********
It would take them about sixty seconds to reach the exit on the beach, but, as a grenade fell from above, he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold these guys off that long. Running as fast and as far away as he could, Myrick covered his head and ears as the explosion tore through the tunnel. Trying to shake off the effects of the concussion caused by an explosion in such a confined place, he noticed a small stream of water pouring out of a crack in the cement wall on his right. Leveling his rifle at the crack, he emptied his magazine until the small stream turned into a deluge of water from the pool that lay just outside. He knew there wouldn’t be enough water to fill the tunnel, but it might slow them down enough to give the others a chance to escape. Running through the water that was now more than a foot deep he wished they’d built a larger pool. Swimming for him was so much faster.
Bullets ricocheted off the walls all around him as their attackers shot blindly through the waterfall. They would come through it soon and when they did he would be a sitting duck. Giving everything he had to increasing his speed, he looked over his shoulder just as two men emerged from the wall of water. They raised their rifles and Myrick knew he was finished. The almost simultaneous muzzle flashes, the looks of satisfaction on the men’s faces, then the... nothing. Did they miss? Turning back around, he saw Beck standing ten feet away with her arms raised. Her shield had saved his life.
Running side by side, they reached the beach exit and joined the rest of their group behind the rocks. Myrick gave Beck a quick wink and his usual cheeky grin—his way of saying thanks.
“They’re right behind us. Orano, can you block the tunnel?” Beck was still holding her shield in place as she spoke.
“Not a problem. Stand back.” Orano stepped behind the boulders that shielded them from the house and, picking the largest one, hit it with several energy blasts until it toppled over, right on the tunnel’s entrance.
“Now what?” Steve asked. “It’s not going to take them long to figure out where we’ve gone.”
“I’ve got that one covered.” Jackie pointed down the beach at an approaching Chinook helicopter. “I called Director Finley as soon as the shooting started. Our ride is right on time.” Jackie smiled.
Two minutes later, they were onboard the enormous twin rotor helicopter, being covered by a machine gun at the shoulder window.
“Thanks for the ride, boys.” Myrine gave the pilot and crew chiefs a nod.
“Glad we could be of service, ma’am. You’ve got friends in some very high places. Or low places, depending on your perspective.”
The age-old animosity between the military and the CIA succeeded in breaking the tension caused by the firefight, and the inside of the Chinook erupted in laughter.
Chapter 30
Twenty minutes later, the helicopter landed at Mayport Naval Station where Myrine’s husband spent so much of his time when he was stateside. As she walked into the hangar beside him, she found herself bombarded with memories of the men her husband had called family for so many years.
The smell in the hanger, a mixture of fuel, stale sandwiches and sweat, hadn’t changed a bit. Nor had the drab gray walls with matching furniture. Still, she couldn’t help but smile at the look of joy in her husband’s eyes as he relived his own memories.
“Hey, Teletubby! You active again?”
Steve cringed at the southern drawl of his old friend and mentor as he used a nickname that he thankfully hadn’t heard in years. Ignoring the smirks and raised eyebrows of his companions, Steve turned and shook hands with Commander Samuel “Hawkeye” Pierce. “It’s good to see you, Commander.”
“You, too, Teletubby. When we were called up to a give an assist to another agency, I had no idea you’d be involved. Things are looking up already.”
Steve turned to the rest of the team and made the introductions. “Everyone, this is Commander Samuel Pierce, or Hawkeye. He’s one of the toughest SEALs you’ll ever meet and has saved my ass more times than I can count.” One by one, Steve introduced the group to his former commander, leaving the best to last.
“Commander, you remember my wife, Myrine, and daughter, Mirissa, don’t you?”
“Well, I’ll be damned. It’s good to see you, Myrine.” The commander leaned in for a hug and whispered in her ear, “You’re going to have to explain all of this to me over a drink sometime.” He turned. “And this young lady must be Mirissa. The last time I saw you, you were knee-high to a grasshopper. You know you’re the reason your daddy got that nickname, right?”
Mirissa couldn’t help but smile at the man. “No, sir. How’d I do that?”
“Well, your daddy came in for a training exercise one day with a little extra bonus on his uniform. I guess he’d given you a hug before he left your house that morning and you’d slapped one of your favorite stickers onto his back. Poor guy wore it the whole day before someone finally took pity on him and told him about it. He’s been Teletubby ever since.”
“At least my nickname’s original.” Steve said, laughing. “Yours was borrowed from an old TV show just because of your last name.”
“Fine, we can argue the merits of our nicknames later. Now, we’ve got some business to attend to. So, tell me. What are we up against?”
Myrine understood the assumption Steve’s old commander had made by addressing that question to him but appreciated it when her husband stood aside and motioned to her. “This is Myrine’s show, Hawkeye. I’m just along for the ride.”
“All right then, ma’am. Get me up to speed.”
“What has Director Finley told you so far?” Myrine asked the commander, feeling nervous about her role as Omega Group’s leader for the first time that she could remember.
