No Strings Attached: A Lexi Carmichael Mystery, Book Eight (21 page)

Chapter Forty-Five

Beau drove us a block away from the house on Upton Street, parking along the curb across from the house and down the street a bit. Before exiting the van, Hands handed out SEAL night-ops masks. They weren’t true masks, but they greatly reduced exposed white skin and made individual faces hard to distinguish. After a final communications check, Slash hopped out and slapped two magnetic cameras on the outside of the van so I could monitor street and pedestrian traffic. They headed for the house while I took position in front of my laptop in the rear of the van. I reviewed the cameras again, confirming the new exterior cameras were working, my eyes hopping back and forth between the views on my laptop, trying to keep track of everyone’s movements.

I gave my first report as they approached the yard and hunkered down near some bushes. “There are still three in the family room—Rock, one guy and the woman. Rock is alone on the couch. The other guy has remained in the armchair near the back sliding glass door. The woman is walking around the room and still talking on her cell.”

“Roger that,” Hands said.

“There are two men in the kitchen. One guy is sitting at the kitchen table now. He’s facing the opening into the kitchen from the living room and the back door to the kitchen. The other guy is doing something at the stove, probably cooking. His back is to the guy at the table. Both men appear to be wearing shoulder holsters, so I would presume they are armed. The kitchen back door is out as an entrance because of the guys in the kitchen and the sliding glass door entry is out, too.”

“Okay, team,” Hands said. “Given the location of the hostiles, looks like we’re going to have to stroll in through the front door.”

Oh, God, it was crazy that the front door offered the safest option, but there you had it. I swallowed hard.

“Should we knock or ring the bell?” Beau joked.

“Hilarious,” Hands said. “Hey, hotshot policeman, you got that lock pick set handy?”

“Yes, sir,” my brother answered. “Official law enforcement grade.”

“Good. Lexi, confirm the alarm system is off.”

“Confirmed.”

“Let’s move out, then,” Hands said.

I held my breath, waiting for them to appear on the front door security camera. Moments later they streaked across the lawn and crouched down by the front door. Thankfully the porch light was not on, which gave them the barest shred of cover.

I checked all the security cameras to confirm that no one had changed location. No one had.

I heard a small clink and assumed Beau had opened the lock pick kit. Hands and Beau started whispering about which would be the best tool to use when Slash reached up and turned the knob on the door.

It opened.

“First rule,” he whispered. “Check to see if the door is open.”

Hands swore under his breath as I checked the camera view in the foyer. The area was empty.

“Foyer is clear,” I said, but my heart took a dive. “I’ve lost the woman. Repeat. She is no longer in the family room or the kitchen.”

I checked all the other cameras, but she’d vanished. “She might be upstairs or in the bathroom. It’s hard to say.”

The front door remained ajar. They waited there exposed. The chance for discovery grew greater with every moment they hesitated.

“We’re going in,” Hands murmured. “React as needed. Whoever finds the woman, consider her a target of opportunity.”

I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but apparently everyone else did, because they slipped into the house without another word. They disappeared from my front door camera view, so I switched to the foyer view. Hands peeled off to the right, heading for the family room, while Slash and Beau went left, slipping into the dining room en route to the kitchen.

I temporarily lost sight of everyone. Concerned, I rechecked all the views. Rock and one man were still in the family room watching television. The two guys remained in the kitchen—one still at the table and the other at the stove.

“There’s still one guy at the kitchen table,” I murmured. “Beware. He has a clear view of both entrances into the kitchen.”

To my surprise both guys in the kitchen went on alert, as if they’d heard something in the backyard. The guy at the table stood.

“Uh-oh. The guys in the kitchen are on the move,” I warned.

Worried, I checked the back door camera, but saw nothing in the yard. When I popped back to the kitchen view, both men were peering out the back window. It presented Slash and Beau with a clean entry and clear shots at their backs.

“Go,” I ordered, but Slash and Beau were already in motion.

At that moment a scream came from the family room. My heart leaped to my throat as I switched over and saw the guy in the armchair was down and twitching. Hands was on one knee beside him, ripping off chunks of duct tape with surprising efficiency. Rock was untouched, although clearly terrified.

Screams now came from the kitchen. Both men were down there, as well, and Slash and Beau were working on subduing them with duct tape, but with considerably less effectiveness and a lot more swearing under their breath.

I examined the other cameras for the woman, but still nothing. She had to have heard the commotion. Where was she?

