Hard Case V: Blood and Fear (A John Harding Novel Book 5) (29 page)

“We have Maria, Lora, Dannie, and Al in lockdown. If you know where Kornev is, I’m going to settle accounts with him first tonight. We can let Alexi work the port security for the time being while we find Christova.” Denny had it right. We may as well buy the island in the middle of nowhere right now, if we keep allowing shots at our home base.

“Gus, walk our disoriented trio to holding, please,” Lynn said. “Use a cattle prod if you have to, but get them out of here.”

Gus smiled, took out his stun gun, and fired off an arc. “On your feet ladies. I will then unclip your feet. Do anything other than walk where I tell you, and I’ll give you a hummer like you never had before.”

They couldn’t hear real well yet, but our guests were coherent enough to follow orders. I reached down, and yanked them to their feet, where Gus clipped the ankle plastic ties. “Shoot them in the head if they try anything, Gus.”

“Will do. I will be back in a few minutes. If not, we’re going to need more body bags.”

Gus herded them on their way while Lynn turned to us. She clutched Clint’s hand. “I’m done boys. I will not endanger you by acting like I’m running on a full tank. This seven months pregnant business only allows me one adventure a day. Drop me off at John’s house. I’ll collect Dannie and Maria, and head for home.”

I could tell Clint was surprised and worried. “Go with Lynn, Clint. Denny and I can handle Kornev. We’ll call in Casey and Lucas. They will have secured their homes by now, and are probably ready to eat nails waiting for a target.”

Lynn began to protest, but Clint grabbed her in a shoulder embrace, shaking his head. “Are you sure, John?”

“Very sure. You don’t look well, Lynn. We’ve been pushing the hell out of you with softball practices, terrorists, and last minute crap like today’s scrap. Have a glass of wine with Maria while Clint and Tonto watch the house.”

Lynn nodded, and Clint led her away without further comment.

“I’m not used to seeing Crue like that,” Denny said. “Usually, she’d cut me for trying to keep her out of an op. Maria’s been tired as hell lately too. C’mon. I’ll text Casey and Lucas on the way. I know where he’s at, but we’ll need a few more toys to take him out tonight.”

“Let’s get loaded. We’ll take Gus with us to drive. Those clowns in lockdown won’t be going anywhere.”

Gus was jogging toward us by that time. He heard part of what I said. His face lit up like he won the lottery. “I’m in! I don’t give a shit what we’re doing.”

“Come with us,” I motioned for him to follow us to our armory. “We’ll need you to get armor on. I know you’ve shot an MP5 before. That’s what we’re taking tonight. I’m glad I cleaned my M107 after the boat attack. Do we have a location where I can get a few shots off to clean around his building, Denny?”

“We do indeed, and it will need some cleaning around the outside before we hit it. I hate to say this, but we’ll have to hit hard after his guards are down. Are you sure you’re feeling well enough?”

“Very funny.” I take the first hit as usual on the way in. “That’ll be a scramble to reach the entrance after taking potshots at the guards. Gus? Can you shoot?”

“I shoot well, but I have never shot an M107 before. I’m sure I could cover you four against attack though.”

“That’s all we need. I have a Barrett QDL silencer on it, but it’s always best to space the shots if you can. I’ll have to use it in quick succession, so when I hand it over to you, wait as long as you can before firing. Otherwise, take the thing off and fire away. I’m hoping that won’t be necessary. Where’s his hideout at, Denny.”

Denny grinned while loading what he would need. “The Hayward hills, in a nice spot where all the vegetation is only now turning green between the house and the road. No one frequents the road unless they live on it. It’s about a hundred yards to the estate. Before you ask, yes it has a balcony, and there is a guard there.”

“So, you went recon on Yuri’s ass without telling the rest of us, huh?”

Denny shrugged. “I watched what happened after the fight is all, but I did get an eyeful, and pictures I haven’t had time to share. Our Christova didn’t show at the after fight wake, but a bunch of other notables did. A few were politicians with wives too stupid to filter their donor list. Laredo and I filed a handful of credible participants in shady dealings at the port Christova has now lost access to, except by permission from Alexi.”

