Fiance by Friday (38 page)

“Back up, Mac. My finger is inching on this switch. Let’s let Blayney know he’s clear to take your woman out.” Mickey waved something in the air. Neil couldn’t tell what it was from his angle.

“What’s he got in his hand?” he asked Rick.

“Hard to say. Looks radio controlled. Could be a signaling device. Could be a detonator.”

“What do you want, Mickey?” Time to change tactics. Let Mickey think he had their attention.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about. How about you and your sidekick here move on up to your perch. You know, the one you’ve been sitting on for three days looking for me from.”

“And then?”

“And then I call the boss and ask him what he wants me to do.”

Neil backed up a few yards and moved slowly in the direction Mickey wanted him to go.

“Feels like a trap.” Rick stated the obvious.

“Probably booby-trapped our fallback. Stay wide.”

“Why does Blayney want us dead?” Neil yelled.

“Keep moving, Mac. I don’t see your ass on that ledge yet.”

Neil stopped, looked over his head. If Mickey had been scouting them for three days, he probably could have come in closer sooner. Yet no shots had yet been fired. “Still think he needs to make this look like an accident?” Neil asked Rick.

“More than ever.”

“Move soldier.” Mickey’s voice rose above the rain hitting the leaves on the trees.

“Tell me why, Mickey.”

“How should I know? Wants you gone…wants Annie’s husband gone. Makes room for me.”

Neil cringed. Blayney was playing Mickey, too. Probably planning on killing him as soon as he and Rick were out of the picture.

“You stupid fuck,” Rick yelled. “Think Blayney’s gonna hand over his daughter to a gullible prick like you?”

Rick’s words struck a chord. Mickey pivoted and fired off a couple of rounds in Rick’s direction. The air around them exploded, the noise raising every testosterone charged cell in Neil’s body.

Neil took cover, cocked his weapon.

“I never liked you, Smiley.”

“Lousy shot, too.” Rick laughed.

“Call your dog off, Mac. Getting rid of you isn’t an option. Your woman, however…Blayney might let her go. If she thinks you died by accident.”

Neil’s mind raced…Would the major kill her? Neil didn’t think Chuck was capable of being behind this. There had to be something going on that Mickey had no idea about.

One thing was certain to Neil. Keeping Gwen alive would be Chuck’s only insurance should Mickey fail. And Mickey was going down.

“Draw him out,” Neil told Rick. “I’m moving in.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

The lightning let up long enough for Blake to touch down in Colorado Springs. His pilot dealt with airport security and arranged for the jet to refuel. Blake informed his pilot that they might need to leave at a moment’s notice.

“I’m on the ground,” he told Carter as he searched the arrival lobby for the driver he requested to meet him.

“I’ve arranged clearance for you at Fort Carson. It’s up to you now.”

Blake waved at a driver with his last name on a large white card.

“Any idea if Major Blayney’s on base?”

“I didn’t get that information. The guards at the base will ask you what your business is. Tell them you need to speak with Blayney.”

“And if he’s not home?”

“Chances are they won’t let you in.”

Blake covered the receiver on his phone to speak to his driver. “I’m on my way to Fort Carson. You know where that is?”

“Yes, sir.”

Blake nodded and returned his attention to Carter while he followed the driver out of the airport.

“Then what?”

“I don’t know…hit a local bar, ask around. Neil was stationed there for a while. Someone was bound to have seen him. Maybe know where he’d be holding out.”

“Needle in a haystack.”

The driver opened the back door to the town car and Blake slid into the seat.

“Thanks, Carter. We’ll find them.” They had to.

“Good luck.”

He’d need it.

The base wasn’t twenty minutes from the airport. Two guards in slickers stood at a closed gate, military rifles in their hands. Another man sat in a booth and watched as they approached.

The driver rolled down both his window and Blake’s. The guard moved toward them without a smile. “How can I help you?”

“I’m here to see Major Blayney.” Best to act as if the major was expecting him, he mused. Blake removed a business card and handed it to the soldier. “Governor Carter Billings arranged security clearance.”

“Wait here, sir.”

Blake sat back and watched the men. The soldier inside the booth picked up the phone and started talking. His eyes narrowed during his conversation and one of the other guards walked around the car while he wrote down the license number.

Blake drummed his fingers on the seat beside him.

The man from the booth stepped out and approached the car. The expression on his face unreadable.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Harrison. Major Blayney isn’t seeing anyone today.”

Blake’s jaw clenched. “It’s a matter of life and death. Can you call him back and tell him this is regarding Neil MacBain?” This was not happening. To be so close and not be let in the door was unacceptable.

The guards glanced at each other but their resolve didn’t change.

“I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do for you today. You might try setting an appointment with Major Blayney’s secretary.”

Blake considered pushing out of the car and decided that would appear as aggressive as he felt. He didn’t need to spend a night in jail and delay his quest even more.

Through clenched teeth he asked, “Is there a number I can call?”

The guard returned to the booth, came back with a number.

“One more thing…who is Major Blayney’s superior?”

