by Mel LeBrun
“They said they were ordered to guard this exit,” The operative informed them. “I can't make them leave.”
Dmitri and Michael looked at each other. Michael knew what he had to do.
“Okay, slight change. I'm going for a little sprint,” he said to Josh. He gave him a rundown of his plan. He was going to distract the police so Dmitri could get away and hopefully be able to evade capture. He was counting on Josh to pick him up at some point. He told him the general direction he was going to head in and then gave him a few minutes to get in position.
THE COPS were shooting the breeze when Michael flew out of the building, grabbing their attention. They were on the radio within seconds calling it in. One took off on foot after him and the other hopped in the cruiser. Michael was in better shape than the cop and soon left him in the dust. He dashed over grassy areas and other terrain where a car couldn't follow, heading towards a residential area. It didn't take long for a few cruisers as well as Gatti and his team to join the chase.
Michael darted between buildings and jumped a fence making it difficult to follow him. He repeatedly changed directions to keep them guessing as to where he was headed. He knew he had to get to Josh quickly before more cars joined in the hunt. He spotted the truck driving slowly down the street and ran to it. It wasn't until he was right on top of it that he noticed it wasn't Josh, but four men in suits who seemed just as surprised to see him. It was Gatti and Price. Michael took off again as Gatti jumped from the vehicle.
Gatti was in better shape than the cop and stayed right on him. Michael was growing weary and wondered where the hell Josh was. He spotted him on the next street over. He wanted to lose the agent chasing him, but at this point knew it wouldn't be possible. So instead, he stopped and ran towards the man chasing him. Gatti became fearful when he saw Michael coming at him. He stopped and had to fight the overwhelming urge to run away.
“Cailen, I just want to talk.” He fearfully put his hands up, hoping to avoid physical contact. He knew he wouldn't be any match for him. It didn't work and he felt like he was hit by a freight train. He lay on the ground half dazed.
Michael grabbed his ID and looked at his name. He tossed it back at him. “I'll call you later, Agent Gatti.” Michael took off and hopped in the truck with Josh.
Gatti caught a glimpse of the truck as Michael got in. His team spotted him on the ground and ran to him.
Michael jumped in the truck with Josh just before a couple cruisers and the rest of Gatti's team pulled on the street. He ducked as they flew past. Josh picked up the pace once they were clear. Gatti would be giving the police a description of their vehicle so they had to get out of the area. It was crawling with cops though and it was only a matter of time before they were stopped. They needed to ditch the truck.
Josh turned into a nearby parking garage. They saw a woman getting out of a white Mercedes with dark tinted windows. She threw her keys in her handbag and started walking towards the building.
“I'll get it,” Josh offered as he put the truck in park.
He walked quickly towards her with his head down looking at his phone. He bumped hard into her, startling her. She lost her balance and Josh quickly grabbed her to prevent her fall, snatching her keys in the process and slipping them in his pocket. He began apologizing all over himself. “I'm so sorry. I didn't see you.”
“Watch where you're going!” the woman snapped.
Josh put his hands up and his head down in an attempt to appear submissive and so she couldn't get a good look at his face. “Again, I'm so sorry.”
The woman stormed off and Josh turned, grinning at Michael in the truck.
Now driving the Mercedes, they easily cleared the search area. They contacted Dmitri and soon were reunited with Elaina. She was a bit shaken and still not feeling well, but all in all she came out unscathed. Before taking off again, Josh and Michael took advantage of the stop to disable the car's GPS tracking system. Michael then dropped Josh and Elaina off at the hideout and went to get Jessica and Jinx from Kevin's.
Gatti and his team searched for an hour before giving up the hunt for Michael. They returned to the local office empty handed. The police were still searching, but reduced the amount of patrols assigned to the task. Most agreed that Michael had slipped through their fingers.
Chapter 70
Michael arrived back at Kevin's rented cabin in the white Mercedes. Lauren and Emily opened the door as he walked up the steps. Emily had her arms crossed and a big frown on her face. “You didn't say goodbye,” she pouted.
Michael smiled and knelt down in front of her. “I'm sorry Emily. I won't do it again.”
“Okay.” She immediately broke into a huge smile and wrapped her arms around his neck. He laughed and picked her up as he walked inside. He patted Lauren on the head and shut the door. Jessica came out from the other room, followed by Jinx and Kevin.
“What happened?” she asked as she glanced at the Mercedes parked out front.
“Elaina had a miscarriage. Russians and CIA showed up before we could leave. We had to ditch the truck.”
“How did the Russians know you were there?” Jinx asked.
“Morgan tipped them off,” he responded. “How did you guys make out?”
“Good,” Kevin answered. “In fact, we're almost done. I borrowed a good chunk of the coding. Element and ClosedCasket have also been helping. We should be ready to go this weekend.”
“That's great because I get the feeling we're running out of time. And if this goes on any longer, I could end up with my own village to protect.”
The ever increasing amount of people involved was beginning to weigh heavily on him. With so many lives at stake it was not an easy burden to bear. He felt responsible for everyone, including Josh and Martin.
