“You’d better hurry,” she informed him, resuming her tough girl act. “They’re liable to leave you behind.”
He barely glanced at her. Any spark of the man he used to be had burned out.
“I’m already being left behind,” Bogart muttered while avoiding eye contact with the attractive pilot. “I’ve been served my walking papers. You called it, as usual. I screwed up, and it may have cost Lee and Beck their lives.”
The four men tossed their bags into an awaiting vehicle. Jackie stared at him a moment then shook her head. She left the defeated Bogart by the plane and approached the men to say her goodbyes. Jackie stopped before Ross and handed him the car keys.
“Thanks for setting up everything for us,” Ross announced while accepting the keys from her.
“Yes, it’s a cycle of never ending favors,” she informed him with little emotion. Jackie drew a deep breath then casually indicated Bogart by the plane. “You know, Bogart is a bigger asset than you give him credit. I don’t know what he did to fall from your good graces, but I’m willing to bet you didn’t give him the benefit of the doubt either.”
Ross tossed his head back and groaned lowly. “Jackie, don’t defend the guy.”
“Just because he drives me insane, that doesn’t change the fact that the man saved my ass,” she informed him. “He’ll eat you out of house and home, but he’s loyal and trustworthy. He’s also a good conman.” She studied Ross, who just stared back at her with a look of disinterest. “You need a good conman.”
Ross took Jackie’s hand in his and gently kissed the back of it. He then patted her hand and smirked. “You, my dear, are a major pain in the ass.” He released her hand then looked at Bogart by the plane. “Let’s go!” Ross gruffly indicated for Bogart to get in the vehicle.
Bogart appeared surprised by the order directed at him. He grabbed his bag and hurried for the car. Bogart secretly smiled at Jackie then joined the others. Jackie watched them drive away and sighed softly.
“Thank God,” she muttered softly. “I was afraid he’d follow me home again.”
†
Lee slowly woke and looked around the moderately familiar yet somehow unfamiliar living room. She could see the glass balcony doors overlooking the familiar corner of Chicago. She recognized that view, except this view was from a higher angle. Lee then realized she was in Sal’s penthouse suite. She’d only been in his suite a few times for various reasons in her short career with the company. She struggled against the plastic zip ties binding her wrists in front of her. Lee had a limited working knowledge of zip ties, but she knew there was no way she was slipping out of them or cutting them without very sharp tools. She looked around the room and saw a man standing guard just inside the door. He wasn’t familiar to her, although he was rather intimidating.
It didn’t take long for Lee to remember briefly coming face-to-face with Jericho in the woods. The sun was shining through the glass balcony doors, indicating she’d been out several hours. She glanced at the elegant grandfather clock just across the room. It was eleven o’clock in the morning Chicago time. Thoughts of Tonya crossed her mind. She didn’t know what happened to her friend. Perhaps Tonya escaped, but there was no telling at this point. She didn’t even know if the men from Whiskey Tango Foxtrot made it out alive. Lee was almost positive the man by the door wasn’t going to offer her any information on her friend or the team who laid down their lives to protect her. She did find it interesting that they took her alive. Why not kill her? Of course, if they didn’t kill her, perhaps that meant they wouldn’t have killed Tonya either.
Despite preparing for the worst, she was going to stay positive and believe the others were alive. She needed to stay focused, and getting herself upset over the possible death of her friend wasn’t going to help her situation any. She then heard Jericho’s familiar voice. Lee strained to listen. It sounded like it was coming from one of the nearby bedrooms.
“They’re going to be looking for her,” Jericho’s voice announced faintly from the other room. “We can’t afford to have anyone accidentally finding that man in the mansion basement. It’s going to be a madhouse by late afternoon. I want the four of you to go out there. Remove the prisoner and find Tonya before the guests start arriving.”
Lee’s mind was racing with her newly found information. Was Tonya being held at the mansion? Was that other man Gil? What day was it? It was Saturday! Today was Sal’s birthday party being held at his mansion. All her co-workers would be there along with around two hundred guests. Jericho entered the living room while replacing his cell phone to his jacket pocket. He looked at her, saw that she was awake, and smirked.
“Well, look who’s awake,” he announced cheerfully.
“What am I doing here?” she demanded. “What is it you want from me?”
“You mean, why didn’t we kill you and make our lives that much easier?” he asked then snorted a soft laugh. “You really don’t know the information you hold, do you?”
“If I had any information, I would have given it to Agent Falcone,” she informed him. “What makes you think I know anything?”
“Before Wiley died, he gave you something of great value,” Jericho informed her.
“A flash drive, or so you seem to think,” she announced simply. “I certainly don’t have it.”
“Yes, he gave you a flash drive disguised as lipstick, but there was nothing on it,” Jericho replied.
Lee stared at him with surprise. “You mean that gold tube--?”
“Yeah, the one you so kindly tried to jam in my eye,” Jericho snarled. “Wiley was a smart man. Smart enough to discover the money we’d been filtering through certain accounts. He was also smart enough to hide that money in the cyber world so we’d never find it. Planting that flash drive on you was too easy. There was nothing on it but a bunch of family photos. He must have given you something else.”