“On base? No one.”

Great!

“You really think Annie will take you back?” Rick taunted Mickey as he weaved through the trees, closer to the edge of the cliff.

“Annie loved me.”

“Not gonna go over well if you kill her husband.”

Neil inched closer.

“She won’t know it’s me.” Mickey twisted around. Neil ducked out of sight.

“Blayney must be seriously twisted to sic you after him. What makes you think Blayney will keep you around after we’re gone?”

Mickey was turning around now, having lost visual on Neil.

“Where’d ya go, Mac? I’m telling you…one press of the button and Blayney takes her out right now.”

As much as it killed him, Neil said nothing and kept moving closer.

“Blayney doesn’t take orders from you, Mickey. You should know that by now.” Rick kept talking.

“I’ve been proving myself to Blayney for years. Worked plenty of ‘loose end missions.’”

And we’re the loose ends.
The rain aided in Neil’s advance. Mickey was facing north and Neil had managed to get behind him on the south. Twenty yards away, Neil set off another smoke bomb, causing Mickey to fire his weapon to the north.

Rick spoke in his ear. “He’s nervous.”

Neil set off his last bomb in an attempt to fill the area with smoke.

He heard Mickey swear under his breath as he darted to the east, directly into Neil’s path.

Neil waited until the last possible moment and aimed his weapon. “Drop it.”

Mickey swung toward him, weapon raised.

Neil aimed for his shoulder, fired off a round. Two more sounded in the rain soaked forest.

Mickey jerked back, lost his grip on his gun. Adrenaline took over and Neil leapt onto the man and took him to the ground. His arm went back, connected with Mickey’s face once, twice. Blood gushed from Mickey’s arm, too much for a flesh wound.

Neil disarmed him and rolled him onto his back. Neil flexed his neck tasting his rage and wanting the man dead. “You took out Billy.”

Mickey’s mouth twisted into a sick smile. “Blew up his woman, too.”

Neil let his fist fly again.

“I should kill you right here.”

Mickey coughed. A gurgling sound filled his chest. Neil looked down, noticed Mickey’s field jacket pooling with blood.

What the fuck?
Neil’s aim wasn’t that bad.

“You never had the balls,” Mickey managed between his cough. Blood escaped his lips.

Realizing his enemy was incapacitated, Neil tossed his gun aside and ripped open Mickey’s shirt. Blood was everywhere.

“Is he down?” Neil heard Rick in his ear.

“Yeah.” From the looks of the hole in his chest, Rick had taken aim from behind. Mickey was dying.

Mickey stared beyond Neil, his eyes glossed over. “She would have taken me back. My Annie.”

Neil didn’t have the heart to destroy Mickey’s last thoughts.

“Where’s Gwen?”

Mickey met his eyes, huffed out a breath, and stopped breathing.

Neil squeezed his eyes shut. “You stupid fuck.” He pushed away from Mickey’s body and peered through the rain to see where Rick was.

“Rick?”

“I’m here.” His friend’s voice didn’t sound normal.

“Where?”

“Base of the cliff. Our target down?”

Neil glanced at a man he once called his friend. He thought of the picture of all of them…in happier times. “Yeah. He’s down.”

“Good.”

“Where are you?” Neil didn’t see him anywhere.

“Caught a bullet. I’m OK.”

Neil ran through the brush, ignoring the branches as they slapped against his legs, his waist. He found Rick against a tree, his right thigh in his hand. “How bad is it?”

“Not my gut.”

“How bad, Rick?” Neil knew there were major arteries in the thigh that could end a man’s life just as easily as a shot to the chest.

Rick attempted his signature smile. His second set of dimples didn’t kick in. “Could be better.”

“Ah, hell.”

“I’m OK. You gotta go get your girl. Before Chuck realizes what happened here.”

Neil looked over at his car and then back to Rick. “I can’t leave you.”

“You better fucking leave me. I’m fine, Neil. Go. I have a phone, I’ll call for help when you leave. Besides, I think this hillside is set up to go off. Mickey was trying too hard to get us up there.”

Neil glanced at the cliff above him. Large boulders protruded from the sides of the rock. Large enough to crush those below. Getting Rick to safety, disarming bombs…police questions, all of this would take time. Precious time.

“Go,” Rick told him again. “I’ll avoid your name until I hear from you. Don’t want to tip Blayney off.”

Neil attempted to look at Rick’s wound to see for himself if his friend was all right.

Rick shoved him away. “Go. Get the hell out of here.”

He stood, and shoved his hand into his pocket. “If something happens, call Blake. Tell him everything.”

“Go get Gwen and tell Blake yourself.”

Neil shoved the card into Rick’s hands anyway. “Go, Lieutenant.”

He nodded once, dropped his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Don’t fucking die.” Tears swam behind his lids.

“Get the hell out of here.”

Neil didn’t have to be told again.

Blake sat in the back of the town car a few miles from base. The rain slowed to a drizzle reflecting on his sour mood. He couldn’t remember the last time someone blew off a call from him.