“Elias, what happened after we got cut off?” she asked.
He jerked his head in a nod. “A few moments later all power went out. I began lockdown procedures, beginning with the front office. I observed at least two individuals in the elevator lobby before the security gate went down, but I believe there are more. I need to do a three floor sweep, but...”
“No.” She blew out a breath. “There’s too much risk, and what they want is here.”
Merida wished she could get word to Zain. She couldn’t show either Finley or Elias what she’d found in the men’s pockets.
To the world Ethan Turner was still dead.
There weren’t many who knew that the former Aegis Group employee hadn’t died in a Beirut bombing years ago. He’d been taken, experimented on, brainwashed and turned into a sort of super soldier. In fact, he’d almost killed Merida’s best friend, Melody. Now Ethan was finding a new path, but there were still people out there who wanted him for what he was or what they hoped they could learn from him.
“What’s our next move?” Elias asked her.
“I need to go to Zain’s office,” she said.
Finley shifted his grip on his rifle. “Let’s move.”
As if by some silent consensus, the men took up position, Elias in front of her and Finley behind her. She absently noticed that the Christmas decorations hung along the walls here were dark, as they should be. Really, how were the rest in the lobby and stairs powered?
And what was she going to do?
All the way up the stairs she’d asked herself that question.
Really, there was only one answer.
These people wanted information on Ethan. She had to destroy it.
Zain would have backups off-site and likely at their original location in Illinois. The digital stuff was most important, but that wasn’t all there was.
As they neared the front of the office, she heard a high-pitched whine. Like that of a saw or a drill.
Elias stepped into Zain’s office, but she proceeded on a few steps, staring at the metal security gate that had been lowered over the glass doors protecting the suite.
There were people on the other side of that barrier. People who would kill them for what they knew.
Finley’s hand wrapped around her elbow and squeezed. “Come on.”
She nodded and let him pull her into the office.
Elias had taken up a post by the door, his gaze on the front of the suite.
Merida circled around to sit at Zain’s desk and glance over what was there.
He kept a tidy work station. The computer was gone, likely with him. Her laptop was at home, too. With those they could supply support to all teams in the field. Other than that he had a framed picture of his wife, a small Lego Christmas tree and a cup of pens besides the two monitors that were currently dark.
“Is there any way to get word out? To smoke signal people?” She directed that question at the two men.
Finley glanced at Elias. “They are blocking both cellphones and shortwave radios, which means a hefty jammer.”
Elias grimaced. “Electricity and our fiber optic is down. I’ve tried comms. I’ve cycled several workstations. Even the secure room. Nothing.”
Merida nodded and used her key to open a drawer on Zain’s desk. Inside of that drawer was another set of keys.
A loud bang sounded from the front of the suite. She jumped and failed to hide it.
“Can we just get whatever we need to get and go?” Finley asked.
“No.” Merida tipped her chin up. “We have to wipe all of our servers. Fry all our machines. And...we need to blow up the building.”
There was a beat of silence. Both men stared at her.
“You’re joking, right?” Finley asked.
“I’m not.” She braced her hands on the desk. “This isn’t just about sensitive things Aegis Group knows. This is national security. Please trust me when I say this is really, really bad.”
She stared at the two men. How could she make them understand that protecting Ethan’s location and everything they knew about him was of the utmost importance? The last thing the world needed was more people who knew how to genetically enhance their soldiers into something on Ethan’s level.
“Do you honestly have enough explosive material on site?” Finley asked.
“Yes,” Elias answered.
Finley shook his head. “Shit. Okay. Whatever you say, boss.”
Merida eased her grip on the keys and glanced at Elias.
“Is this really necessary? Can’t we just fry the servers and go?” he asked.
“If you knew more...” She shrugged and wished she could tell them, but she couldn’t.
“We’re doing this,” Finley said. “What’s our plan? Where’s our equipment?”
“The servers are on this floor. That’s why they’re focused here. I’ll initiate the security measures and fry them while you two head downstairs—”
“No,” Finley said in a hard tone. “We go together.”
“They’re going to get through that door soon.” Elias thumbed over his shoulder. “You two stay here. I’ll head down to the munitions locker. Meet me there. Use the south stair. We’ve already cleared it.”
He didn’t wait for Finley or her to agree, Elias just turned and went.
“Are we seriously doing this?” Finley asked her as she got up.
“Yes, we have to.” She circled the desk, but he blocked her path.
He gripped her shoulder. “Tell me it’s worth risking your life.”
She tipped her chin up. “I’m not being dramatic when I say this is national—global—security, Finley. The idea of those people—anyone—getting their hands on the intel in this office when I know what they’re after scares me.”
“Okay. Lead on.”
He didn’t pressure her or ask her for proof, he just accepted her word.
She swallowed, not sure what that meant, and just looked at him for a moment.
