by Alison Ryan
Our ultrasound machine was set up to display its readings on Dr. DeGraff’s laptop, and she’d go over the results in real time.
She asked me some questions regarding my health, family history, diet, exercise, and general baby-related queries. Satisfied with my answers, she asked if we were ready to see our baby.
“Yes!” Atlas and I answered, in unison.
Atlas performed like a seasoned ultrasound veteran, smearing gel all over my tummy and moving the wand around as directed via Skype. The doctor pointed out the baby’s head and feet, but Atlas seemed preoccupied as he stared at the screen.
“What’s the matter, babe?” I asked.
“Well, I’m searching, but, and correct me if I’m wrong, doc, I’m not seeing a penis.”
The doctor and I both laughed.
“No, no you aren’t, Mr. Titan. Can you guess why that might be?” Dr. DeGraff asked.
Atlas hung his head in mock defeat. “I don’t suppose you’ll let our little girl become a SEAL, eh Piper?”
“She can be whatever she wants to be, of course, but she’ll be way too pretty to be a SEAL.” I replied.
“Only if she favors her mother,” Atlas said, leaning over my goop-covered stomach to kiss me.
We finished up with the doctor and made arrangements to get blood and urine samples analyzed by a lab in Juneau, then scheduled a follow up Skype appointment in two weeks.
Atlas shut the laptop as I wiped the gel from my body. I closed my robe and straddled his lap and gave him a deep kiss.
My eyes met his. “You’re going to be so good with a little girl. My heart might just melt and run all the way down to the soles of my feet the first time I watch you hold her.” I touched his face, never remembering what life was like before this. I’d never been so happy.
“I love you, Piper. I can’t wait,” he said, kissing me again.
“You know, I read something interesting the other day,” I mentioned casually, still astride his lap in just my robe, he in pajama pants and a tight t-shirt.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“I read that during pregnancy, it’s very important to have lots of sex. Something in the hormones lets the baby know she’s loved and coming into a world with a stable relationship between father and mother.”
“Is that a fact?” Atlas asked, and I could feel him throb below me as a single finger traced a line from my chin to down between my breasts.
I began to let the robe I was wearing fall from my shoulders when we heard it.
The peaceful Spring morning erupted into a cacophony of barking, snarling dogs.
Our pack barked whenever Ujarak came to visit, and we recognized their sounds of play and happy recognition when they’d see us, but this was different. VZ and company were barking and snarling in an aggressive fashion that indicated that some sort of danger was present. Atlas lifted me off him and barked orders, reverting instantly to his military background.
“Safe room! Now! And let Ujarak know we have a problem. Turn on the monitors down there, keep that door locked. You open the door for nobody but me. Understand?”
I nodded and scampered down the stairs, just as we’d drilled repeatedly since our first few days on the island. I wanted so badly for Atlas to be with me, but I understood that he didn’t want to be trapped, that he wanted to be the aggressor, and that he didn’t want to leave our dogs to fend for themselves.
We’d truly grown to love them during our months in Alaska, and the thought of any of them being hurt tore my heart in half.
The last I saw of Atlas was him slipping on a pair of boots and arming himself from a closet off the kitchen that we kept stocked in case of emergencies. If he were anyone else, I’d fear he’d be cold, as all he had on were flimsy pajama pants and a t-shirt, but Atlas Titan wasn’t bothered by things like that.
I reached the bottom of the stairs and punched in my code on the keypad next to the mammoth bookshelf there. The shelf whirled and slid to the right, revealing a short passageway with a heavy door at the end that looked like it belonged on a bank vault. The lights came on in the hallway as motion sensors detected me, and I heard the shelf close behind me, but not before I heard several gunshots.
A second code gave access to the vault, and I slipped inside.
A wall of monitors, like a miniature NASA control room, came to life at the touch of a button. I scanned them desperately for a look at Atlas or any our dogs.
Three of the screens were dark, meaning something had happened to three of the cameras in the woods. I saw movement on one and touched it, moving its picture to the larger image in the center. On it, I saw the horrific sight of snow splattered with blood, although whatever had moved was now gone from the picture.
On another I saw a heavily armed man in camouflage running through the trees.
Nowhere, however, could I see Atlas or any of our dogs.
I called Ujarak on our secure line and left him a brief message: “This is Vicki; we have a security breach.”
Letting someone know we were in trouble felt good, but outside of calling in an air strike, we were going to have to handle this threat alone.
I kept going back to the camera inside the house, but all was quiet. I could only watch and wait.
62
ATLAS
I was woefully unprepared. Dressed in pajama pants and boots, I had no protection from the elements and nowhere to hold weapons. I had a small caliber handgun and tactical knife in my boots, and I’d grabbed an assault rifle from the closet, but I had caches of weapons and supplies hidden in the woods, so I wasn’t worried about being able to neutralize the threat once I identified it.
A side door nearest the trees afforded the best cover, and I melted into the forest on full alert.
From the forest on the opposite side of the house, near where we’d first heard the dogs, came several reports of small arms fire, snarling, and the sound of a man screaming. Confirmation that we were indeed under attack, by animals of the two-legged variety, and that VZ and his pack had engaged the enemy.
