JT steps over to another member of the other team. “Report.”
“We took a look. It’s not wired. John Boy, you sure Perses gave you a positive?”
The dog handler walks up with Perses, who barks and sits.
“I’d say that’s pretty fucking positive.”
“Calm your shit, man, just asking. Boss, what do you want to do?”
I watch as JT chews on his bottom lip and stares down at what I assume is the grate.
“Ahh, Boss, JT?” I ask. He turns his head to look into one of the other men’s cameras. “I don’t want to push you, but I’d like to get my girl back.”
“It’s your girlfriend who we’re looking for?”
“Yep. She’s a tiny little thing. Her name is Landru, and I’d like her back.”
One side of JT’s mouth turns up in a sort of smile.
“Command?”
“Yes, team leader?”
“Are there blueprints for an underground facility?”
“Negative, team leader.”
JT shakes his head slightly and sucks in a breath. “Fuck it. Blow the grate.”
All the men move back as another team member kneels, and I assume, puts explosives on or around the grate. It’s a tense moment. Charlotte leans over and hits a button on my headset.
“What the fuck?”
“You like your eardrums, don’t you?”
Some of the screens in front of me go bright white from the explosion, and then they’re all running. It’s hard to make out where they are or what they’re doing. I wait impatiently for one of them to say something. Blasts of light go across the screen, and I look to Charlotte. She hits the button on the headset, and gunfire sounds loudly.
“Command, we’re taking heavy fire! Be advised we’ve found aggressors.”
There’s much chatter between the men. There’s an underground facility, and I try to follow them as they move from room to room, killing anyone with a gun. It feels like I’m watching a really bad movie in slow motion as they clear the rooms.
“Have they found her?” I ask, looking at Charlotte.
“They would’ve said.” She sits back in her seat, eyes fixated on the screen. Charlotte looks at me, then quickly away.
“You think she’s dead?”
Charlotte holds my gaze and says nothing. Her silence is her answer. She’s sure Tula is dead. I shake my head and go back to the sea of camera feeds, hoping to catch a glimpse of Tula.
“Team leader, be advised we’ve found a DOA female.”
My head feels like it’s going to explode. I rip off the headset and stare more closely at the mayhem in front of me. She can’t be dead. Someone puts their hand on my shoulder, and I shake it off. Charlotte moves away from me, talking into her headset in hushed tones. Looking around the room, everyone avoids my gaze, even the nosy fucker.
“No,” I whisper and put the headphones back on. “Describe the DOA female.”
JT answers me. “Female, early thirties, brown hair.”
“It’s not her.”
“Say again?”
“JT, I said it’s not her. Keep looking.”
“Roger, that.”
Methodically, they go room to room, taking prisoners when they can, but there are no other females in the building.
I stand and point at one of the many computer experts in the room. “You! Has the laptop moved? Are you tracking its whereabouts?”
She puts her head down and then up at me. “It’s gone. The last lock we had on it was in that building.”
“Have you tried turning it back on?”
She looks embarrassed. “On it. Sorry, I was wrapped up in the mission.”
Charlotte walks toward her team of experts. “For fuck’s sake, people! Do your jobs! Find the fucking laptop.” For emphasis, she picks up a clipboard and throws it across the room.
All of her minions tap away on their keyboards, either working hard or trying to look like they are. Charlotte has her hands on her hips, looking down at the floor while shaking her head. Slowly, she turns her head toward me. “We’ll find her.”
I shake my head. “Locutus isn’t stupid. He’d have ditched all technology. Landru is as good as dead.”
“He needs her.”
“We both know if she hasn’t given him the information he wants, after this, he’ll kill her. I would.”
Charlotte nods, turns her back on me, and holds a hand over one of her ears, listening to whoever is talking to her. It must be a private channel as I can’t hear the conversation.
“JT?”
“Yeah?”
“Did you find a laptop?”
