Illeanna (21 page)

He was watching her, and Illeanna couldn’t quite see him clearly. She felt so weird, like she was having an out-of-body experience. Everything was happening in slow motion around her. The car swerved, and she slid into the wall next to her. A strong hand gripped her thigh, and she realized that it wasn’t a wall but a man. Her reflexes were nowhere to be found. She couldn’t even move away from him quickly. She held her hands against her head.

“Feeling all right, Miss Aubert?” someone asked her. She knew it was the man in the fancy suit with the charcoal-colored hair.

“Good,” she replied and heard how slurred her words were.

“That’s nice to hear. You’re a very beautiful young woman. I am quite surprised actually,” he stated with what sounded like a Spanish accent.

“Who are you again?” she asked and tried to steady her eyes on him. She was leaning forward, and it was too late when she realized she was sliding off the leather seats. The car turned abruptly, and she slid off the seat and onto the floor between them. She was on her back, and a nauseous feeling filled her belly.

Someone picked her up and laid her on the seat next to the Spanish man. Her head was on his lap, and she didn’t know why. He stared at her and their gazes locked.

“Oh yes, you are quite beautiful. Such lovely light-green eyes, plump pink lips, and hmmm. She’s the whole package, Juan, isn’t she perfect?” he asked then caressed her skin as he made weird sounds with his throat. She tilted her head to turn away from his touch, and he grabbed her face a little tighter.

“You like to keep her, sir?” the man across the seat, Juan, asked. The man in the suit smiled as his fingers caressed her throat. She swallowed hard. This didn’t feel right. Where am I? she wondered. The longer they drove the more this feeling consumed her. She was getting tired, very, very tired.

“I like her. I like her classiness, her dark-black hair and green eyes, and I believe I deserve her after what her companions have done to my plans and my life. Don’t you think so, Juan?” he asked.

“Companions?” Illeanna repeated his words, and he smiled down at her.

“Your friends that ruined my plans. The ones in the hospital.”

She thought of Julien.

“Julien?” she whispered.

“He’s dead to you now just like the others. They’re all gone.”

“No, not Julien. I didn’t get to see him, hold him again.”

He clutched her face hard and dragged her up to sit on his lap.

“They’re all dead to you. We’re leaving the country tomorrow. We’re heading to a safe location that we can fly out of tomorrow. Taking you away from them will be my payback. Yeah, I like the way this is going. They’ll suffer not knowing where you are. They ruined my plans, my fortune. Everything was set. My associates in the Middle East were paying bucks for US weapons. This entire operation was going to be a piece of cake until you interfered. It doesn’t matter now. I have plenty of money and lots of connections overseas. You and I are going to be very close, Illeanna,” he stated then leaned down and kissed her.

Illeanna tried to pull away, but his hold was firm. She bit his lip, and he pulled her from him then smacked her across the mouth.

“You’ll learn the hard way, Illeanna. Your new life begins tonight.” He shoved her across the seat to Juan.

* * * *

“We got eyes on the vehicle. I’ve called off the copters so they don’t give away our positions,” Michael stated.

Louis looked at Franco and Gustave then back toward Michael.

“I appreciate everything you’ve done for us and for Julien Michael,” Louis told him.

“Hey, I’m glad Franco called me and so is the senator. My team is debriefing Senator Pierre as we speak,” Michael stated. Louis was shocked about the outcome.

“So the senator definitely wasn’t involved with this?” Louis asked.

“No. My team has been working on it since the shooting of Jean Phillips. I think once Jack Pettro gains consciousness we’ll have an even clearer picture of what Flores intended to do. Let’s focus on getting Illeanna out safely.”

Just then a call came in with an update on the limo.

Michael took the call.

“We’ve got the vehicle in our sights. They seem to be headed to a large estate residence. They’re pulling up the driveway. We’ve got security everywhere. The place is swarming with guards.”

“Any name of ownership on that house, Paul?” Michael asked into his shirtsleeve.

