Barracuda Security Complete Trilogy, page 39
part #1 of Barracuda Security Series
I frowned, distracted for a moment by the idea that this might be someone he once cared about. I studied it, obsessing over it like I had a right to be upset. But there was something about the woman that was familiar to me, something about the way she held her head. There was something about the shape of her jaw, too, the side of her face I could see. And then it hit me, and I suddenly felt like a jealous bitch.
It was his mother.
Shit! What kind of mother gives her son this kind of picture? What kind of son keeps this kind of picture of his mother? It was just…weird. But I supposed that was the relationship they had.
Really weird.
I popped the top off the USB drive, exposing the USB adapter, and slid it into the side of Kai’s computer. Almost immediately, a directory came up. I didn’t understand what it was, but began clicking through it, checking out the files individually. There were names, like Alamanat, whatever that meant. When I clicked on one, it opened a word file with all these words written in it, but they didn’t seem connected or to make any logical sense. But when I opened the file marked front gate, it had instructions. I understood those.
It scared the crap out of me.
I turned it off and pulled the drive out of the computer, dropping it into my pocket as I sat there staring at this racy picture of Kai’s mother. What had Roman been planning? Why would he help these people rob American soldiers? He was a soldier! Didn’t he remember the men he fought with? Didn’t he remember what it was like to be over there, to fight with those people? Didn’t he remember how they pulled him out of that building after the debris fell on him? Didn’t he realize that they’d saved his life?
And then I found myself wondering if that wasn’t why he’d put the drive in my bag. But by doing that, he made me a target of these people. Maybe he was trying to do the right thing, but he really screwed it up in typical Roman style.
I closed the computer and got up, moving to the window at the back of the property. Roman’s funeral was in a few days. As much pain and hurt and anger as there was between us, I truly was sad that Roman was gone. I didn’t want to miss the funeral, but didn’t see how I could get back in time to be there. Besides, with Marigold on the rampage over Molly, I couldn’t bring her back to town until I had a restraining order or something to keep her from trying to take Molly away. It was safer for us to be as far from Walnut Estates as possible, just like Kai and Rylee and everyone else had argued. I just…it didn’t seem right that I wouldn’t be there.
As I stood there, my thoughts a million miles away, movement outside caught my attention. We were a good five miles outside of the nearest town, almost an hour from Las Vegas. There were no neighbors, not really. Kai told me the house sat on nearly a hundred acres of land, keeping at arm’s length the possibility of a neighbor. There shouldn’t be any activity on the property, especially now as we slowly headed into night. Yet, there was someone out there.
I stepped back and hid myself in the draperies, watching until whomever it was moved again. A man of average height and dressed in dark clothing, his head covered by some sort of mask, ran from behind a palm tree that decorated the front of the drive to the back of the van. He looked for all the world like a cop planning a raid on the house. But where was his backup?
I was frozen for a moment, not sure what I should do. Was this Black Jacket? Had they somehow figured out where we were? Or was it the police, coming to serve a warrant on Kai?
When I could move, I ran into the living room and paused long enough to take one of the handguns and the shotgun from Kai’s bag. Up the stairs, I rushed to the back of the house and the bedroom where Kai still slept. I burst into the room and slid across the bed, slapping him on the center of his chest.
“Ouch!” he cried, sitting up so fast that he nearly smacked his forehead against mine. “What’s wrong?”
“Someone’s outside.”
“What?” He frowned, looking at the guns I’d brought upstairs. . “Where?”
“Out front, by the van.”
He pulled his legs out from under the covers and reached for the sweats he’d abandoned the night before, tugging them on before grabbing his crutches and stumbling to his foot. He took the handgun and tucked it under the waistband of his sweats, forced to press his arm against it so that it wouldn’t fall into the pants as he quickly made his way out of the bedroom and down the hall to the big picture window at the far end. He stood for a minute, staring out the window, a deep frown creasing his forehead.
“I don’t see anything.”
“I saw a man, dressed all in black, crouching down at the back of the van.”
“He’s not there now.”
That announcement made my heart jump into my throat. “What are we going to do?”
He shook his head, backing away from the window and heading for the stairs. “Stay here. I’ll go check it out.”
“Be careful.”
e shotgun in my hands. It’s funny how something can go so quickly from being a frightening object to one of comfort. I’d never appreciated Roman’s guns, especially when he made threatening motions with them, but this shotgun was my new best friend. I held on to it like it was a lifejacket and I was sitting in a sinking boat.
My ears strained to pick up any and all sound from downstairs. There was nothing at first, but then I thought I heard a door open and then what seemed like a scuffle. It had to have been coming from the kitchen, but I couldn’t be sure. My imagination took me places I didn’t want to go, showing me images of Kai knocked out on the floor, or Kai falling and breaking a wrist or something. I needed Kai whole and functioning. The idea that something might happen to him was overwhelming.
I couldn’t just sit there!
I started down the stairs, clutching the shotgun, moving very slowly so that I wouldn’t make any noise. When I got to the point where the stairs curved, and I would have been exposed to the rooms below, I stopped again to listen. That’s when I heard their voices.
