Silver Shield Security Box Set

by Dee Bridgnorth

  Wayne nodded once.

  “Do you know the exact location of your daughter, Mr. Carter?” Rusty asked

  “I have reason to believe that she’s still within the New York area,” Wayne said.

  “So New York’s our first point of call. What’s our course of action?” Ace asked.

  “We leave for New York tonight,” she said. “Unfortunately, we can’t take the private jet because they’ll be watching.” It was one she shared ownership with her husband and they used it a lot for their missions, so they could move with their firearms.

  “I have a charter waiting on an airfield out of town,” Wayne said.

  All eyes swung to him. “We’ll need to get there without being seen,” Tamika noted.

  “Which is easier said than done,” Emily said with a sigh. She was sure that whoever was after Wayne was watching the house. Hell, they’d all but told her that they knew he was there.

  “Ah, guys…”

  They turned to the screen at the worry in Rusty’s voice.

  “What’s up, Russ?”

  “I’m getting a feed on one of the cameras…I’ll put it on now.”

  The screen changed and Emily recognized the street in front of the mansion. But it was like she’d never seen it before. About half a dozen vehicles had driven up. As they watched, several armed men spilled out of the vehicles. They walked to the gate. Those on security duty never even had a chance. As soon as they stepped forward, the men fired shots and they all watched in silence as the men were gunned down.

  “Everyone, we need to get out of here. Now!” she said suddenly, snapping out of her shock. “Close off all the exits and engage the self-defense system. Grab the weapons you’ll need and meet me at Terminal Three.” She spoke rapidly, with urgency. They had finally run out of time.

  Everyone got to action. Emily placed a quick call to her mother.

  “Mom, don’t come back home, we’re under siege.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, we’re fine, but we’ve got to evacuate ASAP. Tamika will come for you and Myles. She’s moving you to a safe house.”

  She ended the call and hurried to the armory. She picked up two extra firearms and several rounds of ammunition then headed for the stairs that led to the basement. As she walked, she spoke into the communication device that all Silver Shield operators had on their phones.

  “Rusty, can you tell me what’s going on now?”

  “They’ve spread around the house. They are not doing much, just waiting it seems.”

  “Okay, thanks.” She wondered what they were waiting for. Just then she caught sight of Wayne standing by the steps. “Wayne? Did you get the firearms you needed?”

  “I have mine,” he said shortly. “I was making sure you made it to the exit.”

  She did not need him waiting for her like that. She could take damn care of herself. She’d been doing so for the last several years, and even though she knew she did not have the time, she opened her mouth to tell him just that when her cell phone began to ring. It was an unknown number. She decided to answer it.

  “Yes?” she barked into the phone.

  “I’m sure you already know that we have you surrounded, Sergeant. We make this easy for you. Give us Carter and we’ll let you and your men live.”

  Emily looked up and found Wayne watching her. She recognized the voice, it was Peng Ho from the park. At that moment, she wanted nothing better than to hand him over, but two things stopped her. First, she would not be able to face her daughter if she did that to the girl’s father, and second, there was no way those bastards were letting anyone walk out alive. Not if they had anything to say about it. So she laughed softly into the phone.

  “You must believe you’re dealing with a rookie. Be sure to look over your shoulder, Peng Ho, because I’m coming after you.”

  She ended the call and hurried walked down the steps that led don to the basement, into an underground tunnel, which they referred to as Terminal Three.

  The others were waiting for her there. She looked at Tamika and knew that she could not let her go into such a dangerous situation. The woman was four months pregnant, even if she was not yet showing.

  “I have a different assignment for you, Tamika.” The other woman’s face immediately went expressionless and Emily knew she was not going to like what she had to say. “I want you to fetch mom and Myles and make sure they get to one of the safe houses. I need you to keep them safe.”

  Tamika’s lips thinned. She knew it was a soft assignment and she hated it. Well, tough. Emily made the calls around here and this was one she was not backing down from. Tamika met her gaze and held it. Then to Emily’s surprise, she just nodded.

  Just then they heard a loud explosion as the ground seemed to shake beneath them. Emily recognized the sound. They had thrown sticks of dynamite, trying to gain access into the house.

  “Do we have anything to worry about?” Wayne asked, obviously recognizing the sound as well.

  Emily shook her head, “The house is blast fortified.” It was one of the upgrades she’d made to the building when she made it the center of their operations. That, and bulletproof door and windows. She was not worried they could get in, but it was probably best not to wait around. She lifted two fingers and pointed to the dark tunnel ahead, “Okay, let’s move, people!”

  They jogged a couple of miles and came out at the garage of another house, several streets away. They all piled into one of the Range Rovers, kept for such emergencies, while Tamika took the Ford Focus that was parked right next to another SUV.

  As they pulled out into the darkness, Emily took a deep breath and let the tension in her ease a little. This was probably the most dangerous mission she was going on, post military, and she was the one calling the shots. She thought of the many things that could go wrong then squared her shoulders. She just had to make sure that absolutely nothing went wrong.

