An Unlikely Hero (1)

by Tierney James

  “Computer?”

  “Yes, Tessa. It’s been a long time.” The voice was male.

  “The computer recognizes your voice. Priceless,” Zoric chuckled.

  “What do I need to do in order to access the super vault?”

  “Hand and retinal scans must be successful before further directions will be initiated.” A picture of a right and left hand appeared on the screen along with two eyes. Tessa placed the palms of her hands inside the drawing and leaned in to look into the life like blinking eyes. Within seconds the picture disappeared. “Thank you, Tessa. Do you still like ham and cheese sandwiches?”

  “No. I like BLTs, hold the mayo.”

  “That’s right. You may precede, Tessa.”

  “Now what?” Chase inquired as Tessa turned to face him.

  “Just wait.” Then in a bright flash, the smaller grid on the wall came to life with bright letters, going both horizontally and vertically creating a square. She began touching letters what seemed to be randomly after first counting spaces between the letters.

  “That is incorrect, Tessa. Would you like to try again?”

  Chase looked down at his charge and wondered if God was playing a cruel joke on him. “Try it,” he ordered.

  Tessa frowned up at him and shook her head. “I’m sure the doctor has a short cut now but I would never have been privy to that information.’ She turned back to the computer. “No thank you, computer. Look back in your memory. This is correct.”

  “And if it isn’t?” Chase inquired, bewildered at her knowledge of such sensitive government security systems.

  “Then another inner wall will seal us off and only Dr. Haskins can release it. Explosives would be of little help. Computer?”

  “Great!” Chase fumed, trying to think of another way inside the vault. Just as he was about to give the order to retreat up the stairs, the wall became opaque, like frosted glass, as it slowly began sliding back within itself, revealing a well-lit warehouse of monumental portions.

  Stunned at the revelation, the men tensed and readied their weapons. All eyes searched the inside perimeter. “What the hell?” Chase whispered. “Remind me to thank you when this is over.”

  “I can’t believe it! What is all this?” Tessa too, stood in awe of the enormous operations so far underground.

  “This, my dear Tessa,” Zoric grinned, “is your tax dollars at work.” He nudged Chase with his elbow. “Can we keep her, Dad?” Zoric teased as his bloodshot eyes cut to Tessa who seemed mesmerized by the science fiction world that lay before her.

  Chase frowned as he stepped forward, “Now what, Mrs. Scott?”

  Tessa motioned toward a reception desk where a series of security computers exposed the various sections of the underground laboratory. “There should be some information there.”

  Chase motioned for two of his men to attend to the security system and quickly returned with directions and video feed. “Take a look at this, captain. Looks like our boy is helping them retrieve something out of a container.”

  The container, barrel round and yellow carried the international symbol for radioactive. Several more rested precariously on a table where men dressed in black examined a way to open them. Dr. Haskins chastised them anxiously, saying they risked radiation exposure if the containers were damaged. Someone interpreted the warning and the terrorists took several steps back for safety.

  Enigma commandos began to fan out upon some silent command given by Chase. They were converging on an area some one hundred yards deep into the super vault. No one had time to speculate on the types of scientific discoveries and secret projects operated in this underground think tank. It apparently also had living areas set aside for long, uninterrupted stays. The independent power source had not been affected by Vernon’s long distance computer wizardry as proof of the low hum of working machines and bright halogen lights.

  As Chase approached silently, he motioned for Tessa to get down and behind several of the armed soldiers. She nodded and for once followed instructions. Voices began to reach his ears. Sounds of arguing, begging and even a female voice whimpering could be heard between the clips of destruction emptied into the room through a semiautomatic weapon. He didn’t need a video feed to hear the desperation ahead.

  “Stop! Stop!” came the cries of frustration and hopelessness. “You’re destroying years of work!”