“He didn’t give me anything,” she insisted.
“He was going to meet you that night at the diner,” Jericho remarked. “Whatever he gave you, he intended to recover that night at the diner. Think real hard. What did Wiley give you?”
Lee didn’t want to think real hard. She didn’t want to do anything he told her to do. She knew Wiley hadn’t given her anything; although, she hadn’t realized he’d slipped her the flash drive either. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she gave her last encounter with Wiley some consideration. The contents of her purse had been scattered across his office floor. Wiley helped her collect her belongings. Apart from the lipstick flash drive, that she hadn’t realized he’d slipped her, she couldn’t think of anything added to her purse.
“I’m sorry,” she announced firmly. “If he gave me something, I have no idea what it was.”
“That’s okay,” Jericho announced cheerfully. “You have all night to think about it. No one’s going to come here looking for you. If they go anywhere, it’ll be the mansion. All they’ll find there is a party in progress.”
There was a knock on the door. The guard looked through the peek hole then opened the door. Another man entered and approached Jericho, who stood when he saw him.
“Did you get it?” Jericho eagerly asked.
The man revealed a paperbag and gave it a shake. “Several doses of the good stuff for our special guest,” the man replied.
The man approached the coffee table and removed a vile containing liquid and a hypodermic needle. Lee suddenly tensed. The man grinned at Lee.
“Don’t worry,” he informed her. “This is the good stuff. Not that shit from the street. You’re going to feel real good. Your mind will be open to anything and everything.” The man eyed Jericho and grinned. “I’m thinking party time.”
Jericho rolled his eyes and shook his head with obvious disgust. “You can do whatever you want with her after you get the information we need.”
Lee stared at the needle the man held and felt alarm sweeping through her body. She wasn’t entirely sure what was in the vile
, but she didn’t want any part of it or the man, who seemed eager to play doctor.
“Doping me up isn’t going to give me information I don’t have,” she quickly announced but knew it wasn’t going to change their minds.
“Are you sure of the dose?” Jericho asked the man.
He drew some of the solution into the needle then eyed Jericho. “Yeah, I got the information from a friend of mine at the hospital. The first shot will relax her, but it’ll take twenty to thirty minutes. My friend said to make sure the room was quiet and dark for the best results. Once she’s good and relaxed, the second dose will open her to suggestion and free her mind.”
Jericho approached the balcony and closed the blinds, darkening the suite. Lee attempted to move away from the man with the needle. Jericho and the guard grabbed her, pinned her to the sofa, and allowed the second man to inject her in the arm with the needle. She attempted to fight them, but with her wrists bound and the men holding her down, fighting was useless. They held her immobile as the man inserted the needle into a vein in the crook of her arm. She jumped from the pinch, and her heart raced at the thought of the drugs entering into her bloodstream. Once he removed the needle from her arm, they released her. At first, she didn’t feel anything. Within minutes, her ears started ringing and the room became fuzzy.
“Now, we wait,” the man informed Jericho.
Chapter Thirty
Gil sat casually relaxed on the chair within the dank basement room at Romano’s estate while playing a game on his cell phone. There was no reception available in the basement, so the game was his only form of entertainment. He glanced at his watch, appeared bored, and groaned softly.
“One more night, Ross,” he muttered. “If I don’t hear from you, I’m out of here.”
The sound of Darth barking in the corridor alerted Gil of approaching company. He lunged across the room, replaced his cell phone on the table, and returned to his chair. He attached the handcuff on the chair to his wrist. Male voices were heard in the hallway, although they attempted to keep their voices down.
“Find Tonya,” the man ordered. “We’ll take care of this one. The boss doesn’t want him disrupting the birthday celebration this afternoon.”
Gil listened to the conversation, considered his options, and immediately unlocked the handcuff with his pick, so it only appeared to be latched. The door opened and two men entered along with Darth. One of the men stood by the closed door while the first approached Gil, who looked up at him with little emotion. The man smirked at him as he removed his gun affixed with a silencer from his hidden shoulder holster.
“I’m afraid your time is up,” the man announced and aimed the gun.
“Don’t I get any last words?” Gil asked casually.
The man lowered the gun and appeared humored by the request. “Sure, why not?”
Gil stared into the man’s eyes and calmly spoke in German. The man before him appeared baffled until he heard Darth snarl. He turned just in time to see Darth attack the man standing by the door. Gil kicked upward; knocking the gun from the man’s hand, then sprang from his chair and punched him several times until he collapsed to the floor. Darth had the man by the door on the floor and violently shook him by his arm, keeping him off balance. Gil said something in German, allowing Darth to release the man’s arm. Gil then punched the man in the head, knocking him unconscious with a single blow. Gil straightened and looked at Darth.
“You make an excellent partner,” he announced. “Now, we need to tie up these two. It sounds like we have a damsel in distress to save.”
†
Gil, along with his canine counterpart, slipped into the kitchen only a few minutes later. He suddenly stopped to see that the kitchen was alive with activity. There were caterers in white chef jackets and wait staff in black jackets rushing in every direction attempting to arrange everything for the party. Gil stopped one of the female caterers and offered a tiny, embarrassed smile.
