Black Pawn (Michael Cailen Book 1) (39 page)

“I have to tell you, Michael.  This is quite an honor,” 
Price called out to him while he reloaded his gun.  “I've been chasing you for
four years.  Never been this close.”  He cocked his gun.  “It's exciting.”  He
smiled wickedly.

A game of cat and mouse ensued.  Michael remained a few
steps ahead of Price, leading him unknowingly to where he wanted him.  He
finally reached a dead end.  A window was the only escape.  Michael climbed out,
but instead of going down he climbed up to the second floor which didn't yet
have walls.  He stationed himself at the edge of the floor pointing his gun
down at the window opening.

Price came into the room and knew Michael must have escaped
through the window.  Knowing Michael would likely lay in wait for him to go
near the window, he cautiously approached it keeping low and using the wall as
cover.  He slowly panned the area keeping his gun aimed out the opening.  After
checking one side, he ducked and moved to the other side to get a view the
other way.  There was no sign of Michael.  There was only one place he could be,
Price decided.  He stood directly in front of the window and quickly lunged
forward pointing his gun to the ground.  To his surprise, Michael wasn't there.

“Up here,” he heard Michael say.  The last thing he saw was
Michael standing above him with his gun aimed at his head.

Michael quickly returned to the room Gatti was in, fearing
he was already dead.  He dropped to his knees next to him.  Gatti turned his
head and looked at him.  He didn't look well.  Pulling the knife from his
pocket, he cut open Gatti's shirt.  The bullet had just missed his heart.  He
was alive but his right lung was filling with blood.  Michael turned him on his
side to prevent the blood from filling his other lung.  He dialed 911 on
speaker as he removed his shirt and cut it in two pieces putting pressure on
the wound from the front and back.  He told Gatti to hang on, help was coming. 
The sirens in the distance were a welcome relief.  Gatti was going into shock, but
Michael kept talking to him to keep him awake and alert.

“You have a family, right Tim?”

Gatti closed his eyes and nodded.

“Think about them.  They want to see you again.”Gatti opened
his eyes with renewed determination.

“You're going to get through this.”  Michael tried to give
him strength.

To Michael's dismay, the police arrived before the
ambulance.  He couldn't abandon Gatti.  He stayed with him to render aid until
the paramedics could arrive.  As soon as the paramedics came on scene, Michael
was taken into custody as the police had no idea what had taken place.  He was
put in an interrogation room where he refused to speak with anyone about what
happened.

Ten grueling hours passed before two agents from the CIA
entered the room and relieved the detectives who had been trying to interview
him.

“How is Agent Gatti?”  Michael asked them.

“Surgery went well.  He's stable.”

Michael closed his eyes and felt relief wash over him.

One of the agents removed his handcuffs.  “We're taking
custody of you.  Let's go for a ride.”

Michael stood, rubbing his wrists.  He left with the two
agents, grateful to be out of that tiny room, but at the same time not really
knowing if he could trust these two men.  They escorted him to a black Ford
Taurus.  Once inside, the agent in the passenger's seat asked where the rest of
the stolen data was.  Michael insisted he would only tell agent Gatti.  The
agents looked at each other and then drove him to the hospital where Gatti was
recovering.

They brought him to Gatti's room and cleared Michael with
the security personnel guarding him.  Michael walked to his side.  The nurse
instructed him to be brief and not to upset him.  He nodded and then addressed
Gatti.

Gatti was a little out of it from the pain killers, but he
was improving.  He looked at Michael and a slight smile crossed his mouth. 
Michael smiled in return.

“I'm not sure who I can trust,”  Michael confided.

Gatti smirked.  “I know the feeling.”

“The rest of the information from the CIA is still at the
construction site hidden in a wall.  They want to know where it is.”

Gatti nodded.  “Tell one of the agents to come in.”

Michael did as requested and one of the agents entered the
room with them.

Gatti then addressed him.  “Cailen is going to leave.  You
are to let him, and he is not to be followed.”

“But sir..”

“Those are my orders.”

Visibly displeased, the agent gave Michael a look. “Yes
sir.”

