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One of the men smiled for a moment, then made his face blank again. But Cody had seen his relief.
Mel had said there might be a mole in the FBI, and clearly she’d been right.
“Okay, boys, sit tight. I’ll be right back with your ride.”
The man Cody had knocked out struggled against the zip ties, but they were impossible to remove. The other man muttered something in a guttural language and he stopped moving.
Cody got to his feet. Looked around, pinpointing the location. Then he stepped into the field and started running toward the barn, a small dark building in the distance.
Ten minutes later he drove the pickup through the field to where he’d left the men. They were still tied to the saplings, but their wrists were bloody where they’d struggled against the plastic ties. Cody pulled his knife out of the sheath at the small of his back. “You’re gonna make a mess in my truck,” he said, slicing through the plastic that bound the first man to the tree. He crouched down and hoisted the man onto his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, then hauled him to the pickup.
After he’d deposited both men into the bed of the pickup, he closed the door of the truck’s cap, stepped away and called Mel. She must have been asleep, but she sounded as alert as always. “Parker. What’s up?”
“I picked up two guys who were heading through the woods toward the farmhouse,” he said. “NVGs. Kevlar vests. Knew what they were doing. I secured them in the back of my truck. What do you want me to do with them?”
“I think the FBI will want to talk to them,” she said. “Sit tight while I call them. I’ll call you back in a few minutes.”
“Will do,” he said. Instead of ending the call, he waited in case Mel wanted to say something else. He heard a tiny whisper, then the phone went dead.
Was someone in bed with Mel?
Cody shook his head. Sure sounded like it, and he wondered for a brief moment who it was. Then he shrugged. Not his business. Mel was entitled to a private life, just like the rest of them.
Still, he had his suspicions about who the guy was. And the thought made him smile.
Chapter 9
Cody parked the truck on the driveway in front of the house and waited for Mel to call. He wanted to run down to the safe room and check on Sierra but clenched his teeth and gripped the steering wheel harder. She was fine. Even if he’d missed an intruder, no one could have gotten into the safe room. And his sensors hadn’t alerted to anyone else on the grounds.
After what seemed like hours, but was probably just a handful of minutes, his SAT phone rang. “Parker,” he said as he answered it.
“I talked to someone I trust at the FBI,” Mel said without a preamble. “She’s sending two agents from the Milwaukee office to the town closest to the farm. Take the two men to the sheriff’s office and wait with them until the Fibbies show up.” He heard a smile in her voice. “You can try to interrogate them, but you probably won’t have much luck. My contact says the Bratva rarely talk. They know if they do, the mob will kill their families.”
“Brutal culture,” Cody said, glancing toward the bed of his pickup. He could see the shapes of the bound men through the small window in the cap. Neither of them were moving. Probably saving their strength, hoping for an opportunity to escape.
“Yeah,” Mel said. “It’ll take those agents a couple of hours to get to you, but you might as well head for the sheriff’s office and get them in cells.”
“Copy that,” Cody said.
“What about Sierra? Is she safe?”
“Yeah. In the basement safe room. I told her to call you if she hadn’t seen me in thirty-six hours, but that’s not going to be an issue. She’ll be fine until I get back from the FBI handoff.”
“Okay, good. Don’t want her freaking out.”
“That’s the last thing she’ll do.” Cody hesitated. “You know anything about her background? I’m pretty sure she’s had close protection before.”
“Don’t know a thing, other than she’s Alex’s law partner and close friend. Because of that, we’re worried the Russians might target Sierra to get to Alex. Alex took money that belonged to her husband, money he’d been laundering for the Russians, and they want it back.”
“Good to know. I’ll let you get back to bed,” Cody said, and he was pretty sure he heard someone whispering to Mel. “I’ll text you when the packages have been delivered to the feds.”
“Thanks, Cody. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
Cody disconnected the phone, then swiveled in his seat to study the two men tied up in the back of his truck. Neither of them had moved since he last checked, but they were lying close together. Talking? Planning their escape?
He’d searched them both and took all their weapons, and he hadn’t missed anything. But just in case, he’d carry them into the sheriff’s office still bound. The sheriff could pat them down again. Satisfy himself they had no weapons.
A half hour later, Cody stood in front of a cell holding the man he’d restrained with carotid pressure. Cody figured he’d be easier to crack than the other guy, who was clearly in charge. But Cody had gotten only a stony glare in response to his questions.
