Sal groaned softly and rubbed his burning, tired eyes. He finally stood, giving up on sleep. As he crossed the large room in his bare feet, his eyes strayed to the security system’s master control panel. Sal immediately hesitated at the flashing error message. He stared at the panel only a moment before hurrying back to the nightstand drawer and removing the semiautomatic. He cocked the handgun as he walked past his bed then paused before the nightstand on the side closest to the door. He slipped into his regular glasses then grabbed the landline phone from its cradle. He pressed a single button for security. When there was no dial tone, he immediately dropped the phone and reached for his cell phone sitting on the dresser. He punched in a phone number and waited several rings before the call was answered.
“Paul,” Sal announced into the phone. “I need you and Bill to do a security sweep of the grounds. The security system is showing an error message and the landline isn’t working.” He awaited a response and nodded. “I’m heading downstairs now. I’ll be the bald man in black pajamas. Try not to shoot me.”
He disconnected his cell phone and placed it into the small breast pocket of his silk pajamas. Sal crossed the bedroom with the gun looking oddly comfortable in his hand. He showed no fear as he left the safety of his room.
†
Sal appeared on the backstairs in the dimly lit kitchen and paused at the bottom. He held his gun relaxed at his side, possibly a little too relaxed as he scanned the area for any sign of intruders. There was something almost menacing about the seemingly docile man. The kitchen light came on, surprising him as it brightened the massive area. Sal looked across the room and saw Rosa standing in the doorway to the staff wing with her finger on the light switch. She appeared relieved to see him and managed a weary smile while removing her hand from the switch.
“Oh, Mr. Romano,” she gasped and chuckled softly while holding her chest. “I heard someone thumping around. I got worried. I didn’t hear you come in.”
Sal stared at her a moment with a strange look. “It wasn’t me you heard,” he informed her.
Her eyes strayed to the gun by his side. She gasped softly and quickly darted looks around the kitchen.
“It’s okay, Rosa,” Sal gently informed her while holding up a reassuring hand. “Security is sweeping the grounds. I want you to return to your room and lock the door. I’ll let you know when it’s safe.”
She uncertainly nodded and was about to turn around when her eyes suddenly widened at something she saw. She let out a startled cry and pointed toward the island counter. Sal looked toward the large island counter and saw blood pooling on the floor from behind. Sal motioned for her to remain where she was then hurried for the counter. His security guard, Bill, was sprawled across the floor with blood spilling out from a head wound, which was clearly a bullet hole. Sal backed away from the counter and toward Rosa while keeping watch on the multiple entrances into the kitchen. He stopped near his maid without taking his eyes off the surrounding area. He handed Rosa his cell phone.
“Call the police and report an intruder,” he announced in a calm but firm tone.
Her hands trembled as she pressed a single button on the phone. She awaited a response while darting looks around the kitchen in unison with her boss. The lights suddenly went out, leaving them in near darkness. Rosa screamed. Sal turned toward her and placed his hand over her mouth to silence her. He slowly removed his hand and stared at her through the dim lighting from outside lights, which remained on.
“The fuse box is in the hallway closet,” he whispered while attempting to keep her calm as she clung to the cell phone. The 911 operator was already talking on the other end. “That means the intruder is in the hallway. Very quietly, I want you to go back into the staff wing, enter the first bedroom you come to, and lock the door. Tell the police to come right away.”
Rosa clung to the cell phone while staring into his eyes and slowly nodded. “What are you going to do?” she gasped with concern.
Sal indicated the gun he held and cleverly raised his brows, signifying his intentions. Rosa held her breath then disappeared into the staff wing corridor. Sal closed the connecting door behind her and glanced across the dimly lit kitchen. He raised the gun to eye level, holding it in both hands, and silently crept in his bare feet toward the main hallway door. He heard movement on the back kitchen stairs. Sal spun toward the backstairs while casting his back toward the closest wall. A man carrying a gun appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Despite the dim lighting, Sal recognized Paul’s outline and relaxed his finger on the trigger. He was about to alert his man to his presence when nearly silent shots were fired from the stairs behind him.
Paul took several shots and fell to the floor. Sal plastered himself against the wall behind him and stood immobile while staring at the shadow of his dead guard on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. Sal immediately aimed his gun at the stairwell and listened to the feet softly moving down the steps. He flexed his hand on the grip and pressed his finger against the trigger. The man on the stairs was almost at the bottom. The kitchen door from the main hallway suddenly opened, causing Sal to twitch and ease his finger on the trigger. He remained in the darkness of the interior wall and watched the armed intruder pass through the hallway entrance as the second intruder appeared on the backstairs.
“Did you get him?” the first man asked in a loud whisper while approaching the man by the stairs.
“He wasn’t in his room,” the second intruder replied and looked around the kitchen as they met by the island counter. “You take care of the maid. I’ll locate Romano.”
“What the hell?” the first man demanded in a soft voice. “He came back tonight. I saw him come inside. Where the hell is Romano?”
“He’s right here,” Sal announced and squeezed the trigger before either man could locate the source of the voice.
