Chapter 22

Dalton

I had been watching and in the back of my mind, I wondered if Gillian was still a soldier. She was able to put my doubts to rest by attacking her unsuspecting victim. There was no hesitation. This was only a small step and we still had a long way to go.

The combat boots I wore had never been too far away. I couldn’t find anything more comfortable. It was like my body was accustomed to the military way of living. I couldn’t imagine a white picket fence. That kind of happily ever after was for somebody else. I was born and bred in khaki diapers. I was going to die with my boots on. It didn’t mean I couldn’t find a happy medium with a woman who had captured my heart.

“It looks like there are four others whispering in closed ranks. I’m going to zoom in for a closer look.” I waited with bated breath to hear the all clear sign coming from Jackson. “They are stupidly sharing naked pictures of their girlfriends. I don’t know where the cartel got these guys, but they’re not taking this seriously enough.” He sounded disappointed. He was a gun-toting enthusiast looking to feel the drug of battle running through his veins.

Gillian was waiting for me crouched on the ground surveying the area. This was the side of her that complemented the battle-weary soldier in me. I was still in the prime of my life. There was a lot of living to do and I wanted her by my side.

We didn’t have to say anything to carry on a conversation. She sprinted across the open area. I watched her in the glow of red and green colors through the scope of the night vision goggles. She made it to the side of the estate and waited for me to join her. I had to admire her steadfast approach.

She gave me a nod to confirm there were no unwanted surprises. My gun was at the ready. The cold steel was penetrating the black gloves on my hands. The safety was off, but I was unprepared to use it in this environment. One shot would have alerted them to the breach of their perimeter.

“Stay still and don’t move. One of the men is walking in your direction. He’s not even going to notice you’re there unless he catches something out of his peripheral vision.” We saw him a couple of feet away from where we were standing. He looked bored and not very happy about his assignment.

“I don’t know why I have to be here. The leader is my cousin. I should be inside watching his back. He put me here because he doesn’t want to appear to show favoritism.” He was talking and I was learning some valuable information going forward.

In this business, talking to oneself was a hazard to your health. He was only doing it to hear himself speak. I had a feeling he was bolstering his courage to step up to the leader. He would use his connection to the family to give him an unfair advantage over the others. He was exactly the kind of leverage we would’ve been able to use in the past.

His voice carried on the wind and the beam from his flashlight didn’t even put us in danger. He was soon stomping madly through the snow not being very subtle. I would remember his face. His features were clearly defined when he lit up another cigarette.

“He’s far enough away for you to do what you have to do.” Gillian had produced a Bowie knife and was waving it back and forth in front of her face.

She closed her eyes and I put my hand on her shoulder to give her my strength. It looked like we were in for nasty weather. The heavy cloud coverage was threatening a storm. This was not metaphorical. The barometric temperature was dropping. I could feel the shift in the air.

“This whole thing reminds me of who I am. I will always be a Navy Seal. Our time together almost damn well killed us, but we survived by having each other to look out after one another.” This was a different story for Jackson. He was clearly going to return to what he loved the most.

I watched Gillian dig the knife into the siding and begin prying loose those pieces separating us from success. We had been forsaken from the time that we decided to take the diamonds. It was a colossal mistake and we should have known better. I was beginning to realize retirement didn’t have to come from a bullet. I blamed my feelings on Gillian for clouding my judgment, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“With the kind of money the Hamilton family has stored somewhere safe, it’s perplexing the reason why they would keep the door intact. They could have easily had a professional carpenter take care of it.” I understood what Jackson was saying. It was possible the last generation had no clue the door was even there.

It could’ve also been they wanted to keep it as a reminder of their past with the possibility of having to use it in the future. They were constantly making enemies. It didn’t matter how much security somebody had. If someone really wanted to get to them then they would find a way. Desperate times sometimes came with it desperate measures.

