by Wylder Stone
“I thought the same thing. Smart. Real smart.” James’s voice was heavy, despite trying to suppress the anxiety he was feeling.
Jackson laid a hand on his brother’s shoulder while Owen led the way. “We’re getting her back, man. Both of them.”
James nodded. He knew they would get them back but at what cost? He’d lost so much already, and it nearly destroyed him. Life was finally starting to make sense again, and the rug was pulled from under his feet. He couldn’t handle another loss.
Old emotions began to take over. This was why he didn’t let people in, kept them at arm’s length, and tried not to fucking care. It hurt too damn much when the proverbial shit hit the fan, and everything you gave two fucks about was on the line.
Pushing past the pain and frustration, he forged on. They all needed to keep a clear head if this was going to end with a happily ever after. James was smarter – they were stronger – they were faster. He silently chanted that as his inner mantra. They would overcome this. They’d all be home together, tonight.
Up the stairs at the end of the tunnel, they found themselves in the maintenance shed, just as Baron had described. A quick search of the fairly open space revealed it was empty. There were footprints in the dirty floor and handprints on the door, but no way to tell who they belonged to. It was a maintenance shed that also held what looked like track and field equipment. The place was well used, so nothing indicated anyone had just been there.
Cars pulling up out front prompted them to leave the building. And that was where they found their sign – a clue. Ruby’s carnation that Baron had given her lay in the gravel behind a set of deep tire tracks. Between the tracks were multiple sets of footprints, one on top of the other – there had been a struggle.
“They were put in the trunk,” James said quietly, looking at each of his brothers. “The trunk.” His voice was full of seething anger, escaping him as a near scream.
“Vivi is smart. She’ll keep Ru safe until we get to them.” Jackson’s voice was ominous – until we get to them – if only they knew where they were.
James’s smartwatch began to sound – alarm after alarm. “Son of a bitch.”
He jumped into one of the nearby cars, pulled his laptop from the back, and went to work. “Alarms are going off all over the city. Power going out, bridges blocked, accidents everywhere.”
“Grand finale. This is his fireworks show,” Jackson said.
“The girls’ phones are on the move, one headed south, one north,” James said. “He wouldn’t split them up, would he?”
“Hard call. We can tail both of them – two teams,” Jackson replied.
Another alarm came from James’s watch, prompting him to dig into his keyboard once again. “The Elite Building’s been breached. Someone got in,” he called out. “Garage, black car, just pulled in. That’s all I can see. Something…something happened. I’m locking down the building.”
“Three teams – north, south, and the Elite Building. The Elite Building is probably a distraction, but we need an all clear,” Jackson rambled in the background while James stared off in the distance, trying to piece it all together.
“Wait,” James interrupted. “They’re all at the Elite Building. He’s tearing apart the city, making it hard to tell where he is and to distract us, maybe even just slow us down. The phones are a ploy. He needs them both, so he has them both. He wouldn’t separate them and risk losing a bargaining chip. It was too hard to get them in the first place, and he knows we’re better than him. They’re all he had over us. He’ll use Ru to get Vivi to do what he wants and use both to get to us.”
“So how do you know the Elite Building isn’t just another decoy?” Owen asked. “You need to be sure about this. Think with your head, not with your heart on this one.”
“I can’t see the Elite Building. That’s how I know they’re there. Who else knows me and my work well enough to shut me out? It’s a fucking clue. A message. Besides, he’s taken the entire city offline. Elite is immune to all that, and he needs somewhere to work.”
“Genevieve.” Jackson nodded with a grin.
“And if I’m wrong, which I’m not, we hunt down the phones from the air. She’s there, and she wouldn’t do shit for that asshole unless she had Ruby in sight.”
23
“You have to stay calm, Ruby. Okay? We have to use our heads. Your dad and uncles are probably right behind us, honey.” Genevieve felt around in the dark for Ruby’s hand and held it. “Can you do that for me?”
“I’m scared, Vivi,” the girl cried.
