Team: Echo (10 page)

Chuckling from the bathroom door James looked at her, “Oh
darlin’ yer thinkin’ we’re just hicks,” he lay on the Southern
thick. In his normal tone he leaned against the doorframe. “The
place is wired top to bottom. There is more security around here
than the White House could ever dream of having. Daisy and Honey
live here, that extra gear we picked up was just icing on the cake
and was installed on day one when we got back.”

“
So that Gareth and Mikhail could protect Honey and Daisy
better.” That made Penny relax and she nodded. “And they have
certainly sent a hell of a lot of equipment out here to you boys.”
Which was perfectly fine in her eyes, they deserved the best of the
best with them being asked to put their lives on the line like they
were. “Well come on back to bed then James. Let’s have a small rest
and then I really think we should do this all over
again.”

“
Ten minutes,” he told her with a grin. “I need to clean up,”
he threw her a wink before disappearing into the
bathroom.

“
It’s to protect us all,” Dieter said before he yawned. “While
the tech does a lot for us we do have to sleep at some point so our
bodies can both relax and let the tech do it’s update. We’re not
entirely sure how it works but if you want to ask Anton he can
explain the intricacies of it.”

“
I pretty much understand it,” she admitted. “I read the
schematics on the tech that you boys have and it’s absolutely
impressive.” Patting his chest she smiled. “Don’t worry, I will
protect you while you sleep. I’ve never been a very heavy sleeper
so I will watch over you just in case the security
fails.”

“
If the security fails we’ll all be awake fast,” James told
her as he came back out rubbing a towel over his head. “There’s a
failsafe that sends a signal to the tech and we go on instant
alert,” he told her, tossing the towel into the laundry basket in
the corner of the room. Climbing onto the bed he turned off the
light and curled around her back gently. “It’s like a remote
control jump start that throws us zero to sixty in less than a
second.”

“
Have you guys tested that before? Had someone bypass the
security so that you can all learn just what it will feel like when
the tech does awaken you?” If not it was something they would have
to run trials and tests on.

“
We just had it put in, we’ll be doing tests tomorrow while D
and Honey are out. We didn’t want to freak them out with the system
going off since we don’t know if it’s set quite right yet. Want to
help?” James asked with a smile against her shoulder.

“
You better believe it. It only makes sense that I would. You
guys can put yourselves in a meditative state and then I will
bypass security and we will see how long it takes you to get going.
It best to know now just how all of you guys will react, as a
collective.”

“
We’ll pick a room to start from, gym would be best,” Dieter
commented. “We can all lie on the mats and go into a light sleep or
meditation and then she can set it off whenever she’s ready. We
won’t know when it happens and we’ll be far enough from weapons not
to harm her or anyone else.”

“
Which is totally good, I really would rather not be
“accidently” shot by Mikhail during this training session if you
wouldn’t mind.” She could totally see him doing it too. He still
had a serious hate on for her and she just didn’t understand why,
at all.

“
He wouldn’t shoot you,” James said with a chuckle. “When are
you going to realize he’s yanking your chain just to get a rise out
of you babe. When you stop reacting and just go with it he’ll let
you alone. He’s done it to all of us at one time or another, it’s
how he determines if he has to shoot you or not.”

She snorted. “Ha, ha, very funny. I think that he and I are
too much alike. Hell if I didn’t know better I would swear that the
two of us were brother and sister with how much we argue fuss and
fight.” And how fiercely they protected those they loved, even
their coloring and bearing made them look more alike than siblings,
it was truly uncanny.

“
Are you sure you’re not his sister?” Dieter asked, sounding
half asleep. “It would be easy enough to figure out. A little DNA
test would tell you one way or another. And if it’s not so at least
then you will know it is just the universe getting even with you
for something.”

