Three Days to Forever (A Mac Faraday Mystery Book 9)

by Lauren Carr

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “I think that will do it,” Murphy said in a low voice while carefully reassembling the flash drive. Ethan and Tristan watched from nearby.

  Aware of the delicate precision in the work that Murphy was performing, Sheriff Turow, his deputies, Spencer’s police officers, and David’s team of marines were all hanging back while drawn in by their curiosity.

  Each of them was well aware of the time ticking away on the clock on the wall. They were less than twenty minutes away from the time that Special Agent Neal Black had said he would call to set up the drop. They assumed it would be at Sander’s Farm. A team of state police officers had already set up hiding spots around the perimeter to watch under the cover of the forest and darkness.

  “Do we know if it’s going to work?” Aware that the thumb drive contained a lethal amount of explosives, Mac was hesitant to take it when Murphy held it out to him. It appeared to be an average flash drive that people use every day.

  “Unfortunately, there’s no way to test it,” Ethan said.

  “It works on the same principle as bombs remotely detonated with a cell phone signal,” Murphy said.

  “Like the Boston Marathon bombers used,” Tristan said.

  “Only we’re not using a pressure cooker,” Murphy said. “We’ll be using the processor of whatever computer or tablet they plug that into. The more powerful the processor, the more powerful the explosion.”

  Ethan explained, “They want that formula really bad. Therefore, we can safely assume that they are going to plug that thumb drive into something to make sure that the formula is on there as soon as they get their hands on it.”

  “Before they kill you,” Murphy said. “Once they have the formula, they don’t need you anymore. You’re a liability. If the thumb drive doesn’t have it, then they’ll torture you to find out where it is.”

  “Is the formula on that drive?” Jessica asked.

  “No,” Murphy said, “we can’t risk them getting their hands on it.”

  “Then—”

  “I put a decoy formula on it,” Tristan said. “They’re going to get the formula for Leishmania instead.”

  “What’s that?” Bogie asked.

  “It’s the epidemic that killed off the dinosaurs,” Mac said with a tone that told the deputy chief that he should have known this piece of information.

  “That’s believed to have killed off the dinosaurs,” Tristan said. “Actually, it’s believed to be one of many diseases that killed them off.”

  “We’re betting these guys aren’t scientists,” Murphy said, “and if one of them is, that he won’t notice the formula is really from the Jurassic period.”

  “Actually, it’s not—”

  “Later, Tristan,” Murphy said.

  “Here’s what’s going to happen.” Ethan took the drive out of Mac’s open palm. “This little flash drive has a lot on it. When they plug this in, as soon as the flash drive connects, it’s going to work like a virus and collect everything on that computer or tablet’s hard drive. Then, all of that information will be sent via a satellite hookup to Murphy’s team at the Pentagon.”

  “Isn’t that risky?” Bogie asked. “I thought you just wanted to blow them up so that we could rush in to get David out of there, secure the barn, and arrest these terrorists.”

  “We can assume that whatever computer they plug the thumb drive into will have information on it,” Ethan said, “Possibly information that could prove a connection between the terrorists and Bauman.”

  “So while they’re waiting for the thumb drive to open up, it will be transmitting information to Washington,” Mac said. “Aren’t they going to notice—”

  “The spyware is set up to work in the background,” Ethan said. “They’ll never notice.”

  “How long will all this take?” Mac asked. “When I’ve gotten a virus on my computer, it slows down. If this computer or laptop or tablet has a lot on it, it will take some time—time that we may not have.”

  “Suppose this system they plug it into has an antivirus program that’ll detect it?” Jessica asked.

  “It won’t,” Ethan said with complete confidence. “This is a very sophisticated and fast program. After all of the information is transferred, the explosive will detonate and the system will blow up.” He told Mac, “You will need to be as far from that computer as you can be.”

  “How big of an explosion will it be?”

  “Depends on the system and where it is,” Murphy said. “It could just be big enough to get whoever is sitting in front of the laptop or tablet. The point is to create a diversion in order for us to rush in.”

  “Suppose this bandwidth is lousy?” Mac asked.

  “Or they don’t have Wi-Fi?” Jessica asked. “Didn’t you say this farm was abandoned?”

  “Not really,” Murphy said. “According to the information David gave us, Bauman’s terrorist friends have set up a whole dirty bomb factory inside the barn. That tells us that they have to have some means of communicating with their overseas partners.”

  “Which tells us that they have to have an Internet connection on site,” Ethan said. “I’m going to get in there before the drop to hack into that connection and see what we can uncover about Bauman and his dirty dealings and send it on to Washington. David is going to get me into the barn.”

  “David said they have guards at both of the lanes coming into the farm from the main road,” Mac said. “How are you going to get in?”

  “Jessica and I are going to take him in,” Murphy said.

  Mac’s eyes grew wide. When he turned to Jessica, he saw by the grin she was flashing at Murphy that it was true. His eyes narrowed. “No.”

  “It was my idea,” Jessica said.

  “No, no, no, and hell no!”

  Murphy started, “It’s a good—”

  “You told me you loved her!” Mac raged.

