“Talk to me, Vernon.” Chase spoke with a calm that others sometimes thought unnerving. He was the calm before the storm. Speaking into cyber space to his tech genius, he remained focused. “Anything?”
“I’d say you’re less than a mile away now. The signal died there. I’ll send you the coordinates.”
“Then she could be anywhere from that point.”
The storm dumped an enormous amount of water onto the streets. Some places were impassable, making the two vehicles move about like roller coaster cars. One of the men in the very back of the car complained of car sickness. Chase met the soldier’s eyes with a glare into the rear view mirror. The silence that followed indicated he’d been appropriately reprimanded and would keep further comments concerning his stomach to himself.
“You’re right there, Boss.” Vernon’s voice snapped.
Chase put his finger to his ear as if by doing so would lower the volume. “I see nothing, Vern.”
“The signal is old. Maybe it died before it stopped for good. What do you see?”
“I’m at a stoplight. Flashing.”
“Already tried pulling up traffic cams. The only ones working are the ones near the White House and Capitol Hill. Can’t help you there.” Chase knew Vernon liked Tessa. She was one of the few females who managed to loosen his shy tongue. “Poor Mrs. Scott. She’s probably one scared lady. Wonder how she managed to get her phone out?”
Chase knew the young techie was thinking out loud. “Probably slipped it in my suit coat I loaned her.”
“Suit coat?” Vernon’s voice had taken on a slow interested tone then silence. Chase knew better than to ask why. When the tech took on the air of cyber god, he had learned to just stand back and be amazed. “I think I might just have found her, Boss.”
“Vernon, if you have, I’m promoting you to my new best friend.”
“Good.” It was Carter Johnson. “Because I’m tired of the job.”
Zoric turned his eyes back at the ex-astronaut in the backseat. “Second fiddle would be a promotion for you, Carter.” He winked at Sam who wore a sour expression.
“Let’s have it, Vern. It’ll be light soon. They may try to move before then.”
“The suit you wore tonight, was it the one designed for special occasions for you to wear with the president or other dignitaries?” His voice sounded almost robotic as the faint click of computer keys provided background noise. Before Chase could verify, Vernon gave him more news. “Your suit coat has an optic thread in the lapel so that if ever you’re taken hostage, lost, or…”
“I know what it’s for, Vernon. I just didn’t know it was in that suit. Just tell me where she is.” He didn’t want to sound impatient. Vernon loved showing how much smarter he was than everyone else, but time was of the essence.
“Right. Turn at the next corner, go three blocks. Looks like it might be a warehouse or passed-its-prime area of old businesses. I’ll see what else I can find out. Be careful. Not in the best neighborhood.”
“Who the hell is going to be out on a night like this?” Chase growled.
The trip took longer than expected due to flooded streets and debris blocking their way. By the time the SUVs neared the expected target, thirty more minutes passed.
They pulled to a curb and killed their lights. Surrounded by dilapidated buildings, the team waited and watched before pulling into a parking lot. Several dumpsters overflowing with discarded construction materials provided cover for the vehicles as they waited.
Leaving their cars could jeopardize the team’s safety. They didn’t know what they were up against. Chase wasn’t about to lose any Enigma members. It occurred to him that if he hadn’t involved Tessa again, she wouldn’t be in this trouble. Any other time he would have justified the danger he’d put his people in by saying it was for the good of the country. Now that didn’t ring so true for him.
What was it about the woman that caused him to second guess everything he knew to be solid and predictable? His life was complicated enough without the accident-prone housewife mucking up the already turbulent waters of national security. Was this some kind of sick joke God chose to play on him?
“Vern, can you zero in on an exact location?”
A moment of silence passed before Chase’s ear piece crackled to life. “Looks like you’re on top of it, Boss.”
Chase wanted to get a closer look, but at what? Everything looked the same. No strange cars parked about. No people. No visible lights.
A sudden flash of lightning flickered twice revealing another dumpster across the street. Sitting between it and the wall of the building was a car.
“There.” It was Zoric.
“I see it.” Chase unbuckled his seatbelt.
The sounds of making ready took on an ominous feel. He spoke only a couple of words to prepare the second car. In five minutes they edged out of their SUV.
Wind and rain now was not much more than a summer storm. Occasional flashes of lightning hinted more pockets of intense downpours could occur any minute, driving the Enigma team and the security force to take positions across the street. They tensed when a light appeared in a small window near the front door.
The door of the old cinder block building swung open, letting a pool of light spill out momentarily, and then disappeared as the door shoved closed. The team watched as a man rushed to the car by the dumpster. He hunched over and pulled his collar up close to his neck as if doing so would keep him dry. As his hand touched the car door handle an arm circled his neck like a vice. Jerked back into the recesses of darkness in the ally, he struggled to free himself. The sound of someone else getting into the car and the smashing of the overhead light drove him to try and twist free. He stopped fidgeting when a large man jammed a pistol in his gut.
“How many inside?” Chase pushed his face within inches of the man who stood a head shorter than him. He mumbled something shaking his head. This time he repeated the question in Egyptian Arabic. One of the Secret Service men had easily subdued the Egyptian around the neck and now rammed a knee in his buttocks. Before a yelp could escape Chase covered his mouth with his hand. At the same time he freed him, Chase slammed him against the wall of the building.
