Raiden: A Stand Alone, Irish Mob Crime Romance (The Kent Brothers Book 2)

by A. M. Hargrove

  “Not sure it’ll be easier, but it’ll take the guesswork out of the op,” I said.

  Drex was there and added, “We’ll do an enactment after lunch in the backyard today. That should take some guesswork out of it.”

  He and Huff had the entire op planned down to the most minute detail. That’s what I loved about working for him.

  “Team Alpha, you’ll be at the lead roadblock. At first sight, they’ll try to reverse and that’s when Team Bravo comes in from the rear. Team Charlie moves in between the two cars separating them. Two vans, one car, three blocks. Here’s the big question. Who will they call? Our intel suggests part of his mob, which is why we won’t have much time.”

  Huff took over. “This is when we make our first verbal demand and that’s for them to step out of the cars. If they don’t, we RPG the backup car. They have thirty seconds. That gives us enough time to take cover and leaves room enough between vehicles for car number one to be safe.”

  Everything was on a whiteboard for the demonstration. Drex said, “If they get out of car number two, we take them as prisoners. It’s highly unlikely they do, so I’m betting on the RPG. You all know your positions at this point. I want zero casualties on this team. Clear?”

  There were a bunch of murmurs.

  “I need an answer from all of you,” Drex shouted.

  “Yes, sir,” everyone answered.

  “That’s better. Once they establish their route, I will assume car number one gives up. I can’t imagine they’d let the daughter take an RPG, which we will threaten them with, but not act on. Keep in mind, they cannot shoot at us with the windows closed, but it’s our mission to take out the two men in the front seat, if we have to.” Drex looked at me when he said the last part.

  “Once we get the daughter and nanny, we get back here with the rest of the prisoners, leave them and that’s when Team Delta shows up with our ride out of here. Questions?”

  The plan was perfect, so I had none. He’d assigned us to our teams according to our expertise, and now it was action time. We acted out several scenarios, except for firing the RPG. When Drex was satisfied we had everything down, we called it a day.

  “Everyone should get a good night’s rest. Our biggest day here is tomorrow. A nice dinner waits for us and then it’s lights out at eight.”

  We disassembled and went our own ways.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Scottie

  The morning dawned gray and misty. Drex was ecstatic. He thought the gloomy skies helped our mission. Me? Not so much because I hated the rain. At least it wasn’t ninety degrees. Wearing all this gear was miserable in the heat. It was only in the fifties, making it much more comfortable.

  We dressed in black, adding Kevlar, and then rain gear over it, hiding anything making us look suspicious. Our helmets would wait until we deployed the RPG and hopefully, if those men had any sense, we wouldn’t have to use a damn grenade launcher on them.

  We situated ourselves and waited. I was in Team Alpha, along with the RPG. I was assigned to Drex and Gem, as usual, and Drex was handling the RPG. I guess he didn’t trust anyone else, and I trusted him the most, so that was comforting.

  The spotter radioed in that they’d left and which route they’d taken. We knew from our observations, what roads they’d be on, since there were only a few options. So that’s where we waited. Each driver kept us apprised and at the perfect moment, we blocked the road. When both cars stopped, we waited. They did what we’d expected and backed up. Our other van came in the blocked that action. However, something unexpected happened, and as they say, always be prepared for that.

  Another car showed up. One of our guys approached the car, with care, since we didn’t know who it might be. Turned out, it was only an elderly couple driving by. Our men explained one car experienced engine trouble and waved them on. They drove around everyone and that was it.

  The second armored vehicle gunned its engine, surprising us, and crashed into our van. Our third vehicle, Team Charlie, showed up and pinned them in.

  One man shouted, “Get out of the vehicle.”

  They didn’t respond. Drex climbed out of the van, armed to the teeth.

  Our guy shouted again, “Unless you want us to blow you to bits, get out of the vehicle.” He pointed to Drex, who held the RPG in his hands.

  The men in both armored cars shouted, but the muffled sound was difficult to understand.

  Our man said, “You have thirty seconds, beginning now.” He set his timer.

  The shouting inside both of their vehicles continued until the last seconds when one door in the second vehicle opened.

  “Hands in the air where I can see them,” our man shouted.

  Everyone spilled out of our vehicles and surrounded both cars.

  I tried the lock on the first car, and it wouldn’t open as I figured.

  Gemini walked up next to me holding an automatic rifle with armor-piercing bullets. “Stand aside.”

  She fired three shots at the driver’s window and it shattered, taking him out in the process. “We gave him his chance,” she said, shrugging. She was right.

  The men pulled the car door open but shots from a handgun the nanny held greeted them. I dropped and hit the unlock button on the driver’s door. Someone, I couldn’t see who, had gone around the other side of the car and opened her door, and punched her in the head. The young girl screamed when it happened.

  “We won’t hurt you,” I yelled over the commotion. “It’s fine, you’re fine.” I went to reach for her over the nanny and she kicked and screamed. How could I blame her? This was terrifying for a young child.

  Two guys hauled the nanny out as the girl begged for them not to hurt her. Then we took her too and loaded up into the van. We were off, with only one casualty. The guys dragged him to the side of the road and quickly covered his body in the ditch, making it difficult to spot.