“
Hey now, I’ve not done anything to get even with,” she teased
with a smile. “And I’m sure. I’m American and he’s Russian.
Remember? I am adopted, but as far as I know I’m as American as you
can get.” She shrugged as she spoke. “Plus, he would recall having
had a baby sister, and I am like what, eight years younger than
him?”

“
His father was in the service babe,” James said. “And he’s
Russian but born here in America. So technically he’s
Russian-American since his mother was American and the farm comes
through her family while his father was Russian born but his family
brought him over as a teen. With his citizenship here he joined the
American military. But he was gone more than not before getting
killed, who knows what he got up to when he wasn’t home. Not that I
would say anything to Mik, I like breathing on my own,” he
muttered.

“
Yeah, me too. I think that not knowing would be better than
knowing in this case.” Because damn if she was, oh no way would she
be the one to tell Mikhail that news. Nope. Not a chance in hell.
“So I think that it’s best if we table this discussion and act as
if we never had it.”

“
Not possible,” Dieter said, shaking his head. “Besides, now
you have me curious and everyone knows James will not let it go
once the idea is in his head. Plus once we tell the others and they
stick their noses in there will be no getting away from it. Best to
give in and do the test, if nothing come of it fine but I find I
need to know.”

“
No,” Penny said simply. “No way in hell. He would be
devastated and I will not have that on my conscious.” Yes she was
curious as well. She had always wondered why she had no family, why
she had been given away like so much garbage. Yes she had been
loved, but it wasn’t the same. At all.

“
We will not be telling Mik, are you insane?” Dieter opened
his eyes to stare at her. “He is very crazy and scary. No, we get
the test done and if not true no harm no birds,” he
said.

“
Foul Dieter, the saying is no harm no foul,” James
groaned.

“
Yes, that’s what I said,” he grumbled. “Fowl, birds, same
thing,” he sniffed haughtily before closing his eyes again
muttering under his breath in German.

“
Babe, explain the difference to him for the love of god,”
James murmured in her ear, a plea in his voice.

“
Foul is what you do during games when you draw blood. That’s
what he’s talking about,” Penny said softly and patted his chest.
“Get it, no harm it means no foul,” she shrugged. “I dunno, I kinda
like your way as well,” she teased.

“
No, no,” James pushed up onto an arm to stare at her. “Do not
encourage him,” he said shaking his head. “I am trying to teach him
proper American slang and sayings; we do not confuse the big guy
with anything else. My head can’t handle more
confusion.”

“
I like his odd sayings,” she confessed with a smile.
“Sometimes I have to stop and try to figure out just what the hell
he is saying but it’s okay, I like them. Enough talking, cover us
back up pretty boy and cuddle up to my back so we can get some
sleep.”

Shaking his head James pulled the blankets up over her and
flopped back down. Pressing a kiss to her back he settled his head
behind her and, in moments was sound asleep.

“
Good night Penelope,” Dieter murmured resting his hand over
hers on his chest. “Sleep well.”

Chapter Eight

Keeping her head down and body low Penny moved through the
brush, she moved quickly and with complete assurance. Dressed in
dark clothing she rolled and tucked when she came to the barrier of
the alarm perimeter. She first wanted to see just how close she
could get to the house before she broke the alarm walls.

Moving in silence she listened in on the ear bud she had been
given so that she could hear when the alarm actually broke. Getting
all the way to the house she put a note onto the house and then
moved back away from it.

Going back to the break point she broke the infrared
connection so that she could set off the alarm. Hearing the soft
beeping she smiled and took a seat on the ground to wait and see
how it worked out for the boys.

“
I swear to god she’s cheating,” Gareth said snapping
awake.

“
She knows where it all is,” Marius grumbled and looked
around. “Uh, where’s Mik?”

“
Oh shit,” James muttered scrambling to his feet. “Penny
darling be on the lookout for cranky pants. I repeat, be on the
lookout for cranky pants.”

“
I heard that asshole.”