Zoric came alongside of Chase and held out the phone. “Coming to get this?” The man’s eyes widened and tried squirming again. The switch blade Zoric always carried came out and opened with swift intent in front of the Egyptian’s face. “How many?” He didn’t bother to speak in Arabic.
When he tried to kick Chase and push free, Zoric sliced his ear. His scream dissipated in the rumble of thunder as the Serbian landed a blow upside his head. The final move was jabbing the point of his knife on the edge of the Egyptian’s throat, paralyzing him with fear.
The captain stepped forward again and leaned in. “How many?” This time the Egyptian acknowledged the Arabic and held up nine fingers before speaking. “Give us the lay out?”
The Egyptian nodded which caused Zoric to withdraw his knife. But just as he did the man spit in Zoric’s face and tried to knee him in the crotch. Chase landed a blow to the man’s jaw, dropping him to the ground.
“Do it.” Chase looked at Zoric then motioned for the others to come with him to wait.
Director Benjamin Clark frowned as he shook his head. “I’m staying. Get these Feds away from here so they won’t have to cover anything up.”
One Secret Service man spit on the ground. “Carve him into a jack-o-lantern for all I care, Zoric. I didn’t see a thing.”
The FBI agent was a little more squeamish and moved ahead of Chase. “This is illegal, you know that, right?”
Chase sniffed at the agent’s distaste for the truth in this matter. “That’s kinda what we do, Agent Martin.” Chase moved toward the door in case it reopened with another Egyptian. “If you don’t want to get your hands dirty, now is the time to go back to the car.”
The agent came in behind Chase as he thought he heard a desperate scream behind him. “Just don’
t like the sight of blood, that’s all. After tonight I want you guys to fade back into the shadows where you belong. Your ghoul back there takes too much delight in his job.”
Turning his head slightly to look at the FBI agent, Chase grinned. “He’s good at what he does. He got those guys back at the hotel to roll in two minutes. You’d been screwin’ with them for several hours with nothing.”
The agent took a deep breath. “Like I said, when this is over stay away from the FBI.”
He wasn’t sure if he should tell the agent, but now that he’d assisted in this rescue, Director Clark would not hesitate to blackmail him into being an inside source. The director was shameless like that. The two Secret Service Agents would be brought in too.
Zoric and the director joined them. “Good news. The speaker is in there. Nine people, if you count the speaker.” He wiped his knife on his arm before folding it closed and inserting it back into a pocket.
“We need to proceed with caution, Chase.” It was the director. “We can’t risk the speaker’s life.”
“What about other hostages?” Chase watched the door for danger.
Zoric checked his gun. “He said a bunch of old men and a woman.”
“Sam and Carter took the other agents to check the back.” The director nodded to the darkness. “Cooper and Montgomery are going to cover us when we go in. They’ll catch anyone who tries to leave. Said they owe Mrs. Scott.”
The sky opened up and torrents of rain washed over them. “Did he give the layout of the building?”
The director frowned at Zoric. “He wasn’t able to speak by the time I asked that question.”
Chase’s eyes shifted to his partner.
With a shrug Zoric smiled, almost with glee. “My hand slipped. Sorry.”
He nodded toward the door. “Let’s do this.”
Chapter 28
If needed, silencers would muffle the first sounds of gunfire when they went through the door. Discovering an empty room with one overhead light flickering toward failure, Chase quickly took it out. Luck was on their side. Just as the bulb crashed, lightning rattled the windows, followed by a long rolling rumble of thunder.
Wondering in that split second if Tessa was praying again, made him question his lack of faith. She believed God protected her at every turn. It irritated him to think she just might be right in thinking such nonsense. He’d given that up long ago when his parents died in China trying to save the masses. Where was God when they needed them? How about his sister when she died all alone from a drug overdose? What about the men he watched perish in Afghanistan? Didn’t God listen to them cry out?
The image of Tessa sitting in some room with a gag shoved in her mouth made him want to grin. He would save her this time, realizing she’d probably say: “Well, it’s about time. I thought I was going to have to do this all by myself.”
Either way, he knew she would be scared. That part of her would never change. Never exposed to the terror of the world until they met, forced her into a dangerous pact with Enigma a year earlier. As she evolved into an extraordinary woman, Chase grew smitten with her spunk and tenacity. That’s all he thought it was until she disappeared from his life. That familiar pain in his chest returned as soon as he laid eyes on her several days ago. Maybe if he just…
“Something’s not right, Chase.” He recognized Sam’s soft whisper in his earwig. “The backdoor is ajar and there’s a lot of nervous activity going on inside. Advise.”
“We’re inside. I can hear the ruckus. Count to ten and proceed with caution.”
Enigma spread out toward the corridor where men moved back and forth between rooms. They appeared to be dragging out men, bound and struggling to stay standing on unsteady feet. The captors hurried while yelling at their prisoners who tried to jerk away, only to be slapped or shoved into a wall.
