The bodyguard closed the distance with Jason and opened his suit jacket, clearly showing his shoulder harness and gun. “You’re not very good at private security, are you, Mr. Smith?”
Jason jumped as if surprised and shot to his feet, dropping his phone on the lounge chair between them. He immediately held his hands out. “Whoa. What? Look, I don’t want any trouble.”
“Mr. Jones wants those pictures you took with his girls deleted.” Bodyguard still hadn’t drawn his weapon, probably relying on the intimidation of having it to be enough to cow Jason.
“Juliett, this is Bravo. We’ve successfully received and downloaded here.” Raul kept his message over the comm as quiet as possible. Their comms were the best in the private sector and Pua had them carefully calibrated, so there was no chance the bodyguard would overhear and realize Jason was wearing it. Raul was speaking low and calm to avoid distracting Jason too much from the current situation. “It’s fine if the phone is a loss.”
Good. Arin suspected that Jason was the type to take a chance on a rash action if he thought he needed to save the images on the cell phone. Raul had mitigated the risk. This was another reason she was happy to be working with Search and Protect. Her teammates didn’t settle for competent. They thought beyond reacting to the current situation and got ahead of it.
“Fine. I’ll delete the images.” Jason reached for the phone.
The bodyguard reached for his gun. “Don’t. I’m not going to give you the chance to back them up before you delete them. Back away and let me have the phone.”
Too late for that, but it wasn’t likely the bodyguard was going to know how to check whether the images had already been backed up.
“Juliett, this is Bravo. We’re ready to enter the club. Neutralize the hostile with which you are engaged and maintain your position.” As liaison to the Hawaiian task force coordinating with police, Raul was technically the lead on this operation and Arin went silent to avoid excessive chatter on the comms.
Jason stared at the bodyguard. “Copy.”
The bodyguard wasn’t quick on the pick-up. “What?”
It’d been stupid on the bodyguard’s part not to have finished drawing his gun. They were only a few feet apart—out of arm’s reach, yes—but the man hadn’t left anything close to the proper reactionary gap. The bodyguard had grossly underestimated Jason, maybe due to Jason’s bulk or just out of dismissal of the majority of people out there. Either way, the bodyguard had made too many mistakes.
Jason shot forward, over the lounge chair, grabbing the man’s wrist as he went for his gun again and using forward momentum to pin the man’s arm to his chest. Jason slid to one side and around the man to get behind him, then wrapped his free arm around the man’s neck. It wasn’t a perfectly secure hold, but Jason was still in motion, using the man’s distraction at having his airway cut off to weaken his hold on the weapon. The bodyguard tried to step into Jason, but Jason moved with him and allowed them to both fall on the lounge chair behind them with a simple ankle block. They hit the lounge chair hard and it gave out from under them with a crash. Jason grunted on impact. Then he was rolling with the bodyguard, going for a more secure hold.
Raul’s task force entered the club from the elevator and the stairs, ordering guests to crouch down and remain in place. A few broke and tried to run, but they had no place to go on the rooftop. The task force had the place secured in moments.
“Juliett, this is Charlie. You have two hostiles approaching.” The other bodyguard and Mr. Jones had edged their way through the initial chaos and the two of them were trying to slowly back out of the club area unnoticed. Their path was taking them around the corner in the direction of the pool and Jason. “Finish with your dance partner or you will be outnumbered.”
“Negative,” Jason grunted. He and his opponent rolled dangerously close to the pool edge. “This is harder than it looks.”
“Bravo?” Arin asked as the other bodyguard and Mr. Jones rounded the corner. The other bodyguard had his weapon drawn and was about to realize his partner was engaging in combat with Jason. He’d be firing on Jason in another minute or less.
She didn’t wait for Raul’s response. She took aim, checked her visual cues for wind direction, and made her calculations in barely a moment. She didn’t breathe, didn’t shift her position, only focused on her target and squeezed her trigger.
