Peace - A Navy SEALS Novel (DeLeo's Action Thriller Singles Book 3)

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “Listen closely, Brian,” Peace told him. “You are going to walk my friend and I over to where Connie is, just as pleasant as can be. You will then tell your friends we only wish to have a few words with Connie. Stay calm, and no one gets hurt. Do you understand?”

  When Brian nodded again fearfully, Bull let him go completely. After rubbing the feeling back into his right arm, Brian massaged his neck for a moment. “Ken… Ken won’t like this. He…”

  “Save the warnings, Sweet-pea,” Bull interrupted him. “I was of a mind to just go on home after you said Holly moved in with Ken, but my partner here wants to see this through to the end. Take my advice and do what he says. You’re too pretty to have your face rearranged. Now lead on.”

  Brian led them into the bedroom off to the right, through the living room. The sounds of male laughter, interspersed with small breathless gasps and cries could be heard as the two Seals accompanied Brian to the open bedroom door. A makeshift studio had been set up with Connie’s bed as the focal point for the spotlights set up around the room. Peace saw a laptop, open and processing, on the dresser, with a professional looking digital camera and tripod setup attached to the computer by a cable. Holly’s roommate, Connie, lay naked on the bed, with two of the men fondling her as they played to their on-line audience.

  The third man by the camera gestured questioningly at Brian, who held up his hands as if to say he had no control over bringing the two Seals with him. The man immediately began typing furiously on the keyboard. After a moment, he angrily gestured cut to the two other men with Connie.

  Peace walked over to where Connie lay moaning on the bed, and placed a hand on Connie’s forehead. At his touch, Connie’s eyes fluttered open. Her pupils were dilated, and she seemed not to know anyone was in the room with her. Peace turned to the two men standing by the bed.

  “What have you given her?” Peace asked, as Bull pushed Brian further into the room.

  “What the fuck do you care?” the cameraman asked angrily. “Get the hell out of here. What the fuck did you bring these two assholes back here for, Brian?”

  Bull rushed over to the man, dragging a stumbling Brian with him. Before the cameraman could move, Bull smashed him across the face with his open hand. The blow dropped the man to his knees, and Bull kicked him in the side while still holding on to Brian. The cameraman fell to his side, gasping painfully for breath, in a fetal position. Peace gestured for the other two startled men to join their two friends. When they didn’t move, Peace side-kicked the one nearest him just below the knee, causing the man’s leg to buckle. He screamed in pain as he fell, clutching his injured leg.

  “Drag your buddy over by your friends,” Peace instructed the other man.

  Wordlessly, the man gripped his injured friend under the armpits, and dragged him around the bed to where the cameraman was now leaning in a sitting position with his arms wrapped around his midsection. Bull gestured at Brian.

  “Sit down,” Bull told him. As Brian did as directed, Bull pointed at the only man still on his feet, near where the man Peace had downed sobbed in pain, gripping his injured leg. “You get over here and sit down next to Brian, sweetie.”

  The man hesitated for split second, eyeing the open bedroom door.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Peace said quietly. “Do as you’re told and no one else has to get hurt.”

  The man nodded, and went over to sit down next to Brian.

  Bull looked over at Connie, and then at Peace, with fury plain in his eyes. “I’m getting a bad feeling about this.”

  Peace nodded. He pointed at the unhurt man who sat next to Brian.

  “Lay face down, spread your legs, and put your hands behind your head.”

  The man did as he was told, and Bull patted him down. When he finished, Peace checked over the two injured men, while Bull backed him up.

  “What do you have Connie drugged up on?” Peace asked Brian.

  “Ecstasy, but she…”

  “Shut-up,” Bull ordered angrily. “You boys are going to tell us what happened at the Rave the other night, and why Holly and her roommate suddenly are doing on-line porn. I am assuming Landry did the same to Holly.”

  Brian nodded, but flinched fearfully at Bull’s face as the big man took a step toward him. Peace stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Easy, Chief, we can straighten this all out.”

  Bull stopped reluctantly. He glanced at Peace with a confused look on his face. “Why didn’t she tell me? Why let this thing spin out of control like this?”

