He was taken aback by her question and loosened his hold on her. “Nothing why would you ask that?”
“Todd Manning, you’re hiding something, spill it. What’s going on?”
“Damn it. It’s nothing, Blair. But I do have to go back out. Will you stay here and run things until I get back. I’ve got a lead on a story and I need to go now to check on it. I just came here to tell you, so you wouldn’t worry, and I need to change my clothes. I can’t meet my informant dressed like this.” he watched as she relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Where are you going to meet this guy? Is it dangerous?” She studied his face to see if he was telling the truth. When he met her eyes, she knew it was okay.
“It’s not dangerous, just not someplace a businessman would congregate. Look, I need to get changed. While I do that, why don’t you tell me who were you were chewing out on the phone when I came in?” He walked into his private bathroom and grabbed an outfit out of the closet and began to strip.
“It was just the press room, they were balking at the typeset you wanted to use. I straightened them out.” Blair stood in the doorway, shamelessly staring at her gorgeous man as he shed his Lord persona and became her lone wolf. She watched as his muscles rippled when he pulled on the black t-shirt and jeans. He was all alpha male and he was hers. She moved up and wrapped her arms around his taut midsection. “Are you sure you have to leave right now?”
Todd had to strengthen his resolve to get out of there, and back to meet John, but it was hard when she rubbed herself up against his back. He covered her arms with his and looked over his shoulder at her. “It’s important Babe. I promise to be back as soon as I can,” he turned and took her face into his hands. “Hold down the fort and take care of yourself and the newest Manning,” he caressed her lips with his thumbs and then claimed them in a long slow kiss.
He raised his head from hers and said “I’ve got to go. I ...you know.” and he headed for the door.
As he looked back at her, she blew him a kiss and said. “Yes, I know, me too.”
***
John had his men gathered in the squad room when Manning arrived. “For those of you who are new to this town. This is Todd Manning. He’ll be joining us in this venture. Take a good look at him. I don’t want any of you to mistake him for one of Kipling’s men if there are any. Listen this area is heavily wooded and the compound is about a mile from the road. So we’ll be walking in. There was a service road, but it’s impassable thanks to some traps that Carlo had in place. We’ll be paired up. Manning is with me. Fish and Brody, each of you select a partner. The rest of you pair up, except for you two.” he pointed to a couple guys Todd had never seen. “ White and MacAlister, I want you two to hang back at the road, in case they try to make a break for it. All right let’s go, we want to do this while there is plenty of daylight.” John grabbed a flack vest and held it out to Todd. “Put this on or you’re going nowhere.”
“Gee John, couldn’t I have one that matches my eyes.”
“Sorry, all of those are spoken for. You’ll have to settle for black.”
“What about a gun?”
“If you stay with me, you won’t need one.”
An hour later the task force arrived pretty close to where Todd had first investigated the compound. They spread out in twos making their way through the underbrush. About a half-mile from the compound, Todd looked around and realized something. “John, hold up.”
“What is it, Manning?”
“We’ve got a problem. The cameras and perimeter sensors are working,” he pointed to a camera that was scanning the area in front of them. It was obviously active. John quickly informed the others, that they were no longer a surprise and for everyone to be on their toes.
***
Inside the compound, Ivan heard the alarm go off. Alison had been right. It appeared the LPD had finally remembered Carlo’s compound. He walked up the stairs and looked at both Alison and Mitch sitting reading in the living room. “Would you two like to join me down in my lab? I’m afraid we are about to have some unwelcome visitors.”
Mitch rose and followed him down to the lab. Alison quickly set her plan into motion; setting out the plates of half-eaten food, and dirty pots into the sink, then she grabbed the suitcases she had packed the night before, she pulled out several drawers and left the closet door partially opened. Once she was satisfied it looked like they had left in a hurry, she headed downstairs with the luggage, where Kipling and Mitch awaited her. As soon as Alison was inside, Ivan closed the door.
“But Dr. Kipling, the mechanism is outside, one of us will have to close the panel. Let me out and I’ll hide you two and escape into the woods until they leave.”
“That is quite unnecessary my dear. There is a control in here as well as out there. Including duplicate monitors of the whole compound and surrounding area. We’ll be quite comfortable in here. I trust you took care to give the illusion that we’ve left.”