I believed in Piper, we’d drilled enough that I knew she’d reached our safe room, so I didn’t fear for her. Even if whoever was out here burned the entire house down, that fortified room would remain. She had a satellite phone, ample food and water, and weapons, if it came to that.
We’d scouted every inch of the island, and I knew all the best hiding places and vantage points. I climbed a small incline and wedged myself between a tree and a boulder where I had a perfect view of the front of the house. I saw no movement and started circling around so I could check on the dogs, who’d grown strangely silent.
I made my way over to where I’d stashed a rifle with a sniper’s scope. I’d almost reached it when I spotted the first of them. Dressed in forest green camo and carrying an assault rifle of his own, he paused by the trunk of a large tree and signaled to someone I couldn’t see. We were nowhere near the dock, so I wasn’t sure how they’d gotten on the island. I hadn’t heard any aircraft, and besides, parachuting onto our island, unless it was right up near the house, would be a good way to get impaled on a tree branch.
I crept over to my hidden rifle and silently readied myself. I had a clear shot at the first man I’d spotted, but his partner, or partners, were still out of sight and I didn’t want to risk giving away my position until I had more intel.
I steadied myself and slowed my breathing, noticing for the first time that it was actually cold outside and wishing I’d grabbed a coat. I watched my target emerge from the trees and sprint to the house using a zigzag pattern. I could have taken him out, but I knew he wouldn’t find Piper.
I’d wait for his friend before I made my move.
63
PIPER
A sawed-off shotgun lay across my lap. Atlas had trained me to handle and shoot a variety of weapons during our time in hiding, and this was the one he believed had the most stopping power at close range.
Nobody was on any of the cameras insid
e the house yet, but they were getting closer.
I spotted Atlas, he’d gone to higher ground, just as he taught me, and he’d gotten to his sniper rifle. I could see him watching the front of the house, and on another camera I saw the man he must have been watching sprint toward the house, but he stopped short before entering. He was somewhere on the wraparound porch, I surmised, as he’d disappeared from view but hadn’t shown up inside yet.
I scrolled from camera to camera, noting two more go dark, ones that I recognized as in the woods near the dock. That meant our intruders were either extremely fast, or that there were more than just the ones that had encountered VZ and the rest of our security team.
Suddenly, I gasped and brought a hand to my mouth, as Ronnie, one of our wolf hybrids, limped into view one on of my monitors, his coat and muzzle splattered with blood. I couldn’t be sure whose blood it was, but he’d clearly sustained a serious injury to the left rear leg.
Tears stung my eyes as I wondered what had become of the rest of the pack and my fingers squeezed the twin barrels of the gun in my lap.
These bastards, whoever they were, would pay dearly.
64
ATLAS
The man I’d watched approach the house disappeared entirely, taking the porch around to the other side of the house. My guess was that he was doing reconnaissance, trying to determine where we were.
I crept around from tree to tree until I spotted the man in the woods whom the first had been signaling. He appeared uninjured, so my guess was that their team was at last three men. The dogs must be incapacitated, but from the sound of the struggle, they’d gotten their jaws on at least one of these assholes. No matter how tough you were, or what kind of body armor you were wearing, those dogs were vicious and equipped to inflict terrible damage. A few times when I was roughhousing with them, things had gotten out of hand and they’d left gashes and ugly bruises on me without ever meaning to.
Watching a bit longer, I waited for the second man to emerge into the kill zone. When I saw him lock his gaze toward the porch and nod, I knew the first man was giving him a signal, probably to approach. That’s when I lined up his right knee in my sights and squeezed the trigger. I’d be leaving him alive, and armed, but I hoped his injury would flush out any unseen members of his team.
The man’s knee exploded, and he dropped with a scream, clutching at what was left of his right leg. I immediately scrambled into deeper cover, and not a moment too soon, as the fallen man fired his weapon blindly into the woods, strafing my previous position.
I surveyed my surroundings, deciding how best to approach the house and take out the man on the porch, since my gambit of shooting to injure hadn’t brought him into view. As I began to move toward the house, I heard movement to my left and I rolled, pulling and raising the pistol from my boot in one fluid motion. I identified another man in similar camo to the two near the house and I put him down with a quick three shot burst, two to the chest and one to the head. I reached him quickly, finding that my first two shots had been stopped by his Kevlar vest.
I took off his jacket and put it on. A bit snug, but it would keep me warm, allow me to better blend with my surroundings, and perhaps give me the element of surprise if I was mistaken for a member if the assault team. I checked him for tattoos and found indications that he was Bosnian special forces. No doubt retired, his team taking this job as mercenaries. This was a serious threat.
Silently, I made my way down the hill and into the clearing near the house. The man I’d hit in the knee was no threat, barely conscious, so I was left to search out his partner.
Just then, the bone-jarring jolt of a Taser dropped me to my knees. I struggled to rise, but a second blast of electricity separated me from my senses. Somehow, I’d missed at least one bad guy. The dogs were incapacitated at best, dead at worst, and now Piper would be all alone.
65
PIPER
Atlas was down.
