The Dom Who Came in from the Cold, page 39
part #57 of Masters and Mercenaries Series
“According to what Joseph found out on the Dark Web, he thinks she hired at least seven to ten, and she’s probably already got a new Consortium assistant,” MaeBe explained. “He’s the one we have to be careful of because the rest might lay down arms when they realize they’ve been caught, but he won’t.”
“I don’t intend to leave any of them standing,” Ian vowed. “All right. When is Drake meeting with her men?”
“Seven,” Adam replied.
“Good. It’ll be dark then.” Ian picked up his cell. “I’m going to tell the others to be ready. I’m sending Ten in. We need to know where they’re holding Kala and Kyle and how hard it’s going to be to get them out. We have to hope Julia is distracted by the handoff.”
A terrible plan hit MaeBe. Terrible, but also likely excellent. What was one distraction when they could have two? “I can give her a distraction. I assure you, you’ll be able to walk Kala right out. You can come in from the tunnels, and she won’t be bothered with the security cams.”
“MaeBe,” Charlotte began.
She shook her head. “I get to make this choice. It’s mine and I’ll do it not for you but for Kala and Kyle. And I’ll do it for me. I need to face her.”
“We will move as quickly as we can,” Ian promised. “I won’t leave you with her for long. If you get a shot to kill her, take it. Do not monologue. Do not play with your prey.”
“I’ll handle it,” she promised. “And she won’t ever see me coming.”
MaeBe walked into the other room to get ready.
It was time to end this.
Chapter Twenty-One
The light from the streets had long since faded but the moon above was full, and MaeBe knew that meant there would be plenty of opportunities for the security cameras to pick up on the fact that a team of Taggarts was about to move through the tunnels. Earlier in the day, Tennessee had carefully sent a small drone through. It was disguised as a mouse, though anyone who paid real attention would have been able to see the way the thing moved was different than any natural creature. Still, it had done its job, and Ten had been able to map the tunnels. They now knew they could get into the house, but they had to get through the security system inside.
“Hey, you know you don’t have to do this.” Hutch’s voice came from over the small device in her ear that she would ditch before she actually started the op.
She kept her voice low. The house was still a hundred yards or so away, but she wasn’t taking any chances. “You know I do.”
“I can cause some chaos,” Hutch promised.
They’d been over this a million times since she’d come up with this plan. Hutch had gone over all the ways they could distract Julia so they could extract Kala. Ian and Charlotte had understood the situation. When she’d gone over it with Drake, he’d agreed this was the way to go. Hutch had fought her.
“Chaos alone won’t distract the whole group,” she explained for the hundredth time. Her patience didn’t wane because she understood how hard it was to be at the other end of the connection. It was worse because she was about to dump that connection, and Hutch would be left helpless to do anything but the job. “Julia’s not dumb. She’s a good tactician. If we don’t overwhelm her on an emotional level, she’ll make the right calls, and then we’re all in trouble. I’m the only one who can push her that far.”
“You can push her to kill you.”
“She’s a predator who likes to play with her food,” MaeBe replied, watching the yard around her. So far she hadn’t seen any evidence that there were actual humans patrolling. Julia was relying on tech.
That was a mistake.
MaeBe had written the protocols that would break the code on the door that led from the tunnels to the basement. It wasn’t biometric. The tech on the door was surprisingly dated. Likely because if they switched it out, they had to bring in people and questions could be asked. From what Joseph had told him, Julia and her father had always been paranoid about keeping their safehouse as private as possible. The Consortium board didn’t know it existed, hence they had outdated security on the tunnels. Ian had recognized the system. It was one he’d put in a thousand times before, one he trained all his employees on, so they knew all the backdoors. Still, it could take a while to break the code, and she was going to have to buy them that time.
Likely with pain and blood.
“I don’t like the idea of her playing with you,” Hutch said over the line. “She’s going to hurt you, Mae.”
Nothing would hurt worse than not getting Kyle back. Than knowing she hadn’t done everything she could for Kala. “I can handle it. She’s done it before. I survived. I know how to keep her angry, but not so angry she kills me. And once they get Kala, they’ll come for me.”
Ian would never ask her to take a minute’s more pain than she had to endure. She’d found a family that would never leave her behind.
It was enough.
And then she and Kyle would cuddle up, and someone would take care of them while they healed from whatever that woman was about to do. She would likely find herself right back in Grace’s pool house, curled around Kyle and taking a whole lot of pain killers.
It wasn’t such a bad place to be because this was only time, and it would be finite. The pain would pass. Her love would not.
“We’ll all come for you,” Hutch promised. “Now if we’re going to do this, it’s time. The mercenaries she sent to meet with Drake and Taylor can’t get back for at least another hour.”
Adam had identified four men in the SUV. Why Julia had sent what might be half the men on her team had been debated over, but she accepted Drake’s explanation. Julia feared Taylor. Julia had tangled with Taylor and didn’t want to come out on the wrong end of that fight again. Taylor had pricked Julia’s pride, and she wouldn’t underestimate her.
