Jacob(36)

“How far away is the camp?”

“Couple clicks to the west. Sun will be up soon. We’ll head out as soon as the sun sets tonight. Give your pansy ass time to recover.”

Jared moaned and moved. Both men watched him struggle towards consciousness.

“Seen momma lately?” Joseph’s question came from so far out of left field Jacob had to laugh.

“Nope. She’s royally pissed at me. Staying here is probably the safest move for me right now.”

Joseph’s eyes tracked to Jacob although his head didn’t move. “Why? What did you do?”

Jacob reached for his pack and pulled a piece of jerky out. He held up one finger. “Got married.” He lifted another finger. “Didn’t do it in a church.” He held up a third finger. “Or wait for Mom to get to D.C. before I married her.”

The slow roll of laughter built until Jacob had to cover his ears.

“Damn, boy, you are toast. Three strikes. You know what, little man? You’re gonna be fucking grounded for life.” Joseph pulled a piece of meat from the pouch and folded it repeatedly to break it into a smaller piece. “This woman you married? Karla?”

Jacob blinked trying to follow Joseph’s train of thought. “Karla? Hell, no. She was an occasional hook-up.”

“Huh.”

Jacob’s hackles rose at his brother’s dismissive grunt.

“What the fuck does ‘huh’ mean?”

Joseph shrugged casually. “Saw Karla in Paris about three weeks ago. She was finishing up a modeling assignment, heading to Madrid for a shoot and a runway gig, and then heading to Georgetown to see you.”

Jacob dropped his head into his hands. The headache that had started to lessen roared back with a vengeance. “Karla’s going to Georgetown?” She has a key. Karla knows the alarm code and has access through security. His thought trailed off in a small groan. “Tori’s in Georgetown. I’m so fucked.”

Joseph’s soft whistle echoed eerily through the cave. His deep voice was reflective and smooth. “Guess you’ll find out how healthy your marriage is.”





Chapter Twenty-Two


Gabriel paced behind his massive oak desk. Even though he was doing the caged walk, Tori felt like the zoo exhibit. Gabriel’s keen glance gave her and Jewel the once over. Again. She knew what he saw. Neither of them had anything left to give. Tori forced her eyes to remain open. The quiet warmth of the office exaggerated the exhaustion that wrapped its encompassing tentacles around her. She and Jewel both had worked like maniacs tracing every possible lead. They had logged insane hours trying to track down information and find the men who remained in country. Tori called in every favor she was owed from the intelligence community, worked microscopic breadcrumbs of information, in hopes of a trail leading to Jacob and the others. The men had just disappeared. Vanished.

Fatigue pounded at her. When the workday at Guardian was finished, she and Jewel had spent all their down time away from Guardian at the hospital with the twins and Jason. At least that vigil was over. Her dad had checked in when the twins received their discharge paperwork. Frank had flown back to South Dakota with Drake and Dixon in Gabriel’s private jet two hours ago. Amanda King had left a week ago for Mississippi with Jason. They’d decided to drive home. A plane was too much confinement. Under the circumstances, Jason’s aversion to enclosed spaces was entirely understandable.

Now that the wounded were gone, Tori planned to spend every second searching for her men. Everyone at Guardian firmly believed if there were no bodies then the men were alive. ISIS made a point to post all executions online. Of the handful of macabre films posted since their disappearance, none of Guardian’s men had been identified. But where were they? Satellite, unmanned aerial photos, video, and human intelligence inputs had revealed nothing. The pounding of her headache hadn’t abated in days. She slowly circled her temples with her fingertips. She had to be overlooking something.

“Tori, have you run the intel in the area today?” Her head popped up at the question. Well yeah. I run it twice a day, every day, when the satellites pass over the coordinates.

“Ahh yeah, the skirmish two days ago at Camp Four confirmed a lot of damage. No indication of what transpired other than two buildings and several vehicles blown up. There is no traffic or movement. We believe the camp has been abandoned. There were no DoD satellites close enough to retrieve heat signatures during the fight. We didn’t have any intel, unmanned aerial vehicle photos or otherwise, that would indicate prisoners at that location.”

