Redemption

by Ever N. Hayes

  “How much more time do we have before he does?” Deacon looked at Twix.

  Twix glanced at his watch. 9:38 p.m. “About twenty-two minutes.”

  “The water’s already three feet deep,” Royce shouted into the wind. “It’s going to be slow moving in this shit.”

  They couldn’t clear the fence until the power went down, and even then the captors likely had a generator on the property. That would give them about a minute—before the generator kicked in and rebooted the security system—to get over the fence and into tree cover away from the cameras. The ground was a little higher on that side of the property, so that would help them move quicker, but one slip-up—one tripped alarm or accidental sighting—and the prisoners would almost certainly be killed.

  Everyone knew it. It didn’t have to be said. But Deacon reminded them anyway. Twenty-one minutes.

  FORTY-EIGHT - Split Ends (Danny)

  ---------- (Wednesday. August 10, 2022) ----------

  We had a problem—which was nothing new, but it was of a particular inconvenience this time. General Niles and Kellen were in one truck, ready to go. Tyler Sheffield was in the other Hummer, also ready. Tyler convinced me he could do this, no matter how close to death he honestly was. He’d go as far as he could—as fast as he could—and hopefully sell the decoy.

  Those three knew they were basically on a suicide mission. None of them liked it, but Sheffield and Niles had at least accepted it. I could still hear Kellen trying to talk his way out of it, but Niles wasn’t listening. It felt wrong to let the general ride off like this. After all, he was our highest-ranked living military official. But he couldn’t physically drive or ride on one of the motorcycles, and he was going to get caught in the truck. He wasn’t going to make it out—or for much longer—no matter which direction they went. He knew what he had to do and why he had to do it. As long as it gave his daughter a chance to live, he was determined to make those odds as good as possible for her. That would make a huge difference for all of us.

  But back to the problem. There were only four high-tech dirt bikes in the stalls. With seven of us—Blake, Hayley, Eddie, Cera, Flynn, Ava, and me—that left us a few bikes short. But that still wasn’t the problem. Cera, Eddie, and Flynn had never driven a motorcycle. That was the problem—Eddie. There was an incredibly short and dangerous learning curve when it came to learning how to ride a dirt bike—especially out here in the mountains. There was no “straight and narrow.” You hit a rock wrong or a patch of sand, and you went down. You might not get back up. But Eddie couldn’t exactly ride on the back of a dirt bike with anyone. Eddie, on his own, was nearly too large and heavy for one of these things. Like a circus bear riding around on a tricycle. With someone else—anyone else—he definitely was too big. If he sat on the back, he’d flip the bike. If he sat up front, no one could reach around him to steer. He was going to have to give it a go on his own. That was going to slow us down … dramatically.

  Ava didn’t understand why we couldn’t just take one of the Hummers—even after Blake explained how Qi Jia’s THIRST radar systems worked. The Hummers gave off a lot of heat—they’d be picked up quickly. If we took our time on the bikes—and got lucky—we might not be picked up at all. It depended entirely on whether they noticed the Hummers first and pursued them. The Hummers had to be the decoy.

  She still didn’t like it, and Eddie had tried to convince me to leave him behind. He wanted to go after Isabelle. Male pride and ego being what they were, I didn’t know that I could have talked him out of it. So I let Cera. Isabelle was—after all—Cera’s daughter. It wasn’t easy, but—against what she really wanted—she managed to sway him. Hayley helped by making a valid point. If Isabelle were still alive, it was probably because Boli intended to use her as leverage somewhere else. Maybe we’d get another shot—perhaps even a better one.

  We opened the doors at nine, and the two Hummers roared out, churning to the southeast. I stood outside with Blake, Hayley, Flynn, and Ava and watched them drive down the valley and disappear around the bend. We stood silent, listening for any sounds of pursuit. It was almost forty minutes exactly before we heard them. Three helicopters whirred overhead—also heading south—no doubt hot on the Hummers’ trail. Two more helicopters flew over a few minutes later. I set the timer on my watch for fifteen minutes. It would take the choppers about ten minutes to catch up to the Hummers, and their missiles would determine how much longer the pursuit lasted. At that point our decoy would be as far away as they’d get. That would be our best chance to move.

