Brandon's Bliss Read online

  She let out a shaky breath. “I know. I’m just trying to remind myself that this shit happens. Unfortunately too often.”

  “Where is she now?”

  “Bullard has her restrained and is working on her wrist and hand.”

  “Is he strong enough?”

  Kasha shook her head. “No. But we’re short on men. What’s happening out here?”

  “An airplane landed and was greeted with gunfire. These men did nothing, appeared to be expecting it. They hunkered down and waited.”

  His phone vibrated. Brandon shielded it and whispered, “Stone, what’s up?”

  “Levi’s landed. He’ll be here in a few minutes. He’s coming directly into the garage.”

  “Then we need somebody downstairs to man that door.”

  “Is Kasha with you?”

  “She is. Yeah. You talk to her.” Brandon handed the phone to Kasha, now kneeling beside him, the wall as cover.

  He half listened to the conversation, but his eyes were on the hillside and above. It didn’t really surprise him that Levi would come himself and before they had even found Bullard. It took thirteen hours easily to make this trek. But how was Levi making this last leg of his trip to them? Was he coming on foot? Because nobody from here had driven out to meet him.

  He waited to speak with Stone, but Kasha had hung up.

  “Stone’s gone already.” She handed him his phone back. “But, if Levi is coming into the garage, I presume he’s driving.”

  “Where did he get the vehicle from?”

  She looked at him in surprise, glanced toward the airstrip and said, “I don’t know.”

  They waited, and, sure enough, a plume of dust came toward the holding. “You need to hurry down, open the garage door and make sure nobody else comes in,” he said in a low tone. “Can you do that?”

  When she didn’t answer, he gave her a sideways glance. She nodded, her face grim. “I can do that.”

  He felt bad sending her down alone. “I’d come, but I must keep track of these four men.”

  “I’ll be fine,” she said in an airy tone. “It’s not my first war.”

  “Too bad,” he snapped.

  She froze, turned to look at him and said, “Why the bad temper?”

  He shrugged. He hated to admit it to himself, but he was worried. He hated to see women in scenarios like these. She might be a warrior woman, like Ice; all indications pointed that way, just without all of Ice’s firsthand experience. Yet he still hated sending Kasha into something dangerous.

  She chuckled. “Look at that. You’re starting to care, and we’ve only just met.” Laughing softly, she disappeared down below.

  He grinned, loving the banter. He could care … there was definitely something between them. She’d come to him just now, not the others. She was also a stunner. That she could handle herself in this situation added to the attraction. That she’d been bothered by Tahlia’s actions and subsequent shooting showed she had heart—that was important in this business.

  Determined not to let her distract him, he studied and watched. The vehicle came around the corner toward the garage, and the four closest invaders got up and raced toward the holding. Instantly Brandon dropped a line of fire in front of them. The men roared and backed up to where they had been before, searching the wall for him. No way they could return fire. He was fully hidden behind the stone wall. He watched as they put their heads together once again.

  From the opposite side, he could hear more gunfire. He presumed Merk was doing the same thing to keep the men on his side away from the oncoming vehicle. Stone too. All the invaders were rushing toward the garage entrance to try to stop the vehicle from coming in. Not happening …

  Just as Brandon had figured they would be smart about their lives, the men on his side got up and ran around the building. Brandon picked up the pace and stayed with them on the roof, watching the men on the ground as they joined up with their comrades in front of Merk’s position.

  He joined Merk and said, “What do they think they’re trying to do?”

  “I don’t care. But whatever they do, if they come toward us, they’ll be eating our bullets.” Merk turned to look at him. “That garage is open. Who’s down there?”

  “Kasha. Tahlia pulled a gun on Bullard too.”

  Merk shot him a disbelieving look. “She what?”

  Brandon nodded. “Pretty stupid, huh?”

  “Yeah, especially now that he’s slowly coming back. He got taken once. He won’t be such a fool a second time.”

