Third Hour

by Lisa Phillips

  This was taking too long.

  Talia gasped. She shifted and looked down the tunnel in front of them. “Niall, you need to hurry up.”

  Mason moved to climb the ladder beside him. He lifted one hand and helped push against the manhole cover.

  “What is it?” Niall grunted.

  Mason just pushed at the metal ring, praying it would come all the way loose.

  Haley pleaded, “Hurry. Please.”

  Talia was the one who answered his question.

  “There’s water rushing toward us.”

  Mason braced his weight and pushed with both hands. “Come on. Open.”

  Chapter 20

  The roar of the water grew louder.

  “You need to hurry up.” Talia crowded close to Haley, stood by the men’s legs as they fought to get the manhole cover open.

  A crack of light spilled down onto them.

  He was trying to kill them. The hacker who had targeted her—and probably lured them all here, though they had come of their own volition—was now attempting to murder all of her friends. Anger roiled through her with the thought that they were going to die here. The hacker would win, and there would be nothing she could do about it.

  If they’d stayed in the house, would it have triggered another issue? Maybe he accounted for them leaving this way. Their movement had changed the situation from death by carbon monoxide poisoning to death by drowning? A series of presents left behind in the house computer network.

  Triggered by her showing up.

  The two men pushed the manhole cover aside. Bright sunlight flooded the tunnel. Talia raised her hand to shield her eyes from the intense glare.

  Niall said, “Haley, come here.”

  Mason jumped off the ladder as Niall tugged Haley up beside him. “Go.” Niall shoved at her, forcing her to climb faster. Then he followed her up.

  Mason waved Talia to the ladder. “Come on.”

  She moved forward. “What about you?”

  “I’ll be right behind you.”

  The water roared so loud she almost didn’t hear him. Clutching her purse against her body, Talia climbed the stairs. Water sprayed at her. The rungs slicked.

  Her foot slipped. She started to fall and grasped at the ladder with her fingers. Her leg banged a lower rung.

  Talia cried out. Mason’s body crowded her. Held her close to the ladder. “Go,” he ordered loudly in her ear.

  Talia hauled herself up. Niall and Haley both grasped her arms. They helped her out of the hole, fumbling and awkward. Her body pumped with adrenaline. Cold air buffeted her and she whimpered as she crawled out of the way so Mason could get out.

  The rush of water was deafening. So loud she couldn’t hear what Haley was saying.

  It moved past her, down the tunnel. Mason’s cry disappeared with the water.

  Talia screamed. She dove back to the opening. The sight of nothing below her but water stole her breath. Like a river rushing through the tunnel. “Mason!”

  He wasn’t there. He wasn’t below her.

  He hadn’t made it.

  She screamed his name again.

  “Talia.” Niall touched her shoulder.

  “No.” She shoved his hand away. Leaned down and peered into the tunnel. Where was he? Where had he been swept to? The closed door to the closet, maybe. Had his big, thick body been slammed against it by the force of the water? Thousands of pounds of pressure throwing him against that solid surface.

  She whimpered. “Mason!”

  His hand appeared on the ladder, the knuckles pale as he squeezed to hold on for dear life. Then his head emerged. He sucked in a breath. Water streamed down his face.

  “Help me.” She screamed the words at him, but Niall and Haley knew what she meant.

  The two of them landed on their knees on either side of her. Together, the three of them pulled him out. Water swirled around his body as they helped him onto the grass.

  Mason lay back. His chest heaved with each breath.

  Talia whimpered.

  Mason reached for her, but she was already moving toward him. He gathered her in his arms until she was held against the wet of the bullet proof vest he wore. One hand around her waist kept her tight against him while the other moved up the back of her neck, his fingers tangling in her damp hair.

  Their cheeks touched.

  She could feel his warm breath on her skin. Both of them were soaked through, trying to control the realization that he had almost died. She was just so relieved. Gone were the thoughts of what would have happened to his daughter.

  “What would I have done?”

  His face angled slightly, and she felt his lips move against the shell of her ear. “Talia.” Her name was a groan from his lips.

  She held on tight.

  “Uh…” Dakota’s voice had an edge of laughter. “You guys okay?”

  Talia became aware that she and Mason were in a clinch, lying on the grass. All four team members stood around them. Neema wandered over and sniffed at Talia’s hair.

  Instead of embarrassment, pure relief washed over her. “Hi, dog.”

  Talia shifted her hand to push off the ground. She’d practically crawled on top of Mason. In a skirt. Goodness, what her mother would have said if she’d seen this. She shuddered to think of it. She tried to gracefully move away, but his arms were still around her.

  For a second, she wondered if Mason was going to let her go.

  But he did.

  Talia wasn’t sure which she preferred. Okay, she knew what she wanted, and what her mother would approve of. But the team waited.

  Mason sat up. He helped her to stand when he was the one who’d nearly drowned. More embarrassment. How was she ever going to live this down? He’d nearly been swept away, and she was the shaky one. Her legs almost buckled.

  Haley reached out for her other arm. Talia shot her a smile. “Thanks.” The two of them steadied her. “I’m okay.”

