Chapter 73

In the following scenes, many things happened in close order, or even simultaneously.

THE RETREAT

Vasquez pulled the stubby submachine gun from under his uniform smock, screwed the long silencer on and again checked to make sure a round was chambered. Leaning against the doorway where he could see down the hall, plus keep an eye on Matthews at the same time, he waited impatiently for Guterrez to bring in the others. The women generally stayed in the classroom while the cleaning crew was in the house, and he hoped they would do it this time as well. He didn't want to start spilling blood in the hallway if he could help it; he wanted that bonus he would get if they could make it look like the women died in the fire.

In the back, Guterrez casually walked out onto the stoop, glancing at the security camera. They didn't know exactly how the security system worked, but he and Vasquez had seen the system identify the UPS drivers. The two mercenaries had carefully made their plans so that the insulated door of the van should block the camera's view as the others got out. After he motioned with his hand, the four mercenaries and the two Hagewoods followed prearranged instructions to hunker down behind the door as they exited the vehicle.

He left the door open and followed the others inside, relaxing somewhat as the security system remained silent.

Inside a moment later, Guterrez nodded to the Hagewoods and said to one of the other mercenaries, "Give them their weapons."

With the pistols jammed into the Hagewoods' belts, Guterrez stared hard at father and son, "And you two understand this: Either you follow the plan, or Vasquez or I will kill you. No discussions; no arguments; just dead. Keep those guns in your belts unless the plan goes to shit. You two just keep mother and daughter occupied in their suite. We'll tell Matthews that you have the two women held hostage and they won't be released until we're ready to leave. You two want your revenge, so fuck them or whatever you want to do with them, but keep them in that bedroom out of sight until we come to you. We'll bring Matthews and let you finish him."

Looks like the dumb fucks bought it, he thought. Well, hell, this might just work. We'll get paid, get the bonus and still wind up with that healer thing.

While Guterrez was talking, they had neared the living room. "Where's this suite, you were talking about? Shit this place is big," Hagewood Senior said, looking around.

"Take a left at the end of the hall back down there," Vasquez said, pointing behind them. "I think it's the last door on the right. We've never been in their suite, though. If you can't find it, just pick one. Doesn't really matter. We'll find you when the time comes. They usually leave most of the suites unlocked."

"We'll find it," Senior said as he reached down and effortlessly threw the unconscious Diana over his shoulder.

Junior was struggling with Arlene. Exasperated, Guterrez picked her up and threw her over Junior's shoulders in a fireman's carry. Junior staggered and almost fell with her, but Vasquez steadied him. "Shit, Kid. You sure you're man enough to fuck this gal?" he sneered.

Junior didn't say anything since even being near Vasquez terrified him, and Guterrez was always cramming a pistol barrel in his mouth. Junior's front teeth were still loose from the last time at the cabin.

"I'll make it," he mumbled, staggering hurriedly down the hall as he tried to catch up with his father.

Vasquez pointed at one of the mercenaries. "You stay with Matthews. And watch that son-of-a-bitch. Guterrez and I both shocked him, and the bastard almost got to his feet, anyway. I finally had to hit him with my sap to put him out. Those are the big cuffs we put on him. A bull couldn't break them, but be careful, anyway."

"Ah, shit, I..." the mercenary started to gripe, not wanting to be stuck with guard duty, but Vasquez had already turned away.

Guterrez walked out of the kitchen with the retreat book in his hand. "Shows the phone box near the back basement door on the inside. Piece of cake," he said, trotting down the hall toward the basement stairway door.

Vasquez left one mercenary in the hallway to guard, then he and the other two mercenaries jogged down the hall, stopping by the classroom door. Glancing at each other, one mercenary yanked the door open and they all quickly entered, their weapons leading the way.

There was a gasp from the women and Ann started to her feet, but Vasquez shoved her roughly back into her seat, her explanation of surprise cut off, "Wha..."

The women were startled, but not nearly as scared as the mercenaries had expected. "Just sit tight, Ladies, and no one will get hurt. Start screaming and someone dies," Vasquez snarled as he pointed the vicious looking little weapon at first one and then another of Jeff's wives.