The armed bodyguard jerked back as her bullet impacted his right shoulder. He dropped his firearm and fell to the ground. Mr. Jones surprised her by abandoning his bodyguard and diving behind the poolside bar, disappearing into the alcove. Raul and Taz came around the corner and began to secure the wounded bodyguard.
Not good. If Raul and Taz were addressing the downed bodyguard, then the area behind the bar was clear. The alcove was mostly protected from her line of sight. “Bravo, do you have eyes on our target?”
“Negative,” Raul growled into the comm. “There’s a door back here.”
Shit.
“Charlie, this is Juliett. I did not end up taking a swim.” Jason crouched next to his opponent. The man was on his belly with his arms secured behind his back. Jason was in the process of patting him down and divesting him of his weapons.
She refocused on him. “Is that your blood or his?”
Jason looked up at Raul and Taz. “A little of both. He got a good hit to my face. I think I’ve got a cut over one eye but I can see.”
It could’ve been worse.
“Good.” Raul rose from the wounded bodyguard and approached the door. “We’re still in pursuit of our target.”
“Copy that.” Jason fell in with Raul and the two of them disappeared behind the bar.
Arin scanned the rooftop club one last time to be sure the team hadn’t missed any other runners, then adjusted her position to continue her watch over her teammates, including Jason.
Jason let Raul and Taz take the lead. He’d spent enough time with Arin to know the working dog had a better sense of what was ahead of them than he did. They proceeded down the corridor, clearing one or two small storage rooms along the way. Yes, it was slower, but they had to be thorough or risk missing their quarry hiding somewhere. The Search and Protect team was thorough. Jason had to give them credit for that.
As they proceeded, Jason rode the wave of adrenaline, channeling it into careful focus. He resonated with this team, with Raul and Taz, and with Arin and King. They had a level of excellence he’d encountered here and there in his experience, but never in a concentrated group of professionals like this. Zu Ayanwu had put his team together carefully, and Jason was taking mental notes.
He allowed himself a fierce grin. He didn’t want to join a team like this. He wanted to assemble one. The queries he’d put out there for new positions were all designed to take the next step, looking for the opportunity to step into a leadership position and create a new team. This was what he’d strive for.
The memory of Arin flashed across his vision and faded as he continued to follow Raul and Taz. He wasn’t ever going to find someone like her again, not professionally to add to his team, and not personally. What she did to him…he didn’t have any desire to match those memories of her in anyone else.
Raul came to a stop and Jason studied the split in the corridor ahead of them. Was the dog going to be able to tell them which way to go? No. Jason remembered Arin saying something about the dogs needing a scent to search on. Jones hadn’t dropped any convenient hat or article of clothing.
“This is Bravo,” Raul murmured into his comm. “We’re splitting up. I’ll go to the right, deeper into the building. Juliett will proceed forward along the north side of the building.”
Several voices responded with quiet affirmatives. Zu’s was one. Arin’s was another.
Jason moved forward without hesitation, walking quickly with the gun he’d acquired from the downed bodyguard drawn and pointed to the ground at low-ready. Running would’ve been stupid without his target in sight.
T
he hallway curved slightly, following the shape of the building. It was lined with tall windows. The light streaming in was a combination of moonlight and the glow from the signs lining the buildings across the street. As Jason approached the apex of the curve, he noticed an alcove built into the inner side of the hallway. Restrooms. Farther down, at the end of the hall, an exit sign shone over a door to the stairwell.
Jason slowed, caution overruling his impulse to rush to the staircase even though it was the likeliest escape route for Jones to choose. The alcove was dangerous, because it was a dead zone. He needed to clear the space first before proceeding.
A sliver of envy poked him. Arin always had King with her. Raul had Taz with him. Those dogs were incredible partners. Even when Jason had been part of other contract groups, he hadn’t had the tight camaraderie the Search and Protect team shared. He definitely hadn’t ever experienced the kind of bond they had with their canine partners. He’d always worked with a level of independence. Alone.
Arin’s voice whispered into the comm. “Juliett, this is Charlie. I’m with you.”
