“Just roll the window down a bit, so Paula can hear the crying. Get her talking as much as you can while we get in position. Babs will be coming in from the north in stealth mode. By the time Paula hears them, it’ll be too late.”
The new chopper was a military prototype they’d gotten from Sikorsky, the manufacturers of Black Hawk aircrafts, most of which were used by the U.S. government. The special, ultramodern design helped the aircraft cruise in relative silence, making it the ideal bird to sneak up on a target. SEAL Team Six reportedly had used another MH-X Silent Hawk in the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound when the terrorist had been killed. But that information was still speculation since most of the mission was deemed classified—even to retired members of another SEAL team.
From what Egghead had found out about the property they were going to, it was an isolated and abandoned horse ranch. The satellite photos showed it was very overgrown with high grass, trees, and shrubs, which would make it easy for the team to close ranks around the barn, which was the only structure still standing. There was a grey vehicle parked near the building and they assumed that was Paula’s Honda Civic.
Marco slowed the truck to take the exit ramp as Ian prepared to switch vehicles. “Just remember…try to keep Paula calm and…well, you know the fucking deal. Get us as much intel as possible.”
Stopping at the end of the ramp, Marco glanced at his friend, who opened the door and climbed out. “Just boogie and let me know when you’re in position.”
The whole changing of vehicles took Ian less than ten seconds. When they were on their way again, Marco let the other two vehicles pass him, so they could speed up and get to the properties adjacent to the one he had been ordered to go to. It was another twenty minutes before he turned down a long dirt driveway, after getting the go-ahead from Ian and Brody, each of whom was leading a three-man team. Babs and Abbott were close by, waiting for the signal to fly in. Marco had to keep Paula on the south side of the barn to allow them to get as close as possible before she heard them. While the chopper was supposed to be silent, when it was right overhead, there was no way you’d miss it.
As he approached the run-down barn, Marco parked about thirty yards away from the Civic. There was no one in sight. Scanning the surrounding area from the driver’s seat, he knew his team was out there among the overgrowth, but if he couldn’t see them, there was no way Paula or anyone else would see them. He cracked open the rear windows a few inches and the front ones even more. When Egghead hit the transmit button, a baby’s cries would come over loud and clear. Moving his lips only a fraction, he whispered into everyone’s headsets. “No eyes on tango, yet.”
He killed the engine and opened the driver’s door. As he climbed out, the sound of unoiled hinges shrieked as a door to the barn swung open.
* * *
It’d taken Harper about twenty-five minutes before she finally was able to pick the lock on of the cuffs. Despite her sweaty hands, she might’ve been able to do it faster, but she’d had to stop every time the greasy-haired guy leered at her or when there was complete silence, to avoid her escape plan being detected. Well, she didn’t exactly have an escape plan, per se, more like a hopeful partial plan. Paula was the only one with a gun, as far as she could tell, while Lairson kept playing with a switchblade. If one of them went outside, she could grab a two-by-four and hit the other one over the head. She would then be able to escape by squeezing through the open boards of the wall at the back of the decrepit barn. Timing would be everything. For now, she kept her hands behind her back, giving the illusion she was still incapacitated, and whenever no one was watching, she inched closer to her intended weapon.
In the silence that had fallen over the barn, they all heard a vehicle approach. Pulling the gun out of her waistband, Paula hurried over to peek through a window, which was mostly covered in dirt and dust. “He’s here! I knew he’d come.” She pointed to another window on the other side of the barn, and then at two openings in the wood planks. “Lairson, check those. Make sure no one else is coming.”
Her lackey rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. When he announced he didn’t see anyone, Paula went to the hinged door they’d come through, instead of the huge sliding doors. The shriek of ungreased metal echoed throughout the vast expanse and Harper used the noise to reach over and grab the closest piece of wood big enough to do the job. As the crazy woman stepped outside, her cohort went to the glassless window and peered out. His back was to the stall where Harper was, and she slowly stood, trying hard to not make a sound. Holding the plank like a baseball bat, she crept forward. She was almost in striking range when a floor board squeaked under her weight. Lairson spun around, wide-eyed. Knowing her life was on the line, Harper took another step and swung with all her might.