In the Matthews' suite, Senior tossed Diana onto the bed as Junior staggered in with Arlene. Leaning forward with a sigh, he allowed her to slip off his shoulders onto the bed. Both women were awake, their nerves jangling from the electrical charge, but their coordination was rapidly coming back.

Senior grabbed Diana's shorts and yanked shorts and panties down her legs to her ankles. Fumbling, he got her tennis shoes off, then finished with her shorts and panties. By now, Diana was starting to struggle, so he backhanded her. Yanking her top off, he took his pocketknife out and slit her bra in half between her breasts. As her long breasts wobbled into view, he unconsciously licked his lips. "Shit! Those have got to be the best looking tits I've ever seen," he said, leering as he folded his knife and returned it to his pocket.

Arlene was a little slower recovering than her mother, and Junior managed to get her naked without too much trouble. Arlene mumbled something and tried to pull away when Junior turned her onto her stomach, but her limbs didn't want to obey her, feeling like they were still partially asleep, but she, like her mother, was fast regaining use of her body.

In the schoolroom, Vasquez counted the women, but he was unsure how many there should be. It seemed like there was a different number of them at the retreat every time he was here, and since he never saw all of them together, he had only a vague idea what the total should be. "Where's the rest of you," he snarled, turning to Laura.

"They went to Denver," Laura answered, honestly.

Vasquez remembered meeting a SUV that looked like one of the Matthews' just after he turned off the Interstate, but with the darkened windows, he hadn't been able to see much of the inside. He just accepted the explanation, since they would either find any other women or girls as they searched for the healer thing, or they wouldn't. The fire would take care of any stragglers.

"You stay and watch the women," Vasquez said to one of the mercenaries. Then to the women, "Again, Ladies, nothing will happen if you behave yourselves," he said in a very serious-sounding voice. "We know what we're doing. As soon as our job is done, we'll be on our way. If you start any racket, someone will die, though."

In the hallway outside the schoolroom, Vasquez looked at the last mercenary. "Go straight down that way, turn left and go to the end of the hall. Take station there near the inside garage door. I really don't know how many women live here, and the place is too big to search in a short period of time. If you see anyone in the hall, just herd them into the classroom with the others."

"Piece of cake," the mercenary said, then turned and jogged away.

Vasquez headed for the basement and Jeff's lab. Now to find that fucking drawer where he keeps this healer thing. Fuck, I wish I knew more about what it looks like. Translucent about the size of a book. Shit. Gotta find it though. That fucker is worth a hell of a lot of money. And speaking of money, there's bound to be a safe around here somewhere. If I can quickly get it open, there should be a good chunk of money in it. Might be in their suite, if it's not in Matthews' office. Oh, well, find that healer first.

Hurriedly, he opened the basement door and started down. Guterrez should have the phones off by now. He can help me search. Now where's that fucking lab?

Shortly, he was at the bottom of the stairs and met Guterrez. "You get it?"

"Yeah, the phone box was right where the diagram showed it."

"Good, come on with me. That must be the lab over there," he said, pointing. "You can help me search."

The door was locked, but judicious use of Vasquez' small pry bar corrected that.

"Shit!" Guterrez exclaimed as they entered the lab. "There are fucking boxes of shit everywhere." (Jeff had recently gotten several shipments of lab supplies.)

Vasquez pointed. "There's a door over there. Maybe it's the office that politician talked about."

(Note: Jeff has an office in his lab for lab related work, but has a business office near his suite.)

Inside, they looked around. "Better in here. Not nearly as much boxed up," Guterrez said.

Vasquez started for Jeff's desk. "I don't think they've been here too long. By the looks of things, he still has a long way to go to get everything set up in that lab — if that's what it's going to be, but his desk looks pretty well straightened up."

Vasquez pulled a drawer open, then turned to his buddy. "Take the disk drive out of that computer," he said, nodding. "That should pretty much bring us up to date on his latest invention, but by the looks of things, that fucking politician has jumped the gun, though. This place doesn't look like he has an invention almost ready. Shit, not if he's going to use much of the equipment in that lab. Anyway, get to it."

