“A lot of new faces today. You must be Mr. Wiltshire’s security team? I’m Bing, the housekeeper.” She opened the door and stepped inside before the man could stop her. The grandson was on his bed, curled into a ball, hugging a stuffed animal.

  “Hey, you can’t go in there!” yelled the man guarding the door.

  “Hey, little guy, you okay?”

  He sniffed and turned to look over his shoulder at her. His eyes narrowed, clearly puzzled as he likely wondered who the hell she was. She turned to face the guard. “Four, possibly five on the main level, two on the second.”

  “Copy that,” replied Kane in her ear.

  The guard stared at her. “Huh?”

  She crushed his windpipe, then spun him around and snapped his neck. “Make that one on the second level.” She lowered the body quickly as the man who had opened the door approached the room, now threatening her with violence if she didn’t get out of the house. She grabbed the gun off of the dead guard’s body and placed two rounds in the new arrival’s chest as he stepped into the room.

  The grandson screamed and Fang raised a finger to her lips as she looked at him. “Your grandfather sent me to help you. Just get under your bed and be quiet, okay?”

  His eyes were wide with fear, but the mention of his grandfather had him scrambling under the bed and quiet. She poked her head out the door, checking the far end of the hallway to make sure there were no uninvited guests behind her, then took up position to cover the stairs.

  Explosions rocked the main floor as help arrived.

  Kane surged through the front door with Sherrie on his heels. He headed straight ahead toward the sounds of confusion, and found four men in various stages of getting up from a table, all reaching for their weapons. He took out the two on the right and Sherrie did the same with the two in her arc. A burst of gunfire erupted to his right, and he dropped to a knee as he spun, redirecting his weapon toward the new threat.

  “Clear!” yelled one of the Echo Team members who had removed the threat from the equation. Kane headed for the stairs and to where the unarmed Fang should be with the child. He rushed up the steps, then paused before turning up the final landing. “Thunderbolt!”

  “Lightfoot!” she replied.

  He grinned at Sherrie as she shook her head. “Now I have an excuse to make her watch a Clint Eastwood movie.”

  “You have a unique relationship.”

  He shrugged as he emerged from the stairs. Fang poked her head out the door, smiling with relief as the Echo Team reported the all-clear. He glanced at the body of one of Fang’s victims, then tapped his comm.

  “Did any survive?”

  “None that I’ve seen,” replied Tanner.

  “Okay, sweep the house top to bottom, make sure there are no stragglers, and be careful, there might be other family or staff.”

  “Roger that.”

  “Control, any evidence they got word out to their buddies on the outside?”

  “Negative,” replied Leroux over his earpiece. “But I have to think they do regular check-ins.”

  “How long were we monitoring the audio?”

  “Less than an hour.”

  “And were there any check-ins during that period?”

  “Negative.”

  Kane stepped into the bedroom, finding an empty bed. “Where is he?” he asked Fang.

  “He’s under the bed where I told him to go.”

  Kane dropped to the floor and poked his head under the bed, spotting Wiltshire’s grandson huddled in the corner, gripping what appeared to be Winnie-the-Pooh, honeypot in hand. “Hey, buddy, my name’s Dylan. Are you Leonard?”

  Leonard receded even farther into the corner, but nodded.

  “Well, I’m a friend of your granddaddy’s, and so is everybody who just came here. I know it sounded scary for a little bit, but it’s over now, and the good guys won.” Kane reached out his hand. “Why don’t you take my hand and I’ll take you to see your granddaddy.”

  The boy reached out for the hand tentatively, finally gripping a couple of Kane’s fingers. Kane gently wrapped his hand around the boy’s and gave him a slight tug. Leonard pushed off the wall with his feet, then slid out from under the bed. Kane picked him up and put him over his shoulder, gently rubbing the sobbing boy’s back. He headed out of the bedroom and toward the stairs, Sherrie and Fang covering him. “Echo Team, report.”

  “We found the wife, a nanny, and a gardener in the basement. They’re fine. No further hostiles found. All that we engaged are dead.”

  Kane couldn’t say he regretted the fact, though prisoners for interrogation might have come in handy. “Photograph them all. Let’s see if we can get their IDs. Pull all their personal effects, pocket contents, phones, anything they might have on them. We’ll see if we can pull any intel.”

  “Roger that.”

  “Control, let our friend on the inside know we’re coming in with the target. We need priority access just in case somebody’s watching.”

  “Roger that. Contacting her now.”

  Sherrie opened the front door and stepped outside, Kane behind her. Gunfire swept the facade of the house and he dove over the railing and into some dogwood bushes. Leonard screamed in terror and Kane pushed him into the corner, wedging him between the poured concrete of the step and the foundation of the house as his expert ears determined where the gunfire was coming from, confirming the boy was out of their line of fire.

  “Sherrie, are you okay?

  “Yeah. But I think I lost my love for roses.”

  He poked his head up and spotted several rose bushes on the other side of the step. “Well, Chris’ wallet will be happy to hear that. Fang?”

  “I’m good, still inside, right side of the doorframe.”

  “Does anyone see them?”

