Reckoning

by Leigh, Jo

  Tonight, Boone and Seth were going to enter the chamber using Rodney’s fingerprints. The tension had the whole team on edge, and she found it safer to lock herself away and concentrate on her work. Nate, however, couldn’t lose himself in formulas. Although he didn’t carry out the missions, he felt the weight of each and every one.

  The day after they’d made the mold of Rodney’s hand, Nate had gone with Vince to the machine shop. She’d been completely terrified until he’d walked back through their door, and that memory helped her be patient when he was gruff, or when he paced across the small room for hours at a time.

  He held them all on his shoulders.

  Just as the fizz of her soda was dying down there was a knock on her door. It frightened her as it always did, but she let her training take over. She went to the bedside table and took her weapon out from the drawer. She released the safety as she crossed the room, and only then did she look through the peephole. It was Seth.

  “You busy?”

  “Just pouring myself a soda. Want one?”

  He nodded as he entered and didn’t blink when she put her gun back in the drawer. “I’ve had so much coffee my eyes have turned brown.”

  She laughed, having noticed his striking green-gold eyes the first time they’d met. “What’s up?” she asked as she poured his soda.

  “Not much. Can’t sleep, of course, and I’m annoying the crap out of Harper so I thought I’d come here.”

  “And annoy the crap out of me?”

  “Yep.”

  “Thanks. I could use a little distraction.”

  He sat down in the chair by the table and she took her drink and sank to the floor in front of the bed. “How are you two doing?”

  “Fine,” she said. “Why?”

  He studied the plastic glass. “Just thought I’d check in. Nate’s about the best man I know, but…”

  “Go on.”

  “He’s never been too keen on the whole relationship thing.”

  “Ah. Well, I know that about him. Kate warned me.”

  “So you know that you guys are probably not going to, uh—”

  “You mean he hasn’t told you?”

  Seth looked at her. “What?”

  “That we’re getting married.”

  His claw opened and shut, which Tam figured was an involuntary muscle spasm, although she wasn’t all that familiar with the way the prosthesis worked. “You are?”

  “I suppose I should have waited for him to tell you,” she said, keeping a straight face. “It won’t be a big wedding, but you guys will all be invited.”

  “Shit. Really? He never said anything. Does Christie know?”

  “Seth, I appreciate the talk, I do, but please don’t worry. We’re not getting married or even going steady. We’re taking each day as it comes.”

  He frowned, and she could see why Harper was always touching him. He was a good looking guy, almost as handsome as Nate. “That wasn’t nice.”

  “No, I suppose it wasn’t, but I warned you I was bored.”

  He drank some soda and made a little face. “What is this?”

  “Lime.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  “Seth?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Was that it? Just a general warning not to fall head over heels for the sergeant?”

  “Pretty much. You know the girls. They just—”

  “The girls? So it’s not just Harper, but Kate and Christie, too?”

  He nodded a little guiltily.

  “Why are they worried about me?”

  “I don’t know. I told them you weren’t a kid, but they wanted to make sure no one would get hurt.”

  “No one,” she said, under her breath, “meaning me. You’re right, I’m not a kid.”

  “Hey, we didn’t want to upset you, either. This is difficult enough without hurt feelings.”

  “I’m curious,” she said. “Did you draw the short straw?”

  “No. I volunteered. I’ve been with Nate through a lot. I’ve never seen him intentionally mislead anyone. But he always kept things short and sweet, you know?”

  She studied him, sure he was telling her the truth, not just about Nate but about his motives. “Tell me about him.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What’s he like when it isn’t the end of the world?”

  Seth leaned back in his chair, his claw resting in his lap, his other hand around the glass. He was in the uniform they’d all adopted—jeans, boots, T-shirts. It was still cold as hell out, but his jacket wasn’t built for warmth. She knew he had a weapon on him, probably at the small of his back. They were always wary and always prepared. “Well, he was good for a laugh.”

  “Nate?”

  Seth nodded. “Everyone wanted to hang out with him. Even senior officers. I won’t lie to you, he liked to party. There’s not a mission we’ve had where he didn’t know the hours of the nearest bar.”

  “Kate told me he was much hankered after.”

  He grinned. “Nice way of putting it. But yeah, the ladies always found him. The rest of us got his castoffs.” He shook his head. “To add insult to injury, he never lost at pool. Not once. He went up against some damn good players, too.”

  “I don’t believe it.”

  “I was there. The man knows how to play eight ball.”

  “I meant about you getting his castoffs.”

  Oh, she’d made him blush. How interesting. Big, tough Seth, who’d killed a man with his claw, and he was shy. She wouldn’t have guessed.

  “I did okay. But I was outclassed.”

  “What about when he wasn’t in a bar. Did he talk much about his family?”

  “Just Christie. We all knew about her. His folks? I don’t know the whole story, but I don’t think they got along too well.”

  That jibed with what she’d picked up. “He’s good at what he does, isn’t he?”

  “The best. He’s saved my life more than once. I’d follow him all the way through hell.”

  “I think we’re there, don’t you?”

