“Okay, Kimber. You’re right. I’m in no position to be making demands. Don’t hurt Mary. She has nothing to do with any of this. What is it that you really want?”
Nick eased up the last step. It was so quiet in that house—in that entire village—that the groan of the step could have been heard for a block away.
“You take another step and it won’t matter to you what I want. You’ll be too busy mopping Mrs. Santa up off the floor.”
“Okay,” Nick said. He stopped moving and leaned his back against the hallway wall as he pointed his gun toward Mary’s room. “But let’s cut the shit, all right, Agent Kimber?”
Nick had been thinking about what happened back at the house outside of London a lot while they were combing through the ASE earlier. Kimber had waited an awfully long time to move in once he got the all clear. When you have a window to take someone out—a “verified” window of time—you don’t waste a second of it. Kimber had taken too long, and now that Nick knew Kimber was working for Nasir, it started to seem like Nick had been the one walking into the trap.
“Okay, Nick. I agree. Let’s cut the shit. I want the cloaking device, and a ride on the reindeer train to wherever I want to go.”
That was when it hit Nick that he had gone about all of this vigilante Santa thing exactly the wrong way. He should have never gone to the CIA. As a soldier, you get used to running every decision up the ranks. You don’t move without being told to move. That was what drove Nick to think he should go through the CIA before he started fighting for his country with his new weapons. He could see now that was a mistake. The abilities Santa left Nick were too much for someone bad not to want. Now he was going to have to figure out how to correct his mistake now that the cat was already out of the bag.
“I didn’t hear a sir, yes sir! soldier,” Kimber mocked. “Follow orders, grunt. Or I’ll shoot the old lady.”
Nick knew he wouldn’t shoot Mary. If he did, he’d never make it out of the North Pole alive. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t hurt her. He wondered if there was a way to shut the cloaking device off from here if he let Kimber have it. That was something he and Zeke had never covered.
“Nick?” Brooke whispered.
“I can’t let you have the cloaking device, Kimber,” Nick said. “But I will give you a ride to anywhere you want to go. If you let Mary go, you have my word on that.”
Kimber laughed, then stepped out into the hallway. He was holding Mrs. Claus in front of him with his right arm. His left hand had a gun to her head. “Yeah, right. And the entire time you’ll follow me with the Seeing device. Listen, I’m not asking. I’m telling you to get me the cloaking device, or she’s dead. Nick, you’re not dealing with a small-time criminal here. I’m CIA. I’m already three steps ahead of you.”
Nick hoped that Kimber continued to think that way. That he was smarter than Nick. It would make him complacent, and that would result in a mistake. He needed to play into that.
“You’re right, Kimber. Just take the gun from Mary’s head, and I’ll get you the device. It’s back in the warehouse.”
“You can’t let him have that,” Brooke said. “Nasir can’t get his hands on it. You know—”
“Brooke, let me handle this.”
“Nick, he can’t—”
“Brooke!” Nick shouted.
“I would listen to him, Brooke,” Kimber said. “We’ll follow you to the warehouse. We’re all going together.” Kimber shuffled Mary in front of him while keeping the gun at her back.
Nick didn’t speak. He backed his way down the stairs, then out the door. Kimber followed with Mrs. Claus, using her as a shield between them—never letting his gun down. Mrs. Claus was crying. Nick was searching for a way to end this without her getting hurt, and without Kimber flying off to Nasir with a device to make him invisible. Though her timing was poor, Brooke was right about what she said on the stairs. Nasir could not get his hands on something that powerful.
The cold walk was a long one. Nick had to shout several times for the elves to go back inside. They were gathering along the streets to see the horror that was disrupting their utopia. The wind blew down the street, freezing everyone even further. That was when a warming thought crossed Nick’s mind. Though he was disappointed he hadn’t remembered earlier, he was happy he had before they made it to the warehouse. There were two cloaking fobs. There was one back at the warehouse at the ASE station. Normally that was where he put his when he came back in from using it. But he remembered that this time he’d never taken it out of his coat. The coat that Brooke had brought to him after he’d forgotten it when he ran out after Kimber. The freezing cold had definitely affected his ability to think, but hopefully it didn’t cost them.