  “I’m keeping my head down,” replied Sherrie. “I’ve got no cover here except some thorns, and half of those are up my ass.”

  “Both of you stay down, I’ve got good cover,” replied Fang.

  Tanner came in over his earpiece. “This is Echo Zero-One, what’s your status?”

  “We’re pinned down on either side of the front steps,” replied Kane. “Gunfire is coming from the ten-o’clock position from the front door.”

  “Copy that. We’re going out the back. We’ll flank them.”

  More gunfire sprayed the area, and this time he detected three different weapons firing simultaneously. “Zero-One, I think we have three shooters, over.”

  “Copy that.”

  “I see movement in the trees by the road,” said Fang in a harsh whisper.

  “Are you armed?” he asked.

  “I have one of the hostile’s weapons, but no spare ammo. Just whatever’s in the mag. If I get a clear shot, I’ve got enough to take out all three of them, but it looks like they’re keeping their heads down.”

  “Where did they come from?” asked Sherrie.

  Kane shrugged. “They weren’t on the property. I’m guessing they had ears inside the house and heard us breaching. They’re the backup.”

  More gunfire, randomly sprayed across the area, had Kane ducking.

  “Looks like they’re trying to flank us,” reported Fang. “One’s still at the ten-o’clock, but the other two are heading off in opposite directions to give them a wider field of fire.”

  Kane readied his weapon, aiming through the bushes at the tree line along the front of the property. His view was obscured, but all he needed was to see a sliver of whoever was attempting to gain a better position on him.

  “He should be in your field of fire in three, two, one.”

  Kane readied himself. Something moved in the bushes and he fired three shots. A man’s voice cried out, signaling success.

  “You got him,” reported Fang.

  “Engaging now,” came Tanner’s voice over the comm.

  He glanced to his right at the 1-2 corner of the residence as Tanner emerged along with one of her Echo Team members, submachine guns pouring lead at the 10 o’clock position. Additional gunfire erupted from the 1-4 corner near Sherrie, and within seconds, it was all over. The Echo Team rushed forward to confirm the hostiles were indeed no longer a threat as Kane pointed at the young boy.

  “You stay here.”

  The boy gripped his stuffed toy tighter.

  “Sherrie, get over here and cover the boy.”

  “Give me a sec.” Yelps, muttered curses, and rustling bushes followed as he dove over his much gentler foliage and sprinted toward the target he had taken down. The man had been alive enough to cry out, which suggested it wasn’t a head wound, and there was a chance he was still alive. He pushed into the tree line surrounding the property, his weapon aimed low as his target was likely prone.

  He found him exactly where he had expected him to be, gripping his side, blood oozing from a wound Kane recognized as non-fatal unless it had taken a JFK detour and defied the laws of physics.

  The man reached for his weapon lying by his side and Kane kicked it away then crushed the man’s hand under his boot, causing him to cry out.

  “I think you and I have a lot to talk about.”

  43 |

  En Route to CIA Headquarters Langley, Virginia

  Kane leaned over their prisoner, one of the rear seats folded down to make room for the now prone man. He writhed in agony as one of the Echo Team members performed first aid on him while they raced toward CIA Headquarters. He didn’t trust a hospital. There was no way to provide proper security, and he had no way of knowing if there were more hostile teams in the area. They had already taken out over a dozen in the past hour, a considerable number for any operation. These were all highly trained professionals, all well-equipped. Whoever was footing the bill had deep pockets. That suggested government, either through proper channels or back channels, and it all pointed to the Russian President, which meant unlimited funds.

  He wanted his money back and would stop at nothing to get it.

  And the fact they had taken Wiltshire’s family under their control so quickly suggested these teams were already on American soil, awaiting activation.

  He stared down at the man. “Who do you work for?”

  The man grimaced at him as pressure was applied to his wound. “Question me all you want. You’re not getting anything out of me.”

  Kane noted the slight southern accent, suggesting the man hadn’t been home in years. He activated his comm. “Control, any ID on this guy yet?”

  “Just coming in now. His name is Malcolm Archer, former BlackTide. Looks like he’s got himself his own little private security company out of Detroit. Clean record. Business is properly registered.”

  Kane frowned. “Please tell me we didn’t take out a private security detail that was supposed to be there.”

  Archer spat at him. “That’s exactly what you did, asshole! We were responding to a silent alarm.”

  A pit formed in Kane’s stomach as he exchanged a look with Tanner. But he wasn’t about to buy the story without challenging it. “Who’s your contract with?”

  Archer stared blankly at him. “What?”

  “If you’re a private security team, then who’s your contract with?”

  “I don’t know. I was just responding to an address.”

  “What company do you work for?”

  “I work for myself.”

  “So, you’re telling me, as the owner of the company, you don’t know who your client is?”

  “I’m a subcontractor.”

  Kane leaned forward, pressing on the man’s wound with his entire upper-body weight. “I think you’re bullshitting me.”

  The man cried out in agony and Tanner placed a hand on Kane’s shoulder to warn him off, but he didn’t ease up.

  “Okay! Okay!”