“Will you need me to bring the girls back tomorrow?” he asked.
“If you don't mind. I think I can finish with Element and Casket, but I'd like an extra pair of eyes to look over the programming so we don't make a mistake.”
“All right then. We'll see you tomorrow.”
Michael made sure he said goodbye to Emily and Lauren this time. They both wanted hugs and he was happy to oblige. Emily kissed him on the cheek and told him she wanted to see him again real soon. Everyone got a chuckle out of her outspokenness. Especially Michael who then promised he'd see her tomorrow. As they walked down the steps to the car, Michael handed Jessica the keys.
“You want me to drive?” She stopped.
He kept walking. “Damn right. This thing is stolen. If we run into cops, I want you behind the wheel.” He stood at the passenger side door grinning and waited for her.
She smiled then continued down to the car, pleased at his confidence in her driving skills.
“I can't believe you're letting her drive.” Jinx said in disbelief from the backseat. “She drives like a maniac.”
“Hey!” Jessica protested.
Michael laughed. He turned around and looked at Jinx. “I'm not disagreeing with you.”
Jessica slapped his arm as she backed out of the driveway.
“What? You do drive like a maniac. Who crashes through police barricades?” he teased. He looked back at Jinx. “You should see the last car she drove.”
Jessica rolled her eyes. “Shut up or I'll let Jinx drive. We'll get back to the hideout in three days.”
“Oh come on!” Jinx laughed. “Just because I'm a safe driver and go the speed limit ...”
WITH THE loss of their truck, Michael called Martin to see if they would be able to make use of the Mercedes they acquired. The phone rang a few times and Martin answered. Michael could hear a lot of noise in the background.
“I take it your place is bugged,” Michael surmised.
“That would be correct. What's up?”
“Any chance you could arrange new plates for a stolen car?”
“Maybe. You'll have to pick them up though.”
“Yeah, I figured.” Michael gave him a descriptio
n of the Mercedes.
“Give me a few minutes.” Martin hung up. In less than five minutes, he was calling back. “They'll be ready in an hour. Plates and a registration to match.” He gave Michael directions to pick them up.
“How exactly does that work?” Michael asked.
“They just duplicate an existing registered car, making the plates to match. So there's two vehicles driving around with the same plates and registration.”
“Neat.”
“Yeah, it's good in a pinch. You'll have to pay them when you get there. I can't do it, obviously. One grand, cash. Do you have it?”
“Yeah I do. Josh and I mugged a few drug dealers the other night. Thanks a lot, Martin.”
“No sweat.”
JESSICA AND Jinx spent the next few days helping Kevin with the programming while Michael contemplated the best way to make sure they left no trace behind. He came to a decision and pulled Josh aside to discuss it.
“I want to get your thoughts on security for the warehouse we'll be using as base. I don't want to be breaking down and removing equipment. Especially if we have to leave in a hurry. I'd like to just drop and run.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“I was thinking a firebomb.”
“That should work,” Josh agreed. Have a plan on how to get one?”
“Even if we could find one, I wouldn't want to risk buying it. I was thinking we should make our own.”
“Ah, the safe way,” Josh remarked sarcastically.
Michael shrugged. “You got a better idea?”
Josh looked down at the floor and shook his head. “Nope.”
“Let's make a shopping list.”
Chapter 71
Saturday came. Josh stayed behind in the hideout and babysat Kevin's girls, along with the Gomezes. Michael placed the four firebombs they concocted while Jessica, Jinx and Kevin set up the computers. The bombs took significantly less time than the computers. Done with his part, Michael walked the perimeter to pass the time.
Suki arrived a little early and helped them finish preparing the computers. Phuzz and Snipe arrived together about ten minutes later. Sun parked just as Phuzz and Snipe were walking inside. Michael walked in with her.
He leaned over Kevin's shoulder as he was working. “Will we know if they've traced it back to here?”
“Yes. We should be able to keep tabs on their progress too.”
“Should?”
Kevin shrugged his shoulders. “We can't anticipate everything.”
It wasn't what Michael wanted to hear. He stood up and addressed everyone in a loud voice. “You may have noticed the explosives. They're firebombs. They're designed to destroy through fire rather than blast effect. Once we're finished, I'll be blowing the building.”
“Isn't that a bit excessive?” Snipe remarked.
“Do you want to spend hours after we finish combing the building and computers, making sure we've wiped away every trace of our existence?” No one answered. “What if we don't have hours? What if we have only seconds to leave?” Again, no one replied. “Let me assure you, if they find this place intact, they will scrutinize every centimeter of it. A strand of hair is all it would take. I don't know about you, but I'll sleep better if this place isn't left standing.” No one could argue with his logic. He turned to Jessica. “Are we ready to go?”
“Not quite. We need to update our zombies with the programs we've written so they will do what we want them to. We're doing that now, but it will take a few hours before we're finished.”
“How about our foreign friends?” he asked.
Voices blared from the computer speakers. “We're here.”
Michael hadn't realize they were listening. “How long have they been there?” he whispered to Jessica.
“First thing we did was conference them in,” she answered.