He looked back at her and she wished she had more time to understand this, them, whatever this was. Instead, she needed to figure out how the hell she was going to blow up a building.
Merida gathered herself and stepped into the hall. She wanted to rush to her desk and gather the mementos and things in her drawers, but Elias was right. Those people would be in soon enough. Merida had to work quickly.
Several rooms had been deconstructed to form one large command center room with terminals set up to perform a variety of tasks. They even had a secure room where they could handle classified information. And now she had to destroy all of it. Everything she’d helped build now had to be torched. Not a single shred of information could be left behind.
She strode across to the server room. It was a portion of the room walled off with glass. Normally bright lights gave it a futuristic look. Zain had designed it that way likely because it amused him.
“Get the fire extinguisher,” she said over her shoulder as an afterthought.
“Seriously?” Finley muttered.
If the systems were online, she could do a virtual kill switch and the whole thing would wipe in a matter of seconds. That wasn’t an option. She would need to manually trip each server’s kill switch, igniting several tiny charges to detonate and destroy the delicate electronics.
Something similar would happen if a person plugged into the servers and tripped the security measures. Merida wasn’t willing to risk that the people on the other side of that door weren’t good.
“Are you sure you have to destroy this? Can’t you—I don’t know—take some of it with you?” Finley asked.
“There’s no need to. Everything on these servers will be backed up in our other office.” She just needed to keep reminding herself of that. This exact scenario was why they were as careful as they were.
She took a deep breath and gripped the lever.
“Hold your breath,” she warned.
Merida put some muscle into it and flipped the switch.
Immediately pops and sizzles lit up the seven foot tower as the charges went off. The acrid smell of burning plastics and metals made her eyes sting and smoke hung in the air.
All she could do now was continue.
This wasn’t the end of something. It was a setback. So long as all three of them got out of here and they stopped these people, they could go on. They had to. For Sai. For all the people Aegis Group helped. They had to keep doing their job.
5.
Wednesday. Aegis Group Headquarters, Seattle, Washington.
Finley crouched low to the ground to avoid the worst of the smoke leaking from the servers. The flicker of flames licked the outside of several towers. And here he’d been wondering how they’d successfully destroy the intel without power and the guarantee of wiping it. Clearly Merida’s people had planned for that. There seemed to be a plan for just about everything, the problem was that Merida was the one making it happen.
He’d never said it, but deep down Finley had always thought that the stories about the Aegis Group guys were inflated. Sure, they were capable and had the means to do some pretty big jobs, but he’d always thought some of it had to be a tall tale. Now he wasn’t so sure.
Where was she?
He leaned to the right and caught sight of Merida’s leg then the brilliant flash of the charges.
How many more were there?
The leg folded and suddenly she was on her knees and braced with one hand, the other arm thrown over her face.
The smoke had to be getting to her.
Finley crouched low and crossed the room to her.
“Are you done?” he asked.
She jerked her head around to face him. She had the knit cap sitting on the back of her head. Bits of hair escaped the eye and mouth holes.
“Are you done?” he asked again.
She coughed, but managed to get out a single, “Yes.”
He scooped her up and sprinted for the glass door, kicking it shut behind them to block out as much of the smoke as he could. He kept going, heading for the stairs. The area around the servers wasn’t safe, now because of the fires and melting plastics or later because of who wanted them.
He ducked into a room just off the stairs and set Merida down in a desk chair. Before they rushed headlong out there, he had to be sure she was well enough to keep going. Her hand rest on his shoulder and she’d stopped coughing but her lungs wheezed with every breath. He kneeled there looking up at her powerless to do anything except wait out this spell and listen for the intruders.
Merida pointed, eyes closed, at the bottom drawer of the desk next to him.
He yanked it open.
Three bottles of water sat there, unopened.
He grabbed out one for her and took one for himself. The other he stashed in a pocket.
They both drank deeply. He never once stopped watching her.
It hadn’t escaped his notice that Elias didn’t understand the security concern, but she did. She knew what these people were after, which meant she was valuable to them if they understood she knew the things they wanted. From here on out protecting her had to come first now that the servers were taken care of. She was the key.
She sat there, eyes closed and head bowed. Tears trickled down her cheeks. He didn’t know if it was from the smoke or what they were doing. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know. It wasn’t like he could fix things.
Finley cocked his head to the side.
The drilling had stopped. Why? For how long?
Merida wiped her face and put the cap back on the bottle before opening her eyes and looking at him.
“You’re doing great,” he said.
“I’m doing the right thing. I don’t know about great.” She leaned forward and put her elbows on her knees.
“We can still get Elias and get out of here.” It was what Finley wanted to do.
“No.” She shook her head and looked at him. “I can’t. I want to tell you, but I can’t.”
“It’s bad.”
“Stuff of nightmares bad. Next generation bad. I shouldn’t even say that much bad.”
