by Dale Mayer
“Well, that’s something,” he said. “Tesla’s voice carries a lot of weight in the military.”
“It doesn’t get me off free and clear though,” she said bitterly. “All I want to do is go home.”
“Hmm, with the power outage happening,” he said, “I just want you to stay safe.”
She froze at that, at something in his voice. “Why? Does that have something to do with it?” He didn’t say anything, and her mind immediately started to fill in all the details.
“If the guy from the sub comes,” he said, “you were never wrong from the beginning.”
“Where are you?”
“On my way to you,” he said. “Get up and lock your door.”
“Easier said than done. I’ve got two injured legs. Remember?” she said, pushing the table away and throwing back her bedcovers. “How far away are you?”
“About ten minutes,” he said.
“Perfect,” she said. “I can make it that long.”
“Says you,” he said. “Anybody who is trained could take you out in seconds.”
“Thanks for that,” she snapped, “but I’m hardly alone here.”
“You’re alone enough,” he said. “Now can you lock the door?”
“Are there even locks?”
“When you get over there, check,” he replied.
“Fine, fine, fine,” she said. “I’m just about up on my crutches, but I can’t walk on the crutches and hold my cell phone.”
“Leave the phone on the bed,” he said, “but don’t shut it off.”
“Wow, you really are paranoid.” And he was making her paranoid too. Awkward on the crutches, she made her way to the door, and, just as she was checking for a lock, it opened toward her.
*
Axel couldn’t stop the anxiety coursing through him the closer he got. Something was seriously wrong right now. As he entered the hospital, he saw security everywhere. “What’s going on?”
“Sir, you’re not allowed in the hospital,” said one of the security men.
“Well, I’m concerned about one of your patients,” he said. “She was already part of a major attack, and I’m worried that somebody else has come after her now.”
The security guard shook his head and said, “You’re not going anywhere.”
He picked up the phone again, still connecting to Ally’s phone, and called out, “Are you there? Ally?”
But there was no answer. He said to the guard, “I need to make sure she’s okay. But it doesn’t have to be me. Send somebody else up.” The guard looked at Axel and hesitated. “Look. I was talking to her. She was heading to the door to try and lock it. I don’t know what’s going on, but something is. She was supposed to have two guards looking after her.”
“Something’s going on all right,” the security guard said.
Axel turned around as a team of men came through the door. “What’s going on now?”
“Backup,” the guard said.
Axel was shoved off to the side, while the guards had a quick meeting, and the men started searching, spreading out, looking for whatever it was they were looking for.
But in his heart of hearts Axel knew exactly what they were looking for. They were looking for an intruder, and he knew where that intruder was going. As the security guards’ attentions were elsewhere, he quickly slipped down the hallway and hit the first set of stairs and bolted up toward her room.
As soon as he got there, he pushed on the door, hoping it was locked, but instead it pushed wide open. And he knew before he ever stepped inside that it would be empty. He called out, “Ally, are you here?”
Silence.
He quickly did a search of the room and realized he was right. But what really got him was that her crutches were lying on the floor, just at the door. “Shit, shit, shit.” He bolted up the hallway and saw several soldiers walking toward him and said, “She’s missing. Ally is missing.”
One of the soldiers said, “We’re looking for Ally Minga.”
“This is her room,” he said, “but she’s missing.”
The soldier looked at him and said, “Or she’s escaped.”
“Was she a prisoner?” Axel challenged. “Before you go too quickly down that path, she already reported sighting one of the men who looks suspiciously like the shooter who took over the sub. She’s reported it to others as well.”
“Such as?”
He quickly named Mason and Tesla and said, “You need to be talking to the brass.”
The guy was already pulling out his phone and making calls.
But that wasn’t enough for Axel. “She’s gone,” he said. “Somebody needs to track the video cameras.” And then he stopped and said, “Crap! That’s why the power is out.”
The soldier looked at him. “What do you mean?”
“He caused the power outage so he could get her out of here and not be on video.”
“Why take her with him?” the other soldier asked.
Axel stopped and thought about it and said, “I don’t know. He could have just shot her from the doorway and been gone.”
“Do you think her life is in danger?”
“Of course it is,” he said. Then he stopped and said, “But that’s the thing, isn’t it? If, and I say if, it appears like she’s escaped, then that just confirms she’s involved in this mess. If he just shot her, the brass would know she wasn’t.”
“How would that help him?”
“It’s a setup. It gives him a fall guy for the whole thing,” he said. “Which is what he intended from the beginning.” He pulled out his phone and quickly contacted Mason. Baylor, who’d driven over behind him was suddenly here as well. “It was pretty hard to get up here,” he said. “I saw you slip away and worked my way in after you.”
“They aren’t very interested in helping us,” he said to Baylor. “But her room is empty and her crutches are on the floor by the door. No clue what happened to her security.”
“It was pulled off,” one of the soldiers said.
Both Baylor and Axel nodded, then ignored them.
“Can she walk without the crutches?” Baylor asked.
