Beck's Six

CHAPTER10

The five couplessat on the rocky plateau. Roman spoke briefly into his mic, connecting to Hank and asking him to switch over to a single-channel while he brought him up to date.

“I’m going to have a meeting with everyone in a few minutes,” Hank told them after Roman finished. “Swede will send a brief summary of the Loyalists to everyone’s phone so we all know who we’re dealing with. We’re sure we’ve identified the target, but I’ve got people double-checking. Hopefully this will all be over before we have to worry about it. Then we can swoop down in the target area and grab the others up.”

Dean nodded. “Amen to that.”

“I have a plan mapped out,” Hank continued. “We have fifty armed people here I’m sending over to your mountain in small groups. They’ll leave here on the other side of this mountain, work their way to the far side of that one where everything is happening, in small groups. Then they’ll work their way to the peak and ease down until they are all deployed around that cave. Do they have the ability to see us from their location?”

“I’m not sure. There are narrow tunnels all through this place. If one ends in their cave, they could have someone crawl through it to see what’s happening outside.”

“We’ll have to chance it,” Hank said after a moment. “But deploy yourselves as far from the opening of the cave as possible. Use trees and bushes for cover. Hide in the ravine that wraps around at that point. This isn’t your first rodeo. You know how to make yourselves invisible.”

He went on explaining the rest of the op, and what they were going to do when the trucks began to exit the cave.

“You’re sure it’s happening tonight?” Logan asked.

“Not the event,” Hank told him. “That’s not for a couple of days, according to what I’ve been able to find out. We still don’t know the target, but they need time to get to wherever it is and set up for their event. And they’ll travel at night. So yes, I’m pretty damn certain they’ll roll out tonight. And I’m trying to get air surveillance, too, to give us more eyes on them.”

“We’ll be ready,” Roman assured him. “And you don’t even need to remind us Leslie is a priority. We’ve done this kind of shit before, Hank. We’re good to go.”

“Okay, then. I’ll be over there, too, but, Roman, you’ll still be in charge. Break a leg.”

Roman laughed. “Let’s hope not. Roman, out.”

“It’s going to work right?” Beck’s face was pinched with worry.

“Yes.” Despite the fact they were in a group, Roman cupped her chin and lifted her face to him. “I promise you, whatever else happens, Leslie will be safe.”

“Okay. I trust you.”

“Good. Because I’ve got this covered.” He looked at everyone else. “You all heard everything?”

They all nodded.

“Okay. Here’s how we’ll play it out.”

The waiting as always was the hard part. When Hank let them know everyone had started making their way to the location, Roman, Beck, and the others left the plateau they were on and began descending to the area of the cave.

The one thing they hadn’t been able to settle on was how they were going to handle it when the cave door opened and the trucks began to roll out. But they had created some options and mentally they were ready to use any of them. They descended slowly, letting their bikes coast or pushing them when they got closer to the cave. They didn’t want the noise of the engines to alert anyone.

Daks moved the pickup but parked it far enough away from the mouth of the cave that it didn’t alert anyone. Roman released Paladin from the pickup and kept the dog with him. He did a lot besides sniff bombs, and Roman knew they’d have to make full use of him today.

It was full dark, everyone hiding just off the shoulder of the road in the thickness of the bushes, when they heard a low rumble and a section of the cave began to rise slowly. Roman had to give the Loyalists credit. They had done an incredible job building the door. As it rose slowly, the rocks stacked in groups in front of it fell to the side, and a wide opening appeared. Although it was dark, and there were no lights in the cave, the moon was bright enough to outline the first of the mammoth trucks rolling out very slowly.

Beside him, he heard Beck gasp.

The large cab of the truck held three people—the driver, a man in a plaid shirt and T-shirt, and Leslie Morrissey sitting on his lap with a gun pressed to her temple. Even in the dark, they could see the fear on her face, but she sat perfectly still, her gaze focused on Roman and the others.

The man with the gun rolled down his window as Roman stood up from his crouch, gun pointed directly at the truck.

“Evening, everyone.” The man’s lips curved in a smile that was anything but humorous. “I see you’ve come to visit us. I know you’re out there, although I don’t know how many of you there are. Hope you don’t have any plans to stop us because, if you do, our little prize package here is as good as dead. I don’t think any of you want that on your conscience, do you?”

He waited, but no one answered him.

“I’ll take your silence as a no. Now, we’ve got trucks coming out in fifteen-minute intervals. As long as you don’t try to stop them, your friend here will be okay. Got it?”

“You won’t get far,” Roman told him.

“Oh, I think we’ll get farther than you expect. Now, you can hang onto that gun or not, but the moment it fires, your friend here is dead meat.”

Roman could sense Beck shaking with fear beside him, but she kept silent. He whispered a message into the headphones. “Everyone hold position. Let’s let them get around to where Hank and the others are. I’m heading that way. I’ll take care of this.” He leaned down to Beck. “Got your gun?”

“Yes.” She showed him she was holding it in a two-handed grip.

“Good. Don’t move, and don’t take your eyes off that cave. I don’t know how many trucks they’re moving, but I’m guessing they’ll do it in stages to create less attention. Keep that gun on them until I tell you different.”

“Got it.”