Boned2 (Mandarin Connection Book 5) Read online

  I am salivating again, and this time it’s not from all the wonderful food.

  Travis.

  Randy.

  Walt.

  And almost a dozen more SEALs.

  Woof!

  I guess I’m not the only one affected, because Megan excuses herself to go to the ladies room.

  “Hurry up, or you’ll miss all the action!” yells Kim, as Megan leaves.

  “I kind of doubt that,” laughs Sarah. “I thought I noticed a vibe in her purse!”

  —————

  A sudden chill runs up my spine.

  —————

  “Travis! Randy! Walt! Son of a bitch! Look at all you guys!” Kevin yells, loud enough to be heard on the mainland. He’s enjoying himself immensely, reuniting with his old friends.

  Admiral Reginald Decker walks over to Kevin.

  “Mr. Mitchum, sir!” he says, saluting Kevin.

  “Now, you know I can’t return that salute, Admiral,” he says, extending his right hand.

  “Shake?” Kevin asks.

  “Mr. Mitchum, I just want to thank you for your service to this country. And, of course, my condolences for Randall. I miss him,” said the Old Man of the Sea.

  He grabs Kevin’s hand in a strong grip, and they shake.

  “Damn, got something in my eyes. Some cigar smoke, I reckon,” says Kevin, as he wipes a finger across his eyes.

  I fall a bit in love with him.

  It’s all coming back to me, now.

  Those days when I was on the cruise.

  My feelings for Kevin.

  Maybe this won’t be all that bad, at that…

  —————

  Suddenly, Kim and Brian are shouting and pointing at two of the Black Dog men.

  The two agents are standing amid a group of the Alpha Team men.

  I know them.

  It’s Bruce and Bart at whom Kim was pointing and yelling.

  Now, why would the agents be upsetting those two?

  “Get them! Those are the two that kidnapped us and killed Randy Mitchum!” shouts Brian.

  “Someone stop them!” yells Kim.

  Bruce and Bart seem to be communicating between themselves, silently, as if trying to come to a decision.

  The two men look at each other, then shrug.

  Bruce, the bigger one, smiles as he brings his machine gun up and starts shooting people in the room.

  The Alpha Team members are diving to the ground, and some duck under tables, and try to return fire.

  Bart is talking into his headset, but no one on the Black Dog team acts as if they hear him.

  Brian runs at him, and knocks him down in a flying tackle.

  Bart slugs Brian in his face with his fist, then rolls over onto his back.

  With a skilled Judo move, Bart shoves Brian across the floor.

  “Shit!” he yells.

  “AMBUSH!” someone shouts.

  The Black Dog operatives are now engaged with the other two men, ducking and weaving, and seeking cover as they shoot.

  Bart and Bruce run the length of the hall, shooting carefully, and hitting almost every time they pull their triggers.

  Then, Bruce falls, as Travis and Walt shoot him at the same time.

  He grimaces, rolling over and over.

  A round object falls from his hands.

  “Grenade!” shouts Randy.

  A loud boom, and suddenly a lot of smoke.

  I can’t see very much, and I hear people screaming.

  Stephan and Karl are running, trying to get Brett, Kim, Kady and me off to one side.

  Ted and Sarah are huddled behind five Alpha Team members, who are forming a protective cordon around them.

  “What the hell!” yells Sarah.

  “Give me a gun!” she screams.

  We all are running, but suddenly a spray of bullets rips across the wood floor in front of us.

  Splinters shoot up.

  “Back the other way!” shouts Karl.

  I hear loud booms, from the dining table, and Kevin is kneeling, shooting at something in the hallway.

  The table near him erupts, splintering along the length as bullets careen into it.

  Kevin, another cheroot magically in his mouth, his drink next to him, is carefully picking targets and firing.

  His drink explodes as a bullet rips it apart.

  “Mother FUCKER!” he shouts, with feeling.