“Let’s go rain on their parade.” I led the way out to the EMT vehicle we had in our fleet. We were going to stay big on this one. An emergency medical tech vehicle draws two seconds of attention, as people believe it’s there for an emergency call. We’d be there for an emergency call… just not the one of popular conception.”

* * *

Lynn drove home with Dannie and Maria in the backseat. The way Clint kept glancing at her while pretending he was paying attention to the road was beginning to ping Lynn’s radar. “Hey… man from nowhere, why the hell do you keep glancing at me as if I’m the last chicken McNugget on your dinner plate. I’m getting worried about you, Clint dog.”

Dannie giggled at first when Clint didn’t speak, but added her own perception to the mix. “I’m worried about you too, Lynn. You’ve been tired all the time lately, and you look even more pale than usual.”

Lynn stared at Dannie by way of the rearview mirror that had Dannie, cringing to her side of the backseat, clasping hands together, and staring straight into the back of Clint’s head. Lynn smiled. “Thank you for your input, ‘Eve of Destruction’. Is there anything else you’d like to add?”

“No… Mistress of the Unimaginable,” Dannie replied, using her minion’s card, because although she knew Lynn cared about her, she was also aware of what Lynn was capable of in an all too personal way. Like Maria, who had kept silent, she had been on the receiving end of Lynn’s interrogation techniques.

“Dannie’s right,” Maria broke the girlfriend code, and endangered her personal friend credentials built up over the months. “You look like hell, Lynn. I’m pregnant nearly as long as you, but I’m not beginning to resemble the ‘walking dead’. Have you been to the obstetrician lately?”

“We went to her appointment at the beginning of the last week,” Clint answered for her. “She said Lynn was doing fine, and liked the exercise she routinely does in addition to coaching softball.

“Maria and Dannie are right. I do look like hell. I’ve been popping the thousand prenatal vitamins they gave me, but I still don’t feel right. We’ll make another appointment. Maybe another ultrasound test would be a good idea.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Clint replied. “I figured if I mentioned it, you’d gut me like a trout.”

Clint’s remark lightened the mood. He checked his tablet while they approached the house. “Uh oh. We have company. All our motion sensor lights are on. Denny’s crew only finished repairing the EMP damage yesterday. They better not have another one of those damn prototypes or I’m going to be pissed. I hope they didn’t try to go in. We have security bars everywhere in addition to alarms, and door deadbolts that would stop any common burglar.”

“You’re worried about Tonto!” Dannie became suddenly energized, her hands gripping Clint’s seat. “I hope he’s okay. This is bad.”

Lynn and Clint started laughing at the same time.

“The only thing Clint’s worried about is guys as helpless as the ones we picked up stalking Lora actually breaking into our house,” Lynn said. “We’ll need to hire one of those crime scene cleaning teams.”

“You’ve seen Tonto in action with people around in an outside environment, Dannie,” Clint said. “If four guys like the mooks John adjusted today broke inside, we’ll have to clean Tonto, and head for a hotel. When he’s alone, he won’t bark, growl, or even pant. Tonto will leap, rip a throat out, and hide, waiting for the next opportunity. I texted Amara to get in the safe room. She texted back she’s inside, and Tonto is on alert by the door.”

“Jesus…” Maria mumbled. “He…he’s so cute though.”

“I have audible, and the alarms aren’t going off so maybe we’ll get there before we need to stay elsewhere at a hotel that takes bloody mouthed dogs,” Clint said, still checking his iPad. “Park a block away, babe, and I’ll go see what we need to do.”

“I can’t back you reliably, hon. We have Jafar in reserve. Maybe we should give him a call.” Lynn smiled at her mate with sweet helpfulness. Clint growled.

“Have I done something tonight to deserve being insulted? This is good. I turned off the security lights.” Clint exited the vehicle in a second with MP5 with silencer in hand.

“He doesn’t know how many men there are, Lynn,” Maria whispered as if trying to keep Clint from hearing.

“It wouldn’t matter, girlfriend. When Clint rigged an escape out of Mexico for me with Denny’s help, bringing John, Lucas, and Casey in on it, he had to do a side job for the DEA. Clint went inland, and wiped out an entire Cartel drug convoy by himself in the dark, carried one of the wounded guys a few miles, tortured his account numbers out of him, killed him, and made us and Laredo rich. I think he can handle a few burglars.”