“No,” he said. “She can barely walk with them.”
“Says you. Maybe the cast was fake too,” one soldier suggested.
“Jesus. You need to get the x-rays from the doctor,” he said. “That should convince you that she’s in a much worse physical condition than you’re thinking.”
“Says you. We need you to stay here. We have questions.”
Axel stared at him and said, “Sure, no problem. Of course I’ll stay here.” His phone rang then; it was Mason. “I’ve been ordered to stay right here,” he said, “but can Tesla get into the security cameras?”
“No. They went down with the power outage,” he said. “She’s onto the street cams right now, checking for how Ally may have been pulled out of there.”
“A vehicle from the parking lot most likely,” he said. “But I don’t know what’s going on, and I need to get out of here so I can help.”
“And where would you go?” Mason asked.
“Her apartment,” he said. “Because surely, if she is being made to look like she’s part of this, this is her escape. Wouldn’t that be the easiest? To take her home and then shoot her?”
“To make it look like a suicide, you mean?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I don’t know what the hell’s going on, but we know that something is. How about the DMV?” Axel asked. “Any vehicles reported to these guys?”
“You mean, the dead ones?”
“Yes,” he said.
“We’ll check,” he said. “And, Axel, cooperate with the military,” he said.
“Of course,” he said in a very calm tone.
Mason stopped and said, “Axel, I mean it.”
“I do too,” he said. “And I’ll cooperate in the way I see fit. I’m going after her. I don’t know where she is or what the hell is going on, but we have to find her.”
“We’re on it,” he said.
“Just not fast enough,” Axel said. Just then there was a shout, and the soldiers took off running down the hallway. He looked at Baylor and said, “I don’t know about you, but that’s my cue.” They quickly disappeared down one of the back exits and headed outside the hospital, then around to the front parking lot, where they jumped into his Jeep. Baylor said, “Why would they take her to her apartment?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe they wouldn’t. Maybe they’d take her down to the docks. Maybe they would just—I don’t know,” he said in frustration. He beat his hand on the steering wheel. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”
“No, it doesn’t,” he said. “But that just means we don’t have the right pieces to the puzzle yet.”
“At the moment, there aren’t any pieces,” he said. “And, right now, she could be one step away from death.”
“Except for the fact that they took her alive. There’s got to be a reason.”
Mason phoned him back just then. “White delivery van, hospital logo on the side. It took off not long after the power outage began,” he said. “Tesla caught sight of the vehicle. There’s a passenger. Looks like she’s unconscious or asleep. She thinks it’s Ally.”
“Where’s it headed?”
“San Diego.”
“Is she tracking it right now?”
“She is. Are you off the base yet?”
“Not yet,” he said, “but I’m damn close.” As it was, he reached the base exit, quickly pulled through, and took off. He didn’t know what was going on at the hospital, but they hadn’t shut down the base yet. And that was fine with him. He handed the phone to Baylor. “Put that on Speaker and keep track of what’s going on. I just need to know where we’re going and how to get there.” With that, he focused on his driving and started pulling out of the traffic and weaving his way through. “Give me a destination,” he said to Mason.
“Head down toward the loading docks,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going on, but it looks like that’s the direction the kidnapper took. It doesn’t mean they won’t take her off someplace from there, but that’s where they’re heading right now.”
“I’m on it,” Axel said.
The drive took fifteen minutes before Mason said, “They’ve taken a sharp right.”
“Into the commercial district?”
“Into the shipyards,” he said.
“That could be good news or bad news.”
“No,” Mason said. “I highly doubt there’s any good news about it. You’re too far behind to find out where she’s gone.”
“Can you switch to cameras in the shipping yards?”
“Tesla’s working on it right now,” he said. “Looks like the van has come to a full stop.”
“And then what?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “You’re still what, ten minutes away?”
He checked the clock and estimated, “Probably eleven,” he said, and he started swearing. “Nobody’s closer?”
“Maybe,” Mason said. “A couple guys are in town right now.”
“Well, see if anybody’s closer,” he said.
“I’ve already put out calls,” Mason said. “I’ve got one coming in now.” When he came back, he said, “Dane is in that area. He’s already cruising the yards, looking for the vehicle. He said to keep moving. And he’s looking.”
“I’m coming,” Axel said, shifting into a higher gear and said to Baylor, “Let’s keep tracking this. We have to find her. Once she’s gone into the shipyard, you know there’s a good chance we’ll lose her forever.”
Chapter 10
Ally’s pain level kept her sliding in and out of consciousness. She didn’t have a clue where she was or how she got here. But she was being moved constantly—jolted from side to side, pushed forward and back. She didn’t know what the hell was going on. And the more she cried out, it seemed like the rougher the trip. And it really was a trip. She was being transported somewhere. She just didn’t understand where. Or why.