He grinned, despite the gravity of the situation, and gave the window his back, concentrating on approaching the alcove. These last few days working with her, being around her, had made him happier than all his years in this business. He wasn’t sure how to express that to her. But she was everything he hadn’t known he’d been missing. Friend. Teammate. Lover. She was amazing. And he had no idea how he could tempt her into staying a part of his life, not when she had a place here doing what she loved already.
As Jason got closer to the alcove, he saw Jones waiting as far back as possible, tucked into a corner. The man wasn’t alone.
Jones had grabbed the pretty woman in the white dress Jason had met earlier. She must’ve gone to the restroom and had had the bad luck to run into Jones on the way out. Or Jones had ducked into the restroom and found her. Either way, the bastard had her in front of him, held in a rough headlock with a gun pointed at her head. Somewhere in the struggle, she’d lost her shoes. Jason hoped she’d managed to dig a heel into Jones’s foot or leg before Jones had made her lose them.
“This doesn’t end well, Jones.” Jason tried to keep his voice even, gauging Jones’s reaction. It was important not to push the man into hurting, or killing, his hostage. “Let her go and let’s talk.”
“I’m not stupid.” Mr. Jones sounded so reasonable, the pleasant tone of his voice coming across as incredibly creepy. He tapped the muzzle of his gun against the woman’s head. “I saw the dog. There’s no way I can outrun the thing. So you are going to make sure all those cops step back and let me disappear. Otherwise, I’m going to ruin this pretty white dress my friend here is wearing.”
Pressed against him, the woman’s eyes widened even further with fear. She didn’t beg for her life, though, or say anything at all. She didn’t make any noise to further antagonize the man. Jason was thankful for that. It’d be worse if he had to manage a panicked hostage as well as Jones. Jason couldn’t make eye contact with her or give her any other comfort, not when he had to watch Mr. Jones’s face and posture for any hint as to when he was going to move next.
“No taking time to think. Put your gun down.” Mr. Jones tightened his choke hold on the women, wrenching her neck at an awkward angle as she clutched at his arm, desperately trying to loosen his hold. “I will kill her.”
“Okay.” Jason crouched down slowly to place the gun on the floor, carefully kicked it far down the hallway, then straightened, holding his hands out slowly. “No more weapon, see?”
Mr. Jones smiled triumphantly. “Don’t come any closer. I know all about that distance you people talk about, where you can get to me before I shoot you. You stay back where I can see you and shoot you if I have to.”
“Get him to move down the hallway a little more, in front of one of the windows.” Arin’s voice was a purr in Jason’s ear. “Keep him facing you, if you can.”
Jason raised his arms, hands empty. “Sure.”
He could’ve been addressing Jones or Arin. The former assumed and the latter knew exactly which of them Jason was responding to.
“Good.” Mr. Jones jerked his head toward the stairwell. “We’ll go over there. You stay as far away as possible coming past us and lead the way down the hallway.”
As Jason complied, the captive woman’s eyelids started to flutter. “Unless you want to carry her, you better give her some air.”
Mr. Jones’s face twisted into an ugly grimace, but the woman gasped as she took in a short breath. “You do what I tell you to and don’t try to get smart about giving her a chance to get away from me. I’m not letting her go.”
Jason kept moving past them at a steady speed until he was a little over twenty feet ahead of them. “Okay. We’re all going to keep calm.”
“Of course we are.” Mr. Jones started to follow but the woman was doing her best to drag her feet. Mr. Jones snarled and kicked her feet out from under her, then used his hold around her neck to drag her up until she got her footing again. “We’re all going to do as we’re fucking told or you are going to die, bitch. Remember that. You’re the first to go if you don’t listen to me.”
“We’re all listening to you, Jones.” Jason wanted the man’s attention on him.
Step by step, Jason backed farther down the hallway to the door. He kept his gaze on Jones’s face, willing the other man to glare at him. They passed one window, then another.
The woman’s head might be obscuring Arin’s ability to get a clean shot. Was that why Arin hadn’t fired yet? Snipers had to account for so many variables. There was wind between the buildings and this was different from the outdoor area. The shot would have to come through glass. Jason slowed. Maybe Arin needed more time.
