Her Striker by Charlene Raquel
Chapter Twenty-six
Dean consumed his fifth mug of coffee, an entire family-sized bag of potato chips and was finishing off the white-cheddar popcorn. He worked better when he munched on something and he needed to be in top form. He glanced at his brother, who was speaking privately to his buddies, Crash, Rip, and Ben “Boomer” Adkins.
Jeff’s teammates must have hauled-ass the whole way, arriving in a little over three hours. They hadn’t expected Boomer, but Dean was glad he was with the others when they arrived. Boomer was an ordinance expert, meaning he could blow up just about anything. Rip was the best at close-quarters combat and there wasn’t much that Crash couldn’t break into. Jeff’s whole crew was lethal. Dean hoped they would be able to save Gwen.
Sam was impressed with the men who filled the small apartment. If she didn’t know them, she would be able to tell they were military and even more so than the average soldier. These men oozed power, control, and confidence. They were the badasses and alpha men she read about in her romance novels, but they were the real thing.
She had thought Jeff was muscular, but after seeing his teammates, he had more of a lean build with close-cropped deep brown hair and green eyes. He and Dean looked so much alike even though nearly ten years separated them. She laughed when she found out Jeff’s nickname was Tech. He was the computer genius of the group, but they claimed that is not why he got his nickname.
Crash was the shortest of the men at about 5’10” but he was by far the stockiest. He also had the bluest eyes she had ever seen. Dean glared at her when she told Crash that. Sam was impressed with the array of vehicles and aircraft he could drive or fly. He had even flown Marine One for the president once. She was a little concerned about his nickname being Crash, but apparently it involved a golf cart, a handle of whiskey and a couple of professional ballet dancers. That was all the information they would give her. She would try to get the rest of the story another time.
Rip looked like a typical surfer in a movie with bleached blond hair, tanned skin and a perfect body. Sam could imagine girls drooling over him. If she didn’t know that he was the best at hand-to-hand combat and knives of the group, she would think he belonged on the beach with board shorts and sunglasses.
Boomer was a jokester one moment and grumpy the next. It gave Sam whiplash to see it. From what the guys told her, he could make a bomb out of anything and has. Even though he was very handsome, he intimidated the hell out of her, with his short Mohawk, tattoos and stubble. He had the bad boy look down perfectly.
Sam was concerned about Drew. He still looked like crap and she could tell he was struggling. Jeff kept making him drink water and she could tell he was monitoring him closely, but she was still worried. Drew almost died and here he was, acting like it never happened. It was only a matter of time before he passed out.
Drew had been pacing for hours. He felt helpless and he hated that feeling. Computers were not his thing and he sucked at research, but he had given it a try. Sam had banned him from the dining room after he almost messed up the program she had created to search through video footage.
He had tried to call his dad, but he hadn’t gotten an answer. He wondered how much his father knew about the Scorpio Society and the ritual that almost cost Drew his life. The only thing he was able to find out was that Gwen’s asshole father was still checked into an area hotel but wasn’t there.
“I got it!” Sam jumped up from her seat. “I’m almost positive the van went into this estate.” She pointed to the computer screen.
Drew leaned over her shoulder to watch the footage from the last traffic camera. “That’s got to be her! Let’s go.”
Jeff, Crash, Rip and Boomer crowded around behind Drew, while Sam showed the van turning the corner at a red light.
Sam clicked to a satellite image. “This is the area right after the red light. Unfortunately, it was the last one. It’s a few miles up the road, but I think it’s where they were heading. That is the only logical place they could have gone.”
Jeff and Crash exchanged a look.
Boomer pointed to a dirt road near a large estate. “We need more information. Can you guys figure out who owns the estate?”
Dean’s fingers flew over the keyboard as he accessed property records. “It’s not listed in the main county system that’s available to the public. We’ll have to access the tax records.”
Rip pulled out his phone. “Hey man. Miss me? Hahaha. You wish asshole. We need satellite images and anything you have on an estate.” He smirked. “No, I’m not going to owe you shit. Think of this as payback for the last time we pulled your ass out of the fire.”
Crash chuckled. “Walt giving you a hard time?”
Rip shrugged. “Nah. That asshole knows better than to fuck with us.”
Boomer growled. “We can’t wait for Walt. We need to do some recon of the area.”
Jeff rolled his eyes. “No blowing anything up unless we absolutely have to.”
Crash faced Drew, Sam and Dean. “You three are staying here.”
Drew stepped up into Crash’s face. “Like hell, I will. That’s my girl. I’m going.”
Rip separated them with a hand on each of their chests. “Knock it off. We’re not leaving them here. They’ll follow us and screw everything up.”
Boomer nodded. “Yeah, we can keep an eye on them.”
“Right here. We’re right here.” Sam complained. She turned to Dean. “They’re talking about us as if we’re not in the room.” She pushed them out of the way and brought her laptop over to the couch.
Dean and Drew followed her, while the military men made plans without them.
