Chapter Twenty-Three #2
He flinched. “I’m fine. The doc fixed me up and sent me on my way.”
She rolled her eyes. “Bowens are not known for playing the sick card. I imagine your injury is worse than you admit.”
Grant shrugged.
“That’s what I thought.” She turned back to the counter. “Dinner will be ready in 30 minutes.”
Since going outside wasn’t an option, all the men teamed up with the kids who wanted to play video games. Seth’s team came out the winner of the fast and furious tournament.
After Helen announced dinner was ready, the kids cheered and rushed toward the kitchen.
Seth pulled Grant and Rayne aside. “Zane sent me a message. Care to guess where Rex Lawson and Eileen Reed are right now?”
Grant stared. “In this area?”
He gave a brief nod. “Even more interesting, the couple is with the four soldiers who dropped off the grid. Riley confirmed their location a few minutes ago.”
So that’s why Riley had been slow leaving the SUV. She was working.
“Stupid move,” Grant muttered.
“Agreed. They probably think they’ll be able to watch each other’s backs better by staying together.”
“Makes our next move easier.”
Next move? Rayne looked at Grant. “What’s that?”
“Interview them.”
Fun. Not. She glanced at Seth. “They’re close?”
“An hour away at a fishing camp.”
Seth inclined his head toward the kitchen. “We should go. After dinner, we’ll decide who will accompany you to the camp.”
An hour later, Rayne and her teammates helped clear the table. When they finished, Grant kissed his mother’s cheek. “Thanks for inviting us to dinner, Mom.”
“I wish your father could have been here.”
“So do we. Look, we need to go. We have a lead to follow up.”
Her eyes widened. “You know who the shooter is?”
“We have a suspect in mind but no proof yet. The lead concerns the first death in this case. It was different from the others, and we need to know why.”
“Find the person who shot your father. Nothing else matters, Grant. This shooter is evil and mustn’t escape justice.”
“We’ll do our best, ma’am,” Seth said, drawing Teagan close to his side.
They said goodbye to the rest of Grant’s family and left.
“How are we doing this?” Andre asked as they gathered near the vehicles.
“We should all go,” Iona said. “You’ll be confronting five Special Forces soldiers, all on high alert. Eight of us stand a better chance against the five of them if they go on the offensive.”
Seth remained silent for a moment, then shook his head.
“Too many people confronting them may trigger the attack we’re trying to avoid.
Besides, I’m familiar with Artemis’s training.
Two couples should be enough to handle them, especially since I believe Rex will be more concerned about Eileen’s safety than joining in a fight. ”
“I don’t think Grant should go,” Elias said.
Grant scowled. “Why not?”
“Despite telling your mother that you’re fine, we know that’s not true. That makes you a liability in a fight.”
“Thanks a lot,” Grant muttered.
“No offense intended, buddy. Just the truth.”
“Yeah? Your vision needs adjusting. I’ve continued on missions with far worse injuries than this.” He jabbed his pointer finger into Elias’s chest. “And if you think I’ll sit on the sidelines while a world-class sniper has my woman in his crosshairs, you don’t know me at all.”
Seth held up his hand to forestall more rebuttals from Elias and Grant.
“Grant needs to go.” His lips curved. “Besides, knowing him, if I tell him to chill in the hotel, he would follow us out there on his own. That also means Rayne will be with him. She won’t let him walk into a dangerous situation alone. ”
“Seth’s right,” Andre said. “Grant should go.”
“Why?” Elias demanded.
“He and the four soldiers who went off the grid were friends.”
“I still think all of us should go,” Iona said.
“We’re all in Donovan’s crosshairs because we’re involved with Echo unit.
If we don’t go in guns blazing and dressed for war, we shouldn’t trigger an aggressive response.
If Donovan is around, he won’t be able to resist targeting at least one of us.
Maybe with the team there, we’ll have a better chance of tracking and taking him down. ”
The other operatives nodded.
Teagan slipped her arm around her husband’s waist. “I think you’re outvoted, love. Give in gracefully.”
Seth shrugged. “Let’s go.”
The operatives climbed into their SUVs. Minutes later, the caravan turned toward Addison, where the fishing camp was located.
Andre glanced in the rearview mirror at Grant. “We have about an hour’s drive ahead of us. Take advantage of it.”
“I could use a nap,” he admitted.
“What’s your pain level?”
“You don’t want to know.”