“I know, baby, but we’re going to be okay. These guys aren’t going to hurt us,” Genevieve said.
“How? How do you know that? They put us in a trunk. I’ve seen that in movies!”
“Honey, they need me to get what they want. They need me on the computer. They need you to get me on that computer and to keep your dad and uncles from becoming their worst nightmare,” Genevieve assured her, trying to convince herself that was true. “We’ll be fine. I won’t let them hurt you. Understand?”
“We’re in a trunk, Vivi.”
“Only to scare us. Don’t let it work. I have a plan. Your dad is right behind us. Promise.” She hoped like hell she could keep that promise.
The truth was, she didn’t know what he would do with her once he realized she didn’t have the money he thought she had. One thing she did know – Watson was Benson. He’d played her all those years ago, and he’d continued to play her now. The minute she saw him in the locker room, it all came together.
He disappeared because he was Watson, not because he stole from him and ran. Benson had to get to Long Beach, to his warehouse, because he knew the feds were closing in on him and the Forces tipped them off. He faked his own death in that building. Tasha’s too…maybe her mother’s.
He had a gun, and with Ruby there, she couldn’t afford to fight. She wouldn’t risk Ruby’s life. It was safer to go with him for now. The glowing emergency trunk release was dismantled because when Genevieve had gone to pull it, nothing happened.
The car came to an abrupt stop, the engine turned off, and a car door slammed.
“Get out,” Benson said after opening the trunk. “Now. We don’t have all day.”
Genevieve was first to climb out before helping Ruby. She tucked Ruby behind her for protection and took a step backward, forcing Ruby to do the same. “Why are you doing this, Benson?”
“Just following orders, Vivi. That’s what they call you, right?” Benson laughed at her, shaking his head in disgust. “Did you pay for this? That how those assholes got a building like this, isn’t it? You bought it. This is all you. Elite Force is really you.”
“Pay for the building? Are you serious? How would I…?”
“You shouldn’t have taken the money and faked your death, Vivi. Thought we had something. Thought we had a life, a future. You played me all along.” He sneered.
“Money? Faked my death? What are you talking about?” Genevieve wasn’t sure if he was threatening her, or he’d totally lost his mind. “Where’s Tasha?”
His glare sharpened. “Safe. Surprised you care.”
“Why wouldn’t I care?” she questioned, taking another step backward toward the open elevator.
“What game are you playing, Genevieve? I know what you did,” Benson replied, taking a step closer, forcing Genevieve to take another one back.
Before she answered, she shoved Ruby into the elevator in a quick motion and smacked her hand against a caution sign posted next to the elevator. Ruby’s scream disappeared behind the elevator doors as they whooshed closed. Genevieve let out the breath she had been holding when her scream faded in a quick ascent as the elevator pulled her to safety.
“What the… What the hell?” Benson grabbed Genevieve by the arm. “Get her back down here!”
“I wouldn’t, even if I could. She’s gone – a safe room. That elevator was the only way up.” Genevieve smiled in relief. She’d breathe ea
sier knowing Ruby was safe and no longer a part of this. “Where’s. My. Sister?”
Genevieve began to fight, breaking away from Benson as she did, which gave her more range, and she used it. He tried to fight back, got in a few good blows, but adrenaline masked the pain, and she fought on. With every blow, she felt stronger. He couldn’t keep up, and she was going to get away. But not until after she locked him in the Elite Building for the Force’s to deal with.
Benson went down to one knee, then a second, finally falling to all fours when the sound of a car door opening and that of a cocked gun grabbed Genevieve’s attention. After one last kick to the face, she spun on her heels, ready to face whatever was behind her.
Genevieve’s body sagged, and her arms fell to her side as if the wind had been knocked from her lungs when she faced the person at the other end of the gun aimed at her.
Genevieve’s voice cracked, fervor overwhelming her as the pieces continued to come together, putting together a truth she hadn’t seen coming. In the blink of an eye, it all made sense. Mystery solved, and it was so clear she kicked herself for not seeing it before. “Oh, my God. It’s…you. You’re…Watson.”
