by Dale Mayer
She smiled. “That sounds like an adage my grandfather would’ve said.”
“Who was he?” Sienna asked from several seats away.
“He was an old shoemaker when the profession still existed,” she said with a smile. “He was full of sayings like that.”
*
Dakota enjoyed listening to her talk about her grandfather. She rambled on at an easy pace, telling stories of how he had raised his grandkids. Her parents had died young, leaving her and her baby brother. Her brother died of cancer when she was a young teen. If it hadn’t been for her grandfather, she wouldn’t have survived that either. Dakota was amazed at how often bad luck or tragedy seemed to follow some people. She was due for some good times. She might not believe that such a thing was possible, but he knew this crap life didn’t last forever. He’d lost good friends in the military. Healing took time, but it did happen. One never forgot, but it became easier.
When Alfred brought out a huge cheesecake and set it down almost in front of her, she giggled with delight. “You weren’t kidding. Lemon curd cheesecake.” Immediately she launched into a discussion about what kinds of cheesecake she had tried to make before.
“I think by now,” Alfred said with a smile, “I’ve tried every citrus there is.”
“I’ve never tried grapefruit. Always wanted to.”
Alfred looked thoughtful. “You know? I’m not sure I ever tried that either. I wonder if that would work.”
She gave him a wicked glance. “If you have any, we could make one together tomorrow.”
He grinned a smile that went from cheek to cheek as the two both realized they were kindred souls. And maybe this was a good thing.
The cheesecake was quickly cut and dispersed among the group at the large table. Considering there were so many of them, the pieces were being fought over. Bailey took a small piece.
But at the first bite she closed her eyes and sank back in joy. “Alfred, you’re a magician in the kitchen.”
He chuckled but was obviously pleased, a nice rosy color came to his cheeks.
Dakota had never seen Alfred like this. And from the look in Ice and Levi’s expressions, they hadn’t either. The people here may be a strong family unit, but they had to remember not to take for granted any of the work any of them did. He took a bite of the cheesecake and stopped in shock at the explosion of flavor. “That’s curd?”
Bailey chuckled. “That is lemon curd in cheesecake form. And it’s divine.”
With those words, Dakota dug into his piece and enjoyed it to the last bite. “You’re right. That was spectacular.” He sat back and rubbed his stomach. “That was an awesome meal, Alfred.”
As people stood and collected the dishes like a well-oiled army, they headed into the kitchen to clean up.
Dakota noticed the tiredness on Alfred’s face. He frowned. “Alfred, it’s time you got some help in the kitchen.”
Alfred shrugged. “There hasn’t been any need until now.”
“What he means is, he’s refused until now,” Ice said. “But it’s past time. It’s a huge workload for just him.”
Beside him Bailey popped up, looking way too agile, considering the stitches in her back. “I can help him for the next few days.”
“No. Not with those stitches in your back, young lady.”
She glared at him. “As long as I don’t have to do any of the bending or heavy lifting, there’s no reason I can’t stand—or sit—at the island and do prep work.”
He frowned and shook his head. “Better that you do nothing but lie in bed and relax.”
She snickered at that. “I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. I’ve been a workaholic since I was a child. That won’t change now.” And she collected the dishes around them, then carefully turned and gave the entire stack to Dakota.
He raised his eyebrows but didn’t say a word and carried them into the kitchen.
In the background, he could hear Alfred squabbling with Ice over letting Bailey work in the kitchen.
Merk walked over and patted Dakota on the back. “Nice choice.”
Dakota looked at him in surprise, but Merk was already on his way out of the room.
Rhodes chuckled. “Very good choice.” And then he walked out.
Dakota had a good idea what was going on, but they were wrong. He was just helping a woman he’d accidentally hit.
Sienna stood beside Dakota, snickering. “You have no clue what’s going on, do you?”
He glanced at her. “It’s not like that.”
She gave him a warm smile. “It’s one of the unique things about this place. Somebody else always knows before the man does.” And then she too turned and walked out.
Frowning, he rinsed the dishes and loaded them into the commercial-size dishwasher. Little pots and pans remained, but they had a second dishwasher for those. Alfred, although he was still in the dining room, liked to put away the food himself.
By the time Dakota returned to the dining room to get another load, the table was already cleaned off. Alfred and Bailey had moved into a discussion of puddings.
“I do like making puddings with cream cheese,” Bailey said.
“It makes it very rich.”
She nodded. “Where I come from, that type of dessert is served in small elegant-looking portions.”
Dakota leaned against a wall and watched, fascinated as she came to life, sitting right beside Alfred. Ice and Levi sat on the other end, studying the pair. Dakota didn’t quite know where to go or what to do. He glanced at Levi, seeing the surprise in his face too.
Dakota grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down between the two groups. He didn’t have any claim on Bailey, but he wanted to make sure she didn’t stay up late. Besides, Alfred also looked tired, yet Dakota hated to remind him there was food to be put away. “Alfred, do you want me to deal with the leftovers?”