I kept my voice calm. “Still no visual on the woman. Remember she is armed. Take no chances.”

I caught a sudden glimpse of movement in one corner of the foyer camera, but when I pulled up the full view, no one was in sight. I was about to say something when I noticed Hands had disappeared from the family room. Now, I had no idea whether the movement was from Hands, the woman, or someone else in the house we didn’t know about.

I glanced back at the kitchen where Beau and Slash were talking quietly while wrapping the feet of the last man. Suddenly, at the bottom corner of the camera at the entrance between the dining room and the kitchen, I saw an arm extend with a gun.

“Gun!” I shouted, just as the arm with the gun disappeared from view.

Slash and Beau whirled around, paused and then stood up carefully, facing the door to the dining room. I couldn’t see what they could, but my imagination was filling in the blanks with the woman holding a gun on them and slowly squeezing the trigger, milking every amount of terror out of her victims.

Suddenly Hands stepped into the kitchen, dragging the woman by her collar. She was still twitching uncontrollably. He dropped her on the floor, nodded silently at the duct tape and disappeared again, presumably to make certain the rest of the house was clear.

Slash trussed her up as Beau stood guard. A minute later Hands returned.

He turned toward the security camera and gave me a thumbs-up with his gloved hand. “Mission accomplished.”

“Good, finish it off,” I said. My hands were still shaking. “Police have been notified. Their ETA is approximately two minutes.”

Hands went into the living room and cut Rock loose from the rope tethering him to the couch and his cuffs.

“You’re safe now,” I heard Hands say gruffly as Rock stood on shaky legs. “Just stay here. The police are on their way. Tell them these folks were holding you hostage and threatening your life. You were rescued by some mysterious people you don’t know, and who didn’t say anything.”

“How do I thank you? I don’t know your name.”

“No thanks necessary. Just make sure these guys spend a lot of time in jail.”

“Trust me. That won’t be a problem,” Rock said rubbing his arms.

“Get out of there, guys,” I warned. “You first, Hands. I don’t want you anywhere near this place when the police arrive. Beau, follow him out.”

Hands opened the sliding glass door and he and Beau slipped out, dashing across the backyard. Slash was about to follow when I gasped. A quick glance at the street view camera showed a car pulling into the driveway of the house. It stopped and the driver hopped out.

“Guys, we’ve got a problem,” I said as calmly as I could. “Jiang Shi is here.”

Chapter Forty-Six

Hands swore so loudly through my comm link, I winced. My thoughts raced. What should I do? Slash could take Rock with him, but that meant the people in the house who had kidnapped him would go free. On the other hand, if we left Rock behind, Shi might hurt him.

What should I do?

Slash hesitated at the sliding glass door. He, too, was clearly conflicted for the same reasons.

I made an executive decision. “Hands, get out of there. You, too, Beau. Proceed as planned. I repeat, do not divert from the plan. Slash, stand by.”

I focused on the outside camera view. Shi had exited the car and was headed toward the front door.

Shi inserted the key in the lock of the door. I had exactly one second to decide what to do. Whatever happened, this was on me.

To my great relief, the solution abruptly presented itself as a police siren suddenly sounded from just a few blocks away. Shi paused trying to get a sense of the direction when it became clear that the sirens were getting louder. A few moments later, a police car squealed into the driveway, its lights spotlighting Shi at the front door, his keys still in the lock.

“Police are here,” I said to Slash. “Go. Go. Go!”

Slash left, closing the sliding glass door behind him and disappearing from view. Rock yelled after him, clearly not recognizing Slash and thoroughly confused by the events going on around him.

At the front of the house, Shi turned in astonishment, blinking at the bright lights, as police jumped from the car shouting orders and brandishing their weapons at him. Shi held up his hands, anger and confusion showing on his face.

“Hurry up, Beau,” I urged.

“I’m hurrying,” Beau answered. I heard some huffing and puffing and figured he was running.

There was a noise at the back of the van and Slash hopped in and closed the door behind him, pulling off his mask and gloves and tossing his roll of duct tape in the corner.

He joined me at the laptop, peering over my shoulder.

“What’s happening?” he asked.

“Two policemen have entered the house. They just encountered Rock. One of them is talking to him and Shi, while the other one is going through the house, checking things out and presumably finding the others trussed up like turkeys.”