“Good, you're dismissed.”  The agent left and Gatti spoke to
Michael again.  “I will take care of everything.  I'll need some time obviously. 
Retrieve the information and lay low until I can settle this.”  His voice was
weak and he had to take frequent pauses to catch his breath.  “They may still
try to follow you.”

Michael grinned.  “I love a challenge.”

Gatti chuckled painfully.  “Get going.  I'll be fine.”

He left to do as Gatti instructed him.

Michael let a week go by before trying to contact Gatti to
check on his progress.  He and Jessica made the call as they had done in the
past.

“Gatti,”  Agent Gatti answered.

“Hi Tim.  How are you feeling?”

“Michael.  I'm so glad you called.  I'm doing well thanks. 
I'm home now.  Still have a way to go, but I'll get there.”

“Happy to hear.”

“I'm sure you're wondering where things stand?”

“Would be nice.”

“Morgan has been arrested.  Rick Hamilton spilled his guts
the moment we picked him up.  He gave us everything he had.  Morgan has been
cooperating somewhat in the hopes of cutting a deal.  That's not going to
happen, but we aren't telling him that.  I've started the leg work to get Jessica's
life back and to get you paid for your years on the run.  You've done a great
service, it's only fair you get compensated for it.”

“Wow, that's more than I hoped for.  When can we come out of
hiding?”

“We still don't know where Milovich is.  His organization
has taken a huge hit though.  The production facility in Yunnan has been
destroyed and he's lost all his connections with the CIA.  He doesn't have the
same reach he used to.  Still, we will have to keep you relatively hidden as a
precaution.  I'm working on it.  In the meantime, I can put you up in some
military housing on a base if you want.”

“That would be an improvement from what we're in now.  What
about the Gomezes?”

“Alonso can have his job back if he wants it.  We don't
think he'll be in any further danger from Milovich but still, we would like to
move him to a new house.”

“I'll pass that along.  I'm glad you're doing better, Tim.”

“I owe you my life, Michael.  I know I would have died had
it not been for you.”

“Join the club,” he joked.

Gatti laughed.  “Yeah, I suppose I'm not the first.  Thanks,
Michael.   Call me tomorrow and I'll have more information for you.”

“Thanks Tim.”  He took off the headset and smiled as he
looked at Jessica.  “It's over.”

Exactly one year from the day Edward Morgan was arrested,
Michael and Jessica emerged from their beautiful suburban home.  Jessica was
wearing a cute summer dress and carrying a wrapped gift box.  Michael was
wearing a nice pair of pants and a button-up shirt and was carrying their luggage. 
They were happy and cheerful as they walked to their black Audi parked in the
driveway.

“I'm nervous,”  Jessica confessed, still grinning, once they
were in the car.

Michael smiled at her.  “Don't be nervous.”

He started the engine and they drove away.  A short plane
trip and rental car later, they arrived at another beautiful home and parked on
the street behind a small line of cars.  They walked up to a house slightly
larger than their own with a yard twice as big.  They rang the bell and were soon
greeted by a very pregnant Elaina Gomez.  They greeted each other warmly and
exchanged hugs.  Jessica's interest in Elaina's belly began to unnerve Michael.

“Don't get any ideas,” he half jokingly admonished her.

She rolled her eyes at him and they walked inside where they
were heartily welcomed by Alonso and Eddie.  Also there was Tim Gatti and his
family, Martin and his wife,  Josh had brought Jinx, and Kevin was there with
Lauren and Emily.  Shaun was also there with his wife whom he met while he was
in hiding in China.  Everyone was laughing, joking and having a good time.

As a way to pay tribute to the lives lost everyone agreed to
gather on that day and celebrate the arrest of Edward Morgan.  During the
course of the year, Gatti and Michael had become fast friends.  Michael's trust
grew enough to tell Gatti of the others who helped him, so they too were
invited to the celebration.

The women all gathered around Jessica to admire the
beautiful ring on her finger.

“What's it like being Mrs. Cailen?”  Elaina asked her.

Jessica grinned bashfully.  “Oh, you know.  Lots of target
practice and constant lessons in self-defense,” she teased as she looked over
at Michael.

Michael grinned and turned his attention back to Gatti, who
was trying to talk to him.

“We could really use your help on a case we're working.  Are
you sure you don't want to work for us?”