  There was a collective gasp in the squad room.

  All heads turned to Jessica, who was equally shocked by the announcement. Her face turned various shades of color, from pink to white to red and then pink again.

  “I do love her,” Murphy replied.

  Murphy’s eyes flicked to Jessica to gauge her reaction and then back to Mac, who was the more immediate threat when he stepped up to bring his face to Murphy’s. Anyone else would have backed up out of Mac’s space, but the young man held his ground.

  “You can put your own life on the line for your beliefs and convictions—which I admire—but there is no way in hell I’m going to let you risk the life of my only daughter! No way! And I can’t believe that you would risk her life in the face of these monsters!”

  Snapping out of her shock, Jessica rushed forward to push her way between the two of them. “Dad, stop it!” She grabbed his arm. “It was my idea! I volunteered! They need the element of surprise to get in close enough to neutralize them. I came up with the idea. I’ll be protected. Murphy will be there right by my side, and I’ll be armed. You taught me how to shoot. Plus, the state police and David’s team and sniper will have them in their sights just in case they get antsy. It’s a good idea.”

  “Find another way,” Mac said in a low voice. “I don’t want you near there.”

  “I want to be there.” She glared up into his eyes. “I love David, too. I want to help. I can, and you can’t stop me.”

  She could feel the heat from Murphy’s body standing close behind her. “I won’t let anything happen to her, sir.”

  “You can’t guarantee that,” Mac said.

  “No, I can’t,” Murphy said. “But I can promise I’ll do everything I can to keep her safe. I’ll give my life for her if I have to.”

  Mac felt Bogie’s hand on his shoulder. “He’s Josh’s boy, Mac. If he’s anything like his daddy, he’s a man of his word.”

&nb
sp; “We need a way to get to the end of the road that branches off to the airstrip and the barn and farmhouse.” Murphy pointed to the map. “David says there are two guards hiding in the trees at the end of the road that forks off, and that they can see anyone approaching from any direction. They have radios and can communicate to Ra’ees Sims and Neal Black, who are in the jet, which has two pilots on board and three guards surrounding the outside. They are all part of Ra’ees’s team—highly trained killers and jihadists. They can also communicate with the rest of the guards throughout the farm. If we can take out these two guards at the fork in the road and take control of their radios, then they’ll all be blind when we make our move.”

  Bogie explained, “If we just drive up, then those two guards will contact their people, and we’ll be dead as soon as we hit the fork.”

  Murphy was nodding his head. “But most likely, they won’t kill us if they don’t think we’re a threat. We have to remember, these are Americans doing something very illegal. They aren’t going to want to attract attention if they don’t have to.”

  “Now how could those two terrorists ever feel threatened when they see a cute little thing like me come driving up in my purple sports car?” Wrapping her arms around Mac’s waist, Jessica gazed up and batted her long eyelashes at him.

  Looking down into her violet eyes, Mac was reminded of all the times she had managed to worm her way into doing exactly what she wanted. He unwrapped her arms from around him. “We’re all taking a lot of chances. I don’t like this. If you want all of this information off these computers to make your case against this billionaire terrorist, then sic the US Attorney General on him.”

  “The US Attorney General won’t go after him because Bauman is protected,” Murphy said. “I uploaded and sent the information my father got from Kochar to my CO. I took a look at them. They’re financial records proving that Nathaniel Bauman, a United States citizen and a billionaire businessman, has been supporting and backing and supplying weapons to the very people trying to kill us—all while sleeping in the Lincoln bedroom at the White House as the president’s personal guest.”

  “And if the United States Attorney General won’t go after him, and if he is protected by the president, then what good is getting this further information going to do?” Mac asked.

  “It will lead us to others who are involved,” Murphy said. “It will supply us with ammunition to fight this war, even if we have to fight it alone.” He arched an eyebrow at him. “If you don’t want to do this, you don’t have to.”

  “Thing is,” Mac said, “they’ve given me no choice.”

  “Actually, we do have a choice,” Murphy said. “We either fight, bow down to their god, or die. I’m a fighter.”

  “So am I.”

  “We all are,” Bogie said. “I say let’s go send them all on a one-way trip to meet their little black-eyed virgins.”

  Mac’s cell phone rang.

  “Let the games begin,” Jessica said.

  “Did you really tell my dad that you love me before telling me?” Jessica’s attempt to sound annoyed didn’t come off. The giggle gave it away.

  Neal Black had ordered that the exchange take place at Sander’s Farm, in the driveway between the barn and the farmhouse—exactly where Murphy had predicted. The farm was secluded, and the jet was located on the airstrip directly on the other side of the woods. Plus, the heavy woods provided a remote enough location for them to dispose of Mac’s body after killing him once they got the thumb drive.

  They had thirty minutes to gear up and clear out the guards at the end of the lane between the farmhouse and the airstrip in order to get their team into position—all before Mac arrived at the farm house.

  Murphy passed out earbuds from his go-bag with a secure radio channel to the leaders and was finishing gearing up, which included hiding small-yet-lethal weapons on various parts of his body, when Jessica found a moment to be alone with him before they departed to set their plan into action.

