Finding North

by Christian, Claudia Hall

  “First,” PJ said, “I can see that you haven’t checked your account to make sure you’ve received them.”

  “I don’t know how to work these things,” Alex said. “My Sergeant can get them for me.”

  “Sergeant Dusty?” PJ asked.

  “That’s correct,” Alex said.

  “If I may . . .” PJ started. “I’ve texted your Sergeant to assist you, and I’d be happy to walk you through it.”

  “Okay,” Alex said.

  Sergeant Dusty whistled, and she looked up. He gave her a “What?” gesture, and she shook her head. PJ instructed her in how to get into her account via this tablet computer.

  “What am I looking at?” Alex asked when she’d pulled up the Site 11 silo-reconstruction plans.

  “There’s a note on the plan which states that the owner was building a kind of museum for artifacts,” PJ said. “Do you see how to increase the . . .”

  “Got it,” Alex said.

  She zoomed in on the handwriting and bit her lip. She recognized the signature as that of Cooper’s father.

  “Sir, the note was made by . . .” PJ looked away. “Major Albert C. Cooper, US Air Force, sir. I took the liberty of looking into him, sir. He was in New York City from 1965 through most of 1966, updating some coursework in navigation and healing from a leg injury.”

  “How did he get mixed up in this?” Alex asked.

  “He spent a good bit of time in New York City during the 1950s,” PJ said. “Uh . . . Off and on from 1955 through 1958. He was working as a test pilot at that time. He appears to have followed a particular plane around the country.”

  “Is he connected in any way to the Zenos?” Alex asked.

  “Oh, I’m sorry — didn’t I say that?” PJ asked.

  “No,” Alex said.

  “He was close with Detective Zeno’s father, Nikoloas Zeno, sir,” PJ said. “When these inspections needed to happen, Major Cooper took care of the details for Nikoloas Zeno. While he was at it, he did all the inspections in the region.”

  Alex peered at the construction plans.

  “A museum? Huh,” Alex said. “I wonder what we’ll find.”

  Trece yelled for Alex.

  “I need to warm up.”

  “Yes, sir,” PJ said. “And, sir?”

  “Yes, PJ?” Alex asked.

  “These plans were checked out about three months ago,” PJ said. “Coinciding with the initial attempts on Detective Zeno’s life.”

  “By who?” Alex asked.

  “Alex!” Raz ran over to her. “You’re up.”

  “The record is unclear, sir,” PJ said.

  “Thank you,” Alex said. “I’ll leave you with Agent Rasmussen.”

  “Oh . . .” PJ’s hands went to adjust her hair and her artificially engorged breasts. “Sir, the file has no record of whether Agent Rasmussen is involved with someone or married.”

  “And?” Alex asked.

  “I’ve been asked to ascertain this information,” PJ said. Her tone was overly official, but her cheeks flushed.

  “I’ll ask him,” Alex said. “In the meantime, please go over these details with him. Make sure to tell him what you found out about who checked out the plans. Also, can you pressure them to get us their analysis of the location before we actually complete this mission?”

  PJ was putting on a fresh coat of shiny lip gloss. She nodded that she understood. She added almost as an afterthought, “Thank you, sir. I’ll keep the com open if you need anything.”

  Alex smirked at Raz, and he scowled.

  “What?” Raz mouthed.

  “This is PJ.” Alex held out the tablet to him. “You may call her Plummie.”

  Raz winced at the name and took the tablet. Trece called her name again, and she ran over to him.

  “Always late,” Trece said. “For that, I want a hundred pushups.”

  “But . . .” Alex started to say that she wasn’t authorized to do pushups because of her healing chest wound.

  “I don’t want to hear it, Hargreaves,” Trece said. “Rank has no privileges here. You don’t go in warm, you get dead. And I’m going to have to tell the cutie-pie husband — and your adorable little brown babies — that you died. Can you just see that little Joey’s face when I tell him his mama was too lazy to warm up so she died? Or Máire?” Trece gave an exaggerated sniff. “Brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it.”

  “Where’s the Jakker? The Kid?” Trece yelled. “You belong to me.”

  US Air Force Captain Zack “The Jakker” Jakkman dropped next to Alex and began doing pushups.