Feeling awkward about that, he let them get back to work and went outside to keep watch. Three long, dreadfully boring hours passed and Michael wished he could trade places with Josh. He went back inside to check on their progress. The room was buzzing with commotion. “What's going on?”
“We started,” Suki informed him.
He stepped behind Jessica who was intensely focused on the task at hand, trying to find a way into the CIA network. Kevin waited anxiously next to her, ready to spring into action with the search program the second she was in.
“I bet their IT guy is rocking in the fetal position right now,” Snipe laughed.
Everyone but Jessica laughed along.
“They're tracking!” a voice called out through the computer.
“I see it,” Suki yelled back.
“Not anymore.” Sun grinned wickedly.
Michael was starting to feel uneasy. He looked back at Jessica.
“I can't do it,” she grieved.
“Jess,” Kevin spoke calmly. “You need to relax. You can do this.”
She looked at Kevin then back at her computer appearing distraught and upset. She kept trying to no avail. Just when Michael was about to lose hope, her face lit up. “Why didn't I think of that before?” she mumbled to herself and started pecking away at her keys again. A few minutes later, she ecstatically declared she had done it.
Kevin immediately began the search program. “It's running.”
“I'm going to open a couple more back doors in case they find this one.” Jessica kept working.
“What are you searching for?” Michael asked Kevin.
“I used keywords from the information on the drive and email Jessica received. Any document or file containing those words or dates is being harvested. We don't have time to pick and choose so it's programmed to take everything. We can sort through the data after to find what's relevant.”
“There's a secure archive section I just broke into,” Jessica announced.
Kevin quickly added it to the search.
“They almost had me!” One of the hackers yelled through the computer. “I'm out.”
“Everyone on your toes!” Snipe called out. “They're tracking again.”
“They've initiated countermeasures,” Jinx added. “Half my army just got wiped.”
“Me too,” Suki moaned.
“They locked me out,” Jessica announced. “Glad I opened those other ports.” Within seconds, they were searching again.
“We don't have much time left,” Kevin stated the obvious.
“How far along is the search?” Michael asked.
“The program has searched about eighty percent of what we can access so far.”
“Michael,” Jessica called to him. He bent down and looked at her screen. “I have what look like a bunch of shipping requests signed by Edward Morgan. They're all from China.”
“Can you download it?”
“Done. Anything else I should look for?”
“Yeah, see if you can get Timothy Gatti's personnel file.”
She tapped away at her keys. “Done.” She turned to him and grinned
He smiled and looked at Kevin. “How much longer?”
“Ninety-seven percent,” he answered.
“I gotta break guys, they almost have me,” Phuzz called out.
“I'm out,” came another voice over the computer.
“They just toasted my whole army,” Jinx deflated.
“Mine too,” Suki pushed away from his PC.
“SpaceBird has been shot down,” the last hacker announced over the computer.
Only Snipe and Sun remained and they wouldn't last much longer. Michael looked at Kevin who was watching the search progress on the computer.
“That's it!” Kevin yelled out.
Snipe and Sun broke off the attack and Jessica severed their connection to the CIA's network.
“All right, let's go,” Michael insisted.
“Can't yet,” Kevin stopped him.
“Why?”
“We were using over twenty thousand computers to do the searching so it would only take a few minutes, but
it will take a while for that information to be uploaded from them to us. Right now, the upload is only a third done.”
Unaware that would happen, Michael wasn't thrilled to say the least. “The rest of you don't have to be here.” He glanced around. “You should go now.”
Jessica thanked them as they filed out. She packed her laptop into the trunk of the Mercedes while they waited for the upload to finish. Michael wasn't convinced they hadn't been able to trace the attack. He was also fairly confident that with enough time they would eventually be able to. He didn't want to be there to find out. He went outside to keep an eye on the roads and sky for any approaching vehicles or aircraft.
Fifteen more minutes passed before Jessica, Jinx and Kevin emerged from the building. Kevin placed the CPU with the search data in the trunk, along with a keyboard, mouse, and monitor.
When they were far enough from the building, Michael hit the detonator and a giant fireball erupted behind them. The blast shook the car and sent fire and smoke billowing up into the sky. No one was prepared for the size of the explosion. Jinx, Kevin and Jessica stared in amazement at the towering mushroom cloud behind them.
“That was ... A little bigger than I was expecting,” Michael remarked as he stomped on the gas, now more anxious to put distance between them and the explosion.
ONCE BACK at the hideout, Jessica eagerly began processing all the information they retrieved. She was looking through files and sorting them according to relevance.
“Find anything yet?” Michael asked.
“I don't know. I was going to ask you. These shipping requests, is this normal?” She pulled up shipping requests from China, one after another. All requested by Edward Morgan.
“I have no idea. We should ask Alonso.” He called Alonso over. “Is this normal shipping activity?”
“Let me see.” Alonso took his spot and looked over the requests. “This is highly abnormal.” He flipped through the pages of requests. “The CIA often makes use of diplomatic immunity to smuggle things into the US. So a few requests here and there are totally normal but the frequency of these requests is above average, to put it lightly.”