Oh, no. Rayne reached over the backseat and grabbed her Go bag. She found the small bag of pain meds and gave one to Grant along with a bottle of water.
After he swallowed the medicine, Grant settled back in the seat and went to sleep.
Rayne breathed easier. Hopefully, the medicine would do its job by the time they reached the camp. An hour later, Andre parked beside Seth’s SUV in the shadows of the forest near the fishing camp.
Grant woke the moment the engine shut off and glanced around. “How far are we from the fishing camp?”
“Quarter of a mile.” Andre released his seatbelt. “You up for a hike?”
“I will be if you have athletic trainer’s tape in your Go bag.”
“Lucky for you, I never leave home without it.” Andre opened the driver’s door and went to the cargo area to open the hatchback. He rummaged in his bag for a moment, then came around to the back door.
Grant exited the vehicle and turned to help Rayne. When he faced Andre, his teammate said, “Lift your shirt.”
Andre applied strips of trainer’s tape near Grant’s wounds. “I don’t know if this will work for a gunshot wound.”
“I have to try. I need to be at least 90%. At the moment, I’m at 50% and that’s not good enough.”
Seth and the others approached. “What’s going on?” Iona asked.
“Taping near Grant’s wound to give him more support.”
Seth frowned. “Are you sure you’re up for this, Grant? There’s no shame in sitting this one out.”
“I’m fine,” he insisted.
Rayne watched him as Andre circled around to Grant’s back and applied more tape. Grant flinched a few times as his teammate pressed the tape into place.
Minutes later, their friend stepped back and surveyed his handiwork. “That’s the best I can do.”
Grant paced a few feet away and returned. “The tape helps. Thanks, man.”
“Remember, don’t yank the tape off. It has to be wet or you’ll take a layer of skin along with the tape.”
Grant gave a curt nod. “I’ll remember.”
Andre said, “We’re ready, Seth.”
“Let’s go. Be ready for anything. I doubt we’ll have a warm reception.”
Fifteen minutes later, the group walked under a faded welcome sign and into the center of the camp.
Rayne’s skin prickled. Someone was watching them. Probably more than one person. She squeezed Grant’s hand.
“I feel it, too,” he murmured.
Footsteps crunching on the gravel alerted them to someone’s approach. Rayne listened closely. More than one person.
Gino Savage, Barry Fritz, Chase Freeman, Ellis Lindsey, and Rex Lawson emerged from the shadows, each man carrying a rifle and wearing a holstered pistol. Each of them had Ka-Bars strapped to their legs. The group of men took up positions in a circle around the Fortress operatives.
Gino Savage greeted Seth with a chin lift. “Long time. How did you find us?”
“It wasn’t easy.”
The men surrounding them shifted uneasily.
“And yet you still managed it.”
“There’s always a trail.”
“We buried it,” Fritz snapped.
Seth shrugged.
“What do you want, Dixon?” Savage stroked the trigger guard of his rifle, never taking his gaze from Seth’s face.
“We need to talk.”
“About what?”
“Donovan Vance.”
Savage and his buddies stiffened. “What about him?”
“You don’t seem surprised to hear his name.”
“Word gets around.”
“So you know about the murders of Red Dawn survivors.”
“We heard.” Chase Freeman folded his arms across his chest.
“Is he the reason you’re hiding out?”
“We have the right to go on vacation,” Ellis Lindsey spat out. “Haven’t you heard of the word before?”
“That’s not what’s happening here. You’re in hiding.”
“Do you blame us?” Rex Lawson said. “Vance is trigger-happy, and he’s picking our team off like flies.”
Seth folded his arms across his chest. “You have proof?”
Color flooded Rex’s face. “Nope, but who else could it be?”
Elias snorted. “We know several snipers. Any of them could have pulled off these shootings.”
A scowl. “Why would a sniper without a connection to our team shoot survivors? That makes no sense.”
“Ever heard of murder for hire?” Andre said.
“No way,” Savage said.
“Why not?”
“This is a personal vendetta, not a task handed off to a stranger. Takes the satisfaction out of it if you pay someone to do your dirty work.”
“Not everyone can pull this off,” Iona said. “Those who can’t will either pay someone else to do the work, find the courage somewhere to do the job themselves, or simply walk away.”
The five men from the Red Dawn team stared at Iona and the rest of Artemis. Grant frowned at Ellis Lindsey, who couldn’t take his eyes off Rayne, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
“You haven’t introduced us to the ladies, Seth,” Gino said. “You’re slacking, buddy.”