  Peace looked down at Brian again. “What’s this all about? You cheap little pricks could have hooked up with any number of willing coeds around here. What the hell was the purpose of dragging Holly and her roommate into it?”

  The man Peace had kicked, who leaned against the dresser holding his injured leg, sweating profusely, whipped his head towards Brian. “Keep your fucking mouth shut, Brian, or…”

  Bull smashed him across the face in an instant. The man screamed out, letting go of his leg as he tumbled over, and grabbed his face. Bull crouched down in front of the four men. “Anyone else want to play tough guy?”

  The other three men shook their heads, fear plain in their eyes. They were pretend thugs, who had never met anyone willing to expose the pretense. They instinctively knew these were dangerous men.

  “You were saying,” Peace coaxed Brian.

  Brian looked over at his friends, but Bull grabbed his chin in a crushing grip, lifting Brian’s head up forcefully.

  “You better start talking, Sweetie, or you and me are going to dance for a while,” Bull whispered through clenched teeth.

  “Ken was obsessed with Holly calling off their engagement last year. When he saw her at the Rave, he… he got her to have a drink with him, and… and he slipped her some ‘X’. We played Connie the same way, only we took her here, and he took Holly to his place.”

  “That still doesn’t tell me why Holly went along with this shit after she came out of it,” Bull said, shaking Brian’s head back and forth.

  “He… he posed her, and… and did a lot of what we were doing to Connie. He threatened to send pictures of her to her folks if she didn’t come back to him. He’s nuts, man. He’ll kill us…”

  “Sweetie,” Bull said, yanking Brian’s face up towards his, “I still ain’t decided if you’ll be living when we leave here.”

  “Well, there goes the covert op. Can I see you over here for a moment, Chief?” Peace asked, indicating the other side of the room.

  Bull released Brian, and pointed at the four men. “Please get up and make a run for it, please.”

  The two Seals backed to the other side of the room.

  “If we bring the cops in on this, we won’t be able to take care of Landry,” Bull whispered. “What the hell do we do with these assholes?”

  “Easy,” Peace said calmly. “I have another plan. It will involve some very tedious work for the next twelve hours, and you may have to cover for me at the base tomorrow.”

  “No sweat, Peace. Give me an outline of what we do with Ken’s little posse.”

  “We’ll turn these guys over to the cops eventually. I’ll call Dan,” Peace went on. “He can watch these four while we take the girl to the hospital. We’ll need at least a couple of hours. I’m thinking we can have one of these guys call over to Ken’s place just to see if he’s there. They probably come and go into Ken doll’s condo complex all the time. They might even…”

  “Have the key code to get in,” Bull finished with a smile. “I don’t know about leaving these guys with the Lieutenant. When he gets a look at what they’ve been up to, well, you know how he is.”

  “Tell me about it,” Peace grinned in agreement. “It can’t be helped. He’d kill both of us if we didn’t let him in on it.”

  “Yea, I guess you’re right. What about Landry? Threats don’t work with guys like him. I’ll have to rip his head off,” Bull said matter-of-factly.

  “He’s all y
ours, Bull. I’ll make a call down to a friend of mine in Mexico. We’ll stuff a bunch of personal stuff from Ken’s place in his car, and I’ll take him on a little road trip South of the Border. I may or may not get back in time.”

  “No problem,” Bull replied, waving it off with his hand, “then what?”

  “Call Mobry when you get back over here with Holly. Holly can fill him in on what these guys did to her and Connie. Don’t bring me up in the conversation.”

  “You ‘da man,” Bull whispered. “You need to get a commission and your own team, brother.”

  “Never happen, I’m with you guys, period.”

  “They need devious pricks like you writing up the missions, Peace.”

  “Thanks a lot, Chief. Let me call Dan before it gets any later.”

  “You call, and I’ll go let the posse in on what they will be doing to survive the night,” Bull agreed. “Here, use my cell phone.”

  Peace took the phone and punched in Dan’s number while Bull rejoined the four frightened men.

  “Hello,” Dan’s voice answered.

  “Dan, Bull and I need you,” Peace said simply.

