The Enigma Series Boxed Set

by Tierney James

  ~ ~ ~

  Tessa slapped his hand aside and touched him again. “Stop being a baby. I know they are, that’s why I’m touching you. You’ll feel better in a minute.” She managed to put both her hands on the ugly bruise with an awkward unsteadiness. Chase’s right arm circled her waist. She managed to keep her hands still enough until his heat swallowed her healing touch. Looking up into his face, she found him watching her like an angry lion.

  Her daughter’s favorite Disney movie was Beauty and the Beast. The scene where Belle doctors the Beast’s wounds raced to mind and she couldn’t help smiling inwardly knowing the Beast was eventually tamed.

  “Better?” She removed her hands as she gently lowered his tee shirt over the area. He nodded, but didn’t immediately release his hold on her body. “I, I…” she battered her eyes nervously at him, “should get something for those cuts.” Timidly, Tessa touched his face and felt him pull away.

  “I’m fine. Let’s move,” he said firmly. “Gotta get the hostages to safety. Any idea where Carter got to,” he said turning his eyes on Vernon who had taken a position of watching the corridor for further action.

  “Find a female hostage and Carter will be there making sure he’s the hero.”

  “Makes sense. Let’s go.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Straightening up to his full five foot ten inches, Essid looked at Honey still glued to the computer screen. His silence, flaring nostrils and twitching index fingers at his side drew Honey’s attention back to him. Essid began to pace like a caged beast.

  “We’re in trouble, Essid,” Honey whispered forcefully. “Chances are the men on the loading dock are too. That leaves Mansur, me and the two goons eyeing the women over there like they’re a piece of meat. Ever since you said they could have them their attention has been on that, not what we’re trying to do here!” Honey stepped so close Essid could feel her breath on his lips. “We’ve got time to get out. Let’s cut our losses and leave while we can,” she insisted.

  “No,” he snapped as he walked away and began to pace. “Not without destroying this place.”

  Zoric sniffed with disgust. “Fine. Blow it to hell, but let these innocent people go. Have some humanity.”

  Essid stormed up to the Serbian and grabbed him by the throat. “Humanity! When has your country ever shown my people humanity? Was in in Iraq or Afghanistan? How about in Libya when we begged for you to intervene with Kaddafi? And them,” he said pointing at the Russians. “They killed my wife merely because she was from Chechnya.”

  “These Russians had nothing to do with that,” Zoric choked feeling Essid’s fingers tighten on his windpipe. “They want to make the world a better place.”

  Sam tried to push Essid with her body to force his release of Zoric. He did so with a back-hand slap to her face, knocking her down only to be jerked back up by the hair. He pulled her head back with one hand and slid the other down one breast. “American women try to be like their men.” Shoving her into Zoric he smiled. “I will have this one for myself.”

  Honey angrily stepped in front of Sam. “You are no better than them if you take her!” She shoved on his chest putting distance between him and Sam. “I hate you!” she screamed.

  Essid jerked her in his arms and held tightly as she tried to squirm away. “Jealousy becomes you. And all along I thought you were void of any feelings at all,” he teased with a condescending tone. He felt her relax within his hold. “Now that’s better. Get these two ready to move. We’ll take them to the area where the Molybdenum is being stored. I want nothing to be left of them when this place goes.”

  Honey nodded as her breathing began to return to normal. She turned and slammed Sam up against the wall as she landed a blow to her stomach. “I regret we will not fight to the death,” she said listening to Sam gasp for breath.

  “Let me loose. Let’s do it.” Her voice gasped with pain.

  Essid held up his hand in impatience. “As attractive as that sounds to me I do not have the time. Mansur, you take them down. I cannot depend on Honey,” he said with a smirk, “to not try and kill the beautiful one before time is up. Go!”

  Mansur nodded and gave Zoric a shove toward the door. Sam followed obediently as she gave Jericho a fleeting look of regret. He smiled weakly and mouthed he was okay. The two Libyan guards spoke loudly as if disappointed when Sam disappeared through the door. Essid frowned at them so sternly that they soon hushed.