The cloaking fob was in his pocket, which was great. But if he didn’t use it at just the right moment, Kimber would start shooting people until Nick reappeared. This was going to be tricky. But it might actually work out far better now instead of back inside Mary’s house.
However, Nick might just have to let Kimber get away with the cloaking device after all.
16
Mercifully, the walk back to Warehouse Z ended, and Nick pushed inside. His ears were burning from the frozen wind that had been blustering through the village. On the way over, Nick had Zeke ready the sleigh as Kimber had requested. He would be bringing it to the warehouse any minute.
“No funny moves, Nick. Get the device and give it to me.” Kimber was still holding onto Mrs. Claus. She had resigned herself to the fact that there was nothing she could do, so she had stopped crying.
Nick did exactly what Kimber asked and walked over to the ASE. The fob was hanging from a nail just to the right of the desk. Nick picked it up and held it high to show Kimber he wasn’t going to try anything funny.
“Nick, for the last time, you can’t just give him that,” Brooke said. Her voice was pleading. She knew how much something like this would mean to a terrorist. If they were able to replicate it, all the enemies of state could execute their attacks unseen. A terrifying thought.
Nick didn’t respond. He walked the fob over to Kimber and handed it to him.
“Maybe you aren’t so dumb after all,” Kimber said.
“Nick, what are you doing?” Brooke tried again.
Kimber spoke instead. “He knows when he’s been bested.” Then to Nick, “Where’s my ride?”
“It will be here any second. Now let Mary go.”
“She’s coming with me.”
Although Nick had a plan, the thought of Mary being kept in this dangerous situation any longer made him sick. She was too kind and fragile for this. “Just leave her out of this, Kimber. Take me instead.”
“How noble. Now put your gun on the table. You too, Brooke.”
Once again, Nick did as asked. Brooke was incensed. “Nick? What are you doing? You can’t just let him go with her and have the cloaking device!”
Nick had to play this all the way through. He looked at Brooke. “What do you want me to do? He got the jump on us when he found Mary. I can’t let him hurt her.”
“What do you think he’ll do with her when he gets where he’s going?”
“Seems like you should have maybe let her plan your mission,” Kimber said. “She’s smarter than you. In fact, I don’t want her giving you any ideas.”
Kimber raised his gun, pointing it right at Brooke. The fear on her face was enough to rattle anyone. Nick had seen plenty of terrified expressions during his years in combat scenarios, but this one still had an effect on him. As Nick reached for his gun, the door to the warehouse opened and Kimber pulled Mary close as he swung his gun toward the door. It was Zeke.
“Don’t shoot! I have the sleigh!”
Kimber turned the gun back towards Nick, so Nick froze. Unfortunately, Brooke did not. Before Nick could stop her, she was on Kimber. But she underestimated his skill. Kimber shucked Mary to the side, and caught an underhook by getting his right arm beneath Brooke’s left armpit. Using defen
sive Jiu Jitsu, he sprawled out, landing on top of her, and fired a warning shot at the table Nick’s gun was sitting on. Nick’s hand recoiled, and Brooke was struggling for air as she lay beneath Kimber. Nick took note of Kimber’s abilities. Now he knew for certain he was the one that had been set up––it was clear to Nick that a man this skilled wouldn’t have waited to go in that house alone. He’d been waiting for Nick. Kimber looked as though he would have been able to best all seven of the mostly untrained men back in London. Agent Andrews had led Nick right into a trap. All the while being dangled by the puppet master—Nasir Samara.
“Where did you find this one, Nick? She’s got more heart than you.” Kimber picked himself up, then pulled Brooke up by her ponytail. “I think I’ll take her with me instead.”
