Saint Peter's Soldiers (A James Acton Thriller, Book #14) (31 page)

He set
the alarm, the chirp the signal for Sandra to open the door. She stepped into
the garage, hitting the opener button and the garage door rumbled up. He glanced
outside as he rounded the rear of their van and saw no one, though he suspected
pros wouldn’t be so obvious as to be standing across the street, smoking a
cigarette in a trench coat.

Sandra
got Niskha situated and climbed into the driver’s seat, he getting into the
passenger side. She started the van and began to pull out slowly. “Do you
really think someone’s going to follow us?”

“I don’t
know. Jim sounded scared. Really scared. And he said his parents were dead.
Whatever’s going on is serious, and for some reason he thinks our lives are in
danger.”

Sandra put
the car in drive and pulled away from the house. Milton scrunched in his seat, peering
out the side view mirror and his heart leapt as he saw headlights turn on, a
vehicle pulling away from the curb, just one house down from theirs.

“Shit!”

“Daddy
said a bad word!”

“What is
it?”

Milton
looked again. “I think someone’s following us.”

“Are you
sure?”

He shook
his head. “No, just keep going. Let’s get to a busy street quickly.”

Sandra
pulled up to the stop sign at the end of the street, coming to a complete stop
and looking in all directions, despite there almost never being any traffic
here. She carefully made a right hand turn, Milton’s nails digging into his
palms as he tried to bite his tongue.

He
failed.

“Hon,
please, just forget the traffic laws for now. We need to get to the police
station quickly.”

Sandra began
to shake, both hands gripping the steering wheel, the van barely moving
forward. “I’m sorry, I’m nervous.”

Milton
took a breath and tried to sound as calm and sympathetic as possible. “I know
you are, hon, so am I, but you’ve got to accelerate.”

“I-I
can’t seem to press any harder, I’m t-too terrified.”

He
reached over and put his hand on the wheel. “Just take a deep breath and close
your eyes.”

“But I’m
driving!”

“I know,
I’ll steer. Just take a deep breath, close your eyes, and press down with your
right foot a little harder.”

“O-okay.”
She closed her eyes then immediately opened them. She glanced at him, then
nodded, closing her eyes again as she inhaled slowly.

And they
began to accelerate, Milton keeping them straight.

“Okay,
that’s great. Now open your eyes.”

She did
and adjusted their trajectory slightly, but kept their now reasonable speed.
She checked her rearview mirror. “Is that them?”

He
glanced in his mirror. “Yes.”

“Then
they
are
following us.”

He
frowned. “I don’t know. They could be just heading in the same direction.”

They
rolled up to another stop sign, this time Sandra checking in both directions
but continuing through, accelerating immediately.

“You’re
doing great, hon. Just keep doing that, we’ll be there in no time.”

She
lifted a finger from the steering wheel, pointing ahead. “He’s in a hurry.”

Milton’s
heart leapt into his throat as a large SUV raced toward them then cut across
their lane, shuddering to a halt as all four doors were thrown open. Sandra slammed
on her brakes and screamed as four men leapt out, weapons raised. Milton
reached for a wailing Niskha but was jerked back by his seatbelt as the men
rushed toward them.

Then
straight by.

He
turned to watch them and gunfire erupted causing Sandra to scream again, Niskha
crying out in fear along with her mother. All four tires of the vehicle behind
them were flattened, the engine block filled with lead, those inside hauled out
and thrown to the ground. Milton’s heart nearly stopped as he saw the men were
armed, their weapons kicked away.

They
were
following us.

One of
the new arrivals turned, walking back toward their van. He knocked on the
window and Milton pressed the button, lowering it. The man leaned over and
smiled.

And
Milton breathed a sigh of relief, immediately recognizing him as one of the Delta
Operators that Acton had so much involvement with.

“Dean
Milton, ma’am, Dylan Kane sent us. Sorry we’re late.”

Approaching Rome, Italy

“Change of plans,” said Kane’s voice over the speaker. “The doc is
heading north to the castle.”

Dawson
frowned. “That doesn’t sound smart.”

“Nope,
but he’s determined to take action himself.”

Niner
shook his head. “That’s just the type of thing that’s going to get him killed.”

“Well,
in his defense he did think his parents were dead when he left and that they
were going after his friends. Red has the Miltons secured. Can you think of
anyone else they might go after?”

Dawson
pursed his lips, thinking. He knew the professors’ files, but couldn’t think of
anyone close besides his students. “Students are about all I can think of.”

“Nothing
we can really do about them, there’s too many. They were definitely watching
Milton though, which makes me wonder how they were able to put together a file
on Acton so quickly.”

Dawson’s
head bobbed. “Me too. They seem to know everything about him. Parents, friends.
You think they’ve been watching them for a while?”

“We’ve
got no evidence of that, though the Assembly definitely has been.”

“Perhaps
they’re working together?”