My heart was pounding. Were those the Black Jacket guys? What were they—
And then I heard Kai’s voice.
“You’re going to get yourself shot, asshole,” he said. “What the hell?”
“Just wanted to see if you still had it.”
“I could take you out a mile away!”
I was puzzled because it didn’t sound like Kai was worried. In fact, he sounded amused. I peeked around the corner and caught sight of him in the living room, leaning heavily on his crutches as he spoke to a man dressed all in black. As I studied him, I could see that the guy was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, nothing tactical about it. And the thing I’d taken as a mask, was just a hat that he’d pulled low down on his forehead.
But who was he?”
“You have someone staying with you?” the man asked, not even looking in my direction. Kai turned, and called for me.
“Briar! You can come down. It’s safe.”
“I don’t know if I’d use the word ‘safe’.” His companion commented.
“We’re no worse off than we were before you arrived, brother. You wouldn’t hurt a kitty cat.”
“I’ve been known to get the better of you.”
“Not in years!”
I put the shotgun down, resting it against the wall of the foyer, and joined them in the living room. Kai moved his crutches to one side and slipped his arm around me.
“Briar, this is Teddy Kopechne. Ted, this is Briar.”
The man bowed at the waist and offered me a big smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Briar.”
“Just Briar.”
“Then I’m just Teddy.”
“This is Teddy’s house,” Kai informed me. “He thought he could sneak up on me and scare the shit out of me, but he hasn’t been able to do that since we were kids.”
“You grew up together?”
“Since we were in kindergarten,” Teddy answered. “The moment Kai walked into that classroom, I knew we’d be buddies for life.”
“Really? How’s that?”
“I had the best backpack of all the kids,” Kai announced, laughing when Teddy nodded.
“He did. Definitely. It was a Knight Rider backpack. Coolest thing I’d ever seen.”
“My mother reportedly got it from David Hasselhoff himself.”
Teddy shook his head. “The coolest thing my mother ever got for me was a bowl of ice cream after my tonsillectomy.”
“Aw, don’t be cruel, man.” Kai punched him in the shoulder. “Your mother was always there. That was pretty cool.”
“True. Too true.”
“So, you were skulking around outside to scare him?”
“Figured he’d be asleep. But I didn’t realize he’d brought along a friend until I saw you through the window.”
“You saw me?”
“Yep. Standing there by the study window. But I had to try, you know?”
“Right now, you’re going to let me go get dressed,” Kai said, punching his friend on the shoulder. “I’ll be back, then we’ll talk. Get caught up.”
“Sure. I’ll just make myself at home, seeing as how it is my home.”
“Are you going to continuously remind me of that fact?”
“Yep.”
They both laughed like a couple of teenagers. It was like watching the years roll back The hard lines of Kai’s face softening and fading as he interacted with his friend. It was fascinating. This was a side to Kai I hadn’t seen.
I ducked into the kitchen to make coffee. Teddy followed, taking a seat at the table.
“How long have you been with him?”
I glanced over my shoulder as I poured water into the machine. “Not long. We’ve only known each other a bit over a month.”
“He seems happy, under the circumstances.”
I couldn’t help the smile that jumped to my lips. I was pleased that someone thought I made Kai happy. I was hoping I did, but it was nice that someone else noticed it.
“What was he like when he was younger?” I set the pot in the machine and flipped the switch before going to join Teddy at the table. “Was he as intense as he is now?”
“Yes, most of the time.” Teddy sat back and crossed his arms over his chest as he trawled through his memories. “He hated spending too much time at home, so we would go exploring on the beach for hours at a time when we were small. In high school, he joined the football team and the debate team, staying after school as late as possible. Then we’d go find some girls to park with, or go to this diner on the highway and spend hours drinking milkshakes and talking about whatever drama was going on at school.”
“Just like any other kid, I suppose.”
“Most kids will eventually go home. Kai rarely went home I think he spent more time on my couch than he did at home through middle and high school.”
“He told me his mother wasn’t around much.”
“Oh, she was around. The problem was, so were all her friends. It was hard for him, growing up with a woman like that.”
“What was their relationship like?”
“Complicated. She treated him more like one of her beaus than as a son. And all those women…I found them fascinating. Learned a lot from one or two of them. But it was different for Kai.”
I thought I caught on to what he was implying, and it pissed me off. I was a mother. My daughter was only five, but I couldn’t imagine putting her in a position where she could be abused by adults she should have been able to trust. I suddenly understood Kai a bit better, and realized that we all have our stories, we all have our troubled past. I guessed the point was that we’d both learned how to make the best of it and that was all that mattered.
I hurt for the little boy he’d been, but I admired the man he’d become.
Teddy and I were sipping coffee when Kai strode into the room, the crutches gone with the sweatpants. He had his backpack slung over his shoulder. I realized he would need his computer and went to fetch it from the home office. I could feel the weight of the USB drive against my thigh reminding me of my earlier investigation. I knew I should tell Kai about it, but wasn’t sure I wanted to do it in front of Teddy. I don’t know why. It just felt like something that should be kept between the two of us.
