The Keeper (A Murphy Shepherd Novel #4)

Prologue

S omewhere on the dark web in an encrypted chat room:

Man 1: “Money received. Target address?”

Man 2: “See attachment.”

Man 1: “Security protocols?”

Man 2: “Same package.”

Man 1: “House schematics?”

Man 2: “Same.”

Man 1: “Target?”

Man 2: “Three. And I want them all.”

Man 1: “Collaterals?”

Man 2: “The mother. Hands off. Not to be harmed.”

Man 1: “Dogs?”

Man 2: “Yes.”

Man 1: “Trained?”

Man 2: “Very.”

Man 1: “Father?”

Man 2: “Away.”

Man 1: “Secret Service?”

Man 2: “Make a statement.”

Man 1: “Define ‘statement.’”

Man 2: “Leave bodies.”

Man 1: “Orders following extraction?”

Man 2: “Photographed. Then taken and held at this address until further notice.”

Man 1: “And once there?”

Man 2: “Keep them alive.”

Man 1: “Any restrictions? I need to be specific with my men.”

A pause.

Man 2: “The spoils of war. Enjoy the fruits of your labor.”

Man 1: “Much obliged.”

Man 2: “Pleasure doing business with you.”

A t 2:00 a.m., the blacked-out Suburban exited the asphalt onto a dirt road, at which time the lights were killed. A mile and a half later, six men exited the SUV and walked single file through a half mile of twenty-year-old pines. Aided by Trijicon night vision devices and thermal viewers, they stepped over or around infrared motion detectors and laser alarms, “speaking” through hand signals. A drone hovered a thousand feet above, allowing the man connected to the voice in their ear to monitor the heat signatures of the special agents guarding the compound and its occupants. The eye in the sky told them when to wait, when to walk, what code to punch, and where to step to avoid the cameras.

Reaching the edge of the field, two of the six lay prone behind Christensen Arms Modern Precision Rifles chambered in .300 Win Mag. While one member of the team ranged the target at 875 yards, the shooters dialed 7.03 MILs of elevation into Schmidt & Bender PMII optics, acquired a sight picture and superimposed the crosshairs on the target, pushed the safety to the fire position, then awaited the order. Following a seven-second countdown, both shooters pressed the trigger at zero, sending 210-grain solid copper projectiles out the muzzles at 2,804 feet per second, which reached the targets downrange 1.3 seconds later carrying 998 foot-pounds of impact energy.

Of the twelve remaining agents assigned to this protection detail, seven died in the next ninety seconds.

Once inside the home, the operatives donned gas masks and slipped felt outer soles over their boots, climbing the stairs in relative silence. Landing on the second floor, they stopped at the master bedroom, snaked a hose between the door and the floor, and opened a tank valve. They would not kill her on purpose—although when she woke, she would wish they had. Ninety seconds later, having neutralized occupant number one, they approached bedrooms two, three, and four, where each team snaked a small thermal viewer into the room to verify the condition of the occupants.

And the location of the three Belgian Malinois.

The existence of the dogs had never been leaked to the press and no pictures existed. Their presence was highly protected information.

The first camera proved dog number one was asleep. The dogs in rooms three and four were not. The first dog received a suppressed subsonic round from a Glock 47. The second dog heard the rustle of the camera, jumped off the bed to investigate, and sniffed the strange tube, which released a gas, rendering dog two just as incapable as dog one.

Two teams entered the rooms, placing masks over the noses and mouths of occupants two and three, which startled them, forcing gas into their lungs. Two seconds later, a hypodermic needle was inserted into each neck. Sleep followed quickly.

The problem came at door number four. Neither the occupant nor the dog was asleep. Another tube was placed beneath the door. Another valve opened. A minute later, both the occupant and the dog slumped over, followed immediately by an injection into the occupant’s neck. Using facial recognition software embedded in their phones, each team scanned the occupant’s face and awaited confirmation. Once received, they exited in unison, finishing dogs two and three with suppressed rounds.

While the eye in the sky monitored their retreat along with the heat signatures of the five remaining agents, one member of each team shouldered an occupant and the other covered their retreat as they returned down a hallway, down two flights of stairs, out a side door, and back across the field. That’s when the eye alerted them to an agent exiting the bunkhouse just prior to shift change. He was met with nine rounds from a suppressed Daniel Defense 300 Blackout. Returning through the pines, the team retrieved both precision rifles, placed the occupants in the back of the SUV, then drove nine minutes to a private airport where each occupant was stripped, scanned, blindfolded, gagged, zip-tied, photographed, and placed in one of three different planes.

Four hours later, the video was sent.