Rogue (Book 2) (The Omega Group)

by Andrea Domanski

  Han raised his arms. “And the rest, as they say, is history.”

  “There’s still something I’m not sure about,” Jackie said. “That guy that shot at us when we got off the jet. Was he Yavapai? Can they shift into bears?”

  “I don’t know. When Gina and I were together the Yavapai didn’t have that ability, but that was five years ago. Judging by last night’s attack of the village, I think it’s a safe bet they’ve attained it somehow.”

  They walked in silence until Han spun on his heels, a look of confusion covering his face. “What the—?” Before he could complete the sentence he collapsed to the ground, a tranquilizer dart protruding from his thigh.

  “Run, Jackie!” Carter started to shift into his wolf but was hit in the chest by another dart. The effects were immediate. The world around him slowed as his vision dimmed. The last thing he saw was Jackie firing her weapon until another dart hit her in the shoulder. Then the world went dark.

  Chapter 9

  Someone’s licking my face.

  Han struggled to open his eyes against the weights that seemed to be holding them closed. His arms and legs felt like lead when he tried to move, and a sharp pain cut through his head at the effort. Where am I?

  Another slobbery lick along his jaw brought him closer to consciousness. One eye opened just as a pair of furry lips started nibbling on his ear. “Gad!” he screamed as he shuffled away in a crab walk.

  “Had a rough night there, son?”

  As his surroundings came into focus, Han saw the man that was speaking to him, but couldn’t quite put words together to answer him.

  “You and your girlfriend best be moving along. Not all the pack mules are as friendly as Betsy, here.”

  Han shook his head in an effort to get the synapses firing again. Pack mules? Girlfriend? As though a dam in his brain suddenly opened, the memories flooded back and he shot to his feet.

  Jackie lay sprawled on the trail a few feet away. Carter was nowhere to be seen.

  “Don’t worry. She’s just sleeping it off. You really shouldn’t drink like that out here.”

  “What time is it?” Han could hear the gravelly tone in his own voice.

  “Almost nine o’clock.”

  Han looked down at his leg, but the tranquilizer dart was no longer there. He knelt beside Jackie and searched her for a dart. Nothing. Whoever shot them must have collected the evidence. Smart.

  Jackie groaned as he rolled her to her back. “Take it easy, girlfriend. You’re going to have a hell of a hangover.” When she opened her eyes, Han could see that she was feeling the same kind of headache he was.

  “What happened?”

  “We just had a little too much to drink last night. That’s all.” Han hoped she was thinking straight enough to realize they weren’t alone. When she locked her gaze on his, he knew she was with him.

  As he pulled her to her feet, he saw her gun lying on the ground. Jackie must have seen it, too. She dropped her backpack on top of it to hide it from the man’s view and said, “Note to self: No more vodka while hiking.”

  Han turned to the man and shook his hand. “Thanks very much for waking us up. I hope we haven’t caused you too much trouble.”

  “No trouble at all. It’s the most excitement Betsy and I have had on this trail in years. You guys enjoy the rest of your vacation.” As the man turned back down the trail, his mule looked over her shoulder at Han and gave him a snort. “She likes you.”

  As soon as they were alone, Han and Jackie tried to piece together what happened. Jackie said she’d gotten off a shot before getting hit, but didn’t know if she’d struck anyone.

  “Where the hell is Carter?” Han asked. His pack was still sitting on the side of the trail.

  “He went down right before I did. Whoever shot us must have taken him. But why?” Jackie was getting angrier by the minute.

  “You still have the sat phone?”

  Jackie grabbed her backpack and reached inside. “Yeah. It’s still here.”

  “I think it’s time to call in the cavalry.”

  Chapter 10

  Mirissa sat, curled up in her leather seat next to Greco, with her book on her lap. They’d gone straight to the airport from Savannah after her mother called to tell them they were needed in Arizona, and she desperately needed this remaining time on the jet to decompress. So much had happened in the last two days that her mind had yet to catch up.

