Bedeviled Angel
Page 15
Misty frowned as Rena dragged her away. “What’s going on, Red? I’ve never seen you run from a fight before.”
Rena stayed silent all the way back to Jack’s van.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jack had parked at the far end of the parking lot where there was very little light. Rena understood why, but now it was downright creepy with the shadows getting longer and the rustle of leaves in the slight summer breeze. She stared at the van. Having seen what Jack went through to get it open, she knew that wasn’t going to happen for her.
“Somebody better show up soon,” she grumbled. “I don’t want to stand out here all night.”
“Rena, please,” Misty said, staring back at the building they’d just left. “Jack’s in serious trouble. He probably won’t live through what they’ll do to him. We’ve got get back in there.”
Rena let out a short, piercing scream. “Between the two of you, I’m going to be in therapy for the rest of my life!” She threw her hands in the air, walking a couple of steps away before turning around. “Didn’t you think I’d expect him to do something this stupid?” She slammed her fist against the side of the van. “Didn’t you think I’d have a back-up plan in case he pulled a stunt like this? It’s the first thing the Angels taught me. Always have a back-up plan.”
She stalked to the front of the van and then back. “Jack’s expecting to die in there. You’re expecting him to die in there.” She held her hands up stopping anything Misty might say. “Don’t say it. It’s in your head. A head, I might add, I’m seriously considering knocking off your fool shoulders!” she shouted. She balled her fists in a supreme effort not to shake Misty senseless. “I don’t intend to let that happen.”
Misty stepped back. “You wanted him locked away. Why the change of heart?”
Rena folded her arms. “Because when you get stuck with someone, you get a feel for their personality. Jack’s way too bitter and holds too much grief inside to be guilty of what they claim he did.” She finally smiled. “He’s a good man.”
“Your telepathy tell you that?”
Rena grinned and nodded. “Yep. And I’m tired of babysitting him. Take him back, please.”
Misty smiled a little. “So, since you seem to have all the answers, what’s the plan?”
“I telepathically called Captain Starblast before we came here.” Rena leaned against the van. “Kristin sent the rest of the Angels to Russia for some heavy political thing, and they’d never make it back in time.” She looked up at Misty. “I want to see Michael Frailer, the head of ULTRA.”
Misty grinned. “Sounds like a plan. Let’s go.”
****
Misty paced and stared down the road every couple of minutes. “Remember how badly Amy was worked over in the short amount of time she was held?”
Rena nodded.
“Jack will go through worse because he’s their actual target. So, the sooner we get back there, the better.”
Rena stared at her friend, not a trace of her usual humor in her face.
They both turned as a black SUV pulled up next to them. Captain Starblast emerged and walked over to them.
He laid his hand on Misty’s shoulder. “This time, things will be set right.”
Misty couldn’t help feeling confident at his words. She nodded, not trusting herself to say anything without bursting into tears.
The captain turned to Rena. “Rena, you said you wanted to see Commander Frailer?”
She nodded. “Yes. He needs to be brought in the loop. We can’t do this without him. I tried to get Jack to call him, but he wouldn’t do it. Redheads really are stubborn.”
Cap nodded once. “Let’s go.”
Rena used her telekinesis to change Misty’s street clothes into her yellow and white hero outfit and handed her the white domino mask. “You might need this.”
She took it and smiled. “Thanks, Rena.”
The two Angels hurried after Captain Starblast as he strode into ULTRA’s building.
****
Jack was escorted into a solid white barren room. He inhaled deeply. He could smell Misty’s perfume, but whether she had been here or he was just wishing, he didn’t know. He turned, facing Fenmore and his squad.
Fenmore looked him up and down. “You’re a disgrace to that armor. Take it off.”
“Make me,” Jack growled.
Fenmore turned to the squad leader. “I’ll be back in fifteen minutes. Ensure his co-operation.”
The squad leader approached Jack. “Easy or hard?”