Kai smiled when I handed him the laptop. He settled in a chair and opened it up, clicking on the keyboard as he and Teddy talked about people they both knew, names I didn’t recognize. I felt out of place, like a third wheel on a hot date. I poured Kai a cup of coffee, resting my hand on his shoulder for a moment, before putting it back into my pocket to hold the small USB drive. Kai laughed at something Teddy said, the sound making me smile.
overwhelmed for a moment with a desire to see her. I slipped out of the room again to take a moment alone. He was standing just inside the foyer, a small device in his hand that I didn’t at first understand. But when the electricity shot through me, taking the strength from my knees, I knew it had to be a taser. The man smiled as he stood over me, watching me on the floor writhing in pain.
“Hello, Briar,” he said softly.
Chapter 9
Dear Roman,
Another month and I graduate from college. I’ve already applied to the hospital in Walnut Estates and I think they might offer me a job in a few days. It’s time for me to make decisions about my future, time to realize that if you were going to respond to these letters, you would have done it by now.
I hope you’ll get to know your daughter one day. She’s beautiful and perfect, though my opinion might be a little biased. I hope you’re safe over there, hope you’ll come home happy and healthy, and I hope you’ll find happiness once you do.
A friend suggested I ask you for child support, but I’m not going to. I’m grateful to you for the time we spent together and for the gift you gave to me in this little girl. I’d like you to be a part of her life, but I’m not going to beg, not going to judge. It is what it is.
Have a good life, Roman.
Briar
Kai
It was better than I’d anticipated seeing Teddy. I’d not been terribly close to most of the boys I grew up with, but Teddy was an exception. He was always the guy I could count on to be available when I needed to get out of the house, which was usually every night, but especially weekends when my mother would throw her parties. I hated being in that house when it was overflowing with her lonely, overly affectionate friends.
But it wasn’t our shared childhood that brought Teddy and me this close friendship. It was going through boot camp together, and shipping overseas together. It was learning the ropes in the military, struggling to stay alive in a place we didn’t fully understand. Our childhood gave us insight into each other, but the military cemented us in brotherhood.
“She’s beautiful, man,” Teddy said.
I nodded, glancing toward the archway Briar had walked through. “She’s an amazing woman.”
“She likes you. I don’t know why, but…” He laughed, losing track of what he’d been about to say. “I’m glad to see you happy, bro.”
“Yeah? You think Sheila will like her?”
“Definitely.”
I smiled even as I turned back to my laptop and starting going through the information Paxton had been sending me since we left Walnut Estates. We’d need this information to go forward with the plan I’d already worked out. I’d spent the drive from Walnut Estates to Charlotte setting it up with Teddy and a few others. And now it was time to see if it was going to work.
“You sure you’re up for this?”
Teddy rolled his shoulders. “Haven’t been doing much else since I left the Army. Might as well.”
“Yeah, I know the feeling.”
“Maybe I should come down to North Carolina and join your firm.”
“We could use you.”
“I know you can.”
I laughed, shaking my head. “The ego on you, brother!”
Teddy chuckled, too. But the sound died in his throat as red and blue lights suddenly began rotating around the room. I jumped up and pulled the sheer curtains from the windows behind me, not surprised, but frustrated by the sight of three patrol cars pulling into the drive behind the van. I wasn’t ready. They shouldn’t have been here now!
“You better get out of here.”
“Briar…”
“I’ll find her. You go out the back. I parked by the back gate.” He held out his car keys. “Take my car and we’ll meet you in town.”
“All right. Make sure you take care of her.”
“I will.” Teddy patted me on the arm as I moved around the table, my laptop bag slung over my shoulder, and headed out. “Don’t worry about my part of things. Worry about yours.”
“Yeah.”
I headed out, passing through the foyer on my way across the living room. The knock came on the door as I was halfway to the back door. Teddy came out of the kitchen and stood just out of sight of the glass cinderblocks so that the cops couldn’t see him, and waited until I was out the back door. I rushed as best as I could do with the healing blister on my stump, trying not to make it worse as all that scar tissue rubbed against the socks and foam that was designed to protect me against the top of my prosthetic.
I knew the cops would be coming out into the backyard in a minute. I knew there could be a cop waiting out here by the back gate. I had to hurry. Getting arrested now would ruin an important part of this plan. I almost wished I had my other leg, the one with the runner’s blade on it. It would surely have come in handy right now.
Teddy’s car was a black BMW. I climbed behind the wheel and pushed the appropriate button, slamming away from the gate a little faster than I intended, but whatever worked, right? The accelerator was a little sensitive and my leg wasn’t. But it got me out of there, and that was all that mattered.
This was a complication. I hated leaving Briar behind. I didn’t like going into this plan without having a chance to sit her down and explain how it was going to play out. I hadn’t reckoned on her being here when I worked out this plan. Having her here was both good and bad. We could use her, but it was dangerous. If things didn’t go the way they were supposed to, Briar could be in a whole hell of a lot of trouble.