  “Where and when?” Dan asked, his voice all business, “and what will I need?”

  Peace gave him detailed directions to Holly’s room on campus, adding, “just bring something light.”

  “Give me twenty minutes.”

  The phone went dead before Peace could acknowledge and say thanks. Peace shook his head, and walked over to where Bull was talking to Brian.

  “Write it down on this, Sweetie,” Bull directed gruffly, handing Brian a pen and paper Bull had found.

  “How’re you doing?” Peace asked.

  “Brian’s writing the keypad code down right now. He’s volunteered to call over and set up an emergency meeting with Ken, using Connie as an excuse.”

  “Dan will be here in twenty minutes,” Peace nodded, handing Bull his phone back. “Have Brian make the call with his own phone. I know all these Homies have cells of their own. I’ll get Connie up and ready to go to the hospital.”

  “Five by five,” Bull acknowledged.

  Peace went into the bathroom and wet a washrag with cold water. Returning with it to Connie’s bedside, where she still lay snoring softly, Peace began bathing her face and neck with the wet washcloth. Connie groaned, her eyes fluttering as she regained consciousness.

  “Connie,” Peace said softly, “can you hear me?”

  Connie moaned once more, as her eyes opened completely, focusing dully on Peace’s face. “Pe… Peace… is that you?”

  “Yea, honey, it’s me. Listen, can you dress yourself? Bull and I are going to take you to the emergency room. We need to get a rape kit done, and get them to monitor your vital signs until the drugs get out of your system.”

  Connie started to sob weakly. “Oh, Peace, I’m so… oh God… they…”

  “We know, honey,” Peace soothed. “We’re going to make things all better.”

  “They… they took Holly… I mean Ken took Holly. I… I think I’m… going to be sick.”

  Peace picked Connie up, bedclothes and all, hurrying into the bathroom. He held her as she vomited, applying the washcloth to the back of her neck. Peace then helped her stand, and steadied her at the sink, where Connie washed her face weakly. She gargled some water and spit it out.

  “Do you think you can dress?” Peace asked.

  Connie nodded. “Just give me a hand out to my closet.”

  Peace guided the young woman out to her room closet, and handed her the outfit she picked out. She opened one of the closet organizer drawers and retrieved panties and socks. With Peace steadying her, Connie dressed herself, pausing every few moments to regain her equilibrium.

  “I… I need to sit down,” Connie said, letting Peace ease her to the floor.

  Peace guided her head down between her knees. “You’re doing great, honey. What shoes do you want?”

  Without looking up, Connie pointed to the floor of her closet. “See the bunny slippers?”

  Peace spotted the oversize slippers, with Bugs Bunny heads right away. He helped her into them, and picked her up again like a small child.

  As Peace laid her once again onto the bed, there was a knock at the door.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Road Trip For Ken

  “It’s me,” Dan’s muffled voice called out through the door.

  “Come in, Lieutenant,” Bull instructed. “We’re in the bedroom on your right.”

  Dressed in jeans, black tee-shirt and a navy blue wind breaker, Dan entered Connie’s bedroom. His eyes swept over the room, calculatingly. Dan moved immediately to the bed, where Connie slipped in and out of consciousness.

  “What happened?” Dan asked Peace, as he quickly took Connie’s pulse, and pulled open her left eyelid to check on the dilation of her pupil.

  Peace spent the next few minutes succinctly explaining the situation. Dan stayed quiet throughout Peace’s verbal outline of what had happened.

  “So you need me to baby-sit these four pieces of human debris?” Dan asked rhetorically, as he turned to face the four men still sitting against the dresser.

  Bull saw the look on his Lieutenant’s face, as Dan walked purposely over. Bull put up his hand to halt Dan’s approach. “Wait, Lieutenant, I…”

  “Wait for what?” Dan exclaimed, rage radiating from his features, as he stared down at the men, his fists clenching. “I have a little girl who will be this young lady’s age before I know it. If you…”

  “I promised them they’d live if they helped us get Holly back from that Landry guy, Peace was telling you about,” Bull interrupted. “If they even look at you cross-eyed, they’re yours.”