Jack grinned, rolling his shoulders. “Hard.” He pulled back his arm and let fly with a haymaker, landing squarely on the man’s chin. The leader’s helmet stopped the force of the blow. Bloody hell. Is everyone augmented these days?
The agents circled him and he anticipated their coordinated attack. Bring it on, he thought.
The agents jumped him simultaneously and held him. Jack pulled against their holds, but the damned augmented armor stopped him. They yanked his gauntlets off and his breastplate followed. He got an arm free to punch the man on his right, and then he got clouted in the back of his head. Struck a few more times, he fell to his knees.
I guess they can make me, he thought.
****
Jack smiled slightly at Fenmore’s surprised look when he came back. The Council’s squad didn’t fare so well against him. One man was dead, his head tilted at an unnatural angle, and the rest of the team were strewn about the room, breathing, but not moving. Jack had been stripped of his gear and was standing in the center of the room in just his underwear as the squad leader covered him from a safe distance.
Fenmore smiled. “It’s nice to see you still have some life left in you. If you’d just given up, I’d have been very disappointed.”
Jack frowned. “Well, we wouldn’t want that now, would we?”
Fenmore turned as his partner, Harrington, entered. “He’s as defiant as ever,” Fenmore said.
“I suspected he would be.” Harrington glanced at him. “I’ve notified the Leaders he’s in our custody. They’re very pleased with us.”
Jack just stared at both men. “What do the two of you want?”
Harrington sauntered over to him and leaned close. “Payback. You lied to us, Jack, and that wasn’t nice of you. The evidence was never in your office. Very unprofessional, my friend. Yet, it proves you were a liar even back then.”
Jack just stared at them. They’d never found the files and pictures he’d gathered so carefully over two long years. That evidence could’ve stopped Fenmore all those long years ago. He’d had his fingers in every crime that was listed from selling classified information to black market arms dealing. He’d hidden it so only he and his team knew where its location. It would’ve shaken ULTRA to its very core. So many people were involved. He frowned. And so many of his team were dead because of it.
“So, what’s your point?” Jack asked.
Harrington shook his head. “We had to ask one of your own team. He liked the money we gave him and took us right to where it was really hidden.”
Jack’s hands balled. Betrayed by someone on his team. His eyes narrowed, and his shallow breathing signaled his anger began a slow burn.
“Keep that famous temper of yours in check,” Harrington said. “Your people took care of who they considered a traitor a long time ago.”
Sure, Jack thought. That’s why Frank and Amy were so evasive about how Captain Starblast ended up with doctored evidence. He could almost see his team carrying out their own justice for the crime of betraying their field commander. They had probably executed the sell-out as soon as they had found him.
Fenmore laughed. “I wish I could’ve seen your face when Captain Starblast showed up with what you thought was your evidence. I was told you were so angry, you threatened to kill him.”
Jack remembered the whole thing. Turned out, the captain hadn’t betrayed him after all. He got played as hard as everyone connected with this case. Doe
s Cap know any of this? he wondered.
“So you sent Captain Starblast to the prison with your fake evidence. Did you keep the originals or were you smart enough to destroy them?”
Harrington moved back toward the door. “The Council has it in a safe place. It’s a constant reminder they shouldn’t slip up again. I’m not at liberty to tell you the location. You understand our need for secrecy, right?”
Jack snorted. “Why do you think I’d give a damn about your needs?”
“After all these years, your answers are still predictable.” Fenmore stood to the side and ordered a new squad into the room. “Give him the works. If he’s still on his feet when we return, it will be you who answer to the Leaders for your failure.”
Harrington looked at Jack. “There’ll be a telepath coming. I don’t know what she has planned, but I hope it hurts.”
****
ULTRA Commander Michael Frailer had just gotten back into his office when Cap, Misty, and Rena entered.
“Your call caught me just before I left for the night,” Mike said. “You said you had some new evidence about a long standing case. What can I help you with?”
