Falcon Falls Security Boxed Set: Books 1-3, page 54
“Your crack security team seems to have abandoned ship,” Sydney said, still not a hint of fear in her voice, but Ella’s heart rate was maxed out, and from the look on Savanna’s face, hers was too.
Henry and Sydney were the only ones who remained calm in the midst of what would surely soon become chaos.
Sydney stalked straight for Henry as he slid the bookshelf to the side, revealing a steel door. “Who are you helping? You’re involved, but which side are you on?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I did you all a favor, and you’re going to question me?” Henry cursed under his breath while punching in a four-digit security code, and the door electronically opened outward. “Now get in.”
“We’re not locking ourselves in a room with you.” Sydney stepped directly in front of him, and Ella wasn’t sure what to do or think. They had limited options at the moment.
Safe room with Henry, who may be aligned with the bad guys for whatever reason, or stay out there and for sure get hurt. Both options sucked, but she had to go with option one. Safe room with Henry and hope for the best, not assume the worst. “Sydney, we don’t have a choice.”
Sydney looked back at Ella, then over at Savanna. “I need a weapon. A few. Provide me with those, and you might temporarily earn my trust.”
“What do you plan to do? Go up against them yourself?” Henry pointed toward the window, his jaw strained.
“Now that your team has taken off, someone has to do something.” Sydney went back to the window and shifted the drapes to the side for a better view. “I count ten tangos. They’re fanning out. Getting into position. I need to make my move now before they infil the main house.”
“Fine.” Henry tossed both hands in the air. “It’s your death wish.” He hurriedly moved into the safe room and came back out a moment later with a sidearm and a knife.
Sydney eyed the gun, checked the mag, then tucked the weapon at the back of her jeans. The knife remained in hand. “You’re rich. Rich people like archery. Where do you keep your bow?” Her monosyllabic tone, so cool and calm, almost had Ella feeling like everything was okay too.
“My office downstairs. Three doors down from the foyer, you’ll find the bow displayed on the wall behind my desk,” he answered, then moved into the safe room.
Ella wrapped an arm around Savanna’s back and pulled her in tight, hoping it’d ease her friend’s trembling body as they stood outside the entrance to the safe room. Savanna was probably in flashback hell after what happened to her in October.
“We’ll be okay,” she whispered reassuringly, trying to channel some of Sydney’s badass strength.
“Phone lines are down,” Henry announced from the safe room. “My mobile doesn’t work either.”
Sydney peeked into the room. “And yet, I see they kept your security cameras and lights on.” With her back to Ella and Savanna, she said, “If anything happens to them while they’re in the room with you, if you so much as touch them in any way, I will come back up here and gut you with this knife, are we clear?”
“Come on.” Ella lightly patted Savanna’s shoulder, prompting her to head into the small space, sidestepping Sydney.
“You’ll be okay.” Sydney gave Ella a nod and shut the door, securing them inside the room. Ella swallowed down the lump in her throat when she heard the bookshelf slide into place.
Henry dropped onto the only chair in the room opposite the wall of security screens and kept his focus on the changing views of the property. Only eight screens, but there had to be dozens of cameras across the sprawling estate. “She’s not the most likable woman I’ve ever met,” he said in a deep voice while Ella and Savanna stood next to him and watched as well.
Ella didn’t bother to respond, too stunned this was all happening. And with Sydney suspicious of Henry and his motives, how could Ella not be? There was more than just a little something off about this whole thing. “We just happened to be in the study where your safe room is located when men stormed your property. Little convenient, don’t you think?”
“Almost as if you knew this was going to happen,” Savanna added, her fingers racing over the screen where Sydney headed down the back stairs.
“Well, considering French Intelligence was holding you today for some reason, a guy can’t be too cautious, can he?” Henry’s tone was clipped, and Ella figured it’d be best to keep one eye on the man in case there happened to be another weapon in the room that he decided to go for with Sydney gone.
