by JC Ryan
“I wish I’d been there,” Irene told Sean. “Bill told me that the Chief of Staff called the Secretary of State when he first told POTUS what he wanted. And he almost had a heart attack when he walked in just in time to hear POTUS saying ‘I want it very clear that MY people are in charge of this investigation. Your police, military, and secret services will report to them. And we will leave no stone unturned. Is that clear, Mr. President?’ Then, after he’d hung up, SecState said, ‘Mr. President, you can’t speak to the head of a sovereign nation that way.’ And POTUS told him, ‘I’m the damn President of the most powerful nation on earth, and no damn sovereign nation is going to stand by and let our kids be kidnapped. Greece is part of NATO, and the allied forces saved their sorry asses during World War II. What’s more, the USA and the UK were the ones who managed to keep Greece out of the Soviet Union when Europe was divided after the war. So, I damned well expect them to cooperate. Dismissed.’ Sam Grant would be so proud of him!”
Sean shook his head in admiration. “We’re going to be able to work with him. I’m just happy that’s out of the way and I didn’t have to do it.” He chuckled grimly, the first time he’d seen any modicum of humor in anything since he’d heard from Dylan that morning. He’d have taken a different approach, but the President’s worked just fine for him. “Who are you sending with me, Irene?”
“You’re going where, to Athens? Or Crete?”
“Crete. Carter needs my SEAL experience with him. We could use a couple of agents to watch our backs, handle things onshore, and set up standing comms links with Dylan’s crew in Athens. I’m sending everyone we can spare to him.”
“My best comms people are with the FBI. I’ll send one to Athens and another to Crete, with you. I’ll have the rest ready when you get here. How are you getting here?”
“The milk run came in this morning. I’ve detained the plane here, since Carter’s jet is in Athens. I’ll be boarding as soon as I’ve made a few other calls. What’s our transport?”
“Air Force One is standing by. The President insisted. And I’m sending a faster military plane that your landing strip can handle, to pick you up.”
“Roger that. Give me an hour.”
“They’ll be there when you’re ready.”
Sean called on his own network of operatives. Not everyone in Executive Advantage was lodged at Tala, of course, and assets belonging to allies were available throughout the world. Every one of them was dedicated and ready to drop everything at a moment’s notice to answer the call. The Devereuxs were among the most valuable assets A-Echelon and the United States had. No expense was too much to retrieve their kids for them.
Within hours, operatives began to gather in Athens, and Irene O’Connell, horrified at the news the children were at risk, had smoothed the way for them to assist the Greek police. A massive effort to locate anyone who’d been on the Acropolis on the morning of the kidnapping was under way. Executive Advantage operatives would assist in the interviews and accompany police to run down any leads.
Meanwhile, Sean was on his way to Crete.
MACKENZIE CALLED HER mother back. “Sean’s team is there or on the way. Dylan will be there as soon as he can to lead them. Do you and Dad want to come home and wait with me?” She had accepted Carter’s argument that she could do no good on site and needed to stay at home where she would be safe to wait for the kids to be rescued and sent to her.
“No, dear. We’re the ones who lost them. We will bring them home to you,” her mother said stoutly.
“Mom, it isn’t your fault. I felt the same way, but Carter told me it’s no one’s fault but the kidnapper’s. You and Dad should come home.”
“I just can’t… can’t leave them here,” her mom answered, sobbing. “They’ll be so scared. I have to be here.”
She didn’t say she thought Mackenzie should be, too, but Mackenzie heard the message loud and clear anyway. “Then I’ll be there as soon as I can, too. I’ll just have to make Carter understand.”
Before she started to make travel arrangements, she decided to wait for Carter’s next call. Meanwhile, she needed to inform her research people what was going on. She headed on foot to the lab. Keeva was still with her, and still trailing Keeva was the little female, still whining.
Mackenzie stopped in her tracks. “Keeva, does your little girl know where my little girl is?”
Keeva just looked at her with wise wolf eyes and leaned on her leg again. Mackenzie chose to take it as a sign. She squatted on her heels and held her arms out. To her surprise, the young wolf came to her and allowed itself to be hugged. Mackenzie hoped and prayed that Beth could feel it.
She got up and hurried to the lab, feeling confident her children were alive, somehow. She’d come to trust the connection with Keeva, and she felt that the little female would be in even more distress if her connection with Beth were cut off. She interpreted the whining as the young wolf knowing Beth was in danger, but she was convinced it would be howling if Beth were… gone.
Once inside the lab, Mackenzie sent the first person she saw to gather the others and meet her in the conference room. With as much dignity as she could muster, she explained what was going on and that she’d be leaving as soon as possible to join her parents in Athens to wait for news. Then she asked for a status report.
One by one, the scientists reported that there was nothing likely to need her attention for the next few days. The veterinarian reported that Methuselah was still showing signs of increased vigor and antisocial behavior, even though two of the three respirocyte generators had been removed. He still had no way of knowing where the other one had migrated after escaping the mesh.
“You know that we’re eventually going to have to find out, don’t you?” she asked him gently.