  “That was Maker’s Mark, goddammit!” he says, and fires another round into the doorway.

  Out there, I see people falling back, and then he is joined by other Black Dog agents.

  My heart is pounding!

  Please, God!

  Don’t let him die!

  —————

  Derek runs to the back of the dining hall, and flings open a door, glancing both ways.

  “Clear!” he yells.

  Travis, Walt and Randy run towards him.

  Many of Alpha Team are hit, as Bruce and Bart run their deadly course.

  More smoke begins to fill the room, and I cough.

  Kim and Kady are holding their noses, and Megan has managed to finally come out of the lady’s room.

  “What the hell?” she says, but Derek leaps at her, pulling her down just as two bullets whizz past her head and bury themselves in the expensive marble column next to her.

  The chips bounce off, and she gets a small cut on her forehead, and the blood flows profusely.

  Derek almost goes mad with rage, slings her over his shoulder and carries her, like a linebacker, out of the hall.

  Then, he’s running back through the double doors, back into our room, falling and dropping Megan, as another spray of gunfire shoots into the opposite wall.

  Crawling, he and Megan make it under the huge wooden table.

  Derek drags out his weapon, and is firing his pistol, the blasts deafening in the room.

  Pandemonium reigns as a large force of men streams through the doors that Derek and Megan had just tried to use to escape.

  And, leading the group of attackers, is Sylvia!

  WHAT.

  THE.

  FUCK?

  The men all carry long, nasty looking guns, and are shooting at the Alpha Team.

  Sylvia has a wicked, small pistol, with a long clip, that she starts shooting into the room.

  It’s a machine gun!

  She empties it in a second, and swaps the clip, and shoots again!

  If she’s just a cook, I’m Beyonce!

  —————

  As the Alpha Team and Black Dog men shoot back, some of the enemy falls.

  I see one of them get hit right between his eyes, and he looks surprised as he hits the wooden floor.

  The red hole in his head, with very little blood, makes the entire scene surreal to me.

  —————

  Suddenly, there is silence, and then the attackers begin to fire and retreat.

  Randy is running towards me, carrying his rifle and trying to tell me something.

  Then, the dude in the hoodie runs across the hall, tackling some man with a machine gun.

  He pounds the guy in the face, and his hood falls, exposing his rough face.

  Again, I am reminded of how much he looks like Bone, except for that beard.

  And the long hair.

  Wait?

  “Rachel!” he yells across to me.

  “Watch out!” he points and dives to the ground.

  “Bone?” I say, almost in a whisper.

  Randy is almost to me when there is a loud noise, and a giant hand pushes into my chest.

  My arms are numb.

  Then, I fly along through the air, hugging Randy tight.

  I look down and see that the bottom half of him is not there.

  My head sees Bone leap to his feet and begin to run, but it’s as if he’s in slow motion.

  Randy and I tumble over onto the grass, and I see a light, and a tunnel, and then nothing at all.

  �
��————

  PART TWO – THE AWAKENING

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  From somewhere far off, I can hear Captain Spalding as he makes his report.

  “We lost ten good men in the ambush,” he says.

  “One of them was Randy. Travis is inconsolable,” he continues.

  “Travis was hit by four rounds, but only one was serious,” comes his voice.

  “The others were superficial and bled a lot, but that only served to frighten his attackers when he turned on them.”

  “Ted Ghent and his wife Sarah were now en-route to the Penthouse.”

  “At last report, Sarah was still feeling the effects of being shot, again.”

  I hear some chuckling.

  “Lady can certainly shoot,” says someone.

  “A bullet grazed her when she grabbed the pistol from a dead Alpha Team member, and began shooting at the attacking force. Brett knocked her down, just as a volley of fire flew into the space where she’d been standing,” says David.

  “When she bounced off the ground, a ricochet hit her. In her ass. Needless to say, Sarah is not pleased. Nor is Ted,” he says.

  “Nor am I, Captain,” says Stephan.

