Capturing Charlie Read online

  Grant took her chin away from his chest and when he had her attention, he kissed her lightly on the lips. “We won’t do anything stupid. Why don’t you sit down on the bed, and I’ll take over.”

  Charlie handed him the knife. “Yes, I think that might be wise.”

  Grant took over and within a few minutes knew that this method was too slow. Glancing at Charlie, sitting, staring off into space on the bed, he cleared his throat to get her attention and to not startle her. When Charlie looked up, her asked her, “Do you think that you could get a couple of towels from the bathroom? This is taking too long.”

  “Sure.” Charlie jumped off the bed, went into the bathroom, and returned with the towels, handing them to Grant.

  Grant took one towel and put it on the sill of the window, the other he wrapped around the end of the coil. He put the towel-covered tip of the coil to the corner of the window and pushed.

  The windowpane was old so it started to crack. Pushing a little harder, a piece of the glass finally gave away. Grant carefully made sure the piece of glass fell on the towel below. Shaking the tip of the coil, he also got any glass off it. Taking the spring out of the towel, he handed it to Charlie, who took both towels into the bathroom and dumped the pieces in the toilet. Coming back in the room, he found Charlie on her knees at the bottom of the window, looking for any glass or paint that might have escaped. As he neared her, Charlie sat back on her feet and looked up at him.

  “The floor’s clean.”

  Grant didn’t hear what Charlie was saying. He was focused on her lips and her submissive pose. Her lips were just at the right height for him to unbutton his pants and show her something else that needed attention. As he stood in front of her, all he could think of was having her lush lips surrounding his cock. He was so close, he knew with one more step he would be able to feel her breath on him.

  Charlie reached out a hand and put it on his thigh. It took Grant a few minutes to come out of his fog of wanting as he felt Charlie pulled at his pant leg. “Are you okay, Grant?”

  “Sure, as okay as I can get with you on your knees in front of me,” Grant said without thinking.

  Charlie blushed and looked away from his obvious erection at eye level with her, something that he couldn’t hide. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to distract you. I was just trying to help.” Charlie got off her knees and started to walk back to the bed, trying not to meet his eyes.

  Before she had taken two steps, Grant reached out and pulled her back to him. He wrapped his arms around her waist. With her back to his front, he knew she could help feeling how hard he was. Bending down, he kissed the side of her neck. “Charlie, don’t feel bad, you did nothing wrong. I can’t help my reaction to you.”

  “Every time my mind wanders, I remember the feeling of being buried deep inside of you. I can’t tell you how hard it is to concentrate on something else when I have you alone like this.”

  “Really?” Charlie tried to turn in his arm.

  “Yes, really, but right now is not the time. We have to be ready.” Kissing the top of her head, he let his hands release her waist and gave her a gentle push toward the bed.

  “Woman, you make my head spin, worse than the scotch James keeps insisting we drink. Just let me get back to work. We’ll have time after this is over to deal with everything.”

  Charlie walked to the bed and sat with her hands in her lap clenched tightly together. She watched Grant stick the spring through the small hole in the window and start grinding it on the metal bar. Hope started to bloom. Maybe they did have something starting.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  James and the rest of the guys piled into two black SUVs after a quick stop at the office to suit up and grab anything that they thought they might need. Some of the stuff was legal, some not, but if it got the job done, they weren’t against using it.

  All the men were quiet, lost in their own thoughts as they drove the miles to the sheriff’s house. Chase was even quiet, no jokes or remarks. He knew that this was his chance to show the others that he deserved to be with them. He had learned a lot from Sam over the months he had been away training with her. He just wished that he could call her after this and tell her of his success. And it would be successful, he could feel it. But he couldn’t call her. Sam had made it perfectly clear that all they had was a business relationship and nothing else. Sam not showing up as he left her compound that last morning said everything without words.

  The two trucks stopped in front of a large red brick building. It looked like an old Victorian with the ground floor transformed into offices. A large man with his hands on his hips was waiting on the steps for them as they pulled up.

  As they got out of the trucks and got closer to the man, they could tell that he was ex-military by his stance and the no-nonsense look on his face as he stood looking down at them as they approached the steps.

  They greeted the Sherriff and he opened the door to his office and waved them all in. Going around them, he walked up to a big desk set at the back of the room.

  “Okay, take a seat and tell me what this is all about.”

  “Thanks, Sheriff—” James began, but the slightly older man wasn’t having it.

  “If I can’t get my deputy or anyone else around here to call me Sheriff, then I can’t expect you to either. The name’s Devlen.”

  “Are the locals having a hard time warming to a man from the city coming to take office?” Brad asked.

  Devlen grimaced. “I wish it was that. It’s actually been the other way around. They took me in like family. But you know what they say—you can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your kin?” The men all nodded. “Well I didn’t pick this family either. They just up and adopted me.”

  “I heard some things about this town…” Brad started, but Gabe gave him a look that shut him right up.

  “Everything you’ve heard is true and then some. But let’s get back to those friends I was talking about. Jared and Stan are good friends of mine, we had each other’s back when we were in the force together. They were the ones who recommended that I move up here and start over. They wouldn’t have asked for my help if it wasn’t important.