“Come back, what was that?” Michael asked.

“What? What’s wrong?” Louis asked, and Michael turned toward Louis and the others.

“It’s one of ours. It’s a safe house listed under a government official.”

Michael looked shocked, and Louis just wanted to get to Illeanna before this Flores character did something crazy and killed her for revenge.

“I want to know who and five minutes ago,” Michael stated into his wrist mike.

“What’s happening, Agent Brown?” Michael asked the agent on speakerphone.

He whispered, “We’re taking position. They’ve got cameras everywhere. We’re working on eliminating the problem, sir.”

“Keep us posted, we’ll be there in less than seven minutes,” Michael stated as he looked at his watch.

“I don’t like this. I don’t this one fucking bit,” Franco said.

“Join the fucking club,” Gustave stated, and they were silent.

“We want in on the raid. As soon as her location in the house is confirmed, I’m going in after her,” Louis stated toward Michael. Johnny, Gustave, and Franco looked at him and waited for Michael’s response.

“I know your history, but I can’t make that call.”

“I don’t give a shit whether you make the call or not. She’s our woman, my woman, and my brother Julien and I put her in this position. Her life is in danger again because of us. I’m going in,” Louis stated. Michael looked at Franco, but Louis held his stare.

“If it’s any consolation, this isn’t your fault. A woman trying to find out if her husband was cheating on her hired you and your brother. It just so happened that besides an adulterer, he was also a crook and an accomplice to Flores. We’ll probably find out that this residence was used by Senator Millan Pierre. A government official has to authorize its use. That’s something that should have been checked out hours ago.”

“Or at minimum by Agent Barkley and Agent Mertoff,” Louis said.

Just then Michael placed his finger against his ear and seemed to be listening to someone again. His mouth formed into a thin line. He looked pissed.

The truck stopped as Eloi parked behind another black SUV belonging to the Feds.

“We’re here. It’s a block up that hill. We need to make a plan before we barrel in there,” Michael stated as they all exited the vehicle.

Franco grabbed Michael’s sleeve and stopped him beside the truck. The others gathered around the other men.

“What’s going on? What did the guy on the other end tell you to make you give the look of death?” Franco asked Michael.

Michael looked around them.

“It appears that this all may have been a setup to destroy the senator’s reelection. This is coming from a source on the inside. That house is a government safe house. I don’t know if those are our agents securing that house or Flores’s men. I’m trying to confirm with headquarters. If those are agents then they’re just doing their job. They don’t know who Flores really is. I know we can’t wait too much longer to strike, Franco, but getting these little tidbits of unconfirmed information is not helping us.”

“Holy fuck, this is crazy!” Franco yelled.

“Welcome to the world of politics and government agencies. It’s a real clusterfuck of a situation, Franco. Keep Louis calm for a bit. I need to confirm before we go all John Wayne in there.”

Franco chuckled, but he trusted Michael. He knew that he would do what was right.

Franco walked toward his brothers.

“We wait for Michael’s okay.”

“What if he’s already hurt her? The longer we wait the more damage he could do to her,” Louis stated with his fists by his sides.

“I trust Michael. We need to wait. This is killing me as much as it’s killing you, Louis, but we have to follow Michael’s orders.”

“We shouldn’t have let her out of our sight. I knew what kind of people we were dealing with,” Louis stated as he ran his fingers through his hair and began to pace.

“You said not to tell her anything. You told us to keep her out of it the second we got to the hospital,” Franco told Louis.

“She was upset when she left the room. I could see it in her eyes,” Gustave added.

“God only knows what was going through her head. We were trying to protect her. Back at the house she was angry that we didn’t wake her immediately about Julien,” Johnny added as he looked at Louis.

“She had been through enough. I wanted Julien to be in the clear. I never would have thought that these people would go after her. She has nothing to do with this. From the start she’s been caught in the middle of our fucking nightmare,” Louis stated. They looked toward the other agents talking and making plans with a bunch of other suits.