Alfred glanced at Dakota in surprise. “Oh, dear. I’ll do that now.” He hopped up from the table and walked around to the kitchen. On his heels was Bailey. As the two of them kept up the chatter in the kitchen, Dakota stood in the doorway and watched. Bailey quickly picked up on what Alfred was doing and got there before him, already saving the older man steps and movements. It said so much about who she was and how she had an innate sense about caring for people, whether her sick husband in the hospital or feeding large groups of people.
The others were right; she was a good choice. And he was an idiot because only now did he realize he was already seriously in trouble.
Ice walked up beside him, patted him on the back, and whispered, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Alfred so invigorated.”
Dakota nodded. “Or Bailey.”
She gave a soft chuckle and said, “Something for us all to think about.” And she turned and walked out.
Dakota watched her leave, not sure what she meant by that.
Once the two were done putting away the food, Dakota told Alfred, “I’ll make sure she lies down now. She probably did too much as it is.”
Alfred shooed them away. “Go. Go lie down and rest.”
Bailey had to be pulled from the kitchen and led toward the elevator. “I’m not that tired,” she protested.
“Maybe not, but you’ve been up most of the day, moving around a lot of it. And your stitches probably need you to lie down again, okay?”
As they stood waiting for the elevator, Ice walked over to them. “Before you go, we should look at the bandage.”
With a wince, Bailey obediently nodded and followed Ice downstairs to the medical clinic. There she stretched out on the bed and, although uncomfortable with some of her movements, she was no longer crying out in agony.
Ice lifted her shirt up her back and carefully took off the bandage.
Dakota studied the slash across the center of her back. “It doesn’t look half bad,” he admitted. “Lucky for you, Bailey, it looks like you heal quickly.”
“Good. It’s hard to baby an injury like that.”
Ic
e carefully washed, cleaned and rebadged it.
By the time she was done, Bailey’s expression was no longer quite so complacent. Instead it was slightly green. He knew how she felt. Gently they got Bailey back on her feet. With a smile of thanks to Ice, he led Bailey to the elevator and upstairs to her room.
When she walked in, she whispered, “Okay, now I’m so ready to lie down.”
He quickly pulled back the bedding. “You need any help?”
She kicked off her shoes and whispered, “No thanks. I’m fine. Or I will be as soon as I’m horizontal again.”
He stood at the doorway, uncertain if he should leave or stay. He let out his held breath when she carefully stretched out on the bed with a groan of relief.
She waved her hand, shooing him away. “I’ll be fine.”
“It’s still early, so, if you wake up again, I’m right next door.”
“I hope I sleep right through until morning. It’ll likely take a bomb to wake me up otherwise.” She closed her eyes and, right in front of him, fell asleep.
Chapter 10
The screaming noise ripped through her mind and into her dream. Only it wasn’t a dream. Blasting her back to awareness, Bailey bolted to her feet and cried out in pain as her back wrenched, twisting her muscles in agony. But the high-pitched noise was worse. She clapped her hands over her ears and put her feet into the shoes left by her bed, rushing to pull open the door. All she wanted was for that noise to stop. Nobody was in the hall.
“Hello,” she cried out. “What’s going on?”
Dakota was supposedly next door to her room. She knocked on his door hard. The door swung open at her near-pounding, and she could see the larger room, masculine in its decor, was empty.
She made her way slowly down the corridor, the alarm driving hammers into her head. When she reached the elevator, she pushed the button to call the car to take her to the main floor.
As the door opened, several people rushed into the elevator beside her. She looked at them in surprise. “What’s going on?” she cried out.
Dakota stepped in the elevator last. He stepped closer to her, saw her hands over her ears and wrapped an arm gently around her shoulders. Pulling away one of her hands, he whispered, “Security’s been breached.”
She stared at him in horror. “What do we do?”
“I was coming to you, but, now that you’re here, I’m taking you to the control room.”
She glanced around at the others. “What about them?”
“Everybody has a routine. We do this as a fire drill on a regular basis. So everybody knows exactly what to do.”
The door opened but on a different floor than she’d been on before. Several people got out ahead of them. Dakota ushered her toward the door on the side and pounded in a weird tempo rap, and the door opened.
Ice stared at her, then smiled. “Come on in.”
Bailey stepped inside, the door closing behind her, and instantly there was blessed silence. She dropped her hands and whispered, “Thank God.”
Ice laughed. “Yes, it’s loud but for a good reason.” She motioned to a couple chairs on the far side. “Take a place over there and sit down. We’re still tracking the intruder.”
“Somebody’s actually broken into the house?”
“Not the house. But someone’s on the property.”
And that’s when Bailey realized the walls in this room were full of monitors. One huge bald-headed man, who introduced himself as Stone, sat at the computers with Merk. The two studied the feed covering all corners of the property.
“Stone, can you see anyone in your quadrant?” Ice asked as she walked over to stand behind the bald man.
Stone shook his head. “Not yet. I must get up there and take out some of those bushes. They’re big enough to hide a man.”
Bailey silently agreed.
Suddenly Merk called out, “There he is.”
She wanted to lean forward to see, but the monitor was surrounded by enough people as they studied the intruder and his location.