  —————

  Captain Spalding’s voice goes on and on.

  “The detonation horribly wounded Derek, but he is recuperating.”

  I hear Spalding as though I am underwater.

  “Megan is being treated for shock, but is otherwise okay.”

  “Bruce and Bart, escaped. Bruce had taken several good hits, but his body armor did its job.”

  “I don’t fucking believe it,” Spalding says.

  I hear him slam his fist onto the desk.

  “What the hell kind of background checks and vetting are we doing if this can happen?” he says.

  He is obviously upset.

  “There’s no way you could have known, David,” I hear Brett say.

  I can’t see anything.

  Something wet and warm covers my face.

  It feels as though I am floating in a warm pool.

  It makes me want to pee.

  So, I do.

  —————

  I expect to feel my thighs get wet, or maybe my back, since I’m probably dreaming this in my bed.

  But, there’s no warmth.

  Only a slight hiss, and a pulsing noise.

  “Urination, complete,” says a robotic voice.

  “All levels normal, pH slightly basic, heart and blood pressure within nominal range, aural and ocular response nominal, saline content adjusting to increased hormonal response,” says the robot.

  I float, listening to the men talk some more.

  “How is Rachel doing?” asks Brian.

  I wondered where he is at?

  I still only see black.

  An occasional flash of light makes my eyes water, and blink, but it isn’t painful.

  My ears ring a bit.

  I want to sneeze, and scratch my nose, but for some reason my arms won’t move my hands to my face.

  “She’s undergoing Phase IV, and should be done soon,” says someone.

  Maybe Stephan.

  He sure sounds a lot like Bone, though.

  “She took major damage to her lung and pancreas. Most of her intestines were exsanguinated. It’s a miracle she lived to make it to the Facility,” says Karl.

  “What are her odds?” says another faceless man.

  “Pretty good, once she stabilizes,” says the Bone voice.

  “I remember this part,” it says.

  “It’s almost like a dream, and you can hear pretty much anything within a mile, it seems,” it says.

  Ridiculous, I thought.

  More mumbo jumbo…

  “The attackers were definitely part of Reighland’s old organization, and apparently Mandarin Connection agents,” says someone who sounded like the Admiral.

  I suddenly try to yawn, feeling tired.

  I open my eyes, and see a reflection.

  My mouth and nose are covered with a mask of some kind.

  A hose runs out of it, and there are wires and tubes connected to almost every orifice I own.

  Plus, there are wires stuck into my arms, legs, and a big row of stitches traces across and down my left side.

  The voices drone on and on, and I spend some time reflecting on the reflection.

  What the hell? I think.

  I spend what feels like an eternity looking at it, then yawn, or try to, again.

  Tired, I drift back to sleep, and away from this nightmare.

  I want to wake up in Bone’s arms.

  Bone.

  He sure looks funny in my dream.

  He grew a beard!

  —————

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “Drake, what is going on?” I say.

  I almost never call Bone ‘Drake’.

  I think I might have at first, but then he was just Bone.

  Always Bone…

  I’m in a hospital bed, with an IV in my arm.

  Bone sits next to me, looking worried.

  What the hell had happened?

  I remember all the shouting, and some explosions and gun shots.

  That nice SEAL Randy looked like he was running over towards me and then there was a bunch of smoke and darkness.

  How did I get here?

  I look around, and realize that maybe I’d been hurt.

  It all happened so suddenly.

  Bone moves over to me, and tries to give me a kiss.

  What a doofus!

  Is that all he thinks of?

  Sex?

  Asshole.

  —————

  WAIT.

  —————

  WHAT THE FUCK IS BONE DOING IN MY HOSPITAL ROOM!!!??

  —————

  I pinch my cheeks, hard.

  Hard enough to make tears stream from my unbelieving eyes.

  Bone stands up, and looks as though he might try to grab my hands.

  Karl is there, and Stephan and some of the others.