“We need to make our own plans,” Sam whispered to her friends. “They’re going to leave us out of things.”
Drew ran his hand through his hair. “We need to get her back. Her father had to have had something to do with this.” Richard Mason was an evil asshole who would think nothing of beating the hell out of his daughter and has done that many times in the past.
Dean leaned closer to them. “I broke into Richard Mason’s phone and tracked it. He’s at that address.”
Drew glared at him. “Why didn’t you say anything before?”
“Relax dude. I just got into it. You think breaking into secure electronics is easy?” Dean put his hand on Drew’s shoulder. “We’ll get her back. As much as I hate to admit it, my brother and his friends are good at what they do.”
~*~*~
“There’s only a few more hours of darkness left, so we need to move quickly.” Jeff motioned to Dean, Drew and Sam. “You three need to stay here. You have radios. Keep the sound low. We’ll keep in contact with each other and check in with you three. I want you to fan out and watch. Let us know if any lights go on or off, if any cars come or go, or if you see any movement at all.”
Drew opened his mouth, but Rip stopped him.
“Save it. You’re not trained for this. You’ll get in the way and possibly get someone hurt or killed. This is what we do.” Rip motioned to Crash to go to the left toward the front of the house.
“Dean and Sam, keep monitoring the security system. We have control of it, but if someone is paying attention, they might try to kick us out.” Boomer checked his backpack. “I have enough explosives to light up this whole estate, should we need it.”
Jeff shook his head. “I’d prefer not having to do that.”
Crash cracked his knuckles. “I’m entering through the basement window. Stay out of trouble, kids.”
Drew and Dean both gave him the middle finger.
“Don’t make any noise. Stay out of sight. We’ll be back with Gwen.” Jeff disappeared around a row of hedges.
Drew growled. He knew Jeff and his buddies were the best around, but he wanted to do something. Keeping watch was not what he had in mind. He wanted to go up to the front door and pound on it until someone answered, preferably Gwen’s asshole father, and beat the hell out of him.
Dean pulled out a protein bar and began munching on it. “I’m going to hang out over there in between those bushes.” He pointed to a row of hedges that bordered a formal garden along the back of the property. A man-made pond and small waterfall were the focal points. It was a good spot to watch the back of the house and the rear door.
Sam shook her head. “You’re hungry again? Where do you put it?” She didn’t wait for him to answer. Instead, she headed toward a grouping of trees off to the side of the house. Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, she made her way to the one with the lowest branch. Luckily, it was within her reach. Growing up, Sam and her brother would climb anything and everything in sight. They would have competitions on who could climb the fastest and the most impossible. This tree would be a cinch.
“Sam! What are you doing?” Dean hissed. He couldn’t believe what she was doing. She was going to hurt herself. Just as he was thinking that, she scrambled up the tree. She had the nerve to grin at him and wave from midway up. He shook his head, laughing. She actually looked comfortable up there.
Drew chuckled as he made his way to the detached garage. He knew one of Jeff’s friends had checked it out, but he needed to feel useful. The side door facing the row of hedges around the garden was partially hidden from the back of the house, so he was able to make his way to it without any trouble.
Trying the handle, Drew was shocked to find it unlocked. He pushed the door open just a little to slip inside. The building could easily hold six vehicles with room to walk around each comfortably. The van they had been tracking was on the far side, closest to the wide roll-up door. Whoever had driven it inside, parked it on an odd angle. It would be difficult to back it out, but it wouldn’t leave that garage any time soon.
Drew loved engines and mechanics. Ever since he was young, he had been fascinated with how things worked, particularly machines. He would take anything he could apart to see how it worked and put it back together, sometimes making it run even better.
He could take a car engine apart and rebuild it, upgrading parts and getting more horsepower and efficiency out of it. Drew’s father had hated his son getting his hands dirty, so he couldn’t work on cars at home. On his fourteenth birthday, his Aunt Dee had surprised him with a ‘69 Camaro. The thing was a wreck with rusted out areas, dents all over, ripped and dry rotted interior and it didn’t run. That car was the best gift he had ever gotten.
Aunt Dee’s boyfriend, Bob, had worked with Drew, teaching him everything he knew about cars. Bob would bring his friends over to help teach Drew things that were out of his expertise. By the time the car was restored, Drew was quite a mechanic.
Four vehicles were in the garage. Drew made quick work disabling all of them so that no one would be able to leave the estate. When he reached the van, he was tempted to take the thing apart, piece by piece. Gwen had been kidnapped and held against her will in the thing and he hated it.
He glanced inside, noticed Gwen’s tennis bag on the floor so he reached inside to grab it. She loved the racket and wouldn’t want to lose it. He would be willing to bet her purse and phone were inside too. At least he could do that for her.
Shouldering the bag, he passed along between cars. He wanted to get back outside to keep watch. Just as he reached the door, something heavy came down on the back of his head, and he sank to the concrete floor.