  She’d kissed Greco and, wow, what a kiss it was. He’d sacrificed his own life to save a sick child and, when she’d thought he was dead, the loss had hit her like an avalanche. At that moment, she would have given anything to have him back. And when he did come back to her, she didn’t want to waste one minute more before showing him how she felt.

  Now, though, she wasn’t sure how to fit this new relationship into their lives. He was her Guardian and partner in the Omega Group, and they worked really well together. Would that change? Would he change? How would her parents feel about it?

  So far, her mother hadn’t let on that she even knew. She’d conducted the briefing on the events in Arizona with her usual efficiency and given everyone their orders for when they landed. She seemed more agitated than normal, but that was to be expected. A team member was missing, presumably abducted by an as yet unknown enemy.

  The whole team was amped up. If it weren’t for the new recruits back in Jacksonville needing training and supervision, Mirissa was sure every Omega Group member would have been on this jet. Orano and Beck stayed behind with the recruits but joined the briefing via sat phone. Even Phoenix, still in Africa, was on the call. Their frustration at not being part of this mission was apparent.

  “What are you reading?” Greco interrupted her train of thought.

  “What? Oh, um, it’s called The Faithful, by S.M. Freedman. A bunch of people with psychic and telekinetic abilities are trying to end the world so that they’re the only ones left.”

  “Don’t you get enough of that kind of stuff in your real life?”

  “I guess so, but it’s different in books. The good guys always win in novels. And that’s something I definitely don’t get enough of in real life.”

  Greco gave her a wry grin. “And the hero and heroine always end up living happily ever after.”

  Mirissa gazed into his blue eyes and saw the sincerity there. “Yeah. I like that part, too.”

  “Oh, for God’s sake. The gooey eyes on you two are going to be the death of me.” Myrick bellowed in his Scottish accent. He gave Greco a playful punch in the arm and Mirissa a good-hearted wink as he made his way down the aisle to his seat.

  Blushing, Mirissa fixed her attention back on her book, embarrassed by their public display of affection. This is going to take some getting used to.

  There was less than an hour left in their flight, so Mirissa committed herself to enjoying the quiet while it lasted. Her life, of late, hadn’t included a whole lot of me time, so she’d learned to immerse herself in it at every opportunity. The crazy psychics in her book awaited.

  The flight attendant chose that moment to come barreling down the aisle toward the back of the plane. Her eyes were wide with fear and her usual calm demeanor seemed to have been obliterated.

  Mirissa wasn’t the only one who noticed the panic-stricken woman. Every head on the plane turned as she passed. When she reached Myrine, she crouched low and whispered a few words. Even from several rows away, Mirissa could see the change in her mother’s expression. “This can’t be good,” Mirissa said, more to herself than anyone else.

  When Myrine stood, she was in full commander mode. She instructed the flight attendant to strap in to her seat, then marched toward the cockpit with Steve, Mirissa’s father, in tow. All eyes were on them as they spoke with the pilot.

  “We have a problem.” Myrine addressed the team. “Our flight path just changed. Our pilot no longer has control of this aircraft.”

  “What?” Greco stood. “How is that possible?”

 
“It looks like we’ve been hacked.”

  Ken interrupted. “What about the manual overrides?”

  “No good,” Myrine said. “The hack is to the autopilot system. We can’t disengage it and we don’t control it. Right now, our course will have us on the ground about forty miles short of the canyon.”

  “What’s out there?” Mirissa asked.

  “As far as we can tell, nothing. No roads, no buildings, nothing.”

  Myrick asked the question that Mirissa couldn’t. “Is this hacker taking us to an early landing, or an early crash?”

  Her mother’s gaze took in every member of her team, settling on Mirissa. “There’s no way to know for sure, but the terrain in that area doesn’t look conducive to a safe landing.” After a deep breath, she continued. “Ken, get Julian on the phone. We need his skills on this.”

