Chapter Twelve
Chapter
Twelve
“He has to be close by. If
he is operating surveillance then he has to have eyes on either the
house or the drive.” Despite it coming from the speaker of the
phone in front of him, Sam recognized that tone in Dev’s voice. His
LT was in problem-solving mode, and that helped to keep Sam sane.
Dev was one of the smartest strategic thinkers Sam had ever had the
pleasure of meeting. As soon as Sam had reached out, Bravo team
answered the call. They had come as fast and as close as they
could, and Dev, Riley, and Finn were in Dev’s Hummer, trying to
figure everything out.
“Agreed. The issue is this
place is surrounded by forest so a lot of places to hide, and the
nearest neighbors are just over two miles away,” Sam replied. He
and Nick were sitting in the living room of the house, every weapon
they had on the table in front of them, and both were dressed in
fatigues. “And we have no idea where he’s taken Aiden.”
“That’s the part we need
to work out. I’ve got Glenn and Marcel making their way toward your
location in a flanking formation.”
“What!” Nick moved closer
to the phone, panic in his tone. “We told you what that fucker
said. If he sees either of them, then Aiden’s dead.”
“First, you need to calm
the fuck down.” Dev’s tone had dropped to that low timbre that
brooked no argument. “We don’t know who this guy is, we don’t know
where he is, and he is currently holding a loaded gun on all three
of you. We figure out where he is then he loses some of that
advantage. And, don’t be fucking ridiculous, no one will see my men
coming unless they want to be seen. Now, tell me again what he said
on the phone, word for word.”
Sam closed his eyes and thought back
to the conversation, trying desperately to repeat it verbatim.
“When Nick answered the phone, the caller was surprised. His exact
words were, ‘well, now this is unexpected. When I dialed the
emergency contact number in Aiden’s cell, I figured it would be the
medic who would be reaching for his phone. I knew that he was
fucking him, but I had no idea it was some kind of freaky threesome
with the Sheriff as well.’ Then Nick said—”
“Wait,” Dev interrupted,
his voice urgent. “He said he thought the medic would be reaching
for his phone? Those were his exact words?”
Sam replayed the conversation in his
mind and a quick glance at Nick and he knew he concurred. “Yep, his
exact words.”
“That seems a little
strange, don’t you think?” Riley’s voice came over the line. “Most
people would have said they expected someone else to answer the
call, or pick up the phone. Reach implies that he maybe he was
actually watching.”
Sam and Nick shared a surprised look.
“What, you think he’s got eyes on us inside?” Nick asked, and Sam
cast a look around the entire room, searching for anything that
looked out of place or a hidden camera.
“Possibly, but I don’t
think Deefer would have let anyone into the house he didn’t know in
order to put up any cameras,” Finn added. “He’s crazy
protective.”
Nick nodded. “True. But he’s been with
Aiden at your place at night, so he could have been in and out
then.”
Sam glanced over at Nick. “Don’t you
have a security system in this place?”
Nick gave him an incredulous look. “No
of course not, why would we?”
Sam just stared at him for a moment
before he shook his head. “That does it. As soon as all this shit
is over, I am sitting down with Riley and getting our house built.
I am adding in a fucking security system, a perimeter alarm, and I
am contemplating a fucking moat!”
Silence met his outburst,
and Sam took a deep breath to calm down. Despite the dire
situation, Nick looked over at him and grinned. “Damn, you’re hot
when you throw a man-trum.”
Sam felt the heat rise in his cheeks but hoped
the muted light in the room hid it. “When this is over and we’ve
all taken our pound of flesh from this fucker, then all three of us
will sit down with Riley to plan the house, and I’ll spring for the
moat. As long as we have a clear line of sight to the dog run at
the back for Aiden, I think it’s a great idea.”
Sam grinned back and was about to say
something when Dev suddenly cursed over the phone line. “Fucking
line of sight.”
“What’re you thinking,
LT?”
“I’m thinking he’s got a
clear line of sight to where you were standing when you took that
call,” Dev answered. “Were you standing by a window or
outside?”
