Off the Grid (A Gerrit O'Rourke Novel) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Must have bribed somebody in the department to pass that test. A real mental case.”
    Taylor leaned over and poked him with a finger. “If I was you, I’d be making a killing in the private sector—all that nano mumbo jumbo everyone’s talking about. Instead, you’re hanging around in a van with the likes of me. Personally, I think you’ve got a screw loose.”
    Gerrit glanced up at a monitor, and a man with a rifle slung over his shoulder loomed on the screen. “Okay, we’re in business.” He clicked through a number of camera locations inside the suspect’s dwelling. “I count five men walking security. I think Nico’s in his office or bedroom, but his security system doesn’t monitor either location. I saw him walk in that direction a moment ago.”
    Taylor nodded. “How’d you get access to his computer, Einstein?”
    “If I told you, I’d have to shoot you.” He leaned closer, studying the monitor. “Same technology you can buy off the market to monitor your kids or employees—but a lot more sophisticated. Rigged up so the suspect doesn’t know we climbed into his system.”
    Another monitor in the van caught his attention. A red dot blinked on and off. “There, he’s in the master bedroom…wait a minute. We have another marker going off.” Headlights flashed on yet another screen. A car pulled into Nico’s gated driveway. “Uh-oh. We got trouble.”
    “I hate it when you say that.” Taylor pulled closer.
    “See that second dot? That’s one of Nico’s cars.”
    “If Nico is in the bedroom, who’s using his wheels?”
    “His family—wife and daughter. I thought they were supposed to be away for the weekend. Up at their place in Tahoe.”
    “Must be a change in plans.”
    Gerrit leaned back in the swivel chair. “This complicates everything. SWAT’s going to hit that place in just a few minutes. And now we have two innocents in the way. One of them a five-year-old girl.” He snatched up the portable. “Team leader to Alpha One.”
    “Go, Team Leader.” Special Agent Peter Finch, SWAT leader, continued. “We just moved into place. Ready to move out?”
    “Stand down until further notice. I’ll eighty-seven you in two.”
    Finch keyed the mike twice in acknowledgment.
    Taylor leaned over. “Where you going, Gerrit? The entry team’s all set. Just waiting for the warrants to get here.”
    “I’m going in with them. Need to protect that child. This jerk might use his own child as leverage.”
    “Oh, man, Gerrit. Can’t you just let someone else handle this?”
    “Stats just changed, Mark. Before, our safety margin was high—90 percent chance of our people staying safe with shock and awe. Now, that just changed. With innocent people on board, our chances dropped 50 percent because our guys might have to hold back their firepower. I’ve got an idea to change that threat ratio.”
    Gerrit snatched up his Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun and several extra magazines, slipping out the door before his partner started in again. The salty night breeze swept up the hillside, off the ocean, like a cool sweep of a hand. He inserted an extension wire to his portable, plugging an earpiece in place before clipping the radio to his belt.
    He scrambled toward the SWAT van a block ahead. He tapped twice on the rear door and climbed in. The target residence stood another fifty yards away, hidden by a dense cluster of trees.
    Inside, Peter Finch, greased up for war, edged in Gerrit’s direction. “For crying out loud, Gerrit, we’re ready to go in right now.”
    Gerrit pulled out a portable monitor, showing GPS markers blinking in the darkened command van. “The target’s family just showed up. We have to adjust our entry and takedown.”
    Muted red illumination inside the vehicle did little to conceal the tenseness in Finch’s face. “We can’t change our plans. My men will separate the family from Nico when we hit the place.”
    “Not good enough. I have to know that the woman and