She would not feel the same way about MaeBe. It was exactly what she was counting on. “I’m going silent. Let Ian know he has a go.”
She took a deep breath and pulled the device out of her ear. Hutch would let Ian know she was going in, and he could start the countdown.
MaeBe stood just outside the security cameras on the big lawn that ran down from the highway to the house. The place was thick with trees, and anyone driving by wouldn’t know there was a house here at all, much less the estate that had been in the Radcliffe family for well over a century.
Kyle was somewhere in that rambling mansion, and so was Kala.
She had to hope this house wasn’t about to be her tomb.
The phone in her hand buzzed, letting her know the message had been received and she had a go.
MaeBe let the cell phone drop and then eased around the big tree. She had to make it look good, like she was trying to stay off the security cameras, trying to sneak up to the main house.
She had several guns on her, but she didn’t expect to make it far with them.
She moved to the side of the house, inching around the cameras so it would catch a glimpse of her.
That was when she set off the perimeter lights. They came on, flooding what was previously dark with harsh white.
She dove for the side of the house, out of the cone the light created. She wished she didn’t have to be so dramatic, but she was selling a scene. Julia wouldn’t believe her if she simply walked up to the door.
She had to make this look good and hope the men Julia had left behind were paying any kind of attention.
Ian and the team needed every single eye away from the security cameras when they started in. Hutch was going to cut their Wi-Fi and switch the feeds to a loop they’d made and then Ian could move in freely.
But those eyes needed to be on her for the ten to twenty minutes it would take for them to get into the house or they could get cut off coming around a corner, and she wasn’t willing to risk a firefight in the narrow tunnels. They would be caught, and if someone came up from behind…
She wasn’t going to think about that. It was time to put away worst-case scenarios and only deal with what was real and happening in front of her.
A door opened above her, and she realized someone was paying attention.
Joseph had told them Julia preferred to work with small, well-trained teams. Sometimes because she killed them rather than paying their wages. He thought there would be no more than ten men on the team, and four of them were heading to DC.
Six men, give or take a few, and Julia.
“What the hell?” The guard was a big man, and he looked more like he was ready to work out than get into a shootout. He lifted his Glock, holding it in a way that let her know he was good with it.
She let hers drop to the ground.
Hopefully she would be showing off the skills Ian and Erin had taught her, but she wouldn’t be doing it right now.
Right now she would pray this guy didn’t simply blow her away.
She held her hands up. “I’m in the wrong place.”
“You are definitely in the wrong place,” another voice said. A man who was slightly smaller than the first stepped out. He had dark hair and was dressed in tactical pants and a T-shirt. He looked her over, assessing every inch of her for threat, and then sighed, a tired sound. “Who are you and what are you doing here? This is private property.”
The first guy kept his eyes on her. “Hey, she’s got a gun. A couple, actually. You think she’s a fed?”
This was the part she had to do well. “I’m not law enforcement. Julia’s really here? They didn’t believe him. They didn’t want to risk anything…”
“Him?” The second man stepped off the big wraparound porch. “Who is him? I was told no one knows about this place.”
The first guy kept his gun up. It was obvious he wasn’t falling into the trap that she was small and no threat. “I knew it was a bad idea to send John and the others off. She should have made the meet spot closer. They’re too far away. Slowly take that gun out of your shoulder holster and kick it my way.”
The second guy looked back. “You honestly think we can’t handle her? She’s maybe one twenty, and I will be shocked if she knows how to use the guns.”
“Hey, I meant what I said,” the first guy reiterated in a hard voice. “The gun, now.” He turned back to his coworker. “Don’t underestimate her. We should call the boss.”
“Or we could have some fun with her.” Second guy seemed bored and ready to do something about it.
She was far more worried about the first one. She might have to show her hand.
Well, she’d come to make some chaos. If they were chasing her, they weren’t paying attention to the group.
When the man put a hand on her, his lips curling up, she knew exactly what to do.
She quickly brought her hand up and in a moment had the guard’s gun in one hand, his wrist in the other. She twisted him exactly the way Erin had taught, making his big body her shield. His body jolted as the other guard reacted far too soon. He’d seen her moving and thought he could take her out. Instead, she’d gotten his friend in front of her in time to take the bullet that would have been a head shot for her.
It lodged deep in his chest. She fired under his arm and took out the big guard’s left lung. One more shot and he wasn’t breathing anymore, shuddering as he hit his knees and then the hard wood of the porch.
It wasn’t how she’d thought it would go, but she had been taught to be flexible.
She let her shield drop. The guy was way too heavy.
That was the moment when she realized there was a red dot hovering over her heart. She glanced up, and Julia was on the balcony overhead.
“Don’t you fucking move.”
MaeBe forced herself to go still.
Another man showed up on the porch, his eyes looking at the two guards she’d taken out. His weapon came up, and MaeBe realized she could die. This could be it.
“Don’t you pull that trigger.” Julia held herself steady.
