Chapter 12 #2
Thorne nodded evenly. He’d picked up on that, too. “She was nineteen the last time she spoke to or saw Kennedy. It’s understandable that she would have some information wrong. He was in jail, and she had good reason to believe he was working alone.”
Grimm’s expression darkened. “Fucker deserves to have his dick cut off and fed to him on a hot dog bun.”
Thorne chuckled at his brother’s cynicism. “I’d grill it first.”
“Before or after you cut it off?” Grimm asked, looking up for the first time.
Thorne contemplated the question for a minute before answering. “On him.”
That earned a brief almost-smile from his youngest brother.
It faded quickly, the way Grimm’s smiles always did lately, like he wasn’t quite sure he’d earned the right to smile.
Thorne chose not to comment. Pushing Grimm was the fastest way to lose him, and Thorne had learned that lesson the hard way after Grimm had come home from his last deployment with something broken behind his eyes.
Goose and Thorne did what they could, often giving up assignments to keep Grimm busy.
The worst thing someone could do to a man like Grimm was make him feel like a liability.
Sometime later, Thorne broke the silence. “I’ll take point on the two coming from the east. You take the third.”
“The one coming from the north.” Grimm was already nodding in agreement. “He’s the furthest out. I’ll have him secured before your two know what's happening.”
Thorne appreciated his brother’s cockiness, but still cautioned, “Remember to keep him breathing.”
Grimm’s eyes glossed over for a fraction of a second before he shook the dark memories away. “I make no promises.”
Thorne put his phone away and looked out the window at the darkness below.
The sun would not be rising for several hours.
He was calm, but respected the seriousness of the situation not to be arrogant.
This was what he excelled at, neutralizing the threat before it became one.
The quiet precision that kept the people he protected from ever knowing how close it had actually gotten.
He’d been doing it his whole life, from schoolyard bullies plotting to go after his younger brothers to international terrorists threatening the constitution he’d pledged his loyalty to.
It made no difference to him. He would always stand between those who wished harm to those he’d sworn to protect.
* * *
They hit the ground running. Literally. Keys had updated their positions twice during the flight, adjusting the intercept points as Kennedy’s men drew closer.
By the time Thorne and Grimm landed and got into their respective vehicles that Keys had had waiting for them, they had less than twenty minutes before the first of the three reached Poison’s last known location.
It was not clear yet if any of the three were aware the other two existed.
Kennedy could be keeping them compartmentalized.
From a security standpoint, it made sense, but from an operational standpoint, it did not.
Regardless, Thorne doubted this was Kennedy’s first time running a capture order like this.
It was, however, going to be his last.
Thorne and Grimm split at the first intersection outside of town, each going after their assigned targets without ceremony.
Thorne found the first man exactly where Keys said he’d be, pulled over on a rural stretch of highway twelve miles from the motel. As Thorne nonchalantly drove past him, a quick glance over showed the engine was still running and the thug was studying his phone.
Parking the car around a bend, Thorne got out of his vehicle and backtracked on foot. The whole thing took four minutes, from zip ties to trunk.
Thorne checked his comms, but Grimm was still traveling north, so Thorne moved onto his second target.
Unfortunately, this one did not go down as easily as the first.
He’d parked off the highway on a gravel access road, which told Thorne he had some situational awareness. Liking the quieter, more controlled approach, Thorne once again parked his vehicle away from his target and came up on foot.
But the dust of disturbed gravel became his undoing, and the man spotted him at the last second.
Thorne reluctantly gave him credit for that.
The man burst from his vehicle like a missile on steroids, tackling Thorne to the jagged ground.
Thorne immediately rolled, taking the glancing contact on his shoulder rather than his face, but the man just kept blindly jabbing at him.
Rather than rolling him under, Thorne linked his arm under his attacker’s and flipped the man onto his back over Thorne’s chest.
The man flailed like a fish out of water, trying to get up.