“What are you slowing down for?” Jones’s voice raised in pitch and volume. The tension was getting to him. He extended his arm fully, pointing the gun at Jason.
The window didn’t shatter; there was only a small hole. The distinct sound of breaking glass was quieter than a person would expect, especially since it was overshadowed by the sound of Jones yelling in pain as Arin’s bullet hit him in the forearm. He dropped his gun.
Jason closed the distance even as the woman bit down hard on Jones’s other arm. Jones cursed and yanked his arm free as he staggered back a step, giving her the chance to get away. She took the opportunity and stumbled away from Jones, not into Jason’s arms but past him.
Arin’s voice came across the comm. “She’s clear.”
Jason had run into a number of smart women recently.
He grabbed Jones’s injured forearm, digging his thumb into the gunshot wound. Jones screamed. Jason interrupted the sound by driving the palm of his other hand into Jones’s face, fingers extended to stab the other man’s eyes. Following up and through, Jason lifted his elbow high and brought it straight back down over Jones’s nose.
Jones crumpled to the floor, one hand covering his crushed nose as he hugged his bleeding forearm to his chest.
Raul came around the corner and up the hallway with Taz, and the dog rushed forward, barking at Mr. Jones.
“Get down on the floor and the dog will not attack.” Raul snapped out the warning.
Jason wondered wildly whether he should comply, too.
“Steady.” Arin’s voice whispered in Jason’s ear. “Taz will focus on our target. Just don’t make any sudden moves.”
Jason was dubious but remained standing, resisting the urge to back away from the dog.
Taz did stay focused on Jones, barking viciously until the injured man got down on the floor as instructed.
Raul approached and gave Taz a sharp command. Taz stopped immediately and returned to Raul, coming to the man’s left, legs stiff and fur standing up all around the big dog’s shoulders and down his back.
Search and Protect had some damned intimidating dogs.
“Juliett, you can secure the target now.” Arin’s voice came across the comm, more formal.
Jason caught a few zip ties Raul tossed his way and began to bind Mr. Jones’s wrists behind his back.
“Charlie here. No other hostiles in the area. Can we call it a win?”
Jason chuckled over the comm. “I would. Thanks for having my back, Charlie.”
Jason sat at the back of the ambulance, watching the rest of the raid play out in relative safety. King sat next to him, possibly playing guard duty, but Jason preferred to think Raul had left King with him for company. The big dog sat calmly next to him, ears twitching as the noisy reading of rights and general confusion went on around them.
“I guess she’s continuing surveillance from her vantage point.” Jason decided talking to the dog wasn’t out of line. No one else was listening to him at the moment and he’d handed his comm piece back to Raul so he couldn’t hear the current communication between them.
King looked up at him and tilted his head to one side.
“Your lady is good, very good.” He hadn’t known where she was located and he had been scanning the surrounding buildings, looking for likely vantage points. He wasn’t a sniper himself but he’d worked with a couple. He’d looked for any telltale signs, like shifted items or open windows, maybe light reflecting off her rifle or scope or even on her person. Nothing. She’d been completely hidden and even after she’d taken each shot, he hadn’t seen any movement or had more than a vague impression of where the shot had come from. “She could make bank being a sniper for any of the private contract companies out there, or if she’s really a loner like she thinks she is, she could go freelance and be a downright scary contract killer.”
King still seemed to be studying him, listening.
“But then she’s got you. I don’t think she likes to be away from you for long.” Jason casually kept an eye on the crowds around them and looked upward on the off chance he might see her out there. He was too keyed up to rest but it was easier to relax a fraction with King sitting next to him. Surely, the dog would see or hear anything out of place or potentially threatening before Jason did. “She could’ve left you crated at home or loose at the Search and Protect headquarters. But she didn’t. She kept you close. You’re a major part of her life, even if she doesn’t express it as openly as other humans do.”
Fierce Justice Page 19