“Yes, they’ll think we left in somewhat of a hurry.”
“Excellent. I can see why Mitch counted on you so much.”
Mitch had followed Kipling because Alison had told him someone wanted him dead. Now he stood looking at the monitors. Watching to see if he recognized any of the men who were headed for the compound.
Alison wanted to distract Mitch from the monitors. She was fearful they might stir some memories. “Mitch why don’t we go into the back room There are several beds in there, Surely we could find something to keep ourselves occupied until these intruders leave.”
Mitch didn’t immediately recognize any of the men that came into the compound first except to register the lettering on their jackets. “Who or what is the LPD and why are they here?"
Ivan took Mitch and led him away from the monitors. “The LPD is a fanatical group that hates religious leaders. Their leader is a man known as John McBain and he’s been after you for some time. You’re still recovering from your near-death experience. As your doctor, I believe you should take your lovely fiance and go rest in the back room. I’ll monitor the cameras, you needn’t worry about them, they’ll never find these rooms.” He gave Mitch a gentle nudge toward Alison, who quickly grabbed his hand and led him to the back room.
She wasted no time getting Mitch hot and bothered, and soon they were going at it like bunnies. Mitch lost all sense of time as Alison enticed him with her wiles and soon he had her writhing under his control. Meanwhile, Ivan kept an eye on their guests.
***
Todd moved slowly with John. Adhering to the rules, he stayed close as they searched the various outbuildings of the compound. So far, there appeared to be no signs of extra guards or disciples around. The squad gathered around the house waiting for John’s word to move in. At his nod, they moved into the house only to find it as empty as the rest of the compound. They searched every room and Todd wandered into the kitchen and surveyed the uneaten leftovers sitting on the table. The coffee was still warm and Todd grabbed the cup and smashed it against the wall.
“Damn it, they were here!”
“Easy Manning, we don’t know that it was them. Someone else could have been bunking here. That’s evidence you’re throwing around.”
“Come off it, John. They had time to clear out, we tripped the perimeter alarm. Are you telling me some vagrant rearmed the alarms?”
“No, I agree with you, but we have to look at all the possibilities. At least, we can get Natalie up here and get some fingerprints. We’ll find out for sure just who’s been living here and if it’s them. Hold on, while I check with MacAlister.”
Todd wandered away and entered a bedroom. He found something intriguing on the dresser. He walked over and picked up the beautiful and intricate wreath, exactly like the smaller one outside his home. He brought it out to John. “You don’t have to bother Natalie. They’ve been here. This is Alison’s. I know, because I found one like it yesterday morning where she watched my house. I’m guessing if we search their trash, we’ll find bandages around here, too.”
John took the wreath and nodded to Fish to check the outside trash. “Look for an ambulance while you and Samuels are out there. MacAlister said no one came down the access road. So they didn’t drive out of here. I’m calling Bo, we’ll have to start searching the whole mountain, this side first.”
Brody came up from the basement. “There’s a large room down below. Looks like a command center, all the monitors are active. They had plenty of time to leave since the alarm went off. We should have brought more men.”
“We had no actual proof they were here, and we were hoping to surprise them,” John said. "The last time I was here, the tech guys shut everything down. “
“John, you saw Kipling's lab. He’s perfectly capable of getting anything electrical back up and running.“ Todd had to get out of there. He threw a chair over and rushed outside trying to get his breath. He leaned on the rail taking in long breaths. He had wanted it over. He had wanted to face his nightmare and get on with his life and now the man was out there, once again roaming free. A hand dropped on his shoulder and he turned to find John standing beside him.
“Todd, we’ll get them. They’re on foot.”
Todd laughed, but his eyes were dead. “Who do you think you’re talking to, John. I know these guys. They have contacts. They probably got a ride as soon as they hit the road. We’ve got to start all over again.”
John looked at Todd and saw his haunted look. Mitch had done a real number on Todd eight years before. “Then we’ll start over. I notified Bo, he’s already having the bus and air terminals checked. Also, the highway patrol will be keeping an eye out for them. You need to concentrate on Blair. They’re not here and from what we saw in there, we’ll have to assume Mitch is alive and well. You were right, Fish found bandages and we know neither Kipling nor Alison was hurt. There’s nothing more we can do here. Let’s get back to Llanview.”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please be kind. All constructive comments welcomed and appreciated