Page 43 of Guarding Grace (Hawk Security #2)

Terry

The next day, as we drove toward the third house Lucas wanted us to check out, Jordy’s voice came through the car’s speakers. “I’m conferencing in Constance. She has something she wants to pass along.”

She and Zane were assigned to watch Grace today, while Duke searched for Elliot.

I braced for the complaint that Grace wasn’t following our security protocols.

“Guys,” Constance said, “one of my contacts passed along an update. The Secret Service now believes the plates being used to print the local funny money are being sold.”

“Are you saying you think it’s printing plates in the case?” Winston asked. “Not cash?”

“It fits the facts,” she confirmed. “Plates would be worth that much or more, and they’re small enough to fit in one of those cases.”

“That makes more sense than any of the other scenarios,” Jordy agreed.

I nodded along. “Thanks, Constance. We’re getting close, so I’m going off speaker.”

“Good hunting,” Constance said.

I switched over to the earbud. “Sound check.”

“Five by five,” Jordy replied .

Winston drove us around the block in a quiet neighborhood in Santa Monica.

“Park in front of the gray house, ten forty-one,” Jordy told me.

“Roger, gray house, ten forty-one,” I repeated as I pointed.

Winston pulled to the curb at that location.

Jordy had a drone high in the air above us. “That’s good right there,” he said. “The target is the gray-blue house directly behind the house you’re parked at. You can approach now.”

We started around the block on foot, and would use opposite sides when we reached the target street.

“Slow down,” Jordy said in my ear. “Dog walker about to turn the corner.”

I slowed. “Man and dog,” I whispered.

Winston matched my pace. “I think the Dodgers need a new shortstop.”

“I’m with ya on that,” I agreed. Two guys talking sports were invisible in this town.

We yakked it up until the man walking his Pomeranian turned the corner.

“Did you see that little thing?” Winston commented when the dog and owner were out of sight. “The guy should have some self-respect.”

“Not the dog for you?”

“Hell no. I’d get a real man’s dog, like a German Shepherd or a Doberman, not a freaking purse dog.”

I laughed. “I know what you’re getting for Christmas.”

“Don’t you fucking dare.”

We casually crossed the street. You never knew who might notice movements that didn’t fit the neighborhood.

I went up to the door, and Winston stopped short and turned to watch the street. “Clear.”

Crouching, I worked the lock picks on the door.

We’d already determined the house didn’t have any cameras, and Jordy’s drone hadn’t picked up any heat signatures inside. We knew we wouldn’t catch Rudi here, but we hoped to find evidence that this was his hideout.

“Car,” Winston said.

I left the door and ducked behind a bush while he pretended to study his phone on the sidewalk. Letting ourselves into a house was problematic, to say the least, but with Grace’s life on the line, I was all in.

The car passed, and Winston checked both directions. “Clear. ”

I started again with the tools and got a slight click. The locking cylinder turned. I pocketed my tools and turned the knob. “We’re in.”

Winston followed me in and closed the door. “This place stinks.”

There were discarded pizza boxes, empty burger wrappers, and other trash strewn around. Winston and I pulled out our tactical flashlights and began scanning the front room and the kitchen.

“Somebody’s definitely been squatting.” Winston coughed as he searched through the trash. “You see any yet?”

We were looking for a specific snack food that Elliot had told us Rudi liked.

“Yup. Pig ears located.” I held up two empty bags of smoked pig ears. Elliot said Rudi liked to chew on these damned dog treats while he worked. I sniffed a bag. “Not for me.”

“Fucking disgusting,” Winston agreed. “But this might not be him. Could just be a guy with a dog.”

“Anything else?” Jordy asked.

“Nothing else in the common space unless you want moldy pizza,” I reported. “Moving to the bedrooms.”

“Copy that,” Jordy said.

I moved down the hall and into the first bedroom. “Bingo,” I announced.

“What do you have?” Jordy asked in my ear.

“Laptop and what looks like tracking sheets.” The pad of paper next to the computer had a series of numbers crossed out.