  Fifteen minutes later we left the back entrance of Cheyenne Mountain on the bikes. Ava rode with me, Blake with Cera, Hayley had Flynn, and Eddie was on his own. It was slow going down the ravine—bikes being far less stable than the Hummers—but Eddie did remarkably well. He did crash once, likely banging himself up pretty good, but he hopped back up, climbed back on, and kept going. Driving just under ten miles per hour—for the first thirty minutes—it took us a full hour and a half to reach the smokejumper base where Hayley, Lazzo, and Flynn had parked the plane. We didn’t see a single Qi Jia vehicle, chopper, or plane the entire way—didn’t meet a single bit of resistance. On the one hand, we were relieved. But on the other, it seemed too easy. Way too easy.

  At the end of the driveway leading up to the base and hangar, I stopped and shut off my bike. Everyone else did the same. “Let’s drop them here in the ditch, guys, and walk in.”

  No one argued with my suggestion. We were approaching the hangar through the woods when I saw Blake—ahead of us—wave his hand for us to get down. I spun toward Ava and pulled her down, and Eddie did the same to Cera. Hayley and Flynn were behind us and followed suit. A second later, I realized I had wrapped my arm around Ava’s chest to pull her down. To make matters worse, I still had my hand on her left breast. She was staring into my eyes, the slightest of smiles on her lips. I dropped my hand down to my side. “Sorry.”

  “No problem.” Still smiling.

  I could feel my face flush and warmth surge through my body as I turned away from her and peered through the darkness toward Blake. “Stay here,” I whispered, looking at everyone except Ava. Damn it, Danny. Let it go. I crawled up to Blake. “What’s going on?”

  “I swear I saw a light in the hangar … a brief flicker.” Suddenly he pointed. “There. There it was again.”

  I saw it that time too. Someone was in there. “Is that all you’ve seen?”

  He nodded. We watched and waited for the light to come back on, but it never did. It was getting late—just after eleven—maybe whoever it was had gone to sleep.

  “We need to get closer, Blake. We need a better look.”

  “Which way do you want me to go?”

  “You go around back. I’ll take the front. Do not engage, okay?”

  “Ten-four.” Blake saluted.

  “We’ll meet on the other side of the hangar about this same point, okay?”

  “Got it.”

  Blake broke off to the left. I went right. I slunk across the front of the hangar without seeing anything out of the ordinary—still no further sign of anyone. I had just entered the tree line on the other side of the hangar when my foot pressed up against a wire or tight string. I heard a small jingle off in the distance—seemingly from inside the hangar. Crap. A tripwire of some sort.

  The wire hadn’t broken though, and I felt around beneath my foot and couldn’t feel anything. It didn’t seem as if I was standing on explosives of any kind. I slowly removed my foot and took a step backward into the trees. I stepped behind one as Blake came into view about twenty yards from me. I was about to whisper to him when I saw movement to his left. Someone was following him. I raised my gun but couldn’t see anything through the scope. Whoever was back there knew how to use his cover. I had to get to Blake first—and fast. As the shadow behind Blake went left around the next tree, I went right. When he reversed, so did I. He reached Blake seconds before I did and raised a handgun to the side of Blake’s head
. “Don’t move.”

  I stepped up beside the hooded man with my own gun raised to his head. “You either.”

  “Shit.” Even through gritted teeth that voice was unmistakable.

  “Axel?”

  Axel turned to look at me. “Danny?”

  I lowered my gun. “Yeah.” I clapped him on the back. “How the hell are you here?”

  “Hey, Axe,” Blake interrupted, Axel’s gun still pressed to the side of his head. “Do you mind?”

  Axel looked at Blake and dropped the gun down. “Sorry.”

  I wrapped Axel in a big hug. “I thought you were dead, man. How did you even find this place?”