He hung his head. “I know.”
There was nothing more to say. With the best wishes of her team ringing in her ears, Mackenzie returned home to wait for Carter’s call.
28
WHEN AHAB HAD captured Carmen, he’d had the luxury of time, or so he thought. He’d kept her in the cave she was guarding at first, after luring her into the tunnel and then stunning her. He’d expected to kill her, and that was all right with him, because he assumed she was guarding it because it contained something valuable or dangerous. His imagination didn’t deviate from his fixation. Since, to him, the Minotaur was both valuable and dangerous, his logic dictated that the Minotaur must be in the cave.
It was a bitter disappointment when he didn’t find one there.
He’d returned to the tunnel and pulled her into the cave, meaning to pantomime his demands, since she clearly understood his hand gestures and mimicked human responses. But nothing he could do or say to her in the cave produced the response he wanted.
On the day he’d overheard Carter Devereux’s conversation with the mother, he’d known that though she wasn’t valuable to him as a guide, her value as a hostage was immense. Hearing that the mother dolphin and Devereux would enter the cave the next day, he had stunned the dolphin again to control her, and pulled her out through the tunnel.
With the young one tethered in a net beside the yacht, he’d done some research to see if he could get her through the other river entrance, even though some of the completely flooded areas would tax her ability to control her breathing for the time required. In the early morning hours of the next day, he left her tethered to his yacht and swam to shore.
A stroll through the back streets and alleys of the town netted him a meeting with an unsavory character who, for a price and with a wait of a couple of hours, got him what he needed to sedate the dolphin. When he returned to the yacht, he injected her with a dose of ketamine that he assumed would put both sides of her brain to sleep. Then he fashioned a makeshift oxygen supply and fastened it over the dolphin’s blowhole.
Towing her through the underground river was more difficult than he’d thought it would be. In spots, the passage was so narrow that he was afraid the mask would come
off her, and without her help in propelling herself, it took him longer than it had when he was alone. But he’d managed.
Now, he was forced to do the same with the Devereux children. He didn’t particularly care if both survived the trip through the river, so long as one did. However, since he couldn’t guess which one was most likely to survive it, he prepared them both.
They were so much smaller than he that he thought they would make it through the tight spots with SCUBA tanks. However, they wouldn’t be able to swim fast enough to avoid running out of air. He’d have to tow them, like he did the dolphin. This time, he’d use the Sea-Bob, but in some places he’d have to shut off its motor and push it ahead of him to fit through the narrow spots. And he’d give them some of the ketamine to sedate them and slow their respiration. Presumably, at least the smaller one, the little girl, would have enough air in the tanks to make it.
LIAM WOKE TO utter darkness. Wherever he was, it smelled like the caves on Freydis. It took him a while to remember what had happened, and when he did, the memory jerked him all the way to full consciousness with a jolt of fear. Where was Beth?
He tried calling her at first. His throat was sore, and his mouth was dry, though he could feel dampness in the air. He widened his eyes to be sure they were open. Though there was no light at all, he was certain they were. “Beth,” he called again.
No answer.
Liam tried moving his arms, and to his relief, they were not tied. With that experiment successful, he moved his legs. Then he sat up. He was free, but he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. The sound of moving water nearby made him cautious. He rolled to his hands and knees and crawled toward where he thought it was coming from, slowly, so as not to fall into whatever the water was.
Before he reached the water, his hand landed on something that wasn’t rock or dirt. He felt back and forth. “Beth?”
A small moan startled him, but realization he’d probably found his sister was close on the heels of his fright. He felt for her face and began patting her.
“Beth, wake up.”
Just before he’d begun to despair of waking her, she stirred. A few moments later, he felt when she came awake, because she recoiled and gave a little scream.
“Beth, it’s me. Liam,” he added, in case she didn’t recognize his voice.
“Liam! You scared me,” she said in a voice he recognized as indignant. “Turn on the light!”
“Beth, listen. Do you remember the man that picked you up?”
“What man?”
“We were on the Acropolis, remember? And you stopped to talk to a stranger.” He didn’t even try to keep it from sounding like an accusation. They both knew better than to talk to strangers, but she had, and this is what happened.
“I…” Beth’s voice faltered. “He asked me where my daddy was,” she explained.
“He grabbed you, and when I tried to stop him, he grabbed me, too,” Liam pointed out.
“I’m sorry, Liam. I won’t do it again. Can we go home now?”
Her voice went up at the end of her sentence, and Liam knew that meant she was about to cry. Then he heard her sniffle. Liam sometimes thought his little sister was annoying, and he was mad at her for getting them into this situation. But he was the big brother. It was up to him to comfort her and to figure out what to do. He pulled her to a sitting position and put his arms around her.
“Don’t worry, Beth. Dad will find us. And I’ll protect you until he does.”
Beth’s little arms went around his neck. “Liam, I’m scared.”
“I know. Stay right here. I have to try to find the entrance to this cave.”
“How do you know it’s a cave?”
“It smells like a cave. And if you’ll listen quietly, you can hear the water running. I’ll bet it’s an underground river. Ahote told me about those.”