  Mason huffed out a long breath as he sat up, still on the ground. “Phew.”

  She shot him a look. “That’s all you have to say? Phew?” Talia planted her hands on her hips. “You nearly died. I thought you were dead.”

  He climbed to his feet and brushed off his body as he moved. Then patted his chest, his pockets.

  “Are you really okay?” She didn’t want him to suddenly pass out. They’d have to carry that redwood body back to the car. Or to an ambulance.

  Mason shifted his soft gaze to her. “I’m good, Talia.” His chest expanded as he sucked in air, then blew out a long breath. He ran one hand down his face with a groan.

  “He’s not okay.” She turned to Dakota. “We should get an ambulance. One of those helicopter ambulances.”

  Dakota’s lips twitched. “He said he’s good.”

  “I think I know where he is.”

  Everyone turned to Mason.

  Talia said, “What? How?”

  Fear raced through her with the idea of coming face to face with the hacker. Still, she would like the answer to those questions. The fact he thought the hacker was here hit her with a dose of reality like a slap in the face.

  Dakota, Josh, Haley and Niall all took a step toward where she stood with Mason. One step, and the team huddled around them. Around her. Cocooning her in a little pocket of safety. Determined that nothing would happen to her.

  “Guys…” She wasn’t sure what she wanted to say.

  “We know.” Dakota shifted to Mason. “Where?”

  “In the garage.”

  “But—” Talia realized they’d all started moving.

  Haley patted her back. “Come on.”

  Apparently she had no choice. So Talia moved with them.

  As they went, Mason reached out and snagged her hand. He held it in his stronger, bigger one, though his was very cold. Someone needed a hot cup of coffee. She could use a mocha with whipped cream.

  “The garage?”

  He glanced over. “There’s a car in there, right? That
’s what I’m thinking was pumping carbon monoxide into the HVAC.”

  Did that mean the hacker was in there, though?

  “He would have to be close, in order to switch plans when he realized we were in the tunnel.”

  “True.” But she didn’t want to believe it. Fear niggled the back of her neck as they approached the door.

  Dakota and Josh glanced at each other, apparently not needing words in order to communicate. They both crouched, got a grip on the bottom of the garage door, and forced it up. Niall went to the middle and helped.

  “Careful.” She had to say it.

  If he was in there, they could get hurt. Killed.

  Mason pulled her to his side, gun drawn. Her entire body was tense. She felt like she was going to snap from the force of it.

  Niall stared into the garage. “Bingo.”

  . . .

  Mason shifted to look inside. A vintage Mustang had been parked in the garage. If the make and model were significant in some way, he didn’t know. But this car, in this condition, would be hard to come by.

  He moved along the side while the others carefully did the same, spread around the garage. He glanced back. Talia stood at the mouth of the garage, with Haley. Waiting for someone to give her the okay to enter? He had his gun out, but the thing was probably so waterlogged—like his phone—that he figured it wouldn’t work. He certainly couldn’t fire it without taking it apart to see what the damage to the inside was.

  Mason moved to the back bumper. The engine was running. “There’s a hose back here. Stretches up to the HVAC.” The hacker had planned to kill them all along, leaving the engine running for when they got here? That didn’t exactly sound efficient.

  Maybe it had been hooked into the house. Mason was leaning toward the idea that their presence here had initiated all this.

  Josh studied the hose. “You guys really couldn’t get out?”

  “Nope.” Mason rubbed at the buttons over his chest with the flat of his hand. He’d thought for sure he would be swept away. Slammed by the force of the water against the door to the closet. Or it would have broken the door open and shoved him back inside. He’d have been gassed.

  Either way, dead.

  “He’s not in here.” Josh turned in a circle as he looked around.

  He should call Rayna. Not that she knew he’d been in danger, but it was good to check in. Let her know he was all right.

  One of these guys would probably let him borrow a phone.

  It was on the tip of his tongue to ask when he remembered how Talia had frozen up the last time he’d mentioned his daughter. He could wait and call Rayna later to say hi. Right now he didn’t want Talia pulling away and shutting down. Not considering he’d actually managed to get somewhere with her. And it had taken almost dying for it to happen.

  He didn’t think she had a problem with Rayna. More like the concept of him having a child—and that child potentially being fatherless because of a bad guy who saw Talia as a threat. She wanted no collateral damage. Didn’t want the people she cared about to be hurt. Even a teen she didn’t know.

  Whatever was between him and Talia, Mason didn’t want to lose the ground he’d gained. Before, he hadn’t been sure if it was more than attraction. It was certainly more than that on his part, even with the craziness of all that had happened to him since he’d met her. Now he knew she actually cared about him. And not in an “I’m glad you didn’t die” kind of way. It was more than that.

  Eventually things would calm down. They would catch this guy, and he could take the time for Talia to get to know Rayna. It would be good.

  He just needed to have patience.

  “Talia.” Dakota straightened. “There’s a computer in the front seat. I think it’s running a program.” She waved over her colleague and pulled on the door handle. “One sec.”

  Talia slowed.

  “Just checking.” Dakota opened the door slowly. She looked between the frame and the door. “Neema, hier.”