  “Long story short … it took me frickin’ forever to get to shore when they shot us down. I tried to find you guys but couldn’t—lost my damn dog tag and tablet. So, I latched on to the smaller boat that passed by and hitched a ride in. I followed the plan and went to the Pringtime Reservoir, but I was a full day behind schedule then. When I saw the choppers circling ahead—or east I should say—I followed them but turned back at the explosion. I didn’t know what the hell was going on. The next morning troops were all over the reservoir—nowhere else, just the reservoir—and they found your vehicles. It didn’t take me long to realize you’d dumped it there—that the soldiers had somehow been led directly there.”

  “That’s crazy, dude.” I shook my head.

  His voice was filled with excitement. “It gets better—obviously. Man, there were paratroopers everywhere, and I couldn’t find my way through the lines, so I checked out the areas the paratroopers weren’t and found this crazy-ass winding road out here. I found this driveway this morning with the freshly sawed off US Forest Service sign and investigated. Since it was an old Smokejumping facility I thought they might have a spare plane around here. I hit the jackpot with the C-130H in the back. I figured it just might get me back to Hawaii.”

  “About time,” Blake muttered.

  Axel and I both looked at him. “What?” I asked.

  “It’s about time we have a little crazy good luck instead of all the crazy bad. And now I don’t have to try to fly the plane.”

  Blake had a point. He had been our most experienced pilot—until we found Axel—but he’d only flown two-seaters. I was confident he could get us off the ground and headed in the right direction, but Axel could do much better than that.

  I saw Axel looking around. “Is it just—”

  “No.” I knew what he was thinking. “Everyone else is on the other side of the hangar.”

  Relief flooded his face. “Thank God. Everyone’s okay?”

  I shook my head. “No,” I mumbled. “Fraid not. We lost Keena and a few others we met at Cheyenne Mountain.”

  “You made it to the bunker?” Axel was clearly torn between the loss of Keena and wanting to get up to speed with all that had happened.

  “We did,” I confirmed.

  “And you have Hayley?”

  “We do.” Another confirmation.

  “But Keena’s dead?”

  “Basically. Baker and the Libyans have her.”

  “Baker?”

  Man, Axel you’ve missed a lot! “Yes,” I replied. I quickly explained what we’d seen with Commander Boli and Captain Baker.

  Axel was stunned. “I knew I’d never met a bigger asshole in my life.”

  None of us had.

  ---------- (Thursday. August 11, 2022.) ----------

  The reunion with Axel was as joyous for Hayley as it had been for Blake and me. I introduced Axel to everyone else. He was particularly smitten by Ava, with good reason, but she only had eyes for me—something that was impossible for me to miss. Getting a good look at her up close—even too close for a bit—I was admittedly somewhat in awe. She was slim, muscular, and five foot nine or ten with a beautiful face, perfect ass, and the ideal amount of her 125 or so pounds in her perky softball-sized breasts—which I’d actually measured with my right hand a little earlier. At the moment, those breasts were straining against her gray T-shirt as she stretched—perfectly outlined. Wow…and then some. Tight tan khakis and black boots nicely wrapped up the ensemble with a long tail of brown hair pulled through the back of a black cap. One of the most beautiful women I’d ever met. I swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and looked away—locking eyes immediately with Hayley. Great. She’d seen me staring—or ogling. I broke away from Hayley’s glare and took another deep breath.

  Ava had mentioned she’d been a general’s daughter for twenty-two years, so I was guessing she was only a few years older than that. Whatever the case, I couldn’t remember feeling about anyone like I was feeling right now about her. Hayley’s disapproval had done little to still my thoughts or calm my hormones. I couldn’t think about anything but her, and was finding it harder and harder not to look at her—something she clearly was enjoying. It took entirely too long for me to seriously think about Kate, and when I finally did, I was surprised to find I defended my current attraction with the idea I might not even make it back to Kate. I should have been embarrassed and considerably smarter, but—truthfully—I wasn’t thinking with the right part of my body.