Before Ella could respond to him, what felt like an explosion from beneath them rocked the floor and had Ella stumbling, but Savanna grabbed her arm to keep her upright. “What was that?”
“They blew a hole in my front door,” Henry said through gritted teeth. Oddly, he sounded more frustrated than scared.
Ella watched two figures in all black, faces covered by masks, rifles in front of them, enter through what was once the double doors in the foyer of the home. Two more quickly followed. They’re inside now.
“One of those guys turned down the hall where Sydney is,” Savanna softly said.
Ella tapped at the arrows on the keyboard, trying to sort through the camera views to find Sydney. “There. She’s in the office. She’s got the bow.”
“And she has company,” Savanna pointed out, but Sydney was clearly aware she wasn’t alone. She dropped to one knee, twisted her torso toward the open doorway, and let an arrow fly, hitting the would-be assailant standing there directly in the jugular. “Yeah, wow, okay, she just did that.”
“Where are the other three guys who came inside?” Ella shifted screens again, but froze at the sight of one image, then clapped a hand over her mouth as tears welled in her eyes.
“Our guys,” Savanna said when Ella was unable to get her voice to work. “They’re here.”
Ella lowered her hand from her mouth. “They were released just in time.” With their weapons?
Jesse stealthily maneuvered across the property toward the house, his shoulders hunched slightly forward and his rifle trained ahead.
He’s a skilled operator, Ella reminded herself, while at the same time trying not to think about what he’d admitted to her on the plane. That Zoran was alive because he’d been “off his game” that day, distracted by Ella’s impending marriage to Brian. Hopefully, he won’t be off tonight with me here. She couldn’t bear it if anything happened to him, let alone see it on camera the way Savanna had seen her husband executed by terrorists in 2015.
And, oh, Savanna. This couldn’t be easy for her. Ella reached out and squeezed her hand in support.
The sight of Griffin had her clutching Savanna’s hand even tighter as they watched him moving alongside Jesse, then shooting someone . . . on the roof?
The rest of Jesse’s team seemed to fan out to different locations, but Ella’s attention was riveted to Jesse. To his every move as she followed him from screen to screen. “They’re inside now.” She brushed her fingers over Jesse’s face on the screen, which now showed him in the foyer.
She gasped when Jesse discharged his weapon. She couldn’t hear anything from inside the safe room, and she wasn’t sure if that made watching the action better or worse.
Griffin and Oliver were now behind Jesse, who held up a fist, a signal for the guys to remain in place for a moment. Jesse allowed his sling to catch the rifle, then withdrew a sidearm from his hip and a knife from his thigh. He motioned toward the stairs as if letting the others know he was moving up a level. Griffin and Oliver remained downstairs, one going left and the other right.
It was killing her to remain in the room while they were out there risking their lives, but there was no other option. She and Savanna were decent shots, but they couldn’t join the fight. Not with an unknown number of “tangos,” as Sydney had called them.
“No one has found the study yet. That’s something,” Henry spoke up for the first time in a few minutes, but Ella didn’t bother to respond.
Regardless of whether or not he was involved, and her gut was leaning toward “he was,” she knew her role as a “gem” was over. Her main concern right now was that everyone walked away from the night alive and preferably uninjured.
“I lost him on camera. You see him?” Ella frantically searched the screens, but just as she was on the brink of panicking, she found him, thank God. But also, just in time to see Jesse draw a knife across a masked man’s throat. She covered her eyes with her hand like she did when watching a horror movie. Even though she loved crime shows and podcasts, she’d never cared for blood and gore. And especially not when her “husband” was the one to cause the red river to flow.
She was going to lose the three bites of food she’d forced down when the French had provided them with dinner earlier.
Ella slowly lowered her hand, watching Jesse on the move again, gun in one hand, knife situated in his other.
And before she knew it, another tango had turned the corner, catching Jesse by surprise. But Jesse dropped him to the ground a moment later and wrapped a leg over the guy’s chest.
