“Baby Sparrow found a viper’s nest.” It wasn’t the message Jessie had asked for him to communicate to her parents, but Ehlinger had made a decision that she wasn’t willing to make. It was time for her parents to come home. They needed to know she was in over her head. The timing was right, and they were closer to where she was than his team was.
“Copy.”
Ehlinger rattled off the coordinates. Hank Carpenter said they would be there by nightfall and disconnected the call, but not until after Ehlinger gave him contact information for the team leader he was sending to help Jessie. A man he would trust to watch his own back.
Cole was impressed with the amount of work Harrison had gotten done while they were gone. Then again, they were gone a lot longer than initially planned. Still, he had managed to set up a security system in the house, as well as setting up a perimeter around the property that would alert them if someone got too close to the house. Not to mention he’d made lunch for them all and not your run-of-the-mill kind of lunch either. The man was a machine. Cole had made the right choice by bringing him on as a partner. He finished giving Cole a rundown of all he’d done while they were gone and then turned to look at him.
“Pax called while you were—” Black cleared his throat and looked at Coop, clearly uncomfortable. The blush that crossed his face seriously contradicted the -six-foot-six-inch tattooed muscular man’s image. “Um, busy.”
Cole wasn’t going to feel bad about what he’d been doing while he was busy, and he damn well wouldn’t be embarrassed.
“Dude, I get that you needed to let off some steam, but next time let us know and we'll exit the house before it all starts,” Coop said. “I mean, I don’t need to hear my brother getting it on.”
All right, so that made Cole feel slightly embarrassed for Jessie.
“Well, boys, did you stay inside when the show started or did you go outside?” Jessie’s husky and unashamed voice asked from behind him. She leveled a look at both men until they looked at the ground.
“Um, we went outside,” Black said, while Coop nodded his head in agreement.
“I don’t really need to hear anyone in a private moment like that. We went out and checked on Royal Flush and King.”
“How are they?” she asked.
“Perfectly fine. Not a scorched hair on them, thanks to you.”
“And Suzie Q?”
“She’s still doing fine. Running around outside. The vet stopped out about the same time the fire inspector was here—it was arson, by the way—and gave her a clean bill of health.”
“I’m happy to hear that the filly is doing well. Not so happy to hear about the fire being arson, but I’m also not surprised.” She sighed and brushed past Cole, her fingers lightly grazed the back of his hand, and he let go of the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding since he first heard her voice. How had he fallen so hard for her in such a short time? The mere touch of her sent his pulse racing.
“Black was just showing me the system he set up while we were gone.” He waited patiently while the rundown was given to Jessie as well.
“This is—impressive. I, wow, I can’t believe you did this all in such a short time.” She was rewarded with a shy—and rare—smile from Black. Since Cole had met him, he could count on one hand the number of times the man had smiled. The undercover job had done a number on him, but he suspected the fact that the man was in love and too stupid to do anything about it was more the reason behind his lack of smiles.
“You were saying that Pax called?” Cole asked, suddenly remembering that the other man had mentioned talking to him.
“Yeah, he just wanted to say that he lost John Ryan.”
“Wait, what?” Jessie asked, suddenly on full alert, as was Cole.
“Cole asked me to track him. It was tricky, but we were able to follow him through several means until about an hour ago.”
“Which could mean any number of things,” Coop said.
“It could, but I think it probably has a lot to do with me,” Jessie replied, deep in thought. “What was his last transaction?”
“He’d been out of the country, but he chartered a private jet to get him back into the states,” Black answered.
“What’s the flight plan he filed?” But Cole knew the answer before it was confirmed. Cole felt like he was going to lose it. That son of a bitch was on his way here. What Cole wasn’t expecting was Jessie’s reaction to the news.
“Good.” All three men whipped their heads toward her and stared.
“Tell me exactly why that is a good thing?” Coop asked, and for the first time Cole could detect unease in his voice.
“Because I would hate for the FBI to show up for no reason.”
“Okay, you lost me,” Cole admitted. “Last I heard, you were off grid and weren’t in touch with the FBI.”
“Change of plans. I figured some things out earlier and realized I was missing a piece of the puzzle. Namely the fact that my SAC was or is good friends with my parents, I called him, and we came up with a plan. Now that I know Halverson is the traitor, I felt pretty confident that I could trust Ehlinger, and when I thought about it, it suddenly all made sense.”
“Are you sure about that?” Black asked the question that was ripping through Cole’s head.
“Well, I know SAC Ehlinger can be trusted. I should have trusted him sooner. I just hadn’t been sure if he was a safe avenue. I found out that he planted the information in that folder to see if Halverson could be trusted.”
“He wanted to see what he would do with the information, but I guarantee he didn’t realize it would put you in jeopardy,” Cole said.
“Right, the regret was genuine when I talked to him. Anyway, he’s calling in the cavalry. A team is being pulled together as we speak. One that he trusts. Initially, he was going to send the nearest agents, but he doesn’t know them. He wants people he trusts; they’re on the next helicopter our way.”