“Hold.” I watch as he moves through the rooms. The last one has a metal table and on the floor is a smashed laptop. “You seeing this?”
“Yeah, JT, I see it.”
“Sorry, kid.”
“Archon, my name is Archon.”
I stand, remove the headset, and pace in front of the screens. The men search every room. They interrogate the prisoners, but none of it brings me any closer to finding Tula or apprehending Locutus. Placing my hands on my head, I close my eyes.
There has to be more that I can do.
Tula depends on me.
How can I help?
With that thought running through my mind, I open my eyes, and they land on a computer keyboard. I pull out a chair and start typing. The one thing I do have is contacts all over the world in many different walks of life.
The dark web isn’t just a place to conduct illicit deals. It’s also somewhere to build friendships. Tula isn’t the only person I’ve helped over the years, and we can’t be the only one Locutus has burned.
A hand lands on my shoulder, but I don’t stop what I’m doing.
“You need to stop.” Charlotte’s voice is firm but kind.
“I have an idea.”
“She wasn’t there.”
Pausing, I look up at her. “He knew we were coming. He had to. Who knew about the op?”
Charlotte looks around the room. “Every person in here.”
“Lock it down.”
Charlotte walks toward the doors and hits a button. Immediately, the room’s doors all bolt shut, and everyone looks at her. Slowly and with determination, Charlotte looks at each person. I’m sure she’s done training on how to read body language and facial expressions. When she’s got everyone’s attention, she clears her throat. “Who was it?”
There are five women and six men in this room, apart from Charlotte and me. They are all in their early twenties or younger.
One of the women, an Asian with purple hair, raises her hand, so Charlotte nods at her, and the woman asks, “Who did what?”
Charlotte runs a hand through her hair, squares her shoulders, and walks back and forth. “One of you tipped them off that we were coming. Tell me who you are now, and you will live to see sunlight on your fortieth birthday. Lie to me, and it will be a cold day in hell before you see any kind of warmth, let alone the sun.”
I watch as they exchange glances, and some look scared. No one says anything, as they seem to wait for the culprit to come forward.
The nosy fucker points at me. “Why aren’t you accusing him?”
Charlotte raises one perfectly shaped eyebrow. “Because he’s been with me the entire time.” She walks up to him, invading his personal space. “And he was invested in getting his girlfriend back.”
The idiot retreats back a step. “He could be playing us?”
Charlotte tilts her head to the side, staring intently at him. “Chuck, is there something you want me to know?”
Figures that a guy like him would have a name like Chuck.
I stand and walk toward him, and Chuck takes a step back from Charlotte and looks at the people closest to him, but they all move away.
His gaze lands on me, and he shakes his head. “I-I don’t have anything to say.”
“You kept asking me all those questions. What does he have on you?”
&n
bsp; Chuck walks back into a desk, looking to the others for support.
“Chuck, your only choice is to tell me everything.” Charlotte crosses her arms and looks down her nose at him.
Chuck wraps his arms around himself. “You don’t understand.” His face flushes red, and an animalistic growl escapes him. “He’ll kill her!”
Glancing at Charlotte, I watch as she moves to her desk and hits a button. The next thing I know, four men dressed in black with guns out, burst into the room.
Charlotte points at Chuck. “Find out what he knows.”
The men advance on him, and I block their path. “Wait.”
“We don’t have time. If you want your girlfriend safe, we need to get the information out of him and now.” With my hands held high, I plead, “Give me five minutes in a room, alone.”
Charlotte lets out a breath, her nostrils flaring slightly. She looks at one of the men and nods. “Five minutes.”
Two of the men flank Chuck and walk him out of the room. As I pass Charlotte, she grabs me by the arm. “Every second you waste is putting Landru in danger. You get that, don’t you?”
“I do.”
One side of her mouth quirks up. I look down at her hand on my arm, and she lets me go. Jogging, I catch up to Chuck and his merry band of torturers. None of them speak as they walk him into a room with no windows and painted a shade of dark gray.