“She killed Hank and Bill,” the guard said, his eyes flashing hatred.
“And I’ll kill you if you don’t obey orders,” Julia replied. “This is Mae Beatrice Vaughn. I would like to know how she found me and who else is out there in the woods.”
Mae shook her head, her hands in the air now. “No one. I came by myself.”
“Sure you did. I want an explanation of how you found us, and I want it now. How did my brother know I still own this house? Our father did an excellent job of hiding this place.”
This was where she had to make some choices.
“Drake didn’t know. He didn’t believe it when we were told we should look here. Neither did my boss, but I had to check.” Her heart beat against her chest so hard she was almost certain she could hear it. “Drake didn’t know you still had this place, but John did. Does.”
“What?” Julia stood, the rifle coming down as she stared at Mae.
If Julia hadn’t had the high ground, Mae thought she could have taken the new guard. He was distracted by the bodies and getting too close. She could see the move play out in her head. Kick up and catch his balls. Then when he bent over, she would bring the flat of her hand up to crush his nose and send the cartilage up into his brain.
Instead, she stayed where she was, holding her hands up to show she was no real threat. “The man you called John is alive, and he told me where to find this place. Like I said, no one wanted to listen, but I had to come see for myself. I had to find Kyle. No one cares about Kyle, so it has to be me.”
“John died,” Julia stated, no emotion to her tone.
MaeBe shook her head. “He didn’t, and he had a lot to say. Take me to Kyle and then I’ll tell you what he said and who he really was.”
This was what she was counting on. Julia stood there for a moment, staring down at her. Mae knew what she was doing. She was calculating whether or not she could believe Mae, deciding if she even had a choice.
“Bring her inside. Restrain her first, and check her for any weapons,” Julia said with a frown.
He gripped her arms, placing zip ties around her wrists that he tightened far more than he should. They bit into her, and she would lose feeling if they were left on for too long. “You have made a big mistake coming here.”
The lights flickered off and then on, and she knew Hutch had cut into the power and the Internet. The power was already back but the Internet wouldn’t be, and they would all blame the brief power outage. By the time they’d reengaged the security system, Hutch and Adam would be inside, changing the code and feeding the monitors with the hour of footage Ten had taken by carefully placing his own cameras near the ones that protected the tunnels.
She was right where she needed to be.
Julia had briefly looked back as the power flickered. “Perhaps we should…”
She couldn’t allow the woman to send someone to check on security.
“John saved me from being taken in by your first team,” MaeBe announced. “In fact, he was the one who took them all down. I’ll tell you why if you let me see Kyle.”
“I thought John was the guy in charge after you,” the guard said, his hand curling around her arm and squeezing her tight. “If he’s talking about the group you work for, we have a much bigger problem than the girl and your boyfriend.”
“He’s dead. He would have come back to me if he hadn’t died,” Julia replied, but it was easy to see she’d been shaken by that news.
Yes, she’d known this would be the way to buy the time she needed. Julia had to be hyper focused. The need to recheck her security was gone in the face of a situation that was much more horrifying. And immediate.
“How do you think I found this place? Your former assistant told me about it. Drake said it wasn’t true, and Ian believed him. They don’t want to trust Joseph, but I did,” she stated, letting her chin come up and showing her stubborn will. “And I’ll tell you all about him if you let Kyle go.”
Julia’s eyes narrowed. “You’ll tell me everything, and I’ll enjoy getting the information out of you. Bring her inside. I want her in the guest room. She’ll tell us everything we need to know. And if anyone else shows up, shoot them on sight. And check her for a tracker. If you find it, cut it out of her and flush it down the toilet. I need to know if someone else is coming. I’m going to call John.”
Pain screamed through MaeBe’s shoulder as the guard wrenched her along. It was a close thing to stay on her feet.
She prayed Ian worked fast.
* * * *
Julia couldn’t believe that bitch had walked right up to her safehouse. It was a bold move for such a sniveling little girl. And a liar.
John couldn’t be alive. John wouldn’t have betrayed her like that. Never. John had been with her for a long time. He’d been an excellent assistant, always doing what she needed. He’d been a halfway decent lover. He wasn’t Kyle, of course, but he’d gotten the job done.
Had he betrayed her because he was jealous of Kyle?
She stalked through the familiar halls, her mind whirling as her cell rang.
It was the new John. She stared down at the phone. Could she trust him? Could she trust anyone at all? She slid her finger across the screen to accept the call even as she made it to the landing where she could watch the big guard she thought was named Ken drag MaeBe in. Usually she didn’t believe in letting men hurt women unless it was absolutely necessary, but she would allow this one. This act of anger and misogyny would let MaeBe know what was going to happen when a real expert had her.
“Did you get it?” There was only one thing that mattered more than whatever knowledge MaeBe had.
“I have it, and I’ve already looked through some of it,” John said over the line. “I can verify a couple of the items in this report. Some it’s going to take time. However, if this is true, your father had a lot of material on the board. What the hell was he planning on using this for?”