  We ditched all their cell phones on the way, so the GPS couldn’t track us either. Then went to our house, where our rides waited.

  We’d packed our bags earlier, and Team Delta had loaded them for us while they waited. The cars pulled up, including the O’Briens’, and some of our men tied up the prisoners while the rest of us climbed into the helicopters. The nanny was still out, but the girl was carrying on like we would toss her out of the thing once we were in the air.

  “Shut her up,” someone yelled.

  Grabbing her face, I said, “Listen to me. You’re safe. We won’t hurt you.”

  She spat in my face, the little shit.

  “You’re exactly like your father.”

  “My da? How do you know my da?”

  “Never mind. I know you have no manners.”

  “Yes, I do. You’re mean.”

  “I’m trying to be nice. Now sit still and be quiet.”

  We finally lifted off, and she still squirmed. This time as I reached for her, the stinker bit me.

  “I should spank you for that. You’re a spoiled brat.”

  “Am not. You are. You need a spanking.” I really did, but not from her. The little imp scowled at me. I had to admit, she was cute. But I wasn’t in this for cute. This was revenge. “You’re going to be in big trouble. Wait until my grandad hears.” Then the brat stuck her tongue out at me. She was a sassy little thing, but what else would you expect from an O’Brien.

  “You going to push me out?” she asked.

  “‘Course not.”

  “Then why’d you steal me?”

  “It’s complicated and stop asking questions.”

  “No, I want to know why you shot up my car.”

  “You certainly are precocious.” I did my best to give her a nasty stare.

  “I am not. I’m just curious,” she fired back.

  Precocious and smart. We were about thirty minutes into the flight when the nanny started groaning. Gemini was next to her and said something. We all had headphones, but I’d taken mine off to hear the little stinker. I put them back on now
.

  Gemini was speaking. “She’s moaning about her daughter.”

  Drex added, “She’s out of it. Wait until she’s lucid. I’m sure she has a concussion.”

  Near the time we were landing was when it all unfolded. The nanny stopped groaning, and the kid screamed, “Mam, are you okay? I want to see my mammy.”

  Her mammy? Everyone’s eyes cast around the helicopter and went back and forth between the girl and child. There wasn’t much of a resemblance between them. Had they told her the nanny was the mother?

  When the nanny sat up and growled, “What have you done to my daughter?” We had our answer. This wasn’t the nanny. It was the mother.

  The pieces fell into place. O’Brien wasn’t the girl’s father. He was her grandad, as she’d called him. We’d hit the jackpot on this trip.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Raiden

  It had been a week since I’d spoken to Scottie. Not knowing whether she was alive or dead was awful. I’d badgered Isla, but she refused to tell me anything, other than things were fine. I didn’t buy it. She bit her lip and chewed her nails constantly.

  Acer was no help either.

  “She asked me not to question her, so I don’t.” That was as much as I got out of him. “I know you’re worried, but all I can say is if something had gone wrong, you’d know it.”

  That was true. Word would’ve spread through WI like a wildfire. My only option was to wait. And I wasn’t the guy who had patience for that.

  “I’m tempted to go to—”

  “You’re not going anywhere. I’ll tie you up and chain you to the bed if I have to. You’d only compromise the mission if you did.”

  “Fine. I’ll sit and drink myself to death.”

  “Not going to let that happen, either,” he came back at me. “Make yourself useful. Go invent some kind of software to prevent this thing.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  He met my gaze squarely. “Think about it. You have access to the dark web like the law enforcement agencies do.”

  “Acer, everyone does.”

  “Hear me out.”

  One quick nod and he continued. “They need a centralized database on guys like O’Brien where everything is collated. It doesn’t exist. They have to beg Interpol, MI6, or the other agencies they can contact to get what they need. If there were a way to collect this data and deposit it in a file somewhere that our men could access when they needed it, it would be invaluable.”

  “I can’t believe it doesn’t exist.”

  “It does. Sort of. The FBI has files. The CIA has files. The local agencies have files. And then the international groups have their files, which causes a whole new set of headaches. Our guys should share, but they don’t. They have their heads up their asses and are too territorial about their info. We need a data scraper that pulls it all and deposits it in one place. Can you develop that?”

  I pondered the question. “Yes, but, this is huge. Hacking into their systems would be part of it, and I’m not capable of that.”

  “No, Huff is. If you develop something, how long would it take to scrape their systems?”

  I shrugged. “Depends on how many files they have and how much information they store. Could take a few minutes or hours, which we can’t do.”

  “Remember how we talked about doing the database on missing persons, this could work in the same capacity, except for organized crime.”

  “Acer, I’ll see what I can grab through the dark web and with Cruze’s help. I can’t promise much because at this point we have our hands full.”

  “Can I help? You can throw some things at me, or even teach me how to search deep in the dark web. Isla has shown me some things, but I’m not near as knowledgeable as she is.”

  “You know… come to the office tomorrow and we’ll have a chat between us three. You could definitely help us out here. It would take that part of the development process off our hands so Cruze and I could focus on just the program parts.”

  “Okay, I’ll be there around eight.”

