Blindsided, page 18
part #1 of Book Two Series
Everything else could be worked out along the way.
But whether or not the universe would make it so…well.
He didn’t know.
And part of him wanted to run. To grab Ruby and Henry and head for the hills.
To hell with all of it.
But Jack deserved justice. So did Trudy Gordon.
And Blackbird needed destroying.
Rafe wasn’t a quitter, and he always finished what he started. So he would finish this, too.
Come what may.
“You look like you’re praying,” Ruby said quietly, and he turned to see her standing next to the van, holding a plastic grocery bag.
“Then I hope someone’s listening,” he said.
“Me, too.” She looked at the gear he’d packed into the back of the van and sighed. “That’s a lot of weight.”
Rafe shut the doors. “It’s fine.”
She snorted. “I know exactly how dangerous this crazy scheme is. So don’t think you’re fooling anyone.”
He stared down at her. Snow was still falling, collecting on the hood of her coat. She’d taken a damp towel to it and somehow managed to remove most of Trudy’s blood, but the scarf had gone into the garbage. He made a mental note to buy her another one.
After.
“If we get into trouble, you put the boys in the car, and you go,” he told her. “No hesitation, no looking back. Get out, and take them with you.”
She only arched a brow. “Because that’s exactly what you would do.”
“This isn’t about what I would do.”
“Mmm-hmm.” She held out the grocery bag. “Apple cake, French toast, and juice boxes. Henry wanted to make sure you were ready for anything.”
He took the bag. “He’s a good kid.”
“He’s a great kid.” She paused. “He thinks you’re going to keep him, you know.”
“I am.” If I live long enough. “Is that okay with you?”
She blinked. “What does that matter?”
“Because most couples wait for kids.”
She stared at him. “What are you saying?”
She still didn’t trust him. Not like she should.
Not like she would have to if they were going to make it.
Time, he thought. And work.
Like everything.
He was just going to have to take what he could get.
“I’m saying that I’m keeping him. And I’m keeping you, too. So if inheriting an instant family is too much for you, I need to know.”
Her eyes gleamed in the darkness. “Are you sure?”
The weight of those words made him still. “I am.”
“This is real,” she said.
“As real as it gets.”
Still, she watched him, unmoving.
“Every day,” he told her softly. “Until you know I’ll catch you.”
“Goddamn it,” she said.
And then she was hugging him so tight he could hardly breathe. Smelling like cinnamon and vanilla, her body warm, her arms strong.
“You’d better be careful,” she whispered. “No cowboy bullshit, no unnecessary risks. We’ll be waiting for you.”
His heart beat with sudden, painful intensity. “Promise?”
She only hugged him harder.
“I love you,” he told her roughly, just in case. “I always have. I always will.”
“Shut up,” she said and kissed him.
A hard, brief, possessive kiss that surprised and pleased him. He hardened instantly, and his hands slid to her butt, intending to lift her against him, but then she stepped back and out of his arms.
“Do I get one of those, too?” Sean asked as he walked around the side of the van.
“Not in this lifetime,” Rafe told him shortly.
“Ah, well, maybe the next, then,” he replied and grinned.
But Ruby didn’t smile back. Instead, she wagged a finger at him, her face serious, her voice promising. “You will watch each other’s backs. You will work together. And you will both come home to us.”
Sean’s smile faded. “Aye.”
Rafe nodded when her gaze met his.
“Good,” she said. “Then God speed.”
And she turned and walked away.
Sean opened the back door of the van and shoved another bag onto the pile. “You ready?”
Rafe looked at the pile of equipment and sighed. “Does it matter?”
“Hell, yes, it matters.” Sean eyed him. “I plan on survivin’.”
“So you can return to your vast criminal enterprise?”
He slammed the door of the van shut and shook his head. Disgust edged his voice. “You disappoint me, old man.”
Surprised, Rafe asked, “How’s that?”
“You only see what you expect to see.”
“What does that mean?”
“Means I’ve not been a bloody criminal since the day I buried my sweet Gilly two years ago. Not that you’d notice.” He slammed the van door shut and scowled. “You’re an arrogant, selfish prick, you know that?”
“Aye,” Rafe acknowledged. “So if you’re not a criminal anymore, then what are you?”
“A businessman.”
He arched a brow. “Mickey said all of that equipment is stolen.”
“It is.” Sean snorted. “I’m what’s called a finder, you dickhead. Someone loses something, I find it. I work for whoever can afford to hire me, and a lot of the time, they let me keep the loot because it’s insured, and they’d rather have the cash. It’s all legal. I promised Gilly on her deathbed that I’d be the kind of da Mick needs me to be. And that’s what I’ve done. So you take your vast criminal enterprise and fuck right off.”
Shit. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Why should I?” Sean shook his head again. “You already know everythin’ about me that matters…right?”
“Does Pete know?”
“Of course he knows.”
And Pete hadn’t said a word.
Figured.
“I’m sorry,” Rafe told him stiffly.
Sean only gave another snort. “Let’s just get this shite done.”
He turned to walk away, but Rafe reached out and caught his arm. “Did Jack know?”
“He was my brother,” Sean retorted flatly. “What do you think?”