* * *
Stepping away from his vehicle, Marco watched Paula exit the barn. The nine-millimeter gun in her right hand made him a little queasy, wondering if she’d already used it to kill Harper. His own weapon was hidden at the small of his waist. He held his hands out to the side so she wouldn’t perceive him as a threat. Until he laid his eyes on Harper, he would have to play along with the façade he’d started back in the conference room at Trident. He glanced around, trying to appear nonchalant. “Talk about the middle of nowhere. Is this place yours?”
The woman rolled her eyes and pointed the gun at him. “Please. You know it’s not. Lift your shirt and turn around. Toss your gun on the ground. I know you wouldn’t come here without a weapon.
Or two. He had a back-up piece on his ankle, in addition to a knife, which was built into his belt buckle. Reaching back, he withdrew his 9mm and tossed it a few feet away from him, but still close enough so he could dive and retrieve it again. He then lifted his shirt and slowly did a complete one-eighty. “Where’s Harper?”
“Being guarded by a guy with a very big knife. He’ll release her after we leave. Did you bring Anna Marie?”
Right on cue, the sound of a baby crying pierced the air from within his truck. “Yeah, but she’s been crying for a while and it’s been giving me a headache. Why don’t we just leave her here?”
“No.” Paula shook her head and stepped toward him. Marco counteracted with a forward step of his own. He had to keep her away from the truck. “She’s coming with us.”
“All right. We’ll take her with us. But first I want to see Harper, so I can tell her it’s all over between us.”
The crazy woman stared at him for a few moments, as if trying to make up her mind. She then raised her voice. “Bring the bitch out here.”
There was no response.
“Lairson!”
Still nothing. And then McCabe’s low voice came over Marco’s earpiece. “Got eyes on the principal. She’s running north away from the barn. Shit. Someone’s on her tail. Intercepting. Stand by.”
Marco clenched his teeth, trying not to react, and trusting his team to rescue Harper and keep her safe. His job now was to distract Paula. “You know what? Never mind. I really don’t want to see her again. She’ll just beg me to stay. Why don’t we just get out of here?”
The woman looked torn between leaving with him and going back inside to find where her partner-in-crime was. Marco was tempted to dive for his weapon or get closer to her to take her down, but something was bothering him about her appearance. He hadn’t paid attention to it earlier, but now, as she twisted to glance over her shoulder, he noticed what he had thought was just her stocky body shape, was something more. The question was, what did she have wrapped around her waist? If he was over in Afghanistan or Iraq, his first thought would have been a suicide belt. But Paula wasn’t that crazy…was she? Fuck! Think. How could he alert the team without giving away that they were out there?
“Tango down, but not out. Principal secured.” The whispered update told him that Harper was safe, thank God, and while McCabe had eliminated the male threat, the former Army Special Forces’ sergeant had refrained from killing the man.
Paula
seemed to sense something was wrong, but she surprised him by taking several steps toward him and pulling something out of the pocket of her sweatshirt. Pointing the gun at his chest, she ordered, “Get in the truck.” When he didn’t move, she barked, “Now! Or I’ll blow up the barn with that bitch in there.”
She held up a little black box with two silver switches on it. Fuck! As she lifted her arm above her head, the hem of her sweatshirt rose above her waist. No point in trying to be subtle anymore. “Paula, what is that? Are you wearing a suicide belt?”
A few muttered curses came over his earpiece, but he ignored them, keeping his attention on the woman’s hands. One could kill him with a bullet, the other could blow him to smithereens. She was too close now for him to escape unscathed if she flipped the switch, but not quite close enough for him to go on the offensive—not yet, anyway.