  **

  Friday, 2:15 a.m., New York

  As the small plane circled the air in preparation for landing, Emily glanced at her co-passengers. Across from her, Ace had his ears plugged with earphones, part of his way of getting psyched for the mission ahead. Seated beside her, busy on a device she’d never seen before, was Wayne. She looked away, not willing to deal with the different emotions that threatened to overtake her whenever she glanced at him.

  Before now, if anyone had asked Emily if she were capable of hate, she would have said maybe. As a human being with different ranges of feelings and emotions, she supposed she could hate, if given enough incentive. Only, she’d never had a reason to hate anyone before. Not even when enemy forces had dropped a bomb on her teammates, killing most of them. She’d been pained, angry… hell, she’d raged for years, unable to find any meaningful reason for their death. But she had not given in to hate, unwilling to let bitterness take over her life. Not now though.

  She rested her head against the back of the seat and closed her eyes as she allowed the distasteful gall of bitterness sweep through her being. She embraced the hatred like a cloak and allowed it to wrap its cold, soul-sucking fingers around her. She knew it would probably destroy her if she did not gain command of it, but at that moment, she did not care. At that moment, she wanted nothing better than to see the man she’d been married to drop dead at her feet. Except, he held the key to getting her daughter back. So she needed him. But damn, that hurt like hell.

  Her phone vibrated. She dug it out of her pocket and turned it on to see a message from the Silver Shield app that Rusty had developed several years ago. It allowed them to communicate with each other while in the field and know the location of every agent. Recently, he had upgraded it to include face recognition, and the phone would not function for anyone except its designated owner.

  Scrolling down, she saw that Tamika had reached the safe house with her charges.

  No sign of being followed, she added.

  Great. Any updates, Ryan? Emily typed.

  Just befo
re they drove up to different locations, Rusty had reported that he thought their house was being watched. So Emily had sent Ryan there to get him and his girlfriend, Hope, to a different safe house.

  Crossed state lines. Should be in Lafayette in ten. Lost the tail in Chicago.

  The reply had come from Rusty. They must have taken a detour in order to shake off whoever was following them. Emily felt a sense of relief knowing that everyone else was safe.

  Just then the pilot announced that they were about to land. They needed to put on their seat belts for safety.

  Landing NYC. Emily typed before putting the phone away.

  As the wheels of the plane touched the ground, she felt her heartbeat settle into a steady rhythm. She had no idea where to begin. Starting a mission without adequate intelligence was almost like a suicide move. She had no intention of ending her life before she got a chance to be reunited with her daughter. She fully intended to make it through this mission.

  “Where is this?” she said without looking at the man beside her.

  “New York,” he replied without looking up from his phone.

  Emily fought the urge to slap him. “This landing strip, who does it belong to?”

  He looked up then, “Asher Banks.”

  “Asher Banks?” She knew of him, even though they’d never met. He ran one of the most successful charter businesses in the country.

  “We go a long way,” was all he said.

  How long a way did they go? Why had she not heard of him in all the time they’d been married? Emily bit back the questions that were threatening to spill out of her mouth.

  “I hope like hell you have intelligence for us on ground,” she said instead.

  “We do.”

  We? What did he mean by we? She opened her mouth to ask, but he was already on his feet. He strapped on the rucksack he had and walked towards the exit that was already sliding open. Emily grabbed her stuff and strode after him. At the exit, he stepped back for her to disembark first. She knew he’d wanted to be the first to step out, but she was the team lead here and it soothed some of the hurt to know that he acknowledged that. It was not usually a huge deal, but the man had a way of taking over and it was something she was not going to tolerate.

  With the two men walking behind her, Emily’s feet hit the tarmac. Suddenly, she went on alert. Glancing around her, she saw the firearms pointing at them and froze, her hands automatically going up in the air.

  Chapter Four

  Wayne was the last person off the craft. He squinted as a floodlight was suddenly turned on. They were bathed in the light and could not see who or what was behind it. He took in the situation with a single glance and raised his hands in the air, just like the others were doing. For one brief moment, he wondered what had happened to his friend. Asher was supposed to have met them at the airfield.

  “What is going on here?” Emily asked.

  He heard the confidence in her voice. They were clearly at a disadvantage. She had no idea who had apprehended them or how they were going to evade their captors, if that was what they were. Yet she was confident. He had always admired Emily’s complete belief in herself and her abilities.

  “State your name and your purpose for being here,” a voice said in a clipped New York accent that Wayne recognized.

  He relaxed, even though he did not bring down his hands. This was a simple misunderstanding, which he could clear up with a few words.

  “Seriously, do we—?”

  “Shut up, Carter,” Emily snapped.

  Wayne felt a flash of irritation then shrugged it off. If she wanted to do this by herself, he was going to let her. At least for now.

  “As you wish,” he murmured.

  “I’m Emily Silver and we were just using your landing field temporarily. Is that illegal?”

  “It depends on what the cargo is,” the voice said. “I’m afraid you will have to disarm, Sergeant Silver.”