  “Apparently Bullard shot her in the hand. Caused quite a bit of damage. Now Bullard’s patching her up. She’s been tied to a chair, so the chances of her pointing a second gun at him are next to none.”

  Just as the vehicle came into view, the men on the ground opened fire. Someone from the vehicle returned fire. Even so the invaders raced toward the garage. Brandon shot and snapped one man’s hand holding a machine gun and popped another in the knee. He took out another who was lining up in his direction. With Merk working beside him, they steadily dropped all eight men. One dead, seven down.

  He turned to look at Merk and said, “I don’t think Bullard’s got a medical clinic open, does he?”

  On the other end of the holding’s roof, they could hear Stone working his magic. “Why would they still try to charge even though they know we are up here?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe they saw something in the jeep that made them panic.”

  “Or they thought it was their men, and they were throwing cover shots so they could run in.”

  “Until they saw Levi and afterward shots were fired from the jeep.” Brandon nodded. “That’s likely what happened. They were expecting the vehicle to be full of their own men. Not more of us.” He glanced down at the injured invaders, but nobody moved. “We still have to deal with them.”

  “I suggest we get somebody in the village to come and get their vermin,” Merk said in a cold voice. “I bet Bullard knows exactly who to call.”

  Suddenly Stone roared.

  Merk and Brandon stared at each other. With none of the men below capable of mounting an attack any longer, Brandon and Merk headed to Stone.

  He was cursing. “One of them goddamn scraped me,” he roared. There was a burn mark on his shoulder, but it had only grazed him, and that was what counted.

  Brandon grinned. Stone was just pissed because it stung like a bitch.

  Merk looked over the edge and sure enough, Stone’s four invaders were dead. “Was that all you?”

  Stone shook his head. “Whoever was in the vehicle heard me yell when I got stung. That was it. They went down like ants on a log.”

  Merk nodded. “What do you want to bet Ice came too?”

  Stone’s face lit up. “Now that would be like Ice,” he said in satisfaction. “She doesn’t let anybody pop her friends.” Stone asked Brandon and Merk, “Did you leave any alive?”

  Brandon shrugged. “It seemed pointless to kill them if I didn’t have to.”

  Suddenly there was a round of gunfire from where they’d left the first eight invading men. Brandon raced back to see somebody running up the hill toward the airstrip. All the injured men had been shot in the head.

  Merk joined him and said, “He killed his own men?”

  Stone’s voice was hard. “If you don’t take him down, that asshole will come back. He’ll also take out the plane.”

  The running man dropped to his knee and started firing. “Obviously Ice left somebody in charge of the plane.” There was return fire, and the gunman was thrown back off his feet, rolled down the hill and didn’t move again.

  “Damn. That doesn’t leave anyone here to question,” Brandon said.

  “Yes, but now we don’t have to bother calling the medic,” Merk said, then added with a hard edge, “I sure as hell hope they have an undertaker around here. Burying these guys in this ground will be a bitch.”

  Chapter 7

  Kasha stood inside the open garage a
s they barreled forward, coming to a screeching halt. She stared at the occupants for a moment and then her face lit up. “Levi and Ice. Man, the bodies drop every time you show up.”

  Ice hopped out, but she was still battle ready, fully armed and spinning around, looking for more enemies. Kasha watched as Ice swept her way back outside to see if any of the men who had been shot were on the move. Levi smiled at Kasha and raced out behind Ice. Two other men were in the back of the vehicle.

  She nodded and said, “Rhodes, is that you?”

  “Hey, Kasha.” Rhodes pointed to the guy beside him as they got out and said, “This is Flynn.”

  She smiled at the second man who returned a lazy grin—the kind deadly to all women—before he and Rhodes disappeared behind Levi and Ice, all checking the outside perimeter of the fortress.

