Chapter 10

The next morning...

Melanie's POV

I rang the doorbell to the Kross's house and waited on the porch.

The house was quite beautiful blue siding covered the house, with white window frames and the white porch wrap around.

'It's just missing the white fence.'I thought in amusement as the door opened revealing a young girl with blonde hair and green eyes. I smiled, "Hello, is your mom here?"I said nicely.

Maddie turned her head and called for her mom, as soon as she appeared the girl rushed away as I looked to her mother still smiling.

"Hi, you must be Melanie. Michael explained to me what's happening, come on in."she said moving over to allow me inside the house.

"Yes, thank you. Miranda, do you mind if I check the house for security measures?"I said stepping inside.

"Go ahead, I'll be in the livingroom watching a movie with Maddie."she said, she seemed so carefree for a woman in danger.

I nodded placing my bags on the floor, I headed upstairs to check the windows and check around for any bugs too.

After checking the house over and setting up a few security measures of my own, I joined them in the living room and introduced myself properly to Maddie.

"Hi Maddie, I'm Melanie. I'm going to stay with you and your mother for a while, are you ok with that?"I said gently.

"Yeah, as long as you're not staying in my room."she said, I giggled.

"Nope, I'll be sleeping on the couch."I told her.

"Good, want to play with me?"she asked pointing to a mini pool table.

"Sure."I said picking up a pool cue, it was so much lighter than a real one.

We played a few games before Miranda needed help with lunch and I used the opportunity to check around outside.

The backyard was nice as well; a big maple tree in the left corner for shade, on the right side a good sized pool, green grass covering all the area in between and leading up to the porch. A chain link fence surrounded the perimeter, I checked it for weak spots and set up a couple of trip wires hidden in the grass of course.

"Melanie!"Maddie shouted for me, I turned around from the maple tree and jogged to the porch.

"Lunchtime?"I asked, she nodded and we went inside to the kitchen table.

Barney's POV

"Here's the plan, we hit the house make sure no one leaves, and retrief the stolen technology. Agreed?"I said over the map of the compound and looked at my team huddled around.

They all gave a brief nod, "Good, lets go."I ordered and we went outside the hotel to our cars.

The drive was quiet which was unusual for Lee and I,

"Everything alright?"I asked him as I turned onto the road leading up to the compound making dust fly ina trail behind us.

"Yeah, everything's fine."he replied looking straight ahead.

"You're sure?"I pressed, something wasn't right.

"Yes, I'm sure and if you ask me again, I'll ride with Toll and Hale."he told me, this time turning to look at me.

I nodded as I pulled over to park in the bush before the compound just ahead.

We all grabbed our gear and made our across the ground to the gate. Hale shot off the lock and shot out the box for the electricity to the fence for good measure.

Splitting up we surrounded the main house and on my count we busted inside, Lee and I took the two guards in the front, while two others collasped to the floor in the back before we met at the stairs.

Quickly heading up we took another guard at the top of the stairs, and the guys checked all the other rooms while we went to the room on the end.

"All clear Barney."Toll told me.

"Good."I said as they joined us.

Lee kicked in the door and I went in first taking out two of the guards, Toll, Hale and Lee got the other three. Gunnar went to the man at the computer and pulled him away from it.

Yang checked the computer, "It's a game." he stated and I turned to the man.

"Where's the military technology?!"I demanded loudly.

"It's at the base, it was never about the technology."he said he sounded half scared.

"What was it about then?"Lee asked him.

"The wife; Miranda."he confessed.

"We gotta move."Toll said as we hurried out, Gunnar brought the guy along for information.

Lee dialed quickly on his phone, "Melanie, it's a setup they're coming after Miranda. Get out of there now!"he exclaimed.

Melanie said something back and he said, "Good, we'll meet you there and be careful."and hung up.

"Where's she going?"I asked quickly as I got the car in gear and swung it around.

"She's going to take them to a safe house, her friend there will help her until we can get there. The address is 4400 Breaker Road."he told me.

"Did you hear that guys?"I asked.

"Copy that."Hale said.

"Got it."Gunnar replied.

Lee turned to the guy in the backseat, "Why do they want Miranda?"he asked.

"Miranda's CIA, she's been spying on her husband for years and that Cutter guy as well. Michael recently found out and hired Cutter to take her out of the picture."he explained and asked a question of his own.

"Do you guys have a person protecting her?"he asked.

"Yeah, one of our best. Why?"Lee answered him, I didn't like how this was going.

"Cutter will go through anyone to get to Miranda, your guy is as good as dead."he replied.

"That won't happen!"Toll exclaimed over the headset.

"I know Toll, she'll be alright."I told him.

"She?"the guy repeated. "A woman would be no match for Cutter and his team."he said.

Lee reached over and punched him in the nose making a crack sound. The guy groaned in pain but didn't say another word.

Lee's POV

'Not again.'I thought. 'We gave Mel the easy job protect the family, and now it turns out we gave her the most dangerous job of all.'It made my blood boil that we were at least thirty minutes out and that Melanie had no backup.

'But she's strong, and she'll do whatever it takes to keep them safe.'I reminded thought occured to me and I turned to the guy in the back once again.

"What about their daughter?"I asked watching him fidget a little with his hands.

"I heard Michael tell Cutter to do whatever he wants with her, he wants Miranda to suffer as much as possible."he replied his voice shaky.

That was just wrong, this guy would get what's coming to him and judging by the silence on the headset he was going to get it six times over and then some.

Melanie's POV

After the phone call from Lee, I told Miranda what was going on and we quickly packed some essentials for us and Maddie and left the house.

"Mom, what's going on? Where are we going?"Maddie asked as she sat between me and her mother in my truck.

"We're going over to Melanie's house, she'll keep us safe."Miranda told her knowing she couldn't tell her everything but she couldn't hide the fact that they were in danger either.

Maddie smiled, "Cool."she commented happily.

I smiled too at her attitude towards this, curious but content. It made things a little easier for Miranda and I, as we turned on the dusty road leading to the place I called my friend.

"Ty, we'll be there in ten. Is everything all set?"I said when he answered.

"You bet, I got your back Mel."he said.

"Thanks, I appreciate this."I told him.

"No problem, and Sasha says hi."he said and hung up.

I grinned everything was coming together, 'The backup plan never fails.'I thought happily as the house came into view.