Waiting for Him (23 page)

After filling the man in, Ian told him what they needed. “How fast can you get me a chopper back to the compound? And as much as I hate to ask, can you send Stonewall’s SWAT? Things may go to shit by the time we get there, if they haven’t already.” The Tampa FBI Special Agent in Charge, Frank Stonewall, and the men of Trident weren’t the best of friends after a few past incidents. The man hated Carter even more with the feeling being mutual. The order coming from the SAC’s superior would ensure there were no arguments or delays in the SWAT team’s response.

“I’ll call you back in a minute. Text me the coordinates of their house. And tell Carter to stay out of trouble. I’m going to need him by the time my meeting is over, and I don’t want to have to bail him out.”

“Will do.” He hung up just as a slew of police officers and paramedics filled the house. Burke and Dusty had met the cops outside and told them the suspects were long gone, so no weapons were drawn. Brody, Marco, and Devon moved out of the way for the emergency personnel to take over, but stayed close to assist if needed. Carter stood by Eileen, holding her hand as a female EMT began to assess her for injuries.

Next to Ian, Boomer’s brow was scrunched in confusion. “Why didn’t they kill both of them? I mean, I’m thanking the good Lord they didn’t…but why? These guys don’t give me the impression they have any ethics, so why let them live?”

Ian gestured to the organized chaos with his hand. “For this. This is to hold us up even further. It’s giving them more time to get to Kat and force her to give them the money. If we walked in, and there was nothing more we could do here, we would’ve already been on our way back to the compound.” He was about to say more, but his phone rang. “Keon, what’ve you got?”

“State Police chopper will be landing in the schoolyard up the street from the Michaelsons’ within the next ten minutes. SWAT is on the way to the compound. Give me the officer in charge at the scene, and I’ll clear you out of there.” Waving over a sergeant, Ian explained who the other man on the line was then handed him the phone, ignoring the supervisor’s astonished expression.

* * *

Boomer was being torn in half. He wanted to stay with his folks, but Kat needed him. As the paramedics placed his father on a gurney, he approached his mother who was sitting on the couch with Carter. Boomer knelt in front of her, taking her attention away from Rick. The pale complexion of her face served to make the tape’s sting glaringly obvious, and he winced, knowing it had to be painful. “Mom…”

Eileen cut him off. “Katerina’s in danger, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, she is. We have a chopper coming to take us back to the compound. I want to stay with you and Pop, but I…”

“No. You go get her and bring her back with you. Your dad will be okay and I’m fine.” She cupped his cheek and he leaned into her touch. “She’s your future, Benjamin. Go save her.”

Boomer swallowed the thick lump in his throat. Standing, he helped her up and hugged her tight. “I’ll be back soon. With Kat. Call my cell…shit…I broke mine and didn’t have time to replace it. My calls are being forwarded to Ian’s. I’ll call Aunt Margaret to meet you at the hospital. Okay?”

“I’ll call Margaret. You just do what you have to. I love you. Stay safe and bring her home.”

“I will. Love you, too, Mom.”

With the help of the female EMT, Boomer escorted his mother to the waiting ambulance. The medics told him his father was stabilized, but he was still unconscious. As they loaded his parents into the back of the rig, in the distance he heard the thump, thump, thump of the approaching helicopter.

Ian sidled up next to him. “Our ride is almost here. Keon cleared us to take off and file the police reports later. Burke and Dusty are taking one of the SUVs and following your folks to the E.R. I want them guarded until this is over.”

The ambulance doors slammed shut and the vehicle started down the driveway. “Thanks, Boss-man. I appreciate it.”

Ian clapped his teammate on the back as they started jogging toward his SUV. It was faster to drive the quarter mile to where the helicopter was landing on an empty baseball field. The rest of the team was already on their way in the communications van. “It’s what family does, Baby Boomer. Now, let’s go get your girl.”

