Page 4 of Liberating Mallory
“Did this freckled faced Chewbacca just compare us to thing one and two from Dr. Suess?” Raso asked, lowering her glasses down the bridge of her nose, narrowing her eyes at Opie.
“I think the fucker accused us of waddling. You try carrying a fucking boulder on your bladder, that kicks your liver, your lungs and your fucking ribs, then squeezing said boulder, the size of a fucking watermelon, out of your vagina that stretches to the size of a fucking orange. Your fucking ass would walk funny too! Fucking jarhead!” Pratt grumbled as Opie stared at her in shock while their team looked on amazed.
“Lack of sex, back rubs and sleep!” Renee York advised Opie. “Highlander has been deployed for going on three weeks now.”
“What’s Ice’s issue then? I know Marcus is home since he was with me on the beach when Mallory’s parents called. Same team, remember?” Opie whispered hesitantly towards York, not taking his eyes off the two pregnant women.
“Because we will be away, and there’s a chance your team can be deployed while we are gone.” York advised Opie. “Ice has a fear that Marcus will be deployed before, or when, the baby’s born. Yes, she knows that’s a possibility, she just hates that it’s Marcus’s first child and he may not be there, so she’s been a little tense. We tried to get her to stay behind, hell even Marcus suggested it, but it’s you, and it’s Mallory, none of us will stay behind. Both of you are family.”
Opie had to blink the unexpected moisture from his eyes a few times. “Thank you. I didn’t expect you guys to be going to Colorado with me, but I’m extremely grateful. With you guys beside me, I know we’ll find Mallory.”
“Knock the sappy shit off and get on the plane, jarhead!” Cheryl Diesel griped, jerking her head towards the door for them to exit.
Opie chuckled then followed the women towards the plane. Once everyone was seated, it was only a matter of time before the plane was ready to take off. Opie had contacted Mallory’s dad with the time frame they would arrive at Montrose Regional Airport and schedule a time and place to meet since Alpha Squad was with him. They all wanted to hit the ground running as soon as they checked into the hotel to stow their duffel bags.
4
Arriving at the airport a few hours later, the team stepped down from the plane to be greeted by Mallory’s father and a very grumpy sheriff. Once introductions were made, York, Raso and Rameriez walked away to requisition the vehicles that they would need to get around in to conduct their own investigations.
“I don’t understand why you are all here.” Sheriff Wayne Collins stated again, crossing his arms.
“Sheriff, are you aware of what Mallory does in the Marine Corps?” Sgt. Helen Brocard asked the sheriff, not breaking eye contact with the man.
“No, we only know that she’s in the Marines. Works intelligence, I think.” Sheriff Collins stated, looking bored with the conversation already.
“Intelligence is one way to put it. Frankly, sheriff, the woman is the first female in Marine Corps history to become a Marine Corps Raider. She’s not intelligence, she’s the whole fucking package, gentleman.” Pratt broke the news to the men with a dare in her voice.
“What does that information have to do with the price of tea in China? If she has all that training, why didn’t she use it to stop whoever ran her off the road?” Sheriff Collins asked, hands in the air as he shrugged with the information just provided to him.
“Well considering the price of tea in China is cheap as shit, so is the fact that your men are looking for nothing. Look, Russell is worried, and if Mallory was run off the road, then whoever ran her off the road was good. That girl is damn good. She’s run scenarios with her team, friends from Recon, my husband’s SEAL team, my brother in law’s SEAL team, our other brother in laws Delta Force team, hell, even our brothers in law who are SAS, when they visit. She’s damn good. She always adapts and is better the next go around. She’s done survival training with the same group of people, woods, jungle and cold weather survival training, minus us during the jungle and cold weather since we don’t do that shit. If you haven’t found her by now, you’re not going to.” Raso informed the two men as she walked up to the group after returning with one of the vehicles.
“What the hell can you ladies do that my boys can’t do?” Sheriff Collins demanded, looking at the women in bafflement.
“How good are you and your men tracking international terrorists or human traffickers?” Pratt fired back, challenging the sheriff. “Look, we don’t want to take your job, we want to work with you. Whomever took Mallory were professionals. My team deals with shit like this all the time, Sheriff. We’re a task force that goes after terrorists who deal in human trafficking in San Diego, be they foreign or domestic. We do, in California, what the Special Forces teams can’t do on domestic soil. We’ve been trained by former Raiders, former Recons, former SEALs, former Delta. We also keep up our training with active-duty members of same said groups mentioned a moment ago. When our brothers in law and father-in-law who are former or active-duty SAS are in town, we train with them too. My husband is a SEAL and Detective Raso’s husband serves on the same team with both Mallory and Opie. We have all trained with Mallory. We know how she thinks. We can help you and that’s all we want to do. I admit our way is a little out of the ordinary, but it’s within guidelines and well, we get results.” Pratt said, smiling at the sheriff, putting her hand out to shake his.
“I’ve heard of your reputation ladies. I highly doubt this is a human trafficking case, but I can still use your help all the same.” Sheriff Collins conceded, shaking hands with Pratt.
“Did Mallory ever tell you about her past?” Charles asked the team.
“Just that she had an event happen in her life that made her chose the Marines, more so than the fact that she wanted to follow in your and her uncle’s footsteps. She was determined never to be caught unaware again. She never elaborated on it.” Pratt answered, tilting her head to the side as she observed the father.
“Pretty much. Several years ago, she was out at the lake, near here, taking photos. It was how she made extra spending money while she was in college. She was kidnapped by some criminal thugs who were hiding in the mountains from the law after they had robbed a bank and murdered the security guard and a cop. Thank God for Trident Security being in town with their Omega Team on a training mission back then. They saved her life.” Sheriff Collins informed Alpha Squad.
“Wait, did you just say Trident Security? As in Ian Sawyer from Tampa, Florida, Trident Security?” Pratt asked, shocked at the connections.
“Umm, yes ma’am. Do you know them?” Charles asked in confusion, hesitantly.
“Yeah, we do. Small world. We met them a while back when a case we were working on crossed paths. We’ve become pretty good friends.” Sgt. Brocard answered, watching Pratt take out her cell phone.
“I know Mallory’s kept in touch with a couple of people from Trident Security, ever since her rescue. I’ve met Ian and his wife and two other people she called Batman and Costello.” Opie informed the group looking between the men and women.
“Ian and his wife, Angie. Batman is Darius Knight and Costello is Lindsey Abbott. Costello is a former Marine. Batman served with Ian in the SEALs back when Ian was a team leader. Is there any chance any of the guys who abducted her found out she was back in town and wanted revenge?” Pratt asked, her mind reeling from the different theories coming to mind.
“I doubt it. Only one of the kidnappers is alive, serving a life sentence in prison. A Darrell Greenly.” Sheriff Collins answered Pratt.
“Diesel, you and York check into this Darrell Greenly. See who’s been visiting him in jail. Check out who’s putting money on his books or who he is embedded with inside the big house.” Sgt. Brocard ordered the two women. “Let’s get checked into the hotel first, then we’ll go from there.”
The women loaded up into the three vehicles that were given to them by the airport rental agency and headed to the town of Ouray. On the drive, Pratt decided to make a special phone call, to get their opinion on something that was niggling the back of her mind.