  The dog trotted over. Mason heard a couple of sniffs, and then the dog wandered to Josh looking bored.

  Dakota waved Talia over. “It’s clear. We’ve been doing explosives training.”

  Mason did the same as she’d done on her side and opened the passenger door slowly. He didn’t see any wires, so he planted his butt in the front seat and grabbed the latch of the glove box. It spilled open. He caught the tumble of papers and started to go through them.

  Talia lifted the laptop from the front seat and sat down. She pulled the lever and shifted the seat all the way back to get the computer between her and the steering wheel.

  As she typed on the keys, he rifled through old insurance slips and the registration. Receipts. A couple of pizza coupons from a national chain. He found a letter—someone’s life insurance company wanted the details for an additional contact person they could add to their files.

  Mason handed it to Niall. “Run the name and address?”

  The NCIS agent nodded.

  “My phone is probably kaput.” He wanted to be mad, but it just wasn’t there. It would be a hassle to get a new one. Fact was, though, Mason could be dead. He wasn’t. He was still here.

  The thought was like a rush. Enough his fingers itched to touch Talia’s face and kiss her. Not with her team watching, so maybe later.

  He wanted to, though.

  To distract himself, he turned to her. “Anything on that?”

  She clicked half a dozen more keys, and then hit enter.

  The car engine turned off.

  “I’m guessing, yes.”

  She looked up, a smile on her face. “I just need another second.” She spoke louder, presumably so the rest could hear. “Then we can take this with us.”

  She wanted to get out of here. That was fine by him, he felt the same. Except did she think the hacker would draw them out to kill them, only to lead them right back to him when they survived?

  The way he targeted Talia and the people she cared about, this fell under the column titled, “Cruel and Unusual Punishment.” Mason didn’t know if she could continue to hold it together. Anyone in her position would have buckled under the pressure by now.

  Talia seemed okay. Maybe she was still running on adrenaline. Or she was as glad as he was that they were all alive. They’d beaten him. Again.

  “You think you can find him?”

  Her mouth shifted as she thought about his question. “I hope so. I mean, what else do we have?”

  Mason nodded, conceding along with her. “Hacking the hacker?”

  “After what he did, I was scared to even get on a computer. Hiding seemed like a much better idea. Now…”

  He waited, but she said nothing. Mason touched her shoulder. “What?”

  “I’m angry.” She shook her head, not looking at him. “You nearly died. I’m so angry I could scream. We have to get this guy.”

  “We will. We’re not going to stop until we do.”

  She gritted her teeth together, then said, “Good.”

  He wanted to say more, but the screen flashed. Mason watched as the window she was typing in flashed. The screen shifted.

  Flickered.

  “What…”

  He pulled his hand from her shoulder. “You didn’t do that?”

  “No, I—” The screen changed again. A live feed. A camera, complete with a circle on it, like a scope. Like sniper sights.

  At the end of the view, they watched Alvarez climb out the back of a car and walk toward two other men. Shake hands.

  Talia typed. Then slammed her index finger down on the enter key, hard enough he winced, worrying she would break it. Maybe she needed to. Would it make things worse?

  “What is he going to do?” Mason’s gut clenched at the idea Talia would have to watch a trigger get pulled and her teammate go down.

  Text flashed across the bottom of the screen.

  Should he live or die?

  The words scrolled, then were replaced by a single word.


  Choose.

  Chapter 21

  Nothing else worked, so Talia typed a reply.

  I’m not playing your game.

  Then she got on her phone and sent a message to her former team over at the NSA. Could they trace the signal coming to this computer—this location? If they were able to figure out where Alvarez was, by zeroing in on the landscape around him, then someone could go to him. Before he was taken out by a rifle.

  In her head, she could almost hear the hacker’s laughter. Amused at her futile attempts to find him and get Alvarez out of danger. She texted the marshal to alert him to the danger. One word:

  Crosshairs.

  Dakota crouched in the doorway. “Can I?”

  “Why?”

  “So I can hand this guy the piece of my mind I’ve wanted to give him for weeks.”

  Talia clenched her jaw. Dakota wanted to shoulder it, as well as vent her frustration. The team was around her. Mason was here. She wasn’t alone, trapped.

  She sucked in a breath. “I got it.”

  She typed.

  Enough. I’m done. Do what you will, I’m not going to be part of it anymore.

  His reply came straight away.

  Spoil sport.

  Talia shut the laptop. If he was going to kill Alvarez, she didn’t want to watch it happen. She’d warned her friend. The NSA were going to have to do whatever they could. She had to stand her ground. She couldn’t bend to his will anymore.

  “Let’s go.” She moved so fast she almost knocked Dakota on her butt. But her friend was agile. Talia took the laptop out of the garage. She wanted to throw the thing on the ground, but resisted the allure.

  She dialed Victoria as she walked and handed the laptop off to Haley.

  “Uh…thanks?” Her roommate held it.

  The phone was answered mid-ring, “Director Bramlyn.”

  “Get somewhere you can talk.” Talia stopped. She dipped her head and used her free arm to squeeze the back of her neck. Tears threatened to choke her, but she swallowed them back and cleared her throat.