by Liz Wolfe
“I’m sure it will when we find out exactly what the Order’s plans are.” Drake jerked his head toward the rear of the building. “Let’s go back. I want to check out that door on the back of the building.”
“Right,” Zoe said.
“Ethan, we’re going to check out a door at the rear of the building. It’s recessed into the ground and I’m thinking it leads to a basement.” He paused. “It might be the best way for the team to come in.”
They ran around the building and stopped at the door. It was steel, no window, with a metal plate where a doorknob would normally be.
“The team might be able to get in here,” Drake said.
“You’d have to blow the door and I’d assume it’s alarmed. Not exactly subtle.”
“Subtle isn’t always an option. This might be our only option. I think we’ve done everything we can without going inside. Let’s get back.” His hand moved to the earpiece of his cell phone. “We’re done here. Did you get everything?” He nodded and gave Zoe a thumbs-up. “Right, we’ll check with you when we’re back at the hotel.”
They turned to leave and Zoe heard the door squeak open.
“Wait. What? I didn’t get that, Ethan.”
January 17, Washington, D.C.
Abdul waited with the forklift while another man unlocked the back of the container. The man pocketed the key, and pushed the door open. “There ya go,” he said stepping to the side. Abdul pushed the forklift forward and carefully inserted the forks into the open slots of the palette. He pushed the handle forward lifting the crate, then backed the lift several feet away from the container.
“Thanks,” he called. The man closed the container door, half-turned, and waved as he jogged back to the cab of his truck.
Abdul turned the forklift and guided it to the predetermined place for the crate. He lowered it to the floor, backed up until the forks were free of the palette, then turned and drove to the supervisor’s small, cramped office.
“This just arrived.” Abdul tore the lading bill off his clipboard and handed it to the supervisor.
“About time. Meredith’s been bugging the hell outta me about it.” He picked up the phone and punched in a number.
“Hey, Meredith. It’s here.”
Abdul waited outside the office, pretending to look at his clipboard, listening to his supervisor’s conversation.
“Yeah, I know. Thought you’d want to know right away.” The man picked up his coffee cup and sipped. “Sure. No problem.” He replaced the receiver.
“Hey, Abdul. I need you to open that crate and take the podium inside up to the main floor. Ms. Gavin will meet you up there.”
That was exactly what Abdul had expected. He nodded to the supervisor and walked back to the crate. Using a crowbar, he carefully pried the crate apart and removed the insulation, then loaded it onto a dolly and steered it to the freight elevator.
When the elevator doors opened, Meredith Gavin was waiting for him. “Over here,” she instructed. Abdul obediently pushed the podium to the spot she indicated and settled it gently to the floor.
“Oh, my. It’s just beautiful.” Meredith ran a graceful hand over the smooth wood. “This will absolutely make the Inauguration.” She laughed. “I was getting worried that we’d have to use the other one. But it’s finally here. And worth the wait.”
“Yes,” Abdul agreed. “It is splendid, is it not?”
“Security cleared it?” she asked.
“Yes, it was examined at the airport, then delivered directly here. Do you wish to see the security tag?”
“Not now. Just send it to my office tomorrow and make sure the podium is locked up downstairs.”
“Of course.” Abdul nodded pleasantly, leaned the dolly back, and wheeled it onto the elevator.
When the doors opened in the basement, he wheeled the dolly over to the supervisor’s office and asked for the key to the security room. On the way to the security room, he stopped and retrieved a package he’d stashed behind a trash bin. Inside the room, he closed the door, then unwrapped the package. In fifteen minutes, he had the device installed. He pulled out his cell phone and punched in a long series of numbers.
“Yes?”
“I thought you would like to know that Martha has delivered a baby boy,” Abdul said as he’d been instructed.
“That is good news. Is he healthy?”
“Oh, yes. Perfect in every way.”
“I’ll let everyone know. I’m sure they will want to celebrate the birth.”
“Of course. I have to get back to work now.”
19
January 18, CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia
“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?” Ethan demanded over the crackling static. “Drake? Drake!” He was answered with total silence. No response. No static. Nothing. He pulled his headset off and tossed it onto a desk. “What do you see, Leo?”
Leo Buschner tapped commands into a keyboard and watched the screen. “I’m trying to get a better resolution, Ethan.”
“Just tell me what you see.”
“Well, it’s a little difficult because there was a blur.” Leo looked up at Ethan and cleared his throat. “If I had to guess, I’d say that a door opened. That would have let heat out of the building. That was the blur there for a few seconds. Then there were more separate heat signatures.”
“So, someone came out of the building?” Ethan stared at the screen. The flashing red dots blurred together, then separated. “What was that?”
“That spark?” Leo asked. “I have no idea.”
“It was a momentary heat flare,” Robyn said. “I’ve seen it before. Probably from a gun. See.” She pointed to the screen. “One of the heat signatures was moving, then stopped when the heat flare occurred.”
Ethan stared at her for a moment. “Someone fired a gun?”
Robyn nodded and pointed to the screen again. “Look, the heat signature that stopped is moving again. Back toward the others.”
