“You too, Lee,” Michael responded.
* * * * *
Early the next morning, Jeffery arrived at the facility and went downstairs. After only a few steps, he was stopped in his tracks by one of his guards.
“We caught two intruders last night,” the man said.
Jeffery was very surprised. His facility had never actually had an intruder before. Sometimes a homeless person would wonder up to the facility, and they would have to chase him away, but that’s about as exciting as it ever got.
“Do you have any idea who they are?” Jeffery asked.
“No, but we have footage of them approaching the facility if you want to see if you recognize either one of them.”
“Yes, I would like to see the video.”
The guard escorted Jeffery to the monitor room. Upon seeing the video, Jeffery was overjoyed.
“I cannot believe this,” Jeffery exclaimed.
“What is it?”
“I do know one of these men. We’ve been spending so much of our energy trying to finding Lee Higgins, and apparently, he just decided to come to us. How lucky could we possibly get?”
“That’s great, sir.”
“Get me Trisha Morris. I think we need to start her interrogation a little early today,” Jeffery said with a devious grin.
A startling knock at her door woke Trish from a sound sleep.
“Come in,” she said as she sat up in the bed.
“I’m sorry to wake you, Ms. Morris, but Mr. Sandusky wants to speak with you,” a guard said.
“All right. Tell him that I’ll be right there,” she said while getting up out of the bed.
It looks like I’ve finally run out of time. What am I supposed to do now, she wondered. Trish made her way to Jeffery, and when she arrived, she was greeted by a man who was obviously ecstatic about something.
“We have found Lee Higgins, and your little fun has just turned into an actual interrogation. I want you to find out exactly where he’s hidden the device and then report back to me,” Jeffery said.
“Yes sir. I’ll get it done.”
Trish was then ushered by four guards to the prisoner’s cells. They entered one of the cells and two of the men grabbed Lee, while the other two stood watch over Michael. Michael grasped the shard of broken glass tightly and then jumped from his bed. In one smooth motion, he planted the sliver of glass in the closest guard’s neck. Shocked by this, one of the guards loosened his grip on Lee’s arm. Lee immediately pulled his arm away and swung his fist firmly into the jaw of the guard on his left side. Trish began hitting the guard that was facing Michael in the back of the head. Michael and Trish, as a team, were able to quickly subdue the man and take the weapon from his side. Trish pointed the newly found gun at the men that surrounded Lee.
“Drop your weapons, both of you,” Trish commanded. They quickly complied.
“Now, Lee, I need you to pick up the guns they just dropped. Give one to Michael, and keep one for yourself.”
“What’s with all the noise in here?” Jeffery asked from out in the hallway.
Trish turned and walked out of the cell and pointed her gun straight at him. He was surrounded by eight guards. Upon seeing her, they all raised their guns. Michael grabbed the keys from one of the guards, and then they quickly made their way outside of the cell to join Trish.
“You’re outnumbered, Ms. Morris. I suggest that you drop your weapons or else you will all perish right here,” Jeffery said.
“The way I look at it, you stand as good a chance of dying as we all do,” Michael said while inching his way to his left. He firmly planted his back against the cell that had been next to his own.
In his right hand he held a gun, but in his left hand he held a set of keys. Behind his back, he was trying to find the key that would fit into the lock behind him.
“Come now, do you really believe that the three of you have any chance against the nine of us?”
Just then Michael felt it. He had found the key that fit into the lock behind him. He dropped his gun at the same time as he unlocked the door. The noise from the gun hitting the ground effectively cancelled out the noise made from the newly opened door. Michael slowly slipped the keys into his back pocket.
“What are you doing, Michael?” Lee asked in a shocked voice.
“We can’t get out of this alive. You two should drop your weapons, too,” Michael said.
“What happened to controlling how you die?”
“Lee, just trust me on this one and drop your gun.”
Lee laid the gun down, and shortly after, Trish dropped her gun, too.
“You made the right decision, Michael. Find Ms. Morris a cell and get the dead body out of Michael’s cell. Then put him back in it. As for you, Mr. Higgins, we have some business to attend to,” Jeffery said.
With a wave of his hand, two men grabbed Lee and whisked him away. Trish was quickly escorted to a cell. Two of the guards dragged the dead body from Michael’s cell, and then two more escorted him back into the cell.
“My keys,” one of the earlier guards said to Michael.
Michael handed them over to him. As the door slammed, Michael still felt a ray of hope. My escape plan may not have worked, but at least it set someone else up to get out of here alive, he thought.
* * * * *
Nathan and Sam were lying on the bed when they heard a very loud commotion from the cell next to theirs.
“What in the world do you think is going on over there?” Nathan asked.
“I don’t know. I hope they aren’t torturing anyone,” Sam said.
“I already gave them all the information they wanted. Why would they be torturing someone?”
“You seem to be under the impression that all people only torture to get information. The truth is that unless something changes really quickly, we’ll all probably be tortured and then killed,” she said in a grim voice.