Holding his hands at shoulder height, he took a few steps backward. As he was about to go around to the driver’s side of his truck, she stopped him. “No! Slide in from the passenger side.”
Come on, you crazy bitch. Come closer. He didn’t know which switch was the one for the belt and he couldn’t take the risk that it was the one she had her thumb on. He knew the team had eyes on both of them, but they couldn’t take a shot at her, yet. Any miss or non-lethal hit, could result in her startling and flipping the switch. A head shot could cause an involuntary jerk of her hand and fingers, again detonating the device. They would have to wait until Marco was either out of range or close enough to make a grab for the remote.
The cries from the ‘baby’ were still broadcasting and even though it wasn’t Mara’s cry, Marco knew he would do anything to walk away from this alive. He had a long life he wanted to live, and it included walking his daughter down the aisle one day.
As he took a few more slow steps backward, Babs’ voice came over the radio. “We’re coming into range. I’m going to come up hard over the barn. If you get a hand on that remote, can Abbott take the head shot without detonation? Sneeze or cough once for yes.”
A sneeze was easier to fake and Marco let one loose. The sudden ‘a-choo’ was just enough to startle Paula and he lunged forward, closing his fist around her hand and the remote while knocking her gun to the ground with his other hand. She briefly screeched in a blind rage, as he crushed her hand against the little black box, preventing her from flipping either switch. She struggled with all her might, and he fought just as hard to keep her from falling down. He would have to drop with her and that would put him in Abbotts line of fire. His heart pounded in his chest. This was the do-or-die moment—and he sure as hell didn’t want to die.
The quiet of the surrounding area was suddenly broken, as Babs’ chopper roared over the top of the barn, sideways, with Abbott aiming her sniper rifle out the open rear door. Putting his life in his teammate’s hands, he pushed Paula’s body as far away from his own as he could, without letting go of his grip on her hand. A high-powered shot rang out and a split second later, Paula’s head exploded with the impact. Her instantly dead body pulled him to the ground as it dropped and he ignored the blood splatter which hit him in the face. Within seconds, his teammates on the ground came running forward and Boomer fell to his knees next to Marco and what remained of his stalker.
“Keep a good grip. Let me see if I can remove the belt first.”
“Hurry.” Marco glanced up and saw Harper running toward him, but McCabe ran up behind her, grabbed her around the waist, and held her back from the blast zone. The fear in her eyes was making Marco’s stomach churn more than the explosive device or the fact that his face was covered in blood and brain matter. As Boomer figured out how to remove the suicide belt, Marco looked up at his best friend. “In my go-bag, get me something to wash this off. I don’t want it to touch Harper when I get my arms around her.”
A few minutes later, Boomer placed the belt far enough away in the field to the west of the barn so everyone was out of the blast zone. Marco refused to let go of the remote and Paula’s lifeless hand until his teammate rejoined them by the vehicles. Once he did, a loud boom resonated through the air as the device was detonated without harming anyone.
Brody had retrieved a towel and wet it with a bottle of water, before handing it to him when he finally released his grip and stood. He quickly wiped his face, neck, and arms, and ripped off his bloodied shirt, before rushing over to where Harper stood crying and struggling against McCabe’s firm but gentle grip. Marco nodded and the man let her go, so she could run into his arms.
Her body hit his with an impact that sent him back a step, but he didn’t care as he crushed her to him. She sobbed into his chest as he caressed her head and back. “It’s over, Butterfly. Shhh. It’s over.” His gaze went to Abbott and Babs coming around from the rear of the barn where they’d landed the bird. He mouthed “thank you” to both women, who just smiled and gave him a pair of thumbs up.
He didn’t know how long he stood there, holding Harper in his arms, before the sound of sirens approaching reached his ears. Ian had called the local sheriff to alert him of the situation. Paula’s partner would be turned over to them and apparently he needed a trip to the emergency room. Harper may not have knocked him out with the two-by-four, but she did break his wrist when he threw his arm up to ward off the blow.