Knowing they would need to open at least one computer, Guterrez had brought a kit with him, but he didn't even need a screwdriver to take the side off Jeff's computer, since the thumbscrews made it easy.

Vasquez was turning drawers onto the floor when there was a loud "Whap," from the computer.

"What the fuck was that?" Guterrez said, jumping back as he stared down at the computer he had put on its side.

"How the fuck should I know?" Vasquez shot back. "You're the one fucking with it. Did you unplug it first?"

"Hell, yes. But when I started to lift the side off, it made that noise, and..." he sniffed loudly, "that smells like wiring burning."

"Fuck," Vasquez said. "He had the damn thing booby-trapped. Take the disk drive out, anyway. Get the backup, too, if there's one in there. Maybe whatever he did to the computer didn't fry the backup."

"Shit!" Guterrez exclaimed a few seconds later after taking the side off the computer. "Fucking disk drive is red hot, and ... the backup is too. No use fucking with them."

"All right," Vasquez said, kicking the last drawer across the floor. There's no healer thing in any of these drawers. Fucking politician sent us on this mission before we knew enough. No telling how many 'drawers' there are in this place. 'Drawer in his office, '" he quoted, sarcasm dripping. "Fucking son-of-a-bitch. I told both of them we should wait until we gathered more information."

Kicking a stack of paperwork aside, he strode to Jeff's office door. "There. There's some file cabinets over there. Look through those. I'll look over here."

While Vasquez and Guterrez were just beginning their search of the lab downstairs, Jeff had regained consciousness in the living room. Even though Little One wasn't on his shoulders to help him, he was a Prime — an enhanced Prime, but his mind was sluggish from the blow. His consciousness coming back as if he were walking from deep within a cave. Suddenly, in his mind, he heard Diana screaming for him, almost causing him to start and thus show the mercenary he was awake, but he managed to still the reaction in time. Pushing the blinding pain from the blow aside, he opened his eyes a crack and saw an unfamiliar armed man. The ensuing adrenalin rush cleared Jeff's head a bit more — he had only one chance.

The mercenary, bored, had looked out the window for awhile, then walked over to turn his back to the fire and stand staring at Jeff. Apparently hearing something, the mercenary started to walk back by Jeff who was still lying on the recliner, his hands and feet plastic-cuffed. Just as the mercenary got even with Jeff, he curled his body backward, then lashed out with his feet with all the strength he could muster — a Prime's strength. Both boots caught the mercenary under the chin, lifting him violently upward, slamming his head back, instantly snapping his neck. His body didn't even twitch, mostly because no signals could get to it through the severed vertebrae.

Jeff curled back again and snapped himself to his feet, then hopped to the fireplace, Diana's screams for him becoming more frantic in his mind. "Hang on, Baby. I'll be there as soon as I can," he tried to project to her as he fought to remain rational and solve his problem. He turned his back to the fireplace, then squatted and hunched backward until his hands encountered one of the large pieces of firewood. Pulling it onto the marble hearth by the non-burning end, he looked behind himself for a second. Gritting his teeth, he steeled his mind and jammed his bound hands over the burning end, forcing the plastic cuff down against the burning wood, keeping his fists tightly closed to protect the inside of his hands. Locking his teeth together to keep from screaming as he felt the flesh on the inside of his wrists beginning to bubble, he pushed downward with all his strength. The fire heated the plastic, weakening it, and an eternity later, it gave.

Turning, his hands now free, he grabbed a smaller piece of wood by the end that wasn't burning, and held the burning end to the leg ties, trying to be careful and not set his jeans on fire. As soon as the plastic gave, he tossed the wood into the fireplace, then ran across the room and jerked a drawer open. Grabbing a hidden .45 and two magazines, he hurried to the door, glanced to see the hall was clear, then charged toward their suite, fighting to keep his mind at an even keel as Diana repeatedly called for him, desperation in her mental voice. The mercenary who had been stationed near the back door was looking out the back as Jeff crossed the intersection a hundred feet from him, then turned toward their suite.