  A strangled, hyena laugh ensued then more gunfire. “I need the isotopes now, doctor, or I’ll start shooting the hostages, starting with the pregnant one whimpering like a spoiled child.” He cut his dark eyes toward the young woman cowering in the corner, tears rolling down her puffy red face. “Then I’ll have your family eliminated. You know your wife is quite attractive. Maybe my man will pleasure himself first.” His mouth formed into a crocodile smile. “And when we find your sons, and make no mistake, we will find them, well let’s just say they…”

  “Enough! I’ll do what you want. But, please, let Penny go. She knows nothing about this isotope project. She’s a lab tech. That’s all.”

  Chase neared the hostages in stealth style. He activated his camera on his ear piece. Are you getting this, Ben?”

  “Roger that, Chase. His wife’s terrorist has been taken down. She’s on the way to the airport. Dr. Haskins has two sons attending Stanford. They’re hiking near Tahoe. Extraction in progress.” Chase waited until he could zoom in on the terrorist for further information. “No face recognition in our system. I’ll have our people keep working on it. By the looks of it, five of the top U.S. scientists are in that room. Their death or capture could be devastating to national security. Do whatever is necessary to stabilize the situation.”

  “Only two others, captain. I don’t have a clear shot. The pregnant woman is in my line of sight.” A soldier whispered into his mike.

  Zoric’s even keeled voice interrupted. “Have Tessa go in for the woman. I don’t think he’d shoot a woman.”

  “Negative. I’m not putting another civilian in danger.”

  “Too late for that my friend. She’s in over her head anyway.”

  Chase looked back at Tessa Scott, crouched down, watching him like he held the keys to heaven and hell. Even from here he could see the fear in those beautiful blue eyes. Country or beautiful woman? Chase heard the pregnant woman begin to cry. If anything unnerved a terrorist bent on getting his way it was a terrified, sobbing female. He reluctantly motioned for Tessa to come closer. After reassuring her that Dr. Haskins had indeed been forced into this act of terrorism, he briefly explained the immediate problem and what he needed her to do. Watching her force a swallow, he nearly changed his mind. When she nodded, Tessa reached for a transparent clipboard atop a file cabinet with some random chart full of formulas and scribbles. The pair of black glasses that rested next to it were placed low on her nose with such care that she once again puzzled Chase as to who she really might be. Was this another one of God’s humorous pranks? Would this woman be the one to finally put him out of his misery?

  “Get the woman down and to the left. There’s an office space. See it?” Tessa nodded quietly. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Mrs. Scott.”

  “You keep saying that and things keep happening!” she quipped.

  Chase grinned. “Don’t be a hero.”

  “Never.”

  Tessa straightened up and quietly walked to the end of the clear partition, lined with tables and file cabinets. The voices seemed deafening now. Why had she agreed to this suicide stunt? Could she just not say no to the handsome captain or did she crave a reckless scenario so desperately that she was willing to put herself in harm’s way for an adrenaline rush? The last two days had been just that. Never had she felt so alive in a surreal world.

  The sound of uncontrollable tears reached her ears. A pregnant young woman; terrorized by armed men would not be good for the baby. She thought of her own sweet babies and how safe the experience had been. Stopping, Tessa said a prayer of thanks for her children being somewher
e safe with their father. Turning her head to look over her shoulder she could see the captain’s men follow him to be near her. Tessa squared her shoulders and began humming The Ants Go Marching One by One. Her eyes focused on the clipboard as she turned the corner into chaos.

  Chapter 13

  Her humming continued until an angry voice shouted at her so loud that Tessa dropped her clipboard.

  “Stop!” Tessa recognized the voice of the man who had been terrorizing.

  Dr. Haskins and the other captives.

  “Who are you?”

  “What the…” Dr. Haskin’s familiar and gentle voice sounded shocked.

  “I’m sorry, Dr. Haskins! I took some cold medicine and fell asleep in my office!” Tessa eyed the frightened doctors. Her eyes came to rest on the woman Dr. Haskins had called Penny. She couldn’t be more that twenty-five; probably a graduate assistant from the University of Tennessee.

  Dr. Haskins opened his mouth to speak when the terrorist held up a hand in protest. The man eyed Tessa suspiciously noting her calm with rising alarm. The man’s eyes began to dart around the area for changes. Had the underground vault been breached?