Brooke looked terrified. She was fully aware of what happened to hostages once they were taken to a second location. She also didn’t understand that Nick actually had a plan. She had put herself in danger for no reason, though he couldn’t help but admire her bravery. She would have made a hell of an Army Ranger. Unfortunately, there was nothing Nick could do at the moment, but let her be afraid. He hated that she was in Kimber’s grip, but at least Mary wasn’t. When Nick tagged along, it would be much easier to not have to worry about Mary’s fragility. Even though Nick knew he wasn’t just going to let Kimber take Brooke, it chewed him up to see Brooke think that he would.
“Honestly, Nick. I’m disappointed,” Kimber said. “No wonder they’d all but kicked you out of the Army before Santa came along and saved you. Whatever it is that made you hard enough to be a Ranger, it sure as hell is gone now. Delivering presents and eating cookies sounds like a good gig for you going forward. Good luck with it.”
Kimber backed away toward the door, never taking his eyes off of Nick. “If this door opens before I’m on my way, I’ll kill her, and you.”
Nick felt something turn over in his brain when Kimber said he would kill him. Why hadn’t he already? If roles were reversed, Nick would never let Kimber live to hunt him down. There must have been a bigger plan in place. One that they had to have Nick for. But they knew without the sleigh that Nick would be stuck here without a way to get to anyone. Regardless, he had to stick with his plan. Even more so now.
“It will be okay, Brooke. I’ll find you,” Nick said.
“Too late for hero talk, Nicky,” Kimber said.
Brooke didn’t even look Nick’s way.
“Go pick up their guns and bring them to me,” Kimber said to Zeke.
Zeke did as he was told. He too looked disappointed that Nick wasn’t doing more.
Oh ye of little faith, Nick thought.
“Now, open the door, little man. Walk us out and show me how to drive this thing.”
Zeke looked at Nick one last time. So did Brooke. Nick simply nodded for Zeke to do what Kimber said. Zeke hung his head and opened the door.
Nick readied himself for when the door shut. Kimber’s skills had surprised Nick, but he had his own bag of tricks he’d learned over the years. And it was just about time to show them off.
17
“Mary, get back to the house and get some rest.” Nick picked up his phone and his gun, ready to press the button on the fob to go invisible. Time to make use of Santa’s tricks. “I’m sorry I brought this here. It won’t happen again.”
“Just don’t let him hurt that woman, Nick. That one’s special.”
Nick disappeared and moved past the gadgets Zeke had strewn about the middle of the warehouse to the back door on the opposite side. He moved quickly toward the far end of the outside of the building, the cold biting at his face. He hurried to the corner and looked around it. He saw Zeke pointing out some things that Kimber would need to know as he stood on the step above the skis of the sleigh. Nick looked behind him. His footprints followed him in the snow from the back door. He looked down and saw his own arms. Then he checked the fob to make sure the cloak was enabled. Green meant go, and the dot was glowing green just above the engage button. He was still getting used to this thing himself.
Zeke stepped down from the sleigh, then all of a sudden, he was standing there alone. Kimber had hit the cloaking button on the sleigh and gone invisible. Nick sprinted for the now empty space beside Zeke. Under the lights that were shining down from the top of the warehouse, he could faintly see sleigh tracks forming in the snow, and they were beginning to move away from him.
Time to kick it in gear. Nick sprinted forward.
The first time he witnessed this phenomenon of the cloaking device, it had blown his mind. Jack had showed him how Santa managed to go unnoticed to houses all across the world. It had been Nick’s first question. He still didn’t understand how something so big could move without being seen or heard. But then again, he didn’t understand how he could FaceTime his mother in Ashland, Kentucky, all the way from the Iraq desert either. The explanation Jack gave for how the cloak worked—something about the distortion of all atmospheric waves—was hardly helpful. Now, all that mattered was that the invisible sleigh didn’t get away before he could hitch a ride. But it was beginning to move fast.
Nick stepped up the pace as he ran past Zeke. He was gaining on the end of the moving ski indentions in the snow. Just as he was about to catch it, they sped up. He knew the reindeer were pulling for takeoff. He reached forward for the back rail of the sled, but came up empty. The tracks moved away even faster. Then he remembered how when you were inside the cloak, you could only really tell you were invisible by the green light on the fob. In the sleigh’s case, there was a green light above the cloak button on the dash beneath the reins.