At that moment, the loud sounds seemed to move into the hallway.
“That’s strange. You don’t suppose that someone is actually making a break for it, do you?” she asked.
Then they heard the sound of something bump up against their door. After a few seconds, to both Nathan and Sam’s surprise, the sound of the door unlocking could be heard.
“Wow, I think we need to take this opportunity to try to get out of here,” Nathan said while jumping to his feet and heading towards the door.
“Wait a minute. It sounds pretty bad out there. Just wait.”
“Are you sure? We may not get another opportunity like this one.”
“Just trust me on this.”
The noise outside subsided after a couple of minutes.
“We’re going to wait a few more minutes, and then we’re making a run for it,” Sam said.
After some time, Sam walked over to Nathan by the door.
“All right, let’s go,” Sam said.
Nathan opened the door very slowly, and they stepped out of their cell.
“Thank God no one is here, but what do we do now?” Nathan asked in a low voice.
“We wait.”
“For what exactly?”
“If we want to get out of here, then we’ll have to look like we belong here, so we should wait for someone to come and then we can get their uniforms,” Sam said.
Several minutes passed in silence before footsteps could be heard coming toward the long hallway-type room that they were in. Sam positioned herself on one side of the door where their intruders would have to enter, and Nathan positioned himself on the other side of the door. Okay, I know what Sam’s going to do when these guys enter the room, but what am I going to do, Nathan wondered. As the door flew open, two men stepped through. When they cleared the doorway, Sam stepped behind the guard nearest to her and with one blow knocked him unconscious. Nathan tried to replicate this blow, and to his credit, he did knock the man to the ground, but the man was still conscious. Nathan began kicking the poor man in the head over and over again.
“Why won’t you pass out?” Nathan asked the poor guard.
“Stop it, Nathan,” Sam said while reaching down and applying pressure to a vein on the side of the man’s neck.
The guard almost immediately passed out.
“What were you trying to do, kill him?” Sam asked and then laughed.
“No. I was trying to replicate what you did, but he just wouldn’t pass out.”
“You have to hit them in a certain spot. I’ll show you how to do it one day.”
Sam was still laughing at Nathan. She couldn’t quite catch her breath.
“All right, stop laughing at me and let’s get these uniforms on.”
They both changed.
“It fits you perfectly,” Sam said upon examining Nathan’s uniform.
“Yeah and yours looks . . .” Nathan said before being cut off.
“Like it’s falling off of me, right?”
“Just a little bit.”
“Well, don’t worry about it. We just need to act natural until we can find a way out of here. Then we can get help for the others,” Sam said.
“All right, let’s go. The quicker we get out of this place, the better.”
They made their way out of the hallway and eventually came to a large area where many people were. Nathan was slightly stunned by the size of this place and the amount of people that were around them.
“Just keep your head down and no matter what, keep walking,” Sam said while pulling Nathan along.
Finally, they saw it; the elevator. They walked straight to it and hit the button for the ground floor.
“I think we’re actually going to get out of here,” Nathan said.
The doors opened, and they both quickly made their way through what looked like a winter gear store.
“This can’t be Florida. Where are we?” Sam whispered to Nathan as they headed toward the door.
“I have no idea, but you’re right. Why would there be a winter gear store in Florida?”
As they exited the door, they picked up the pace.
“We need to at least get a few blocks from here before we make a call,” Sam said.
“How are we going to make a call? We don’t have any money.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Sam said as she pulled some change and a man’s wallet from her pocket.
“Maybe our luck’s finally changing.”
They walked a few blocks over and stopped at a pay phone. Sam dialed Jason’s number, but there was no answer. She dialed the number again and still, there was no answer.
“What a time for him to not pick up the phone,” Sam said.
“Is there anyone else we can call?” Nathan asked.
Sam thought for a moment. She remembered the card that Zane had given to her with his number on it. What was that number, Sam thought desperately before it finally came to her.
“I think that Zane may be able to help us,” she said as she picked up the phone.
`
Chapter 24
Zane and Dan were just getting off of their plane in Tampa when Zane received a phone call.
“Hello,” he said as he answered the phone.
“Zane, this is Samantha Fisher. We could really use your help right about now,” Sam said.
Zane was nearly floored out of pure surprise.
“I know that you need our help. That’s why we’re in Tampa, but how are you calling me exactly?”
Sam explained the whole situation of how they were taken and what ultimately led to their escape.
“How did you even know that we had been captured, and is Tampa where we’re at?” Sam asked.
“Mr. Higgins called Jason, and then Jason called Dan and me. Our old friend, Mr. Fields, gave us a tip that you were probably in Tampa. It’s very likely that Jason had something to do with your escape,” Zane said.
“Wait, what do you mean? How could Jason have anything to do with us escaping?”
Zane recounted how Jason and Lee had gone to save them against his and Dan’s wishes and how they had gotten the information out of Fields for Jason.
“That stupid idiot! Why would he do something so reckless?” Sam asked.