  “Yes, sir,” US Air Force Sergeant Clifford “The Kid” Mauer said. He dropped down next to Alex.

  “Hargreaves!” Trece said. “Even these Air Force scum are warming up. What’s your big-baby Green Beret excuse? Now get your fat ass to work before I kill you myself.”

  Grinning, Alex got to work.

  FFF

  Tuesday night

  May 17 — 10:58 p.m. EDT

  Outside of Ellenburg, New York

  After reviewing all possible scenarios, Alex decided their best approach was to use the cover she already had as Raz’s wife. They flew as a team to the medium-level security prison in Altona, New York. This put them eleven miles — or around fifteen minutes by car — from the site. From there, the team piled into a military transport. They would be dropped within a mile of the silo and travel on foot to their positions.

  Alex and Raz would wait until they were on location before taking a rental sedan. Alex and Raz would approach on their own, scope out the site, and call in the team. While they waited, Raz reviewed the satellite information one last time.

  The satellite information hadn’t changed. It looked as if a single human being was sitting or lying inside a barnlike structure placed over what had been the missile silo. The radar confirmed that something was below the structure, but the heat scans seemed to indicate that, outside of the single individual, no one was there.

  Raz relayed his information to the team via their earbud communicators.

  “On location,” Joseph said.

  “Visual,” Matthew said.

  One at a time, the rest of the team reported in.

  “No activity,” Joseph said.

  “There’s a low radio frequency,” Zack said. “Emanating from building.”

  “Hutchins?” Matthew asked.

  “We’re assessing at this moment,” Vince said.

  “Team two, you are a go,” Joseph said.

  Raz started the sedan, and they drove toward Ellenburg.

  “Checking satellite air defense,” Sergeant Dusty said from Plattsburg International Airport. They had left him behind, where he could have better access to the Internet and military resources. He would be able to run interference for them if they got into trouble.

  “Hutchins?” Matthew asked. “You have ten minutes until the Fey gets here.”

  “Yes, sir,” Vince said.

  Alex and Raz sped down the dark, two-lane highways through the lush farmland. They passed large farmhouses surrounded by enormous trees.

  “In receipt of satellite air defense,” Vince said.

  They joined the larger highway and started through Ellenburg Depot. They had just passed the Blue Haven Campground when Vince said, “That’s an affirmative.”

  Vince thought the low radio frequency was a trigger to an explosive charge of some kind.

  “Abort?” Raz asked. He turned right on Bull Run Road and started toward the missile site.

  They could hear Vince, Matthew, and Joseph talking in the background. Raz turned onto the short dirt road with the appropriate name of Missile Silo Road.

  “Completing mission unless otherwise advised,” Alex said.

  “Affirmative,” Joseph said.

  “We have you on visual,” Joseph said.

  “Your target is moving,” Sergeant Dusty said. “Back and forth, in a straight line. Possibly pacing.”

  “Roger tha
t,” Raz said.

  Raz slowed and parked the car in the open space created by the demolition of the missile-control area. An abandoned tanker truck sat on the edge of the open space. The cab had lost its tires a decade or more before, and the tanker trailer was on its side. Alex knew that Joseph and Matthew were supposed to be behind the truck. She glanced over to see if she could see them. She couldn’t.

  A few other roofless buildings were melting into the landscape. The only building that was still standing was a large, hand-hewn barn. According the property records found by the industrious PJ, the building had been built sometime in the 1800s. It had been on the property when the Air Force came in. The engineers didn’t have the heart to take it down, so they left it.

  Raz came around the car and let her out. Under the bright full moon, she threw her arms around his neck. He lowered his head. They held each other long enough for anyone on the property to respond. When nothing happened, Raz stepped back and took her hand. They walked toward the barn.

  “Gorgeous,” Alex said.

  “It was built in the 1800s,” Raz said.

  “By the Amish?” Alex asked.

  “Built by hand,” Raz said. “I don’t think anyone’s sure who exactly built it. Isn’t it fabulous?”

  They stopped a few feet from the barn to appreciate its beauty. Raz put his arm around her shoulders. He leaned in and kissed her cheek. She grinned.

  “How did you find it?” Alex asked.