“If you wanted me to work for you Tim, you shouldn't have
set me for life with that reward,”  Michael laughed.

“Yeah, yeah.  I regret it more every day.”  Gatti shook his
head and smiled.  “When you're bored of normal life, you know where to go.”

“You'll be the first I call, Tim.”  Michael patted him on
the shoulder.  “For now, I get all the excitement I need helping Josh with his
private security company.”

“Excitement?”  Josh interrupted with a big grin.  “You spend
half the time sleeping.”

“That was one time!”  Michael defended himself while
laughing.

“That I know of,”  Josh  teased.

“And he still owes me,” Martin joined in, patting Michael on
the back.

Michael grinned and turned to Martin.  “I wish you would
call it in already.”

“Oh I'm saving that,” Martin laughed.

“That's what scares me,”  Michael chuckled.

A
Connecticut native, Mel LeBrun's love for writing began in her early
teens.  After being laid off from work a few years ago, she found herself
with a lot of time on her hands and decided to use that time to finally bring
to life a story and characters that had lived in her imagination for years.

She chose
to self-publish to be able to focus on her writing and not have to deal with
the time consuming and energy-sapping corporate world of the publishing
industry.  By self-publishing she can quickly get her work in the hands of
readers and then get back to what she loves, writing. When she's not writing,
Mel likes to get away from it all in the great outdoors.

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If you enjoyed Black Pawn, pick up
the next
installment in the Michael Cailen series: Forced Move.  Michael and
Jessica have been trying to build a new life together despite living in hiding
under assumed names.  Just when it seems they might attain the n
ormal life they crave, Michael is called to help an old
friend rescue his niece from human traffickers, setting in motion a string of
events that will change their lives forever.  While they position
themselves to take down one of the most villainous men on the planet, they are
confronted with skeletons from Jessica's past that threaten their future.

Forced Move Sample

Chapter 1

Michael rolled his brown eyes at
his buddy Josh as the teenage girls they were guarding giggled and pranced in
front of them.  Michael was in his mid-thirties, six feet three inches and in
near perfect shape with gently tanned skin.  His short haircut frustrated the
large curls that wanted to break free from his medium brown hair.

Josh was just a year younger than
Michael and a few inches shorter with thick blond hair and ice blue eyes. 
Equally attractive, he too was in great shape.  Michael was wearing a white
button down shirt with the sleeves partially rolled up, jeans and loafers while
Josh spiced it up with a light blue golf shirt, khaki pants and Docksiders.

Heather was the daughter of the
billionaire who had hired them.  Her friend was Kasey.  Barely eighteen, they
were doing a day of shopping on Newbury Street and then catching a movie in the
evening.  Josh and Michael were to tag along and make sure nothing happened to
them.  Both men were ex-military and worked for Josh's private security
company.

Heather had unsuccessfully hit on
both Josh and Michael.  Frustrated that she wasn't getting her way she had
decided to ditch them, which was proving much harder than she had thought. 
Michael and Josh were getting increasingly irritated and decided that they
would allow the girls to think they had lost them.  The girls were driving them
nuts and the distance might do everyone some good.

“Stay close to me and follow my
lead,” Heather whispered to Kasey.

“It's not going to work.  We've
tried everything,"  Kasey whispered back.  "We can't lose them.”

“They're not perfect.” Heather
abruptly stopped and turned to the guys.  “Did we pass Dooney & Bourke?”

“No,”  Michael answered without
hesitation.

Heather gave him a look. 

“I'm sure we passed it.  I
remember it being back there somewhere.”

“It's not.”  Josh smiled
insincerely.

Josh got the same look of veiled
irritation that Michael did. 

“I know it was back there.  Can
you see it?”  Heather pretended to strain herself looking back at the stores
they passed.

They were standing in front of a
multi-service spa and salon that Heather frequented.  She was familiar with the
labyrinth of service rooms that led to a window with a fire escape.  She just
needed to get a head start.

Michael and Josh looked at each
other, knowing she was about to make her move.  They looked back at the stores
behind them and as soon as they did, the girls were off.   Josh turned back
around and saw them just as they entered the salon.  He sighed loudly and
tapped Michael's arm, getting his attention.  They just looked at each other
and shook their heads.