“Hopefully, they get here before El Diablo and his goons,” Coop said.
“Gotta admit, I’m hoping the same thing. The numbers would help,” Black said.
“If they can be trusted,” Cole reminded them.
“They can,” Jessie responded confidently. “My instincts told me to call him and they haven’t let me down yet.”
“I can respect that.” The problem was Cole hadn’t trusted his instincts in a while. Maybe that accounted for why he was being overly cautious. Jessie knew who she could trust and who she couldn’t, and he didn’t know anyone in her circuit, so it was making him antsy and suspicious. “So, Black was telling me he formulated some sort of plan of action for when the shit hits the fan. How about we see if it’ll work well with what you came up with?”
As Cole listened to what the other man had come up with, he started to feel the tension ease slightly. The man was a professional and had thought of everything. Now it was just a matter of waiting.
Waiting was exactly what they did. They took turns through the night being the lookout until morning came and went and then night came again. The FBI team had shown up looking like lawn care employees—in case they were being watched, they didn’t want to tip their hand that they had extra help. They went over the plan and waited some more.
“What the hell are they waiting for?” Jessie asked as she continued to pace from window to window.
“All I know is they better make a move soon; we’re running low on coffee,” Coop said, trying to make a joke and managing to get a small smile from Jessie. But she was on the job and not in the mood. The smile was out of pure politeness. Nothing else.
That morning she checked in with SAC Ehlinger and he’d told her that he’d gotten the message to her parents. After she had talked to Ehlinger they had decided it would be in their best interest to include local law enforcement. He reached out to them on her behalf as they continued to formulate their plan. By midafternoon, they were all in place and still waiting. The team was posted around the perimeter and would sta
y out of sight, but they knew where they were in case any of them tripped the security system alarms. Maybe El Diablo hadn’t fallen for their ruse with the lawn care company and had tucked tail and run, but she doubted it. Jessie figured he was biding his time until nightfall. As it turned out, she was right; it was midnight when the first alarm was tripped.
21
As soon as the alarm sounded, all four of the people in the house jumped to attention. They had argued with Coop all day about how he should stand down and let them deal with it, but it was to no avail. He wasn’t going to sit idly by while they took on the drug cartel. Jessie admired him for his stance, so she gave him a job to do that wouldn’t require him to shoot a gun. If it wasn’t for the fact she didn’t know what was coming at them, she would have forced all three men to leave. Of course, she knew there was no way she could force any of those men to do something they didn’t want to do, but she would have tried. They didn’t have a large enough team to leave anyone in the house; the team was already spread thin in covering the property. They hoped to take them down before they got to the house, but if that wasn’t possible, they were going to herd them toward there. The men in the house were supposed to be there in case the latter option happened, and the drug cartel got the upper hand. They needed the numbers if that scenario came about, even if it was against protocol.
“We have an alarm tripped in the northeast sector.”
Jessie looked at the video feed around the property and saw nothing. The chill that ran across and through her was profound and deep. She radioed team one, the team in the northeast sector, to tell them the alarm went off. When the radio stayed silent, she could only hope they were all right. Then the second alarm went off. This time in the northwest corner, followed in quick succession by the two south quadrants. She radioed the other teams and was met with radio silence from them as well. She didn’t like it, but they had agreed that the team would only break radio silence once they got close to the house or if something went wrong. This was it, the moment they were waiting for. El Diablo was making his move, and as narcissistic as she knew he was, she believed he would lead the charge.
“I don’t like the radio silence. I want an update,” Cole said, and he wasn’t the only one, but they didn’t want the team to give up their position by simply contacting them.
“I know, but the property is too large, and we don’t know where they’re coming from—they have the cover of nightfall. But as quiet as it is out there, it would sound like someone shouting if they even whispered, movement alone is going to give away their position.”
“You’re right, but I still don’t like it,” Cole said.
“You don’t have to.” She hated that she sounded so brusque.
Black had brought full tactical gear for all of them from Wisconsin and Jessie was suited up in full body armor that fit surprisingly well, her body thrumming with anticipation. She wanted this done and over with. Let the chips fall where they may, as long as they came out on the winning end—and she fully intended for that to be the case.
“A sensor was just tripped here and here.” Black pointed to the hastily drawn map of the property where he’d marked where the sensors had been placed.
The man should be in the FBI; he was an incredible asset. Cole had told her he used to be a police officer, but he’d resigned. She would like to hear the story behind his resignation. Not today though, but she knew whatever it was, it wasn’t anything he’d done that made him walk away. She suspected he’d just had enough.
“They’re getting close, time to get to our positions,” Jessie said.
While they had all worked on the plan together, they’d decided one person should lead when the shit hit the fan. Jessie joked they had picked her because she was the only girl, but she knew it was out of respect, because this was her operation, and it had been for months.