The flashing red dots separated into two groups. Two flashing dots, followed by three other dots. Then they all disappeared.
“What happened now? Where did they go?” Ethan demanded.
“Into the building. That’s the only thing that would mask the heat signatures like that,” Robyn said.
“Shit!” Ethan slammed his fist against the wall.
Leo looked like he might cry. Robyn patted his shoulder and looked at Ethan. “What can we do?”
Ethan just shook his head and rubbed his forehead. “Keep an eye on that place. Anything you can see will help.”
Robyn turned to Leo. “Let’s bring up the video from the secondary satellite on this monitor, then overlay both displays here.”
“There’s a secondary satellite?” Ethan asked. “Will that tell us anything?”
“The secondary gives us a deeper penetration into the building, but the heat signatures aren’t as defined. Anything we see, well, we won’t know who or what it is. Still, it’s something.”
“Do it.” Ethan walked out of the room and headed down the hall to his office. This situation was totally unacceptable. He’d sent an untrained person in to do the job of an agent. He’d let her talk him into going in deeper than he ever should have allowed. And he didn’t know what the hell Drake might do. Ethan picked up his phone and punched in a number.
“Calder here. Sorry to wake you, sir, but we have a situation in Switzerland. I have two agents down.”
“Are they dead?” Kevin Bolton asked.
“Unknown, sir, but I have reason to believe they are still alive. We need to go in. Now.”
“Can’t do it, Ethan. We’re twenty-four hours from a go. At the least.”
“That’s not acceptable. The agents will almost certainly be dead by then.” Ethan took a deep breath. “And the Order could be gone. We need to move now.”
“I understand. But again, we’re at least twenty-four hours from a go. I have to get an okay from our contact in Switzerland, and he’s not re
achable untiltomorrow. Even then, he’ll have to talk to his people. I have no doubt it’ll be a go, but we simply cannot go in until then.”
“I see.”
“Ethan, I’m sorry. I’ll move this along as quickly as I can. But until we get word, we have to stand down. You got that?”
“Yes, sir. I understand.” Ethan replaced the receiver in the cradle and walked back down the hall to the ops room.
“Ethan, we’ve got something,” Robyn said when he entered the room. “See these two heat signatures? They’ve been in this area since you’ve been gone. They move occasionally, in a limited way. The other three heat signatures that we believe were outside escorted them here and then went away.”
“You think that’s Zoe and Drake?”
“It would make sense. See that?” She pointed at the screen. “They’re still moving, but not much. Like they’re in a confined space.”
“And since the other heat signatures left, you think the others were whoever came out of the building?” he asked.
“It’s our best guess.”
“Call Cournoyer, Timmens, LaCaria, and Schufreider. No, wait. I’ll call Timmens myself. Tell the others to be ready to go.”
“We’ve got clearance to send the team in?” Robyn asked.
Ethan looked at her for a moment. “We go wheels-up in one hour. I’ll brief them on the plane.”
January 18, The Order Facility outside Bern, Switzerland
“Is it me or is there something just incredibly creepy about those guards?”
“You mean the blank eyes? The total lack of emotion?” Drake sat down on the cot next to Zoe. “Yeah, I noticed.”
“Maybe the Order brainwashed them.” Zoe shuddered and walked across the small room. “We need to get out of here.”
“Good idea. But I don’t see any way out.” Drake looked at the windowless walls and solid door.
“I do.”
Drake followed her gaze to the small vent high on the wall above the cot. “No way. It’s too small.”
“For you. Not for me.”
“Even for you.”
“Wanna bet?” Zoe stepped onto the cot and ran her fingers around the edge of the metal vent covering.
“Excellent. It’s not screwed in.”
“I still don’t think you’re going to fit through there.”
“I’ll fit.” Zoe worked her fingers around the edge of the vent, slowly pulling it off the wall. “The question is, where do I end up and how do I get you out of here?”
“You’ll figure it out.”
Zoe stopped and looked down at him. “You sound pretty positive.”
“Does that surprise you?”
“Well, yeah. I mean, what if I don’t come through?”
“You will.”
“Great. No pressure.” She dropped the vent cover into his hand and peered into the opening. “It opens up to a larger vent not far from here.”
Drake stood on the cot next to her and looked into the duct. “Good thing you’re not claustrophobic.”
“Yeah. I’ll go left when I get to the larger duct, then look for a vent that opens someplace I won’t be seen. Then I’ll come back to get you.”
“Good plan,” Drake agreed.
“You really think I can take out the guard and get to you?”
“I don’t see why not.” Drake grinned and then leaned in to brush his lips across hers.
“What’s that? A kiss for luck?” she asked.
“Maybe I can do better.”
He captured her lips again, running his tongue around the edges, nipping at the corners. Zoe responded by fitting her body against his. She relaxed into the arm that wrapped around her back. Her lips softened under his as an unbidden energy flowed through her.
“This is really bad timing.” Zoe pulled back a few inches.
“Yeah, we should have thought of doing this a long time ago.” Drake grinned. “Well, actually, I did think of it.”
“Hold on to that thought. And give me a boost up.”
