“Where should we start then?” Banyon asked. “Do you want to discuss Albin Wilk first? I need to know how he learned about us. What are his plans?”
“His plans are well formed and some are already being implemented. I’m afraid you will be chasing his efforts for some time,” the spirit replied. “But I believe I have found a way to keep him off balance.”
“How?”
“He does not seem to know I can track him in real time. He knows I can keep track of you, and can find the talismans, but he seems to believe that all I do is simply tell you where to look for things. He doesn’t know I can track history.”
Banyon thought for a few seconds then spoke to Loni. “Wilk doesn’t know Wolf can track him. Think about how we can use this to our advantage.”
“Oh boy, we are going to scare the crap out of him,” Loni exclaimed with joy. She laughed evilly. “I’m going to come up with a plan which will stop him from ever looking at a woman sexually again.” Banyon wondered if she missed the point, but had more important things to do at the moment.
Banyon was quickly in a much better frame of mind. “Let’s talk about Wilks’ past, shall we?” The mood lasted only until Wolf replied.
“There are some pressing problems which we need to get to, Colt.”
“Okay,” Banyon said with dread. Whenever Wolf said there was a problem, he meant it. This time he said problems, which meant more than one. “What are they?”
“Since I’ve begun tracking Wilk, I’ve discovered many things which we will need to address, but not right now. First of all, you need to beef up the protection of The Magic Belt. It is where your plan is the most vulnerable.”
“Isn’t the team I sent to Wisconsin enough?” Banyon said with concern. “The people are my friends. What is going to happen?”
“You know I can’t predict the future, Colt, but I can tell you a team of mercenaries will attack the farm in five hours. The response team will need more help to repel them successfully.”
“How do you know this?”
“I’ll explain everything in detail later,” Wolf said in a rush.
“But Wilk has several teams of mercenaries at his disposal. The reason he has taken pictures of the chart which Loni made is so he can direct the men to each talisman. He wants all the weapons because he has a buyer for the whole lot. They are going to pay him three billion dollars. It will be paid in three days.”
“Who’s the buyer?” Banyon quickly asked.
“It has all been done by email. You know I can’t track emails to the source. You will need to get that information from him or some other way.”
“Okay,” Banyon agreed. “What can you tell me about the attack on the farm?”
“The plan is for them to arrive by helicopter in five hours. They intend to kill anyone that they find at the farm before they take the weapon. The leader is booked on an afternoon flight tomorrow from Chicago back to Warsaw.”
“How many men is he sending to the farm?”
“He is sending ten hardened mercenaries,” Wolf said sadly. “They will be heavily armed.”
“I need to call Bart right now,” Banyon declared. “I also need you to do something for me, can you do it?” Banyon asked.
Once the task was explained, Wolf quickly agreed.
“Can we continue this discussion after I send more help to the farm?” Banyon asked the spirit.
“I am always here for you, Colt.”
Chapter Five
The four person surveillance and response team had been in position for nearly two hours. The team consisted of the bogus clergy, Sister Teresa and Father Grey, who were in charge of surveillance. It included Steve, Head of Security at Dewey & Beatem. He was the team leader. And Mandy, Colton Banyon’s assistant, was the final member of the team. She held a sniper rifle which was almost as big as she was tall.
They were all dressed in camouflage. They were positioned on a grassy knoll about a hundred yards from the farmhouse outside of Janesville, Wisconsin. They didn’t know who they were working for or what to expect. They were just told to keep an eye on the farmhouse and repel any invaders. They had all done this type of work before.
“This is great,” Mandy said sarcastically as she flapped her small arms. “We are stuck out here in the sunshine, making money and doing nothing. I hate doing nothing. I want some action.”
“Patience my child,” the older Mother Teresa scolded as she looked through the binoculars. “Be careful what you wish for.”
“Quiet,” Steve ordered. “We have a job to do.”
