by Amy Ruttan
Only Commander Brighton and few others knew she was here.
And even though all these people were around her and she was hidden, she felt exposed and vulnerable.
On edge. She touched the dog tags under her uniform. Jack’s dog tags.
She missed Jack.
They’d been in the wilderness. Out in the open, but hidden by the emptiness of the land. And she didn’t realize it then how safe she felt in Jack’s arms. The moment he walked into that lab and she realized that it was him, she’d been so worried about risking her heart, about how dangerous it was to be in his presence. Only now was she coming to grips with how dangerous it was not to be with him.
And now, she was trapped in this room.
The door clicked behind her and she stood at attention for her commanding officer as he came in.
“At ease, Lieutenant.”
“Thank you, Commander Brighton.” She relaxed but didn’t sit down, waiting for him to take a seat.
He carried a thick, bulging file folder under his arm. Her gaze tracked his movements, the way he held the folder. Something was not right, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
Get a grip on yourself.
“As you were, Lieutenant.” Commander Brighton moved to the opposite end of the table and sat at the far end, across from her, his back to the window.
Lisa sat down.
Get out of here.
“You did some excellent work on your recent mission.”
“Thank you, Commander.”
“I was concerned, but obviously Commander Faire made the right decision choosing you.” He opened the folder, slowly and methodically. “We have retrieved the data off the encrypted file you sent and I have to say the information was very telling about who is involved in manufacturing Chem Agent 1157.”
“I’m glad,” she said.
“Did you have to blow the whole building to the ground?” he teased.
It was supposed to be a joke, to relax her, but she didn’t feel at ease in his presence. “I inputted the sequence code I was given to wipe the system when under attack. The building came under attack. I did what was asked. I had to keep my cover and do what Bio-Tek asked. It was all part of my mission.”
“And someone assisted you in escaping the explosion?” he asked, not looking at her.
He doesn’t know about Jack?
She thought her commanding officers had hired the Omega Team, but Brighton seemed to be in the dark and that was troublesome.
“Yes. They were hired by you, I thought, Sir.”
“Oh no, I came onto this file late, as you know, when Commander Faire died about two months into your mission. He was the one who did the hiring, but didn’t say who.”
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Something was not right.
“Okay, well I didn’t know either, with all due respect, Sir.”
“Yes,” Commander Brighton said calmly. “Unfortunately he didn’t leave information about who aided in your escape. Was it an agency?”
“Why do you need to know?” she asked. “The job is done.”
His eyes narrowed. “Lieutenant, I’m asking you to tell me the name of the individual who assisted in helping you escape. Why is this so difficult for you?” He was hostile with her. Why was he being hostile?
“I don’t know who he was. He didn’t tell me his name.”
“Did he tell you who he worked for?”
“No, Sir.”
“So it could’ve been an operative all along? An operative of the terrorist group that is funding the company in production of Chem Agent 1157?”
“He wasn’t.”
“How could you know that for sure? You stated that you didn’t know who he was or who he worked for.”
“Why would he keep me alive all this time? Why would he allow me to deliver the information to the wrong hands? I don’t think he was the operative at all.”
The Commander slammed the file shut. “What’re you insinuating, Lieutenant?”
“I think you know, Sir,” she growled, as it all fell into place in her head. “You had access to all the information in my previous commander’s files, except for who he hired to protect me while I did my duty for my country. You couldn’t have me succeed, or leave loose ends, so you sent in armed mercenaries in to kill us both, but that didn’t exactly work. Now you have Bio-Tek breathing down your back because they suspect you led the attack on their lab, your life is at stake if you don’t turn us both over. Or kill us both. The thing is, it wasn’t Bio-Tek who sent the mercenaries in to kill me and I can’t help but wonder who you’re actually working for.”
Commander Brighton grinned, but it was the kind of smile that sent shivers down her spine. “I was helping Bio-Tek sell Chem Agent 1157 to further the war effort, but they weren’t paying me enough, so I needed to set up my own operation. I took care of Commander Faire when he wouldn’t let me work on this mission. He couldn’t stop me when he was dead.”
“You murdered him?”
Commander Brighton shrugged. “I did what I had to do. You were the perfect piece of the puzzle, you were already a mole in the system. I needed the formula and Bio-Tek wasn’t willing to give it to me. Now I have control over Chem Agent 1157 and the antidote.”
“You’re despicable.”
“If you work with me, Lieutenant I will spare your life. Tell me the name of the agency.”
She scoffed. “You won’t spare my life, so I’m not saying who saved me.”
Her pulse was thundering in her ears as he stood and slowly came toward her. She was defenseless. She didn’t have a weapon and had no doubt he had one and that she was going to die when this was all done.
He stood over her. The crisp, white dress uniform was tainted for him wearing it. He was exactly the opposite of everything good and pure that the Navy stood for. For what good men like her brother and Jack fought and died for.
It sickened her.
“Tell me the name of the man who aided you,” he demanded.
“I don’t know his name.”
“You will be court marshaled, even posthumously, for aiding terrorists, Lieutenant, if you don’t give up the name.”
