Devlin's Defiance: Book Two of the Devlin Quatrology (9 page)

They stopped in their
tracks and moved up to the wall beside the archway, their backs to
it.

Cam took a quick peek
around the archway and saw the desk and wall rising to reveal a
figure lying on its side at the top of a set of stairs, empty hands
stretched out in front, its face covered in blood. A dim glow
emanated from behind and below the figure, which overpowered Cam's
night vision goggles; pulling back, she dialed them back to low
intensity. Becky did the same.

“
Help me! Help!
I'm hurt and unarmed. Help me!”

“
Identify
yourself,” Cam shouted.

“
Oh, thank god,
you're here.”

“
Identify
yourself,” Cam repeated.

“
Dr.
Frenchensteiner. I've been kidnapped.”

“
Are you alone?”

“
Yes. I killed
the man who was guarding me. Oh, god, oh, god. Help me! I'm hurt
and unarmed. Help me, please!”

“
Cover me,
Becks.”

“
Roger.”

Cam ducked around the
corner, Becky behind her, both with weapons pointed at the figure on
the floor.

“
Don't move.”

“
I will not. I
cannot.”

Cam ran to and past
him, while Becky stayed back by the corner, keeping her eyes on the
doctor. At the top of the stairs, Cam stopped and looked down the
steps as carefully as she could through her goggles, searching for
any hint of movement. Seeing nothing, she headed slowly and
carefully down. At the bottom, she quartered the room, noticing the
body of a man several feet away, his head bloody and partially
absent. She walked over and took a closer look.

“
One dead guard,
shot in the back of the head; otherwise clear.”

Becky went over to the
doctor, flex-tied his wrists in front of him, pulled out her medical
pack and began to treat his facial wounds.

“
How did this
happen?”

“
The guard hit me
with his pistol to keep me quiet when I – ow!”

“
Sorry. Looks
like that bone is broken. Can't do much about your nose. I'll give
you a local and a painkiller.”

She pulled out a
syringe and administered a shot near the broken cheekbone, then
cleaned up and bandaged the rest of his face. Then she shook a
couple of pills from a container into his hand, and gave him a small
bottle of water.

“
Thank you,”
he said and swallowed the pills.

“
Can you stand?”

“
I am not –
I, I think so.”

“
Let me help you,
over here to the wall. Good. Now sit down.”

“
Thank you. Oh,
god.”

“
What you got
down there, Cam?”

“
Lots of
equipment, PCs and one big weird contraption,” Cam shouted back
up.

“
That is a 3D
printer,” the doctor said. “They were forcing me to
adapt it.”

“
Fiona, do you
copy? Fiona? Rescue One to Fiona. Fiona? Cam, I've got no signal
in here. Come up and watch this guy.”

“
On my way.”

When Cam got up the
stairs, Becky ran outside and tried again.

“
Fiona, do you
copy?”

“
I copy, Becks,
five by five.”

“
We're done here,
all clear, target rescued, no friendly casualties. Ready for the
helo.”

“
Copy that. On
its way. ETA, ten minutes.”

“
Copy that; ten
minutes. The target has minor injuries, we've got nearly twenty dead
bodies and lots of equipment to evacuate.”

“
Copy that.”

When the helicopter
arrived and landed in the courtyard, Cam and Becky turned the doctor
over, showed the crew the bodies and equipment, taking a few minutes
to examine the dead guard in the basement, and then headed back to
their jet packs, strapped into them and fired them up.

“
Oh, shit,”
Cam said as she saw water streaming out of three bullet holes in the
hose on hers. “That's not gonna fly. Now what?”

“
How good are you
at high diving?”

“
Not funny,
Becks.”

“
Tell ya what,
Cam. We'll unlatch the hose and let it drop, then you take the pack
to the helo and go back with them. I'll fly down and tow your jet
ski back to the big boat.”

“
Sounds good.
But I'll miss the vibration.”

“
Well, hate to
have you unsatisfied. We can do it the other way; I'll take yours to
the helo and go with them, you fly and tow with mine.”

“
Better idea;
thanks.”

“
No problem.”

As they finished
detaching the hose and let it drop, Cam spoke up. “Hey, Becks,
just thinking. How did a wimp like that doctor get the pistol away
from the guard while he was hitting him with it? That guy was big.
Something hinky there. ”

Becky thought for a
moment, then said, “You're right. We'll have to let the
debriefer know, and I'll tell the pilot. Actually, I was thinking
more about what he said about adapting that printer. Wonder what
that was about.”

“
What? I didn't
hear that.”

“
You were still
downstairs. He said 'they' were forcing him to adapt that 3D
printer. Weird.”

“
Adapt? To what?
4D? 5D? Double D?”

They both laughed.

“
Want some help
carrying that over to the helo?”

“
Nah, Cam, I got
it. But thanks. See ya later.”