Chuck is forcibly placed into a chair, and they handcuff his ankles to it, then they handcuff him to the table. He’s gone white and sweat beads on his brow as he looks from man to man. Their faces are set in stone. I suppose when your job is to extract information out of people, pleasantries aren’t called for.
The man Charlotte spoke to waits until the other three have left the room. He looks at me and points to his watch. “Clock’s ticking.” Briefly, his lips go up in a smile, then the stone face reappears as he exits the room.
I sit down opposite Chuck. His eyes are wide with fear. Maybe he’s been here when people have been sent to this room, or maybe his mind is running overtime thinking about what they are going to do to him.
“Chuck, who do they have?”
“M-my mother.”
His eyes fall to the top of the shiny metal table. The legs of it are bolted to the floor. As I look around the room, I notice the flooring is also metal with a drain in one corner. It makes me wonder what they do to people in here, and I put my hands in my lap, not wanting to touch the table’s surface.
“How do you communicate with him, Chuck?”
“I’ve tried to find him, but he uses a Tor.”
“I have an idea. Tell me how you communicate with him.”
Chuck looks me in the eyes and shakes his head.
“He’s going to know something’s up if you don’t give him any details. What will happen to your mother, then? Let me help you, Chuck.”
He shifts in his seat, the handcuffs make a loud hollow sound throughout the room, reminding us both where he is.
“You have to know that they’re going to get it out of you. Tell me, and I’ll do my best to save your mom.”
“He hasn’t let me talk to her in over a day.” Tears well in his eyes, and his bottom lip trembles.
“Don’t do that. You don’t know. Tell me what I want to know, Chuck. Let me try to help you.”
“If I couldn’t find him, what makes you think you could?”
“Nomad.”
Chuck scoffs. “I’ve been here for two years. Nomad is a myth, and he uses a Tor. There’s no way.”
A TOR is the onion router, originally developed for the U.S. Navy to enable them to browse the internet anonymously via layers of encryption. Nomad is the supercomputer that the NSA is reported to have. No one’s ever confirmed its existence, but when Charlotte Manning mentioned they had watched my code in the hack against the U.S. Marshals, they must have been using it. I flushed all my files, code, everything, and the only way she could have anything on me is if they rebuilt it, which is impossible unless they have Nomad.
Shaking my head, I lean forward. “How do you communicate?”
The door behind me opens, and in walks a small man, dressed in black with thick black glasses. He places a tan pouch on the table, undoes it, and rolls it out. It has many knives, screwdrivers, chisels, and even a corkscrew, all neatly placed in little pockets inside.
I look up at him, and he nods at me. “Time’s up.”
Chuck shakes, his eyes glued to the instruments in front of him.
“How, Chuck?”
“M-My phone. He’s listed as Mother.”
The man smiles. “You need to leave.”
“He’s told you everything.”
The man’s lips turn down, and he shakes his head. “No. There’s much more we need to know. Chuck signed the contract…” He pauses and looks me up and down. “I understand you haven’t?” Lovingly, he strokes one of his knives. “That’s probably a good thing. Now go.”
The door opens, and I stand. There’s nothing more I can do for Chuck, but maybe I can save Tula and his mother.
“I’ll do what I can, Chuck.”
He says nothing, his vision glued to the torture devices in front of him. The man winks at me as I leave the room. There’s a group of people out in the hallway, including the four men who put Chuck in the room. My gut is twisted in knots as I push past them and jog back to Chuck’s desk. Charlotte is there with his phone in her hand.
“Give it to me.”
Charlotte shakes her head. “I don’t need you anymore.”
“Give me access to Nomad, and I’ll find Locutus and Landru.”
Charlotte smiles. “There’s no such thing.”
Stalking toward her, I wrench the phone out of her hand. “I’m good. Really fucking good. There’s no way you…” I make air quotes around the next two words, “… ‘watched me’ hack the U.S. Marshals. I flushed everything. Give me access to Nomad, and I’ll find your terrorist.”
