Tropical Safeguard (Men Of The Secret Service) (21 page)

“George’s cottage. We can find you some
clothes while I contact my team with numbers and wait for answers.”

Katrina felt a vicious anxiety mounting
below the surface. How could they wait it out when her friends were in danger?
“Can’t we do something to help the hostages?”

“No. We have to be smart. Most of our
operations involve waiting, planning, being strategic so no one gets hurt. You
have to make the captors think they have the upper hand.”

As they stood holding on to each other,
the sound of men’s voices grew louder. Cole and Katrina turned and saw the two
men from earlier driving the golf cart around the front of the grounds in
search of their missing friend. The larger of the two was calling his name.
Katrina and Cole crouched down in front of the SUV, out of sight.

“We have to get to the cottage. As soon
as they leave, we’ll make a run for it.”

Standing
in the front foyer of George’s cottage, Katrina was grateful for the descending
sun and the unlocked front door. As Cole stealthily delivered the fake letter
from Holden, she made a bee-line to George’s room and grabbed a long navy
button down, throwing it on in haste. On her tiny frame, it was like a dress
that came to just above her knees. She shivered, rubbing her arms up and down
to generate warmth. When she heard the front door open, her heart picked up
pace and a ripple of fear sent a shudder through her body as she froze in
place. She fostered no comfortable assumptions that it was Cole. She wasn’t
about to assume anything under the circumstances.

“It’s me,” Cole reassured as if to read
her mind.

They both stood in the kitchen, the
silence of the place eerie and surrounding them.

“This seems like as good a place as any.
We can hide out here and get our bearings.”

Katrina leaned her back against the
counter. “So those men on the cliff said Kensing denied you were here. Do you
think they bought it?”

“My guess is Kensing will tell them the
second agent was sent home because he wasn’t needed. That’s happened before and
it’s something I can see him saying.”

“But what about our rooms? They’ll figure
it out if they do a headcount, right?” Katrina’s paranoia settled in with the
setting sun. She wanted nothing more than to leave the mansion and go to the
police. But intrinsically, she believed in Cole’s decisions.

“Don’t be so sure. From what I could
hear, they didn’t sound very intelligent. There was some internal bickering
too. Our rooms are so sparse, they may just think they’re spare rooms in case
of extra guests.”

“Yes, my room is anything but personal. I
have no pictures in frames, no albums, nothing. I didn’t want anyone knowing
anything about me…other than my name, which I now see should have been changed.
But that doesn’t matter any more thanks to you.”

“It was the least I could do.”

“So, you’ll place a call to your team
then?”

“Yes, I’ll call my team right now. I can
always count on my colleagues, like agent Kirk Hannlon, to follow through and
get the job done thoroughly and quickly.” He paced the small room as he pulled
the earpiece from his pocket and placed it in his ear. Clicking it, he soon had
a response.

“Agent Hannlon.”

“Kirk, it’s Cole.”

“Are you alone and protected?”

“I killed one of the men and hid his
body. Now there are six in total. They’ve taken the boy to a motel off the
property.”

“So four at the property and two at the
motel?”

“Yes. Should I take them out?”

“Are you fully armed?”

“I have a machine gun and my Glock.”

“Maybe you should wait for us, Cole.
Better to be safe than sorry. Did you find out anything about Agent Kensing?”

“There’s no sign of Kensing. I suspect
the worst, but I may go and investigate further.”

“So you’re in this completely alone
then.”

“Looks that way.”

“I’m not liking those odds my friend.
Maybe…”

“I’m going to find the boy, Kirk, and
take care of that. I assume you were about to say that, right?”

“You know your team, Cole. I wish we
could be there already, but at least we’re on our way.”

“I’ll leave the mansion to you then and
put my energy into finding the boy. If you could tell Intel that their
ringleader is David Wilco for a trace. There’s also a Holden, the man I killed,
and a Gatten. I’ll contact you shortly with more detailed info.”

“Sounds good.”

“Also, Wilco mentioned a money transfer
of five million.”

“I’m on it.”

“Wait, Kirk, I don’t want to draw any
suspicion for the hostages. Don’t rush-stop the transaction just yet. If they
have the money, it can always be returned. If anything, them waiting for the
money gives us more time.”

“You’re right, good call.”

“So I’ll leave this with you then. As
difficult as it is for me to leave knowing those people are in danger, I know
you’ll be here when you can.”

“We’re a minimum of two hours away
though, Cole. You’re on your own until then.”

“I’ll manage. I just wish I could handle
this on my own. If only Kensing was with me. I’m pretty worried about him.”

“You can only do so much. Rest assured,
we’re on our way.”

“I’ll be in touch.” Cole clicked the
earphone off.

Katrina watched him, impressed. He
normally seemed so tense. Perhaps being in a life or death situation calmed his
nerves – his own private form of meditation.

“This little cottage must be all that
remains from the original property. It’s funny how nice they’ve made it on the
outside but it’s a complete throwback on the inside. Who knew?”

“Yeah, it looks so contemporary on the
outside,” Cole said as he cautiously scanned the scene outside from the kitchen
window. “I’m a little paranoid now that it’s getting dark. We can’t see them
sneaking up on us.”

