Dark And Dangerous (28 page)

 
"We'll follow at a distance and see
where they're going." Brown cut the connection and opened the door through
to the front of the van, and slid into the seat.

 
"Get me out of these damn cuffs,"
Nathan snarled, and strained against metal.

Brown barely spared him a
glance in the rear view mirror as he turned on the vans engine, and threw the
keys to Damian.

 
Damian caught them in the air and unlocked
Nathan, while the van bumped along the asphalt at a neck-braking speed. They
had to grab onto the sides of the van to keep their balance when Brown took a
sharp turn.

 
"You know, we'll never catch up with
them if you kill us first," Damian commented.

 
"We're not going to catch up with them.
We're going to keep our distance, so they don't see us. Not even our headlights
in the distance. I don't want to risk tipping them off."

 
"If we're not going to catch up with
them, why are you trying to kill us?" Nathan asked, making his way to the
front so he could look out of the windshield. He had to grab onto the back of
the
drivers
seat to avoid taking a flight through the
window.

 
"Quit complaining. I'm simply getting us
where we need to go faster."

They had to hold on tight
as Brown speed up again, and torpedoed past another car, while listening to the
surveillance team that was following
Schnyder
.

 
"It appears
Schnyder
is driving straight to the drop-off," Brown told them. "And he's
taking Kayley with him."

 
"You think he suspects our set-up?"
Damian asked.

 
"No. I don't see how. He doesn't know Joe
is alive, and there is no way he would know that Joe gave us the information
about his drop-off," Brown mused.

 
"Unless he somehow made Kayley tell
him." Damian cast a quick glance at Nathan, but knew there was no way
around that question. And they all knew it.

 
"I doubt he would torture her. He
doesn't know that she knows anything, and he has no reason to suspect it. He is
too intelligent to waste his energy."

 
"But if he doesn't know, why would he
take her with him?" Nathan thought aloud.

 
"There's no logical explanation for
it."

 
"It doesn't matter why. We're taking him
down tonight, no matter what." Brown cast a glance at his watch.

 
"If you try to take him while he has
Kayley, you're just going to create the exact hostage situation you used as an
excuse not to save Kayley before." Nathan's anger stirred, spurred on by
worry.

 
"We'll wait for the right moment to
strike," Brown said, changing the subject quickly.

 
"And we'll nail
Schnyder
for illegal import and kidnapping. He'll be lucky if he ever sees the light of
day again."

 
"If Kayley gets hurt, I'm holding you
personally responsible." Nathan shoved his hands into his pockets, so he
didn't risk hurting Brown. Yet.

 
"We have done everything we could,"
Brown said defensively.

 
"If you had done everything, Kayley
would be safe now. Instead she's going to be in the middle of the bust."

 
"We're not going to be able to get there
before
Schnyder
," Brown swiftly changed the
subject again.

 
"Really? I'm surprised we aren't already
out of the state with your driving," Damian commented ironically.

 
"The shipment is coming in at an old
rundown private pier. It's been deserted for over twenty years. We have men
staked out all over in the surroundings, ready to strike at our command. There
is only one old road leading to the place. So we're going to have to park away
from it all, and sneak up on them. There's a map and satellite images of the
area in my rucksack, back there." Brown pointed a thumb towards the back.
"I've crossed off the places where we've planted our men, and the circle
is where Klein is positioned. You better study it now and memorize it, because
it's going to be pitch-black dark when we make our way through it."

 
Nathan rummaged through the papers in Brown's
bag and quickly located the right folder. He spread the papers out onto the
desk that ran alongside the wall, while Damian turned on an extra light. They
studied the images intently while Brown drove through the dark, weaving around
the thin traffic.

 
After a while the road changed, becoming
rough and uneven.

 
"Better turn out the light," Brown
told them. "We don't want to risk giving ourselves up."

 
He turned off his headlights as well. Brown
turned down a smaller road, where trees and shrubs lined the sides, and the
road was nearly swallowed by grass. He had to drive carefully, following the
pale light of the moon.

 
When he reached a small opening between two
trees, Brown stopped and backed the van deep into the vegetation, until they
were well hidden from the road.

Chapter 31

 
Brown
climbed into the back of the van, and had to turn on a small light as he
unlocked a drawer.

 
"Know how to shoot a gun?" He
pulled out two.

 
"Yeah, I think we can handle it."
Damian's teeth gleamed white in the dim light. Both he and Nathan had practiced
at the firing range and received top scores. They could hit their mark
blindfolded, whether it moved or not.

 
"Just don't hit any of my men."
Brown handed over the silenced guns and extra ammo.

"Good thing I made
you wear that
kevlar
."

 
Nathan grimaced, but didn't disagree. It had
been damn uncomfortable to sit crammed in the van all day, and the
kevlar
had done nothing to help that.