Suddenly Mandy’s phone started to vibrate inside of her loose fitting fatigues. She dug into her pocket, and brought her cell phone up to her ear. Steve was already giving her a disapproving look.
“No phone calls on the job,” he uttered.
“Hi Colt,” she said sweetly into the phone. “Where are you?” She was thrilled to get a call from him even if she was on a job.
“Put me on speaker, I need to speak to all of you,” Banyon ordered without preamble. She pressed the button for the speaker and motioned the others over.
“We’re all here,” she quickly said.
“Listen to me carefully,” Banyon said with urgency. “In about four hours there is going to be a helicopter with ten heavily armed mercenaries landing at the farm.” The team looked at each other in shock. They were not prepared for such a large assault.
“We won’t be able to hold them off for long,” an agitated Steve responded.
“I’ve already talked to Bart. He is on the way with six more people. You just need to slow them down until he gets there.”
“How long will we need to hold them off?” Mandy asked in a frightened voice.
“He expects to get there fifteen minutes after the copter is due,” Banyon responded. “I’m calling you so he won’t waste time talking to you.”
“What do these guys want?” Mother Teresa asked.
“They are after an old artifact the woman of the house has in her possession. They must not get it.”
“So, are we working for you?” Mandy asked in surprise. When Banyon said artifact, she realized he was probably involved.
“I’m paying you, if that is what you mean,” he replied. “But if the artifact falls into the wrong hands it could have bad global consequences.”
“Good thing I brought my duffle bag full of tricks,” Steve said to bolster his team. “We’ll plan a few surprises for them.”
“Should we let the people in the farm house know we are here?” Father Grey asked. “Tactically, we would be in a better position if we fought from the house.”
“I agree,” Banyon said. “You should go there now.”
“Can we call you if we need help,” Mandy pleaded. She was aware that Banyon could do things that no one else could do, but didn’t know how he did them.
“You have my number. I will respond. Once I’m finished with my project in Europe, I’ll catch up with you guys at the farm.” Mandy was thrilled.
He then hung up.
***
Steve ordered everyone off the grassy knoll. They raced to the farmhouse as fast as possible. Mandy was, by far, the fastest runner, and was almost to the front door when it suddenly opened.
She skidded to a stop. In the doorway, there stood a blond woman who looked like a beautiful Greek statue. She wore a white toga held together by a sash with shiny metal ornaments hanging around it. She smiled gracefully at them.
“Come on in, I’ve been expecting you,” she said cheerfully.
Mandy was immediately jealous. She reasoned that Colt knew the woman from some time in his past. The older woman was much prettier and more sophisticated than Mandy, especially since Mandy was in her loose fitting battle fatigues. This made Mandy angry. She wanted to be the center of Banyon’s attention when he got there.
“My name is Barbara Reynolds. You can call me Barbara,” she told everyone as they came through the door.
“We are here
to protect you,” Steve quickly informed her. “We are working for Colton Banyon.”
“Yes, I know,” Barbara replied swiftly. “I’ve just heard from him,” she replied, but didn’t say that it wasn’t by phone.
Steve continued. “There will be a bunch of bad guys here in less than four hours. We need to make defensive arrangements around your house. We will need to hold them off until reinforcements arrive. The attackers won’t take any prisoners.”
“Then we’ll have to bloody their noses, won’t we,” the woman said unfazed by his statement.
“Is anyone else in the house?” Steve asked.
“Just my father-in-law, he is very old, his name is Paul Reynolds. And then there is my husband, his name is Carl Reynolds.”
“Can any of you shoot a gun?” Steve asked.
“I used to work for an unnamed government agency, as a field agent. Carl was a professional bodyguard before we married, and Paul, the old man, still hunts squirrels. Yes we can all shoot.
“Ma’am,” you’d better get them in here for a briefing and you need to change your clothes,” Steve said.
“I’m comfortable with what I’m wearing,” she replied with finality. “I just put this on before you got here.” But she called out to the other two men. They came running. After introductions, Steve got down to business.