Her shoulders sagged. “Plus the camp is on the other side of the province under the control of religious leaders and warlords, not ISIS. No indication it was our guys.”

“Alright. Go home, both of you. Fifty-three days without a break. I don’t want to see either of you until Monday morning.” He held up a hand stopping both of the women’s objections.

“Jewel, your section is covered. Give them a break and yourself a rest. Tori, we have analysts who will work the intel. You can go over the information on Monday morning to ensure they didn’t miss anything. We’ll call you both if there is news.”

The phone on the right side of his desk rang. “My private line. Ladies, that was an order, not a request. Shut the door on your way out.” The phone rang again. Gabriel pointed towards the door. “Go. Now.”

Tori rubbed the back of her neck and threw a glance toward Jewel as she shut the door behind them. “Dinner?”

Jewel blew out a long breath and finally shook her head. “No. If you don’t mind, I think I’m just going to go home and fall asleep until Monday morning. As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right. We have to recharge.”

Tori sighed as she dropped into the driver’s side of Jacob’s Hummer. It was going to be quiet without her dad and Amanda. Maybe that’s what she needed, a few days just to be. She’d been so busy taking care of everyone else she felt exhausted, drained to the point of feeling helpless; but not hopeless. Amanda’s quiet confidence and Drake and Dixon’s unwavering belief Jacob and the rest of the men were alive kept her hopeful.

The rush hour traffic turned the short drive into an hour and a half commute from hell. Pulling up in front of the house, she glanced at the green Jaguar and wondered why the neighbors were parking in front of the house but shrugged it off. It wasn’t like she needed to park there. Her security detail pulled beside the Hummer and waited until she got to the top of the stairs. She opened the door and waved at them as she closed herself in for the night.

Tossing her keys into the crystal bowl on the granite-topped table in the hall, she turned to the keypad to disarm it. The green blinking light indicated someone had already disabled the alarm. An intruder was in the house. Heart pounding, Tori reached into her purse for the Sig Saur she had liberated from the kitchen. Thumbing the safety to the fire position, she assumed a defensive stance listening carefully. The house was silent. Tori reached up and keyed her emergency code into the keypad. Her security team would respond quickly. They weren’t far away.

A loud thump from down the hall drew her attention. Carefully, Tori made her way down the hall, clearing the rooms as she passed them. She heard the drawers in the master bedroom slam shut. Moving up to the door, she froze as the security team made a stealthy entry into the foyer. She signaled she’d heard an intruder. One of her security detail, Keith Andrews, joined her while Earl Potter cleared the rest of the house. Keith flattened against the wall. The sound of a heavy object crashing to the floor was their go. He pulled away from the wall and kicked the door in. Tori went low and Keith went high each finding their target with their weapons as they challenged the trespasser.

A petite redhead squealed in terror when she saw the guns pointed at her. “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!”

Tori’s eyes never moved from her target. Women were just as deadly as men. “Hands on your head. Down on your knees.” When the woman hesitated, Tori yelled, “Now!”

The redhead complied, her chin quivering, and tears pouring over her cheeks. “I have a key! Jacob gave me the key and the combination to the alarm system! I even called his security service….what is it called…Guardian…to make sure I was on the list! I am!”

Tori stood still, holding the gun on the woman. “Jacob King gave you the key to this house?”

The red head nodded quickly. She pointed to the key attached to an enormous ornate fob lying by a Coach purse on the bed.

Earl entered the room. “The rest of the house is secure, ma’am.”

The redhead pointed widely. “He can tell you! He’s seen me with Jacob! Please tell them that it’s okay I’m here!”

Tori lowered her weapon and looked expectantly at the man. His face went beet red and his gaze landed any place but on Tori.

Tori’s mind worked furiously to try to make sense of the woman in her bedroom. “Do you know her?”

The guard nodded. “Ah…yes, ma’am…she used to come here.”

“See! I just flew in from Madrid to surprise Jacob. Please don’t shoot me!” The redhead’s shock dissolved into tears and then sobs. Understanding her simpering reply took effort.