  Dan nodded solemnly, crouching down in front of the men as he spoke. “Did they make the call you needed them to?”

  “Yea, Landry thinks Brian there will be coming over,” Bull answered. “He’ll be taking a meeting with Peace and I instead.”

  “All right then, gentlemen, here’s how it works until Holly is safe. You move, you die. Is that clear?”

  Four heads nodded simultaneously.

  “You say, yes sir, when I address you slime-balls!” Dan screamed in their faces, as Bull and Peace exchanged uneasy glances. “Is that clear?!”

  “Yes Sir,” all four men barked together, cringing back against the dresser.

  “Good. Start praying that little girl over there lives, because if she doesn’t, none of you will either.”

  Dan straightened, facing the two Seals under his command. “Get going. We’ll be here when you get back.”

  “Hoo-ya,” Bull and Peace answered crisply together.

  Bull went over and scooped Connie up in his arms. “Just relax, Connie, Peace and I are going to get you to the hospital. We’ll straighten the rest of this out after we make sure you’re safe.”

  Connie nodded, resting her head on Bull’s shoulder. Peace led the way out. The foot traffic in the hallways had died down considerably. They passed only a few people on their way down. The security guard hurried towards them.

  “We’re taking our friend to the hospital, Gunny,” Peace explained. “She’s been slipped something. Our other friend, who just came in is going to watch the guys who did it until we get her roommate back safe and sound.”

  The guard nodded, backing away. “How’d you know I was…”

  “I can spot a Marine in one glance,” Peace replied, opening the exit door for Bull.

  The guard smiled. “Take as long as you need.”

  “Can you make sure no other people visit that room?” Peace asked quickly.

  The guard glanced down at his sign in sheet. “You bet. No visitors.”

  “Thanks, Gunny,” Peace waved back at the guard as he hurried after Bull and Connie.

  On the way to Bull’s car, they had to stop three times so Connie could explain Bull and Peace were her friends. Peace opened the door for Bull, who deposited Connie onto the rear seat of the
two door. Fifteen minutes later, Bull took Connie into the emergency room entrance, leaving Peace free of the inevitable questioning. They had decided Bull would be the main liaison in all the events when the police were brought in.

  A half an hour later, Bull jogged quickly over to take the driver’s seat, vacated by Peace. When they were on their way to Landry’s, Bull spoke. “Connie’s parents are on their way over, and they will make sure Connie testifies against Landry’s boys. They have my name and all the information I could give them over the phone.”

  “Stop at the next phone booth while I make a call. Ken doll will be saying Hasta la Vista baby, down Mexico way,” Peace told him.

  “So, if he’s never seen again…”

  “His posse takes a hit, and Ken doll gets his final lesson,” Peace finished.

  “We’ll have to play this very cool over there,” Bull said. “I can’t leave any trace of a struggle.”

  “And no blood. That’s why I carry this,” Peace pulled a black encased stun gun from his jacket pocket. “Never leave home without it.” “I wanted to play with him for a while,” Bull complained.

  “Are we here to get Holly back safe, or exact Hollywood vengeance, Chief? Let me know which.”

  “You’re right,” Bull admitted, tight lipped in anger. “I’ll do the honors though.”

  “Whatever you say,” Peace agreed. “Just hope he’s alone with Holly, or things will be getting Peacenik complicated real quick.”

  “We get her, no matter what, right?”

  Peace nodded solemnly. “Or we’ll be dead.”

  “That’s what I wanted to hear. There’s a phone booth up ahead,” Bull pointed it out on the right, as he pulled over.

  Peace jumped out, ran over to the phone, and grabbed up the receiver. He dialed the number he had memorized for Julio.

  “Que?” Julio voice greeted him gruffly.

  “I have another improvisation to discuss with you,” Peace replied in Spanish.

  “So soon?” Julio laughed. “You Gringos lead too fast a life up there.”

  “I think my little deal will include a very nice new car, and some political funds,” Peace told him. “Since my passenger will not be coming back with me, he will require some hospitality on your part, and I will need a cheap ride back home.”