He sliced yet another throat, the man’s blood spurting all over Jesse, and Jesse brought his gun to the man’s chest and shot him next. End his suffering quicker?
How could she watch any more of this, even if the killings were justified? Seeing Jesse perform his job in vivid detail on screen was too real, too much for her to handle.
And now it was Savanna squeezing Ella’s arm for support.
Was that their new friendship motto? Real friends help each other watch the men they love kill people.
Griffin was the next to take a life. His rifle instead of a knife.
Ella spotted Oliver on another screen in time to see him take down an enemy with his sidearm, after which Sydney ran into the room poised and ready to release another arrow seconds before she realized it was Oliver.
After they exchanged a quick word, Oliver peered straight at one of the cameras. “We’re coming,” he mouthed.
“I’m sure Sydney told them we’re here,” Ella softly said, the sick feeling in her gut easing up some.
“Gray’s inside now. Carter too,” Savanna announced. “Perimeter must be secure. That’s a good sign.”
“Jesse,” Ella cried out at the sight of him entering the study on screen a minute later. She hurried to the door and set her hands against it, not sure what to do. She needed him to give her the OK.
She looked back at the screens and discovered Jesse peering around the room searching for a camera, and when he spotted it, she read his lips: “It’s all clear. You can come out.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Jesse nearly squeezed the breath from Ella’s lungs, holding her so tight against his frame that his ammo vest dug into her ribs, not that she cared. She didn’t want him to let her go.
“I want a bow,” Ella mumbled, thinking about Sydney and how she’d handled herself while waiting for the cavalry she hadn’t known was coming.
“What?” he whispered, still cupping the back of her head with one palm while the other remained firmly against her back. At least he’d shifted his rifle to his side before hugging her, so she was grateful that wasn’t digging into her as well.
“Everyone okay?” The deep voice belonged to Carter.
“We’re good,” Savanna answered, but Ella remained quiet, not ready to leave Jesse’s strong embrace.
“Did anyone touch you? Did Rochella—”
“No,” Ella cut Jesse off, her voice trembling. “No one hurt me.”
“Thank God. I’m so sorry,” he rasped into her ear before easing up on his hold and slowly releasing her. Ella reluctantly untangled herself from him when that was the last thing she wanted to do.
“I’m okay. We’re all okay,” she whispered, letting her tears flow as the shock of what had just happened tried to take hold. She’d held herself together while in the safe room watching the scene unfold, but now her resolve was faltering. The attack on Henry’s estate was the proverbial cherry on top of a day from hell. And she needed to keep moving forward, or the fears that were right on her tail would overtake her. Not gonna happen. “The timing of this . . .”
“I know.” His tone was grave, but as he stared into her eyes, she swore she saw what looked a bit like hope. “Shit,” he said, breaking the moment. “I, um, got blood in your hair. Probably on your sweater too.”
“It’s okay.” She set her hand to his chest, needing to feel the comfort of his heartbeat, but the chest plate and ammo vest were in the way.
He took another step back and peered around the room as if remembering they weren’t alone or that he’d taken the lives of multiple men only minutes ago.
Ella followed his gaze and did a headcount of who was now with them in the study. Henry was parked in the armchair by the fireplace, as still as a mannequin, but that was probably because Carter stood beside him, a sidearm in hand and a look on his face that would put the fear of God into anyone.
Griffin and Savanna stood near the safe room, as far away from Henry as possible. The grim expression Griffin was aiming at Henry pretty much said it all—he didn’t trust the man. He probably shared the same concerns Sydney expressed right before she’d gone badass operator mode on the intruders.
When Gray and Sydney joined them in the room a second later, Ella had to assume Jack and Oliver were outside, keeping an eye on the property for any unexpected visitors.
“They didn’t cut the lights or security cams, just jammed the phone and comm feeds,” Sydney shared, stating the obvious, which seemed uncharacteristic of her based on what little Ella knew. Which meant Sydney was going somewhere important with that line of thought.
