His Revenge by Charlene Raquel
Chapter Four
“You’re going to tie my hands for real?” Gwen backed up a few steps. She knew they wanted to make it look like she had been subdued, but really being tied up had not been part of her plan.
Rip rolled his eyes. “We need to make it appear real. I’ll only tie it enough to look legit. You’ll be able to get out of it at any time. But you can’t squirm around. You need to look immobile and beaten down.”
Crash approached with some rope. “I’m not going to tie your legs. We need you to be able to run if necessary.” He frowned at Drew, holding his hand up to stop the argument that was brewing. “We don’t think it will be necessary, but we need to plan for everything. Nothing is going to go wrong.”
Rip zipped up his navy-blue backpack. He had filled it earlier with all the supplies that he thought they might need. “Boomer is there now watching the alleyway behind the restaurant and bar Hank’s contact set up. They’re expecting Hank to text when he’s in the alley. Boomer set up a few cameras already, but he couldn’t gain access to the interior of any of the buildings there.”
Jeff pushed Rip. “Don’t scare them. Everything will be fine. Just follow the plan.”
“I’m just supposed to lay in the back of the SUV with my hands tied and not move?” Gwen was starting to rethink her insistence on participating.
Crash winced. “Hate to tell you, but we’re going to have to gag you. It won’t look real otherwise.”
Sam could see the panic in Gwen’s eyes. “We’ve all wanted to gag Gwen at one point or another. She’s usually talking a mile a minute and won’t stop.”
Gwen scratched her nose with her middle finger. “I do not talk to too much.” She knew Sam was trying to distract her from her sudden fear, but nothing would stop the butterflies, or more like killer bees, swarming around in her stomach.
Jeff held a small black case in his hands. “Wear your hair down so that it covers your ears.” He held out a tiny flesh-covered earbud. “This will allow you to hear what is going on around you. I’m going to attach a small tracking device on the back of your shirt collar. Again, this is part of the contingency plan.”
Dean flipped his laptop around. “We already have you here. You are the blinking orange light.” He pointed to the screen.
Gwen focused on the computer. “What is the green dot?”
Dean clicked a key and the background map got bigger. “Sam and I will track the vehicle, which is the green dot, as it makes its approach. Sam will hop through the traffic cameras along the route.”
Gwen was surprised to see Drew with a laptop. “What are you going to be doing, Drew?”
Drew arched a brow. “You mean besides worrying about my girl?”
“Drew.”
“I have control of a tiny drone that will be inside of the SUV. I’ll fly it out behind one of the guys when they get out of the vehicle. This will allow us to watch what is going on and to record it.” Drew clicked a few keys and a micro-drone that Gwen had not noticed before rose from the table and hovered silently in the air.
“Wow! That’s so quiet.” Gwen watched as a bug size flying camera whizzed around their heads. “How are you so good at flying that thing?” He looked like he was enjoying the little electronic device.
Drew shrugged. “I’ve flown this before. Jeff had it out the last time we were all at his parents’ house. It’s also a lot like video games.”
Sam watched the drone in fascination. “I want to play with that.”
Crash scowled. “None of you should be fooling around with the drone. You break it and we’re screwed. That tech is still experimental.”
Rip grinned. “We borrowed a few things for our trip here.” He helped Gwen into the back of the SUV, so she was sitting in the cargo area. His phone rang so he walked away to answer, not knowing what his buddy was going to say. After a short conversation, he came back and nodded to Jeff and Crash. “Boomer left a couple of surprises around the bar in case we need them.”
Gwen couldn’t help the small laugh that came out. Boomer was their explosives expert so she was sure they had the area wired. “Won’t they wonder why there are three of you? Didn’t they just hire Hank?”
Crash heaved a sigh. They had been over all of that before, but he knew the kids were worried, so he was using every ounce of patience he had to answer them without sounding irritated. “Hank texted them to expect a driver, that’s me, and a helper. Rip will pose as Hank and Jeff as his helper. The helper is tagging along because their package was a hellcat who needed extra supervision. The response was that Hank would not receive any more money, and if he was incompetent and stupid enough to need help, he could share his payment.”