  The two military guards reached out and patted Sam on the butt as she passed only to be assaulted by a borage of adjectives and nouns from her pretty mouth. Her onslaught only managed to bring masculine laughter and a volley of insults. She attempted to spit at them but missed.

  “Elevator,” Mansur commanded and shoved them in roughly when the door opened. He lowered his weapon to push the first-floor button. As he turned to look at his prisoners he saw they had removed their plastic cuffs and held them loosely in front of them. “I was afraid I’d made them too tight,” he said with relief. “We can’t go to the lobby. Essid will be watching.” He touched each floor button. “Let’s get off before then.”

  Sam took the Glock he’d hidden under his shirt in his waistband. “I’m going to strangle Honey Lynch,” she warned as Zoric took his knife from Mansur who’d been able to hide it in his boot.

  The elevator doors opened slowly to the third floor, soft jazz playing in the background as if it were any other day. Both he and Sam put their hands behind their backs to appear contained as Mansur took a defensive stance.

  Waiting with AK-47s aimed at chest level were Carter and the trucker named Joe.

  “I was just about to come rescue you,” Carter quipped as he lowered his weapon.

  Sam snarled as she stepped off the elevator. “We got tired of waiting on you. Figured you’d lost your nerve.”

  Carter grinned and looked sheepishly over at the trucker. “She gets like this when we’re apart for very long.”

  Sam whirled around and crossly snapped: “What?”

  Joe took a step back and nodded respectfully to the beautiful Samantha Cordova. “You kids will be together again before you know it.” Sam looked from Joe to Carter with an arched, angry eyebrow. “What’s he talking about?”

  “You two have a thing. I get it. Carter shared with me how you two…”

  Sam shoved Carter so fiercely up against the glass wall it rattled. “A thing? I would rather lay with a pig before I had a ‘thing’ with him.” She shifted her sharp eyes to Joe. “Better yet I’d take you before him.”

  Joe lifted his hands in protest. “Wait a minute now. I’m a married man.”

  Sam rolled her eyes. “Oh, shut up.”

  Carter continued his grinning as he straightened and leaned in to whisper in Joe’s ear. “I told you she was crazy about me.”

  Joe shook his head as the team began moving down the hall. “That kind of crazy can get you killed.” He began listening to Sam plan all the things she planned to do to Honey Lynch with a little concern. “Why does she hate that Honey person so much?” he said in a low voice.

  Zoric heard him and volunteered the information. “Honey killed her cat a few years ago.”

  Joe looked even more concerned. “She’s going to do all that to her over a cat?”

  Carter smiled watching the backside of Sam. “The cat was a Bengal Tiger.”

  Chapter 29

  T he air conditioning failed along with other electrical services on timers throughout Global Navigation when Vernon Kemp tinkered with the sophisticated computer systems. The company promised to have the ability to sense people working at any hour, any floor, in any office or lab by merely recognizing body heat. Climate would automatically adjust to that area insuring the population of Global Navigation felt no discomfort which might interfere with their work.

  Wanting to be the poster child for environmental consciousness and responsibility, the buildings had been created with all the latest high efficiency mechanisms known to man in the creation of
the plant and operational offices and labs. Unfortunately, when Vernon blocked several climatic sensors and fed in a “Global Warming” virus he created, the buildings gradually began to warm.

  Eventually the rooms would become so warm the computers would sense hot spots releasing the overhead sprinkler systems. They would abruptly stop, sending the air conditioning controls into overload, dropping the temperature down in the fifties. After several hours the process would begin again.

  Honey frowned at Mansur when he reentered the room, wiping sweat from his face with the shoulder of his faded shirt. She didn’t know how brothers could be so different; one docile and easily manipulated, the other an out of control narcissistic maniac who demanded loyalty from everyone. If she were a better person, maybe her feelings toward Mansur would be more sympathetic, more understanding of the shadow he was forced to stand in next to his brother.