For about fifteen minutes, Kat tried to get comfortable on the couch in the recreation room above the offices, but her mind wouldn’t settle down to let her. This was all her fault. If she hadn’t brought her problems to Benny, then his parents would have been safe. Now, she had to pray the team got to them in time to save them. The wait was killing her. Finally giving up on getting some rest, she stood and headed for the stairs with Beau at her heels.

Instead of going toward the offices, she went out the front door to get some air. She smiled when Beau made a beeline for a hard rubber ball and came back to drop it at her feet. “So you want to play, huh?” The goofy-faced dog seemed to grin at her before answering her with a low woof. “Fine, we’ll play fetch for a few minutes. Maybe it’ll make the time go faster.”

Beau gave her another woof and then took off after the ball she threw across the compound. As she waited for the dog to return, she glanced to her left and saw Murray standing guard at the front gate. In the opposite direction, the man from Blackhawk Security, who had been introduced to her as Jason Tanner, was walking toward the back of the compound, keeping watch for anything out of the ordinary. Both men were armed and Kat felt safer knowing they were there. Beau ran up to her and dropped the ball which was now covered in dog drool, but she didn’t mind since she was often slobbered on by the dogs she trained. Throwing the ball again, she heard the office door open behind her and turned to see Colleen walk out, carrying her purse. “Are you leaving?”

The younger blonde woman stopped next to her. “Yes. The team has been training me to shoot, but I still have to take a course to obtain my firearms permit before I can carry a gun. Ian and Reggie want me to get it because of all the guns on the premises. With the bad guys they deal with here, they wanted to be sure I could use one if I had to. I have to admit though, it makes me feel like some bad-ass chick when they take me shooting.”

Kat laughed as Colleen giggled and posed like one of stars of a popular TV show from the 1970s with her fingers forming a pretend weapon. “Oh, that’s awesome. I love the
Charlie’s Angels
reruns. Maybe Kristen, Angie, and I should join you. I think the original three were two brunettes and one blonde, and then another blonde replaced the first, so we’d be perfect. And I love those retro clothes.”

“Oh! Maybe we can talk the Doms into having a seventies theme night at the club. That would be so funky.”

Laughing harder, Kat reached back and grabbed her ass cheeks. “A spanking to disco music? Now that sounds really kinky.”

“Shelby would love it! She loves theme nights. I’ll run it by her and see what she thinks.” Checking her watch, Colleen added, “Shit. I’m going to be late if I don’t leave. I’ll see you later. Jake promised to text me and let me know everything is okay with Ben’s parents.”

Kat waved goodbye as the secretary ran to her Toyota Prius and drove away. Checking her cell phone she saw she still had a least another fifteen minutes or so before the team reached Sarasota. Not ready to go back inside, she began to wander around the compound while continuing to play fetch with Beau. Finding herself in the club parking area, she ambled over to the guard gate to see if Murray needed anything, like water or something. She was just about to speak when the guard’s head turned toward the road at the sound of an approaching vehicle. A black Cadillac Escalade with tinted windows pulled up to the closed gate and stopped. The guard eyed the vehicle warily and placed his hand on his sidearm, ready to draw the 9mm handgun if necessary.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Kat watched the driver’s window roll down and Murray pull his weapon from the holster at his hip. But it was too late as the driver fired his own silenced pistol and she gaped in horror as the burly guard’s body jerked with the impact of the bullet hitting his upper right chest. Stunned, Kat was frozen in place, staring at the man as he fell to the ground, blood starting to saturate his shirt and the weapon dropping from his hand.

Three doors to the SUV opened and two large men exited from the front, both armed with black handguns. The driver was a little taller and leaner than his counterpart, who Kat thought resembled a pig with his flat nose and pock-marked skin. Another man climbed out of the backseat and she gasped. It was one of the Russians who’d tried to kidnap her from the motel in Norfolk, dragging a terrified Colleen out of the vehicle and holding a gun to her head. Next to Kat, Beau growled and barked, sensing his humans were in danger, but unable to get through the closed gate.

“Call off dog and toss cell phone on ground. Come vith us or I kill friends. Now!”