 
Brown reached back into the drawer and pulled
out two wireless blue tooth headsets, like the one he was wearing. "Put
these on. They'll allow you to hear everything that happens. If you need to
speak into it or need help, just push that button."
 

 
"And if you have to say something, talk
in a low soft voice. A whisper carries much farther," Brown added and
reached for the door.

 
Nathan held the gun ready in his hand, and
felt better for it. At least this way he could do something.

 
They jumped light footed out of the van and
began moving quickly, and carefully, through the thick vegetation. Nathan kept
his eyes trained on their surroundings, scanning the dark, as they made their
way silently through it, walking in a half circle towards the spot where Klein was
stationed.

 
Nathan spotted a small movement in the thick
brush about ten feet to their left. In a silent gesture, he lifted up a hand,
stopping Brown and Damian in their tracks, and pointed towards the black nearly
hidden figure.

 
Stealthy as predators, they moved towards
their unexpected prey. A foot away Brown stepped on a small twig. The dry snap
had the other man jumping up and spinning around in the air to face them, in a
move that spoke of martial arts training. His snipers rifle whipped around and
pointed at them for a second, his finger twitching on the trigger.

 
"Shit." Air whooshed out of the
snipers lungs as he recognized Brown, and jerked the rifle away from them
again. "I thought for a second I had been compromised."

 
"You damn near were." Nathan
pointed his gun away. "We nearly opened fire."

The snipers teeth gleamed
in the dark. "I appreciate your restraint. Otherwise I would have had to
prove to you why they call me 'shoot first Kincaid'."

 
"What's the status?" Brown asked in
a soft voice.

 
"
Schnyder
arrived in a limo about fifteen minutes ago. He's inside the old barn, or
whatever you want to call it."

 
"Good. Get back to your post,"
Brown told him.

They crept on quickly
towards the spot where Klein was positioned and were met by loaded silenced
guns.

 
"Point those away, will you," Brown
said in a low voice.

 
"That's what you get for sneaking up on
people." Klein lowered his gun. "About time too. I expected
your
driving to get you here long before
Schnyder
."

 
"He did his best to kill us,"
Damian commented in a low sardonic voice.

 
"There hasn't been any trace of
Schnyder
and his men since they walked into the barn,"
Klein informed them.

 
"Coastguard on standby?" Brown
asked.

 
"Yes. And we have Navy seals out on the
water ready to intercept at our command. Everything's set."

 
Nathan hid behind a big spiky bush at the
edge of the vegetation, and strained his eyes to look for any sign of movement
around the barn.

 
"Here."

He looked up to find Joe
offering him a pair of night vision goggles.

 
"Thanks." He took them and aimed at
the barn. It jumped clearly into focus, in a sick green light. The only sign of
life was the empty limousine parked outside. Nothing moved, besides a light
breeze rustling leaves and grass.

 
Joe stretched out on the ground beside him
and prepared to wait.

 
After about ten minutes they heard the
rumbling engine of a car edging along the small rugged road, before its
headlights appeared. It wasn't just one vehicle, it was two. Both large black
vans. The large barn door was pushed open as the vans approached it slowly.
Light spilled out, blinding Nathan for a moment, until his goggles adjusted to
it. He got a good glimpse into the barn before the vans parked beside the limo
in front of the open barn door, blocking his view. He could see
Schnyder
clearly, walking around the barn like a king would
in his castle. He spotted three other men besides
Schnyder
,
and in the back along one of the walls he saw Kayley. His heart turned over in
his chest. She was tied to something on the wall that he couldn't make out. He
couldn't zoom enough to get her into clear focus, but he knew what he was going
to find. He had had an all too clear view of her back at the dock.

 
Six men jumped out of the vans and
disappeared into the barn. The door closed behind them, and the night fell dark
once more.

 
"It shouldn't be much longer," Joe
said in a low voice, as if reading Nathan's thoughts.

"It's nearly twelve,
and they're never late."

Joe was right. Barely two
minutes
later they
heard activity in their headsets.
The Navy seals that were lying in wait on the water had spotted something.

 
"There's a small boat moving towards
you. It looks like a fishing boat."

 
"Copied. Stand by and wait for
orders," Klein's voice said over the line. "We want to wait until
they are in the middle of the transaction."

 
A moment later the doors on the other side of
the barn opened, spilling light out into the night and shining it over the water,
like a beacon, leading the boat to it. They watched as the boat appeared like a
dull gray shadow surrounded by black night. It wasn't sporting any of the
lights required for night sailing. As it approached the shore, it slapped on a
big shining light in response to the light from land.