  Julian was the Omega Group’s computer genius. His resume, as he was so fond of bragging about, included hacks into NASA, the Pentagon, the Federal Reserve, and each of the large Las Vegas casinos. All of that, according to him, was done before his seventeenth birthday. His last hack—unofficially, at least—was what brought him to the attention of CIA Director Finley. The Central Intelligence Agency has one of the most highly protected databases in the world, yet Julian cracked it without breaking a sweat.

  It took Director Finley’s best team over two years to track him down. When they did, Finley made him an offer he quite literally couldn’t refuse. Do what he does best to help the Omega Group, or spend the rest of his life in an ankle monitor with no access to electronics of any kind. Not surprisingly, he chose the former. What did surprise the Director, however, was that Julian already knew all about the Omega Group and its agents from a previous hack he’d done. His first official duty for the group was to revamp their security protocols to ensure no other genius would ever have the same opportunity.

  What Mirissa found so interesting about his story wasn’t the guy’s skills, but his lack of mischief. Unlike most hackers, Julian wasn’t interested in causing mayhem. He would get in and get out of whatever system he was hacking without causing any problems. He viewed each hack as a challenge to be met and nothing more. That’s not to say that he didn’t take small trophies to prove he’d done it. His favorites, including photos taken from the International Space Station, still adorned his office at their headquarters.

  “I’ve got Julian,” Ken said. “He needs some specifics about the equipment.”

  “Get him whatever he needs.” Mirissa’s mother stepped aside to let Ken through to the cockpit. “Asteria, grab the emergency parachutes, just in case. We may need to make a quick exit.”

  Mirissa tried to absorb the situation and get her options straight in her head. Options? What options? For the first time in her life she felt completely out of control. All of her substantial training, both before and after joining the Omega Group, amounted to nothing when cruising at thirty thousand feet in an aircraft being directed by someone else.

  “We’re beginning our descent,” the pilot yelled over his shoulder. “But our airspeed isn’t changing.”

  “I guess that answers my earlier question,” Myrick said. “So, what now?”

  “Now, we give Julian a chance to work his magic. If someone else was able to hack this system then he’ll be able to unhack it.” Myrine turned to the pilot. “How much time do we have?”

  “Thirty minutes until we’re on the ground. Twenty until we have to make a jump for it.”

  Asteria came forward with a stack of parachutes and handed one to each of them. Greco put his on with ease, then helped Mirissa into hers. She couldn’t quite get her fingers to work the clasps. Once it was secure, and he’d double-checked all the straps, Greco held her face up to his. “It’s going to be fine, Mirissa. We’ve been in worse situations than this before and always managed to come out on top. We’ve got the smartest guy in the known universe working on the problem. Besides, do you really think I’d let us go down like this?”

  Greco’s calming tone succeeded in settling Mirissa’s nerves. “Thanks. I needed that.” When he bent down to capture her lips in a soft kiss, Mirissa felt the anxiety drain from her.

  “Oh, not again! If I have to watch you two lovebirds kiss one more time I’m going to jump without my parachute.” Myrick’s smile belied his words and this time, it was Mirissa who winked.

  Her smile was short-lived, however, when she caught sight of her father. He looked much like a television show dad who greeted his daughter’s date at the door holding a baseball bat. Assuming we don’t all die in a fiery crash, I’m going to have to deal with that soon.

  As the minutes ticked by, the team grew more and more restless. No one took a seat, choosing instead to congregate around the cockpit door. Ken had the phone on speaker, so Julian’s frustrated ranting filled the small space. “Damn it. I can’t get past the hack. I’m trying to go around it, now. Give me a minute.” The sounds of his fingers furiously tapping away at his keyboard was all they heard for the next three minutes.

  “We’re running out of time, Julian.” Even Ken, normally the most stoic member of the team, sounded worried.

  “I know. I know. I don’t get it. This should be easy, but…”

  Although Mirissa had been scared when she first heard the news that their jet was under someone else’s control, she’d still felt a small amount of comfort knowing Julian was on the case. He’d never met a hack he couldn’t best. But now, listening to him try and fail, she came to the realization that they weren’t going to get out of this.

