The Templar Reprisals (The Best Thrillers Book 3) by James Best (read any book txt) 📕

of the hill. No movement. Also, the two roving cars were seized without incident.”

What could it mean that the assailants were hunkered down? At forty feet from the top of the slope, they’d have no sightline into the house. What were they waiting for?

A second signal. The first said get into position, a second would command attack. A last resort … with a safeguard.

Evarts had the alert button in his shirt pocket. He pulled it free and was about to press it the second time. He stopped. What would they do if they never received the second alert? Probably descend the hill to be whisked away by car. How hazardous would it be for his people to apprehend them at the road? What were their orders? Probably never to be caught. Period. In a way, Templars were religious zealots, as fanatical as the Ikhwan. They would not surrender. If the assailants climbed the remainder of the hill, his men had surprise and numbers on their side.

Evarts pushed the button.

A moment later, a double click told him his security room had news. He listened without speaking. They were on the move up the hill. The three men appeared by the sound and motion detectors to be widely dispersed, with two spread to the left and one right. No one dead center. Smart. Avoid the most obvious access point.

Evarts waited. Finally, he heard that all three were positioned just below the summit. He spotted a man on his side. He was peering around. He was not using night vision googles but a pair sat perched on his head. He glanced at the house. The great room spilled light onto the small patio. Perfect. Without using their night vision, it was unlikely that they would be detected on the extreme sides of the dark yard.

He had an inspiration. Evarts whispered for the security center to turn off the house lights, wait fifteen seconds, and then turn on the rear floods. Enough time for the assailants to drop and adjust their night vision goggles. Exactly on a slow count of fifteen, the backyard blazed as white as a well-lit tennis court.

Evarts yelled, “Stand up. Hands in air. This is the police. Now!”

Evarts heard scrambling noise. What the hell? The assailants were blindly racing down the steep incline. He could hear yelps and sounds that could only come from uncontrolled tumbling down the hill.

Evarts mic’d the security center. “What are you seeing?”

“Pell Mell retreat. Frantic.”

“Dispatch squad cars to meet them at the road. Use extreme caution. May be armed and dangerous.”

Evidently their orders had been to run like hell if things went wrong. Evarts could see no assailants, but he still cautiously crept up to the edge of the patio. No one in sight, but foliage had been trampled along the paths where they retreated. He thought about driving around to the road beneath his property but told himself that he had well-trained officers who could handle the situation.

He mic’d the security center again. “Any radio traffic detected?”

“Yes, but it was unintelligible. Encrypted.”

They would radio their getaway car. What would they do when they received no response? Flee on foot? Stand and fight? Surrender? Not the third option. Evarts picked up his phone to warn his team of an impending fight.

He stopped. Shots fired.

Before he could radio a query, he heard his men exclaim that the direction of the shots was unknown. He listened to the voice traffic, and after he asked a few questions, he had a general grasp of the situation. His men had set up three squad cars as a reception committee. The cars faced the hill, and the combined lights lit the bottom of the slope. Blinded by the floods while wearing night vision goggles and then hit by high beams, spots, and light bars, the Templars must have been near blind.

His officers spotted no one, nor had any shots impacted in the vicinity of the barricade.

Three shots … then silence.

Evarts guessed what that meant, but he didn’t tell his men. He wanted them to continue to use extreme caution.

He turned back to the house. He had a few more questions for Jim Lewis.

Chapter 34

Once upstairs, Evarts used his cell phone to call his wife. He gave her the safe word and heard the dead bolts slide open. After the heavy door swung open, Baldwin gave him a quizzical look, and he shook his head slightly. He didn’t want Lewis to hear what had transpired outside the saferoom.

Lewis sat on a rolling secretary chair, dead center in the small space. His hands were cinched in front with plastic zip-tie restraints. Evarts rolled over another chair and faced him. He made a head motion toward the entrance and Baldwin relocked the heavy metal door.

“Your capable fighters are dead. At least the ones who tried to rescue you. The getaway driver and back up team are under arrest and locked up in my jail. They’ll talk in time. You’re also under arrest.”

Evarts read him his rights.

“Take me to jail,” Lewis said, “and give me my call.”

“You weren’t listening before. We’re going to have a private conversation before that happens. This room is soundproof, by the way.” Evarts let the threat hang a moment. “Are you ready to tell us something valuable … or do you need further persuasion?”

Lewis said nothing.

Evarts sighed. “You claimed Templars could protect us. They can’t even protect you. My street cops had no trouble handling your supposed capable fighters. You need better sergeants. You might as well face it, with this level of performance, you’ll never win us over.”

“You’ll learn nothing from those helpers you arrested,” Lewis said. “They’re hired accomplices. Sure, they’ll talk, but they know little of value. And your men didn’t handle the Templars either. My sergeants honored their oath.” He sat straighter. “There was never a chance of a firefight. We don’t kill police officers.”

“They committed suicide to avoid capture, but they were cornered, blinded, and beaten up from tumbling down that