  It was said in a polite voice, but it was obviously an order. Very slowly, Emily and Ace took out the firearms in their shoulder holsters and dropped them on the ground.

  “Your rucksacks.”

  Emily paused for a brief second, then shrugged off the rucksack and dropped it a couple of feet away from where they stood.

  “It is clear you know who I am. May I ask who the hell you are?” Emily said, raising her hands up in the air a second time.

  Wayne had to admit, he was damn proud of this woman. There she was, without her weapons, yet she remained unfazed. He knew her mind was probably working rapidly, thinking of a way to get them all out unharmed. And he was convinced she could do it too. Under normal circumstances. This was not a normal circumstance.

  “Come with us, Sarge.”

  Emily and Ace exchanged glances. Wayne wanted to warn them not to do anything stupid, but he held his peace as Emily faced their captors and nodded. They were led a short distance where two jeeps were parked. They still had lights focused on them so that they could not see just who had abducted them. But Wayne had his suspicions.

  “He’s coming with us,” the person who had to be the leader said.

  “Who?” Emily asked.

  “Carter here.”

  “Negative.”

  “Sergeant, you are not exactly in a position to dictate anything here.”

  “I don’t give a damn about positions. We’ve come with you peacefully, but don’t for one minute underestimate us. You wanna take us, fine. Take us all. He stays with us.”

  She was so fierce and determined to protect him at all cost, even though he did not need protection right at that moment. But Emily did not know that. She was committed to keeping him safe no matter what. As he stood there, watching her stand off to their unknown captors, Wayne knew with every fiber of his being that he should never have let her go. Okay, so that was not exactly true. He had known from the very first day he met this woman that he was never going to let her go. And even though he had eventually, he’d never been able to get over her. Not like he’d tried. There were no two women like Emily Silver. She was one of a kind and if he could not be with her, he did not want to be with anyone else.

  As the depth of emotion rocked him, he took a deep breath for balance and let it out slowly. She hated him. He knew that. Yet she was fighting to keep him safe and he knew it was not just because she believed he was the only link she had to their missing daughter. Even with that off the table, Emily would do all in her power to keep him safe because she was one of those people. A protector.

  “I prefer to stay with them,” he said quietly.

  There was a brief silence then, “As you wish, Carter.”

  As they got into the jeep, Emily sent him a questioning glance, which he ignored. He needed to check in with his contact at Homeland Defense. He had no idea if his contact was still there. He’d been trying to reach her for days without success. He pulled out his phone and began to enter the number from memory.

  “Put your phone away.”

  Wayne sighed and did as he was told. He glanced at Emily. She was sitting right beside him, but she might as well have been in a separate vehicle for all the attention she gave him, which was none. He could feel the animosity rolling off her in waves and could not really blame her, even though it would have been nice if she’d trusted him. He did not think she would ever be able to trust him and by the time this mission was over, what little trust she had for him would be all gone. Finito.

  He rested his head against the seat and closed his eyes. Not for the first time, he wished that he’d never gone into artificial intelligence and robotics, or that he had stuck with simple every-day gadgets. But he had always been fascinated with weapons, and it was that fascination that had led him to where he was today. There was no use regretting anything, he’d had a good run. He didn’t really care if he made it out alive one way or another. He just needed for his girls to be okay.

  **

  Emily sat and tried her best to relax. But it was hard to do so, espec
ially when she had no idea just where they were being taken or by whom. The windows were darkened so it was impossible to see outside. She had no idea where they were. Every muscle in her body was taut with tension. But that was probably more from sitting so close to the man beside her. Every nerve in her body was super aware of him. She told herself that it was because she despised him so much. Yep. That was the reason.

  She glanced around them. Ace was behind them with one of their captors. There was one seated on her other side and two up front. Even if she made a move now, she was not absolutely sure that it would not jeopardize Wayne’s safety. So she decided to be a little patient. However, she was going to have to relax if she wanted to get them out of this in one piece. So she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She repeated it a few more times until she felt her body begin to relax.

  She needed to take stock of the situation and the best way was to catalogue what she knew. So she closed her eyes and began a list. She knew they were in New York and that there were several people who were after Wayne. She had no idea who had captured them, but their captor had an American accent.

  The last one was what confused her. She knew their captors were not Chinese, Russian or any of the foreign nationals. At least, she didn’t think they were as they did not have the accents. But she also knew that meant nothing. They could be bounty hunters who would turn them in for a reward. Or they might also want to get their hands on the secret weapon either for their own use or to sell on the black market. Either way, they were at risk from their captors, and she needed to find a way to get them out unharmed.

  She was jolted out of her thoughts when the van came to a sudden stop. From the windshield, she saw that they’d come to a massive gate manned by several armed men. They saluted and then moved to open the gates for both vehicles.

  They were hustled out of the van and into a building. From what she could see, they were in some sort of residential building. It looked like someone’s expensive home. The people walking them in were different from those who had taken them hostage at the airfield. It seemed they had changed guards.