They had texted back and took a risk telling the unknown perp that they didn’t need to deliver their package and were sure that they could get more money for her elsewhere. The guys had demanded more money. They had no idea if Hank was smart enough to pull off a stunt like that, but it seemed like the texter was buying their act.
The angry response took time to arrive but when it did, it simply said, “Fine. Payment after delivery.” They were sure that the man on the other side of the texting was planning to kill Hank and take Gwen. They would find out within the hour.
Drew squeezed in between Rip and Crash at the back of the SUV and gathered Gwen in his arms. “Be careful, Sunshine. Love you.” He kissed her lips lightly and stepped back. Dean and Sam both took turns hugging Gwen.
Crash hung a soft cloth around Gwen’s neck. “When we get close, you are going to have to pull this up and into your mouth. Tighten it just enough to look real. Your hands will be tied in front, which is a rooky mistake that Hank would probably make. We told them that you were drugged, so lay in the back and act dazed. Remember the small blade that is tucked into the cell pocket of your workout pants. If anything happens, use it.”
Gwen laid down on a blanket they put on the floor of the car for her and watched as they closed her inside. She was really going to do this. She was going to be bait. Hopefully they would catch who hired Hank to take her and that would lead back to Dominic, and she would be free of the mess her father got her into. She wasn’t sure what trouble her father had gotten into or why he was going to use her as payment. Hopefully after tonight, she would get her answers and she would be finally free.
Freedom had always been a foreign concept for her. She thought she had it the past few years at Stonewall University but that had all been an illusion. Maybe after this mess was cleared up, she would know what it was like to make her own decisions and live her life the way she wanted to.
She watched Drew’s face as the calm mask he had worn all afternoon fell away and was replaced with worry. She wanted to reassure him that everything would be okay, but she needed to convince herself first.
Rip, Crash, and Jeff entered the car and Crash started the engine. Jeff leaned over the back seat. “How are you doing?”
Gwen smiled weakly. “I’m okay.”
“Don’t be nervous. We’ve got this.”
Rip turned up the music and they were off.
~*~*~
Boomer was crouched in front of the second story window of a building across the street from the bar. He shook his head in disgust. The name on the front was The Corner Bar, only it was in the middle of the block and not on a corner. He could see perfectly into the wall of windows in the front. He took photos of all the patrons who were dining in the restaurant part of the place. For a weekend night, the bar was not as busy as he assumed it would be.
Boomer flipped down a monocular over his left eye that was connected to a special earpiece. He was using something that most people would think was out of a James Bond movie. The guy, Marc, who created it was eerily similar to Q, only much younger. He was brilliant and there was no limit to his imagination. Luckily, his inventions were for the good guys and Boomer’s team got to quietly try them out.
It was a crazy piece of tech that was similar to night vision goggles, but this device registered a particular range of radiation waves that was found in the air and atmosphere and was normally invisible to the naked eye. This allows him to view a laser that was tuned to that frequency of radiation wave. The laser, when pointed at a glass or mug, even though a window in the restaurant across from him would allow him to hear the conversation going on in his earpiece.
Jeff tried to explain the science behind it, but Boomer didn’t care. He knew all he needed to know. Point the laser at something on the table where he wanted to hear the conversation and he was good to go. He just needed to see it for it to work, even up to a mile away. The tech was cool as shit.
So far, the conversations were boring as hell. People on dates, and not good ones. He heard more people bitch at each other than he cared to hear again. Boomer listened to two dicks as they propositioned a waitress and were shocked she turned them down, and winced when a couple of under aged girls used a seriously bad fake ID.
He was just ready to move to a new location to see if he could get better intel when he heard it. Two men stopped at the end of the bar, just within Boomer’s range of sight. It was at the far end of his target area, so he wasn’t sure if it would pick up the correct conversation, but it seemed to be working.
Boomer focused the laser on the water glass on the bar between the two men. He hit the record button on his earpiece and listened to what the two men had to say.
“The dumb ass is bringing the girl in about a half hour. The boss wants us to kill Hank and dump the girl in some public place. The feds are looking into the stunt that Mason pulled, so the boss doesn’t want to chance it. No one expected the girl to have military protection. Her father neglected to disclose that. He’ll pay for that mistake once he’s out of federal custody.”