The first man took a bullet to his chest and immediately dropped while the second man took a shot in the leg, causing him to drop to his knee. He raised his gun to fire blindly in the direction of Sal’s unmuffled gunshot. Sal again squeezed the trigger, shooting the man in the arm. He cried out while dropping his gun and clutched his bleeding arm. Sal casually crossed the dimly lit kitchen toward the man partially on the floor, clutching his wounds in agony. He stared up at Sal, who remained unusually calm. Sal drew a deep breath and casually adjusted his glasses.
“Son,” Sal announced with a sigh then shook his head. “You fucked with the wrong family.” He casually raised the gun and shot the man in the head. Sal didn’t even flinch as the man collapsed to the floor.
Chapter Ten
It was a little before one o’clock in the morning Colorado time. Jackie lay in bed and stared at the gently turning ceiling fan for nearly an hour. She groaned then turned onto her right side and stared at Holden’s empty spot on the bed. She could almost see him there. She believed he was safe, but she had a hard time convincing herself it wasn’t just an illusion. Jackie groaned with disgust, threw the covers off her, and climbed out of bed. She wore an old tank top and a pair of floppy shorts as her sleepwear of choice. As she headed into the bathroom, her cell phone lit up and vibrated on the nightstand alongside the empty wine bottle. The name on the caller ID revealed ‘Sal’.
Nearly half past one, the master bedroom was dimly lit by a faint glow coming from the walk-in closet. Jackie sat on the floor within the large closet and polished Holden’s dress shoes. She had her combat boots and stalking boots lined up to be polished next. As she set his neatly polished shoes aside, she bumped a shoebox, dislodging the lid. She could see some papers within the box. She pulled it toward her where she sat on the floor and removed the lid. Jackie stared at the newspaper articles within the box, which she happily dubbed ‘the little shoebox of horrors’. She sorted through the newspaper articles, staring at faces she hadn’t seen in some time. Although it seemed a lifetime ago, it actually hadn’t been all that long.
She didn’t know what was wrong with her for keeping
such macabre reminders of her past. There were numerous articles on her unfortunate encounter with Governor Lyle Kempton. It was the meeting that changed her life forever. Her brush with death at the hands on the Governor’s hired goons brought about her first meeting with Holden. Although she found her FBI protector attractive, he was the biggest pain in her ass. She had to laugh at the memory. That domino effect eventually brought her back into the inner circle of her father’s former Navy SEAL team. She’d proven herself to them, and they no longer saw her as a defenseless little girl. She became one of them from that moment on. Naturally, Holden opposed her joining them on moderately dangerous missions, but he conceded all on his own. In hindsight, maybe she should have listened to him in the first place. It made her almost nauseous thinking that what happened to him may have had something to do with the company she kept.
Jackie rested her head against the gun safe within the closet and allowed her eyes to close. Images of Zack’s last moments continued to plague her mind. She should have done something differently, but she had no idea what that would have been. The crunching of broken glass from the first floor brought her out of her self-pity. As she listened a moment, she swore she heard someone on the stairs. Then she heard the familiar creak of one of the steps. Jackie sprang up and turned off the closet light, leaving her in near darkness. She turned toward the gun safe and pressed in the familiar code. She didn’t need to see the buttons since they were arranged in the same order as a phone pad. The electronic lock hummed then clicked as the lock sprang open. She grimaced at the seemingly loud sound, but whoever was in the house hadn’t made it to the second-floor hallway yet.
She felt inside the safe and grabbed the Uzi, the smallest of her fully automatic weapons. The magazine was already in place, although there wasn’t a bullet in the chamber. While attempting to make as little noise as possible, she gently cocked it. It made a distinctive sound, but it wasn’t nearly as loud as usual. Just because someone was inside her house unannounced, that didn’t necessarily mean he was an enemy. Most of the guys frequently let themselves in with her hidden spare key, found an empty bed, and greeted her in the morning. The last few days, she’d been on edge, allowing paranoia to take control. She stood by the partially open closet door and peered into the nearly dark bedroom. Her heart pounded as the bedroom door was slowly pushed the rest of the way open. She could see the silhouette of an unfamiliar man now entering her bedroom. She wanted to believe it was Holden, but she knew his outline in the dark, and it definitely wasn’t him. She was positive it wasn’t any of the men from her father’s team.
Jackie watched the man approach her bed then stop a few feet from it. He aimed a semiautomatic with an extended barrel, indicating the weapon contained a silencer, and fired three nearly silent shots into her bed. Jackie had to admit it startled her. He wasn’t there to rob her house. It was a hit! She had a clear shot at the man and could take him out with a single round, but something occurred to her. If this was a professional hit, he may not be alone in her house. If she shot the man, anyone else within the house would hear it and be alerted. She needed the element of surprise on her side, especially if she didn’t know how many intruders were in the house.