“Just that we’ve got one whopper of a bad guy trying to tear the world apart and my team is supposed to give you whatever assistance you require. No questions asked. Our clearance has been moved to the highest level for the duration of this mission.”
“And how much do you know about my team?”
A smile lit up the commander’s face. “If you’re asking if I know about your special skills, I do.”
“All right, then. Get your team together. I need to make a call and then we’ll get to work.” Myrine pulled out her cell phone and called Safe House Alpha. Julian answered on the first ring.
“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you.”
“We ran into a little trouble at the safe house. What have you got for me?”
“Well,” Julian started, “it’s been slow going without the Cray at the office, but I think I might have pieced together Daedric’s plan.”
Myrine waited for him to continue.
“Do you remember those losing investments that Daedric made? Well, someone went through a hell of a lot of trouble to wipe all traces of those companies off the Internet, but that someone wasn’t good enough to hide them from me.”
Myrine tried to be patient while Julian paused for dramatic effect, but she didn’t have time for this today. She needed this information yesterday. “Julian, we’re on a very tight schedule. I know you’re a genius but I really need you to tell me what you found.”
Sounding a little contrite, Julian continued. “Sorry. Every one of those companies had some sort of breakthrough with sustainable green energy. Some of them were minor, but some of them were huge. Like, save the planet huge. As soon as they succeeded, Daedric would sweep them up, tank the research, and the scientists involved would either disappear completely or die a sudden death—car accidents, heart attacks, suicides, you name it. Then all records of the discovery were wiped clean, like it never existed in the first place.”
Myrine tried to digest this new information, and as she did a shiver ran up her spine.
“Now,” Julian continued, “when you add that information to what we already knew about his investment portfolio, it paints a pretty clear picture.”
“Yes, it does.” Myrine’s mouth had gone dry. The implications of t
his new information were devastating no matter how you looked at them. “Where is Daedric now?”
Julian tapped a few keys on his computer and said, “His private jet left for Atlanta late last night, but according to his flight plan, he’s due back in Jacksonville at 9:30 this morning.”
“Thanks, Julian. Keep looking for more information. Anything might help.”
“You got it, boss.” Then the line went dead.
When Myrine turned around, she found her team, along with Commander Pierce’s, staring at her. This was why she never played poker, she thought.
With everyone seated in the staging area, Myrine brought the SEAL team up to speed on what they knew about Daedric, his investment portfolio mostly. Then she updated everyone with the information she’d just received from her computer expert.
“Like it or not, every nation in the world is completely reliant on oil. Daedric has made sure of that. If he wanted to cripple us, taking out the oil supply would be an easy way for him to do that.”
Hammerhead, one of the younger SEAL team members, spoke up. “But, why would he do that? Wouldn’t it hurt him just as badly as it would everyone else?”
“In theory, yes,” Steve said. “But he went to a lot of trouble to stop the world from getting other energy sources and he wouldn’t have done that without an endgame in mind. I’m not saying I understand it, but I think it’s a safe bet that he’s got one.”
“But if his portfolio is heavily invested in oil, he’ll lose everything if he messes with the supply.” Lincoln, a former teammate of Steve’s that got his nickname from his unfortunate resemblance to the former president, chimed in.
“I don’t think this is about money anymore.” Myrine was still trying to put all the pieces in place. “It may have been at one time, but now it’s about much more than that. Daedric believes he should be ruling the world. I think he would gladly sacrifice his portfolio if it meant reaching his greater goal.”
Commander Pierce spoke up for the first time since her phone call with Julian. “This is all speculation. We’ve got no hard proof of any of this. Even if you’re right, and I’m not saying you are, what would our plan of attack be? We don’t know if, when, what or where he’ll strike.”
The room went quiet as everyone pondered their complete lack of answers to those questions. From the back of the hangar, the slamming of a door announced the entrance of a young sailor with a look of terror on his face.
“Sir, you need to turn on CNN. Something’s happened.”
Chapter 31
CNN Special Report
The world was rocked today as a series of explosions tore through Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, Canada, Iraq, the UAE, Venezuela, Mexico, and right here at home in what could be the largest, coordinated terrorist attack in history.
The targets appear to have been the oil wells and production facilities in each of the affected countries.
Estimates are now just coming in, but the casualties caused by these attacks could be in the thousands, and that number is only a fraction of what it will be if, in fact, the oil production in these countries has been destroyed.
Experts agree that these ten countries, the United States included, are the top ten oil-producing countries in the world, accounting for more than sixty-five percent of the world’s oil production. That is a production level of over 53 million barrels per day. More than all other oil-producing countries combined.
A high-ranking official from the International Energy Agency spoke to us under the promise of anonymity. This is what he had to say:
“This could be a catastrophic event, affecting every last person on earth. If the oil production from these ten countries is truly stopped for any reason, our lives as we know them are over. Our society is completely and utterly dependent on oil and I don’t even want to imagine what the state of our union, and that of the rest of the world, will become.”
Chilling words to be sure.