  His head dipped down for a long moment, and when he looked at her again it was with that same fierceness she often saw on Nate’s face. “He’ll get us through.”

  “I believe you.”

  After another pause, he finished off his drink in a couple of gulps then stood. “I think Harper’s been without annoyance for too long.” He headed to the door and opened it slowly, looking down to the parking lot.

  “Seth?”

  He turned.

  “It’s going to last for you two, isn’t it?”

  His smile changed his face. “Yeah. It’s for keeps.”

  “Good. That’s really good.”

  “Hang in there, Tam. It’ll be over soon.”

  “One way or another.”

  “Think good thoughts,” he said, as he slipped outside and closed the door behind him.

  She didn’t go back to work. She didn’t even stand up. Seth had told her a great deal in a short time, most of it unspoken. It would be wise for her to think things through.

  Nate was an easy man to love, even for experienced women. She was nothing of the sort. He had taken her places she’d never dreamed of, all without leaving the room. She admired him, she liked him and loving him was only an inch away.

  The problem was, if she continued making love to him, would she be strong enough to let him go?

  * * * * * *

  It was just past 2:00 a.m. and most of the staff in the processing plant were on break. Including Rodney Hammond.

  Seth and Boone were in the full contamination gear required to enter the chamber. The face mask was a self-contained breathing apparatus, which not only had one canister of oxygen worn on the back, but an auxiliary unit in case the first canister failed. The only skin left uncovered was Boone’s hand, encased in its putty glove.

  They approached the hand scanner casually, as if they belonged there, but they were on full alert. Next to the chamber door were
huge warning signs. Evacuation routes were illustrated on a plaque, but Seth knew if it got to that there would be no time to escape. If anything went wrong, they were toast, but at least they wouldn’t live to be interrogated.

  Boone put his hand on the screen, and Seth held his breath. He thought about Harper, and how worried she was about this. He’d tried to tell her it would be okay, that all they were doing was getting a lay of the land in the inner chamber, but she hadn’t been reassured.

  She knew too well what death by Omicron’s gas was like. It was worse for her even than for Christie, because Harper had witnessed the devastating effects with her own eyes in Serbia.

  Boone’s hand with Rodney’s fingerprints were scanned, and time slowed as they waited for the red button to turn green. If it didn’t? They’d have to figure out another way in. If it did? He wasn’t sure he wanted to find out.

  It turned green. Rodney Hammond, who was most likely still wondering what the hell had happened to that gal at the Renegade, had come through like a champ.

  The two men stepped up to the thick metal doors which slid open without a sound.

  Inside, the room looked blue. It was the vapors from the cooling system, swirling in the air. On either side of a long walkway marked with vivid yellow paint were rows of stacked bomb casings. There must have been five hundred bombs in the room, each of them with a payload of instant death. Whoever bought them would need to launch them, either from a plane or from a stationary launcher, but the effect would be the same. They would rise into the sky and then a small explosion would crack the bomb casing and the container storing the gas. As the gas floated down everything it touched would die. Birds, insects, trees, fish. The people would be gone in agonizing minutes.

  The men stepped inside and the door closed behind them. Seth wanted nothing more than to get the job done and get out. He shivered, and he wondered if it was the cold, or the fact that this place existed at all.

  The two of them followed the yellow line, counting canisters as they walked. Seth pulled his small notebook out of his glove and began his diagram. The break would be over in ten minutes. He wanted to be finished in nine.

  Chapter 9

  The guys returned to the motel at 5:45 a.m. Every member of the team was up and waiting for them in Christie and Boone’s room.

  Nate studied both men. They looked weary as hell, the tension still etched in pale faces but he could see the iron beneath. They’d gotten the job done, as he’d expected.

  Boone handed him his notebook. Nate put it in his pocket and shook his friend’s hand. “Good job.”

  “It’s big and it’s tight. It won’t be a cakewalk.”

  Nate had expected nothing less. “It can be done?”

  “Damn straight.”

  Seth came up behind Boone and gave his notebook over. “Anybody else want a beer?”

  Nate grinned. He’d heard those words so many times it had become a ritual between them. No matter how close they’d come to cashing out, when the last bullet had been fired, they shared a beer. That it was just after dawn didn’t faze him. “Sounds good.”

  Seth shook his hand, which was also part of the routine, then he pulled him close in a hell of a bear hug. It was all Nate could do not to grunt as Seth’s enthusiasm overrode his typical caution with his metal prosthetic. Nate would have a bruise, not that he gave a shit.

  Christie and Harper went with the men into the kitchen to get the beers. He sat down next to Tam on the floor, leaving the couch to the victors. It was something of a surprise to see them bring back beers for everyone, but it felt right. They needed to celebrate every victory as a team. He glanced at Tam, knowing she didn’t care much for Corona, but she smiled and took hers without a blink.

  Vince and Kate were sitting by the kitchen on the floor. Cade was grinning, despite the fact that his companion was Milo. Christie sat very close to Boone on the couch so that Seth and Harper could squeeze in, too.

  When they were all settled, Nate lifted his bottle. “Here’s to good friends and a mission well done.” He drank, and the morning beer tasted about as good as a liquid gets. His team was safe.