“I seem to have misplaced my jacket,” he announced. “I laid it down, and now it’s gone.”
“Someone left one on the chair by the table,” she announced and indicated the kitchen table.
“That must be it,” he replied cheerfully while smiling sweetly. “Thanks.”
She returned the smile while admiring his broad shoulders and athletic build.
“Anytime,” the female caterer replied.
Gil appeared flattered by the way she gave him a quick once over. He then hurried to the table, grabbed the discarded jacket, and slipped into. He picked up an empty silver tray. Guests were already starting to arrive and flooded the backyard set up for an extravagant, garden party. Gil carried his tray and headed into the hallway. He approached the foyer then stopped when he saw Sal on the stairs. Sal was staring at the front door with a transfixed look and then hurried down the steps to greet his guest. Pinto stood inside the doorway, dressed casually elegant for the garden party. She attempted a smile as Sal approached her. He appeared awkward a moment while seemingly deciding if hugging her would be appropriate. He opted to hold his arms open. Pinto smiled gently and allowed him to embrace her. He pulled back and secretly wiped the tear from his eye.
“I didn’t think you were coming,” Sal said softly with a quiver in his voice.
“I had a change of heart,” she announced while appearing stiff and awkward. “I felt as if I needed to be here.”
“Let’s go to the study,” he announced, “so we can have some privacy.”
They headed in the opposite direction. Once they were gone, Gil slipped through the foyer and headed up the stairs with Darth on his heels.
†
The black SUV pulled up alongside a white catering van as well as a black sedan in a vacant lot. Holden casually leaned against the van and watched as the five men piled out of the SUV and approached him. Ross eyed the white van with a caterer’s logo on the side.
“What’s with the van?”
“I was able to commandeer a van from the catering company serving Romano’s party today,” Holden announced. “This should be your ticket onto Romano’s estate.”
“I’m guessing you weren’t able to stop them at the airport,” Ross remarked.
“They must have landed at an abandoned airfield,” Holden announced. “We couldn’t cover all of them, but my men have confirmed that a woman matching Mac’s description entered Romano’s estate. Without proof that she had abducted anyone, I couldn’t obtain a search warrant. I need proof.”
“No, you need us to go in there and rescue your witness,” Kirk remarked.
“Well, you were the ones who lost her in the first place,” Holden snarled.
“We’ll get her back,” Ross assured him.
“There’s more,” Holden announced. “Romano’s right hand man, Finn, has been casing the office building.”
“Casing?” Monroe suddenly asked. “Why would he be casing a building he has unrestricted access to?”
“That’s a good question,” Holden replied. “I’m guessing he’s waiting for someone. My men reported his car was last seen entering the parking garage, so I’m guessing whatever he was waiting for has arrived.”
“So Lee could be at the office building or at the mansion,” Ross remarked.
“Exactly,” Holden replied. “I have a few men ready and waiting for my command at both locations, but I need proof before we storm either building.”
“You don’t need proof,” Zack replied casually. “All you need is reports of gunfire, and you’re golden.”
“Yeah, well, let’s call that ‘plan B’.”
Zack grinned. “I like ‘plan B’.”
Ross turned toward his men. “I want Zack and Monroe in the catering van at the mansion. Dress appropriately and try to blend in. There will be a lot of party guests.” He glared at Zack. “This isn’t a clean sweep. If there’s any gunplay, you’d better be sure of your target.” He then looked at Kirk and motioned for him to follow. “Kirk, you’re with me at the o
ffice building.”
Bogart tensed and stared at Ross. “What about me?”
“You’re with Holden,” Ross replied.
Holden and Bogart began to protest simultaneously.
“There’s no way in hell--” Holden bellowed.
“I can make this right,” Bogart insisted. “Let me prove I can do this.”
Ross groaned softly then motioned him with Zack and Monroe. “Don’t make me regret including you.”
Chapter Thirty-one
The white catering van pulled up to the closed front gate of Romano’s mansion. A heavyset security guard immediately approached the van. With a skeptical look on his face and a quick once over of the van, the security guard eyed Monroe sitting behind the wheel. He consulted his clipboard then looked back at the driver and raised a clever brow.
“A little late, aren’t you?” the guard asked in a gruff tone while eyeing Monroe and Bogart’s chef jackets.
“There was some confusion with the dessert,” Monroe announced. “But we have it straightened out now.”
“I’ll have to see your identification badges,” the guard remarked without looking away from Monroe or Bogart in the passenger seat. He was a stern man and wasn’t about to back down.
Monroe patted down his jacket then made a face, expressing his surprise. He groaned softly and looked at the guard.
“I left it inside,” Monroe announced. “I can get it and bring it back out to you--”
“No,” the guard informed him. “I’ll call up to the kitchen and have one of the other caterers vouch for you.”
The guard was about to turn away from the window when Bogart extended a small platter of puffy pastries. He grinned boyishly.
“Creampuff?”
The guard looked at the small creampuffs on the tray and attempted to hide his smile as he took one.
“Well, maybe one,” the guard announced then bit into the pastry. He smiled his approval. “Delicious.”
Witness Protection 2: The Return of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Page 18