“Anything’s
possible, but they seem to have gone to ground since we named a few of them.
I’d be surprised if they’d risk our current state of détente.”

Niner
huffed. “The doc has pissed off a lot of people over the years. Maybe it’s
finally caught up to him.”

Kane
laughed. “He has that, hasn’t he? He doesn’t have the luxury of anonymity like
we do. Makes for a dangerous life.”

Niner
grinned. “Lucky he’s a nice guy and we’re willing to interrupt our time off.”

Atlas
leaned forward. “Karma, baby, karma. If he was an asshole he’d probably be dead
by now.”

Dawson
had to agree. If the man were a prick, none of them would probably be here by
now. Fortunately, he was anything but. And his desire to take action was
completely understandable, if unwise. “So what’s the new plan?”

“Have
your pilot divert north. I’ve already got your supplies rolling in a charter so
they’ll be there when you arrive. Hopefully you’ll be able to get ahead of the
professor. One of my guys is driving them.”

“And
then?”

“Do
whatever is necessary to end the threat.”

Niner
elbowed Jimmy. “Sounds like my typical weekend.”

“What,
ending the threat of disappointed girlfriends?”

“Hey,
they’ve all been satisfied customers until they met my friends.”

“You
mean until they met real men,” rumbled Atlas.

“Ouch.”

Jimmy
laughed. “You kind of walked into that one.”

Niner
gripped his chest, feigning tears. “It’s just, well, I never though a friend
would ever say something so hurtful.”

Atlas
rose, extending his arms. “Little lady need a hug?”

Kane
laughed over the speaker. “Sometimes I miss working with a team.”

Dawson shook
his head as Niner’s fist darted for Atlas’ balls.

“If you
were here you wouldn’t.”

Northbound E80, Italy

Reading turned back in his seat, looking at Acton and Laura, Mr. Verde
driving. “Now that we know your parents are safe, what’s the plan?”

Acton
frowned. He’d been thinking about that. The phone call he had received had been
a massive relief, though the news his father had suffered a heart attack was
still worrisome. But they were alive and safe. Now he was worried about his
best friend and his family. He hadn’t heard anything since he had phoned him, so
he probably hadn’t reached the police station yet.

He checked
his watch.

But they
should be there by now.

He
looked at Reading. “Sit tight for now, gather intel?”

Reading
nodded. “Good thinking.” He motioned toward Laura’s laptop. “You found a hotel
that’s right across the street from the entrance?”

She
nodded, spinning it around. “Already reserved three rooms, but only one has a
view of the road.”

“One’s
enough,” said Reading. “We’ll start photographing who goes in and out, grab
license plates, and I’ll run everything through Interpol. If we’re lucky, there
might be some outstanding warrants on one or more of them, and we just call in
the authorities.”

Laura
snapped her laptop shut. “But what if the leak is with the Italians? Wouldn’t
they just warn them?”

Reading
drew in a slow breath, frowning. “They might, but at this point, we don’t have
much choice.”

Acton
pursed his lips, shaking his head. Reading was right. They didn’t have a lot of
options beyond the Delta team going in and stirring up shit. But they were six
guys facing a couple of hundred. Now that his parents were safe, he could never
ask them to face those odds. “Precision guided bomb dropped from a Raptor might
be better.”

Reading
grinned. “We could always ask.”

Verde’s
phone rang and he took the call, Acton instinctively watching the road, hating
it when people used their cellphones while driving. Verde handed it back to
Acton. “For you.”

“Hello?”

“We’re safe!”

Acton
breathed a sigh of relief at the sound of his best friend’s voice, his eyes
closing as the last major stress lifted from his shoulders. “Thank God! I was
starting to get worried.”

“Yeah,
some of the Delta guys somehow got here in time.”

“Really?”
Acton said a silent prayer of thanks to the men they owed so much to, then
mouthed who it was to the others, Laura clasping both hands to her chest in
relief.

“Yeah,
apparently Kane had a feeling we might be a target if your parents were rescued
so he asked BD to send some men. They were almost here when the specific threat
was made.”

Acton
put an arm around Laura, squeezing her against him. “Lucky he was thinking
ahead.”

“Yeah.
Listen, I’m so sorry about your parents.”

Acton
suddenly realized his friend hadn’t heard the news. “They’re alive! I just got
a call a few minutes ago.”

“Thank
God! What happened?”

“Some
sort of explosion, but they’re okay. My dad had a heart attack but Dylan got
his heart going again. They’re all going to be fine.”

“That’s
great news, Jim. What’s going to happen now?”

“We’re
heading to Angera in northern Italy to try and put an end to this, once and for
all.”

“Be
careful.”

Acton
smiled. “Aren’t I always?”

“Hi, my
name is Greg Milton, and you are?”

Acton’s
smile turned into a grin. “Ha ha. So you know me too well.” He became serious.
“If we don’t remove the leverage problem, this will never end.”

“But
your parents are safe. So are we.”

“That’s
not the leverage I’m talking about.”