After another couple of minutes, the outside camera showed another car pulling up and parking across the street as the driveway filled up with cars and flashing lights. Beau hopped out, still obviously winded. He’d taken off his jacket, mask and comm link, so now he wore only a white T-shirt, dark jeans and tennis shoes. As he approached the house, a policeman got out of one of the cars and stopped him.

“Hope he’s persuasive and can tell a good story,” Slash said.

“He can.”

We watched as Beau flashed his badge and started talking. After a moment, the two of them entered the house and we followed them into the living room where Rock was still giving his statement to the other policemen. Beau and Rock hugged and I smiled. My two brothers were earnestly talking to the policemen when yet another police car drove up.

“And so the real party begins,” I said leaning forward with a full-fledged smile as Slash put his hands on my shoulders. “Now we wait.”

* * *

It wasn’t safe for us to leave with so much police activity going on nearby, so we waited. I was glad because it let me keep an eye on Rock and Beau.

I called Elvis and put him on video. “Hey, Elvis, did you see what happened?”

“I sure did. I watched the whole thing unfold on camera, just like you. When I saw Jiang Shi drive up, I almost crapped my pants.”

“Join the club,” I said.

“Man, that was an unexpected variable,” Elvis said. “Will his presence change anything about the plan?”

Slash had grabbed a bottle of water and now sat on a duffel bag, resting against the side of the van. “Absolutely. All kinds of US agencies must now get involved in the investigation, which actually turns out to be a stroke of luck for us. This situation becomes even more high-profile than we could have hoped for now that Shi is directly involved. It was a clever plan.”

“Even if they won’t be able to link him to anything that happened in that house?” I asked.

“Even then.” Slash stretched his legs out in front of him. “I assure you, the fact Shi was caught entering the house won’t go unnoticed by the Chinese government. He’ll have a lot of explaining to do, especially since we believe the Chinese government doesn’t know most of what Shi is up to, including murder.”

“What about Rock?” Elvis asked.

“Beau will fill him in on what happened later,” I said. “For now the official story is that Beau received an anonymous tip about Rock’s kidnapping and location. Since Beau happened to be in the area at the time of the tip, he alerted the police that he was on his way to rescue his brother. However, by the time he got to the house, he found the police already on the scene and all the kidnappers tied up and restrained. His brother, Rock, had apparently just been freed by a mysterious group of apparent do-gooders who must also have been the source of the tip to Beau. Rock will be able to innocently and accurately corroborate Beau’s story.”

Slash took a drink and lifted his water to me in a toast. “Even better, as soon as the FBI and NSA discover Feng Mei is involved—and I’ve already helpfully provided a tip to that effect—they are going to be all over this and, by extension, Shi.”

“How can we be sure something will happen to Shi?” Elvis asked. “Given his skill, he has to be considered an asset by the Chinese government.”

“Only if his usefulness continues to outweigh his liability,” Slash said. “I wouldn’t count on Shi coming out of this unscathed, especially after we destroy the Red Guest with the dark code.”

I leaned forward in my seat. “Speaking of Shi...he’s coming out the front door now. It looks like he’s going to make a phone call.”

Slash quickly rose to his feet. “Magnify,” he ordered leaning over my shoulder.

I magnified the view as Shi raised the phone to his ear.

“Can you record the conversation?” he asked me.

I tapped a few keys. “It’s recording, but we’ve got visual only. What’s the point? We can’t hear what he’s saying.

“No, but we can read lips.”

“Not helpful if he’s speaking in Chinese.”

Slash grinned at me. “We’re the NSA,
cara
. We have an app for that.”

We watched as Shi spoke, becoming increasingly furious. After a few minutes and several explosive hand gestures, he hung up.

“He probably called the embassy,” I said. “Someone has to come vouch for him.”

“I don’t think so.” Slash leaned over me and tapped on the keyboard, retrieving the file and sending it somewhere. “Either way, we’re about to find out.”

“How long does it take the app to work?” I asked.

“It’s pretty fast. It is not always accurate, but you generally get the gist of what they are saying. Stand by.”

After a couple of minutes, the results were back. I scooted over in the folding chair so he could have half of it.

He typed in a few commands and the file popped open.

“What’s it say?” I asked.

Slash was silent for a moment and then spoke. “Shi is instructing someone to release a code against us.”

“A code?” My eyes widened. “What kind of code? A black code?”

Slash raised his eyes from the monitor to meet mine. His expression was grim. “
Si
, and it appears we have one hour to release ours first.”