“I don’t know, but we need to come and get you two. Do you see any street signs or anything around so that we may be able to find you?”
Sam looked around and began naming every sign and building that was around her.
“All right, as soon as we can rent a car, we’ll be there. If we aren’t there within the next hour, call me back on this number, but for now just sit tight.”
“I will, and thank you, Zane,” Sam said as she hung up the phone.
“So what’s going on?” Nathan asked.
“Zane and Dan are here, and they’re coming to get us.”
“Here? Where is here, exactly?”
“Apparently, here is Tampa, Florida.”
“Okay, that all sounds great. I have only one more question.”
“What is it?”
“How much money is in that guy’s wallet because I’m starving,” Nathan said as his stomach growled rather loudly.
* * * * *
Back at the underground prison, Lee had been taken to an entirely new cell, but this cell wasn’t like all the other cells. There was no bed, no toilet, and no sink. He was chained to the back wall of the room. Stupid Michael! I probably would have rather died a few minutes ago than to be tortured to death here, Lee thought to himself. He was desperately trying to think of some way, anyway, to flip his own fortunes, but unfortunately as far as he could tell, all hope had vanished when Michael and his plan had failed them. No matter what, I have to stay strong. I cannot give up anything to these people, he thought. The truth was that Lee still felt terrible about giving up Nathan and Sam’s location back in Atlanta. He felt solely responsible for how Sam had been beaten, and he knew that this situation had to be different. If you’re going to die, at least go out with your pride intact, he told himself. Just then the door to his cell opened up and Jeffery came through it.
“Mr. Higgins, I have a few questions for you,” Jeffery said with a smile.
* * * * *
After getting a rental car and starting to drive to Sam and Nathan’s location, Zane made a phone call to someone whom he hoped would finally help them.
“Hello,” the voice on the other line said.
“Mr. Campbell, this is Zane Green, and I have a very urgent request.”
“What is it, Mr. Green?”
“I need a full team in Tampa, Florida. As a matter of fact, I need anyone and everyone you can send. We’ll need automatic weapons and plenty of body armor.”
“What is this all about? I can’t authorize something like this without knowing what’s going on. When did you leave Memphis?”
Zane then explained the situation with Samantha Fisher and all the people that were with her.
“Yes, I know about all of this. There’s nothing that I can do about a rogue agent who has been investigating our allies,” Campbell said firmly.
“But sir, there’s more. Jason tried to rescue them on his own, and while I think that he may have helped a couple of people escape, it’s my belief that he’s likely sitting and rotting in that prison.”
Campbell was very troubled by this news. He had never seen eye to eye with Mr. Ellis, but he had always respected him. Even though they were normally on the opposite side of most issues, he had grown to admire Jason, to some extent. Campbell had plenty of yes-men in his life, and Jason was certainly the opposite of that. It had become Campbell’s secret opinion that every superior needed someone like Jason who would question their decisions in order to keep themselves in check. Campbell sighed deeply.
“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do,” he said.
“So that’s it? You want us to just leave him to die?”
“Unfortunately, yes. That’s all we can do. Go home, Zane,” Campbell said as he hung up the phone.
As Campbell hung u
p the phone, he looked up to see Burt Jones passing by his office.
“Mr. Jones, can you come in here for a moment?” Campbell asked.
“Sure,” Burt said as he came in and sat down.
“I have a bit of a situation, and I don’t know what to do. I could just use a little advice right now.”
“Okay, just tell me what’s going on, and I’ll help you if I can.”
“Well, I don’t really want to go into a lot of detail, but I’ll tell you what I can. I have two options to choose from right now. One option endangers my family and forces me to take on someone that I fear I’m ill-equipped to take on. The other option endangers several other lives that I may not be as close to and rips my moral conscience away from me. What would you pick in that kind of situation?”
“Option C, sir. I would protect my family and burn down my enemy’s world. You have some of the greatest soldiers and minds available to you right here, and no offense to you, sir, but fearing anyone or anything in this world when you have people like us to stand beside is just cowardly. So overall, my advice is simple. If you fear that someone is about to burn your own world down, you should go get some gasoline and start a fire yourself,” Burt said.
Campbell thought long and hard before saying anything to Burt. He didn’t particularly like being called a coward, but he knew that he had been extremely passive in this situation. Maybe it truly was past time to start a fire.
“Thanks for the advice, Mr. Jones.”
“It’s no problem,” Burt said as he exited the office.
Campbell picked up the phone and made a call. “Hey, honey. I need you and the kids to get up here as soon as you can,” he said.
* * * * *
“I’m not going to tell you anything,” Lee said to Jeffery.
“You see, I think that up until this point, I’ve been plenty patient with you and your little group, but I’m starting to lose my patience. You’ll give me the information I want now or you’ll be tortured until you tell me what I want to hear,” Jeffery said.
“And then what will happen to me? Why would I tell you anything when I know that as soon as I do, you’re just going to kill me and everyone else?”
Wrong Place (The Wrong Series) Page 20