“This is Teagan, my wife.” He introduced the other women.
Chase sneered. “Ya’ll are bringing your women on missions now? How far the mighty have fallen.”
“We’re not in the military anymore,” Elias said. “Besides, Iona and the others are also our teammates.”
The five men exchanged glances. “What kind of work are you doing?”
“We’re with Fortress Security.”
Barry’s eyebrows soared. “Doing what? Installing alarm systems?” Disdain filled his voice.
“Black ops.”
Silence, then, Ellis said, “Your women are in black ops?” He rolled his eyes. “Come on.”
Gino held up his hand. “Enough. You didn’t stop by to shoot the breeze, Dixon. What do you want?”
“To find out what you know about the deaths of members of Red Dawn.”
The other man’s gaze drifted to Teagan, locked on for a beat, then shifted back to Seth. “We can’t talk about classified missions in front of civilians. You know that.”
“To protect them, we told the women the bare bones of Red Dawn. No details.”
“And they accepted that without whining?”
Seth’s eyes glittered. “Insult my wife and her teammates again and you’ll regret it.”
The other man held up both hands in a placating manner. “Sorry, man. Just going by past history with barracks bunnies.”
“Teagan and her teammates aren’t barracks bunnies.”
“Again, I apologize. I won’t call them that again.”
“Rex? What’s going on? Is everything okay?”
The woman’s voice caused an immediate reaction in Rex. He whipped around and wrapped his arm around the petite woman’s shoulders. “Everything is fine, honey. We’re just catching up with old friends.”
Eileen Reed stepped into the pool of light cast by a light fixture. She studied the operatives in silence for a moment, then a slow smile curved her mouth when she recognized Seth. “Seth.” She pulled away from her husband and hugged Seth.
He pulled away from her, frowning. “Eileen, this is my wife, Teagan.”
The other woman’s mouth gaped. “Wife? I did not know you were married. When did this happen?”
“Recently. I was sorry to hear about Beau.”
She stiffened. “Yes, we all were devastated.”
“Where are the kids? I’d love to see them.”
“Really?” Rex gripped his wife’s arm and moved her further away from the Fortress operatives. “Is that your best shot at getting information from us? Pathetic, man.”
“I enjoy spending time with Anthony and Blaze. They’re the same age as my nieces and nephews.”
“They’re safe. That’s all you need to know.”
“Something wrong, Rex?”
“A military-trained sniper is gunning for us. Yeah, I’d say there’s something wrong.”
“Why do you think someone is picking off members of Red Dawn?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Gino said.
“Indulge me for a minute. I’d like to know what you think.”
“Someone wants revenge.”
“For what? We’ve gone over the mission in great detail.
None of us did anything wrong. So, who is after us?
For that matter, how did someone find out who was involved in the mission and then track us down?
I don’t know about you, but Echo unit doesn’t have social media profiles.
We stay out of the limelight. How did the shooter find us? ”
“Same for us,” Chase said, glancing at his teammates. “He makes a good point. How did this clown know we were part of Red Dawn and find our location?”
Gino glared at Seth. “The sniper didn’t know where to find us. The only one of us who went down was Beau. Sorry, Eileen. Now, though, he might know exactly where to set up his next killshot because you more than likely led him here.”
“We weren’t followed,” Andre said curtly.
“At the moment, Echo unit seems to be the target of the shooter, not you and your unit,” Seth said.
“How can you say that?” Gino snapped. “Beau is dead because of this guy.”
“Is he?” Seth looked at Rex. “Do you believe Beau was a victim of the sniper?”
“What are you saying? Of course he was. He’s dead, isn’t he? Beau was shot just like all the others.”
“Not exactly. He was shot in the back of the head, execution style. That’s a different MO from the rest of the shootings.”
“So? Dead is dead. All of them were shot. Of course it’s the same guy.”
“We don’t believe that’s true.”
Rex stared. “You believe there are two shooters?”
“It’s possible.”
“But you just said….”
“There might be two shooters going after members of Red Dawn, but we don’t believe Beau was killed by either man. And you don’t either.”
“That’s crazy,” he muttered. “What are the odds of having three shooters killing soldiers from one mission?”
“Beau’s death had nothing to do with Red Dawn. He died at the hands of his best friend and his wife.”