  Tessa recognized the look of doubt in the man’s narrowed eyes as his body tensed and his pistol outstretched toward her.

  “Oh dear God!” she screamed. “What is going on? My God! My God!” she screamed trying to cover her mouth as she rushed toward Penny who now shook with uncontrollable fear.

  As Tessa pushed Penny into the office the terrorist gun exploded through the glass wall, shattering glass over her back. Penny’s scream echoed in Tessa’s ears as she pushed her awkward body to the floor. Just as Tessa turned her head to look back over her shoulder, she saw Captain Chase Hunter’s profile in the doorway of the office. Raising his semiautomatic rifle, he fired off two rounds.

  In that moment in time, when the captain turned his head to glance down at Tessa lying on the floor covering the pregnant woman, his eyes took on a dangerous glow that both frightened and thrilled her. He had saved her life yet again. God once again had heard Tessa’s cries and sent this angel of death to protect her. Their eyes locked in some strange new bond of trust and something else that made Tessa’s heart race with anticipation.

  Moments before Chase had held his breath as Tessa Scott had disappeared around the file cabinet. His man on the other side of the hostages barely breathed the description of the situation unfolding before them. Zoric managed to slip into position for another shot of the third terrorist. When the captain heard Tessa’s signal words “My God” he rushed forward with his men to take down the leader. The momentary sound of a gunshot breaking glass ignited a fire of revenge deep inside Chase so that when he rounded the corner of the file cabinet he reached the office doorway in two steps. In a split second he’d raised his weapon and put two shots into the leader forcing the weapon from his now bloody hand held against his chest. Later he remembered the sounds of crying, relief and his men taking out the other terrorists.

  Just as Chase raised his weapon to fire he had for a split second been transfixed by Tessa Scott lying on the floor, covered in glass, protecting another with her body. His heart had stopped, thinking a bullet had found its mark when the glass shattered seconds before. When the blue eyed housewife of Grass Valley, California had turned to look hopefully at him an unfamiliar wave of relief had washed over him.

  “Dr. Haskins,” Chase said offering a hand to pull him up from the floor, “are there any other intruders down here?”

  The doctor quickly began assisting the others, some struggling to stand. “No.” He nodded toward the leader who began to moan. Chase had made his shots carefully so as to severely injure, not kill. “He said he would have my wife killed if his man didn’t hear from him in the next ten minutes,” Dr. Haskins said looking nervously at his watch.

  Chase nodded. “Your wife is safe. She’ll be waiting for you at the airport.”

  “Thank God!” he sighed in heavy relief.

  There was God again; getting in Chase’s way of grim reality.

  Carelessly Chase rolled the leader over with his foot so he could look up at the man who shot him. “Who are you?” Chase growled as he pointed his weapon down at his heart.

  “Help me,” he whispered.

  “Just as soon as you help me,” Chase responded coldly.

  “Go to hell, infidel,” he groaned.

  Chase kneeled down next to the bleeding terrorist. “Ben?” He touched his earpiece to access Benjamin Clark back at headquarters. Chase wanted an ID.

  “Not in our data banks, Chase. I don’t recognize him from any of our Intel. He’s new. Not Middle Eastern by the looks of him.”

  “Go to hell,” he whispered again.

  “Yeah. That’s probably inevitable, but you’ll be there long before me if you don’t start talkin’. And just so you know, my men and I all wipe our ammo with pig fat before loading up. So don’t think you’ll be spending eternity with a bunch of virgins.”

  The look of intimidation finally sprang to the wounded man’s eyes. “Okay. I’ll talk. Just don’t let me die,” he begged. Chase nodded at one of his men to take over as Zoric came to stand at his side.

  “You better get in there, Chase.” Zoric tilted his head toward the office where he’d left Tessa and the pregnant woman. “There’s another situation.”

  Chase slung his weapon and hurried to find Dr. Haskins helping Tessa kick glass away from the center of the floor. His eyes fell on Penny breathing hard with her hand on her stomach, eyes wild with terror. She let out a cry as she doubled in pain. Penny was in labor. “We need an ambulance and medic team now!”

