Page 66 of Call Sign: Thunder
Like The Bunker, he was already impressed with The Ranch. He’d spotted the pastures full of horses and cattle from the air, but from his new vantage point he admired the impressive barn and paddocks they whizzed by just before passing a shooting range. What looked like an obstacle course from his basic training days stretched out for at least a quarter mile not far from the gun range.
The silence was deafening when Wrath finally cut the engine after screeching to a halt in front of a sprawling two-story brick home. As opposed to the more rustic-looking cabins they’d passed closer to the lake, the mansion looked like it should be on an episode of Cribs highlighting homes of the rich and famous.
He wasn’t sure what he’d expected to find at The Ranch, but an opulent home wasn’t it.
Despite Wrath’s obvious fury at Doc’s arrival, Zach didn’t miss that the wild driver stopped to remove Doc’s suitcase from the back of the jeep, silently pulling it with him toward the front covered porch like the gentleman Zach doubted he was. His three passengers fell into step behind him.
Before they got to the front door, a pair of black and brown German shepherds rushed around the corner of the porch, barreling toward the new arrivals, barking loudly. For a brief moment Zach was alarmed, but when Ryder dropped his bag and fell to one knee, his arms outstretched, the dogs ran into his embrace, showering him with licks to his face while jumping excitedly.
“I missed you, too,” Ryder said, petting both of the dogs as Axel complained.
“Such bullshit. I’m the one that takes care of them, but the traitors always rush to you first as soon as you get here,” Axel groused.
Ryder chuckled. “That’s only because they don’t see me as often. Chief has really grown since I was here last.”
“Yeah… he’s already passing up Scout in both height and weight,” Wrath answered, holding open the front door for all of them to move inside.
Ryder stood back up to enter the house as he asked. “How’s his training going? I need to know when he’ll be available for missions.”
Interesting. They had canine members on their team?
“I think he’s ready to go now, but the damn trainer from Austin still refuses to give him his certificate. Something about him still being too energetic or some bullshit like that.”
Zach wasn’t paying close attention to the men’s discussion. He was too busy admiring the home’s interior as he followed the men through a foyer into a two-story great room that led into a luxury kitchen. It was clear Doc had been to The Ranch before as she made herself at home crossing to the refrigerator to pull out a soda before grabbing an apple from the decorative bowl on the counter.
“So you must be the new chopper pilot?”
Axel’s question in Zach’s direction pulled his attention back to the men as the older man added, “You got a name?”
He felt the full weight of Wrath’s intense scrutiny and knew he was being evaluated.
Reaching out a hand to shake, he answered. “Captain Zachary Garrett but my friends call me Thunder.”
“Thunder, eh? Interesting call sign for a helo pilot,” Axel answered squeezing his hand a bit too hard.
“I didn’t start out on helicopters. I started out flying jets and I just might have enjoyed breaking the sound barrier a bit too much there at the beginning, especially when I was stationed in San Diego,” Zach answered.
“Yeah, the brass tends to frown upon pilots rattling windows in populated areas.” Axel paused before adding. “Good to know you have the balls to break a few rules, though.”
Zach felt like he’d just passed another unspoken test when Wrath gave a small nod.
Ryder had finished playing with the dogs and added, “We don’t have time to chitchat. The sun’s going down. Where the hell is Torch? He make it here yet?”
“He got here a few hours ago. He’s out settling into his cabin. I texted him before you landed. He’s meeting us in the basement.”
“Then let’s go,” Ryder said. “We can’t miss our window.”
Chapter Twenty-six
ZACH
At first, getting to the basement at The Ranch was not much different than The Bunker. There was an industrial sized elevator just off the kitchen hidden behind what looked like built-in bookshelves. Like in Virginia, the elevator went deep into the ground — much deeper than any standard basement.
Unlike the DC office the four of them exited the elevator into a small room with an unmanned desk and one lone door. Despite no guard being on duty, they clearly took security seriously as he watched The King first lean in to provide his retinal identification. Once that was accepted, a small door went up revealing a keypad in the wall. Ryder input a nine digit code next before finally providing his palm print on the biometric security pad that had just lowered down from the keypad.
“Triple layer authentication. Holy shit,” Zach observed.
Ryder turned back with a grin on his face. “Most of the time, yes. But since I need to authorize your arrival, I need my fourth layer.” He held up a keycard before adding. “You come in with me, Thunder. The alarms are going to go off, so I’ll have to disarm them. We’ll have Gopher add you to the system when we get inside.”
