Watching From The Shadows: Trident Security Book 5 (29 page)

Paula sat in a chair at a card table, which she must have brought in beforehand since it looked so out of place, then opened the laptop she’d been carrying. A mobile Wi-Fi adapter was plugged into one of the ports. Harper couldn’t see the screen, but she assumed the woman was looking at a map with a signal from the tracking device she’d said was on Marco’s truck.

“Good,” the crazy bitch announced. “He should be here in about a half hour. Once he gets here, and I make sure he has the baby, I’ll get in his truck. Your money is in a duffel bag in the trunk of the car. After we leave, kill the bitch.”

C
HAPTER 23

Paula refreshed the web page for the tracking device. Everything was going according to plan and soon the man she loved would be all hers. She sneered at the whore on the ground in the stall. Lairson thought he was going to kill Harper, then take what he believed was a duffel bag full of money, and run. But Paula had other plans the worthless piece-of-shit didn’t know about—mainly the explosives she had set up around the barn.

After their initial introduction, she’d bypassed using Lairson as a middleman with Rodgers, knowing she wanted a few more things from the bomber before she killed him. She’d had him make her several bombs, with C-4, which would blow when she turned on the remote in the pocket of her sweatshirt, and then flipped the first detonation switch. Neither Lairson nor Harper would be leaving here alive.

Under the pullover, around her waist, was also a belt of explosives—just in case Marco had any bright ideas about rescuing Harper. The second switch would send them into the afterlife together. If Paula couldn’t have him and his baby, then no one would.

Clicking on the laptop’s touch pad, she refreshed the screen once again, and the signal showed Marco’s truck was approaching the exit he needed to get off at. It was amazing what you could buy and learn via the internet these days. Getting the gun, tracker, C-4, and anything else she’d needed was a piece of cake. All that had been required was Wi-Fi service and some money, which she had thanks to her unsuspecting benefactor, who was now frozen solid in the freezer in his garage.

Reaching into her pocket, she pushed the black thumb switch on the back of the remote, turning it on so it would be ready if needed. It was only a matter of time now before she finally got what she wanted—to be Mrs. Paula DeAngelis. She giggled to herself.
That had such nice ring to it
.

* * *

“When you take the exit ramp, I’ll hop out and get in the van. Are you up for this?”

Marco nodded. “Yeah. I just hope your idea about the baby works.”

In the car seat behind him, they’d used the ten-pound barbell and wrapped two blankets around it to make it look like Mara was with him. If he had to pick the carrier up, it would appear to be the correct weight. Tucked into the fabric was the radio receiver. Brody would transmit a recording of a crying baby for effect. Marco wasn’t planning on letting Paula get close enough to see it was all a scam, but hopefully, it convinced her enough for him to get the upper hand. His biggest fear right now was it was too late to save Harper. He doubted an insane woman who’d already killed someone in cold blood would let her hostage go—especially since she saw Harper as competition.

“Just roll the window down a bit, so Paula can hear the crying. Get her talking as much as you can while we get in position. Babs will be coming in from the north in stealth mode. By the time Paula hears them, it’ll be too late.”

The new chopper was a military prototype they’d gotten from Sikorsky, the manufacturers of Black Hawk aircrafts, most of which were used by the U.S. government. The special, ultramodern design helped the aircraft cruise in relative silence, making it the ideal bird to sneak up on a target. SEAL Team Six reportedly had used another MH-X Silent Hawk in the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound when the terrorist had been killed. But that information was still speculation since most of the mission was deemed classified—even to retired members of another SEAL team.

From what Egghead had found out about the property they were going to, it was an isolated and abandoned horse ranch. The satellite photos showed it was very overgrown with high grass, trees, and shrubs, which would make it easy for the team to close ranks around the barn, which was the only structure still standing. There was a grey vehicle parked near the building and they assumed that was Paula’s Honda Civic.

Marco slowed the truck to take the exit ramp as Ian prepared to switch vehicles. “Just remember…try to keep Paula calm and…well, you know the fucking deal. Get us as much intel as possible.”