“They won’t be able to hold him for providing his daughter with a ride and a place to stay for the night. Boss’ll make sure the judge dismisses the charges.” Boomer watched the man shoot a shot of what he suspected was vodka, since it was clear, and a lemon wedge was sitting on a napkin next to it.
“The boss wants things to cool down before the rest of the plans comes into play.”
Boomer cursed when the first man downed his drink and they moved farther into the bar. He could no longer see them, so he could not hear them. He pulled out his cell and dialed Rip.
Rip hit the speaker button on his phone. “Talk to us.”
Boomer flipped the monocular up and relayed what he heard. “They’re going to kill Hank and let Gwen go somewhere public. They talked about a ‘Boss’ but never mentioned a name. We need to detain those two. I was only able to capture one of them on camera. Waiting on facial recognition.”
Jeff glanced at Gwen to make sure she was okay. “Did you send it to my brother?”
Boomer chuckled. “Yeah. He was eager to try out a couple of the closed databanks. The kid’s worse than you are. He’ll ring us if he gets anything before our exchange.”
Gwen wanted to sit up so badly, but she had promised she wouldn’t. She yelled from the back. “If they are going to kill Hank, why are we going to the meeting?”
Rip twisted in his seat. “If we don’t go to the meeting, we won’t catch the bad guys.”
Gwen knew the military guys all wore streamlined bullet proof vests under their shirts. It was another one of their experimental technology gadgets. The vests were much lighter and thinner than a normal bullet proof vest but way tougher and stronger. They told her that their new vests stopped projectiles that a normal vest wouldn’t have. She could barely tell they had them on.
“Pull your gag up, Trouble, we’re close. It will only be in for a little while.” Crash called back to Gwen.
“Trouble?” She guessed it was an accurate nickname. Trouble had a way of finding her. Gwen did as instructed but had to fight the urge to spit it out. She checked her pants and patted the closed knife that was sheathed in her pocket. She prayed it would not leave its current location and she would not be in a position where it was necessary to pull out.
Jeff checked his mic. “Kid camp, can you hear us?”
“We can hear you, dickhead.” Dean spat. They could hear Drew muttering about being called kids.
Rip chuckled. “Good one, Tech. From here on out, no names. Just use nicknames in case anyone intercepts our communications. Pixie, you good?
Sam groaned. They gave her that nickname while they were saving Gwen. She was short and they claimed she had a magical touch with technology. She had been able to hack into the traffic camera system faster than both Jeff and Dean. “I’ve been scanning the red-light cameras and it does not appear that anyone is following. I’ll monitor the surrounding cameras.”
“Lil’ Tech, how’re we with surveillance cameras and security systems in the area?” Rip fist bumped with Crash. He knew Dean would hate being called Lil’ Tech.
“Asshat. I’m in the three systems that are bordering the bar, but they suck and are not HD. The bar only had two cameras inside, and both are so dusty that I can hardly see through the filth on the lenses.”
“Soccer Boy, you ready with the drone?”
Drew grinned as he buzzed Rip with the drone, getting close to his face. “Too bad this thing doesn’t have a stinger.”
Crash and Rip shared a look. “Maybe Marc can create an upgrade.”
Jeff clapped his hands once. “Let’s do this. You all know your roles. We need as much information as possible. As soon as you see it, we need to know. Quiet and as concise as possible. Radio silent unless you are relaying info. No chit-chat. Trouble, you’re pretending to be passed out.”
They pulled into the alley, passed the bar, and stopped just before the mouth of the alleyway. They wanted to be able to make a fast getaway if needed.
Crash pulled out the cloned phone and sent a message that they arrived.
Boomer whispered over the com. “Left rooftop, 200 feet from back door. Got you covered from above.”
Gwen wanted to look for Boomer but knew that would give away his location and out the team into danger.
The phone beeped, indicating an incoming text message. Crash read it aloud. Change of location. Bring the package to 1555 Station Road Warehouse B. Pull into the opened bay door. 30 minutes