Finley nodded.
Just what the hell was Aegis Group into?
He knew Merida had served as an assistant to a very high ranked admiral for many years before retiring. She’d seen things, known things most wouldn’t because of the nature of her job. If she said this was bad, it had to be bad.
“Hey?” He reached out and took her hand, giving it a squeeze. “We’re going to make it through this, okay?”
She squeezed his hand back and gave him a weak smile.
He’d had no idea how this woman was going to change his life when she moved in next door. How much he’d grow to love her. Need her. Rely on her sense of humor. She was the bright spot in his life. And if he wanted to make the most of this opportunity with her, they had to survive this hell they’d been dumped into.
Finley stared into Merida’s eyes and saw his future. He’d wanted more with her, but tonight made him see that they could be together, work together, love together for the rest of their lives.
She licked her lips and his gaze dipped to her mouth.
Funny how tonight had started with a kiss. One explosive, life-changing kiss...
If he was going to make her understand what he wanted, she needed to know how important she was to him. He was shit with words, something he needed to change.
Her breathing still wheezed. They couldn’t move yet, not until she’d had another moment or so.
“Did I ever tell you why I got out?” He shifted his rifle and laid a hand on her knee.
“No.”
“You do the job long enough and it changes you. I don’t care what people say, it does. I... I started to like it too much.” He stared at her.
Merida nodded slowly.
Finley hated admitting that, but there it was.
“There were some missions toward the end that made me question my humanity, what we were doing. I remember seeing my niece for the first time and feeling like I couldn’t touch her because there was too much blood on my hands. That’s when I knew I had to get out.”
She covered his hand with hers, but she had no idea what he was really saying. Not yet.
“Thing is, that first year and a half was a blur. I went through the motions of living without really living. And then one day I met this sassy woman who told me I didn’t know what I was talking about when it came to changing oil on a car. She... She turned on the lights. Because of her I started remembering what it was like to be human again.” Finley stared into Merida’s dark eyes made darker by the shadows clinging to the room. “I’ve never told her how important she is to me. That was a mistake.”
Merida had hauled his ass out of the fog. She’d shown him what life could be like. While he’d figured it out, she’d been a friend. A lifeline. And he’d grown to love her. Because of what they had, he’d relearned how to connect with his brothers, sisters, parents and everyone else. Because of her.
A bang followed by shattering glass broke the moment. Merida gasped and Finley moved to cover her, turning his attention to the door.
The clock had begun.
Any moment now those men would learn they weren’t alone in here and the hunt would be on.
Finley grabbed Merida’s hand and pulled her to her feet. “We have to go.”
He crossed to the door and peered down the hall.
They’d taken out one and restrained three.
How many more were there?
A long hall stretched the length of the building. Several figures swathed in black and shadow moved down the hall.
Finley needed a split second for them to make it around the corner and down the stairs. That was it.
Merida pressed close to him. Despite the Kevlar it was almost intimate, if they weren’t both watching for the chance to escape.
Someone yelled something in a language Finley didn’t understand. The others rushed into the central room and probabl
y toward the servers—and out of sight.
“Come on,” he muttered and darted around the corner.
How many had he counted? Four? Five? More?
“Finley.” Merida’s voice vibrated with fear.
And then he heard it.
The sharp sound of voices getting closer.
He hit the door and took one long step toward the stairs.
Merida couldn’t hope to keep up.
They wouldn’t make it far.
Whoever was following would catch up while they were trying to get to the fourth floor and the munitions.
“Go.” He pushed her to the stairs and backed up a step, his focus going to the door slowly swinging shut.
“What? No.” She gaped at him.
“Merida—”
The door yanked open.
Finley shoved Merida behind him and up against the wall farthest from the door. He brought his gun up. His eyes were used to the dim light, so he saw the muzzle of the gun.
Going to a knee he focused everything in him on that door and prayed there was only one or two of them. That much he could handle and keep Merida safe.
A leg edged into his view.
The body armor protected knees, but not shins or thighs.
The man edged just a bit more into view.
Finley fired, aiming at the fleshy part of the man’s leg.
The sound of the gun was intensified with all the concrete, but he was ready for it this time.
The man went down, legs and arms flailing as he screamed.
A second shot rang out from above him.
Merida.
Another body slumped forward wedging the door open.
“Come on.” She grabbed him, yanking him to his feet. “There’s only two. Come on.”
He wanted to be careful, to check, but he also needed to trust her.
Finley let Merida haul him to his feet and up the stairs. While their first shootout had gone unnoticed by anyone except their people, they wouldn’t be so lucky this time.
Merida jammed her key into the lock on the fourth floor and yanked the door open. Finley shoved her in and threw his shoulder against the door, securing it shut. Five seconds later it shuddered under the weight of someone ramming it from the other side.
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