  “You were talking about . . .” Raz leaned in as if to finish his statement. She gave him a promising look. “I’m always up for . . . you.”

  Alex giggled.

  “What do you say?” Raz asked.

  Alex ran to the barn and tried the door.

  “Go away,” a man yelled from the other side. “They’ve set a bomb. They wired it into the security system. There’s no way out.”

  “It’s locked,” Alex said.

  Raz came right behind her. To anyone looking, it would look like they had started their romantic tryst. His larger body covered Alex checking the door for laser security. There were laser beams at their feet and mid-body. There was no way to open the door without setting off the alarm.

  “Laser beam three inches off ground and three feet,” Raz said.

  “Josh? Is that you?” the man’s voice asked. “They can see you. You have to go.”

  “I won’t leave you,” Raz said.

  “They’ve poisoned me,” Dex said. “I’ll be dead soon either way. They’ve set the silo to blow. They can see you.”

  “Fey Team, we’ve made contact,” Alex said. “Target states he’s been poisoned.”

  “Copy that,” Joseph said in their ears.

  “Do we know with what?” Colin asked in their ears.

  “Dex, what did they poison you with?” Raz asked.

  “Ricin pellet under the skin,” Dex said. “We had them here. They knew it. Even knew where they were. Shot me when I wouldn’t let them in.”

  “Ricin,” Alex said so that Colin and MJ could hear.

  “Copy that,” Margaret said in their ears.

  “Move away from the barn,” Vince said in their ears.

  Alex spun in place.

  “I forgot,” Alex said to Raz.

  She ran back to the car. Raz walked halfway back to the car to see what she was doing. She pulled a picnic basket from the trunk of the car.

  “What’s that?” Raz laughed.

  “Picnic!” Alex grinned at Raz. “And a surprise!”

  He smiled back. He took the basket, and they ran back to the barn.

  “Fey Team, on my mark,” Alex said.

  Raz set the picnic basket on the ground. Alex bent over and pulled out a champagne bottle. He popped the cork. She bent over again.

  “Move away from the door,” Raz yelled to Dex.

  “Now!” Alex said. She pulled a shotgun from the picnic basket.

  “Are you away from the door?” Raz asked.

  “Yes,” Dex said.

  As Trece, White Boy, Troy, and Royce ran to the barn, Alex fired in a circle in the door. Each shot blasted a hole through the wood. By the time she’d completed the circle, the team was there. She and Raz stepped aside.

  Trece kicked in the wooden circle. Careful not to hit the laser beams, Royce helped Troy into the barn. Royce followed Troy with Trece’s help. It took Troy a moment before he convinced Dex to lie down. He and Royce carried Dex to the hole. Trece and White Boy took Dex’s shoulders while Troy and Royce held his feet.

  “Go, go, go,” Vince said. “They have activated . . .”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Raz grabbed her hand, and they sped across the parking lot to the tanker trailer. Trece threw Dex over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

  “Ten, nine, . . .” Vince counted down.

  They made it to the edge of the tanker truck.

  “We’ve been able to block the signal,” Sergeant Dusty said. “I repeat, radio signal is blocked.”

  Alex and Raz made it to the other side of the tanker truck. They slid into the drainage ditch, where the rest of the team was waiting. White Boy jumped into the ditch, followed by Trece and Dex. Colin and MJ grabbed Dex from Trece and began assessing his condition.

  “Five, four, three, two . . .” Vince continued the count. “One.”

  They held their breath and braced against the explosion. Nothing happened. Trece let out a hoot, and they laughed. MJ numbed the area where the pellet had entered Dex’s chest, and Colin worked to clean the site.

  “Well done!” Alex said as she stood up. “We need to . . .”

  The barn exploded, sending tiny shards of wood and debris. Alex fell forward. Raz grabbed her and pulled her into the ditch. Colin began operating on Dex. Vince and Leena moved in front of them to cover them.

  The tanker truck slid toward and hit a concrete gutter left from the missile silo. The tanker wobbled as if it were going to roll onto them. Trece jumped up to push the tanker into place. White Boy, Royce, and Joseph joined in. The air filled with dust, dirt, and the sound of tiny shards of wood hitting the metal tanker truck. All the while, Colin continued to work on Dex.

