“Can’t get good help these days. Quit playing around and get your ass out here. I’m going for the girls. Going dark in thirty seconds.”
Girls that had been no doubt brought out as candidates for the possible buyer, a.k.a, Charlie’s distraction team.
Jack slipped on his night vision goggles, anticipating the impending blackout, mentally counting down the seconds. He found Brian in a small room off to the left, unconscious with wrists and ankles bound. Judging by the facial swelling, ugly bruises, and dried blood, he’d taken quite a beating. Like the warrior he was, Jack forced his emotions into the background to deal with later.
“Come on, buddy. Time to get you home.”
Charlie cursed in his earpiece. “Jack, there’s another girl down there. New arrival, not with the others.”
“On it.”
“Five minutes.”
“Yep. Got it.”
Shite. Jack heaved Brian over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, then continued down the hall, following the route he’d memorized from the blueprints. The plan had been for Charlie to get the girls, him to get Brian. But there was reality again, keeping things interesting.
The first two doors he came to were unlocked and unoccupied, the third wasn’t. Unlike the others, this one had an old-fashioned key lock, so waving the magic digital wand wasn’t going to help.
“Haul ass. You’re about to get some company.”
More reality. Terrific.
Heavy footsteps and shouts sounded behind him. Jack paused, turned, and fired two silent shots into the darkness, grunting in satisfaction when each was following by a dull thud. Then he aimed at the lock and fired once more.
In the dim light, he spotted a young woman cringing in the corner, arms raised defensively over her head. She looked like a college kid. A young, terrified college kid.
“Tick-tock.”
As if he needed another reminder.
“Hey, what do you say we get you the hell out of here?” he tried.
She peered up over her arms, understandably suspicious. They grew huge when she spotted Brian’s limp figure still bent over his shoulder. “Is he dead?”
“No, just resting. Let’s go.”
“He tried to save me.”
“And I’m trying to save both of you. Let’s go.”
She bit her lip indecisively, but pulled herself to standing, using the wall for support. Jack remained near the doorway, listening for the new arrivals that were sure to show any time now.
“Now would be good.”
“Move. Now,” Jack barked, making her jump. He didn’t like playing the hard-ass, but he didn’t have time to mollycoddle her, either. The command must have penetrated some of her fear, because she took one step forward... and all but collapsed.
Shouts echoed from the far end of the corridor. Shite. They were out of time.
He lunged forward and lowered his shoulder, half-dragging, half-carrying her as they hoofed it toward the exit. It wasn’t easy; Brian was heavy and the girl was stumbling, but the shouts of more armed guards pounding down the stairs and no way to reach his own weapons were powerful motivators.
Charlie was waiting at the exit, relieving him of the girl, then taking off into the darkness. Jack followed, noting a downed guard and another dog along the way. In a series of moves reminiscent of BUD/s training, Charlie handed the girl back to Jack and scaled the wall. The dead weight lifted from Jack’s left shoulder, then his right as Charlie hefted Brian up. Then Jack scaled the wall, came down on the other side. He took a brief moment to catch his breath before Charlie eased Brian and the girl down, then joined him. They jogged about a quarter mile to the waiting Humvee.
“Well?” Charlie asked as they drove away, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. “Did you have fun?”
“Too easy,” Jack said with a grin. Tomorrow, he’d probably hurt like hell, but tonight, his body was primed and racing with adrenaline.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
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October 2015
Pine Ridge
Memories assaulted him as he went into the back entrance of the pub. The kitchen had been renovated, but he still half-expected to see Kathleen at the scarred table, or feel the push of warmth on his lower body as his boys rushed to greet him.
Now it was Taryn who greeted him with a smile and his grandchildren who attached themselves to his legs.
“Hey Dad,” Taryn grinned.
“Hello, lass. Is Jake around?”
A shadow passed over her features before she could fully mask it. “No.”
Jack knew that look all too well. It was the same one Kathleen had when she didn’t want to tell him something.
“Where is he?”
“He and Ian are out of town for a couple of days,” she said carefully.