 
Nathan tightened his grip on the gun when
Schnyder's
men appeared from the barn, and walked out onto
a long old wooden dock. He counted seven men and knew there had to be at least
two more besides
Schnyder
inside the barn. Two men
came into view on the deck of the boat as it sailed slowly towards the dock.
They waited until they cruised up alongside the dock, and threw ropes to
Schnyder's
waiting men that quickly secured it. The bright
light from the boat was switched off in a snap, leaving only the light from the
barn shining.

 
Voices drifted to them carried on the wind,
too unclear to pick up the exact words.

Nathan noticed a movement
out of the corner of his eye, and looked up to find Klein moving. He gestured
to them to follow, and spoke softly into the headset.

 
"Team A is moving in closer."

 
Nathan sprang to his feet and followed
closely behind Klein. The small group of men moved quickly, using the dense
vegetation as cover, keeping well hidden, as they moved silently along the line
of trees that ran nearly to the
waters
edge. It was
as close as they could get without leaving their cover.

 
Voices drifted more clearly to them. So
clearly that they were able to pick up bits and pieces of
Schnyder's
men's conversations.

 
"Calm waters
…
no trouble
…
good supplies." The voice was heavy with a
Slavic accent.

Nathan crouched down
behind the thick brush, and had to bite back impatience as he waited for the
men to unload everything. Adrenaline rushed through his blood, making it pound
at his temples, while he focused on the men through the night vision goggles.

Damian crouched beside him
and leaned in close. They had to be extra careful not to alert them now.
"See them clearly?"

 
"Yeah. Two of them is hauling boxes up
from beneath the deck. Three boxes so far."

 
"I wonder how much jewelry they're
smuggling in from Russia. Those boxes aren't exactly small."

 
"How much longer do we have to
wait?" Nathan asked Klein in a low voice that didn't carry any farther
than them.

 
 
"We wait until they carry the boxes into
the barn. That way it's easier for us to cut them off. We don't want anyone to
escape," Klein said softly.

 
"Kayley's in the barn.
Schnyder
will use her to bargain his way out." Nathan
had to fight to keep his voice low.

 
"It's our only option. We will have to
take them quickly, before he has a chance to reach Kayley."

 
"Shit." Nathan rubbed a hand over
his face and watched the men begin to carry the first large couple of boxes
inside. "She's tied to the back wall."

 
Klein nodded. "All men get in your
positions now, and wait for my orders," he said into the headset.
"Get ready to proceed as planned."

 
"Copied."

 
They watched while
Schnyder's
men carried the last boxes inside the barn, along with the smugglers. As soon
as they disappeared into the barn, Klein spoke into the headset again.

 
"Move closer. Slowly. Don't enter the
barn until I give the order."

 
Nathan checked his gun quickly, making sure
it was ready to fire, and slid soundlessly out of the shadows, keeping close to
the ground. They spread out like dark ghosts, knowing it was easier to be
spotted if they stuck closely together, and cleared the ground between them and
the barn quickly. The night that had seemed so dark when
Schnyder's
men had been out in it, now appeared much too bright.

 
They came up alongside the barns exterior
wall, and crept beside it towards the open door.

 
Light spilled out of small cracks in the old
wood, but the cracks weren't big enough to give a glimpse of the inside.

 
"Can anyone get a visual of the
inside?" Klein's voice sounded softly in their ears.

 
"The woman is tied to the far wall from
where you are," another voice answered. "Two men are standing guard
by each door, and
Schnyder
is standing in the middle of
the room, watching as boxes are opened. All men are armed."

 
"Copied." Klein turned and gestured
for Damian and Nathan to step closer. "Wait out here until we've secured
Schnyder
," he said in a low voice that didn't carry
any farther than them.

 
"Like hell I will. And you're wasting
your time arguing," Nathan said coldly. He was ready for action and didn't
care who he had to go through, or plow through if necessary, to get it.

 
Klein only had to look into Nathan's eyes to
realize he was telling the truth. Normally he might have tried to argue, but
they didn't have time for that right now. He quickly recalculated his plan.
"You two are going straight for Kayley, along the back wall." He
waited for their agreeing nod, before he spoke into the headset again.

 
"Everyone. Go! Go! Go!"

 
Nathan stormed around the corner of the barn
and through the door, barely a step behind Klein, as the dark came to life
around them. Men clad completely in black descended upon the barn from all
directions.

 
But Nathan only had one thing in mind. He had
to get to Kayley before
Schnyder
could use her as a
living shield. He barely noticed as chaos erupted, and
Schnyder's
men dived for cover behind boxes. Shots ripped through the air with deafening
roars. Two of
Schnyder's
men jerked when bullets
ripped through them as they jumped for cover, and stumbled, crumbling to the
ground. He saw several of Klein's men stagger as shots hit them with a force
that knocked the air out of them, and bullets bounced off of
kevlar
. Out of the corner of one eye, he saw
Schnyder
running towards Kayley, a gun in his hand.