“I want the response team to cover the front of the house. Your job is the back of the house,” he said to the surveillance team. He pointed to the Reynolds. “You three are going to be my reserves. Stay in the living room and go where I tell you. When I tell you to shoot, you shoot, got it?”
“I have been in firefights before, so has Carl, we know what to do,” Barbara explained showing a little of the arrogance she often displayed when she was Dr. Barbara Behl, member of Homeland Security and the Effort.
Steve unzipped his duffle bag and began handing out communication earplugs to everyone. “Just press the button to speak,” he told the Reynolds.
Next he brought out a box of black rubber gloves. “I want all of you to wear these from now on. If this turns into a fire fight, the gloves will make it hard for a forensics team to identify, whose gun was used to shoot someone.”
“Do you have any white ones?” Barbara asked. “They would match my outfit.” This got her a stern look from Steve. “No matter,” she continued. “I have white ones in the kitchen.”
He was now bringing out more guns. Barbara took a sleek, black, Glock handgun. She slipped it into her tunic. He then pulled out four remote controlled land mines. “Mandy, you’re going to help me bury these around the house,” he ordered.
“Let me do it,” Carl offered. “I’ve dug this ground many times and I’ve had some experience protecting people. I’ll show you where we should place them.”
“Okay,” Steve agreed. “Maybe you can show me a good place to plant these two remote controlled incendiary bombs too.”
“You all gonna burn my house down?” Old man Reynolds croaked in disbelief.
“Of course not,” Steve replied. “But since the bad guys are coming by helicopter we should be able to predict where they will land. We’ll set off the bombs as soon as they touch down. That might scare them away.”
“And also let them know they are in for a fight,” Carl said with a nod of his head in agreement.
“If they’re coming up on us by ground, we’ve got a widows walk on the top of the house. It’d be a fine place for a sniper,” Barbara said.
“I volunteer,” old man Reynolds offered.
“Good idea, but not for you Paul,” Steve said and pointed.
“Mandy, you’ve got the sniper rifle. Make your shots count.”
Realizing she was probably going to have to shoot several people, Mandy gulped. “They will,” she answered.
“Now here is the rest of the plan,” Steve explained his strategy for several minutes before asking if there were any questions.
“This could work,” Carl the bodyguard replied. There were no more questions.
“One more thing,” Steve said without looking up. “If we get overrun, head for the second floor. We’ll barricade the door. We’ll make our last stand there.” It was a sobering thought for all of them.
“Let’s hope that it doesn’t come to that,” Barbara said.
Steve then motioned to Carl, The two men went outside to plant the bomb traps and scout out a place for the fire bombs.
***
“I’ll show you the way to the widows’ walk,” Barbara pleasantly said to Mandy. “Paul built it many years ago so his wife could see what he was doing in the fields. It’s just a fenced in deck at the top of the house.”
“Does it have good sight lines?” Mandy asked professionally.
“You can see for several miles in any direction from there. The land in mostly flat around here,” Barbara explained. “Follow me.”
“I suppose I need to do this,” Mandy said through gritted teeth and started off obediently behind the Greek goddess.
***
They traveled up the stairs to the second floor, through the doorway and down a short hallway. They entered the master bedroom and proceeded into a closet. Another small door led into a tiny dark attic. In the middle of the space, a set of rough-hewn wood stairs led up to a trap door. It was only about five feet above the floor. Barbara reached up, undid a latch, and pushed it open. Bright light spilled into the attic. Barbara then climbed the stairs to the roof. She was silhouetted by the strong sunshine pouring in. Mandy could see that Barbara wasn’t wearing any underwear, just the white toga. It made her a little embarrassed. She couldn’t imagine why any woman would go into battle without clean underwear.
Soon they both stood on the four by four foot deck. Mandy thought the view was amazing. “This will do nicely,” she remarked with a smile and set down her rifle. She went to the railing. She could see Steve and Carl as they dug a hole to plant a mine.