“That’s because he’s watching us.” Carter lifted his gaze to the camera above the doorway and aimed his weapon. Ella squeezed her eyes shut but still flinched when he fired.
“Who?” Ella asked as Jesse reached for her waist and pulled her to his side.
“What’s going on? Who were those men?” Henry spoke up before anyone could even contemplate answering Ella’s question.
“A man like you would have security, but there were no bodies other than the ones we put down.” Carter crouched before Henry’s chair and set the muzzle of his gun to the man’s knee, which had Henry pinning his back to the red leather and his hands gripping the chair arms. The corner of Carter’s mouth twitched before he tilted his head to the side and studied Rochella as though deciding whether or not to kill him.
Carter wouldn’t, would he?
“They didn’t stay and defend you. So, why’d your guards cut and run?” Carter’s smooth tone could melt butter, and yet somehow, that made him come across as almost more intimidating.
Were it not for the firm hold Jesse had on her, Ella’s legs would most likely have given out ten minutes ago.
Dead bodies littered Henry Rochella’s home. And Jesse’s boss was holding a gun to the fashion mogul’s knee. This was the stuff of movies, not her life.
“I pay my men to protect me. Not enough to die for me. They warned me of a threat, and we went into the safe room. They’re not trained fighters, which you all clearly are,” Henry answered, his tone a bit sharper than she’d expected, given Carter’s proximity. Nothing timid, and certainly not charming, about Henry right now.
“I’m only going to ask you this one time.” Carter’s even-tempered voice inched lower this time, deep-blue-sea kind of low and dark. “Are you working for The Chechen?”
“The who?” Henry’s eyes widened, and maybe he was a good actor, but to Ella, he seemed as surprised by the question as she was.
Because who in the hell was The Chechen? Was the word “The” part of his name, like the actor The Rock? The two words had rolled from Carter’s tongue with such a heavy weight.
“Those were The Chechen’s men?” When it was Sydney’s voice that broke the silence, Ella looked at Sydney in shock. Emotion, damn near a 6 out of 10, which seemed to be a lot for her, crossed her face. Tight draw of the lips. Sharp line across the brow. And oh-shit creases around Sydney’s eyes.
Yeah, that’s not good. Sydney showing fear? The woman cut down those men in the house like she was playing paintball.
Carter stood and lifted his gun from Henry’s knee, then set eyes on Sydney. “That was his team. But I don’t think he had plans to hurt anyone tonight. He wanted confirmation we were here in Paris.”
“And most likely to study our moves and learn how we operate,” Gray said while pointing to the blown-out camera. “He was watching us.”
“I’ll go destroy the footage anyway. We don’t need it falling into any other hands that we were here,” Sydney said, blinking slowly and suddenly appearing pale and exhausted. She looked to Gray and waited for his nod before quietly making her way to the safe room, eyes focused on the floor and bow still in hand.
A cold bluster of air shot up Ella’s back. Ella had yet to see Sydney act like anything other than a badass. Nothing seemed to scare her. And now it felt as if Sydney had seen a ghost.
Jesse must have sensed Ella’s fear because he tightened his hold of her. It had to be hard for Jesse to stand down and watch Carter handle Henry when she knew he most likely wanted to tear the man apart if he was in any way connected to what happened tonight. The fact he’d reined in his anger instead of attacking Henry, that he’d chosen to stay by her side and comfort her, meant more than he could possibly know.
“We should get out of here soon,” Griffin announced, but Ella had a feeling the guys wouldn’t be going anywhere without Henry or prying answers from him first.
But did he have answers? Or was this all a misunderstanding?
“You still haven’t answered his question with a yes or a no.” Gray’s menacing tone drew Ella’s focus to see Gray had moved next to Carter.
The two team leaders stood before Henry, and it seemed to be enough to put that fear of God back into him.
“No, I don’t know any Chechens.” Henry looked toward the fire, away from the two men. “But I am working with French Intelligence. This,” he began while opening his palms, keeping only his profile to Ella, “was not a coincidence.”