  “So now that we’re face to face, you tell me the complete plan. This is my area, and while I’ll help you, I also have to protect the people of this town.”

  “As I said on the phone,” James said, taking a seat with the others grabbing a chair and sitting around the desk. “We need to set up a sting at the McDonald’s here in town. We want to put Brad”—James nodded his head toward Brad—“in place of the person on the drive-thru window. We don’t want to take any chances on anyone getting hurt either.”

  Devlen nodded in agreement. “So, okay, we get Brad into place. Tell me, what’s that going to do?”

  “Well we figure that Brad will send him to the waiting area, telling him his food will take a few minutes. The waiting area is covered and a bit secluded from the rest of the parking lot. Brad might be able to see what he is armed with and give us the information before we approach him.

  The waiting area is also not fully lit and it has garbage containers near the wall. That’s where we are going to set up. We’ll snatch him out of the truck and take him to ours so we can question him. As soon as we know the situation, Chase here”—James nodded at Chase—“is going to take his place. Hopefully Chase can take the other guy down unaware, but I want us to surround the cabin as backup just in case.”

  The sheriff considered the plan carefully before agreeing. “So what’s my role in this takedown?”

  “Well we were hoping that you would smooth the way at McDonald’s first. We need to get Brad in place without a fuss. We’re counting on you to help us with that, as you are the sheriff and probably know the people who work there or the manager.”

  “Yeah, I do. When I first moved here, that was a nightly stop for me and Jake until we found an apartment and unpacked.

  “Jake?”

  “He’s my deputy, an
d my partner. Here Jake and I can live like we want to. We just haven’t been as lucky as Jared and Stan and found our one and only.”

  James just nodded. So now he knew what the sheriff and Jared and Stan had in common. He didn’t have much time to stop and think about it. He also tried to ignore the look that Brad and Gabe exchanged.

  “That shouldn’t be a problem. The manager is young but a great guy, we’ve had supper a few times together.”

  “Great.” Chase rubbed his hands together anxiously. He wanted to get his first mission with the unit underway pronto. “Well that takes care of step number one. Step two, we need you to help us discreetly keep customers from that area. And finally, if we could use one of your police vehicles to question him, he might be more cooperative.”

  “Shit, no problem with the last request, I think the guy should go into lock up as soon as you have what you need from him. Jake will have a blast fighting some actual crime in this town.”

  “Well, don’t think that will be necessary. We’re hoping he’s a good guy.”

  Devlen narrowed his eyes at the younger Braden brother. “How can you sit there and tell me that he kidnapped a couple of people and is a good guy?” Devlen leaned forward in his chair and put his hands on the desk, glaring at them with his slate-gray eyes. “Is this just some stunt?”

  “No, It’s not a stunt,” Angel said, getting up from his seat. “We just have reason to believe that one of the men is doing this under misdirected beliefs.”

  “And what is the reason? I thought you didn’t know who did the kidnapping.”

  “We don’t, but my grandma does, and now that I’m more in tune with the situation, I agree with her. One of men is really a good guy at heart. I’m sensing that the man that comes to pick up food for them is this guy.”

  Devlen just shook his head. “Don’t take this wrong, but why should I even think of taking your and your grandma’s words? Are you psychic or something?” He sat back in his chair, disbelief written on his face.

  James stood up. “Let me take this, Angel.”

  “Sure.” Angel sat back down but pinned the sheriff with his black stare.

  “Angel and most of the rest of us here today are former Green Berets. I won’t go into our story, just let me say Angel saved our butts too many times over there not to take his and his grandmother’s feelings into consideration.”

  “So what you’re saying is that you want to nab this guy, but not arrest him until after?”

  “Yes, we would like to question him more after we get Grant and Charlie out safely.”

  “Well I guess I could put him in my holding cell here and hold off on the paperwork. The other guy, though, if he is in any shape after goes straight to county jail.”

  “That we agree to,” James said, sitting back down.

  “Okay, so what’s the ETA of this event?”

  James poked Brad to get his attention back to the operation at hand. “We have been able to see a pattern of this guy coming anywhere between six and seven p.m.”

  “Well it’s a quarter after five now, we have to move.” The sheriff got up from his desk. “I’ll take the van in case we run into spectators.”

  “Follow me and we’ll park at the back of the lot.”

  All the men stood up and followed the sheriff out. The sheriff got into a county van, rolled down the window, and waved for them to follow him.

  At McDonald’s, the Sheriff and Brad walked in and talked to the manager. He was willing to cooperate but was worried about his customers getting hurt.

  After the sheriff assured him that they would take every precaution, Brad took the place of the kid at the takeout window. With a quick lesson from the manager, Brad was able to take over. Pulling his hair out of its tie, he let it fall around his face, making him look like a young beach bum. He also patted the small gun that he had tucked under his T-shirt in case it was needed.

  Walking back out after seeing Brad settled, the sheriff walked over to the men, now out of the van, just talking. While he and Brad were inside, his partner, Deputy Jake, had joined them outside. The men introduced themselves and explained their plan to Jake. Once he heard that Grant and Charlie were in danger, he was on board to help.