Charlotte holds her arms wide, and it’s then I realize no one else is in the room. It’s just her and me. Her arms fall to her sides, and she tilts her head to the side. “If I do this, you’ll stay a white hat. No more illegal activities.”
“Fine.”
Charlotte straightens her head and crosses her arms over her chest.
“What do you want me to say, Charlotte? I pinky swear it. We’re wasting time.”
She turns around and walks out of the room, only to stick her head back in. “You coming?”
With a grin, I jog after her. Charlotte takes me to an elevator at the far end of the hall. She inserts a key into a slot and turns it, which opens a hidden panel. There are three buttons, and she pushes the far right one, then turns the key again, and the elevator begins its descent.
“Very, James Bond.”
Charlotte laughs. “James Bond has nothing on us.”
Tula
There’s another hood over my head. Locutus or Patrick or whatever the fuck his name is got a phone call and dragged me out of the building we were in. He put me in a car, then the fucker stuck me with a needle, and that was the last thing I remember. Groaning, I roll over and pull the hood off my head. It’s dark, and it takes a moment for my eyes to adjust to the low light. I’m in a room with no windows. The only light source is coming from under the door. Loud voices shout at each other on the other side, but then I hear a gunshot, and the voices cease.
“Who are you?” asks a female voice, causing me to jump and let out a squeal at the same time.
“Who the fuck are you?” I loud whisper.
“Violet Hummer.”
Focusing on her, I can tell she’s around fifty and smells bad. “How long have you been here?”
Her voice catches, and in the dim light, she shrugs. “Days. I lost count. He wants my son to help him. My son works for the government. Do you work for the government?” she asks wrapping her arms around herself.
“Not fucking likely. I’m Landru.”
“Is that
your surname?”
“No, it’s my name.” Slowly, I stand, feeling my way up the wall.
“Don’t open the door. They’ll know you’re awake.” Violet’s breathing is ragged, and she’s talking in hushed tones.
Whoever is on the other side of this door scares her.
“Why don’t I want them to know I’m awake?”
Violet whimpers. “They’ll hurt you.”
Gripping the door handle, I twist it as quietly as I can, and surprisingly, it opens. I crack the door an inch and peer out. Locutus is staring at me, a body lying at his feet. Knowing I’ve been seen, I open the door all the way and step out. “He a friend of yours?”
Locutus laughs, the sound is high-pitched, and he nods. He has a gun in his hand and taps it against his temple, then points it at me.
“If you’d just told me the whereabouts of the next facility, this…” he points his gun at the body on the floor, “… wouldn’t have been necessary.”
“No fucking way, is that my fault. You did that shit all on your own.” Peering around the room, it’s very sparse. There’s a desk with a chair and a large computer screen. Locutus gestures with the gun for me to move forward. I close the door and stand on the other side of the desk from him, deliberately avoiding looking at the dead man on the floor.
“He worked for my uncle,” says Locutus as he stares at the man.
“Who’s your uncle?”
His eyes move to me, and he smiles. “A man you wouldn’t want to meet.”
I nod. “Where are we?”
Locutus laughs as he sits, the gun resting in his lap. “Archon found us. I don’t know how. My source isn’t getting back to me, which probably means he’s been found out, or he’s dead.” His gaze goes to the closed door. “Which means I don’t need her any longer.”
“How do you know it was Archon?”
Locutus looks at me. “My source.” He stands and walks toward a door. “Come. Your head must be pounding.”
He opens the door, and I do my best not to look at the dead man’s face as I step over him. The next room is plush with soft carpets and computer screens mounted around the walls. There’s an enormous desk with a chair behind it and two armchairs in front, making the room feel almost homey. Immediately, I move as far away from Locutus as I can. Turning, I find him grinning at me.
Spark of Deception: MacKenny Brothers Series Book 4: An MC/Band of Brothers Romance Page 9