“Okay, he’s up on the northeast side,” Ice said.
Levi’s voice came through a loud speaker. “Heading there now.”
And Bailey realized the compound had an intercom system. With them watching the intruder and Levi’s progress, these people manning the control room could direct Levi and whoever else to where the intruder hid.
“Watch your six,” Ice said. “We’ve only seen one, but that doesn’t mean he came alone.”
“Who’s checking the road?” Levi asked.
“The new camera at the bend isn’t operational. It’s possible they’ve taken it out. We need to get someone out there to check on it.”
“In that case, a vehicle is likely parked down there. We need somebody to look.”
Merk stood up. “I’ve got that. I’ll go through the tunnel. They won’t see me from there. I’ll check that bend easily enough.” And just like that he was gone.
Ice took Merk’s seat and typed on the keyboard.
Bailey was fascinated, terrified, hopeful and completely shocked that somebody would try to break into the compound. “Even if they got into the building, they have to know over a dozen people are in here.”
“They know. They are looking for you, most likely.”
“Sure, but how would they find me?”
“Chances are they wouldn’t have to look too closely. I suspect he’s carrying C-4 and is planning to blow up the entire compound anyway.”
“They’d have blown up the compound?” she whispered. “For real?”
Stone chuckled. “Even so, C-4 would’ve been detected before he got within twenty feet of the house. We have all kinds of sensors out there. Explosives are something we always keep track of.”
She nodded, but inside she was numb. That these people talked about bombs—as in completely blowing up and annihilating a beautiful building like this one—in such a nonchalant manner was horrifying in itself. Something was wrong with the world that not only did people think that was justifiable but also that Ice and Stone considered it a normal everyday occurrence.
“You just want to see what happens if he makes it close enough to the house,” Ice chided Stone.
He chuckled. “Of course I do. I put that one in there. Cost a fair bit of money too. But, so far, the external security system works well enough that we never get a sneaky bastard in that close to set off the new alarm.”
Bailey listened, half dazed. This was so not the world she knew. And yet, at the same time, she was caught in the middle of it.
Another voice called into the panic room. “Does anybody want coffee?”
Alfred. The calm within the storm. The sanity within the chaos. The regular man doing the regular job to keep all the specialists running. Because, even in chaos, everybody still needed food and coffee.
She bolted to her feet. “I’ll help Alfred.”
Ice studied Bailey, took a careful look at her face and then nodded. “I’m letting you out. Before you come back in, you’ll have to stand on the left-hand side of the door so I can see your face. I have a camera directed right there.” She pointed so Bailey could see where she’d need to stand.
“I can do that.”
Ice pressed the button, and a small click sounded as the double locks released on the door. Bailey opened it and stepped out.
From there she made her way back to the elevator and down to Alfred’s kitchen. She walked into the large room and saw him setting up trays of coffee. “Let me help.”
He glanced at her. “Sure. We’ve got men all over the place. And somehow, no matter what time of day or night, when things like this happen, coffee’s always needed. When it’s over, it’ll be coffee laced with something else.”
She took her cue from him and found her sense of balance by working at his side. “Does this happen often?”
He shook his head. “In the beginning, we had some drug cartels after Levi and Ice. Things got a little hairy then. But they have certain
ly beefed up their defenses and have built a fortress here now. We still run drills monthly. And every time a new security system is installed, we’re given ample time to recognize where, when and how to deal with any breaches to it.”
“Is this your world too?”
At her wording, he turned and looked at her. “All of Levi’s recruits were military. But none of us are now. The women have all joined us one by one. We have one who’s ex-military herself and, of course, so is Ice. She’s a helicopter pilot, and those are her babies outside. That was our world. It is no longer. We created this world. It’s a haven for all of us now. Even those without a military background.” He smiled at her and added, “Like you.”
She gave him a bright smile, picking up one of the two trays Alfred had prepared. “Where does this go?”
“If you know how to get back into the control room, then take that one up to Stone, Ice and Merk.”
“Merk left. He headed out through the tunnel to look at the bend, thinking he could view any vehicle on the road because the camera on that side is no longer working.”
Alfred raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like you’re catching on real fast.”
She laughed. “Not really but I’ll be fine as long as I can get through this without losing my mind. I’ll feel much better if I can be at least as calm as the other women.”
“You’re handling this like a pro.”
She took the cups off the tray, but he added a couple muffins to it, so she replaced the cups.
“Take these too for Ice and Stone. They’re both big eaters. And then, if you want, come back.”
Armed with a mission she knew she could accomplish successfully, she headed off.
She stood in the correct position for Ice to see her and then knocked on the door. Ice let her in. She delivered the coffee and treats, then walked back out again. She headed to the kitchen to find Alfred must have left to deliver the other tray. But she had no idea where he had gone. She set about cleaning up the little bit of mess he’d made and then poured herself a cup of coffee. When Alfred didn’t return, she got a little worried. She didn’t know how their intercom worked, but, if Alfred had called them in the control room, there must be a way to make contact from the kitchen.