Our in-house terrorism expert, Max Blunt, is in the studio with his thoughts on these heinous attacks. Max?
“None of this makes any sense, Julia. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks and that does not surprise me at all. Regardless of your personal religious or moral beliefs, every terrorist group on record has always had some sort of goal in mind—even if we find that goal appalling. These attacks do nothing to help any group we know of attain its goals. Quite the opposite, in fact. There just doesn’t seem to be any benefit for any group to destroy the world’s oil production.”
Stay with us here at CNN as we bring you all the details of these horrendous attacks. I’m Julia Saxon and we’ll be right back.
Chapter 32
Myrine, Commander Pierce, and everyone else in the room stared slack-jawed, at the television. If those reports were correct, the damage to society would be incalculable. The initial loss of life at the explosion sites would be a drop in the bucket compared to what would happen in the months and years to come. The entire country – the world - would be in a state of emergency for the foreseeable future.
“I assume you believe this is Daedric’s doing?” asked Pierce.
Still in shock from the news, Myrine simply nodded her head.
Commander pierce continued, “Then my earlier questions have been answered. We know when, we know what, and we know where he struck. The only question left is, what are we going to do?”
Shaking off her initial shock, Myrine focused on what she could control. They were too late to prevent Daedric from initiating these attacks, but maybe they could still stop him from using the aftermath to ascend to whatever “throne” he thought he deserved.
Maybe.
“All right,” Myrine began. “We have a lot of work to do and very little time to do it in. Here,” she grabbed a box of mobile phones from the table. “These phones will replace the ones we lost at the safe house. They’re already programmed with your phone numbers, so make sure you grab the right one. Jackie, call Julian. We need to know what Daedric’s next move is. These attacks hurt him just as much, if not more, than the rest of us, so this can’t be his endgame. There has to be something more. Ken, get me everything you can on Daedric’s recent and scheduled travel plans. I need to know where he’s been and where he’s going, as well as whom he’s been meeting and talking with. The rest of my team, get in touch with your brethren again. These attacks are spread all over the world and we’re going to need an army to cover everything. Commander Pierce, please have your team ready themselves. We’ll need all forms of transportation ready at a moment’s notice and all the weapons we can carry.”
“Yes, ma’am. Where are we headed?”
“As soon as I know, you’ll know.”
Myrine paused for a moment to clear her mind. “Daedric made his move and it was a devastating one, but the fight isn’t over. It’s up to us to put an end to this. He may have won the first round, but we’re going to make sure that’s the only win he gets.”
Grainger stepped forward and spoke for the first time since entering the hangar. “What about my wife? By now they’ve realized I’m MIA, which means they know I helped you. She doesn’t have much time.”
Myrine could see the fear in Grainger’s eyes and understood how he felt. She would feel the same way if it were Steve or Mirissa that was in danger. But right now, she needed all of her resources focused on the worldwide problem, not the life of one woman. “Bill, I know I gave you my word, but with everything that’s happened…” she let her voice trail off, unable to bring herself to say the words.
Steve moved to stand beside Grainger and rested his hand on his shoulder. “Let me help him. I’m not part of your team so you won’t miss my help, and we owe it to him to at least try.”
Myrine knew her husband was right, but that didn’t make it any easier. She couldn’t ensure his safety if he wasn’t with her.
Commander Pierce interrupted. “Take Blackjack and Lincoln with you. You guys worked together for a long time, and I doubt th
ere’s much on God’s green earth that you couldn’t handle.”
Steve nodded his thanks to his former commander, then looked at his wife expectantly.
“All right,” she said. “Grainger, do you know where she’s being held?”
A look of resignation fell over his face. “Yeah. She’s in the worst possible place. Daedric’s house.”
“Here’s what I want you to do,” Myrine said. “You’ve only got a few hours before Daedric gets back from Atlanta. Get in, get Meghan, and get out. I want you long gone before his plane touches down.”
Chapter 33
Daedric sat at his desk in his home office staring out his picture window at the St. John’s River and the Jacksonville skyline in the distance. His guests from Atlanta would be arriving soon and he was enjoying this quiet time while he could. The view from the back of his Ortega home was spectacular and would have been more than enough reason for him to purchase this property on its own. But that wasn’t what had attracted him to this neighborhood, nor was it the reason he laid out millions of dollars to buy this house. It was the address that made this place irresistible to him.
Ortega was one of the richest and most prestigious neighborhoods in the country. It was an island surrounded by the St. John’s River on one side and the Ortega River on the other. The man-made land bridge was the only thing connecting it to the mainland and the wealthiest of men waited years for property on this island to become available.
Daedric had only waited minutes.
Once he found the mansion he wanted, Daedric simply made the owner an offer he, quite literally, couldn’t refuse. He could have paid much less than he did, nothing even, but felt the scrutiny he’d surely receive once the public records showed an unbelievable purchase price wasn’t worth it. Paying fair market value was the easiest way for him to stay under the radar, and a few million to him was a drop in the bucket.
Crossfire (Book 1) (The Omega Group) Page 13