Cole took up position in the living room, and Black was to go on the roof to act as sniper—rumor was he was a damn fine shot. She wondered if he was as good as her—maybe someday she would find out. Coop was to maintain the cameras and sensors, for now, to let them know where everyone was on the property. Hopefully, it would keep him out of the firefight for the duration. The plan to keep him out of harm’s way was transparent at best, but she couldn’t have a civilian get shot, and she thought that he was secretly happy. He was tough and willing to fight with them, but he wasn’t trained. At least Harrison, Black, and Cole Davenport were, and they were also licensed to carry a gun.
They all had ear pieces, and she made sure her earpiece was in place as she went to the second floor. There was a balcony that she was setting up on, all sides of the house were covered. Cole in the front, Jessie in the back and with Harrison on the roof monitoring all angles, it gave them decent coverage. She hoped. It all came down to the friendlies in the woods pushing the enemy toward them. If they were able to pull off their end of the deal, the drug cartel would hopefully be a bunch of sitting ducks.
“Sensor triggered just outside the tree line. Another just went off on the south side. I think the four groups merged into two groups,” Coop’s voice came through the earpiece.
“Copy,” all three responded.
“I can see movement by the tree line,” Black said.
“Stand down until they get closer. We need to make sure who they are, and we need to make sure our shots count,” Jessie said into the comm.
“Ten-four.”
“Movement near the front of the house,” Cole added to the conversation.
“Hold your position as well.” She still didn’t have a visual, even with the NVGs she couldn’t see them. Where were they?
“We’re closing in on the main property from the south,” the voice of the south team leader came through at the same time she heard gunfire. She blinked hard, and when she opened her eyes, she saw them. Shit, there were a half dozen approaching fast.
“I see them, I count six in the back.”
“I confirm count,” Black said.
“Can you get a visual on the east and west sides?” she asked him.
“Shifting position.” A few seconds passed; traversing the top of the roof was no easy task. The pitch wasn’t exactly steep, but he still had to maneuver and really could only be effective in one solid direction. “I don’t see anything on the east or west side.”
Not seeing them doesn’t mean they aren’t there. One thing was for sure. El Diablo didn’t come prepared to lose. He was ready to play…and win.
“I see another six up front. Approaching fast, all heavily armed,” Cole reported in.
“Same here,” Black said quietly. She knew he was getting into position, waiting for her to make the call.
“We’re behind them; they haven’t seen us yet.” The north team leader came through loud and clear.
“Confirming all six are not friendlies?” Jessie asked.
“Confirmed. We’re taking up position by the trees.”
They could easily start picking off the drug guys, but without provocation, it would be hard to defend in court. They had the advantage with a sniper on the roof, but they were waiting to be fired on. As heavily armed as the group approaching was, it wasn’t like they were there to shake hands, but she still wanted them to instigate the attack. She had a pretty good vantage point on the balcony and was well concealed. Cole was set up to shoot from the window in the front and was at a disadvantage, but he refused to go on the balcony. In the end, they had drawn freaking straws. Black had brought more than just long-range rifles for them to use. They had a bona fide arsenal; should the house be breached, the El Diablo crew would be unpleasantly surprised.
A round of gunfire aimed at the house was all she needed to make the call.
“Take them out.” The time for waiting was over. She watched through her scope as the men approached; they were now easily within an average marksman shooter’s range. And none of the people in the house were average.
She got a bead on one on the far left, shot and
took him out as Black took out the one on the right. In short order, the line of men was down. This was too easy. She no sooner had thought the words when the rapid gunfire started spraying the house on the east side of the house. What the hell? In the distance, she could make out light in the woods, too far away as more noises sounded by the house. Where were they coming from and what was making the house shake?
“They’re using high capacity rifle on the house,” Coop said. He was on the east side of the house, and his voice was strained.
“Coop, get your ass out of the line of fire,” Jessie shouted into the comm. With a quick glance through the scope to confirm no one else was coming on that side, she realized she had to make a quick decision. The gunfire at the front of the house was steady, and she could hear Cole cursing under his breath.
“There are too many,” he said between expletives. “They just keep coming.”
“We’re under heavy gunfire.” It sounded like the team leader from the west.
“Us too.” That was definitely the south team leader.
Jessie abandoned her position; she had no choice. No one was on her side of the house. All of the gunfire was coming from the north and east sides. She’d been on the south side, and the agents in the woods were currently taking care of them. It sounded like an army was coming through the front door. Running in a low crouch, she flew down the stairs and skidded into the living room, where she found Cole with his back to the wall just before he crossed himself and went back to the window to let go another volley of gunfire. It wasn’t enough. She army crawled to the window next to him and let loose with a barrage of bullets.
“You shouldn’t have left your post,” he grunted, “but I’m glad you did.”
He continued to fire until he was out of ammo. Throwing the rifle to the side, he grabbed a grenade, pulled the pin, and threw it into the crowd of men. Some of the artillery they had was impressive. She saw a grenade launcher in the hands of one psycho, put him in her crosshairs and took him out, but they weren’t taking them out fast enough. Some were dropping, presumably from Black on the roof.
Missing the Stars: Chandler County Page 18