Penny looked over at Mikhail, he was crouched to her right
and behind her, and smiled. “You moved the South perimeter didn’t
you? Wise move. The way that the tree was leaning towards the river
it was only a matter of time before it fell over. How long into it
did you alert and when did you have the secondary system put
in?”

“
The moment the line broke I was up,” he told her, shifting to
sit on the ground and look at the house. “The secondary’s been in
since we got back but I want to move it. They didn’t snap up on the
first line which means the seconds too close to the house,” he
muttered, pulling the earpiece out and letting it dangle from his
collar. Pinching the bridge of his nose he let out a breath, he
clearly had a headache coming on.

“
Headache?” Like she had to asked, she could see it in all of
them, headaches getting worse. “Is there anything that I can do to
help you?” she asked softly. “I also think that we need to add in
some pressure plates on the north side. The trees are close enough
that someone could easily move from limb to limb if they were agile
enough. The pressure plates would help to determine any additional
weight.”

Shaking his head he looked around. “I’m going to prune the
trees and yank a couple more, I don’t like where two of them are
period. Plus there’s the one that looks like a good wind is going
to drop it. Being as large as it is it’ll take out some of the
house. Or if, god forbid, there’s a brush fire it would bend in and
light the house up. The firebreak is great but I’ve seen fire jump
one of those fuckers fast. I like the pressure plates though. It’s
a good idea and something we may need to think about laying out
more like a minefield around the yard. We still have to put in new
dirt and sod so we should level everything to the right slope, drop
them in and then lay out the grass on top.”

“
Sounds like you have this all well thought out.” She looked
up at the sky and smiled. “How much longer you think before they
figure out how to get out of the gym? I’m assuming you locked them
in since I hear them cussing and they aren’t here yet.”

“
Safety feature,” he told her with a smirk. “The entire room
is one giant safe room which if you’re not out or in under a
certain time frame you’re locked in. Only the code will let them
out and they will figure it out some time in the next hour I’m
sure.” Pushing to his feet he dusted off his ass and held out a
hand to her. “I say we go and get the schematics, a cold beer, shut
off the alarm and leave them to figure it out for a
while.”

“
I think that’s a damn good idea,” she told him with a smile
and put her hand in his. “We good Mikhail?” she hoped so because
she actually liked the big guy. “I think that they will figure it
out sooner rather than later because they are afraid that you are
going to hurt me.”

Yanking her up to her feet he stared down at her. “You’re
still breathing aren’t you?” he asked softly. “I’d take that as a
good sign that things have progressed from homicidal to mildly
annoyed. Beyond that I promise nothing.”

“
Hey, I’m good with mildly annoyed.” Wiping off her ass she
walked along with him and told him, “You are good for Daisy. I’m
glad you are in her life. She and Honey both needed you. More than
I think any of you realize.”

Shrugging he moved slowly looking around as they walked.
“They are survivors and would have been just fine without us. Not
saying that to be mean but its fact. I’m glad to have them in my
life and don’t intend to lose them for any reason but the point is,
they never needed us as much as Gareth and I needed them I
think.”

“
At least you can admit that. You two needed them to give you
reason. You’ve seen and done so much that I think you both needed a
reminder of why you did what you did.” She shrugged and shoved her
hands in her pockets as she walked. “But I really think you are
wrong. I think that Honey especially needs you and Gareth in her
life. That kid worships the ground you walk on you
know.”

“
She shouldn’t, it’s bloody and covered in the dead,” he told
her. Climbing the steps he opened the door for her and moved to
shut off the system. Resetting it he headed for the kitchen. “I
just hope she never figures that out, at least for a while. No kid
needs to know the people she looks up to are killers.”

“
Don’t kid yourself Mikhail. That kid is far smarter than you
can possibly know,” Penny told him quietly. “I’m sure that she
Googled what SEAL’s do and is very well aware of just what you do
and what a sniper does. She doesn’t care. You are her father and
that’s all that matters to her Mik, and you know it.”