  Temptation is wicked—powerfully wicked. I was exhausted. I was lonely. I was full of excuses, but none of them should have obstructed me from the truth. Ava’s husband and father had just died—today—and I had a wife with a baby on the way back in Hawaii. I shouldn’t have needed convincing in any way—should have been able to walk away from Ava easily…redirect her to Axel or Blake—anyone but me—but I couldn’t. I should have been telling her about Kate—about my love for Kate—but I didn’t. Neither of us should have had any romantic thoughts of the other tonight, yet we both clearly were. I couldn’t explain it. When I suggested we take a brief two-hour nap before leaving at 2:00 a.m., she came over and lay a few feet from me. I caught Hayley’s hands-on-hips glare peripherally this time but ignored it.

  “Your sister tells me you’re married and expecting a little one.”

  I turned my head to look at her. I could smell her now. She smelled wonderful. “Did she now?” I asked. Of course she did. “Out of the blue?”

  “Pretty much.” She laughed. “Are you excited?”

  I don’t want to talk about Kate and the baby. I want to know more about you. “Sure.” I shrugged. “Of course I am.” Change the subject. “How long were you and John married?”

  “Four years.”

  I watched her face to see if my question had bothered her. I couldn’t tell.

  “It was more a marriage of convenience. He worked for my dad. His dad was retired military…I don’t know. It was kind of arranged—that’s probably a terrible word for it. Maybe I should say there was a lot of pressure to get married. We definitely weren’t ready for it. We didn’t have much of a relationship.”

  Clearly she doesn’t mind talking about it. “Ah,” I said.

  “I mean, we were good friends, and I cared a great deal about him, but we hardly ever saw each other. He didn’t want kids. I did. Don’t know why we ever got married. Sorry.” She reached over and poked me. “I’m rambling now, aren’t I?”

  “Huh?” I mumbled. “No, that’s fine.” Smooth. But so what? She and John are not you and Kate.

  “This ground is so hard.” She sat up and glanced over at me.

  “Yeah, a pillow would be great.”

  “You can always use mine.” I watched her cup her breasts and felt my face flush. I swore I heard Hayley gag on something. I looked in her direction but couldn’t see her in the darkness.

  Ava laughed again. “Totally kidding. Sorry, that was awful.”

  “No shit.”

  Definitely Hayley. “Thanks.” I glared in Hayley’s direction. “I’m good. But why don’t you come over here.” I motioned to her. “My shoulder is better than the ground.”

  She scooted over next to me, and I slid my arm under and around her. She laid her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. “Thanks.”

  Now I couldn’t help
but breathe her totally and completely in. Wow! If my heart was jogging before, it was sprinting now. Dumb move, Danny. I could feel her breasts squished against my chest, and I was certain she could hear—and probably even feel—my heart trying to break out. “Better?” I asked. What kind of stupid question is that?

  “Much better.” She squeezed me tightly. “Thank you.”

  Ava fell asleep, and I continued to hold her, and the longer I held her the guiltier I felt. I was not that guy. I was not my father. This was what I’d hated him for—for years. I felt like he betrayed Mom when he did basically the same thing to her that I was doing now. If no one else were here, how far would this have gone? That was the real question. I knew the answer—unfortunately. I was, in fact, that guy. I was no better than my father.

  Loyal, well-intended people are only that until they’re not—it only takes one cheat to be a cheater. But knowing you’re making a mistake and stopping it are two entirely different things. I was failing right now and knew it. I could have—should have—stopped it but didn’t. I finally let my dad off the hook—so many years too late—but only because I now was on it. Today he was a better man than me. The guilt he always said he felt … I understood it. Today I finally—and completely—forgave him.

  FORTY-NINE – The Surge

  ---------- (Wednesday. August 10, 2022.) ----------

  9:45 p.m. in Hawaii

  The electricity was due to be cut in fifteen minutes, but Damien had a significant dilemma on his hands. Not only was Hawaii currently swamped by the hurricane, but a massive wave had triggered the emergency buoys—about forty miles off the coast of Ni’ihau.

  “Nicole, did you see that?” he yelled across the room.

  “The buoys? Yeah. They just went from twenty-two to thirty-six feet.”

  “What’s the seismograph say?”