD gets anywhere near him, he’ll lose his shit.”
“Agreed. They’ll take positions down from the house. It’ll be you and the team. That’s it. He won’t even know the cops are there until it’s too late for him to do anything about it.”
“Good.”
“I wish like fuck I could be there,” Truck said softly.
Dane had some time to think while he’d been waiting for Truck to call him back. There was literally only one thing he could think of that would keep Truck from coming to Idaho with the rest of the team. Only one person.
“You need to make her safe,” Dane said firmly. “Bryn will always come first in my life. Always. It’s how it should be. Our women should always come first. I understand, Truck. You don’t ever need to mention it again.”
“Gratitude, brother.” Truck’s words were hoarse, as if he was holding back extreme emotion.
“I gotta get home and change clothes,” Dane told Truck. “You’ll call with updates?”
“I’ll call.”
“Later.”
“Later.”
Dane clicked off the phone, his mind already in battle mode, considering his options and how he was gonna let things play out at Knox’s property. He hadn’t lied to Truck. He did need to get to his house. He needed to pick something up, and also, the jeans, button-up shirt, and leather jacket he was currently wearing wasn’t going to cut it. Not for what needed to be done.
“Hang on, Smalls. I’m comin’ for ya,” Dane whispered as he pulled his truck onto Main Street and headed toward his house.
Chapter Twenty-One
Bryn couldn’t break free of her bonds; she’d tried without success over and over. For the first time in her life, she was speechless. She had no obscure facts in her brain waiting to spill out and had no idea what she could say to convince whoever it was keeping her captive that she was truly an innocent bystander. She’d been pleading with the man and it hadn’t done any good. She had no idea how long she’d been there, but it had to have been hours by now.
“Who are you gathering information for?”
“I’m not working for anyone, I swear! I was just lost.”
Another bucket of water was flung from somewhere behind the large spotlight, and Bryn sputtered and choked as it hit her in the face once more. She was soaking wet from all of the water that had been thrown on her. It wasn’t waterboarding, but at the moment it seemed just as effective. She was ready to say whatever it was the man wanted to hear. Unfortunately, she had no idea what that was. She was cold, shivering in her seat and beginning to think she wasn’t going to make it out of wherever she was alive.
“You’ve said that, but I don’t believe you. You work for the library, so you probably looked me up and found out all about my latest project. Do you work for the government? Assholes. The people running this country have no clue. Are you spying for them? Do you work for the FBI? Trying to find out how I’m going to prove how vulnerable everyone in this country is? Rules are made to protect the leaders, not the little people. They don’t give a shit about us. When the nuclear bombs start landing, where do you think they’ll be? That’s right—in their protective bunkers, leaving all of us to fend for ourselves. Well, I’m almost ready to prove it. To show people, at least those around here, how it’ll be in the future. Then when…”
He kept talking, but Bryn tuned him out. She’d heard his rants so many times now, she could almost recite them word for word. This guy was obviously an extremist. Someone the preppers online had warned her about. And he had a bunker full of homemade bombs that he was planning on driving into Coeur D’Alene and blowing up. He wanted to prove how easy it was to disrupt society.
She hadn’t seen anything other than the six-by-six-foot area around her chair. The spotlights kept her from seeing anything beyond them, and she hadn’t seen the man or his wife since she’d woken up. She’d only heard their voices.
Voices that had asked the same questions over and over. She’d tried to talk to them as if they were fellow scientists, then she’d tried once again to pretend she’d just been lost. Then she tried to distract him by asking questions about the end of the world, what it would be like if nuclear bombs were dropped on the area, to try to make him feel like the authority he thought he was…but nothing had worked. The only thing they really wanted her to say was that she was a spy for the government and was on their property to get information to have them arrested, and she wasn’t about to say that, as they’d probably kill her the moment the words left her mouth.
Suddenly a soft beeping came from somewhere nearby.
“Fuck! It’s the perimeter alarm. I knew she was lying!” the man spat. “We’ll just go and see who it is you arranged to meet you out here. Don’t go anywhere,” he said, then laughed cruelly.
“No, wait!” Bryn said, but it was too late. The couple was gone.
Panicked now, Bryn jerked even harder at her restraints. If Dane had somehow found her, he could be in bigger trouble than she was. He’d probably be armed to the teeth, and though she hated to admit it to herself, with only one working hand, he was at a disadvantage.
When all her struggles did was tire her out, Bryn sagged. If Dane got hurt because of her, she’d never forgive herself.
* * *
Knowing Fletch and the others were now around, and moving in, Dane climbed out, half-expecting to be shot as soon as he stepped out of the vehicle. When nothing happened, he took one step forward, then paused. He would wait for the mysterious Mr. Knox to come to him, rather than the other way around. And Dane had no doubt the man had known the second he’d entered his property. He hadn’t seen any alarms or booby traps, but knew instinctively they were there. If this guy was making bombs, he’d be ready for anyone who entered his property, knowingly or not.
Dane clocked the two people immediately, slinking through the trees from the southwest, just as the team had guessed. They might sometimes live in the ramshackle house next to him, but the bunker was where they most likely spent the majority of their time, and where they were making explosives. And where they were probably holding Bryn.
The two people moved to the other side of the house and appeared twenty seconds later, both armed with a shotgun. “Who the fuck are you?”
Dane held both arms up to show he was unarmed. “Name’s Dane Hartwell. I’m looking for my wife.”
As he’d hoped, his words made them stop in their tracks. He’d purposely used Bryn’s last name to lend credence to his story. If Bryn was going to be his wife, then they would have the same last name. She’d most likely told them hers, so using her name would hopefully help prove she really was who she’d said she was.
The plan the team had come up with was risky, but Dane thought it just might work. Based on the information Tex had relayed, Knox was old school. Had spent time over in Iraq with the Taliban. Lived with them. Believed that women should be seen and not heard. His entire part in the rescue plan hinged on it.
Dane had changed into an old uniform he had from before his injury. It was camouflage, wrinkled, and dirty. He’d packed it away, not wanting to ever see it again, but realized that if he was going to be “one of the guys” to this extremist, he’d have to look the part. He’d strapped an empty holster onto his thigh, leaving his pistol in the truck on purpose, and put on the prosthetic he hardly used around Bryn anymore.