Nick reached in his pocket and hit the second button on the black fob. Out of nowhere, the sleigh and the reindeer appeared, along with the back of Kimber and Brooke’s heads. What also was now noticeable was that the three front reindeer were already off the ground. It was now or never. Nick drove the ball of his right foot down into the snow and leaped forward. As he dove through the air, he pocketed the fob and reached out with both hands. His left hand caught a good grip, but his right hand slipped. At the same time, the ground began to get farther away beneath him.
The sleigh’s rail was wet with snow, and as it rose into the clouds, Nick nearly gave away his position with a shout as his hand slipped and he was forced to grab the ski below him with his right hand. As that hand began to slip, he pulled his legs up, wrapped them around the ski, and hugged it like a monkey on a wobbly branch. The air was even colder as the wind whipped by. He didn’t dare look down. Instead, he took a deep breath, and felt for the foot grip above him where you step up on the back seat of the sleigh. He needed to find it before the sleigh went into its warp. Another thing Nick didn’t understand. When it was time, the sleigh seemingly slipped through the fabric of time. Jack’s explanation of that was much like the one for the cloaking device. Something about augmenting atmospheric waves. Nick’s brain had shut off.
His brain needed to do the opposite at the moment. Finally, he was able to reach up enough to get a solid grip on the rubber-like floor of the sleigh’s second row. Just as he was feeling the intense pull of the warp, he yanked himself into the back seat, and lay on his side. He reengaged the cloak with his fob and took a moment to catch his breath as the hot air blew from the vents at the bottom of the seat in front of him. He had no idea where they were going, but what he did know was that Kimber wasn’t going to like what happened when they got there.
18
When the sleigh slowed from its warp, it didn’t take long for Nick to recognize where they were. The point of the Washington Monument was reaching for the blue sky above, and the water of the reflecting pool shimmered beneath it. Kimber had a lot of nerve coming to the United States’ capitol with treason leaking from his soul. Nick didn’t know why, but the very thought of Kimber’s audacity made his blood boil. Nick figured it just must be the patriot so engrained in him that made him so angry. He couldn’t wait to take this guy down. Painfully, he would have to wa
it a little while longer. He needed to know where Nasir was going to be. Patience would be the only way through that dark tunnel.
“Why are you doing this?” Nick heard Brooke ask Kimber in the front seat. “Why would you turn your back on your own country?”
Kimber looked at her. “You are just as clueless as all the other Americans, aren’t you? I would think being with the FBI you would know better. They don’t care about us when we’re out in the field. We’re just pawns in their War Machine chess game.”
“And you think Nasir Samara gives a damn about you? You can’t be serious.”
Nick would never have told Brooke, but he was really beginning to like her. He’d never met a woman with such gumption.
“This isn’t about whether I think Samara cares about me. It’s about teaching the CIA a lesson in not caring about their agents.”
“Really? You didn’t know the job description before you signed up? Sounds like it’s your fault, because I know exactly how they operate, and I don’t even work for them.”
Kimber backhanded Brooke in the face. Her head snapped around far enough that Nick could see both her eyes. Nick’s hands were on their way to wrapping around Kimber’s throat when the sleigh made a hard right and tilted down toward the ground. Brooke didn’t respond to the slap. She simply wiped the blood that trickled from her mouth and kept her eyes forward. Nick hadn’t had any plans to actually kill Agent Kimber. That might have just changed.
As Nick was seething in the backseat, the sleigh was moving down toward a neighborhood somewhere about a mile from the White House. Nick didn’t know much about D.C., but it didn’t matter. He had texted Zeke to send his location via the Find My iPhone app to Jim Calipari. As much as he hated for it to be Jim, the stealer of his college crush and the man he’d just gone head to head with in a put-down match just yesterday at the LA jail, he was the only person in power Nick could trust. He couldn’t send any of this information to the CIA. Nick had already run into two rogue agents. What was to say the director herself wouldn’t be compromised as well? He didn’t know how far up Nasir had been able to penetrate.
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