  Jake and Devlen nodded to each other in greeting as the sheriff returned from the restaurant.

  “The only way I could reassure the manager is to tape off the back parking lot.” Grabbing a roll of yellow tape from his truck, he, with the help of Tony and Gabe, taped off the back sections.

  Coming back to James, he rolled back up the rest of the tape. “I sure hope this goes as planned. I’ll probably get in shit from the department if it doesn’t.”

  “It will, don’t worry,” James said and split the guys up. “Angel, Chase, Jake, and Devlen, you’re with me. We’ll secure a position behind the garbage bins. Tony and Gabe will wait in the truck so they can take off at a moment’s notice if the guy gets away from us.

  “Clay’s job is to also make sure that none of the customers get too nosey and come back to see what was going on. Time is of the essence. We can’t take too much of it, as we can’t afford for the guy waiting back at the cabin to get suspicious. Okay?”

  The men all nodded in agreement and everyone took their places and just hoped that the guy didn’t change his plans. At a quarter after six, James and the rest of the guy’s cell phones beeped.

  “Heads up,” they heard Brad’s voice say.

  They all heard the van pull up and Brad tell the guy how much money his order would be. As they listened, Brad gave the guy his change and told him his food was not ready and to go into the customer waiting area and someone would bring it out to him.

  “I don’t have time for this,” the guy told Brad.

  “Well we ran out of fries and are cooking more. It will be fresh when you get it. Also, here’s a coupon for your next visit because of the delay.”

  “Okay, but don’t take too long.”

  “No, sir, I’ll make sure that they know you are in a rush.”

  The truck was put into gear and James, from their hiding place, spotted the white van turn their way and park with the driver’s window down in the first spot just to the side of the garage bins.

  James looked around at Angel, Chase, and the sheriff. “Ready?”

  All the guys crept out, squatting down until James and Angel were at the driver’s door and Chase, Jake, and Devlen crouched down outside the passenger door.

  Angel leaped up and, through the open window, grabbed the guy by the throat with his large hands. At the same time, James put a gun to his temple.

  The guy was startled for a moment but still had enough presence of mind to reach for his gun on the passenger seat. Deputy Jake popped the lock on the passenger side and Chase reached in and grabbed the gun from the guy’s hand. The sheriff slid in and took the guy’s hands and cuffed them together. The takedown was clean and quick. The guy never had a chance. The whole thing only took only seconds.

  As soon as the guy was in cuffs, Angel let go of the guy’s throat and James opened the door and pulled him out. The sheriff followed the guy out of the truck and between him and James with Angel following, they led him to the sheriff’s van. Jake jumped into the driver’s seat of the van and moved it alongside the Braden Security trucks.

  Clay moved from his post, moved to the sheriff’s van, and opened the side door. Between them, James and the sheriff boosted the guy into the back. Clay slid the door shut and he and Angel climbed in the front.

  The sheriff sat back as James, with Clay and Angel’s help, righted the guy and started asking him questions.

  “Where is the cabin?” James asked in a rough voice.

  “What cabin?” the guy said, looking around at the lot of them. “Why have you grabbed me?”

  “Don’t play innocent. We need you to tell us where the cabin is where you are holding Grant and Charlie,” Clay said, getting into the guy’s face.

  “I don’t know anyone named Grant o
r Charlie.”

  “Shit, I mean Chase and Amber. If you won’t tell us and we have to find out on our own, I’m going to let Angel take a turn. Then I will, until that pretty boy face of yours will be indistinguishable. Also, it will add years on any jail sentence. If you help us, I have the sheriff’s promise that he will put in a good word for you. Your choice.”

  The guy looked at Angel, who stood menacing in the background, then back at Clay.

  “You can try your best, but it won’t be me going to jail, it will all be your sorry asses. I am working under orders from our government.”

  The men shared a look. “Our government? You don’t say. Can I take a guess?” James asked him. “Did the orders come down from General Brown?”

  “Yeah, that’s right,” the guy said with a cocky look at James. “You assholes used to work for him until you went rogue.”

  Brad cursed under his breath, but James game him a look that immediately silenced him. They needed to keep the guy talking.

  “Where have you been living, under a rock? We have been exonerated from all charges and now General Brown is being sought for drug running and crimes against the government.”

  The guy started to speak but hesitated. His eyes widened as Angel moved closer.

  “We can show you proof if you don’t believe us. The General is going down. His operatives will fry you too if you don’t break cover and start talking.” The Native American gave him a strong stare that was designed to loosen the guy’s tongue.

  “Fine. I’ve been undercover for the last two years in a sting operation in Columbia. The General contacted me when it finished and gave me this assignment. I was told that your unit made it quite easy to import drugs into the states and now that you all have been discharged that you run the operation from stateside. General Brown said you might spin a yarn about your team’s activities.”

  “Well you’ve been had. The General is the one spinning the yarns this time.”

  “James, we don’t have time for this.” Clay broke into the conversation. “We need to know now.”