“No, we had come into the
house and as soon as we realized it was empty we were both standing
in the kitchen. The window is north facing.”
Nick jerked upright. “The lake across
the road is at a slightly higher elevation that the house. If he
was over there somewhere, in a tree or up on the ridge, then he
would have a clear line of sight to the house.”
There was the sound of muffled voices
over the phone line before Dev came back. “I’ve relayed that
through to Glenn and Marcel. Riley is heading toward you with a
couple of earpieces so you can all be on comms. I reckon this guy
is planning one huge fucking come to Jesus moment near that lake. I
wouldn’t put it past him to be faking about rigging your place to
explode.”
After a few minutes, another muffled
sound of voices came over the phone that Sam couldn’t quite make
out. “Christ, okay, I’m not always right apparently.”
“What exactly does that
mean?” Sam asked with a frown.
“Riley said the house is
rigged to blow, but he thinks that if the two of you were to remove
the slats in the bathroom top window, you should be able to get
out.”
“Riley thinks?” Sam
growled into the phone. “When did he pass a fucking EOD test? He’s
a goddamn SEAL!”
Dev barked a laugh. “True, but what
else have you got to do tonight?”
Just then Nick’s phone rang, and Sam
fell silent, his entire focused shifting to the phone on the
counter in front of them. Nick took a deep breath then slid the
icon to the left to answer the call.
“This is
Jones.”
“It’s just not as fun when
you know who’s about to pick up the phone.” Sam’s hands curled into
fists at the smug satisfaction he heard in the bastard’s tone. “But
I am glad you took heed of what I said and didn’t call in the
cavalry. That would have ruined the night for all of us. Aiden most
of all.”
“You hurt him,” Nick
growled, “and there will be nowhere on this earth you can
hide.”
“Aww, I can hear the love
in your voice, Sheriff, and it does my black heart good to hear it.
Well, kinda. I’ve always thought that love was a wasted emotion.
Fear is my emotion of choice. Not my own, of course, but there is
something decadent and arousing about seeing it on the face of the
person you are about to kill. There is this moment when you see it
in their eyes when all hope is lost and they know that this will be
their last moment on this earth. There is no greater power than
that.”
Sam felt ill hearing this man talk
about killing someone like others would describe a fine wine. “Are
you going to start this little game you’ve orchestrated or bore us
to death with your sick fuck diatribe?”
“Wow, medic, I never
thought you would be so forceful! That must be what the other two
see in you, a little verbal sparring fun and a good fast fuck
before they throw you to the curb. You know that, don’t you? I’ve
been asking Aiden here a few questions and I understand that the
two of them are committed and have been for years as far as I can
tell, and you are simply the latest in a long line of thirds that
they toy with for kicks and giggles.”
Sam looked up at Nick and saw the
concern that shimmered there. Sam smiled and mouthed the words “I
love you”, loving that Nick’s identical response came just as
quickly. He hated that this moment was marred by the fact that
Aiden wasn’t there to share in it, and the fact that some homicidal
jerk-off was playing with them.
“Just tell us how you want
to play this game,” Sam said. “I’m sick of all this waiting, and
you are boring me.”
There was a pause. “You’re bored,
medic?” the man snarled in the phone. Then moments later there was
a muffled roar of pain, and Sam’s heart clenched when he realized
it came from Aiden.
“Aiden!” Nick roared.
“Leave him the fuck alone!”
“You still bored,
medic?”
“Touch him again,” Sam’s
voice was ice cold, “and I will cut you before I kill you. You
wanted my attention, you have it. Tell us where to find you. You
want to test yourself against us? Then let’s fucking get to
it.”
Again there was a pause,
and Sam prayed that the man wouldn’t hurt Aiden again. “Okay then,
medic, let’s see who wins. The house is rigged to blow. As soon as
you closed the front door, you close the circuit. If you open the
door, the house will explode. Work out a way to get out, and come
to the lake across the road and get your man. Oh, and I’ve left you
a few things to test your skills along the way. They are all
connected, and get harder the closer you get to the prize. If they
are not disarmed in sequence, then Aiden here will know what it’s
like to fly apart, blown into a million pieces. You have sixty
minutes to defuse them all before the vest I strapped to Aiden’s
chest explodes anyway. The vest is also connected to my heartbeat,
so if you think to go after me before releasing Aiden, then
boom! Goodbye, Aiden,
and the two of you miss the opportunity to say goodbye to him face
to face.”