“I can see why Colton likes you,” Barbara suddenly said as she devoured her with her eyes.
“How well do you know Colt?” Mandy demanded.
“Oh, my,” Barbara replied with a laugh. “You think I’m after Banyon, don’t you little one?”
“It has occurred to me,” Mandy said. “You dress like a slut.”
“Well, for your information sweetie, Banyon and I were adversaries for a very long time. I was very different back then. We hated each other, but he gave me a second chance at life. I’ve lost fifty pounds, had plastic surgery, and have settled down here on the farm. My life is good now.”
“But you still want him,” Mandy added sarcastically.
Barbara let out a louder laugh. “I have never had designs on Colton Banyon. It’s his partner Loni Chen that heats my blood. I’d do anything to get her here.”
Suddenly realizing Barbara Reynolds was a lesbian, Mandy asked. “But you married that huge hunk of a man, didn’t you?” Mandy pointed to Carl. He had his shirt off and was digging in the soft dirt of Wisconsin farmland. His muscles bulged.
“True, he is huge and very satisfying, I might add,” Barbara agreed. “But sometimes I crave someone smaller and more pliable.” Her eyes burned steadily on the small young girl. Her intentions were all but telegraphed.
“Why are you telling me all of this?” Mandy uttered softly. She suddenly felt trapped on the roof.
“Because you very much remind me of Loni,” Barbara answered honestly. “You’re small, athletic, pretty, and sexy without broadcasting it. You just need to grow your hair longer,” Barbara said in a hoarse voice as she fingered Mandy’s pageboy haircut.
“Get away from me,” Mandy protested loudly and brushed Barbara’s hand from her hair. She took up a defensive pose even though she was not a good physical fighter. She relied on speed and good shooting.
“I don’t get to have many visitors like you, little Mandy,” Barbara responded in a seductive voice. She attempted to step closer. She tried to grab Mandy by her blouse. Her lips were forming a kiss.
Mandy shoved her with all her might. The Greek goddess flew backwards and landed on her butt. The sash untied and fell to the deck. The tunic spread open revealing all of Barbara Reynolds body. She immediately sprang back to her feet.
“I like feisty women,” she said in a sexually charged voice. Suddenly she stopped and stared into the distance. “Look,” she cried out and pointed.
Mandy thought it was a ruse to get her to turn around so she remained in her defensive position. Barbara swiftly closed her tunic and picked up the sash from the deck. She tied it while still looking into the distance. She suddenly turned then disappeared down the steps. Only then did Mandy take a peek over her shoulder. She saw two SUVs heading up the long dusty driveway. They were about three hundred yards from the house.
She grabbed the binoculars which hung from her neck. She focused in on the vehicles. She quickly pressed her earplug to inform everyone.
“I’ve got two SUVs heading up the driveway. They are about two minutes away. There appears to be eight men in them. I’m taking up a firing position.” Mandy dropped to the deck and sighted her gun on the intruders.
“Shoot on my mark,” was the reply.
Chapter Six
Colton Banyon sat quietly in the front seat of the speeding automobile. He had the vanity light on above his head. He was busy studying the chart Loni gave him. He learned from Wolf that Wilk already sent mercenaries to go after each weapon recorded on the paper. He knew he had to protect each one separately. He went through the list and commented on each one to Loni.
“Well, we’ve done what we can to protect The Magic Belt,” he said in finality. “Hope they can protect it until we get there.”
“They’ll be alright,” Loni replied dismissively, anything else was unthinkable.
“Wilk already has the Insight talisman,” Banyon commented.
“So we know where to get it when we are ready.”
“And I’m working on a plan to get it away from him,” Loni assured him.
“So am I,” Banyon said off hand.
The Polish Discovery: The Society of Orion 1-3 (Colton Banyon Mystery Book 17) Page 15