  The fact remained, she just didn’t like him. His body odor offended her. His eating habits disgusted her and his broken English grated against her nerves. His long bouts of silence since she’d known him made her uneasy, as if he might be keeping notes on her movements. Then there were those sidelong glances of interest he’d used, exploring her body like fingers of twisted behavior. She shivered even though when she looked at the thermostat on the wall it read ninety degrees.

  “Ugh!” She stormed over to the bald computer hostage. “Why is it so hot? I turned the thermostat down twice!”

  “There’s a systems failure. I can’t fix it from here,” he said rapidly as if by doing so he’d not suffer her rage.

  Honey looked around the room at the hostages. Perspiration glistened on their faces and wet spots appeared under their arm pits. Some of the men still wore their suit coats, but a few had wisely removed theirs shortly after the takeover. The woman with asthma struggled with every breath. The smell of fear filled the room and a hint of urine released from someone too afraid to ask for a restroom break now made close quarters even more unbearable. She glanced at the Haskin brothers, sitting quietly on the floor under the windows, watching her every move. Their legs were outstretched but her hard glare made them pull them up.

  “Where did you take them?” Honey demanded of Mansur. “We watched for you on the computer.”

  Mansur ignored her question by turning to his brother. “The men on the loading dock are alive and waiting. I turned the prisoners over to them.” His eyes went to the hostages at the table then the two Libyans standing guard. “They were enjoying themselves when I left,” he smiled.

  “And the containers?” Essid ask anxiously.

  “Secured.” Mansur took a step near his brother.

  Essid was the youngest son of his father. Spoiled and given every advantage, Essid had always taunted his sisters while growing up in Libya. Mansur, the oldest, had been a part of the spoiling until he saw Essid as a teen brutalize one of his sisters and eventually caused her death. She had been a sweet, pretty girl of fifteen when Essid caught her talking to one of his friends. He accused her of a sexual relationship with a man. Although she denied, begged and pleaded, their father threw up his hands in disgust as Essid took her into the desert and left her.

  Mansur, upon hearing of the incident, went after them, only to find her stoned and ripped apart by wild dogs. “When will we set the charges, brother?”

  “It is done. The American military guards outside are experts and knew how to,” he paused trying to think of something funny, “get the biggest bang for my buck!” Essid burst out laughing then fanned his left hand in the air as if batting away a fly. The laughing stopped as did the expression on his face. “Did you tell the others to watch for the American captain?”

  Mansur nodded humbly. “Of course.”

  Essid embraced his brother for a moment then released him. “You are my only friend, Mansur. I love you,” he proclaimed warmly.

  “And I you, my brother.”

  “The heat in here feels like our desert, does it not!” he smiled.

  Mansur took a step back from his brother and patted his shoulder. “Soon we will return.”

  “Indeed. With victory and pride running in our veins. Americans are such fools. All this time they trust those of us that walk among them.”

  Honey sighed in boredom. “Blah. Blah. Blah. Let’s go. I’m tired of waiting. Someone is bound to start poking around soon.”

  Essid smiled over at her. “It is a good thing you are not an American, Honey.”

  Honey shifted her weight to one hip and ran her tongue across her lips. “It’s a good thing you’re good between the sheets or I would have killed you a long time ago.”

  Essid laughed happily. “We are a perfect pair, Honey Lynch.”

  ~ ~ ~

  There were two exits, one at the end of each corridor on every floor. Stairs led all to the roof for the maintenance people to periodically make needed adjustments to any environmental systems. A narrow catwalk between building AA and BB stretched across the fifteen-foot expanse.

  It existed only for those people traveling between sites to eliminate wasted time completing necessary repairs. Some Global Navigation analysts suggested productivity increased by twenty three percent in that one department alone. The Wall Street Business Journal wrote that with such time saving ideas, leaving more money for research and development set a precedent for any large corporation trying to manage their bottom line.

