Big Bad Wolf (39 page)

She shivered despite the heat, knowing her own chances of survival were slim.
The man with the horrid-smelling cologne had explained exactly what he was doing every step of the way, had enjoyed watching her face go whiter and whiter.

Finally, he’d smiled, and said, “Better not make any unexpected moves, my dear.
But then, someone is bound to try to wake you when they see you huddled under this blanket, don’t you think?”

He didn’t mention who he thought might be the one who would wake her.

Grace mustn’t come anywhere near her. In desperation, she worked her tongue and teeth furiously against her gag.
It moved just a little but the exertion tired her face out after a while, and she felt numb and helpless.
Maybe she was imagining the gag didn’t feel as tight as in the beginning.
Gingerly, she lifted her shoulder to rub against her mouth, careful not to move her fingers.
It hurt as the ropes cut into her flesh, and she struggled between pain and concentration.
Her panting made her realize her gag was finally loose enough for her to make some kind of sound.

What came out of her throat was a hoarse croak, barely audible through the blanket.
No one heard her.

*

Nick didn’t like the silence at all.
He circled the house under the shadows of the giant oaks, but couldn’t see any movement or light from within.
His own stomach burned as fearful imagery invaded his thoughts.
Was she all right?

Behind him, Jed was as silent as a shadow.
Evasive training ensured light feet and quick reflexes.
“Wait,” his soft voice cut through the quietude of the area as Nick ventured closer to the front porch.

Nick paused, his hands already on the wooden railing, about to heave himself over.
Looking in the direction to which Jed was pointing, he saw a red reflector sticker on the eave.

“That’s Grace’s,” Jed told him, coming nearer.
“It means danger.”

That didn’t ease his fear one bit.
“I’m going in,” Nick asserted.

“No.
Red means to stay put.
We’ll walk around the house again, Number Three.”

The sudden use of his code name forced him to act rationally.
Nick hesitated, reluctant to follow his leader’s direct order.
Jaymee’s safety was on his mind.
Jed’s gaze was piercing as he waited, and after a moment, Nick released his hold on the railing.
As they circled the house one more time, they noticed more red reflector stickers spaced on various parts along the eaves.

“How did she find time to go around the house to do that?” Nick wondered.
“And she would need a ladder to reach that high.”

“Not if she was on the roof,” Jed suggested.

Nick frowned.
Why would Grace be hanging upside-down on the roof pasting reflector tape?
Unless....

“Is she still up there?”

“I’m here.”

The sound of disturbed foliage made them turn around, and Grace suddenly emerged from a clump of trees, a little out of breath.
She had on a camouflage body veil, a one-piece lightweight construction
which
covered her from head to foot, and the two men wouldn’t have made her out from among the trees, if she hadn’t spoken up.

“Where did you go?” Jed asked, as he watched his daughter peel off the hand loops, then push the material back to reveal her dark head of hair.

“I followed the two men to make sure they were really gone before I attempt to get to Jaymee.”
Grace shrugged out of the mesh.

“Jaymee’s OK?
Where’s she?” demanded Nick.

“She’s inside the house.”
As Grace gave them a synopsis of what happened, she folded the body veil into a surprisingly small square with quick, practiced movements and pushed it into the unobtrusive butt-pack she had on.
“The two men are gone now, and I’ve got their car plate number.
It’s a rental.”

Jed nodded.
Nick didn’t give him a chance to speak.

“Later,” he told Grace.
“If Jaymee’s in there, why aren’t you with her?”

Grace pointed to the reflector stickers.
“That was to tell you guys to leave the place alone if you happened to get back before I do.
Jay’s safe as long as you don’t go inside.
At least, that’s what it looked like to me, when I saw them wiring every door and window before they took off.”

Nick’s heart dropped into his stomach.
Fuck.
The damned place was rigged.
“Jaymee is in there alone?”
He stared at the house, which now took on an eerie, mocking demeanor.
“Why isn’t she trying to get out?”

Images of her dead inside.
No!
He refused to think of that possibility.

“I think she’s OK,” Grace informed them carefully, her brown eyes concerned, as she looked her second cousin over.
“I sneaked out of the window in the upstairs room when they forced her inside, and I heard most of the conversation before they closed the windows.”

“If every door and window is wired, we’re going to need a team here to get inside,” Jed noted.

“No, you can go in, Dad,” Grace said, and pointed to the roof.
“They forgot one opening.”

“The skylight hole I cut out,” Nick breathed.

“Yes, but I couldn’t jump down myself, so I couldn’t check on Jay,” Grace said, her voice apologetic.
“I’m sorry, Kill.”

Nick forced his eyes from the house and turned to Grace.
He pulled one of her pigtails with affection and knuckled her chin.
“You’ve done enough, Trouble.
Now stay out of sight, hmm?”

Grace nodded, then pointed to a ladder lying on its side by the house.
Nick gave her a strained smile, and went to get it.
As she watched him prop the ladder against the house eave, Grace exchanged a glance with her father.

“Dad, it’s the encryption board.
It has some sort of tagging device.”

“We already figured it out.”

“Did you pass on my message to Kill?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve been thinking.
I suspect there’s a homing device of some sort on
the
e-board.
The signal led them to him and the others.
I don’t think they were after the Virus unit.”