“You two are like the demonic convergence,” Maria said, squeezing her friend’s shoulder. “I’m taking you to a specialist tomorrow.”

Lynn reached over and covered her friend’s hand. “No complaint from me there. I feel like shit. I admit it. I’m worried. Maybe something is wrong with the pregnancy. I’m not taking chances. I didn’t know how I’d feel about having a Clint Jr. Now, I can’t think of anything else. I’ll be ready tomorrow when…”

Someone banged on the driver’s window. Lynn turned slowly, as both Dannie and Maria let out startled yelps. She whispered an urgent toned order. “When I open this door girls, hit the floor.”

Lynn rolled down the driver’s window, smiling at the hooded and masked figure pointing what looked to be an Uzi at her head. “Hello, officer. Was I speeding?”

Lynn’s complete disregard for his threat startled the gun wielder, but only for a second. “Get the fuck out of the car, bitch!”

“Okay, Dexter, but give a girl some room. I’m seven months pregnant. I have to-”

“I will help, bitch!” The man did exactly what he should not have done. He let the strapped Uzi fall to his side on its strap, while opening the driver’s side door, grabbing Lynn by the hair, and yanking.

Lynn came with the gunman’s yank in a rush, eviscerating him from his groin to the top of his ribcage with her razor sharp butterfly knife, ripping upward while smiling into his mask, the knife parting flesh, clothing and belt. She stripped the Uzi away as he fell screaming to the road, clutching at his spilling entrails. The other hooded figure behind him had only enough time to try and point his weapon before the short burst from Lynn’s confiscated Uzi stitched across his head. Lynn turned with a deep breath as if sniffing lilacs in a garden, and fired a single round through the screamer’s head.

“I wonder who sent these cherries after me. It’s all fine, girls. Are you both okay? I didn’t mean to-” Lynn collapsed, the grainy blackness washing over her. “Shit…”

* * *

“Finally!” The hooded figure outside Clint and Lynn’s house entrance mumbled as the security lights went out. “T2, do you copy?”

“We copy. We have a suspect vehicle parking down the way. It may be just neighbors.”

“Don’t take chances. Jog down and have a look. Then return to position.”

“Understood.” The man receiving the orders shrugged at his companion. “We will be careful and check the car. I doubt they are anything but neighbors, but let us do it, and get back where the action will begin. I want these people who think Allah is a joke. We will teach them all, brother.”

The two jogged toward a onetime meeting with Lynn Montoya Dostiene, while their two cohorts stayed near the house entrance. The one who had ordered his two men to their death spoke in a hoarse whisper. “I do not hear the dog. Perhaps they took it with them.”

When his companion didn’t answer, he moved in a crouch to where the other man should have been. He was there, his throat slit from ear to ear. Sweat ran into his eyes under the mask. He whirled around, the Uzi he carried pointed in panicked manner in all directions. When he turned a second time, his labored breathing beginning to come in gasps, he felt his head pulled back. A blade pressed against his throat. Blood flowed warmly under his shirt. The man held his breath, hands releasing his grip on the Uzi to allow the weight to fall on the strap over his shoulder.

“Hello,” Clint said. “You didn’t call first. That’s bad manners.”

A man’s screams started then, followed by two short bursts of an Uzi. Clint, who had been in the process of taking a prisoner, instead slit the second throat of the night. He took the Uzi with him at a dead run to where he had left Lynn. He went past a man with little of his face left to another masked eviscerated man in a growing pool of blood. Maria and Dannie were kneeling next to an Uzi armed Lynn, groggily acknowledging her friends concerned pleas. She spotted Clint, resting her head against their Toyota Rav.

“Hey, Cowboy… look what I found. They sent a couple of… Snow Whites after me and the girls.”

Clint dived down to her side looking for gaping wounds, but there was only a little blood staining her pants. “Are you wounded, babe?”

“We have to get her to Alta Bates Summit on Hawthorne. It’s only a mile away, Clint,” Maria said. “I called ahead to have a pediatrician specialist there I have on call. She knows damn well she better get her ass over there to meet us. I’ll drive. You get her in the back.”