She was on her knees and I began to think of a certain act which would have warmed my body from the inside out. There wasn’t much time, but we had to take that out of the equation. I heard the tumbler of the lock like a gunshot in my head.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the other three have gone looking for their partner. He hasn’t returned and I know the reason. He is dirty talking with his girlfriend on his cell. They will be where you’re standing in less than a minute. I don’t think I have to say this, but there is a high probability of them seeing you. I will do my best to make sure that doesn’t happen.” Gillian was already pushing against the resistance found on the other side.

I put my shoulder to the grindstone and used the muscles I was flexing to give her a hand. It began to move and I almost grunted with the effort to get inside before being spotted. There was enough room for her to squeeze through to the other side leaving me to be a sitting duck.

The warmth of the gun gave me this pleasing sensation of comfort. I could use the weapon as a club and do whatever damage I could without raising any alarms. There was suddenly a light at the far end of the property. Those guys didn’t even bother to keep an eye on their flank. They continued past me looking for the source of the light before it went out altogether.

It was a bitter pill to swallow to have Jackson saving my skin. He had lit up the area for a few seconds to draw their attention and it worked. I was consciously using the ground for support and digging my heels into the snow. My hands and my back were pressed against the door.

I finally got inside and found Gillian nursing her sore shoulder. We worked together to close the door, but the damage to the exterior was extensive enough not to go unnoticed for long. They wouldn’t know what they were looking at until they investigated further.

It gave us a brief window of opportunity.

“I don’t suppose you can direct that light into the room where they are holding everybody? Flash it in Morse code, but make sure Melanie is the only one who sees it. She was always a study of that kind of nonsense. I never thought we would have a reason to utilize it.” Melanie was always studying and found pleasure out of learning new and interesting things. She was a font of useless information.

“I’m going to have to brush up on Morse code. It’s amazing what you can find on the Internet when you do a basic search. The cameras are still inoperative. You’re going in blind.” No soldier in any branch of the military wanted to hear that.

“Jackson, you still have the drone and there is a vast array of windows in the estate. It might not be the same, but it will make it difficult for them to sneak up on us.” Even in black clothing, Gillian was making me yearn for something I couldn’t get enough of.

“Don’t even think about it. After all of this time, I still know what a man is thinking by looking into their eyes. The starving look of a dog in heat is easy to recognize.” She might as well have been slapping my manhood with a rolled up newspaper.

“I can’t help it. It’s not like I have control over the little soldier.” She punched me in the shoulder hard enough to make it hurt.

“I almost forgot that is what you call your cock. I’m a little disappointed that you can resort to these childish antics. I always thought that you were above such idiocy. I’ve known other guys who have never given their manhood a nickname.” Gillian was entertained, but I had to give her some context.

“I’m going to tell you a little secret. That part of our anatomy feels like a separate entity. It acts differently than the rest of my body. I was given an unfair advantage over my brethren.” I was proud of what I was in possession of and I knew how to use it.” I was a little offended by how she was making light of the nickname I gave my appendage.

“I will admit it does look like a little soldier with a huge helmet bigger than its body. I don’t know how you guys live with that thing. I would love to find out for one day. If I had something like that, I would be fucking women every minute of the day. I have no idea how it’s possible for you to get any work done.” I couldn’t decide if she was joking, but I could take a stab in the dark that she wasn’t.

“I hate to break this up, but we have far better things to worry about than the nickname for a cock. By the way, mine is Phoenix for the obvious reason. It always rises from the ashes of my orgasm.” This was information I didn’t need to know about Jackson. I’m sure he was thinking the same thing about me.

“I’ve always been quite fascinated by the mentality of a man. It really is true about women being from Venus and men from Mars. We want the same thing, but we go about it in vastly different ways. A woman goes to a bar knowing that she is going to get hit on with free drinks and flirtatious encouragement. We’re not oblivious to the way that you undress us with your vivid imagination.” This was an insight into women I had never had before.

When I was a teenager, I was living in a fishbowl of my own misinterpretation of a woman’s signals. The twirl of the hair was supposed to signal availability and interest. Not every woman was playing by the same rulebook.

I found a surefire sign was how their bodies would react in my presence. The flush of their chest and a seductive smile made it easier to see a crack in their defensive armor.