  Tessa didn’t know who the captain was talking to; someone in cyber space she guessed. All she knew was that help would not come in time. “Captain, her water broke. She’s having the baby now!”

  “What?” Dr. Haskins spoke as if in a fog as he straightened. He began backing out the door, for the first time truly afraid. He didn’t like blood if it weren’t on a lab slide under a microscope. Suddenly Dr. Haskins looked out at the downed leader being attended to and the cuts and bruises that were now evident among his colleagues.

  “Get him out of here, Captain Hunter,” Tessa ordered as she grabbed a lab coat hanging on a hook behind the desk. She watched the captain roughly grab the doctor by the front of the shirt and shove him backwards through the door without taking his laser like focus from her hurried activity. She spread the starched white coat on the floor before moving to help Penny.

  “Captain, have you ever delivered a baby?” Tessa asked as she began stroking Penny’s head.

  Chase propped his weapon in the corner and kneeled down next to the frightened woman. “As a matter of fact, I have,” he smiled with a kind of disarming charm. “Penny, we’re going to have a baby, sweetheart.” He patted her exposed leg, feeling the warm blood meet his fingers.

  “My baby!” she cried.

  “Your baby will be just fine, Penny.”

  Tessa found herself breathing calmly at the silky tone the captain now used with the terrified mother-to-be. He gently positioned her legs so they were bent at the knees and spread apart. Like magic, Zoric appeared with a first aid kit and handed Chase a pair of scissors. “I’m going to remove your panties, Penny,” Chase smiled devilishly. “You can tell your husband about that any way you like when this is all over.”

  Penny smiled and began to breathe normally just as another contraction gripped her body.

  “Breathe like this, Penny.” Tessa imitated the breathing exercises she’d learned in her own birthing classes. Penny quickly followed and soon was at rest again.

  “I think we’re going to have a baby, sweetheart,” Chase coaxed calmly.

  “Oh!” she grunted.

  “Nothing to worry about, dear. This ain’t my first rodeo,” he chuckled as he stroked her leg. “My parents were medical missionaries in China when I was growing up. I assisted on my first appendectomy when I was ten.” His eyes drifted from
Penny’s face to Tessa who openly stared at him in disbelief. “Then I went on to be the medic when I joined the Rangers.”

  His comments were telling her something, Tessa knew. Sharing this information could be a clue to what kind of man Captain Chase Hunter really must be. He was a good man cloaked in a dangerous roll of ultimate hero. Those dark eyes reached out to her like a drowning soul. “You’re lucky to have him, Penny.”

  “I don’t even know your names,” she said trying to lick her lips. She watched the scary man, who had brought in the first aid kit, come stand behind Tessa. He handed her something. In seconds Tessa had lifted Penny up enough to sip some water from a bottle. “Who are you?”

  “I see the baby’s head, Penny. You’re going to have to be a good girl now, and really push.” He watched her nod and she scrunched up her face to push. “Good! Breathe with my friend,” he paused as he looked at Tessa. “Breathe with Agent Melanie. Now push!”

  Another agonizing push, a breath and another push. “One more, Penny!” Chase encouraged. “Prettiest baby I ever saw. Come on! Push!”

  Chapter 14

  Robert watched the children gobble down their burgers and fries followed by ice cream which he immediately regretted, having forgotten that Daniel was lactose intolerant. After his son let out a huge belch and his siblings started laughing with loud gusto, Robert quickly ushered them out of the restaurant under the glare of several sour faced customers.

  “Your mother is going to have to work on your manners,” he scolded crossly as he swung Heather up into his arms so they could cross the street to their parked SUV. “Look both ways, boys. Mom would kill me if anything happened to you.”

  Sean Patrick sniggered at the thought of his mom getting angry enough to swat a fly off her much less using deadly force on his father. He grabbed Daniel’s arm to pull him along. “Daniel, come on!” Sean Patrick yanked Daniel forward just missing a tourist watching a pretty brunette walking along the sidewalk instead of the road. “Hey! There’s Honey!” Sean Patrick said happily as he waved to the forest ranger dressed in blue jeans and a tight U2 tee shirt.