  Due to the expansive roof surface, the helicopter pad had been located there. The second building known only as BB, contained the plant which actually produced the life-saving isotopes. Located at the far end of the building, an elevator hidden among a garden of flowers and a gurgling fountain waited for VIPs that arrived by way of helicopter. Guests, clients and Global Navigation big wigs would take the elevator down to a lobby similar to the one in building AA where Essid’s men had taken up positions earlier.

  Director Benjamin Clark directed the pilot to make use of the helicopter pad as light faded across the foothills of the Sierras. He already knew the schematics of Global Navigation downloaded to his Enigma phone before he even left Sacramento. The ex-Special Forces, all friends of Chase, on board with Ben, carried the plans in their head, memorized before takeoff.

  Their rescue mission involved retrieving the scientists and Russian representatives before Essid could harm them. Hostages in other areas would be reached as time permitted. Buildings could be replaced but Russian delegates offering natural resources to reduce the suffering of thousands could not.

  Ben cringed at the thought of just one death. The American scientists were some of the best in the world. They’d been recruited from Los Alamos, Oakridge, NASA, Missouri University of Science and Technology and MIT. Those were the only ones he knew of without more research. Truthfully, Ben didn’t care where they came from. He just didn’t want them dead.

  Scientists were easy pickings and terrorists had begun their systematic hunt for them on a global scale in recent months. Rather than kidnap them to use their brain power, several Ph.D.’s in molecular energy research had recently disappeared in Germany, only to be found several days later with severed heads outside a remote mountain lodge.

  The media had been fed a ridiculous story about depression and some kind of gay relationship since both men were single. However, when the female petroleum engineer from Canada disappeared with her family while sailing off the coast of Newfoundland a month ago, counter intelligence agencies across the globe began to take notice of the potential problem. Their boat had been found adrift when she’d not returned to her station in the North Sea two weeks later. It was thought best not to alarm the world’s brain bank just yet. In the meantime, governments across the globe committed themselves to keeping an eye on facilities and terrorist groups bent on sending the world back to the Stone Age.

  Now that he knew Carter was in place, life appeared to be a little less worrisome. Just as the silent helicopter landed, a call came from Captain Hunter, who had secured a phone from the dead hired gun. The
captain, Vernon and Mrs. Scott were on their way to the third floor to rendezvous with Carter.

  After inquiring about Mrs. Scott’s welfare, he insisted the captain get her out of harm’s way immediately. He didn’t want any dead civilians on top of the prospect of losing scientists and a Russian delegation. His thoughts flashed to Mrs. Scott’s family so suddenly that he placed his hand over his eyes to remove the image. His brow wrinkled in distaste and irritation, knowing their situation had not been a priority. That had proved to be a mistake. Hopefully the Haskin boys would survive this chain of events.

  ~ ~ ~

  Captain Hunter felt Sam hug his neck when he came through the third-floor door. She whispered something that made him smile wickedly and nod ever so slightly as if agreeing to something privately held only between the two of them. His eyes went to Trucker Joe next and he extended his hand.

  “We meet again,” he said whole heartedly. He felt Tessa and Vernon slip in behind him. “You remember…”

  “I remember her.” Joe raised his double chin at her a little cautiously. “Sorry I was rude to you the other day, Melanie.”

  “Melanie?” she said bewildered. Why did that name keep coming up and sticking to her? “How…”

  “Oh, Carter here told me you were one of the top agents.” He patted Carter on the back not noticing the ex-astronaut squeezed his eyes shut while wrinkling his nose as a little boy might do trying to sneak into his mother’s cookie jar without being caught.

  “I see,” Tessa said shifting her eyes to the former astronaut whose career she’d followed for as long as she could remember.

  All the stories of womanizing, goof off stunts and lack of discipline that the press loved to write about had never been embraced by her loyalty. Although amused by Carter’s exaggerated sense of humor, Tessa now realized perhaps her ardent defense of his brilliance and competence wasn’t the only thing that led to his dismissal at NASA. “Yes, well apology accepted.”