“Being part of our lives makes Illeanna part of our professions as well. We can’t leave her in the dark ever again. Not about our work, our relationship, or our emotions. She’s taking a chance with us, giving us everything we’ve ever wanted,” Franco told them.

“She’s everything I’ve ever wanted. We need to get her back safely. If he kills her I’ll—”

“Don’t think that way. Julien is in recovery, he’s going to need a lot of help in the next few months. Illeanna will be there for him, for all of us. Now let’s get our shit together and make a plan with these suits, Louis. We’re counting on you to guide us through this,” Johnny stated, and Louis nodded his head.

“Check your guns and grab some bulletproof vests,” Louis told them.

“I’ll get radios from Michael,” Franco added with a smile then walked toward his buddy.

“We’re going to get her. She’s going to be fine,” Johnny added, looking determined.

“I received confirmation from headquarters that CIA agents are not securing this location. No one is supposed to be occupying this residence at this time. Our snipers are in position and describe the guards as being Hispanic. The rifles they’re carrying are AK 47s. They believe them to be non US agents. Okay, we’ve got our military teams ready to enter. The place is surrounded. There will be three back-to-back infiltrations. The power is going off after the first. Then a team needs to head to the rooftop to take out the helicopter,” Michael informed them.

“Helicopter?” Louis asked.

“Yeah, there’s a helipad on the rooftop. The back is all clear, easy liftoff and landing.”

“You think he’s going to take the helicopter, Louis?” Johnny asked.

“There’s no doubt in my mind. We’re going in with that team to the roof,” Louis stated as he checked his weapon.

“Your brother told me not to take time arguing. Here, you’ll need these and these,” Michael stated.

He handed them CIA Windbreakers to wear over their shirts and radios and receivers.

“Place them on channel twenty-two,” Michael stated.

Louis held his gaze and shook his hand.

“Thanks, Michael. If there’s anything I can ever do for you.”

“I’ll let you know. But after we’re out of there and have your girlfriend safe and secure,” Michael added as he grabbed one of the extra receivers and earpiece.

“What are you doing?” Franco asked.

“My fucking job. I’m going in with you.” Michael winked, and Franco smiled then shook his head. Michael grabbed a sniper rifle and checked his Glock in his hip holster.

“Let’s do this,” he stated then pointed as they headed out through the woods.

* * * *

Eloi, Gustave, and Johnny had weapons in hand as they waited patiently for Louis and Michael’s signal to move in.

“I got two on the roof, probably monitoring the helicopter,” Johnny stated into his sleeve mike so the others could hear.

“Got it,” Michael replied. Louis watched as Michael lined up his sniper rifle, looked through the scope, and whispered into his wrist mike.

“Base, taking out two top roof on your go,” Michael whispered.

They waited and suddenly they heard the order and multiple swoosh sounds echo around them. “All clear, go.”

Michael pulled the trigger once, taking out the first guy, then clicked a second time and took out the other guy. Two bodies fell off the roof and simultaneously others a floor below went down, too. Louis swallowed hard. He recalled his past experiences in the military. His strong need to handle things on his own was because he had been left to fend for himself for days. He shouldn’t have been in Cuba and neither should have Julien. They’d survived that. They’d survived the government who had turned their backs on them the second the heat was coming down on Louis and Julien. He shook the thoughts from his head. He’d been keeping everyone at bay for years, and so had Julien. Until Illeanna.

He thought of her and his temper flared. His gut clenched with worry. He never should have let her out of the room by herself. He had been so busy trying to protect her from further upset and harm that he’d placed her directly into the line of fire.

“Hey, you okay?” Michael asked as he reset his rifle.

“Yeah, just worried about Illeanna.”

“We’ll get the okay any minute to move in. There’s just so many of them,” Michael whispered.

Louis nodded.

Hold on, baby, we’re coming to get you.