The phone disconnected, and Sam took a
deep breath, embracing the calm that fell over him. He looked up at
Nick and saw that same stillness in him. “We go out the bathroom
window.”
Nick nodded. “Agreed. That fucker
thinks we’ll be spending time working on getting out of here. The
faster we move, the higher the chance we have of saving Aiden and
catching this fuck.”
The two of them loaded up with as many
weapons as they could and moved quickly into the bathroom. Sam slid
the glass slats from the top of the window. As soon as it was
clear, Sam pulled himself up on the ledge and peered out. There
didn’t appear to be any wires on the other side. Casting yet
another prayer skywards, he started to pull himself out the narrow
opening. The window was south facing, so he knew that their
tormentor wouldn’t have eyes on him. As soon as his chest cleared
the opening, he braced his hands against the wall and pulled his
legs through the gap. When gravity took over, he twisted so that he
landed on one knee rather than on his side.
He heard a low whistle and turned in
the direction of the garage behind the house as Riley stepped out
of the shadows. “You’re gonna need these.”
He held out his hand, which had two
earpieces in his palm. Sam grabbed one and expertly slid it into
place. There was a grunt that held a thread of pain behind him as
Nick landed on the grass.
“Damn it, I should have
helped you,” Sam whispered, disgusted with himself that he’d
forgotten Nick was recovering from his own injuries.
“Don’t be fucking
ridiculous,” Nick snarled as he placed his own comms device in his
ear. “I’m fine. Now, let’s move out.”
Sam rolled his eyes at Riley. “Fucking
army, always stubborn.” He pointedly ignored Nick’s middle finger
salute of acknowledgment and began to move toward the front of the
house. As he went he saw the C4 planted in strategic places along
the side of the house. Whoever this sadistic guy was, he had money
and resources. A pretty damn deadly combination in anyone’s
books.
When the three of them reached the
drive, Sam spoke softly. “LT, we’re out of the house and at the
drive.”
Dev’s voice sounded clear in his left
ear. “Excellent, Pretty Boy.” The other two laughed silently, and
Sam promised himself that when this was over, he was shooting Finn.
“Reaper has eyes on the prize.”
Which meant Glenn could see Aiden. Sam
felt a weak wave of relief roll through him. It felt good knowing
that one of his team had eyes on him. “How does he look?” He, Nick,
and Riley began to move stealthily towards the drive, edging into
the cover of the trees.
“Pissed off.” Reaper’s dry
response came back, and Sam shared a grin with Nick. “He’s hurt,
but not critical. He’s staring at the vest he’s wearing, and if I
am reading his lips right, he is lamenting the fact he doesn’t have
something he calls his Leatherman?”
Nick nodded. “Yeah, it’s this cool
multi-tool knife thing that he uses to defuse shit. It’s part of
his kit.”
Sam came to a halt. “The guy said that
he’s left a few things along the way. We’re going to need that
Leatherman.”
Nick melted back into the shadows and
disappeared back to the house.
“How in the fuck are you
going to do that?” Riley asked quietly. “From what I know it takes
years to get skilled in EOD.” Sam heard a soft curse down the comms
and knew it was Dev.
“Yeah, I get that,” Sam
answered with a shrug, “but what the fuck are we going to do? Aiden
is at the end of that road, hurt and wearing some sort of explosive
vest. We’ll do what we have to do, and work it out along the
way.”
Riley nodded but still looked
doubtful.
“Do me a favor?” Sam
suddenly asked and waited until Riley nodded. “If Nick and I blow
our shit to kingdom come and back, kill that fucker slow for
me.”
Riley’s grin was bloodthirsty. “Hell,
Sam, you heard your LT. We’re all going to get the chance to take
our pound of flesh from that sick fuck. I’m betting you and Nick
will be there to take yours first.”