It would be a few hours before this was all cleared up, but he planned on keeping Harper as close to him as possible. Exactly the way he wanted for the rest of his life.
EPILOGUE
Three Months Later
Holding Mara, who was sound asleep on his shoulder, Marco watched Harper open, inspect, and close all the cabinets in the empty house’s new kitchen, after they’d walked through the entire place twice. They had just accepted a bid on her house while his was already scheduled for closing next month. His place was where they were living for the moment, as they packed up the belongings of both houses and donated what they didn’t need double of. Between the three closings, if they needed to, they could stay at Nick and Jake’s apartment again for a few weeks.
This one-level, four-bedroom ranch currently belonged to Parker Christensen, whose company, New Horizons, flipped houses a few times a year, in addition to its numerous commercial construction jobs. It had been completed a few days ago and Marco was impressed by how it had turned out, compared to the ‘before’ pictures he’d seen. Parker was giving them first shot at purchasing it, at a reduced price, before putting in on the market for several thousand dollars higher.
Harper spun around and walked toward where he was standing in the huge, attached family room. “Well, what do you think?”
Shrugging, he grinned. “You know me. As long as we install Egghead’s top security system, and there’s a lock on our bedroom door for when sweet cheeks here starts walking, then I’m good.”
Her laugh echoed in the barren room as she stepped over to the sliding door leading out to the backyard, which already had an in-ground pool. It was wonderful to see and hear her carefree again. After a full investigation, the team had been cleared of any wrong doing in Paula’s death. It had been a clear-cut case of self-defense—although the local sheriff wasn’t happy they hadn’t contacted him about the situation before rescuing Harper.
Randy Lairson had recovered from the injuries he’d received, but had been shafted and killed during a fight in prison while awaiting trial. During an interrogation at the hospital, after he’d regained consciousness, he had admitted he was the one who’d assaulted Harper in her home. He was supposed to have kidnapped Mara that night, but thankfully the baby had been with her grandmother. Lairson had also hired the bomber, who he’d known for a few years from the streets.
As for Paula, they’d located where she’d been living for the past year from the address associated with the license plate on her car. The deceased homeowner’s body was found stuffed into a full freezer in the garage. With no known relatives, Marco had made sure the poor guy got a proper burial. Upstairs in one of the bedrooms of the house, the o
bsessed woman had created a shrine to Marco. Most of the pictures covering the walls were of him at various locations around Tampa and at his house and had been taken from a distance with a high-powered zoom lens. The tracking device she’d place on his truck had been recovered from the undercarriage on the passenger side. He had no idea how long she had been stalking his movements, but the pictures seemed to date back to when she’d still been working for them.
Shoving the unwanted memories from his mind, he focused his attention on Harper’s delectable ass. The black slacks she was wearing were the perfect fit to showcase her curves, and she’d paired them with his favorite pair of stilettos and a blue, short-sleeved blouse. He’d bet anything that, despite the pants, she was wearing a pair of thigh-highs underneath, and he couldn’t wait until he could find out later if he was right.
“Well, I love it. It’s even nicer than the other one we looked at. Parker outdid himself. There’s plenty of room back here for a jungle gym. I love the open floor plan, too. But…” She faced him again, giving him a steamy, seductive look which had his cock stirring. “My favorite part is that the master bedroom is on the other side of the house from the children’s rooms. I won’t have to have a pillow thrown over my face when you make me cum.”
God, he loved this woman. Her fingers went to the new collar he’d had a jeweler design for him. It was two chains braided together—one silver, one gold, since she liked to wear both depending on her wardrobe. Last week, they’d had a ceremony on the center stage at The Covenant, where he’d vowed to be her Dom—to love and cherish her, and take care of her every need for as long as they had each other. She, in turn, had knelt and bestowed upon him her undying love and submission.
Watching From The Shadows: Trident Security Book 5 Page 23