“Too bad for them.
Now the unit’s going to be after them.”
Jed said, deadly intent on his face.

“Hired mercenaries,” Grace notified him, her eyes gleaming.
“I’m very sure of that, Dad.
Probably hired by either the Chinese or the people your team took the board from.”

Jed’s eyes glittered back from his dark, tanned face.
“Don’t let me stop you from finishing my job for me, little Trouble.”

Grace smiled brilliantly, then sobered up.
“Cousin Kill will need help down the skylight hole, Jed.”

She looked up as the tall, lanky figure disappeared over the peak of the roof.

“Stay at a safe distance,” Jed ordered, heading for the ladder.

Grace nodded, then turned and disappeared into the woods.

*

Jaymee heard the creaking sounds.
She recognized what they were, having heard them a thousand times before.
Feet walking up a roof.
The plywood echoed everything, from the moving feet to something being pried apart.
She hadn’t any idea what Grace could be doing up there.
Then, silence.
She strained hard for some more noise but the blanket made it difficult, muffling the quieter sounds.
After what seemed an eternity, she finally thought she heard Grace approaching.

As loudly as she could, she cried out in a hoarse, spitless voice.
“Don’t touch me, Grace!
Stay away from me!”

She hoped her words were recognizable through the thick fabric.
There was a short pause, then the cover over her slid off very slowly, and she let out a sigh at the sudden cool air.

“Jaymee.”

She stiffened.
“Oh my God, Nick!”
She couldn’t see him, slumped in the position her captor had placed her.
“Don’t move me, OK?
Don’t!”
She quelled the rising panic, trying to make herself intelligible.
In as calm a voice as she could manage, she continued, “I think I’ll explode if you touch me.”

*

Nick blinked away the red mist
of rage obstructing
his vision.
This wasn’t the time to be angry.
After climbing down the skylight tunnel with Jed’s help, he’d walked from room to room, wondering where they had put Jaymee, why it was so silent.
A quick check had revealed the main doors and windows were indeed fixed to trigger off if disturbed.
Thank God for Grace’s quick eyes and thinking.

Jaymee was in this box somewhere, maybe knocked out.
Not dead.
He refused to accept that.

His heart leapt when he spied the outline of what could be a body under the blanket lying on one of the old sofas upstairs.
He knew, from the familiar shape, that it was Jaymee under there.
It had to be.
The position looked awkward—abnormal—and he felt a great abyss growing, breaking his insides apart, as he rushed toward the shrouded figure.

Oh God.
Not a shroud.
Shrouds are for...he was about to let out a howl of despair when he heard the muffled noises coming from under the covers.

Urgent sounding.
Hoarse, almost inaudible, but absolutely, beautifully alive.

He closed his eyes in relief, blinking back unexpected tears, then hurried to take Jaymee into his arms.
Something in the tone of her voice halted his frantic state of mind.
She was trying to convey something important.
He heard the last part of her urgent warning.

“I’ll explode if you touch me.”

She was repeating it over and over, like a fervent prayer.

Nick inched the blanket off Jaymee carefully.
Taking several deep breaths, he said, in a soothing voice, “Sweetheart, shhhh.
I hear you.
Shhhh.”
When she settled down, he continued, “I’m going to turn you over very slowly.
You just lie still and don’t exert a muscle, OK?
Are you hurt in any way?”

He needed to make sure she wouldn’t jerk in pain from some wound he couldn’t see.
Her voice was thin, exhausted.

“I’m fine, at least, I think I am.
I can’t feel my hands and feet too much because the ropes are too tight.
Nick, go get the cops or something.
It isn’t safe for you here.”

She was so relieved.
He was here.
Alive and here.
His hands were reassuringly gentle on her, moving and turning her over with infinite care, and she gave a sigh as she slowly faced him.

“Don’t exert a muscle,” he reiterated, in the same soft tone.
“Don’t think about the danger, just concentrate on my moving you.
That’s right, baby.
Almost there.
Good.
Now, let me look at you.”

Nick kept his face an expressionless mask as he took in the bruise on one of her cheeks and the marks left by the gag on her delicate skin.
Her hair was plastered to her face, tendrils damp from perspiration.
Her shirt was soaked from perspiration.
He fisted at the sight of her small hands tied close to her chest, palm to palm.
Her knees and her ankles, too, were crisscrossed with—his eyes narrowed—electrical wires.
Her hands....

Jaymee stared up at Nick’s face, trying to get past the controlled expression.
She realized he was hiding his reaction from her.
She could guess at some of his emotions raging in there somewhere.
Loving him for coming into the house for her, she sought to comfort, to reassure.

“It’s alright.
I’m perfectly fine, as you can see.
Now, why don’t you go and call the police or whatever department it is that takes care of...bombs.”
She faltered on the last word.

Nick smiled down at her gently.
“And leave you?”
He guessed at her motive.
“Do you think I’d leave you here alone, with this thing in your hands?”

“You have to,” Jaymee whispered back.
“I don’t want you hurt.”
She turned her eyes downward to study the small package in her hands, secured tightly in such a way any movement of her thumbs would hit the little lever on the module.
That Cologne Guy, as she’d dubbed him, had told her exactly what would happen if she accidentally activated it.
Desperation made her voice clearer as she begged him to leave her.
“If I press down from fatigue, it’s going to go off and...please, Nick, get out of here!”