The killer must’ve realized something wasn’t right. He hesitated, lowered his gun, and reached for the rumpled covers. He pulled the covers back to reveal the empty bed. As he turned to scan the room, Jackie was already standing in front of him. She snap kicked him in the groin, immediately dropping him to his knees. Before he fell, she kicked him in the head and sent him against the bed, softening the noise he made as he hit the floor. Unfortunately, his gun thumped as it struck the floor, making a distinctive sound, which would attract any friends he may have brought with him. She snatched the semiautomatic containing the silencer and immediately darted for the open bedroom door. She hid alongside the door and listened for any more unwelcomed visitors. Jackie could hear the thundering footfalls of at least two men running along the second-floor hallway.
She heard them approaching her bedroom door. The man on the floor alongside her bed groaned and moved to his knees. Jackie glanced at the man who could potentially shout a warning. She casually raised the weapon and shot him in the chest. He collapsed to the floor with a soft thump. Another man ran into the bedroom with his gun aimed and ready to fire. Jackie grabbed his wrist, twisted his arm, and kicked him in the abdomen. The second man entered the room, now knowing something was wrong and aimed his gun at her. Jackie spun the first man around, placing him between her and the second intruder, and allowed him to take the three nearly silent shots fired from his partner. She released the dead man, now holding his gun along with the other man’s gun and fired several shots into the intruder in the doorway. His body jerked and jolted in a macabre dance of sorts before he struck the doorframe and sank down it, collapsing to the floor.
Jackie sneered as she watched the man hit the floor. She could feel anger and rage coursing through her body. The feeling was overpowering, unlike anything she’d ever felt before. She wanted to revive each man just so she could kill him again. The stress and strain of the last few days had finally taken its toll on her. She was no longer sad; she was pissed. She discarded the intruders’ guns and recovered her Uzi from the closet. It was time to clean house. She had to make sure they didn’t bring any more friends with them. Jackie approached the bedroom door then hesitated. There was only one staircase leading downstairs. A smart killer would wait for her to trap herself on the stairs, where he could easily pick her off. She needed a Zack move just to be safe. She returned to the closet for one more item.
†
Two men dressed entirely in black crept across the front yard. One headed for the front door while the second headed around back. As the first man slipped in through the front door, Jackie silently dropped from the porch roof, landing between the bushes and the house. She wore a menacing looking holster strapped to her thigh containing the Uzi. Jackie watched the man enter her house. The intruder crossed the foyer and stood near the bottom of the stairs. He looked up them then touched his ear and the hidden transmitter it contained.
“Do you copy?” he asked in a loud whisper. There was no response. “Confirm. Is the mark down?”
“Yeah, she’s down,” Jackie snarled while standing directly behind him.
The man whirled around with his gun aimed. Jackie kicked the gun from his hand then spun for the return kick striking him in the face. The intruder was thrown against the hall table, making more noise than she would have liked. He sprang to his feet while pulling a switchblade and lunged for her. Jackie blocked the swing and caught his wrist, twisting his arm enough to cause him to cry out. She glared at the man with a psychotic look through the dim lighting.
“You haven’t got the balls to beat me,” she snarled through gritted teeth.
The second intruder, having gone around back to the kitchen door, appeared in the hallway and aimed his gun at her. Jackie saw him but running wasn’t part of her plan. As the second man fired at her, she flipped her body through the air, using the first man’s arm and body as leverage, wrapped her legs around his neck, and flipped him off his feet, riding him to the floor. The gunshot missed her, although he nearly clipped his own man and no longer had a clear shot. The second man ran down the hall toward them as Jackie grabbed the first man around the neck and easily snapped it. The second man stopped when he heard the frightening crunch. Jackie was already on her knees while removing her weapon. She had the Uzi in her hand and fired a barrage of bullets at the second man. He cried out with surprise and ran back into the kitchen.
The unwelcomed guest silently hid alongside the kitchen doorway while clutching his gun. He attempted to control his breathing and collected his emotions as his hardened, determined look returned. He spun into the doorway with his weapon aimed. The dimly lit hallway was empty and silent. His partner remained sprawled on the floor not far from the stairs. The intruder scanned the hallway with some apprehension. The front door stood o
pen, indicating Jackie may have fled the house. He slowly crept along the hallway while darting looks all around him. Jackie was nowhere to be found. As he passed the stairs, he looked up them. There was still no sign of his hit.
The faint creak on the stairs alerted him to someone’s presence, causing him to spin toward the stairs with his gun aimed. Jackie leaped through the broken railing and kicked the man in the chest with both feet, sending him across the hall and into the opposing wall with a crash. Jackie landed gracefully on the floor then straightened as the man slowly recovered from the hard kick and even more painful stop. He attempted to raise his gun, but Jackie was already kicking it from his hand, startling him. She straightened and stared the man in the eyes through the dim lighting.
“Who ordered the hit?” she growled with no emotion in her tone.
The man sneered his response and swung his fist for her face. Jackie blocked his fist, kicked him in the side, and then smashed his face on her knee. She released him, allowing him to clutch his nose while attempting to regain his balance.
“Who ordered the hit?” she again asked.
“Fuck you,” the man cried out and lunged for her, thinking he could overtake her with his size.
Jackie spun into a roundhouse kick, nailing him in the chest, and sending him back into the wall. “I’m through asking nicely,” she snarled.
Outside the Wire Page 5