I watched the scene unfold on our security cameras, Atlas shooting the man in front of the house and then killing the man who snuck up on him. Despite losing another camera, I watched as an unseen assailant, moving through the trees like a ghost, came up behind Atlas and zapped him. I don’t know a better word for it than that.
I wanted to scream at my man to turn around, but I knew I was in a soundproof room and it wouldn’t do a bit of good. Instead, I fought back tears and bit my lip until I tasted blood. I’d lost sight of Ronnie, but I’d found the first man to breach the house. He was moving from room to room carefully, looking for us. Through the kitchen to the dining room, poking his head into the bathroom and then moving up the stairs.
I was shaking with rage.
My attention was torn between Atlas and the intruder. Atlas had been handcuffed and leaned up against a tree sitting down, a cord tied around his throat and the trunk. He wasn’t moving.
The man in the house concluded his upstairs search, pausing in our bedroom. I watched him open a dresser drawer, my underwear drawer, and lift out a pair of my panties with his knife before stuffing the trophy in his pack.
My blood boiled as the violation just got deeper and deeper.
I dropped my robe and changed into something more appropriate for close quarters combat; black yoga pants and a black t-shirt, obviously put in this room before my pregnancy, as it barely stretched to cover my belly.
I tucked a handgun into the back of my pants and grabbed extra ammo for the shotgun. The man with Atlas appeared to be trying to revive him. The pervert who took my panties was moving in the direction of the stairs. I watched him pause and bring a hand to his ear, probably getting news from his partner outside regarding Atlas’s capture.
Atlas had given me clear orders, and I knew the room I was in was as close to impenetrable as it got, but I’d spent months training with Atlas Titan. And I was carrying his daughter in my womb. I had to act.
Saying a silent prayer asking God to protect my baby, I took a final look at the monitor and exited the safe room and past the bookcase. The sliding wall made a sound, but I hoped it was quiet enough to allow me to catch whomever came down the stairs completely unaware.
66
ATLAS
I woke up bound to a tree, hands cuffed, and head pounding. A rat-faced man in his forties with dark hair sneered at me and spoke in heavily-accented English.
“The girl. Where is she? You get chance now to tell me and things maybe go, eh, not so bad for you. But you lie to me, you try to hide her, things get very bad. For both of you.”
I couldn’t imagine they had any genuine interest in Piper, she was simply a loose end they needed to trim. I’d done enough of this kind of work to know that I was probably supposed to be brought in alive, if possible, but that she was expendable.
“Untie me and I’ll take you right to her,” I answered.
“Nice try, Titan. Only place you go is nice boat ride. Or Hell. Your choice. She already made her decision by picking you. Very bad decision, no?”
“Who’s paying you, scumbag? And how did you get onto my island? Where are my dogs?” I was working the cuffs, trying every trick I knew, but making no progress. I wanted to keep him talking, agitate him, get him to make a mistake.
The unmistakable sound of a shotgun blast from inside the house, followed by a second, interrupted our conversation.
“Ah, that sounds like the wildcat now,” my captor said, his attention on the house and then on his earpiece, as he spoke in rapid-fire what I guessed was Bosnian into a microphone extending to near his mouth.
“She’s got some pretty sharp claws,” I said. “Nobody answering you on that radio, is there? I’ll make you a deal. Untie me now and I’ll let you swim for it. Best offer you’re going to get.”
He looked unsure as to how to proceed and didn’t seem to be receiving any instructions in his earpiece.
“You go back to sleep now,” he stated flatly, hitting me with the taser again. Everything went black.
67
PIPER
He was big, every bit the mass of Atlas, but a sawed-off shotgun at point blank range put him flat on his back. His foot hit the bottom step just as I pulled the trigger. His body armor kept him intact, but all the fight in him was gone.
I’d been shooting with Atlas for months, but only at targets. Approaching him, my weapon again ready to fire, I vomited. Whether the baby was to blame or the fact that I’d just shot someone, I didn’t know. I got near enough to see that he was still breathing, and his big body was blocking the stairs. I kept my gun trained on him, and when he began to sit up, I pulled the trigger again. The result this time was a mess, and there was no doubt he was dead. I fought back tears and reloaded, moving back into my safe room to check the monitors.
I sat down and realized that my hands were shaking. I pulled my knees up to me as tightly as my pregnant belly would allow and I let myself cry. I was terrified. I’d killed a man. I felt no remorse, but neither did I enjoy the experience. How did Atlas do it?
I watched Atlas receive another blast from the taser, and his head hung down as he blacked out again. Movement got my attention on one of the remaining outside monitors. It was VZ, walking in a curious, haphazard manner. He had blood on his muzzle like Ronnie had, but he didn’t have an obvious injury. He looked more drunk than anything. My best guess was that he was shaking off the effects of a tranquilizer.
VZ stopped and sniffed, then bolted. I lost sight of him, but then found him again as he reunited with Ronnie. The two of them touched noses and Ronnie nuzzled against VZ. The alpha dog sniffed at Ronnie’s leg and licked away some of the blood around his mouth before they both broke into a trot, Ronnie admirably trying to keep pace, and they disappeared off-camera.