Heather and Kasey laughed and
giggled as they celebrated their newfound freedom.  They looked all around as
they walked quickly down the back alley behind the salon.  They didn't see the
guys anywhere.

“What are we going to do?" Kasey
asked. "Won't your dad be mad?” 

“I'm not afraid of my dad.  What's
he going to do, ground me?”  Heather rolled her eyes.  “We're going to get a
cab and then we're going to see this guy I know.  He has some pretty good
stuff.”

“What do you mean
stuff
?”

“Ecstasy, pot, whatever you want.”

“Heather!”  Kasey slapped her
arm.  “We can't do drugs!”

“Why not?” Heather stopped and
looked at her like she didn't know what she was talking about.

“Your dad will kill you.”

“My dad doesn't know everything I
do.”  She brushed it off and started walking again.

The pair turned down Exeter
Street.  They were lost in conversation when a large black van came to a
screeching halt beside them and the door was flung open.  Startled, they jumped
back as two men leaped from the van.  They were wearing pantyhose over their
heads to disguise their identities.  Kasey screamed and tried to run, but was
in the clutches of one of the men before she managed to get more than a few
steps away.  Heather was frozen in total shock as she was forced into the van. 
Kasey fought and kicked to get away.  She bit her captor's hand and started shrieking
again when he pulled it away.

The driver of the van screamed,
“Leave her!”

Two shots rang out and suddenly
the van was sloping to the side.  Both tires on the driver's side had been shot
out.  The driver turned to look just as his window shattered and his face met
the back end of a gun.  He was stunned as his door opened and he was pulled
from the vehicle.  He wouldn't remember anything after that as he was quickly
rendered unconscious.

The two remaining men, realizing
their vehicle and driver had been taken out, decided the next best course of
action was to flee.  The man holding Kasey let go and tried to run but
something stopped him.  Michael had grabbed hold of the back of his shirt and
flung him into the side of the van.  He wrestled the man to the ground and
subdued him quickly.  The man in the back with Heather promptly abandoned her
and jumped from the van only to be met by Josh, who put him on the ground just
as quickly.  The girls were in hysterics.  Kasey was screaming and wailing
while Heather was crying numbly, as if in a fog.

“Heather, call 9-1-1.”  Michael
tried to get her attention while he and Josh were pinning the kidnappers to the
ground.  Someone else needed to call the police,  as he and Josh were a bit
occupied.  He could tell she wasn't registering anything.  “Heather!” Michael
shouted.  She finally looked at him.  “Call 9-1-1.  Tell them what happened.”

Coming to her senses, she nodded
rapidly, pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed.  She frantically relayed
what happened to the operator and was assured that police were on their way. 
The operator stayed on the phone with her until they arrived, much to Michael
and Josh's relief.   An ambulance was called for the driver while the other two
men were arrested.   Michael collected the traumatized girls while Josh called
Heather's dad to apprise him of the situation.  He glanced over at Michael as
it was ringing.  It was days like this that made them wonder which was worse,
being a bodyguard for teenage girls or their old black-ops days fending off
enemies who wanted to kill them.

C
hapter 2

Michael pulled into the driveway
of his peaceful suburban home in Newton, Massachusetts, just west of Boston. 
He was perplexed to see an extra car in the driveway.  He stepped out of his
black Chevy Tahoe and walked over to the strange car, a silver BMW M5.  He
glanced in the windows then walked to the house wondering who the owner was.

He opened the front door and could
hear Jessica, his wife, talking to someone.  That someone was a man.  He
followed their voices into the living room where he found Jessica sitting on
the couch next to a man he'd never seen before.  Two laptops were set up in
front of them.  Jessica looked up and saw him standing in the archway.

“You're home early,” she remarked. 
Eight years his junior, Jessica was stunningly beautiful with long dark brown
hair and amber eyes.  Five feet seven inches tall with an hourglass figure and
gorgeous skin, any man would want her and many did.

The man seated next to her looked
about Michael's age.  Not as physically fit but attractive.  His medium brown
hair, cut on the long side, hung down above his hazel eyes.

