SEALs of Honor: Markus (21 page)

He grinned. “Perfect. I’m in Coronado.”

Well, perfect would be living in the same house, but as far as secondary options this was damn good. They’d be like an hour tops from each other. She gave a happy sigh. “Now all I have to do is get home.”

She didn’t look forward to the long bus trip or the stopovers and possible connections she’d have to make, but there was no way she could fly on her pennies. At least she didn’t think so. She wasn’t going to ask her father. It was already enough that she’d need help when she got to his place. She had no clothes or computer or phone. All things that would have to be replaced.

She shifted on the car hood and wondered if she’d ever get a good night’s sleep again. These last couple of days had been shit all around.

“Markus, you all good?”

“As good as can be,” he said calmly. “She’s got a couple of injured ribs from the hard landing.”

The men turned those laser eyes on her. She wondered if that determination and casual can handle anything attitude was required before these men went into the military or if they taught it to them while there. These guys were navy supposedly, and yet they were training in Alaska at one of the military bases. She’d heard whispers about them being SEALs but even that didn’t mean much to her – just super special ops of some kind. Like Markus said, he’d killed people.

“I wish you’d killed him,” she said, nodding toward the man being questioned right now.

“Why?” Evan asked her.

“So I know he’s not going to come after me again,” she said honestly. The man looked up and glared at her. “He’s the guy that broke into my room, hurt Doris, and burned down Boomer’s diner. And he was there at the diner that morning with the men who kidnapped me.”

“He was?” someone behind her asked.

“I didn’t remember because he wasn’t at the cabin. He had been there at the diner but left early with another man.”

“Are you sure?” Markus asked carefully.

She nodded. “I’m sure. There had been…let me think…” She closed her eyes and mentally returned to that morning when everything had blown up. “They sat in the far corner. All wanted coffees before ordering food. I brought three. Then this man and another arrived a few minutes later.”

“So that’s all good. We got four men at the cabin, including Barry, and this one makes five.”

“So we’re good then? We’ve got them all?”

“No.” She looked at Markus then let her gaze drift from one tough face to another. “The two men that arrived late at the diner were never at the cabin. So unless you have a sixth man in custody, one is still out there.”

The men exchanged grim looks.

“Can you identify the missing man?” Markus asked. “From when you saw him at the diner?”

She winced. “Yeah, I probably can. I have a
really
good memory.”

“You mentioned that before.” He leaned forward and gently nudged her face toward him. “How good?”

She sighed. “Basically, photographic. It’s why I do investments so well. I can remember the numbers and recognize patterns.”

“Right.” Markus shook his head. “They knew too, didn’t they?”

“I don’t know, but possibly.” She held up her hands. “The other two waitresses knew. They were talkers so it’s likely. Boomer used to bug me about it. Tease me. Test me. Flash me the front news page then have me read it out to him. It was a big joke to everyone,” she cried. “I didn’t want anyone to know. I was bugged enough about it growing up. Like I need more of that shit now.”

Markus pulled her close. “It’s okay. But it might explain why they’ve been so adamant about taking you out.”

“I can see pictures and images, words, but I can’t remember conversations,” she said. “So in what way was I a danger to them?”

“If you overheard their conversations then maybe you do know more than you think you know.” Evan studied her curiously. “They might not know you don’t remember what you hear as well.”

“Did you see anything they had on the table with them?”

She yawned and stopped with her mouth open. “Plans. They had plans on the table. They moved the papers when I brought their food.”

“Plans of what?”

She stared at them, her mind going click click through the pages of her memories. “A bank. The Wells Fargo bank.”

*

That certainly explained
why they were being persistent in going after Bree. At this point this was the only explanation that made any sense.

“So they weren’t doing any protest about park land and oil and gas exploration,” Swede said. “Did we have the wrong end of the stick?”

“No,” Markus said, anger threading through his voice. “We were
given
the wrong end of the stick.”

“Barry?” Evan asked.

“Just think. If they were planning a bank robbery–”

“Multiple banks in a few hours apart. Same bank.” She smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry. I had no idea what they were planning but when you asked, it just clicked. Because I see and remember what I see I have to have a filing system and put everything away very quickly. I can always pull it out again, but it’s overwhelming to keep in my short-term memory so I file it way. They meant nothing to me.”

“Even after all you’ve been through it didn’t occur to you that bank plans might have been important?” Mason asked, his tone extremely polite.

She flushed. “I might have but I have barely slept, and when I’m tired my mind doesn’t work right. So it’s just this big fog. But when someone asked about the papers on the table I could go and look at what they were.”

The men stared at her in surprise.

“I’m sorry,” she cried. “I didn’t know it was important.”

“And there’s no reason you should have,” Markus admitted. “You’ve been waitressing there for only a couple of weeks. Lots of people would have been through that diner carrying papers and books and all kinds of things. If you were to try to sort out the meaning of all of it, that’s going to be a lot.” He couldn’t imagine. Like her, he wouldn’t pay attention to very much. He couldn’t. He’d go crazy.