  His arm went around Tam’s shoulder and she settled into his side. He watched her for awhile, as she celebrated with the rest of them, and yeah, she was part of the crew now. He felt good with her beside him in a way that he’d never experienced before.

  The women he’d been with had been fun and sexy and he missed them all, but they’d been bonus points. Sometimes he got lucky, sometimes he didn’t, but he never spent a moment wishing for more.

  He knew his feelings about Tam were connected to the circumstance and that he’d come to see her as more than just a brilliant woman, but as his good luck charm. Crazy, yeah, but he didn’t care. She was special. Special as hell.

  “So tell us about it,” Christie said.

  Boone looked at Nate, who figured they all had an equal amount to lose so why not know the facts. He nodded just enough for Boone to see.

  “It’s bigger than we’d imagined. And filled to the rafters with bombs.”

  “Bombs?” Christie asked. “I thought they made the gas there.”

  “They do. They put it in the bombs for delivery.”

  “So the targets are bombed first, then killed by the gas?”

  Boone smiled at her, and there was nothing patronizing in his expression, just affection. “The bombs explode in the air, babe. That’s how the gas is deployed.”

  “Oh.” She looked at Tam. “That’s why you tested the disbursement system in the cloud chamber. To see if it would spread like the gas. From above.”

  Nate felt Tam tense under his arm. Her failure to perfect the disbursement still bothered her a lot despite his frequent reassurance that she’d worked miracles with the antidote.

  “That’s why,” she said. “It was supposed to work as effectively as the bombs but…”

  “We’ll get there,” Christie said. “At least, thank God and you, we have an antidote.”

  “You had no trouble with the fingerprints?” Harper asked.

  Nate listened with half an ear as Seth went into detail about getting in and out of the chamber. He wanted to make sure Tam wasn’t falling into one of her funks. She tried so hard to hide her depression from him, to make sure he was all right. Still, he worried.

  Tam insisted she was fine, but this was her first real experience with failure. She’d told him about her academic career, which had been one success after another. What a hell of a way to miss the mark. The news about the deaths in Chad had made her physically ill.

  She put her half finished beer on the ratty carpet, and sunk further into his side. It wasn’t possible, not yet, but soon he’d take her back to the room and get her talking. He just hoped she trusted him enough to tell him the truth.

  For now, though, he needed to be with the team. A tough road lay ahead and every one of them needed to be heard. No one except Seth had been seriously hurt so far, and Nate intended to keep it that way.

  * * * * * *

  Tam left the meeting while Nate was still working out some plans with Vince. She walked around to the back of the motel and stared out at the desert. When she’d first arrived, she’d found it so ugly. But the cactus and the sagebrush had grown on her. Not that she’d want to live here forever, but the view soothed her.

  “Hey, you okay?”

  She turned, surprised to see that Cade had followed her. Of everyone on the team, she knew the least about him. “Yeah, sure.”

  He nodded at her, his big muscled arms crossed in front of his burly chest. “I just thought, you know, that maybe what Christie said brought up some bad memories.”

  She moved closer to him, completely surprised at his observation. He was right, of course, but she’d purposely put on a good show in there. He had to have been focused on her to have picked up on her mood.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I should have kept my mouth shut. I’ll go on back and leave you—”

  Sh
e touched his arm and she heard his sharp inhale. “It’s okay. I’m just surprised, that’s all. I though I hid it pretty well.”

  “You did,” he said, his gaze moving from her face to her hand and back. “I just, I don’t know. I notice things sometimes.”

  She took her hand away, watching his face. He was a better actor, she thought, than she was. He didn’t bat an eyelash. “It must be tough for you here.”

  “It is for all of us.”

  “I know. But I heard you left your fiancée when you went to Kosovo.”

  He nodded.

  “I can’t imagine.”

  “I write to her. I don’t mail the letters or anything, but I figure when this is over, I’ll let her read them.”

  “She’ll appreciate that.”

  He looked away, toward the distant mountains. “You remind me of her.”

  “How?”

  He shook his head. “It’s hard to explain. She’s a real nice girl. Loves her family, goes to church. She teaches the fourth grade.”

  “She sounds great.”

  “I think so. My friends used to tease me. Said I should have been born a hundred years ago. But I like that she’s simple. Not dumb or anything. She gets a kick out of the simple things, that’s all.”

  “I imagine we’d get along really well.”

  “I think so.”

  “You have a picture?”

  He reached into his back pocket and brought out a brown leather wallet. His girl’s picture was the first thing she saw when he flipped it open. He took the snapshot out and handed it to her.

  She was lovely. Long straight dark hair, fresh faced, with a slightly crooked smile. She wouldn’t have been considered pretty if it wasn’t for her eyes. They were a beautiful blue and they made her look so happy. “What’s her name?”

  “Ellen.”

  “She’s very pretty. I know you two are going to be so happy.”

  “She thinks I’m dead.”

  “I know.”

  “She’s probably got another guy in her life by now.”

  “Don’t think that. Just remember how much she loves you.”