One of the prisoners fell to the floor and looked up, making eye contact with Chase who nodded a sign of “everything was about to explode into action.” When the jailor reached down to grab the USS Liberty survivor by the collar, the American turned his head and bit the captor’s hand as hard as his jaw would allow. Just as he yelled out and started to drop his other fist on the old sailor, Chase pulled the trigger, sending him back two steps then down.
Other Egyptians poured out into the corridor, some using a hostage as their shield. Before they could get any shots off they were either shot from behind by Sam and Carter’s team or by Chase’s. Three threw up their hands in surrender yelling for mercy. The smell of gunpowder hung in the air. A series of coughs from the hostages broke the sudden silence as Enigma started checking the wounded.
“Who are you?” coughed one of the hostages as he staggered forward and stuck out his hand.
Chase switched his Glock to his other hand and grabbed the old man’s and smiled at the vice-like grip. “Secret Service and FBI, Sir.”
No point in telling him about Enigma. They never took credit for anything connected to national security. Living in the shadows gave them certain autonomy; no questions asked and no restrictions on solutions.
The other men slowly pulled themselves together and pushed toward Chase.
“The Speaker of the House. Is he still here?” Chase scanned the area.
Carter moved up behind the old warriors and shook his head that he hadn’t seen the speaker.
Another man nodded to Chase. “He’s gone. Took Jake Wakefield and his niece too.”
“Who did?” Chase felt Director Clark at his elbow.
“Another one of them.” He pointed at the wounded captors. “Except that Amon fella took pains to make us comfortable.”
“Oh, shut up, Mel!” It was Mike Strafford. “He was in charge. He left us here at the mercy of these guys. They were just about to kill us.”
Zoric came out of one of the rooms. “They were packing up, my friend. Looks like they were getting ready to burn the place down. Gasoline all over the floor. A few packed boxes of supplies. Guess they didn’t want it to look like anyone had been staying here.”
“Do you know who this Amon in charge was?” Chase looked back at the old warriors.
“No. But he was a heck of a lot nicer than the speaker. That guy is a snake.”
“What do you mean?” Chase didn’t like where this new information was headed.
“He was in on it.”
They all took turns telling their small bits of information which started to piece together like a puzzle.
“Do you have any idea where they took Jake and Mrs. Scott?” It was the director.
“No. But by the time they left, we thought the Egyptian in charge was trying to make a call to someone he claimed would give them sanctuary.”
The feeling of doom fell over the director as he remembered the prime minister’s phone ringing periodically. His brother would look at the caller I.D. then ignore. Was his brother telling him the truth about not being involved? “Did he say who?”
“Sorry.”
Chase touched his ear as Montgomery began to speak. “Saw some activity a few minutes ago. A car pulled out from another garage about 60 meters west. Cooper and I took one of the cars and followed, lights off. Stopped at another building. Looks like maybe three. Advise.”
“Get a closer look. Speaker Jim Gault may be a hostage.”
“Sir, it didn’t look to me like anybody was being held against their will.”
Chase paused with a sense of bewilderment. Three. That meant the possibility that Jake and Tessa had been moved somewhere else or they were still here, or maybe dead.
“Captain, this place is wired to blow. Plastic explosives up high on the beams. See.” Sam pointed up. “We can’t reach them in time. The building comes down, the gas burns and all that is left will be vapors. Probably be detonated by a cell phone.”
“Get everyone out except the Egyptians. Bring them to me.”
She nodded and disappeared.
Sam shoved one of the Egyptians toward Chase as the others began fil
ing out the building.
“Thanks, Sam. Now get the hell out of here.” Chase eyed the Egyptians with a stern frown.
“I’d like to stay, Captain.” Sam’s eyes turned on the Egyptians who made the mistake of eyeing her with lust. Her next words were in Egyptian Arabic. “I would like to tie these dogs to a pillar before it blows.”
Chase raised his chin in stubbornness without taking his eyes from the nervous men before him. “Very well.” He too, spoke in their language. “Any gas left in those cans?”
“Nearly 4 liters.”
He smiled satanically. “Pour it over their miserable heads.”
Director Clark walked up and clasped his team leader on the shoulder. “Hurry it up. We don’t know how much time we have.”
“We have more time than these girls.” Chase watched Sam throw gas on the Egyptians. They tried to back away until he lifted his gun.
“I wouldn’t start moving around. My gun might go off and spark a bar-b-que.”
They stopped fidgeting.
“The old man and the woman. Where are they?” Chase felt the director pull away and move with the FBI to escort the Liberty crew toward safety. Carter hung back and Zoric held an Uzi at the Egyptians’ backs.
Nothing.
Chase nodded at Sam who threw the gas can off to the side. She walked to an abandoned tool bench and lifted a butane torch. The self-igniter needed to be connected to the end and Sam made it a point to attach it with a slow, methodical style as she smiled wickedly over at the Egyptians. With little effort, she had a flame going in seconds before moving like a tiger stalking its prey.
“Where did they take the woman?” Chase felt almost amused as the men stared at the flame Sam carried like a bouquet of flowers. “You’ve got five seconds or you’re left here to roast.”
Winds of Deception (Enigma Series Book 2) Page 29