“Scavenger, also known as Jack McClennan,” was all the captain said, and Michael visibly cringed.
The commander squeezed his eyes shut. “That man has been a thorn in the side of this organization and myself for years.”
“I know, Michael,” Cap said. “Right now, Jack McClennan needs our help. Remember back when he insisted there were other people involved with what he’d been accused of? Well, he was right. There’s a secret cabal in ULTRA. They call themselves The Council. They’re the ones directly responsible for Jack being a thorn in your side.”
“This is the first I’ve heard of this ‘Council.’ What exactly is it?”
Misty pushed her way forward, stopping Cap from saying anything. “We don’t have time to tell you everything right now. The people holding him now are the ones truly responsible for a lot of the things Jack was accused of. Just promise me, when we get him back you’ll hear him out before doing anything.”
“I don’t know if I can do that. He’s a wanted felon.”
Misty leaned close to Mike. “Please, promise me!”
Captain Starblast laid his hand on Misty’s shoulder. “I’ll take full responsibility for him.”
“Jack McClennan is no more a bad guy than you,” Rena said. “We just want to know you’ll be open minded.”
Mike hesitated, then nodded. “Find him. Secure him. Let me know when he’s safe.”
Misty stood back, breathing a sigh of relief. “Sure thing, Commander Frailer.”
As the trio left the office, Rena turned to her friend. “Begging now? I never thought I’d see the day. It has to be true love. Jack has really got you tied up in knots.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
The door shut, and the automatic lock shot home as Jack watched the four agents plus the squad leader advance on him. He wasn’t leaving here, at least not on his feet. Everything he and his team had worked for was coming to an end, but not the end he’d hoped.
Anger rose, hot and molten inside him, and for the first time in years, he let it. It was his oldest and best friend, giving him strength to deal with bad situations, giving him power when he needed it most. He grinned. Oh, he expected to go to hell. He just didn’t think he’d have this much company.
Two agents rushed him. He grabbed the one on his left and swung him around into the one on his right. As he did, he was struck in the back, by a third, the impact knocking him to his knees. He pushed himself up, struggling to get his breath back.
He rammed his elbow straight back, feeling it connect with his opponent. It drove the agent off balance, but Jack doubted it did any real damage. If he’d been in his own armor, things would be different. His gear lay piled in a far corner of the room, and there was no way they were going to let him get to it.
He’d checked the agents when they first entered, but none carried a weapon. So much for the idea of grabbing a sidearm and escaping. An armored fist drove into his stomach, dropping him again to the floor. I’m beginning to hate augmented armor.
The squad leader stepped forward. “You’re good, McClennan. Shame we couldn’t have worked together.”
Jack scowled at him. “As long as your loyalties lie with these people, the chances of us ever working together are nil.”
The leader chuckled. “They’re nil anyway because you’re not leaving here.”
Jack lunged forward, tackling the man in front of him. He slammed the man’s head against the floor, hoping at least to stun him for a few seconds. Hands pulled him off and threw him against the far wall. As an agent swung at his head, Jack dropped, taking the man out with a leg sweep.
The squad leader walked over and grabbed Jack by his hair, pulling him to his feet. “You’re making this too easy, renegade.”
He twisted free of the man’s grip, feeling his scalp tear as he left the agent with a handful of red hair. Blood trickled down his face. “Then allow me to up the stakes.”
Jack grabbed a rushing agent and slammed him into the squad leader, taking both men down. Another agent came up on his right, surprising him with a kidney punch, then kicked out his right knee. With no armor to block the hit, Jack crumpled to the floor. The agents descended on him, their armored fists doing more damage than he thought possible.
“Enough,” came a commanding voice from the doorway.
The agents turned to see a blonde woman standing there. Her psionic ability radiated out from her, making the agents instinctively back away, knowing they wanted no part of her. She wore small, round glasses that accentuated the hate in her eyes.