Winston joined me and flipped over several pages. “Yeah, man. He’s been tracking his combo attempts.” The sheets showed a set of numbers increasing by hundreds, each one crossed out. Rudi had definitely been here.

A check of the nightstand, dresser, and under the bed came up with zilch. “No case in the first bedroom.”

My earbud came alive. “Lucas says to finish quickly and vacate before the target returns.

“Fast search and boogie,” I repeated for Winston.

“Tell Lucas I want to stay and wait for the target,” Winston said.

“Winston wants to stay for the target’s return,” I told Jordy.

“Negative,” came the reply. “Lucas doesn’t want to risk an uncontrolled situation with explosives in play. When you’re done, vacate and leave it the way you found it. We’ll surveil and bag him when he’s a safe distance from the case.”

“Roger.”

Winston checked the closet. “If it was me, I wouldn’t leave ten mil lying around when I left the house.

I’d backpack it with me.” He stopped, then pointed to some dirt on the carpet at the edge of the closet and motioned for me to keep the conversation going.

Seems he’d found something that made him suspect we were being overheard.

“That makes sense.” I moved closer to get a look.

Winston leaned over and outlined a rectangular crease in the carpeting, then pointed down. It was a cutout to access the subfloor. He thought there was a chance Rudi was underneath us.

I pointed at the floor and spoke loudly. “Orders are to leave.”

“Copy that,” Winston huffed out, unhappily.

We walked to the front door, where Winston stopped and held up a closed fist.

I stopped.

He put his finger to his lips, opened the door, counted to five on his fingers, and then closed it loudly.

We turned toward the hallway and silently crept closer, stopping at the end of the hall.

Winston tapped his watch and held up five fingers.

“What’s the holdup?” Jordy asked in my ear. With a drone in the air, he knew we hadn’t exited.

I tapped the earbud three times without saying anything.

Jordy got the message. “Copy that. Standing by.”

My heart rate hadn’t slowed since Winston pointed out the subfloor access. We could be standing over a very nervous guy with an explosive case that could blow this whole house sky high.

It only took two minutes before we heard the sound of the floor panel being displaced around the corner.

Winston positioned himself against the wall on one side of the hallway entrance, and I hugged the wall on the opposite side.

After more scuffing sounds, some huffing, and a cough, we finally heard the sound of shoes approaching on the hardwood of the hall.

When he reached us, Winston snatched the case, quick as a snake.

I wrenched Rudi’s arm behind him and slammed him against the wall. “We’ve been looking for you.”

“Don’t hurt me,” he squealed. “I have two more days before the deadline, and I’m getting close.”

“Shut up,” I hissed as I patted him down for weapons. He wasn’t armed, but I pocketed the phone and wallet I found.

He whimpered. “Who are you guys?”

“Shut up,” I told him again. A deadline was news. “We’ll talk later.” It was never a good idea to speak to a suspect as we might give away how little we knew. “Both packages are secure,” I told Jordy.

“Copy that,” Lucas said. “Good job. Now get him back here for a debrief. And be careful with that case.”

“Roger that, sir.” It felt good to get a verbal pat on the back from Lucas. He wasn’t effusive with praise. “Back to Hawk,” I told Winston.

“What’s Hawk?” Rudi asked. “Marku didn’t send you?”

“No talking.” I twisted his arm higher, and he yelped. “Any more noise from you, and I break it. Nod if you understand.”

He nodded vigorously, and I released his arm. “I changed my mind. If you make a sound, I’ll just shoot you. It’s easier.”

He went pale and nodded again.

“And then I’ll shoot you,” Winston added.

“The three of us are walking out the front door and strolling around the block, easy as can be.”

I led the way with Rudi, and Winston followed. But we hadn’t made it to the door before I halted. “Hear that?”

Winston nodded. “Fucking A.” It was police sirens approaching and not far away.

“Jordy, we hear sirens,” I said.

Jordy’s voice lost its cool tone. “Hold fast one—shit. You’re blown. Cops incoming, three blocks out.”

I swallowed hard. That wasn’t enough time to get out the door and around the corner.