The children were both quiet for a minute. Then Beth said, in a very small voice, “Be careful Liam. Don’t fall in the river.”
“I won’t.”
Liam had to pull his sister’s hands away when he started crawling around again. She’d grabbed his shirt and wouldn’t let go. But she hadn’t grabbed him again after he reassured her he’d be right back.
He was beginning to imagine he could see in the darkness. There was a faint glow in the cave, he thought. He even imagined it glinting off the water a few feet away. He sat back on his heels again and rubbed his eyes. There was something dark in the water.
“I don’t believe in monsters,” he said stoutly.
“I do,” echoed Beth.
“Shh.”
Liam looked up and realized it wasn’t his imagination. The cave was glowing, an eerie green like in illustrations in some books he’d read. He didn’t care where the glow came from, he was just grateful he could see, even a little bit. But he still didn’t want to risk getting to his feet and stumbling over something or misjudging the edge of the water. He crawled toward the dark shape.
The shape was draped with a net, and it was in the water. He put his hand out tentatively, ready to snatch it back if the shape moved. When he touched it, the shape suddenly thrashed inside the net, and he withdrew his hand quickly. The shape started making noises.
He’d heard those noises before. Was it…?
Beth spoke. “Is that a dolphin, Liam? Tell it to send a message to Mom.”
CARMEN WAS WEAK with hunger and trying to escape the net. It had been a long time since she’d felt strong enough to try to signal her mother, and she didn’t know if the signal could reach anyone from this dark place.
And then she’d heard land-human speech. It sounded different, much higher pitched than the land-humans’ voices she’d heard before. She didn’t understand some of the words, and she struggled to think why. When the small hand touched her, she’d recoiled instinctively, but when she’d recovered from the fright, she knew what was happening.
These were land-human children in this place with her. She began to tell them to run away, that there was a bad land-human here with them. But they couldn’t understand her, of course. So, she used the last of her energy to send as strong a signal as she could.
29
DYLAN WAS THE first to arrive on the scene in Athens. He went straight to the hotel where Liu waited along with Carter’s in-laws. Assuring them he was on the job, he then went to arrange lodging for the operatives Sean was sending, along with a larger room where they could meet.
As soon as they arrived, Dylan laid out the mission. “Okay, listen up! This is an Executive Advantage mission. You all understand that you report to me, correct?”
Nods and murmurs of assent all around assured him he didn’t need to further establish his authority. He’d worked with a few of these guys before, including some SAS operators he’d greeted by name when they arrived. If there was any question, they’d let the others know he was, modestly, a good leader. His annual evals usually said ‘excellent’. He would involve them in decisions, but ultimately the buck stopped with him.
He gave them a brief overview of the circumstances. Then, “Okay. Our first task is to find the children and secure them. Once they are safe, I’ll assign who will stay here to guard them and their grandparents, and the rest of you will be with me to track down the bastard that took them. We have the full cooperation of the Athens police.”
“Do we have arrest authority?” an MI5 agent asked.
“We do. However, we are also authorized to use deadly force if necessary to save the kids. That is not the outcome we want. I’m sure you’re all aware we want to question the perp and find out why he took the kids. But keep your side-arms ready.”
“This is not a kidnapping for ransom?”
“We don’t know, yet, but no ransom demand has been communicated.”
“I don’t mean to criticize, mate,” another began. “But how’d he get by you?”
“Unfortunately, I wasn’t here. I was called away on another kidnapping.” He didn’t add that it was a dolp
hin who’d been kidnapped. That was need-to-know.
“Related?”
Dylan thought for a minute, then slowly said, “Don’t see how it could be, but I’ll check it out. Everyone clear on their assignments?”
The MI5 agent who’d spoken answered crisply. “Take point on questioning wits. The Athens police will give us a list. Get a description and circulate to all European law-enforcement agencies. Issue a BOLO. Get the kids back, nail the bastard.”
“That sums it up. I’ll be right behind you, as soon as I’ve checked out the possible link.” He dismissed the team and immediately called Carter.
Carter was at the small airport where he’d taken off in the helicopter to pick up Dylan two days before. While waiting for Sean’s arrival, he was playing the blame-game with himself for taking Dylan away from the kids, pacing the small lobby like a caged animal. As much as he told himself he wasn’t at fault, he couldn’t make as convincing an argument to himself as he’d made to Mackie. The what-ifs were killing him.
Barely suppressing the urge to put his fist through the nearest solid argument, he almost didn’t hear his phone. When he answered, Dylan spoke without a greeting.
“Carter, one of the team members here has offered a theory. Is there any way this kidnapping could be related to the dolphin’s?”
“Maybe. I don’t see how, yet. I mean, I don’t even know how anyone could know those kids are mine, much less that my kids would be in Athens without a bodyguard. But he’s right. I do think they are.” Carter didn’t realize he’d wounded his friend until he’d waited for a few seconds without an answer. “Aw, hell, Dylan, don’t blame yourself. I’m the one who pulled you away.”