Chapter 7 #2
Before Rogue finished talking, Keira was already shaking her head. “We can’t risk any kind of communication that could be intercepted. Jade’s life depends on it. I don’t even want you to come along, even if you keep your distance. She needs my help.”
“Remember when I told you I was a sniper in Delta Force?” Rogue asked.
“We need to swing by my place in Bruer so I can pick up my sniper rifle. It’s on the way.
When we get to Bandera, I can set up far enough away that she’ll never see me, but I’ll still be within range should this turn out to be a trap.
That’s all the more reason for us to arrive well before the designated time.
We can scout the surrounding area for lurking bad guys.
” He let go of her hand. “This is the kind of training and missions I was a part of as a Delta Force operator and during my time with Stealth Operations Specialists. It’s what I do. ”
“As Onyx, I trained and conducted missions as a solo operator. I was one person sent out to accomplish a mission. I didn’t coordinate with anyone else. Just me and my quarry.” She frowned. “Adding another person...complicates things.”
“It doesn’t have to be complicated,” he said. “You’ll be the sole person to meet with Jade. I’ll be your silent six. Plus, I’ll provide the same cover for Jade should anyone crash the party.”
“I already decided to risk your involvement,” Keira said, “but no one else, please. The fewer people who know we’re heading for Bandera, the better.
As for stopping in Bruer to pick up your rifle.
..” She grimaced. “By now, they know I’m with you.
They could be staking out your house, waiting to see if you show up with me. ”
“I have a safe in a storage unit in Leon Springs between Bruer and San Antonio, where I keep my spare sniper rifle. I pay for the unit with a credit card under another name. It can’t be traced to me.”
Keira raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that illegal?”
“Like you, we have to protect ourselves,” Rogue said. “Especially since we’ve disengaged from the government.”
“You don’t trust the government?” she asked.
His lips twisted. “I don’t trust that government data hasn’t been compromised. So, are we good? We’ll pick up my rifle. What about a vehicle?”
She frowned. “We have my motorcycle.”
“If Jade is on foot, we can’t all ride on the motorcycle.”
Keira’s lips curved. “I have a truck.”
Rogue’s eyebrows rose. “You do?”
She nodded.
“Where?”
“In the shed beneath the trees. I even have several license plates we can switch out, if needed. It has a full tank of gas and good tires.”
Rogue grinned. “Then we can take the truck.”
Keira shook her head. “You can take the truck. I’m going on the motorcycle. It gets around and away easier, faster and into tight places.”
Rogue stared at her for a long moment. He looked like he wanted to argue the point.
Keira lifted her chin, ready to defend her point.
Finally, Rogue nodded. “Okay. It might be good to have more than one vehicle available to get away in or use as a distraction. Though I’d rather be with you on the trip down.”
“You can follow me,” she said.
They made breakfast of scrambled eggs and peanut butter and jelly cracker sandwiches. Keira ate the eggs, knowing she needed the protein to keep up her strength. They had no idea what they were heading into, and for once, she was glad she didn’t have to go in alone.
Rogue fitted each of them with radio earbuds, insisting it was better to keep talk on cell phones to a minimum.
Armed with handguns, hats and sunglasses, they took the backroads from the cabin in the Hill Country west of Austin, through Dripping Springs, Blanco and Kendalia.
As they neared Bruer, Rogue took the lead and headed south at Bergheim to the north side of Leon Springs and the storage facility along the Interstate 10.
The storage unit looked like any other generic storage unit, one of a hundred units available.
Rogue unlocked it and ushered her into the darkened unit stacked with cardboard boxes near the entrance.
He closed the overhead door before he switched on a battery-powered lantern to reveal the safes lining the walls behind the boxes.
“How many weapons do you have in here?”
“A few. I’ve collected them over the years.” He worked the combination lock on a large, heavy safe until the tumbler clicked and he opened the door.
Inside was a gun case that looked like a long, narrow suitcase.
He pulled it out and opened it. Inside was a specialized, military-grade rifle with a powerful scope.
Rogue closed the case, grabbed six fully loaded magazines and fit them into a bandolier.
He reached into a plastic storage container and pulled out two bulletproof vests.
“Who are those for?” Keira asked.
“You and Jade,” he answered.
Keira shook her head. “Too heavy. They’d slow us down.”