  Brett looks at me with concern all over his face.

  There are a couple of doctors and nurses.

  And the Old Man.

  What the fuck is this, a reunion?

  Some kind of weird party?

  A Rachel Bloomberg Hospital Awakening Party.

  Just what the fuck is going on?

  “Bone?” I say.

  “Rachel, are you feeling ok?” he replies.

  I sit straight up, and a sharp pain shoots through my legs.

  “Bone!” I scream.

  —————

  I grab him and pull him to me, and try to suck his face off.

  I kiss and squeeze and rub his short hair, and smack his muscled arms a few times.

  He hugs me and kisses me back.

  The worried look in his eyes is there, but more distant.

  I sit back from him, and scan around the room, seeing all the other men.

  Comprehension begins to dawn on me.

  Bone sits on the bed, next to me, smiling.

  Those perfect blue eyes, those perfect teeth, that perfectly fuckable body.

  I slap the bastard across his smug face, as hard as I can.

  He flies across the room, scattering the Alpha Team members, and knocking two of them off their feet.

  “What the fuck are you doing alive, you fucking asshole!” I scream at him.

  I am hysterical, the feelings of relief and love battling with my senses, as I try to understand just what manner of cruel joke is being played on me.

  Bone is stunned, but unharmed, by my sudden outburst.

  “Wow, I guess it worked, huh?” he says, and looks from Stephan to Karl, to the Old Man.

  “Please try not to exert yourself, Miss Bloomberg!” says one of the doctors.

  I am livid with anger.

  “Someone had better tell me just what the fuck is going on, or I swear to God…” I shout.<
br />
  I’m standing up on the bed, my gown hanging open, my right boob exposed.

  I don’t fucking care.

  I am so pissed off, I want to just kill them!

  How could they all have done this to me?

  What did I do to deserve being betrayed, and gas-lighted for all these months?

  Damn the Jaeger men!

  Assholes!

  Every single one of them!

  —————

  Later, Admiral Decker gets the short straw.

  “Rachel, I want you to know that we did everything we could to not have to perform the OCTAVIUS procedure on you,” he begins.

  I’ve calmed down enough so that the nurses and doctors have moved on to other patients.

  “What exactly happened to me?” I ask.

  “I remember we had all been in the hall, and then the noise started. Randy ran towards me, and the rest is gone,” I say.

  “We were ambushed. Many of the Alpha Team died. Most are wounded. Randy saved your life, acting as a human shield from most the blast that got you,” he says, solemnly.

  I began to cry a bit.

  Randy was such a funny dude!

  “Why?” I ask.

  “It’s his training, his nature, to protect,” says the Old Man.

  “He died doing what he loved, being a man, protecting his team mates and you,” he says.

  He pauses a moment, looking tight-faced.

  “You were near death, even at that,” he says.

  “Karl and Stephan both went mad with worry over you, and Bone stayed with you when Alpha Team rushed you to the Facility in a helicopter,” he says.

  “How badly was I hurt?” I ask.

  I had a thousand questions, but I tried to be patient.

  But, there are a few particular ones I need to know the answers to.

  Why was Bone alive?

  “When the bomb detonated, it killed Randy, and nearly you as well. It tore open a big hole in your left side, and most of your innards were damaged. It took quite a bit of technological miracles to make you whole again,” he says.

  “OCTAVIUS?” I say, not really knowing just what I am saying.

  “Well, part of it, Rachel,” he replies.

  “I’ll fill you in more about that, later,” he says.

  He pats my arm, knowing I am eager to learn the secret of this Facility, and all the goings on.

  “All in due time, my dear,” he assures me.

  “The OCTAVIUS Project was started a long time ago, and Om and your mother were one small part of it, as are your brothers,” he says.

  “You are very lucky, because your DNA is a close-enough match to allow much of the data we had already gained by your family’s participation to be used to fast-track you through the procedure,” he adds.