“I’m pretty hypersensitive at the moment
too. You’re used to this kind of heightened stress,” Katrina said, but then
thought about it. “Come to think of it, so am I. I just never acknowledged it I
guess. I’m used to feeling on the edge at all times. Never knowing when
something bad is going to happen.”

Cole watched her face twist with
unpleasant thoughts. He felt a deep sadness that she had to go through even
more drama after what had gone down last night. “I promise things will get
better, Katrina. I don’t know the outcome here, but I want you to know that
I’ll do everything I can to make it all turn out. I want good things for you.”

Katrina smiled, “I know what you’re
saying is genuine and it gives me hope, Cole. Even though we’ve practically
just met, I feel as if I’ve known you a lifetime already. I just hope this ends
well.”

“Trust me, Spitfire, this is far from the
end for us,” he said, sitting at the kitchen table.

Katrina sat across from him as the sun
descended before their eyes and the room grew darker. “In a few minutes we’ll
be shuffling around here in the dark.”

They sat in silence, wondering what could
possibly happen next, when the sound of voices made them freeze.

“Someone’s coming,” Katrina sprang to her
feet.

A second later the walkie-talkie crackled.
“Wilco, we’re just patrolling around this cottage now. If the door’s open,
we’ll check it out. Over.”

Cole turned the volume down low.

“Gatten, the guy who lives in it says the
door should be open. Over.”

“Be back soon then. Over.”

“In the closet,” Cole instructed as he
turned the walkie-talkie off. Drawing his gun, he pulled Katrina into a close
embrace and shut the door. Their bodies pressed together in the tight space and
their breathing soon fell into a similar rhythm. The sound of George’s front door
creaking open made Katrina’s heart skip a beat and she turned rigid. “Easy,”
Cole whispered into her ear. His breath caressed her lobe and she at once felt
calmer. Cole was here, his body pressed against her. He would protect her,
defend her. They could hear the men stumbling around the small cottage,
searching for nothing in particular.

“Turn a light on, will ya?”

“There, that’s better,” Gatten said.

Cole could tell by their voices they were
the men from the golf cart earlier.

“This is a nice little place to escape
Wilco’s bossy barking,” Gatten commented. They could hear the sound of a
lighter clicking on and then shutting followed shortly by the smell of smoke.
The husky man blew into the air. “Ahhh, my little break finally.”

“How long do you think this’ll take?”

“What, gettin’ the money?”

“Yeah.”

“Who knows. The bitch says it’s a
cakewalk. She don’t know squat though. All dollied up and high maintenance. She
ain’t been around enough. Thinks this is just another day on the job or
something.”

“So you’ve seen her then?”

“Yeah, I seen her alright,” Gatten
huffed.

Both men remained silent for a while, the
sound of blowing smoke the only thing they could hear from the closet. It was
as if time stood still. Katrina could feel her legs tremble and was afraid
she’d lose her balance. The men pulled the kitchen chairs out and sat a mere
five feet from the closet. Katrina gasped and then bit her bottom lip, preying
they hadn’t heard. Inside the closet was pitch. She couldn’t even see Cole, but
luckily she felt his presence looming over her protectively as he pressed his
body into hers, closer than close. If they were going to die, she was happy it
was with him.

“Think we can come out here every once in
a while to get away from Wilco’s demands?”

“Don’t see why not. Not for a while again
though. Wilco wants us all to keep watch of the hostages so he can make a few
calls in private. Says things are moving along nicely.”

There was a long pause as Gatten took a
drag. Cole and Katrina inched closer, their chests pressing against each other,
hearts beating together. Katrina silently prayed the men would move along
quickly. She was finding it hard to breathe, hard to keep still. Sweat broke
out on her forehead and her mouth grew dry. She decided to try and relax as if
she were meditating to prevent slipping into a massive panic attack. That is,
until she felt Cole’s lips on hers. The kiss was gentle and sweet at first,
catching her off guard, and then it went deep and meaningful. She was thankful
for the distraction.

“Hey, someone has some attitude, am I
right?” Juvie suddenly blurted, piercing the silence and making Katrina emerge
from any level of forced calm.

“Who, Red?”

“Yeah, he’s gettin’ a little big for his
britches, doncha think?”

“I guess. It’s not like he’s Wilco’s
right-hand man or anything.”

“Thinks he is.”

“It’s probably cause they spent the most
time together
inside
.
They know each other better than anyone. Maybe that’s why he feels like the ace
in the hole.”

“Maybe.”

“I don’t give a damn who’s leading this
thing, s’long as I don’t get caught cause I’ll be heading for the real deal
this time. No more Juvie. I’m gettin’ too old now.”

“We’ll have to change your nickname
then.” Gatten chuckled and then coughed his smoker’s hack.

“I still can’t believe Holden bailed
though.”

“Yeah? I’m not surprised at all.”

“Why not?”

“He does have a history of taking off
when you need him,” Gatten informed. Cole and Katrina pondered the irony,
realizing they’d framed the right guy.

“I’ve never worked with him, so, wouldn’t
know.”

“Whatever, his loss. He better keep his
mouth shut though or I’ll personally track him down and do some damage. Only a
damn coward would do somethin’ like that.”

Katrina detected the venom in Gatten’s
words.