“Am I interrupting something?” 
Michael asked, somewhat unnerved by the presence of a strange man in his home
seated next to his wife.

“Not at all,”  Jessica said as she
got up to greet him.  “Are you hungry?”  She gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

“No,” Michael answered and looked
over at the man sitting on his couch.

“Hi,” the man said nervously.

“This is Ben.  He works for Gen
Tech,” Jessica introduced him.  “This is my husband Michael.”  She hung on his
side and patted his chest as she said it.

“Didn't you just do a job for
them?”  Michael asked.

“Yeah,”  Ben answered as he stood
up to shake Michael's hand.  “I'm the head of cyber security.”

Michael reluctantly shook his
hand.  “So, she wiped the floor with you.”

“Again, you are correct.”  Ben
laughed.

Jessica grinned.  She worked as a
computer security consultant.  Companies hired her to try and hack into their
systems and tell them where they needed to improve.  She was extremely good at
what she did and fetched good pay for her skills.  It was a rare occasion when
she wasn't able to hack a system.

“So, what happened?” she asked
Michael.  “I thought you weren't going to be back until late tonight.”

Michael said, “Well, after the
attempted kidnapping, the girls decided to call it a day.”

“Oh my,”  Jessica remarked.

“Kidnapping?!”  Ben exclaimed.

“Michael does private security,”
Jessica replied.

“Like a bodyguard?”

“In a nutshell,” Michael answered.

“What happened?” Jessica asked
again.

“Three guys pulled up in a van and
tried to take the girls we were watching.  They were pretty shook up and went
home after giving their statements to police,” Michael said.

“What happened to the
kidnappers?”  Ben asked.

“One is in the hospital, the other
two are in jail,” Michael replied.

“Wow.”  Ben was stunned.  “You
must have had some kind of special training for that?”

“Sixteen years in the military
just about does it,” Michael said.

“Oh, right,” replied Ben. 
“Jessica said you were in special forces.  Remind me not to piss you off.”  Ben
laughed, a bit nervously.

Michael smiled.  He didn't like
Ben and didn't understand why he was in his house.  He was waiting for Jessica
to explain herself.  Why did she invite this guy over when she knew he wouldn't
be home?

“Well, thanks for coming over.  I
need to talk to my wife about something privately,” Michael said.

Ben's smile vanished and his
blissful expression was replaced with a confused one.  “Oh ...  alright.”  He
looked at Jessica who seemed just as bewildered and then at Michael who was
still smiling politely.  He started to feel uneasy and decided maybe leaving
was for the best.  “I'll just get my laptop.”

Jessica stepped over towards Ben
and glanced back at Michael with an unhappy expression.  She looked back at Ben
as he zipped up his laptop bag and then turned to her.

“Thanks for all your help.”  Ben
reached out to shake her hand.  “I appreciate it.”

She smiled and shook his hand. 
“Call me if you have any questions.”

He nodded then turned to Michael
who hadn't moved from the spot he'd been standing.  He was still smiling
politely, but Ben could tell he wasn't happy.  He said goodbye and left.

Jessica closed the door after him
and turned to Michael.  “What was that about?”

“Why would you bring a strange man
here?”

“He's hardly a strange man,” 
Jessica replied indignantly.

Michael raised his eyebrows and
cocked his head.  “Oh? Is he a friend?”

She frowned, but didn't say
anything.

“I thought I knew all your
friends.”

“Michael.”  She closed her eyes
and shook her head.  “What is your problem?”

“My problem is my wife is inviting
men to the house when she knows I'm not going to be around.”

Jessica was exasperated.  “He was
here to talk about hacking.  I said I would help him learn about some of the
newer threats out there.  You being gone was exactly why I invited him to come
over.  Why would I take time away from being with you to talk about hacking?”

He sighed and looked down at the
floor.

She walked up to him and wrapped
her arms around him.  He put his arms around her and looked down into her
eyes.  She smiled and he leaned down and kissed her.

“Are you hungry?” she asked again.

“Yes.”

She grinned.  “I wish you wouldn't
get so insecure.”

“We'll see how secure you feel
when I start bringing girls home from work.”

“Fair enough,” she laughed.  “I
think you know how well
that
would go over.”