Grace

Constance was in my office with me today, and Zane was outside. Lucas had assigned them to be my bodyguards at work. Terry and the others were on the hunt for the case that everybody wanted, which meant finding Rudi Sanchez, if Elliot could be believed.

For purely selfish reasons, I’d wanted Terry to be with me, but Lucas had insisted that Terry knew the city better than Zane, and that was the end of that discussion.

“You really have it bad, don’t you?” Constance asked after I finished my sales spiel over the phone to a new potential client.

“Pardon?” I wasn’t following.

She moved from across the room to the chair in front of my desk. “Your feelings for Terry.” She pointed at the compass I had my finger on. I’d played with the tiny thing all during my customer call. It had been a present from Terry this morning.

I sighed. “Surprising, I know. If you’d told me last week how I’d be feeling about him now, I would have laughed my head off.”

“ Keep this with you ,” Terry had said when he’d placed the compass in my hand. “ It’ll help when it comes time to make a decision about Elliot. Always knowing which way was north helped me when I was deployed. ”

He’d been referring to the difficult decisions he’d faced as a sniper. Elliot had dug himself one hell of a hole, and I didn’t see a way out of it for him.

Constance nodded. “I’m happy for you. He’s one hell of a good man.”

“That he is.” Smiling, I remembered exactly how good he’d been to me last night and this morning.

“I have to admit,” she continued, “I wasn’t originally in favor of this thing between you two.”

As the woman on the team, I would have thought she’d be supportive. “And now?”

She leaned forward to place a comforting hand on mine. “I’m happy for both of you. My training dictated that we needed to keep emotional distance from our protectees to be objective about risks.”

I nodded.

“But now that he’s not the only one on the case, and I see how happy you’ve made him, I’m rooting for you both.”

“Thank you.” It was more than a blush the way her words warmed me. To hear that she thought I made him happy was a gift.

Terry

“Shit,” Jordy exclaimed. “We’re blown. Some neighbor must have seen you. Cops inbound. Exfil back fence.”

“Roger, exfil back fence.” I turned and pointed to the back of the property. “Cops on the way.”

Winston double-timed to the back door with the case.

I pushed Rudi ahead of me. “We’re going out the back.”

“But there’s a fence,” he complained.

“Simple, we go over it.” The sirens were getting closer .

Winston reached the fence first. “There better not be a dog.” He handed me the case and was over in an instant.

I heard the rip of fabric as he landed, but no barking. I handed the case over the fence to him before hefting Rudi up. “Over you go.” Lucky for both of us, he was on the scrawny side.

“I got ya,” Winston said as Rudi went over the top.

“Expedite. Cops at the front door,” Jordy announced.

“Roger,” I repeated as I climbed over and hand signaled to the street.

We casually walked to the Porsche. I kept a firm grip on Rudi’s arm, but otherwise we were just three buddies out for a stroll.

With no cops in sight, I climbed in back with Rudi, and Winston took the wheel.

“So who are you guys?” Rudi asked after Winston’s door closed.

“We’re the good guys. Now, no more talking until we get where we’re going.”

After we buckled in, Winston started the car and slowly drove off.

Jordy’s instruction came two blocks later. “Looks like you’re clear.”

Lucas added, “Back to the nest. I want to talk to Sanchez.”

Talk didn’t imply he would be gentle about it.

“Roger that,” I answered.

I hung up the call. “Back to Hawk. He says we’re clear.”

Winston nodded and turned left. “I hate nosy neighbors. This was a good pair of pants.” The suit pants he’d worn today had a nasty rip in them.

“It could have been worse,” I reminded him. “We could have gone out the front door and had that nosy neighbor following us around the block to our ride.”

He shook his head. “Fuck, yeah.”

I tapped the silver case and looked over at a terrified Rudi. “But it all worked out.”

“Copy that,” Winston said.

“Are you guys military?”

Shook my head; Rudi didn’t get it. I punched him hard in the shoulder. “What did I say about talking?”

He cowered against the door.

Today I hated nosy neighbors, too. Combat was one kind of stress, but at least you could shoot back. Being cornered by the cops without a good excuse for being in that house was a different animal.