Thorne applied pressure to the man’s carotid until the fight went out of him.
The entire takedown took longer than it should have, and left Thorne with a split lip he was going to have to explain to Keys.
Groaning as he felt the imprint of the stone that he’d lain on, Thorne stretched his back, feeling every second of his thirty-nine years.
He loaded the other bound man into the trunk next to the first and closed it without preamble. Getting into the driver’s seat, he checked his comms.
“Talk to me,” he said quietly.
“Wow, big brother. That sounded like it hurt.”
Thorne scowled at his steering wheel since his brother wasn’t there to experience his wrath. “Yeah, but I still got mine. How’s yours?”
“Secured.” Grimm’s voice sounded lighter than it had in a long while.
“Then get your ass moving,” Thorne answered sharply. “Rendezvous at the airplane.”
“Copy.”
Unsurprisingly, Thorne beat Grimm back to the airport.
By the time Grimm’s headlights appeared down the long drive of the private runway, Thorne was leaning against the side of the car, looking up at the brightening gray sky while remembering the good ole days when he could pass the time with a cigarette.
They loaded all three captive men without conversation, double and triple checking the restraints before doing a thorough clean of both vehicles.
Ready, Thorne pulled out his phone.
Thorne: Three secured. Coming home once I figure out where the Start Button is.
* * *
Keys might be one of the most impatient people on the planet, but he also didn’t believe in rushing things that mattered.
And this? This mattered. By the time evening settled over Mount Grove and the property behind the building had gone completely dark, he had spent the day wiring, testing, calibrating, and running contingencies that he hoped he wouldn’t need.
The sensor rigs had taken the longest, but not because the technology was unfamiliar.
After all, he’d built the prototypes, but because adapting it for this particular application required the kind of careful attention that couldn’t be hurried.
Originally, he’d built them for a veterans’ organization out of Alexandria.
The concept was simple: wireless sensors attached to major joint groups, capable of delivering targeted electrical stimulation to the surrounding musculature.
He’d even picked Tessa’s and Bear’s brains to ensure he had the anatomy correct before testing the devices on a prospect, who’d somewhat volunteered to be his first guinea pig.
The goal was to give a soldier, who had lost voluntary movement in a limb due to nerve damage, restored function.
For years, Keys had seen how Demo struggled with his missing fingers and limited mobility in his right hand, and more recently with Pirate and his amputated leg. Keys wanted to give back to his brothers, as well as other veterans, something that had been taken from them.
But tonight? Tonight wasn’t about philanthropy or righting a wrong. Tonight was about control, and finally getting some answers.
Rose and Oscar had been at his side for most of the wiring process, one of them asking precise, technical questions, while the other poked, prodded, and giggled at each demonstration.
Oscar would be sound asleep, protected inside the apartment by the time the game began.
Rose had been quiet for most of the day, likely a mixture of trepidation and excitement for what was to come.
He loved her for not judging his twisted plans, and though he hadn’t intended for her to be an active participant, she’d readily agreed without hesitation.
All three Riley brothers had been given the day, and were asked to return after dark.
Keys had briefed them quickly, and they’d been spending their remaining time before Oscar’s bedtime walking the property behind the MKSS building, learning the terrain.
Though Goose had not partaken in the snatch-and-grab, he also had not blinked twice at the sight of three men zip-tied in the building’s storage room.
Likely able to sense the tension in the building, Rose and Keys had a hard time settling Oscar down before bed. It took an extra story and the promise of maybe getting Baxter a friend to play with so he wasn’t lonely when Oscar had to leave him behind.
Then they waited an extra hour after Oscar finally closed his eyes to ensure that he really was down.
Keys had offered to set up the monitors in the living room, but Rose had declined.
She did not want to risk waking Oscar with the noise they were no doubt going to be making.
The compromise was leaving the apartment door open and an extra monitor next to Rose’s console so she could keep an eye on Oscar.