She tried to open her eyes, then realized she couldn’t. Something was across them. She tried to move her arms and realized they were bound behind her. At that moment she understood. She had been taken captive. Shocked, horrified, and bitter, she determined she was in the bottom of some vehicle, her body taking every jolt as it went around corners. And every time it jarred her leg, the pain was horrible, sending her into another level of agony. The cast was still on her leg, which was about the only good thing. But, every time it was jarred, it hurt terribly.
She tried to shift enough that her other leg braced the broken leg, which helped a bit, but it also put pressure on the wound in that leg. On the next corner, she slammed against the vehicle floor and hit hard. She laid here, shuddering for a long moment, wondering what the hell had happened. Obviously she’d been taken from her hospital room, yet she couldn’t seem to remember very much. She remembered the power going out. And that’s when she remembered Axel telling her to lock the door.
She’d gotten to the door, and, just as she had tried to see if it locked, it pushed open right into her. She didn’t know who it was, but her door opened hard and fast, then hands came up, and something was shoved over her face, and she’d gone down. Chloroform. She recognized the smell from the science lab. And once you smelled chloroform, absolutely no way you ever forgot it.
She wondered how they had gotten her out of the hospital. She couldn’t open her eyes more than just a fraction, but it was enough that there was still darkness all around her. She rubbed her throbbing head against the floor to try to force the blindfold off, but that wasn’t working either. She twisted her hands to see if she could get them free. But once again, she was stuck. She could try to get her bottom through her arms, but she wasn’t sure with a broken leg in a cast that she could pull it off and could be left in a worse position.
She was, however, a long-time proponent of yoga. Taking a moment to breathe, then moving as softly and as easily as she could, she managed to pull her legs up against her chest, so her hands and arms could slide under her butt and then past her feet, so her hands were in front of her. The cast made it awkward and stretched her abilities but she made it. Not that it helped much, but it was something. Using her mouth, she tried to figure out just what was holding her hands together. It was some kind of a rope.
She grabbed onto part of the knots with her teeth and tried to loosen them, not even sure just what it was she was working with. Then she realized that with her fingers out front now, she could pull the blindfold off. Feeling stupid for not having done it immediately, she quickly pulled the blindfold over her head, then confirmed that she was inside a vehicle moving rapidly down a street. But it had no windows on the side or on the back door. But it was daylight since she could still see inside the vehicle.
She twisted to look up and couldn’t see anybody in the passenger seat. She stared at her tied-up hands, wondering if she could use them to choke the driver. Could she actually hold him down long enough to take him out? Just then he turned into a corner, and she rolled to the side. She swore softly, and the driver laughed.
“Sorry about the ride, sweetheart,” he said. “Still, you should be used to this kind of stuff by now.”
She didn’t know what the hell that meant. “What are you talking about?” she asked. She strained to listen to the voice but didn’t recognize it. “Who are you, and why are you doing this?” she cried out.
“Well,” he said, “you’re just a scapegoat, but then you probably figured that out already. All those dead men in the sub. Oh, that was fun.”
She said, “It wasn’t fun at all. Are you the one who shot me?”
“I didn’t say that, did I?” he said.
She stopped and froze. “Somebody else?” She shook her head. “Nobody else was on the sub.” But did she know that for sure? Once up in the damn tiny space she’d been hiding in, she couldn’t move, let alone see anyone.
“
Keep guessing. You might get there,” he said, laughing. He took another corner.
She cried out as she slammed against the wall again. There was no way to brace herself. “You don’t have to drive so crazy,” she said. “I’m already injured.”
He said, “Well, the chance of you surviving this isn’t good anyway.”
“I thought you wanted a scapegoat,” she said. “At least in prison, I’d still be alive.”
“Oh, so you want to go to prison?” He paused to contemplate that for a long moment. “I don’t think that’ll work out for me.”
“The least you can do is explain this,” she said. “I was shot three times. Everybody on the sub but me was killed, and now here I am, kidnapped. What the hell is this all about?”
“Well, in theory, you should have figured it out already.”
“Well, I’m trying to recognize your voice, and I can’t,” she said. “And I can’t see you, so how the hell am I supposed to figure anything out when nobody explains anything?”
“Maybe that’s true,” he said, “but you’ll still have to work it out from here on. I’m not giving you any help.”
“Are you working alone?”
“Nope,” he said. “Pretty hard to do a job like this alone.”
“Right. Like who got you off the sub?” When he failed to answer her, she asked, “Are any of your coworkers still alive?” she asked.
At that, he burst out laughing. “What? Oh, that’s a good question,” he said. “I’m really not so sure about it. Some of them aren’t,” he said. “I know that for sure.”
“Are you somehow related to my brother?” she asked softly.
He growled at that. “Your brother was an asshole.”
She stopped and froze. “What? You’re doing all this because he was an asshole?”
“Well, let’s just say that it all works out to my advantage to have you and your brother blamed for this.”
“My brother has been dead for years. He won’t get blamed for anything.”
“Maybe,” he said, “but it’s still about you and him.”
“So this is about Rory and Thomas? Was Thomas your brother?”
“Don’t even fucking say his name.”