“When I am done with this first session, you may have whatever is left of him, Squad Leader.”
The leader bowed and stepped away from Jack. “Whatever you want.”
She stood over Jack and frowned. “Get up,” she demanded. “I want to see you when you break.”
Jack spit blood on the floor. The Council agents were good and stronger than he believed possible. His systems pinged, letting him know something serious was broken inside somewhere. He looked up at the woman standing over him, her voice familiar.
He narrowed his eyes. “Hey, ’Neets. When did you get the extra eyes?”
She yanked him to his feet telekinetically. “I hate that name. I hated it the first time you uttered it.”
Jack searched her face, seeing none of the woman he’d known in his ULTRA days. She’d been such an important part of their team back them. And now... “You’ve gone over to them. Why, Anita?”
“I’m to be your interrogator,” she said, ignoring his question. “Will you answer my questions, or shall I rip the answers out of you telepathically?”
Jack straightened up as much as his throbbing body would allow. “Rip away, sweetheart. But this isn’t over between us, Anita. You can count on it.”
She chuckled quietly. “You don’t know how little that scares me.”
Her eyes glowed as she used her power to press in on Jack’s mind, punching a hole in his natural psychic defenses. “Your shields have gotten stronger, Jack. I commend you.” She pushed harder. “I have to be in further to find what I need.”
Jack could feel the blood rushing through his veins, his heart pounding with adrenaline as he tried to fight the psychic attack. “You seem to have gotten more powerful yourself,” he ground out between clenched teeth.
He thought of Rena’s psychic touch and how different it was from Anita’s. Rena’s mind wrapped around you like a favorite blanket, easing hurt and taking care not to harm you. Anita was like a sledgehammer pounding on your skull. He watched her frown at him. Not once did she ask him any questions. From the look on her face when she first came in, he had a feeling the only thing she wanted to do was hurt him. And from the force of her psychic assault, she was achieving that very goal.
“You’re thinking of a telepath named Rena,” she murmured. “I kn
ow this girl. We have unfinished business.”
He felt her pull back from his mind, and she released him from her telekinetic hold. His head throbbed from her psychic invasion. He crumpled to the floor, too hurt inside and out to even attempt standing. He barely heard what she said next.
“That was very informative, Jack,” she sneered. “And when we’ve disposed of you, your girlfriend and that red-haired telepath are next. I look forward to our next session.” She stooped next to his ear. “Of course, it might be fun to erase your memories and make you fall in love with me. Destroying you after that would be much more satisfying.”
She stood and he listened to the clicking of her heels fade away. He pushed himself to his knees as he heard the agents closing in. Betrayed by a former teammate and knowing his friends wouldn’t last much longer made the fight in him fade. Everyone important to him was going to die and for what? All because he wanted to be a hero.
A light, telepathic call soothed his mind. “I’ll stay with you until the end,” Mindspell said.
****
Cap sliced through the door and Rena led the way to the stairwell door. She held her hand up, stopping the group. “Wait. Someone’s trying to talk to me.”
“Rena, it’s Mindspell. Have you come for Field Commander McClennan?”
“Yes,” Rena answered. “And you, too. You need to come with us. The goon squad won’t think twice about hurting you after we free him.”
Mindspell paused. “I’m in contact with him. He wants to die. He feels there’s nothing left worth fighting for and that he’s let everyone he loves down.”
Rena felt her blood turn to ice. Jack couldn’t give up. If he did, then there really was no hope at all. “Keep him talking. We’re almost there.”
“Will do, Rena.”
Rena felt Mindspell withdraw and turned to the others. “We’re officially out of time.” She turned to Misty. “He needs you. Right now. Move it.”
They charged down the steps, stopping to greet Mindspell at the third floor. They hurried down to the bottom and Cap nudged the door open a crack.
“I don’t like this,” he murmured to the small band with him. “Rena, scan the area.”