“
See ya.”

As Becky picked up the
jet pack and headed around the corner of the monastery, Cam fired the
other one up and flew off the ledge and down.

- 27 -

November
12, 2012
7:26
p.m. local time

Aboard
Defiance

On
t
he
Red Sea

Jake leaned back in his
chair, patted his belly and said, “Wow! Jean-Claude certainly
outdid himself on this one. Delicious! But way too many oysters. I
don't think I have any room left for dessert.”

“
We'll hold off
on dessert until later, okay?” Pam said.

“
We'll need some
time to work off this meal,” JJ added, smiling at Jake, “and
maybe a little bit of exercise.”

“
Mm-hmm,”
Pam murmured, “but not too strenuous.”

“
Oh, please,”
JJ said, “maybe a wee bit strenuous. What do you think, Jake?”

“
Oh,” he
said, “a little exercise can't hurt.”

“
Oh, goody,”
JJ said, clapping her hands. “Ready, Pam?”

“
Ready, JJ.”

The girls slithered out
of their chairs and over to Jake, JJ behind him, Pam to one side. JJ
began gently massaging Jake's neck, while Pam ran one hand in circles
slowly across and down his chest, and with the other undid his
shirt's top button.

“
Time for a
change of venue,” she whispered in his ear, “okay?”

“
Mm-hmm.
Ahhhhhhh.”

“
Okay; here we
go.”

JJ slid her hands under
Jake's arms and gently lifted, as Pam's hand continued circling on
his chest, sliding down to his stomach as he rose from the chair.

JJ pressed herself
against him and nuzzled his neck as he rose, whispering, “Oh,
Jake, this is gonna be so much fun. I'm already getting a T-H-O.”

“
Mmmm; I can
tell.”

When they reached the
door, Pam looked through the peephole, said, “All clear,”
and opened the door. They walked silently down the empty passageway
and entered the master suite.

“
Wow,” Jake
said as he took in the transfiguration of the room. A dozen electric
candles created a dim glow that revealed several life-sized
photographs, some of JJ, some of Pam, and one of both of them,
hanging about the suite.

In all but one, they
were in their birthday suits, provocatively yet artistically posed,
lying down, sitting or reclining on velvet couches, mussed-up beds
and in two cases, in the surf on a boulder-strewn beach. In the one
photo of the two, they were scantily dressed in leather strap
outfits, Pam with a whip, JJ with a riding crop. Jake noted that the
bullet scar on Pam's shoulder was absent.

The king-size bed's
brown comforter had been replaced with a puffy red satin coverlet,
and the small refrigerator/freezer had been moved from the far corner
of the suite to the right side of the bed, with a small CD player on
top and speakers on each side of the bed. A red vase with several
huge feathers stood next to the left side.

A scent that Jake
couldn't identify, but which was a combination of jasmine, musk oil,
lavender and roses, with a tiny hint of vanilla, filled the room.

“
You like?”
JJ asked.

“
Marvelous,”
Jake said, slowly turning to take it all in. “Wow!”

“
Most of it was
JJ's idea,” Pam said as she stepped in front of Jake and
finished unbuttoning his shirt.

“
Amazing,”
Jake said.

“
Thank you,”
JJ said quietly, pulling Jake's shirt down over his arms and dropping
it on the floor, then nuzzling his back between the shoulder blades,
sliding her lips up to and around his neck and gently nibbling his
ear.

Pam knelt in front of
Jake, undid his belt, button and zipper, then slowly pulled his jeans
and underwear down around his ankles.

“
Well, it looks
like Stevie Bruce is ready for some playtime,” she said as she
stood up and let her gown slide to the floor. JJ moved around next
to Pam and did the same, then looked down and licked her lips.

“
Mmm,” she
murmured.

Jake stepped out of his
shoes and jeans, all the while looking them up and down as they
unsnapped their G-strings and tossed them aside.

“
Truly amazing,”
he mumbled.

JJ twirled around,
slowly and seductively, keeping her eyes on Jake's face, while Pam
gently took Jake's arm and guided him toward her as she backed up,
pulling him down next to and partially on her when her knees touched
the bed and she lay back on it.

JJ lay down next to
Jake, pressing her body against his side and partially on his back,
and said, “Oh, definitely a T-H-O.”

“
Ready, JJ?”

“
Ready, Pam.”

“
Jake?”

“
Ready as I'll
ever be,” he said.

- 28 -

November
13, 2012
6:56
a.m. local time

Bonita Beach, Florida

Gordy awoke refreshed
and ready to take on whatever the world might throw at him.

After his 30-minute
high-intensity workout, his pulse rate got up to 115, and as he
headed for the shower, he recited his morning set of eleven
self-reminders, starting with “There's no going back” and
“Respect the Grump,” ending with “Life intrudes.”