“Maybe, but after being kidnapped I should have realized everything they were up to was important. But you were all talking about it being a protest and survivalists holing up etc., and I never thought it would be anything
but
that.”

“And it might not be. This could be where they were making plans for the next step in their operation.” Markus shrugged. “It’s too soon to make any kind of interpretation.”

“Any idea who collected the papers and took them away with him?” Mason asked.

She shook her head. “No. I delivered breakfast and asked them to move the plans so I could put the hot plates down.” She frowned, trying to remember. “There was an odd silence then, but they quickly cleaned everything up.”

The men exchanged odd looks. Markus knew what they were thinking at that point. It was likely then that the men had decided kidnapping was the only option. Did Barry even know about their eventual plans, or was he part of it all?

“We need to talk to Barry,” Markus said abruptly.

Mason nodded. “I’ll find out where he is.”

“Can you tell us anything else about the plans you saw?” That was Swede again.

She pursed her lips. “They were blueprints of the buildings.”

“More than one?”

“Yes, maybe four. Could have been five.” She shrugged. “Honestly I couldn’t tell. They were on top of each other and rolled into one bundle.” She used her hands to describe the size. “I saw them laid out, and they all had the same name on top.”

“Right.”

“One man was writing a list,” she added. “The man that’s missing.”

“Of course, how about an image of the man missing? Can you tell us what he looked like?”

“Like Barry only slightly different. If I had to hazard a guess I’d say a brother. Both had the same mouth and eyes.”

“Damn it.”

“The list,” Swede prodded.

She turned to face the big man then her eyes defocused and she stared, reciting, “More ammo, rope, pick up throw away phones, hockey bags, take the van for a tune up.”

She stopped with a frown. “The bottom of the list was scribbled out so I couldn’t read it.”

“That’s fine, we got the message. So they were planning to rob the bank and were using this location as their base with the protest as noise to cover their activities. Who’d know? It’s close enough to do the recon work and far enough away that no one would know where they were from. Easy access to Anchorage and a perfect location to get away to afterwards.” Markus added, “Not to mention who’d know if they slipped away and came back. The protestors would have been their alibis. Smart really. But the protest never gained much traction without them as key instigators and with the kidnapping moving their time frame ahead, it threw the rest of their plans in a mess. The protest was shut down fast.”

“And they were planning on more than one bank.”

“Right, so go into town, hit several, one after another and get out.”

Markus nodded. “Until they kidnapped you and we took the team down for something completely unrelated and screwed up their plans.”

Mason walked over. “Barry has been released.”

Swede snorted. “Great. So he’s free now and what do you want to bet that there will be a series of bank robberies in the next few days to weeks as the brothers regroup and find a couple of men to fill the missing spots.”

“They wouldn’t need much,” Bree said. “Just a getaway driver. Even then, they could have the vehicle parked outside and make a run for it. If they are fast, they’d be halfway across town before they’d been spotted.”

“The banks have contingency plans in place for robberies now,” Evan said. “Robberies happen all the time, but they don’t get much cash at each branch.”

“Right and times that by how many banks, and two men at a time and there could be a nice haul out of Anchorage.” Markus stared down at Bree. “The question is, what do we do to keep her safe now while we get to the bottom of this?”

“How about the same solution as always?” she asked hopefully, “Somewhere safe where I can get something to eat and some sleep.”

“And where is that?” Markus snapped. “Seems like every time we tried to do that, something went wrong and someone got hurt.”

“Exactly,” she said smoothly. “So the answer is to stop stashing me somewhere and keep me with you.”

She gave him a beaming smile.

B
ree watched the
expressions cross the men’s faces. Markus had a glimmer of a smile in his eyes, but his face was otherwise stalwart as if waiting for the others to weigh in. She knew instinctively she had to win them over and likely Mason first. To that end, she looked at him and said, “Would it be a hardship to keep me safe for a day or two?” She glanced at the other men. “I’m trying to go home to California, but I’m not going to make the several days of bus rides in this shape,” she admitted.

Then she decided she sounded like she was whining. “Well, I will but it won’t be pleasant. Of course as you’ve saved my life several times, I should be focused on the fact that at least I’m alive enough to feel the discomfort of sitting for hours.” She took a deep breath, shuddered slightly at the sharp pain spiking through the system in her mid-section, and said, “Never mind. I’ll be fine. You’ve done enough for me.”

And considering that, what the hell was she going to do. She had a bag with her somewhere. “Markus, do you know where my bag is? My wallet. I’d really hate to have to go through all that again.”

She tried to identify the vehicle she’d arrived in, but they all looked the same. Her shoulders slumped. Damn it. She couldn’t even do that much on her own.

“And if I give you your bag, where are you going to go?”

She stared up at him. “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “I can’t go back to the bed and breakfast now. Maybe you could give me a lift to the bus station, and I’ll find out how to get home.”

A thunderous cloud spread across his face. And she knew he was going to be difficult. “There’s very little options left for me.”

A vehicle came ripping up the block. Well look at that. The cops had arrived. The two officers hopped out and walked over.

They nodded a greeting to Mason as the group gathered around him.