  “Make it nine because that’s about the time I get all my correspondence completed.”

  During dinner, everyone barraged me with questions over why I wasn’t eating and if I was sick. Acer, Isla, and Cruze knew the answers, so they did their best at distracting Mom and Dad. But Mom wouldn’t let it go. I finally said, “Mom, I’m worried about Scottie and the team. They’re on that mission and I’m hoping it all goes well.”

  “Gosh, Raiden, why didn’t you say so?”

  “Didn’t really want to discuss it.”

  “I understand, son. Would you care for some peach cobbler? Liv made it.”

  “No thanks, Mom. I’ll clean up for you, then head upstairs.”

  “Your father and two brothers can handle the cleanup. You go upstairs, if that’s what you want.”

  “Thanks, and thank you both,” I nodded at Liv, “for the excellent meal.”

  “Raiden, Scottie will be fine. She’s very strong,” Liv said. “I have a good feeling about her.”

  “Thank you.” I wish I felt the same, but knew that wouldn’t happen until she stepped off the plane and was back home.

  In the middle of the night, someone pounded on my door. “Yeah.”

  It opened, and Cruze rushed in. “Get dressed.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Why wouldn’t you answer your phone?”

  Blinking the sleep from my eyes, I asked, “Huh?”

  “The police have been calling you and you didn’t answer.”

  I reached for my phone, and it wasn’t on the nightstand. “The fuck.” I jumped up and began my search when I found the thing on the bathroom counter. “No wonder I didn’t hear it, not to mention it was on silent.”

  “Get dressed. We have to go.”

  “Where?”

  “Your house. Someone torched it. One of your neighbors called it in after a loud explosion woke him up.”

  “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

  “Hurry.”

  I quickly pulled on a pair of jeans, a shirt, and shoved my feet into the first pair of shoes I could find. We both ran down the stairs where four bodyguards waited to drive us.

  On the way, Cruze said, “Damn good thing you stayed at my place.”

  “Truth, brother. But now they’ll know we’re all there. We need to get a safe house. Stop traveling to work and do everything from home. This means Isla, too. We can’t take these risks anymore.”

  He punched in some numbers on the phone. “Isla, Raiden and I are on the way to his house. It’s on fire. We don’t know the details yet. But we’ve got to get out of my house. Can you find someplace for us to stay? Someplace safe? We have to assume O’Brien is behind this and once he figures out we escaped unscathed, he’ll hit my place next. We don’t know how long it’ll take. I wonder if this means Ireland was a success.” He went silent, and I heard her talking, but not what she said. I wish he had put it on speaker.

  “It was? They did?”

  More mumbled speech.

  “Fine. Do it as fast as you can as we need to move. We need to make it look as if we’re going to work or something.”

  “Ok, cool. Talk later.” He ended the conversation and gave me a thumbs up. “The WI team is flying back across the pond. Get this. Not only did they nab the daughter, they got the granddaughter. Who they thought was the daughter wasn’t. She was O’Brien’s granddaughter. And the one they thought was her nanny was O’Brien’s daughter, the mother of the kid.”

  “That’s why they attacked.”

  “Could be but we don’t know. They didn’t leave a trail, and they left their guards behind in the house they stayed in. Isla said everything went well, but regardless, we need out and fast.”

  The car pulled up in front of my house, and I froze in the seat. The top floor was a shell and the main floor was a raging inferno.

  “Jesus, this was worse than a bomb.”

  Cruze got out as I sta
red. He approached the cops on duty and I finally got my legs to work. On wobbly ones, I went forward to hear what they had to say.

  “We’re looking at a possible gas explosion.”

  “The gas was off,” I said. “I rarely cook.”

  “Someone could’ve broken in and turned it on.”

  “What about the alarm system? It’s pretty fucking sophisticated.”

  The Fire Marshall approached us and said it was a genuine case of arson and they’d find out exactly what happened.

  “Do you know how long it will take?” I was curious because we needed details on this and fast.

  “We can’t go in until the fire is completely out and the place has cooled down. There’s also the possibility of collapse.”

  “How will you examine things if the place collapses?”

  “Don’t worry. We use a lot of different technology to analyze what’s left behind. We’ll find out how the fire started. No one was in the house, correct?”

  “Yes, that’s correct. I’ve been staying at my brother’s.”

  “You’re a lucky man, Mr. Kent.”

  “You can say that again.”

  “This place will burn for the rest of the night. Why don’t you go back to your brother’s and we’ll get in touch when we can get inside. You must call your insurance company too when that time comes.”

  “Thanks.”

  Cruze was there, so I nudged him and said, “Let’s go.”

  It didn’t feel safe standing out in the open. Cruze even mentioned it.

  “Yeah, I felt like a sitting duck out there.”

  Acer and Isla greeted us when we walked in. “She found something.”

  “Great,” I said.

  “I have to wait until eight to make the call, but look.” She handed me her laptop to show a picture of a large house out in the sticks.

  “Wait a second. I have a better idea.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Let’s go to the high country. The house up in the mountains can hold everyone, and that place is hard to access due to the terrain. You can only approach it from one side because it’s built over a canyon.”