Chapter 8

Mike had told Dani the night before that he would tell her about all the stuff he had packed into his car, and then unloaded into the small workroom in the garage. That morning after breakfast Dani went to work in her office and waited for Mike to come get her. He had promised to show her what he had brought but had wanted to get some things set up first.

As Dani worked on some of the paperwork from the company, she began to feel an uneasiness, as if someone was watching her. That feeling did not stop but grew as time went on. Several times, she thought she saw someone or something out of the corner of her eye near the window but when she looked closer there was nothing there.

Finally it became too much and she went to check the security system and then the front door. The door was locked as no one had been out of it as yet. The system board showed that it was deactivated, but also showed the back door unlocked but closed, the door to the garage unlocked but closed and the garage door open. Sadly, none of the other areas of the house were wired to tell if anything was wrong. Before she could do anything else, her attention was taken away as she heard a car drive up.

In truth, it was two cars. A man got out of one and a woman exited from the other. Mike had heard them also and smiled as he saw two of his friends. Elizabeth Hamilton was a tall redhead that could charm the fleas off a dogs back and Charles Taylor short dark brown hair that had the look of a line backer rather that a computer/demolitions expert. Mike was rather surprised that John Steiner had not come but he did say that he had to finish an assignment before he could join the party. Putting down the screwdriver he had in his hands, he walked out to greet them.

Dani walked out of the house into the garage to see the new people that were standing talking to Mike when she got an overwhelming pang of fear and danger. Not knowing what else to do, she did a shoulder roll and somersault that ended up putting her in the corner of the garage where she had seen an old broom handle the day before and found that as she turned, it was in her hand.

"MIKE!" Dani yelled.

Mike turned and couldn't see Dani but he knew the yell. There was fear and apprehension in it and he hated that. He drew his gun, and ran to the side of the garage and looked in. Dani was right next to him, in the corner with her back to the wall. He saw that she was looking up into the rafter area of the garage. He followed her gaze and to his surprise, he found two black clad figures up there.

He raised his gun and was about to call then down when he heard. "Mike, stand down!"

Mike moved forward, placing himself in front of Dani slowly as the two in the rafters watched. "Now slowly come down out of there! Make a move to do anything other than that and I will shoot you."

"Mike, I said stand down," said Charles.

Mike still didn't respond. "Mike, you know they won't move until you put your gun away," stated Elizabeth.

"I said get down. And I mean right now. You have the count of three. 1... 2..." Mike said as he took aim.

"All right. We're coming down," said the larger of the two in the rafters.

Mike watched as the two beings dropped to the floor then without asking they took off their masks.

John Steiner looked at his friend that still had his gun drawn but saw the girl behind him still with the broom handle in her hand that he had not seen in that corner when he surveyed the garage earlier.

"Mike, you can put your gun away now."

"What the hell do you think you people are doing? I could have shot you!" Mike said putting way his gun.

"Checking this place out like you wanted us too," answered Iris.

"This is not what I had in mind. Dani, are you Ok?" Mike asked.

"I'll be better if you tell me who the hell these people are and why I shouldn't have them arrested!" Dani snapped back.

"Dani, these are the people I was telling you about. These two climbers," he said as he pointed to the two that had been in the rafters, "are John Steiner and Iris Kurtz. The other two are Charles Taylor and Elizabeth Hamilton. These are the so called friends that I told you about."

"Mike, we wanted to see just what the situation was and this is the best way to do it. You know that," stated Iris.

"Evaluating a location is one thing but scaring a potential employer half to death is another."

"You're just sore cause you got caught with your pants down. That's all! You've been out of this type of stuff for too long and in that nice easy job with the bureau," said Elizabeth.

As Dani watched and listened, she just couldn't get herself to calm down. Flashes of the first attack came back to her. She couldn't do anything then and couldn't do anything know as far as her mind was concerned. Her thoughts were interrupted before a panic attack set in.

"Ms. Orchard, are you alright?" asked Iris.

"I'm fine. Mike, I'm going to my office. Show these people around then bring them in, in about an hour. I'll be ready to see them then." With that, Dani walked off into the house.

It did not go unnoticed that Dani did not put the broom handle back where she had snatched it up.

When Dani was out of sight, Elizabeth spoke. "Mike, you need to go after her. I think she's in shock and could hurt someone with that broom handle."

Mike looked at the woman then nodded his head and started to walk to the kitchen, as he said over his shoulder, "There's some stuff in the work room that you guys might like to look at. I'll be back in a moment."

Mike wasn't far behind Dani when she walked into her office. But when he came to the door he was surprised that she was still standing there.

Dani had walked through the kitchen on autopilot. She had just entered her office when she heard a noise behind her. With where her mind was as she thought that someone was trying to take her again. This time she wasn't going to let them get that close. She tightened her hands on the handle of the broom she had then when she heard a second sound she swung. The handle swung out and if someone would have been there, she would have clobbered them. But sadly the door was in the way and the handle slammed into it.

Mike saw the tension in Dani's shoulders just before she turned and swung the broom handle that had he been with in range would have got him but the door that she was next to took the hit.

Dani was stunned for a moment then dropped the handle with an, "Ooowwww!"

