Texas Takedown

by Heather Woodhaven

  “Okay, okay,” he said, mostly to himself. “We need to take this one step at a time. What if—What about I try to swing you toward the pool?”

  “Don’t you dare!” Her voice rose an octave. “It’s not happening. Margin of error is too big, and I’m not letting you go.”

  “Fair enough.” He inhaled through his nose. His knees couldn’t handle squatting much longer. “You still have one hand on that bar, right? I’m going to need you to put both hands on my arm if I’m going to get you back up here.”

  She let out another guttural scream and the fingertips from her other hand dug into his arm. He flinched but tried to keep his grip on the one forearm. “Nails!” His right arm felt like it was about to dislocate itself. He took a big inhalation and pressed his heels into the ground as he stretched his left side to reach the top of the balcony with his other hand. His palm and fingers wrapped around the sharp edges.

  “Matt...” Her breathing was rapid. His arm bounced painfully against the metal bars. Isabelle had to be flailing and taking his arm with her.

  “Try to stay still.”

  “I can’t. There’s nothing underneath me!”

  “Okay. Here we go. It’s going to be fine.” He took three big breaths. Then, with every ounce of strength, he pressed into his heels. It was like a weird combination of a deadlift squat and a shoulder raise with over one hundred pounds. The tendons in his neck felt like they were about to rip from the strain. He pulled as much with his left arm as he pushed with his legs.

  Inch by inch he lifted her as he pulled his arm back through the bars. Her face came into view. Tears glistened from the moonlight. A gust of wind blew her hair into a frenzy. He tightened his grip.

  “Ow,” she cried.

  “Sorry, sorry. Almost there.” He stood in an awkward diagonal bend. He couldn’t lift her any more from this vantage point. “Okay, you should be able to grab the bottom of the bars in front of you.”

  “I can’t let go!” Her legs began to flail some more.

  Matt’s heart pumped so hard he could hear it in his ears. “Put one hand on a bar. Just one hand.”

  Her wide eyes met his for the briefest of seconds. The thought of losing her scared him more than dropping to his own demise. He wouldn’t let her fall. He couldn’t. His heart would self-destruct. She screamed as she let go and grabbed the nearest bar. Please let someone hear her scream and help.

  “Okay, okay.” He hoped his voice would help keep her calm. He needed to think. It was just a puzzle that needed to be solved. He shoved the tips of his shoes as far underneath the space between the balcony bars and the balcony floor as he could. Please let these bolts hold, Lord, because I’m about to throw all my weight on these bars. If the bars went, they both went.

  He made the mistake of looking down, and he gagged. Oh, no. No. He couldn’t afford to have this fear now. He needed to focus and keep his mind on the task, and the girl, at hand. His left hand released the top bar. The stinging sensation from having wrapped his palm around the sharp edges barely registered. He leaned forward until his left hand was hanging down over the balcony as far as he could get it. “Grab my left hand.” His toes strained against the entire balcony. A creak of metal sounded behind him.

  “What was that?” she screeched.

  A reminder he needed to work fast. His left arm bore the punishment of her flailing. “Good. Now your other hand needs to let go of the bar. Grab my right hand.”

  She shot him an exasperated stare.

  “I’m sorry, honey. I’m trying my best.”

  “Just don’t give up,” she said with a pant.

  “Hello?” a familiar male voice called. “Matt? Matt! Don’t do it!”

  A moment later, over shouts of exclamation, arms and hands joined his effort. He stayed focused, Isabelle’s eyes locked on his. Someone grabbed his torso for stability while other arms reached down and grabbed Isabelle’s wrists. In the back of his mind he knew his family had arrived, but he couldn’t speak, couldn’t process.

  “One, two, three.” Everyone tugged upward until Isabelle’s feet touched the outside of the balcony bars.

  One hand moved upward and grabbed his neck. “Don’t let go,” Isabelle cried.

  He wrapped one arm around her waist, and his brothers helped pull her up and over until she was fully and completely in his arms, leaning into his chest. His brothers stared at him slack-jawed.

  “What was that?” his mom yelled, smacking him on the shoulder. “You almost gave your father a heart attack.”

  “I’m fine,” his dad muttered.

  “Call the police, Mom. A man attacked us. He pushed her over.” A knock sounded as his new hire Ben, the bellhop, entered. “Call security, Ben.”

  He bent down to look at Isabelle. Her eyes were closed tight and her arms wrapped around his neck. His brother David led him to the closest couch. “You’re safe now,” he said. “Do you need an ambulance?”

  Matt sat down. She looked out of one eye, then finally opened both. The grip on his neck loosened. She moved to sit on her own couch cushion, but her entire body was shaking like a leaf. He kept his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to stop the shivering.

  James rushed over with a golden microfiber blanket. “She needs something warm before she goes into shock. An ambulance might not be a bad idea.”

  “Police are on their way. What is going on?” his mom demanded.

  “It’s a long story, Ma.”

  “At least we know you’ve outgrown your fear of heights. I always knew you would,” his dad said proudly.

  Matt couldn’t form enough words to respond to his dad at the moment.