  Kane removed his weight and relief spread across the man’s face. “So, now are you going to tell me the truth? Or do you want a repeat of what just happened?”

  “Fine, fine. I was approached yesterday for a private job, to be backup at some guy’s house. I don’t know what was going on in there. I was just told that if I got the call or if I heard anything suspicious, to come in with guns blazing at anybody who shouldn’t be there.”

  “What was the name of the person who hired you?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Kane pressed on the wound.

  “No, I swear I don’t know! It was a phone call, a money transfer, and an encrypted email with instructions. I picked two of my old buddies from BlackTide, and that was it. We flew in last night. There was a rental with all the equipment we would need waiting for us, and we just sat on the place. We heard the gunfire over a live comm and immediately went in. That’s why we were shooting at the front of the house and not at anyone in particular.”

  “Well, you almost killed an eight-year-old boy who happens to be the grandson of somebody very important, with the means to make your life miserable, or even make you disappear permanently.”

  “This is America. He can’t do that.”

  “Buddy, you’re working for the Russians. We’re going to play by their rules. What would the Russian President do if he were the one whose grandson you had kidnapped?”

  “I guess it’s a good thing he’s not Russian then.” He laughed then gasped in pain.

  The medic looked at Kane. “I have to give him something for the pain. This is inhumane.”

  Kane leaned back and the medic injected the prisoner, a wave of relief visibly washing through the man as every muscle relaxed. Kane leaned in. “Why did you target Wiltshire?”

  The man’s head lolled to the side and he stared up at Kane. “He was always working for us,” came the slurred response.

  Kane suppressed a smile. “If he was always working for you, why did you kidnap his grandson?”

  “Because he refused to cooperate. He needed a little persuasion.” The last word trailed off and the man passed out.

  Kane climbed out of the back and into one of the empty seats.

  Tanner regarded him. “How did you know?”

  “Just a hunch. There’s no way the Russians would use private security on an op like this. They’ve got enough assets inside our borders to run this without risking involving third parties. They would only use trusted, previously vetted assets. But this was the B team. This was supposed to be an easy op. All you’re doing is holding a kid. They didn’t expect a firefight.”

  “They seemed seriously armed to me.”

  “Oh, they were seriously armed. But these guys aren’t Spetsnaz or anything close to it.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Think about it. A woman enters the building you’re supposed to be guarding, makes it all the way upstairs long enough for her to case the entire place and radio in the intel she’s gathered? We blow the doors and windows, come through the front hall, and four of them are still just getting up from the table they had been sitting at, rather than guarding the perimeter? If that were your team, would you have ever had four of them sitting at a table, especially once somebody had breached the perimeter?”

  Tanner chuckled. “No, I suppose not.”

  “We’re almost there,” said the driver.

  “Copy that.” Tanner turned to Kane. “Let’s hope Sonya arranged that priority access.”

  “If she said she did, then she did.”

  They rounded the final corner, a lineup of cars at the gate momentarily having Kane doubt his faith in Tong’s abilities. He spotted the priority access lane cleared ahead of them, two guards preventing anybody from entering, whether they believed they merited priority access or not. Sherrie was driving the other vehicle ahead of them with the rescued hostages. She honked her horn twice then laid on it. The two guards rushed out of the way, waving them through, the bollards blocking the lane lowering into the ground as the gate rose, allowing the two vehicles to speed through and onto the secure grounds of CIA headquarters.

  The driver eased off the gas, guiding them toward the entrance nearest the infirmary, where their prisoner would get proper care and then would be interrogated more thoroughly. However, that wasn’t Kane’s concern at the moment—by the time their prisoner woke up, he hoped to be back in the air.

  Because in the next five minutes, the mole was getting whacked.

  44 |

  CIA Headquarters Langley, Virginia

  Kane carried Wiltshire’s grandson, the poor boy sobbing the entire way, still terrified from all the gunfire followed by the high-speed race to safety. He still had Winnie-the-Pooh gripped in one hand, providing him with little comfort as it had likely been forgotten. Kane strode swiftly toward Wiltshire’s office, Tong already confirming that he was there. Half a dozen members of Echo Team had met them at the entrance and escorted the prisoner to the infirmary, while Tanner and the others covered him, the boy, and Sherrie. With the restrictions placed upon Fang by the government, in exchange for her lifetime pension, she wasn’t allowed to participate in what had just happened, so had returned to Kane’s off-the-books ops center in Leroux’s car.

  Tanner jogged up to an elevator just as the doors started to close. She stuck in a hand, triggering the safety mechanism, and the doors reopened. “Everybody out.” Nobody emerged, so she smacked her weapon, the resulting sound ominous to the uninitiated. “Everybody out, now!” Half a dozen reluctant passengers stepped out, their eyes widening as the rest of the armed group came into sight. Tanner urged them all onto the elevator, Leonard still wailing, as they headed for Wiltshire’s floor. The doors opened a few moments later and Echo Team exited first, covering both directions of the corridor.

  “All clear.”

  Kane and Sherrie emerged, and he spotted Tong at the end of the hall with four guards. She rushed toward them and Tanner called off her man who had raised his weapon. “She’s a friendly.”

 

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