"Dani, It's ok, it's just me." Mike said.

Dani looked at her Mike but then tears came to her eyes as she realized she had almost hit him because she was so scared. Then she dropped to the floor crying. Mike was next to her in an instant with his arms around her.

"Dani I'm sorry. I didn't know the team was going to do what they did. I'm sorry; it's all over with. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise!" Mike said as he tried to calm Dani down.

It took some time but Dani finally calmed enough to look up into the eyes she loved so much. "I'm sorry. I just got ... I saw flashes of that night when those men broke in. I..."

"It's alright. You've been a bit busy to really let go. You've been holding it in trying to be brave but it's just something that has to come out." Mike said as he held her even tighter to let her feel that he was there for her.

Dani snuggled in tighter and was about to say something else when someone came up behind them.

Someone cleared their throat. "Uhum, I hate to brake up this cute little moment but I think we need to talk," John said.

Turning Dani and Mike could see the four-man team standing there. Clearly, John and Iris had changed into regular clothing.

"You're a bastard, you know that John," snapped Mike.

"Well sometimes I have to be. It's what happens when you're in command too long."

It took several minutes to get everything straightened out and cleaned up before everyone was back in the office. Mike had taken a chair and sat beside Dani behind the desk.

"First off I want to say I'm sorry for scaring you Ms. Orchard. Mike gave me an impression that you were trying to be superwoman, in a sense. To that, I would guess that when we scared you, you had flashes from your first attack. That's normal. But I can see that you are a very strong young woman." John paused and took a deep breath, before he continued, "That's good because I have to scare you again. I don't know if you knew about it but you have two cars and an old man watching you."

"What do you mean?" Dani asked.

"When we were coming onto the property from the back we saw a car," started Iris, "and then we saw this old man creeping around," she then went on to describe him.

"That would be Mr. Lynnette, the grounds keeper. But you said there were two cars?" Dani asked.

"There was, one drove off just as we were pulling in," answered Charles. "Any idea about those two cars and who might be behind them?"

"No idea. And I'd been doing checks of the place ever since I got here." Mike answered.

"I don't like this. I really don't like this," Dani said.

"I don't either," Mike replied, then continued, "I guess I called you guys not a moment too soon then."

"You should have called us the day after the first attack," Stated John.

There wasn't much anyone could say to that as Mike thought it might have been a true statement.

"Well you're here now. So let's start with intros again and then I need for you to tell me what needs to be done first," said Dani.

"Sure I'm John Steiner, the commander of our group. This is Elizabeth Hamilton surveillance and infiltration specialist. Then we have Iris Kurtz, she is our hand-to-hand and weapons specialist. Lastly, Charles Taylor our computer and demolitions expert. I was in the military the longest and I met this bunch as time went on. I found we all worked together rather well. Mike had only been with us for one tour but the rest of us stayed together for a few years more. We even trained to be something like a Special Forces group. We were even given a few assignments but were not happy with what the assignments were. Well, we all choose to get out after the last one that went bad. Anything more I cannot tell you about.

"Now we've kept in touch with Mike as he left us to do his own thing. He was the one who got us thinking of the security and bodyguard work. It's been interesting and at times profitable. As you know we would like to expand into investigations but none of us are really suited for that area. But with Mike we could.

"He told us some of the basics that are needed here. And in all honesty he should have called us the day after you were almost kidnapped. For that he'll be doing some extra P.T. when we get done here." John stopped and glared at Mike who swallowed hard and knew he was in for it.

"Well you're here now and I would love for you to tell me what needs to be done to get this place secure. I have a family joining me here starting Saturday; I have a business to try to save. Worrying about security would take away my energy that I don't have to spare," stated Dani.

"Miss, that's why we're here," replied Iris. "I'm John's second. The way we came in was done in part to get the fastest indication of what we need to do. We are sorry that you were scared by us. But you must know that I was pleased with what you did."

"Very true. I don't know what gave us away but you reacted and put yourself into a defensible position with a weapon," added John.

"Well I was coming to see Mike to tell him that I thought there was a problem, that I thought someone was watching me. When I got to the garage the feeling got a lot stronger. I just figured with a wall behind me that it was one side I didn't have to worry about. Mike's been working with me a bit after the kidnapping attempt."

"Good," John replied, "Now to let you know the old man was also watching you but he never saw us. I got the plate of the car that was at the back of the property and I'm sure one of the others got the one from the front?" He looked over at Charles who nodded his head yes, "So we'll put Mike to work with getting info on them. Right now, this place is almost indefensible, but with some help and some creative thinking, I think we can come up with a plan."

While Dani, John, Iris, and Mike worked out a plan to make the place secure, Charles and Beth, as she preferred to be called, did a sweep of the grounds.

Robert didn't like the look of the people that got out of the cars so he left before being seen. He just knew that if his plan was to work, he had to find a way to get the FBI man out of the way but he couldn't think of one that would work. He did know that if he could just get his nephew into that rich girl's bed that he'd be able to gain control of all of her money.

Robert never knew that he was spotted by two different sets of people watching Dani but when he got home he found that one of them wanted to talk to him, with a plan that worked very well for him.