“I gave you the information. If he was a terrorist why did he allow me to live, when clearly you were sending operatives out to kill me?”
The door opened and she spun around to see masked gunmen in the room. Their guns pointed at her.
The Commander pulled out a syringe and injected something into her.
“It’s a shame you can’t help me. You could’ve lived, been dishonorably discharged, but still alive. Now, you really leave me no choice, Lieutenant Morgan. And that’s a shame. I will find out, but it really doesn’t matter once you’re gone. I have the information; the Navy doesn’t. I also have the cure, thank you for that too. I’ll keep that one under wraps if you don’t mind.”
The world began to move in and out of focus as the drug worked on her. It wasn’t Sodium Pentothal because she was losing consciousness but, before she slid out of the rolling office chair to the floor, a black bag was placed over her face. Then she slipped into oblivion.
***
“What do you mean she hasn’t returned to the base? Of course she did!” Jack was livid that no one seemed to know where Lisa was.
“I’m sorry, Sir, but she hasn’t. According to our file she’s still out on active duty and there is no way to get a message to her. I’m very sorry.”
Jack scrubbed his hands over his face and walked away from the clerk he’d been talking to, out into the bright San Diego sunshine. He had a bad feeling about this. And once he remembered where he knew Commander Brighton from, he’d moved as fast as he could to save Lisa again.
Dane had suspected Brighton’s involvement in Chem Agent 1157. Jack didn’t believe Dane at first, then they were assigned to infiltrate a terrorist cell, the supposed makers of Chem Agent 1157, and assassinate the creator of the agent.
Of course, then the Chem Agent
was used on them.
And through his hazy memories of recovery he remembered Brighton’s face, peppering him with questions about what he knew.
And he knew nothing.
Jack didn’t believe Dane and it caused friction.
“He’s involved. I know he is. You have to listen to me Crane.”
“Dane, you’re crazy. The Chem Agent isn’t manufactured here. It’s a weapon meant to destroy us. Why would someone in the States do that?”
“You’re naive, Jack!”
After Brighton had seen him, his honorable discharge came. Jack tried to find out more info on the attack, but was blocked at every turn. He was so ashamed of his failure he disappeared, giving no second thought to it.
Once he remembered it was Brighton, he knew he had to get to Lisa before it was too late. What Jack couldn’t figure out was why Brighton sent Lisa in there to infiltrate Bio Tek.
Unless Brighton did away with the person who actually sent Lisa in there.
Grey had told him that the original commanding officer who hired Omega Team had died of a heart attack, but that the hiring was done by a coded message, which was then destroyed. If that original commanding officer was dead, there would be no trace back to the Omega Team or Jack.
Still, that put Lisa at risk.
Jack began to pace, walking away from the main entrance and down an alley way. He didn’t want to be recognized. It’s why he entered the United States illegally. He knew how to hop a border, and enter the airbase without being seen.
He was fuming, wondering what to do next, when he caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye, something that made him take notice. He ducked into the shadows of another alley and watched.
What looked like petty officers were placing something in the back of a van. Something wrapped up, that very much looked like a body.
Then he saw Brighton and his fists clenched.
He knew exactly who the body was and he just prayed that if it was Lisa, she was alive, because if she was dead then it was the last thing Brighton was ever going to do. He would make sure he chopped up that bastard’s body and fed him piece by piece to the sharks. After Lisa was deposited in the van, the petty officers then pulled on masks and changed out of their naval uniforms.
One of the masked escorts came out of the exit they’d all snuck out of and moved away, to scout. This was his chance. His only way to figure out if Lisa was alive, and a way to get to Brighton.
Jack snuck up behind the man. No one saw him and they were secluded. He applied his hand to the right pressure points on the man’s neck and incapacitated him. He dragged him off before he dropped.
“Preston, yo, where you at?” One of the other thugs called a few minutes later.
Jack, now masked and dressed in Preston’s clothes, stepped out of the shadows and nodded. “All clear.”
“Let’s go.” The thug nodded toward the van.
Jack nodded and acted like they would; checking over his shoulder. It was an act he could easily mimic well enough. The way they acted and moved, was the way he was trained. He climbed into the back of the van, with the other masked men.
And Lisa was on the floor of the van, in her dress uniform. Her hands were bound but she was breathing.
Thank God.
She moaned and then opened her eyes, focusing on him, so he looked away. Trying to ignore her. He couldn’t have Lisa recognize him.
“Where am I?” she asked.
“Shut her up!” Brighton shouted from the front.
Jack placed a black bag over her head and knocked her out with a quick blow. It killed him to do it, but this was the part he had to play to try and save her life.
Nothing was said on the van ride down to the docks. As far as Jack could tell they were at the farthest pier, hidden and in the shadows. The van door opened and Jack made sure the way was clear down to what looked like a deep sea fishing vessel, and he had an idea what they were going to do to her.
As they boarded the boat, he surveyed his surroundings, while Brighton maneuvered the vessel into deeper waters. There was scuba gear in close proximity. What he had to do was make sure no one was paying attention to him. Once he made sure that Brighton threw Lisa over board alive, then he could put his plan into motion.