  His forearm felt a wet heat. He pulled his arm back and looked at Isabelle. “You’re bleeding.”

  * * *

  She pulled away from Matt and blinked, taking in the crowd of the room. All the voices and questions began to seep into her conscience. “Uh...no, I don’t need an ambulance. I’m not in medical shock. Emotional maybe.”

  Her blood pounded hard against her wrists. The stinging returned at the back of her neck. She pulled the back of her hair up and looked at Matt. The roller coaster of being thankful to be alive coupled with the defeat of losing her research was almost too much to process. “They got it. They took the flash drive.” She reached tentative fingers to where the chain used to be. “Is it bleeding badly?”

  “I’ll tell security to bring up a first-aid kit,” James said. He hopped up from his knees and strode to the phone.

  “Isabelle?” Luke asked. “Is that you?”

  “Why, it is,” Matt’s mom gushed. “Oh, Isabelle.” His mom rushed over to hug her. “I always hoped you and Matt would find each other again.”

  Matt leaned back into the cushion. “You did?”

  The incredulous disbelief reverberated off his words. As if he could never in his lifetime imagine them together. Great. The night couldn’t possibly get any worse. “Hello, Mrs. McGuire. Everyone,” she added, nodding a greeting to the three brothers and Mr. McGuire. They stood in a semicircle around her. “I’m surprised you remember me.”

  Luke smirked. “No one forgets a girl who invites herself over at three a.m. for a sandwich.”

  “And chips,” David added.

  “Don’t forget she wanted to watch James Bond,” James interjected with the phone pressed to his ear.

  Matt’s dad chuckled. “Hello Kitty pajamas and pigtail braids.”

  Heat flushed her cheeks. Okay, the night could get worse. It made her sound more like she’d been a third grader than a teenager. The braids had been useful to tame her wild curls. Thankfully there were products she could buy that could help now.

  His dad coughed away the laugh. “And of course, you were my right hand for a couple summers. Couldn’t forget that.”


  “Where’s the rest of the family?” Matt asked, ignoring their jabs at her. “I don’t want them wandering around when that man might still be in the building.”

  Everyone sobered.

  Mrs. McGuire pulled out her cell phone and began dialing. “The girls went to check out the spa services. The twins are with them.”

  “James, tell security to escort them up here,” Matt said, talking over James as he requested the first-aid kit. James nodded to indicate he’d heard.

  The girls? The twins? Isabelle frowned, trying to remember if Matt had mentioned them. Matt must have spotted her confusion because he added, “Aria is David’s wife. Gabriella is Luke’s wife, and James has twin boys. He’s newly married to Rachel.”

  So, everyone had gotten married but Matt? Did that make him feel as out of place as not being involved in David’s business did?

  “I want to know what’s going on,” Mrs. McGuire said. “Is that what all those messages were about?”

  “So, you did get them,” Matt said. “Why didn’t you call me back? I really didn’t want to put you guys in a position of potential danger.”

  “You said there was a situation, not a man trying to kill you,” his mom replied.

  “It’s not something I wanted to leave by voice mail. I thought you would call me back.”

  “And I thought you were just busy with work. I didn’t want you to try to talk us out of a visit. And even if I had known, I still would’ve come. I just might have sent the rest of the family home.” She pulled her shoulders back. “What’s done is done. Tell me what’s happening so we can decide how to move forward.”

  While Matt’s mother wasn’t actively a police detective, she still questioned him like she was. Matt explained the situation. He fumbled over describing Isabelle’s research, but she didn’t correct him. It didn’t matter. It was gone. Whoever had been responsible for the week of terror had succeeded. But they also seemed to want her dead. She had no idea if they would stop going after her now that they had the research. And did they have the technology capable of breaking the encryption?

  “What about the laptop you mentioned?” James interjected.

  “It’s still in the room safe,” Isabelle answered.

  He scratched his head. “So you have a copy of the research there.”

  “No. It only runs modeling software and the encryption key.”

  James grinned. “For the flash drive? So that means they might not be able to access your research yet.”

  She clasped her hands together. “That was the hope, but the last guy who held us at gunpoint seemed pretty confident they’d already accounted for breaking through the security.”

  “What’d you use?”

  She explained the hardware-based encryption she used as well as the ciphers. James nodded appreciatively. “And you ended up with my brother?”

  Matt’s eyes widened, but he didn’t say anything.

  “No, we’re just friends,” Isabelle answered.

  The bellhop opened the door to let in the security team, the police, a group of women and children—presumably all from the McGuire clan—and two racks of luggage, one of which held her carry-on bag.

  The police assured them they were still following up on other leads. Isabelle just wanted to be done and get home to Oregon. There didn’t seem to be any point in staying. Maybe she could ride standby and get home faster. Although she had no guarantee it would still be her home if she were out of a job.

  The wives of Matt’s brothers all smiled and introduced themselves. She didn’t exactly feel like talking. Instead she stared at the floor because she couldn’t bear to look them in the eyes any longer. She was the one ruining their family vacation and the reason they couldn’t wander around.

  Once the police left, Matt posted a security guard outside their room. “I think we need to get that laptop,” James said.