  There was a secondary explosion, and the men lost their momentum on the tanker truck. They jumped back into the ditch. The Fey Team scattered. MJ dragged Dex down the trench, and Colin followed. The tanker truck rolled over the ditch and down a small embankment. Alex and Raz’s rental car tumbled end to end until it landed roof down in the next field. The barn caught fire in the second explosion. A siren wailed from deep in the earth and was met by the sound of a fire truck’s siren coming in their direction from Ellenburg.

  “What was in the silo?” Alex yelled to Dex.

  “Nothing,” Dex said.

  “Nothing?” Alex yelled.

  “I removed everything,” Dex said. “I don’t know what the fuck my father was thinking, but I don’t have time to come up here and . . . play with my daddy’s toys. I have a job to do.”

  “Yes, you do,” Alex smiled. “Any idea what they were looking for?”

  “Some book,” Dex said. “I felt like I should know the author’s name, but . . .”

  Dex shrugged.

  “The Gadfly?” Alex asked. “E. L. Voynich?”

  “If ‘E’ stands for ‘Edith,’ then that’s it,” Dex said. “But Dad didn’t keep any books. He hoarded every other fucking thing. No books.”

  “Did you tell them that?” Alex asked.

  “Not a chance,” Dex said. “I wasn’t about to give them reason to kill me outright.”

  “Thanks,” Alex said.

  “Roll call!” Joseph yelled.

  “You need to cover up!” Matthew yelled.

  As the team yelled their names, they pulled on their balaclavas and scarves. The entire team had made it through the blast alive and unharmed. Joseph dropped a small duffle bag at Alex’s feet. She and Raz quickly changed into their military fatigues with scarves and balaclavas to cover their faces.

/>   “Got the pellet!” Colin yelled. “Hot damn!”

  The Fey Team cheered. MJ sedated Dex. They set up a small oxygen tank and an IV to help flush the ricin out of his system. His only chance of surviving the ricin was to endure its effects. They could only support his life. The Volunteer Fire Departments from Ellenburg and Ellenburg Depot arrived.

  Covered by the night and the fire, the Fey Team slipped off through the field. Because Dex was better off with them, Colin, MJ, Raz, and Royce carried Dex through the field. They had just reached their transportation truck when the barn exploded again. The heat of the explosion lit the foot-high corn stalks in a neighboring field. They turned to watch the volunteer fire crew fight the fire.

  Alex climbed onto the truck to get a better view.

  “Sir?” MJ pointed. “They have injuries.”

  “The fire’s already spreading beyond this field,” Joseph said.

  “They just planted the fields,” Margaret said. “The farmers will lose their crop this year.”

  “I must register my concern,” Matthew said. “We are a military team, and this is a civilian concern.”

  “Why are you registering this concern?” Alex asked.

  “It’s my job,” Matthew said.

  “Thank you, Captain,” Alex nodded. “We’re here. We may as well help fight this fire.”

  “Fey Team,” Matthew said. “Mount up. We’re taking the truck.”

  “Jakker?” Joseph said via the feed. “Bring transport and water. This could take out the entire county.”

  “Let’s do this thing,” Matthew said.

  They piled into the truck and drove to the site. Still wearing their balaclavas, they joined the volunteer firemen in fighting the fire. The Fey Team grabbed extra gear from the fire crews and went to work. Thick black smoke and steam covered the entire lot, making visual command impossible. Matthew and Joseph worked with the crew chiefs to place the Fey Team where they were most needed. They shouted ordered into their ear bud communicators.

  Away from the fire, Alex, Leena, Vince, and Raz created ditches in the fields to act as fire lines. Jesse joined them to help but was uniquely ineffective against the fire. He went to find new fires caused by the wind. Margaret and Joseph set up a makeshift medics’ tent. After bringing Dex to the tent, Colin and MJ set to work on the injuries created by the quick-moving fire and an inexperienced crew. Trece and White Boy jumped right in and were soon leading a team of firefighters. When pickup trucks filled with young men from surrounding farms arrived, Troy, Royce, and Matthew led the young men into other fields to fight the new flare-ups and hot spots that Jesse found.