Stopping at the end of the ramp, Marco glanced at his friend, who opened the door and climbed out. “Just boogie and let me know when you’re in position.”

The whole changing of vehicles took Ian less than ten seconds. When they were on their way again, Marco let the other two vehicles pass him, so they could speed up and get to the properties adjacent to the one he had been ordered to go to. It was another twenty minutes before he turned down a long dirt driveway, after getting the go-ahead from Ian and Brody, each of whom was leading a three-man team. Babs and Abbott were close by, waiting for the signal to fly in. Marco had to keep Paula on the south side of the barn to allow them to get as close as possible before she heard them. While the chopper was supposed to be silent, when it was right overhead, there was no way you’d miss it.

As he approached the run-down barn, Marco parked about thirty yards away from the Civic. There was no one in sight. Scanning the surrounding area from the driver’s seat, he knew his team was out there among the overgrowth, but if he couldn’t see them, there was no way Paula or anyone else would see them. He cracked open the rear windows a few inches and the front ones even more. When Egghead hit the transmit button, a baby’s cries would come over loud and clear. Moving his lips only a fraction, he whispered into everyone’s headsets. “No eyes on tango, yet.”

He killed the engine and opened the driver’s door. As he climbed out, the sound of unoiled hinges shrieked as a door to the barn swung open.

* * *

It’d taken Harper about twenty-five minutes before she finally was able to pick the lock on of the cuffs. Despite her sweaty hands, she might’ve been able to do it faster, but she’d had to stop every time the greasy-haired guy leered at her or when there was complete silence, to avoid her escape plan being detected. Well, she didn’t exactly have an escape plan, per se, more like a hopeful partial plan. Paula was the only one with a gun, as far as she could tell, while Lairson kept playing with a switchblade. If one of them went outside, she could grab a two-by-four and hit the other one over the head. She would then be able to escape by squeezing through the open boards of the wall at the back of the decrepit barn. Timing would be everything. For now, she kept her hands behind her back, giving the illusion she was still incapacitated, and whenever no one was watching, she inched closer to her intended weapon.

In the silence that had fallen over the barn, they all heard a vehicle approach. Pulling the gun out of her waistband, Paula hurried over to peek through a window, which was mostly covered in dirt and dust. “He’s here! I knew he’d come.” She pointed to another window on the other side of the barn, and then at two openings in the wood planks. “Lairson, check those. Make sure no one else is coming.”

Her lackey rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. When he announced he didn’t see anyone, Paula went to the hinged door they’d come through, instead of the huge sliding doors. The shriek of ungreased metal echoed throughout the vast expanse and Harper used the noise to reach over and grab the closest piece of wood big enough to do the job. As the crazy woman stepped outside, her cohort went to the glassless window and peered out. His back was to the stall where Harper was, and she slowly stood, trying hard to not make a sound. Holding the plank like a baseball bat, she crept forward. She was almost in striking range when a floor board squeaked under her weight. Lairson spun around, wide-eyed. Knowing her life was on the line, Harper took another step and swung with all her might.

* * *

Stepping away from his vehicle, Marco watched Paula exit the barn. The nine-millimeter gun in her right hand made him a little queasy, wondering if she’d already used it to kill Harper. His own weapon was hidden at the small of his waist. He held his hands out to the side so she wouldn’t perceive him as a threat. Until he laid his eyes on Harper, he would have to play along with the façade he’d started back in the conference room at Trident. He glanced around, trying to appear nonchalant. “Talk about the middle of nowhere. Is this place yours?”

The woman rolled her eyes and pointed the gun at him. “Please. You know it’s not. Lift your shirt and turn around. Toss your gun on the ground. I know you wouldn’t come here without a weapon.

Or two.
He had a back-up piece on his ankle, in addition to a knife, which was built into his belt buckle. Reaching back, he withdrew his 9mm and tossed it a few feet away from him, but still close enough so he could dive and retrieve it again. He then lifted his shirt and slowly did a complete one-eighty. “Where’s Harper?”

“Being guarded by a guy with a very big knife. He’ll release her after we leave. Did you bring Anna Marie?”