Drake cupped his hands for her foot and lifted her up to the vent. Zoe put her arms through first, twisting to get her shoulders into the opening. The duct was just slightly larger than the opening and she was able to squirm the ten feet to the larger duct. She glanced back, waved, and crawled down the larger duct. She had to make two more turns before she saw another vent she could fit through.
She pressed her face up against the vent cover. An empty hallway. Exactly what she needed. Her internal clock told her it was close to midnight and she hoped that meant everyone was bedded down for the night. She pushed against the vent cover but itwas screwed into the wall. Damn it. She’d have to kick the cover off and hope there was no one around to hear. Maneuvering around, she braced herself as best she could and pulled her legs back for the thrust. Then she heard voices. She lowered her legs and waited a few minutes. The voices faded and she heard nothing more. It was now or never. She pulled her legs back and thrust out with all her strength.
The vent cover flew out and hit the far wall of the hallway. Zoe dropped from the opening, picked up the metal vent, and shoved it back into place. She ran down the hallway, stopping at the corner to make sure she was alone and unobserved. Unless there were cameras. A quick glance behind her revealed a camera in the far corner. She might have been within its range. Another glance down the connecting hallway showed another camera. Were these people paranoid or what? She turned into the adjoining hallway and sprinted to the first hallway on her right. If they were watching all the cameras, they’d already have seen her. Speed was her only option if that were the case. Another turn and she stood a few yards from the door that led to the guard.
Zoe ducked and moved to the small window in the door, popped up for a quick glance and then down again. The guard still looked creepy to her. He sat at a desk, back straight, eyes focused into the distance.
Now what? The hallway was empty. Except for a fire extinguisher. She slinked away from the door, pulled the fire extinguisher off the wall, and crept back. Taking a deep breath, she banged the red cylinder against the door. The guard looked up, then moved from behind the desk. He looked back to check the monitor on the desk, then walked to the door. Zoe knocked the fire extinguisher against the door again and stepped back.
The guard opened the door and stepped outside. Zoe didn’t hesitate. She lifted the red cylinder and threw herself into the air to bring it down on his head. The guard crumpled to the floor. She barely caught the door before it closed behind him.
Using his foot to brace the door open, she stepped over his body and sprinted to the room she thought Drake was in.
There was no doorknob. Just a flat glass panel next to the door.
Damn it!
She went back to the guard and put her arms under his shoulders. He weighed a ton. She pulled him a few yards inside the guard room and the door closed behind them. She’d dragged him within a few feet of the room when he moaned. No! She didn’t want to have to hit him again. His head moved, then lolled to one side again. She pulled him closer to the door and tugged on his arm, pressing his palm against the panel.
When she heard the soft snick of the lock releasing, she dropped his arm and pushed on the door.
“What took you so long?” Drake demanded.
“Ten minutes is a long time for you? I find that a little disappointing.”
Drake dragged the man into the room and pulled both guns from the guard’s holster. “We’ll talk about that later.” He handed one gun to Zoe, tucked the other one into his belt, stepped outside, and let the door close. “And I’ll win.”
Zoe grinned at him. “Where do you think Logan is?”
“What?”
“Logan. Where do you think he is?” She took her fanny pack off the shelf above the guard’s desk and fastened it around her waist.
“What difference does that make?
“We need to find him,” Zoe explained patiently.
“There’s no time. We need to
get the hell out of here.”
“We can’t leave Logan here,” she objected.
“Look. There comes a time when you have to consider the options and make the best choice. Logan’s already made his.”
“No!” She didn’t want to believe Logan was truly a part of the Order. Not a willing part anyway.
Drake put his hands on her shoulders and staredinto her eyes. “You’d put our lives in danger because of Logan Forrester? Face it, Zoe. He’s one of them.”
Zoe shook free of his hold. “You can’t prove that.”
“I can. Given time.”
“Well, we don’t have that time, do we?” Zoe crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not leaving without him.”
January 17, Over the Atlantic Ocean
Ethan checked his watch again. They had been in the air for an hour and would land in Bern in just over three more. Drake and Zoe had been inside the Order’s Swiss facility for over two hours. He turned and motioned Timmens, Cournoyer, LaCaria, and Schufreider to join him. They all moved forward, leaving the other eight men in the rear of the Learjet Bombardier XRS.
Ethan unrolled the satellite map and pointed to the outline of the facility. “This is our target. We have two agents inside. Primary goal is to extract the agents.”
“What do we know about security?” Timmens asked.
“Precious little,” Ethan answered. “But we can expect it to be good. Guards, electronic locks and alarms, at the least.”
“Damn, what do they do in there?” Schufreider asked.
“They’re building a better world for us,” Ethan said.
“Oh, that again.” LaCaria laughed.
“Do we know where the agents are being held?” Cournoyer asked.
“No.” Ethan indicated a spot on the map. “We suspect this area. And they might have already been moved. We have no contact with them, no way of knowing what their condition is.”
“Great. Just who are they?” Timmens asked.
Ethan turned his laptop around so the team leaders could see the screen. “Drake Leatherman. Six feet three inches, two hundred ten pounds. Green eyes, shaved head, assorted tattoos.”