If Brighton killed Lisa before tossing her body, then Jack would make good on his promise about turning the other man into chum.
He’d take real pleasure in that.
Chapter Eight
“Wake up!”
Cold water hit like knives against her face and she awoke with a gasp. Her head was pounding from either the opiate that had been used to knock her out or the blow to the head one of the masked assailants had given her.
Either way, if her hands weren’t tied she’d be clawing Brighton’s eyes out.
As her eyes adjusted, she realized the sun was setting and San Diego was a thin line in the distance. And she knew exactly what was going to happen to her.
“Why?” she asked, getting to her feet.
“Money of course.” Brighton shrugged. “First your brother came too close to discovering who was backing Chem Agent 1157 and now you know that I’m a double agent. However, I do thank you for sending me the information my mercenaries tried to get that night they attacked.”
Rage boiled inside her, as the reality of what he was saying hit her. “You were responsible for killing my brother?”
“Well, I didn’t actually kill him but I sent his unit on that doomed mission.”
“You killed more than my brother. You killed a lot of innocent men.”
Brighton shrugged again. “It’s the price you have to pay.”
“You disgust me.”
“If you’ll tell me the name of the man who helped you, I’ll make your death painless. I’ll shoot you before I throw you in. If not, you get to drown. Do you know what it’s like to drown? I almost drowned once, it’s painful, lingering.” Brighton pulled out his gun. “Just give me the name of the man and the agency.”
Lisa trembled, but tried not to let him see that. She didn’t want to die. She didn’t want to die slowly, but her brother had died slowly. She could too, to serve her country. She wasn’t going to betray the Omega team or Jack.
She loved Jack too much to sentence him to death.
“No. And you know you’re going to have to do one hell of a cover up to explain my absence.”
“Not really. Your body is in the process of being found right now, Lieutenant. Badly burnt. That darn sequence code that Bio-Tek gave you blew you up too.”
“And what about DNA?”
“Oh, that’s been taken care of too. The medical examiner that’s dealing with your autopsy is in on this. Don’t worry. And as you have no family, no friends, no one will know you’re gone. No one will care.”
And it hit like a rock. His words. Jack would care, but he wouldn’t ever know what happened to her and she couldn’t help but wonder if he would even care, really.
He’d been out of her life for ten years.
“Tell me the name, Lieutenant and this will be painless.”
“No.”
Brighton sighed. “You’re stubborn, Morgan. So stubborn and foolish. I will find out eventually.”
“But not from me. I hope you rot in Hell, Brighton,” she snarled.
“Toss her overboard.” Brighton turned his back as her legs were bound, then she was picked up and tossed into the water.
I love you, Jack. I’ll always love you.
And her life flashed before her eyes. Snippets of moments with her brother and her parents. Happy moments from her childhood. The ocean was cold as she sank beneath the waves, keeping her eyes on the surface. Then she saw Jack, all their shared moments together and she closed her eyes, focusing on those special moments, before her body struggled to surface. To get air.
Something grabbed her and she opened her mouth to scream. A mouthpiece was put over her face and she could breath. She opened her eyes to see Jack.
Her eyes widened in shock, seeing him in a wetsuit. He pulled out a knife and released the zip ties from her arms and legs. She took a deep breath as he took back the mask and motioned for her to swim.
She nodded and followed him through the murky water. They alternated for a while, passing the oxygen back and forth. Her body was aching and she was freezing, but she didn’t care. She was putting distance between herself and Brighton.
Jack motioned her to surface and she did.
The sky was dark, but she could make out a beach with a few lights.
“Islas Coronado,” Jack said breathlessly. “That’s where I left everything when I got back down south. I didn’t enter the States legally; I didn’t want to be spotted.”
“How fortunate Brighton decided to take me out this far,” she said.
“He wanted to dump you in international waters, but didn’t want to go out too far. I heard him say he has a big meeting tonight with Bio-Tek. No doubt he’s planning to blackmail them. Greed got him in the end. Come on, let’s get out the water.”
She nodded.
And as she was swimming for her life to the small island, which was part of Mexico, there was an explosion behind her. She turned to look back to see a ship in flames. She turned and looked at Jack.
He just nodded and they continued swimming. Her limbs felt like they weighed a ton when she climbed on shore. She just lay there for a few moments, her head against the warm sand, taking deep breaths.
Then she rolled over to see Jack, who was sitting up and peering through binoculars, staring out over the wreckage that was still burning.
“How?” she asked.
He turned and looked at her. “Accelerants.”
She chuckled. “No, I mean how did you know? How did you find me?”
“About three hours after you left I remembered who Commander Brighton was. How Dane always suspected him, but how I brushed off Dane’s concerns. As soon as I did, we were sent on that mission and attacked by the Chem Agent. There was a problem that always niggled at the back of my mind, but I would never let myself go back to that moment.”
“What’s that?” she asked.
“The Chem Agent killed the terrorists we were supposed to assassinate too.”