He frowned. “They’d also slow a bullet or a knife.”
“I’ve gotten out of more situations being light on my feet.”
“Tell you what—we’ll take them.” He hooked the vests and the bandolier over his arm and grabbed the handle of the gun case. “You can decide to use them or not when we get to Bandera. Better to have too much ammunition or protection than not have it and wish you did.”
Keira wasn’t convinced. She’d always relied on stealth, speed and the use of quiet, but lethal weapons to accomplish her mission. Still, she hadn’t been trying to bring down a powerful organization with unlimited assets and assassins. “Let me carry something.”
He handed her the gun case. Together they stepped out of the storage unit and transferred the items into the back seat of the truck. After Rogue closed and locked the unit, he climbed into the truck and Keira onto her motorcycle.
The sun sank toward the horizon as they drove the backroads between Bruer and Bandera.
As they entered the small town, they split up, taking side roads through neighborhoods to get through the town without parading down Main Street.
When they emerged on the west side of town, Rogue took the lead.
With the coordinates keyed into his map application, he’d pass the turnoff and keep going until he found a place to pull off the road and hide the truck.
Then he’d hike in, set up his rifle within range of the barn and wait for Jade and Keira to show up.
Keira would find a place to pull off the road on the edge of town and wait until closer to the designated meeting time to drive the rest of the way on her motorcycle.
“I don’t like leaving you, even for a few minutes, much less an hour,” Rogue said into her radio headset as he kept going when she’d found a place to pull off the road.
“Go. I’ll be okay. Especially, knowing you have my six.” Her pulse beat faster. “I’ll see you in a few.”
“Keira, I wish you were wearing the body armor. It could get bad. Thing is...I care about you. Please, be safe,” he said.
“You, too.” Keira’s heart fluttered and warmed at the concern evident in his words and tone before they went radio silent. She was on her own for the next hour, waiting for that time when Rogue would relay he was in place, and she would move in to meet with Jade.
Time dragged, the minutes feeling like hours.
She’d parked her motorcycle behind an abandoned fruit stand with a live oak tree shading the stand and her location from the heat of the Texas sun.
Every time a vehicle passed on the road, Keira tensed.
She sat on the motorcycle, ready to start the engine and tear out should someone slow to a stop and question her existence there.
No one did, and the time stretched interminably. Finally, her burner phone vibrated in her pocket. She read the text.
Unknown Caller: Eagle has eyes
Keira: Green?
Unknown Caller: Neg
Rogue was in place with a view of the barn, and Jade had yet to appear.
Keira glanced down at her watch and up at the colorful sky as the sun set fire to the horizon in the final throes of its descent. The time had come to meet with Jade.
As she started the engine, she sent a silent prayer to the heavens that Jade would be the only person there.
She drove out on the highway leading west of Bandera, following the GPS on her cell phone to the turnoff. She slowed but passed the entrance to the abandoned farm. Twenty yards further, she pulled off the road and laid her motorcycle down behind the brush.
“On foot, moving in,” she said into her radio earbuds.
“Still clear.” Rogue’s voice in her ear gave her more confidence. He was watching over her and Jade.
Moving through the trees and underbrush, she worked her way in, moving parallel with the old farm road until she came to a clearing where a big, weathered gray barn stood in the golden haze of sunset.
Keira paused in the shadows.
“No company detected,” Rogue whispered in her ear.
Her pulse pounding, Keira drew in a breath, stepped into the clearing and spoke softly, “I’m here.”
For a long moment, she stood with her empty hands held out.
Had they come to the wrong place? The wrong abandoned ranch and barn?
“Door’s opening,” Rogue said. “I have a bead on it.”
Keira tensed and prepared to throw herself to the ground if bullets started flying.
A pale face peered out, a dark cap of hair falling to just below her ears. Dark, rounded eyes searched for and found Keira. “You came,” she said softly.
The Vietnamese American woman, lithe and dressed in black, emerged from the barn, armed and wary. Her gaze swept the clearing and the shadows beneath the trees. A few years younger than Keira, Jade moved with the same control and silence.
Keira’s heart pinched hard in her chest as she stared at a younger version of herself.
They stood staring at each other in the dusty barnyard, the last light of day fading into gray.
Jade shook her head slowly. “You really came.”
“I told you I would,” Keira said.