But he hadn’t said anything to Rafe—probably because they hadn’t had a real conversation about anything other than work in years. Not about family; not about the world. How they were—really were—or what was happening in their lives.
Jack had died alone. He hadn’t even reached out to share Blackbird.
Or his relationship with Trudy Gordon.
My best friend.
Who Rafe was starting to feel like he hadn’t known at all.
But that wasn’t Jack’s fault.
It was mine.
“I’m sorry,” he said again.
For a long moment, Sean only stared at him. “Are you gonna keep him, then?”
“Who?”
“Henry.”
When Rafe said nothing, Sean continued, “That boy has cleaved to you. I’m not opposed to takin’ him, he’s family and he’ll always be welcome in my world. But you’re the one he wants. Are you gonna be true to him, or are you gonna shove him off like you do everyone, and leave me to pick up the pieces?”
Rafe stared at him. Jesus.
What kind of asshole am I?
He wasn’t sure he wanted an answer to that question.
“I’m keeping him,” he said shortly. “Ruby, too.”
Sean’s gaze narrowed. “Well, maybe there’s hope for you yet, old man.”
“So there’s no problem?”
“Problem with what?”
“With me keeping him.”
“Nay.” Sean paused. “So long as you visit. The boys should know each other.”
“Agreed. I need to find out if Trudy Gordon had any family. Henry should know them, too.”
“Mick looked. Parents are dead, and she was an only child. That’s why we’re havin’ this discussion.”
“He’s mine,” Rafe said, and with those words, something hard and unwavering and resolute settled into place inside of him.
“Good.” Sean nodded. “Then let’s go kill some bad guys.”
Twenty-Five
“It’s taking too long.”
“Now, just settle down.” Pete’s voice was calm in her ear. “That water is forty-three degrees Fahrenheit, and they’re wearing a lot of gear. It’s also pitch black, and they have to stay low enough that their headlamps can’t be seen on the surface. Just navigating correctly takes time and patience. So the longer it takes them to make port, the better.”
There was nothing in that assessment with which Ruby could argue. She had no clue what it was to scuba dive up a narrow ocean inlet in the darkest stretch of night.
She was just worried. Rafe and Sean could be as offhand and confident as they liked, but she understood the enormity of their task and how unlikely it was to come off without a hitch.
That’s why she was pacing behind Mickey as he held a vigil in front of the computer monitors, scrutinizing all of Magnolia’s systems, watching everything through the vast security camera network. They were equipped with sound as well, as good as a fly on the wall. He’d hatched a plan to set off the fire alarms and was just waiting for the signal. On his tablet, the GPS trackers Rafe and Sean wore were blinking as they made painfully slow progress up the inlet.
It was nerve wracking to watch, and they weren’t even close to being inside the facility.
She needed to calm down. Her heart was galloping like a runaway horse. And her blood was roaring. And her nerves were so taut, she thought they might snap.
She might snap.
And that couldn’t happen. Because that would do no one any good.
Keep it together, woman. Now is not the time.
So she just took another deep, steadying breath and focused on the tablet, where Sean and Rafe’s fluttering blue dots of light were finally getting close to the small port tucked into the side of the mountain.
Thank God Henry was asleep. No way was she that good of an actor. The last thing he needed was to witness her freaking out—at what had at least a fifty-fifty chance of being a total disaster.
“It’s gonna be okay,” Pete said quietly. “Just keep your head, so they can keep theirs.”
As soon as Rafe and Sean were out of the water, they would don the tiny cameras, mics, and earwigs Mickey had stuck into their packs, and they would all be dialed in together. The GPS trackers marked their physical progress, but once they had breached Magnolia, they would be visible on the system’s security cameras as well.
They were as covered as tech could make them.
The rest would be up to luck and skill.
Goosebumps rushed across her skull, and she rubbed the back of her neck.
“Copy that,” she replied.
At least she was warm and dry as she waited. Unlike Pete, who was parked in a small fishing boat, anchored at the mouth of the inlet. It had stopped snowing, but the wind cut like a blade, cold and damp and heavy. The conditions were miserable.
Which was a good thing, no matter how uncomfortable. The bad weather would drive those who evacuated the facility into vehicles and other buildings. The last thing they wanted was a big, lingering crowd.
None of them had any desire to hurt anyone other than their intended target, but there were no guarantees.
“They’re out of the water,” Mickey said.
Ten tense, silent minutes passed. And then a sudden scratch of sound made both of them jump, and Sean said, “That’s was a bloody cold swim. We’re stealin’ one of them fancy boats on the way home.”
A camera image suddenly materialized on one of the monitors. Bright lights lit a massive, heavily-riveted steel door that stood between the inlet port and a wide, long dock filled with boat slips. Rafe suddenly stepped into view, kissed in white light. He was rubbing his head dry with a t-shirt, his chest bare. Tattoos covered him. Recreations of the drawings Ruby had seen in his sketchbook: a line of jagged mountains; a grizzly standing at attention. A sleek, running wolf.
She stared at them.
“We steal a boat,” he said, “I’m driving.”
Sean suddenly appeared on the other monitor; he pulled on a black turtleneck and shook his head like a wet dog.