When the brothers got back to the Elite Building and saw that the black car was gone, but the caution sign next to the elevator was green, not red like it typically was, they knew someone was there. The elevator closest to the sign was inactive, confirming the thirteenth floor was in use.
The thirteenth floor was a safe room that made up the top floor of the Elite Building. It was only accessible through one elevator, and once accessed, the line to it shut down. You wouldn’t find a numbered button leading there on the interior of any of the elevators, just the hidden safe button on every floor, disguised as a caution sign. To the outside world, the floor didn’t even exist, and that was the point.
It was furnished, stocked with non-perishable food rations and other items, and completely sustainable for several weeks of living. Once up there, there was only one way out – through the hidden passage accessed only from the rooftop or by deactivating the elevator, which could only be done from the thirteenth floor. If you knew how.
Filling the conference room, the men went to work, preparing for a rescue while James tried to get their system back online so they could see who they had holed up on the thirteenth floor.
“They were definitely in here,” James said. “The system was taken offline despite putting it on lockdown from the school.”
“Genevieve?” Jackson asked. “There is no way anyone else would know how to do it but her. I don’t care how good of a hacker they are.”
James smiled. “Good girl, Vivi,” he said under her breath.
“Mind filling us in? Trying to get gear together. What are we fighting, and where is it?” Derek chided.
“She’s not on the thirteenth floor, at least I don’t think so. Whoever is in there accessed from the garage – the sign. She couldn’t have done any of this from in there. Genevieve was in here. No doubt about it.”
“They were separated,” Jackson clarified. “Or got away from them when they tried to take off?”
“Appears that way. I almost have the system up, and I’ll be able to see everything again. She basically took us offline by moving us to a temporary server. She made it look like we’re out of business, but really, it’s just sleeping. Smart,” James prided. “She’s still protecting us, and Elite which means the thirteenth floor has precious cargo.”
He continued to run his fingers over the keyboard until the screens on the wall lit up, one at a time. “I think they got spooked, couldn’t do what they wanted, and ran. They must have needed more time. They had her looking for the money. They still think she has it. She left a trail everywhere she looked.” James laughed. “She stalled…took them on a wild goose chase.”
“So who is on the thirteenth floor, James? Friend or foe?” Jackson asked, knowing full well why James was avoiding the question. If they were in a hurry or off their game, there was a good chance they all went up to the thirteenth floor after they were in the conference room. Sure, it was activated from the garage, but nothing said it was before or after the conference room.
“I, uh, I’m looking now.” Four screens, perfectly centered on the wall, switched to surveillance. Each camera was scanning a different room on the top hidden floor. “Ruby. I see her. I don’t see anyone else. It’s just her. Vivi must’ve got her to safety before coming up here and buying time.”
James bolted from the conference room and straight for the rooftop, where he climbed the metal ladder on the side of the dormer that housed the elevator shaft. Removing a metal plate, much like a manhole cover, James revealed a keypad atop a metal hatch door. The hatch held another metal ladder that ran behind the elevator shaft, then to a narrow-recessed platform with a steel door and another keypad.
Bypassing the final barrier, James ran down the shallow hall and burst through a door that opened into a bedroom and started calling his daughter’s name. She leaped in his arms and began to sob. Genevieve saved her. Genevieve was gone.
After a quick debriefing, they found that they didn’t get any more from Ruby than they already had. It happened so fast, and the first thing Genevieve did was get Ruby to safety, so she didn’t see anything that transpired after. They didn’t have any more than they started with. Until all of their watches sounded with an alarm. A schedule reminder. Each of the brothers looked at their watch and shared a similar confused look. Except James. He just smiled.
James looked at the men in the room and said with excitement, “I know where she is.”