Keeping her eyes on the wide-eyed secretary who was trying to hold it together, Kat placed a shaky hand on the security scanner until the gate began to slide open. “Beau,
platz.
” The canine continued to growl with the hair on his back raised, but laid down as ordered. “Let her go and I’ll come with you. If you hurt her, I’ll never tell you how to get the money.”

The big man smirked and Kat shivered, knowing he would gladly torture her for the information. Pig-face from the front passenger seat had his gun trained on her while the driver had his aimed at Murray who was, thankfully, still alive. The injured guard looked more pissed than anything, but with his gun lying near his feet and being outnumbered, there wasn’t much he could do. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, Kat placed it on the ground and stepped forward, her hands in the air. The sunlight hit the gold medical alert bracelet on her wrist and she remembered Benny telling her about the GPS unit in it. If she went with these men, he still had a way to track her. She had to do it, refusing to let anyone else get hurt because of her. “Please, let them go. I won’t fight you. I’ll show you where the money is.”

The man holding Colleen’s arm was obviously in charge as neither of the other men spoke. Shoving the woman viciously to the ground next to the guard, who struggled to put his body in front of hers for protection, the Russian indicated for Kat to get into the vehicle. “Come. Now. Or ve kill them.”

Kat hurried over to the rear driver’s side door as the man stepped back and let her scramble into the vehicle. He slid in next to her, forcing her move to the other side. Before he shut his door, he instructed his driver, “Kill them.”

Horrified, Kat dove for the door handle next to her, but the bastard grabbed her hair, preventing her escape. Pain shot through her scalp. “
Packen
,” she shouted past the open driver’s door and was relieved to see Beau respond to the command, lunging toward the man aiming his weapon at the two people on the ground. The driver brought his arm up to block the vicious attack and his gun went off into the air, the slug striking a nearby tree. Twisting wildly, the man screamed in pain as the dog’s razor-sharp teeth tore through his flesh, down to the bones in his forearm.

The chaos gave Murray the chance he needed to snatch and fire his own weapon, dropping the driver with a bullet to the head. With what should have been an easy kill from across the hood, a distant shout caused Pig-face to turn his head and botch his own shot, missing Murray by inches when he rolled to protect Colleen. Through the windshield, Kat saw Jake and Tanner running toward the front gate, weapons in hand. The combination of reinforcements arriving, and Beau releasing the driver and turning his attention to the second threat, had Pig-face diving into the front seat and slamming the door shut. He climbed over the console, threw the vehicle in reverse and floored the accelerator as Beau made a futile attempt to find access on the passenger side. None of Kat’s would-be rescuers could risk taking a shot with her in the line of fire. A quick turn of the steering wheel spun the car around and they took off toward the highway at a high rate of speed. At the end of the road, before they turned left to take the northbound lanes, Kat spotted Colleen’s vehicle on the shoulder with its driver’s door wide open. The Russians must have ambushed her and forced her from the car. “Where are we going?”

Neither man answered her. She urged herself to remain calm and look for a way to escape, but she couldn’t stop trembling. Not knowing what else to do, Kat prayed.

* * *

Leaving the head and walking back toward the war-room, Jake continued to listen to the banter of his team members on the overhead speakers he’d turned on, and cursed he was missing the action. He knew Carter was the perfect person to take his place, but it was still irritating he was out of commission until his eye healed.

Just as he entered the room, Ian’s voice came over the air. “Reverend, you there?”

Stepping up to the microphone, Jake pressed the transmit button. “Yeah, Boss-man. What’s your status?”

“Just pulled up. How are things there?”

“Five by five,” he answered, giving the military equivalent of ‘all is well’. “Just going to go get Kat. Stay safe, brothers.”

“Amen.”

Turning around, Jake headed out past the reception area to the stairs, taking them two at a time. He hoped Kat had gotten some rest because she needed it. When this was all over, he wouldn’t be surprised if Boomer planned on taking her somewhere quiet to recuperate. The kid could use a vacation after this as well.