Right on cue, the sound of a baby crying pierced the air from within his truck. “Yeah, but she’s been crying for a while and it’s been giving me a headache. Why don’t we just leave her here?”

“No.” Paula shook her head and stepped toward him. Marco counteracted with a forward step of his own. He had to keep her away from the truck. “She’s coming with us.”

“All right. We’ll take her with us. But first I want to see Harper, so I can tell her it’s all over between us.”

The crazy woman stared at him for a few moments, as if trying to make up her mind. She then raised her voice. “Bring the bitch out here.”

There was no response.

“Lairson!”

Still nothing. And then McCabe’s low voice came over Marco’s earpiece. “Got eyes on the principal. She’s running north away from the barn. Shit. Someone’s on her tail. Intercepting. Stand by.”

Marco clenched his teeth, trying not to react, and trusting his team to rescue Harper and keep her safe. His job now was to distract Paula. “You know what? Never mind. I really don’t want to see her again. She’ll just beg me to stay. Why don’t we just get out of here?”

The woman looked torn between leaving with him and going back inside to find where her partner-in-crime was. Marco was tempted to dive for his weapon or get closer to her to take her down, but something was bothering him about her appearance. He hadn’t paid attention to it earlier, but now, as she twisted to glance over her shoulder, he noticed what he had thought was just her stocky body shape, was something more. The question was, what did she have wrapped around her waist? If he was over in Afghanistan or Iraq, his first thought would have been a suicide belt. But Paula wasn’t that crazy…was she?
Fuck! Think.
How could he alert the team without giving away that they were out there?

“Tango down, but not out. Principal secured.” The whispered update told him that Harper was safe, thank God, and while McCabe had eliminated the male threat, the former Army Special Forces’ sergeant had refrained from killing the man.

Paula seemed to sense something was wrong, but she surprised him by taking several steps toward him and pulling something out of the pocket of her sweatshirt. Pointing the gun at his chest, she ordered, “Get in the truck.” When he didn’t move, she barked, “Now! Or I’ll blow up the barn with that bitch in there.”

She held up a little black box with two silver switches on it.
Fuck!
As she lifted her arm above her head, the hem of her sweatshirt rose above her waist. No point in trying to be subtle anymore. “Paula, what is that? Are you wearing a suicide belt?”

A few muttered curses came over his earpiece, but he ignored them, keeping his attention on the woman’s hands. One could kill him with a bullet, the other could blow him to smithereens. She was too close now for him to escape unscathed if she flipped the switch, but not quite close enough for him to go on the offensive—not yet, anyway.

Holding his hands at shoulder height, he took a few steps backward. As he was about to go around to the driver’s side of his truck, she stopped him. “No! Slide in from the passenger side.”

Come on, you crazy bitch. Come closer.
He didn’t know which switch was the one for the belt and he couldn’t take the risk that it was the one she had her thumb on. He knew the team had eyes on both of them, but they couldn’t take a shot at her, yet. Any miss or non-lethal hit, could result in her startling and flipping the switch. A head shot could cause an involuntary jerk of her hand and fingers, again detonating the device. They would have to wait until Marco was either out of range or close enough to make a grab for the remote.

The cries from the ‘baby’ were still broadcasting and even though it wasn’t Mara’s cry, Marco knew he would do anything to walk away from this alive. He had a long life he wanted to live, and it included walking his daughter down the aisle one day.

As he took a few more slow steps backward, Babs’ voice came over the radio. “We’re coming into range. I’m going to come up hard over the barn. If you get a hand on that remote, can Abbott take the head shot without detonation? Sneeze or cough once for yes.”

A sneeze was easier to fake and Marco let one loose. The sudden ‘a-choo’ was just enough to startle Paula and he lunged forward, closing his fist around her hand and the remote while knocking her gun to the ground with his other hand. She briefly screeched in a blind rage, as he crushed her hand against the little black box, preventing her from flipping either switch. She struggled with all her might, and he fought just as hard to keep her from falling down. He would have to drop with her and that would put him in Abbotts line of fire. His heart pounded in his chest. This was the do-or-die moment—and he sure as hell didn’t want to die.