  Murphy’s cheeks felt hot at the reference to the public announcement. “I envisioned a more intimate setting when I revealed my feelings—”

  “To me or my father?” She cast him a sly grin.

  “He asked,” Murphy said. “I answered. I don’t lie.” He gazed at her. “Don’t tell me that you’re surprised. We have enough electricity flying between us to revive a dead man.”

  “Then I guess there’s no use in my playing hard to get?”

  “I’m not one to play games.”

  “Neither am I.” She clasped his firm arms with both of her hands. “I love you, too.”

  They gazed deeply into each other’s eyes. Aware of the various people in the police station trying very hard not to look in their direction, including Mac, who was having a long discussion with Bogie, Murphy cleared his throat and pulled back. “Well, I guess now would be a good time for me to give you something to show you how deep my feelings run for you.”

  Blushing, Jessica held her breath while watching Murphy reach into his black canvas bag. This is so sudden. Idiot. Of course, it’s sudden. He can’t be carrying a ring around with him just waiting for the love of his life to show up. Maybe it’s his navy ring. They get class rings, don’t they?

  “It used to be my mother’s,” Murphy was saying while digging through the bag for a blue leather case. “My dad gave it to me, and I carry it everywhere with me. Since this is going to be our first night working together like this, it seems only right that I give it to you.”

  Murphy extracted a Coonan .357 Magnum semi-automatic handgun from the bag. It had a wood-finished grip. Jessica’s disappointment lifted when she saw Murphy’s wide grin cross his face and the dimples flash at her.

  As she bent over in laughter, he whispered into her ear. “I love a woman who appreciates my sick sense of humor.” He gently pulled her closer, wrapped his arms around her, and tucked the gun carefully into the rear waistband of her pants. “This weapon has a longer barrel. It will shoot more accurately than that little pistol you used at the truck stop.” He covered the gun up with the back of her top. “I fully intend to take care of you, Jessica Faraday.”

  She returned his gaze. “I love you, Murphy Thornton.”

  Even though they knew that time was limited, they held onto the moment to gaze into each other’s faces—to commit every feature to memory.

  “Hey,” Mac called from across the room. “You two! Yes, I’m talking to you two lovebirds, we got to get moving! Let’s roll!”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Murphy gunned the Ferrari that would take him across the bridge out of Spencer and onto Garrett Highway toward Oakland, Maryland. They were a couple of miles from the Sander farm when the state police car fell in behind him and turned on its lights and siren.

  Instead of slowing down, Murphy pressed his foot to the gas pedal.

  “That should get their attention,” Jessica said while watching the lights of the police cruiser fall back, only to have another police car come up behind them.

  Murphy switched off the headlights and turned the wheel to take them down the lane toward the fork. Their lights and sirens going, the two police cruisers sped on by.

  “It’s show time,” Murphy said. “Are you ready for this?”

  “I was born ready.”

  “That’s a scary thought.” He pressed his foot against the gas pedal to take them to the end of the lane. Then, gunning the engine, he threw the wheel to do a donut, bringing the sports car to a halt directly in front of where the two guards would be stationed.

  Laughing gleefully, Jessica threw open her door and jumped out of the car. In her high-heeled pirate boots, her open coat revealing her low-cut top and abundant bosom, she was a sight racing around to the front of the car to give the guards a good look at her in the car’s bright headlights. “That was totally awesome!” she squealed. “The way you burned
rubber on the road and left those idiots behind like they were standing still!” She fanned herself. “I have never been so thrilled—my heart is beating so fast!”

  Murphy had climbed out of the car and ran to her. “Exactly how fast is it beating, babe? Show me.”

  She pressed his hand to her breast. “Feel it!”

  Murphy caressed her breast. “Oh, yeah,” he breathed. “I can feel it, all right. You think that’s fast … I can make it beat much faster.”

  “You got something more thrilling to show me?” she breathed while wrapping her arms around his neck.

  “All you have to do is ask.”

  “Show me!”

  He pressed her back against the car’s hood. Pressing her down onto the car, he covered her lips with his mouth. The first taste of her lips made his head swim. He could feel her heart pounding against his chest so hard, that he felt like the two of them were going to combust.

  Her taste, her scent, and the touch of her hands on his face and neck, it was all intoxicating—addictive. He felt a high like he had never experienced before—anytime, anyplace—with any woman.

  He didn’t want it to ever end.

  When she lifted one of her legs and hooked the back of his knee with her ankle to pull him in closer, he thrilled to realize the feeling was mutual. Wanting more, he grabbed her hips and pulled them closer to him. Aroused, he pressed against her while she rubbed her leg against his.

  “Time is running out,” he suddenly heard the voice of Jessica’s father announce into his ear from the earbud.

  “Don’t stop,” Jessica said when he pulled back as if he had been struck by lightning.

  “You two do know that I am listening to everything,” Mac said.

  Murphy glanced over toward the woods. He could make out the silhouette of the two guards watching them. “We have company,” he whispered into her ear.

  “You have to slap me,” she said.