  “I do need it back eventually,” Isabelle said. “But only to return to my boss. There’s no rush. It’s no longer that valuable.”

  James held up a finger. “Don’t give up so soon. Matt mentioned they were after the laptop in the beginning. But something switched their focus, so they went after the flash drive.”

  Matt jumped to standing. “Struther. You were holding the flash drive when you were talking to him and Allen. You didn’t say that’s where you were keeping it, but it did seem to capture his attention.”

  She pulled her arms in close. In other words, she’d messed up yet again.

  “I knew I didn’t trust those guys,” Matt spewed.

  “Okay,” James said, “but they’ll realize soon they need the laptop, as well.”

  “I’ve heard enough!” Mrs. McGuire stormed over to the stack of luggage near the door. She unlocked a small hard case and pulled out a gun.

  “Whoa! Mom!” Matt had his hands up. “How on earth did you bring that on a plane?”

  “Don’t look so surprised. I checked it, followed procedure.” She pulled out a stretchy piece of black fabric and wrapped it around her hips. The gun and a clip of ammo slipped inside unseen pockets before she pulled her shirt down over it. “It’s not as if I didn’t carry when I worked as a police detective. A fact that all of you apparently have forgotten or you would’ve called me the minute this all started.”

  David frowned. “Since when did you start carrying again?”

  “Since you boys keep getting yourselves in trouble, that’s when.”

  Aria cringed. “I think that was actually more my fault than his.”

  “Ditto,” Gabriella interjected.

  Rachel shook her head. “Not me. That was all him.” She pointed at James but had a smile on her face. The loving way each daughter-in-law gazed at her man reminded Isabelle she was an outsider.

  She turned to look away but found Matt staring back at her. Oh, he was waiting for her to stick up for him. “It was my fault, Mrs. McGuire. Obviously.”

  “Your mother’s been hitting target practice while I golf,” Mr. McGuire said. “So if you need to give that security guard of yours a break, Matt, your mother is still as sharp as ever.”

  “Maybe you should accompany them to get her laptop,” James said. “Because if I had a chance to finish a sentence around here, I was going to let you know I could set up a honey pot.”

  She’d heard of those before. “To lure them to a fake software key? Except that won’t work. The laptop doesn’t have a network card. They can’t access it online.”

  He smiled. “Good. That was smart. But do they know that?”

  She pursed her lips and tried to replay every word she’d said regarding the laptop in the past week. Tension slowly left her back. “No. I’m sure I didn’t tell anyone but Matt.”

  “So I can install a network card easily. When were you supposed to present your research?”

  “Tomorrow. It won’t be as impressive without the numbers and my slide show, but I can say enough from memory that I think it’ll still be interesting.”

  James nodded. “That gives me enough time to set up the lure. If they haven’t succeeded in hacking the encryption by then, they will be getting desperate.”

  “Which means they’ll go after Isabelle again.” Matt’s mouth formed a grim line.

  “You have no guarantee that they won’t anyway,” James replied. “But if I set up a honey pot on her computer, I’ll be able to track them.”

  Hope sparked. Isabelle leaned forward. “You could really do that?”

  Luke smirked. “James used to work for No Such Agency.”

  The other brothers laughed, but Isabelle was slow to catch on.

  Rachel rolled her eyes. “He means the National Security Agency.”

  “Oh. Wow.” If James had that kind of experience, maybe things weren’t as grim as she’d thought. “
Well, that sounds like a doable plan to me.”

  Matt shook his head. “No way. That’s almost like setting yourself up as bait.”

  His mom put a hand on his shoulder. “No. Because we’d coordinate our efforts with the police, honey. I have a good idea of their procedures. We can work alongside to make sure she has backup. If the police are on board, it sounds like a good chance to get these attackers behind bars. And you and Isabelle will be safe once and for all.”

  “It’s too much to ask of all of you,” Isabelle said.

  Mr. McGuire waved her concern away.

  Matt closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. His eyes flashed open, and he stared at Isabelle so hard she almost asked aloud what he could be thinking. “If...if you’re okay with this,” he finally said, “then I guess we’ve got ourselves a plan.”

  She tried to smile, but her burning eyes only welled up with tears. Because one thing was certain: ever since she stepped off that plane, none of her plans had succeeded.

  FOURTEEN

  Matt couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Are you sure?”

  The police officer nodded. “None of your security cameras picked up the man you and Miss Barrows described as attacking you.”

  His breath turned so hot he wouldn’t have been surprised if he started breathing fire. Not only did they have no leads on Isabelle’s attacker, but also his whole family got a front-row seat to hearing his security system was subpar.

  “Grant me permission to check your system,” James whispered behind him.

  Matt whirled around. “What do you think you’re going to find?”

  James shrugged. “I’m pretty good at finding a glitch in systems.”

  “It’s just cameras.”

  “That can be hacked,” Isabelle said. She’d been listening.

  “Fine. Go.”

  “I wish I had more to tell you,” the officer said.

  “Thank you for your time,” Mom replied.

  “We’ll be keeping a car close to the vicinity. Don’t hesitate to call.” The officer placed the hat back on his head and exited the suite.