  That was it. She was once again alone in the garage. She made her way to the open door and took a quick look outside. Four dead men were on the right, and she had no idea how many were around the corner. She couldn’t leave with the garage open, with her friends still outside, with the cabinets full of weapons. Nor could she leave Bullard without a front line of defense. She waited.

  Finally Ice returned, laughing and talking to Levi at her side. She walked over and gave Kasha a hug. “Not exactly the nicest greeting in the world. Please tell me Bullard’s okay.”

  Kasha smiled. “Bullard is Bullard. Our cook pulled a gun on him. Unfortunately for her, Bullard decided he’d had enough of being attacked.”

  “Did he kill her?” Levi’s tone was casual, but his gaze was not. It was extremely intent and world-weary.

  “No, he shot her in the hand.”

  “That’s what I would have expected,” Ice said casually. She walked toward the door. “This is a hell of a place you’ve got here.”

  “You mean a hell of a place Bullard’s got here.” Kasha looked back at the open doors. “I don’t really want to leave the garage door open.” She pointed to the cabinets. “Every one of these is full of weapons.”

  Levi and Ice opened the padlocks up and started to whistle. “Wow. Look at that firepower.”

  “I know. That’s what we mean. Arms dealing. Maybe an arms depot is more like it.”

  The garage filled as everybody but Harrison came in. She glanced around and asked Brandon, “Where’s Harrison?”

  “He’s standing guard on the rooftop in case anybody else comes out of the woodwork.”

  She nodded. “That’s smart.” With everybody laughing and greeting each other, she closed the big garage doors under Ice’s watchful eyes. Kasha then led the way to Bullard who was now sitting and looking more alert than she had seen him since his return.

  Tahlia, on the other hand, was tied to a chair, looking like she could faint from the pain.

  Ice walked over to Tahlia and looked at the hand. She didn’t say a word to the woman. She turned to Bullard and said, “Have you got someone coming to collect her?”

  Bullard nodded. “What passes for law enforcement in the area is on its way.”

  Ice nodded. “She’ll need a medic.”

  “Hey, I patched her up. You want to help her, go right ahead. But she needs surgery, and her hand is still likely to be useless.”

  Ice didn’t say anything. She turned her back on the woman and walked over to Bullard. He grinned and opened his arms as she stepped in for a hug. Kasha watched in quiet amazement. Bullard had had several relationships since she’d known him, but nothing compared to what he had had with Ice.

  Kasha then glanced at Levi and saw he was unconcerned. He was watching all the computer equipment as the security cameras showed various scenes from around the holding.

  “You’ve got great bones in this place here,” he said. “But then, trust you, Bullard, to pick one so far away.”

  “I thought I’d found a prize. Not sure what I’ve got now.”

  “We’ll help you to stabilize this.” Levi shook hands with Bullard and smiled. “By the way, left our return flight open-ended with your pilot.”

  Bullard nodded.

  “Still, it’s not like you to get blindsided like you did.”

  “I’m more pissed at myself than anything. I hadn’t seen any other weapons here. We hadn’t had time to do a full inventory. I hired Tahlia from the village to do some cooking for us. But of course, she couldn’t resist the urge to turn against me.”

  Kasha turned to Tahlia. “Why did you do that?” she asked in English this time.

  With pain in her voice, Tahlia said, “My sons, … my sons, … don’t kill them …”

  Kasha stared at her in sadness. “I’m sorry. Somebody came from the village and shot down the attacking men like dogs. They could have lived. But somebody from their team put a bullet in every one of their heads.”

  Tahlia’s heart was reflected in her expression and was clearly breaking. She started to cry.

  Kasha squatted down in front of her and said, “I don’t know for sure that your sons were out there.”

  Tahlia started to shake. “I told them to leave it alone. I told them to not run with that gang.”

  “What gang and what were they doing?”

  “They thought they could be fighters, like so many other young men. They could go around the world and do things,” she sobbed. “But what they saw as a difference, it wasn’t a good one. All they saw was the money and that these men walked tall and carried weapons. They wanted that. But they were just boys. Once they were part of them, I had to do what they said or else they’d punish my sons.” Then she broke into uncontrollable sobs.