  “I’m sorry, Myrine. This should have worked. Maybe if I had more time…” Julian’s voice trailed off.

  “All right everyone. We’re going to jump. Julian, keep track of our GPS coordinates through my sat phone and get us transport on the ground. Steve, walk us through what we need to know.”

  ********

  Steve took control. His time as a Navy SEAL prepared him well for most emergencies and he was definitely the most highly trained skydiver in the group. “We’ll need to get our airspeed down to a maximum of 200 knots, preferably a lot less, before we can even think of jumping.” He turned to the pilot. “Can you do that?”

  “I’ve got control of the flaps, but I don’t think that will do it. I could try a reverse thrust with the engines, but that’s risky at these speeds and could cause us to break apart.”

  “That’s what we’ll do. We have zero chance jumping at this speed and the only alternative is way worse than the possibility of breaking apart.” Steve turned his attention back to the team. “All right, even if we can get the speed down to safe levels, we’re still going to need a rear exit to jump from.”

  Asteria interrupted. “Why can’t we just go out the side door?”

  “Because the wind blast would slam us into the jet and we’d die instantly. Myrick, go down below and find me a rear exit at the bottom of the plane.” They lifted a hatch in the floor and Myrick disappeared through it. “This is not going to be a recreational jump, everyone. When we exit the plane, tuck your chin to your chest and cross your arms. Count to three, then pull your ripcord. If your chute doesn’t open, pull your emergency.” He demonstrated to make sure everyone understood.

  The pilot chimed in. “We’re passing twenty-four thousand feet.”

  “We can jump at fifteen thousand, assuming our speed is down.”

  Myrick popped his head through the floor hatch. “There’s no rear loading ramp. We’re going to have to make our own exit. There’s a spot behind the landing gear that looks workable, but we’re gonna have to blow it out. We have what we need down there to do the job.”

  Steve thought for a moment. “Okay, get everything ready but don’t blow it until I tell you.”

  “Aye-aye, Captain. Greco, get your lovesick arse down here and help me.” With yet another wink, Myrick was gone with Greco close behind.

  “You need to let me depressurize the plane before you blow that hole, so we’ll have to be almost at jump
ing altitude,” the pilot interjected.

  “Got it. Everyone, strap on your gear. Once you’re ready, go down below. When we’re set to go, I’ll come down. Any questions?” Steve looked to each person in turn and, when he received nothing but determined faces, he said, “Let’s do this.”

  Once the team was safely down below, Steve focused on the pilot. “Start the depressurization as soon as you can. We won’t have much time, so it’ll have to be quick.”

  “I don’t know about this.”

  “What? What’s wrong?”

  “We’re still travelling at over four hundred knots. Using the reverse thrusters under the best of circumstances is risky, but after you blow a hole in the fuselage… I don’t think we’ll hold together long enough to reach safe jumping speed.”

  Steve pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to find a solution. They had to slow this thing down, now. “Hang on a second.”

  Steve lowered himself to the floor, sticking his head through the hatch. “Mirissa, come back up here. I need your help.”

  A moment later, his daughter climbed out of the hatch, followed, of course, by Greco. I guess I’m going to have to get used to that. “Sweetheart, I need you to use your telekinesis to slow down the engines a bit before we engage the reverse thrusters. You don’t have to bring us down the whole way, just get the deceleration started.” He could almost read her mind as he watched her work through the implications of what he’d just asked of her. “You can do this, Mirissa.”

  Her expression remained unchanged. He had to find a way to give her the confidence she needed. Greco reached forward and clasped her hand. “He’s right, you know. You can do this. Think of everything you accomplished in Savannah. You are so much stronger than you think you are.”

  Mirissa took a deep breath. “No problem. Let’s go stop a jet engine.”

  Steve recognized the look on his daughter’s face. It was the same look she had before every seemingly insurmountable challenge she’d ever faced. She was ready to kick some ass. He gave Greco a nod of thanks.