Striding into the rec room, he glanced around and found it empty. Figuring she was in the bedroom she and Boomer had used last night, he made his way down the hallway and knocked on the only closed door. Not receiving an answer, he knocked again and instead of waiting, turned the knob and opened the door. Empty. “Kat?” Still no answer. He raised his voice. “Kat? You up here?”

A quick check of the rest of the rooms told Jake she wasn’t on this floor. He hurried back down the stairs and into the war-room again to scan the live camera feeds and figure out where she was. As he’d headed to the bathroom earlier, Colleen had been collecting her purse to leave for her class. Now on one monitor he could see her car was gone and Tanner was on the north side of property, walking the perimeter behind the buildings. His gaze shifted to the other feeds, looking for Kat. His blood ran cold when he saw the view of the front gate. A black SUV was idling at the entrance, Murray was on the ground, three men were holding weapons with one pointed at Colleen’s head and Kat was opening the gate. “Fuck!” Pressing the button for the frequency Tanner and Murray’s headsets were on, Jake barked into the microphone, “Tangos front gate, man down, man down!”

Seeing on the monitor Tanner heard him and was running from the far end of the property toward the gate, Jake unholstered his Sig Sauer P226 and took off like the hounds of Hell were on his heels. He hit the front door running just as Tanner rounded the building at full speed. Tearing across the compound, they heard Kat scream the German command for Beau to attack one of the men before Murray retrieved his weapon and fired a shot. The driver was dead by the time he hit the ground. But the gorilla on the other side of the SUV aimed his gun at Murray, and Jake brought his own sidearm up, yelling at the top of his lungs, “Drop your weapon!”

He was still too far away to make an accurate shot and he couldn’t take the risk of hitting either of the women or Murray. His command had the bastard missing his kill shot, thank God, but unfortunately the guy dove through the passenger door and threw the car in reverse. Beau took off after the retreating vehicle, barking ferociously. “Fucking-A! Get your truck, Tanner!”

As the operative reversed directions, Jake ran to the gate where Colleen was ripping open Murray’s shirt to expose his wound. The guard groaned and turned his head toward Jake. “They’ve got Kat. Two tangos left. Both with 9mms, didn’t see any other weapons.”

Hearing Tanner revving his Ford F-150’s engine, Jake glanced at Murray’s shoulder wound which was now visible. “How bad? Can you get to the war-room? I need someone on the radio.”

“Yeah, it’s a through and through. I’ll live. Help me up.”

The phone in the guard shack rang, but everyone ignored it. With Jake and Colleen’s assistance the guard stood while letting out a roar of pain. “Fuck, that fucking hurts. ‘Scuse my language, Colleen.”

Holding his good arm, the still pale secretary rallied and took charge of the situation, aiming the big man toward the Trident building. If the situation wasn’t so serious, Jake would’ve smiled at how far the once timid secretary had come out of her shell these last few weeks. Their training her on how to respond to different emergency scenarios was paying off. “Like I haven’t heard Ian curse fifty times a day. Let’s get you inside. Jake, I’ll call 911, but what else do you need?”

Tanner screeched to a halt next to them and Jake threw open the passenger door. As he jumped in, he ordered, “Murray knows the tracking system. Bring up Kat’s GPS location. Give it to us on the compound’s frequency. Then get on the team’s frequency and let them know what’s going down.” He slammed the door, confident the secretary and guard, a retired Army sergeant, would do what needed to be done. Tanner floored the accelerator and swerved around the dead body outside the gate.

As they approached the intersection to the highway, Tanner demanded, “Which way?”

The vehicle slowed and Jake frantically searched in both directions. “Left! Holy fuck, I owe that fucking dog a steak. Slow down, so I can grab him.”

Beau was about fifty yards north of the intersection, running on the shoulder of the road, still trying to chase after the long gone vehicle, but at least he pointed them the right direction. As Tanner slowed the truck, Jake opened his door. “Beau!
Hier
!”