  Levi stepped forward. “I’ll take someone to check on all the dead out there before somebody collects them.”

  Kasha turned back to Tahlia and asked, “What are their names and how old are they?”

  Tahlia had a hard time stopping the sobs, but she managed most of the information. “They’re twenty-two and twenty-six. Mohammed is the older one, and Aziz is my baby.”

  Levi nodded, looked to Ice and said, “You want to come?”

  Ice nodded. “Let’s see what we’ve got.” To Kasha, she said, “We’ll take photos.”

  As the two disappeared, Kasha hoped at least one of the woman’s sons was alive.

  Bullard sighed. “What else was I supposed to do when she pulled a gun on me? Especially after poisoning me in the first place.”

  “At least you didn’t kill her,” Stone said. “But, if her sons are dead, she will wish you had killed her too.”

  There wasn’t a whole lot anyone could say to that. The facts of life were, people died. And, in war, they died all the time. No parent should ever have to bury their own child. But it happened way too often.

  All too soon Levi and Ice returned. Without speaking a word, Levi showed Tahlia the photos of the seventeen dead men on the property.

  Tahlia’s wails confirmed she had lost both her boys.

  Kasha was torn, but she left the woman to mourn alone.

  With the arrival of Levi and Ice, the entire dynamic of the holding shifted. Kasha watched in amazement as Bullard stepped into line too. He might have groused, but he didn’t argue. When Ice hugged him again, he beamed like a little boy. Kasha smiled, loving to see that side of him. She loved to see the relationships between him and his friends.

  Aside from Tahlia’s weeping, relative peace reigned until shortly after 11:00 p.m.—when the military arrived, two hours later than expected. They were still making plans, drinking coffee and stuffing themselves at 2:00 a.m. The military had collected all the dead men, shipping Tahlia out first after taking her statement. Then they took statements from Bullard, Kasha and Levi’s team. By the time most of the military left shortly after three, Kasha was exhausted to the bone. She wanted to lie down and sleep, but it didn’t look like the rest of this group was even ready to slow down. Not with a few military guys still hanging around. She’d never seen anything like it. Except maybe Bullard’s own men when they were geared up for missions. But this was a different Bullar
d than she’d seen before. Still groggy from the drugs, he was frustrated at some residual memory loss and his inability to grasp details.

  “It will come back. Give it a chance. You know what those drugs are like,” Ice scolded.

  “Humph.” He shot her a look. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

  “Doesn’t mean you have to act like a two-year-old either,” she said in exasperation.

  Silence filled the room. Nobody else would have dared speak to Bullard like that. But Ice had a way. Bullard stared at her for a long moment, and then he chuckled. His chuckles soon turned to huge guffaws rolling throughout the room. Everybody else relaxed and grinned.

  Ice shook her head. “See? Exactly what I mean.” She turned back to the two remaining sergeants. They were still taking statements and had yet to take all the photos they needed.

  Kasha sighed and went to make a pot of coffee.

  Ice, Bullard and Levi were preparing a plan for approaching the village. With so many dead, it was hard to say what the mood would be like there. If these dead men had been terrorizing the village, then its citizens could be relieved. But, if they’d all lived there, been a part of that community, there would be many devastated families at the deaths of these men. The thing was, nobody knew which way it would go.

  Including the military, talking of a reconnaissance mission through the town to test the waters. Not only did they need to know what the mood of the villagers was, they needed to know if more men were gathering for another attack. There were sixteen dead men, seventeen if you included the one on the hillside. But most of them hadn’t been killed by Bullard’s men. Whoever was the final shooter at the tarmac, up at the top by the airstrip, was long gone.

  Levi and Ice had gone up to look. On the way they had taken out two new attackers and thought they saw one more. But there had been no sign of him when they returned. Their focus had been getting back to the holding.