With Ruby safely stowed at the Elite Building, protected by Cade and Connor, the brothers loaded up along with Aaron Markus. Watson was a wanted fugitive, and they were on his ass. Markus wanted him. He’d prosecute him with every federal crime he could down to tampering with US mail if he had to. These people were family to him, and he’d do anything for them. This gave him great pleasure.
“I still don’t get it…” Jackson questioned. “All the way out there? If service around the city is offline, it surely is there too.”
“She buried the alert so it would pop up once we were back online when she knew we would get it,” James said. “It’s likely the last thing she did before they got spooked and ran.”
“That doesn’t explain the cryptic message,” Derek questioned from behind the wheel.
“It will when we get there,” James answered. He’d let the message sink in and pondered the possibilities wondering how they’d missed this piece to the puzzle. It was so obvious now. Perhaps that’s the point. It was so obvious; it was hard to see.
Derek shook his head as he took the turn off a mile up the road from their intended target. With both vehicles parked, they got into their gear and hiked a full mile in. When they reached the cliff that crested their target destination, they hunkered down and took in their surroundings to formulate a plan. Sure, Genevieve was supposed to be there, but with acreage of this size, dozens of outbuildings, and a vast forest surrounding them, she was a needle in a haystack.
“You said we were going to the Riverbend Resort,” Derek’s whisper came with a surprise
“We are. This is the stuff you miss when you take off on your secret missions.” Troy snickered.
“Riverbend Resort is a, uh…health and wellness place. Everyone wears the same thing. It’s odd, cult-like, and now I know why. That was the clue,” James replied.
“He took her to a damn health and wellness resort? A fancy spa?” Derek’s eyes went wide. “Why does this feel like a trap?”
“I don’t think it’s a trap. I think he needed help, and he knows only one other person in this town who can do what Genevieve does. Her friend…Big Vic. This place is completely off the grid. They don’t have cell service, television, anything. It’s to reconnect with their inner self and the earth or some shit.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. So he hauls her off to some nudist camp…”
“Resor
t. They wear gowns,” Troy corrected. “Look at them all dancing around down there.”
“Resort, I stand corrected, to kidnap another guy. A cult follower named Big Vic. Shit just got weird. I have a feeling you’re spot-on because this is the kind of thing you just can’t make up,” Derek said.
Jackson stood as the voice of reason. “If they’re off grid, why bring her here? How is she supposed to find his money if she can’t access the basic internet, much less all the dark web shit you guys play with?”
James was working on his portable war room, his laptop, trying to source anything out of the norm, which was saying a lot, considering where they were. “Just keep looking out there while I keep looking for…anything. God, let there be a signal or something I can pick up. Maybe they aren’t as off grid as we were led to believe. He could have been jamming all signals out here to make it appear as such so we’d believe the ruse.”
“Out of the norm? We’re staring at a bunch of white-robed people chanting God knows what around a bonfire the size of our building, and you want us to look for something out of the norm. I think we found it,” Derek added.
“Think of it as another job, Derek, but this time, we’re rescuing family,” James said, his eyes never leaving his screen.
“Got something. It’s small, probably a jammer, but it’s definitely there and not supposed to be. This place doesn’t have Wi-Fi or a nearby tower, so this is something.”
“You can detect a jammer? I thought the point of a jammer was to jam frequency and hide?” Jackson asked.
“It is, unless you know how to get around it.” James smiled. “Here’s a map. The signal is coming from that outbuilding, which is probably a cabin. The perfect setting. It’s away from pretty much everything out here on the opposite end of the resort. If they were going to set up shop out here, that’s where they’d want it.”
Jackson led the team on a route he pulled from the map James provided. They moved through the woods in a stealth-like manner, avoiding the hiking trails and any of the scattered buildings where they could encounter unsuspecting resort guests. Or those planted as eyes and ears – there was no telling what these people knew or didn’t know. Their destination was nearly a mile away on the opposite side of the property from where they started. Not their best vantage point, but they wouldn’t be seen coming in from any angle, hiding under the shadows of the forest at dusk.