“Rock, paper, scissors,” he said.
Then they turned, as one, toward the mountain.
The steel door was solid and thick and foreboding; not something behind which you wanted to get trapped. There were no security personnel around, but at least six different cameras gazed out at them.
Cameras the security system Mickey had hacked into allowed them to see through. The boy’s hands flew over the keys.
“Hang on,” he said. “I’ll loop the camera feed so anyone watchin’ will just see a recordin’ of the empty dock.”
Ruby shook her head. Twelve. He was twelve.
“Okay, Da,” he said. “You’re good to go. There’s a small man door on your right, one guard, just inside. Two more guards outside the bay. I’ll disengage the locks.”
Then they were moving. Quietly, with a grace and seemingly instinctive coordination of movement that surprised Ruby, but shouldn’t have. Toward the narrow door to the right of the large one. More riveted steel, windowless and lit by bright white light.
A soft click; them rushing through the door. Sean going right; Rafe going left. A surprised guard; Rafe swinging the butt of his rifle into the guard’s face.
The guard, on the ground, bleeding.
A swift, silent charge through the bay, which was filled with several large boats and pallets of boxes. Mickey’s fingers continued to fly over the keyboard as he hid them from detection.
“Door is to your left. Opens to a hallway. The guards are doing rounds; I’ll unlock the door once they’ve passed. Go right. Fourth door on your left is a set of stairs. Go down three flights.”
No questions were asked as Rafe and Sean silently followed Mickey’s direction. As they descended the last flight of stairs, Mickey said, “Take the door, go left. This is the maintenance floor. Looks like it contains the mechanical systems, geothermal, junction boxes, HVAC, and the like. I can’t see anybody inside. The tank is in the middle of the room.”
Lights lit as Rafe and Sean moved farther into the room, a flood of white that made Ruby’s nerves twitch. They moved quickly, quietly, their weapons ready, alert in a way that reminded her of the inner city she’d grown up in, where you were always ready for attack.
As an EMT, she ran into the ugliest of situations and worked hard to save lives, and being a Messenger was both unpredictable and dangerous, where anything was possible. But what Rafe and Sean were doing took nerves of steel and a terrifying lack of fear.
After they’d retrieved Henry, she’d thought she understood. But she hadn’t.
The tall, steel storage tank came into view a heartbeat later.
“She’s a big girl,” Sean murmured. “She’s gonna make a beautiful cloud.”
“Move,” Rafe told him.
Sean gave him a look and removed his pack. “A man should appreciate his work.”
Rafe shook his head. “More work, less appreciation.”
“Such a stick in the mud. Ruby, lass, you got your work cut out for you.”
“Careful,” Rafe warned softly.
“Focus,” Pete told them sharply.
Sean removed a padded nylon lunch bag from his pack. From the lunch bag, he began to pull bricks of C4.
C4!
This was really happening.
Ruby stared at the plastic explosives, her stomach churning.
“What can I do?” Rafe asked.
“If anyone comes,” Sean said and began to place the bricks around the base of the oxygen tank, “shoot them.”
“Copy that.”
Sean put the lunch bag aside and pulled a length of wire from the pack.
“You couldn’t bring it ready-made?” Rafe demanded.
“Oh, did you want to blow up on the way here?”
A dark look.
“I’m a safety guy,” Sean said mildly and began placing the wire. “Besides, it’s like anything: fresh is best.”
“Because it’s frigging bread,” Ruby muttered.
“I have someone headed your way,” Mickey said.
“On it,” Rafe replied.
Ruby watched as what appeared to be a maintenance worker halted in front of the door. He looked around. Then his phone rang, and he answered it.
“Hold on,” Mickey muttered.
The camera Rafe wore was steady on the door. Sean’s showed him delicately connecting a burner phone to the wires.
A bomb.
He was building a bomb.
She rubbed her arms, chilled. It was too…unreal. Like they were watching a movie. All they needed was a cinematic score—something dark and throbbing and tense—and popcorn.
The maintenance man nodded and moved on. Mickey exhaled slowly. “Clear.”
“Done,” Sean said and moved to stand beside Rafe.
“The guard by the door has been found,” Mickey said. “There’s security everywhere. Maybe you should go up. I can set the fire alarms off, and you can walk out with everyone who’s evacuating.”
“Nay,” Sean said. “I have two more bricks, one for the virus lab, and one for the bay. Nothin’ is goin’ to survive this day.”
“But they know you’re there,” his son repeated, and Ruby looked at him, because for the first time, she could hear fear.
Mickey was afraid for his dad.
As well he should be.
“That wasn’t the plan,” Rafe said.
Sean only snorted. “I’ll take the lab, you take the bay. I’ll meet you there.”
“You don’t separate,” Mickey protested. “That’s the rule: always have a buddy.”
“We’re not goin’ for a hike, Mick,” Sean retorted. “We’ll be fine.”
“Goddamn it,” Rafe snarled. “Lab first, then the bay.”
“You don’t gotta come,” Sean protested, but he headed back the way they’d come, toward the stairs. “I’m a big boy.”
“Enough,” Pete said sharply. “Just get it done.”
