by Amy Gamet
20
The beating of the helicopter’s rotors could be heard through Summer’s ear-protecting headphones, making her wonder how loud they would be without them. It was dark outside, though she’d long since lost all sense of time. It was night and Luke was gone, along with Jacques and her hopes for Alloy 531. Everything she’d ever wanted, everything she’d ever worked for.
Gone.
Mac sat across from her in the chopper, Razorback, Sloan, and three guys she didn’t know rounding out the crew as they made their way back to New York City. She’d fought Mac for almost an hour, insisting they stay in Boston until the brancium was found, but he couldn’t tell the team where to look, and in the end she couldn’t blame him for that, either.
So Luke and the others had taken the vans back while the rest of them flew in the chopper. It was a surreal experience to cap off what had been some of the most awful days of her life. She leaned her head back against the headrest. Mac had stopped talking to her, thank God, after initially seeming to think she required conversation. She wanted only to sit in peace and lick her wounds in the darkness.
They landed on top of the building and she climbed out, giving Sloan her hand.
What would happen now that she was home? She didn’t feel safe going back to her apartment, yet she felt downright silly asking these men for help. Walsh was in custody, and at some point she would have to take responsibility for her own life. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed her father, hesitating only a moment when she remembered the time.
He would be panicked to hear from her this late. Losing a child did that to you. But he didn’t answer and her update was too complex to leave on a voice mail message, so she hung up, blindly following the men into the HERO Force office.
She was grateful Luke wouldn’t be here yet, the drive taking considerably longer than the helicopter flight, and she promised herself she would be gone long before he arrived.
“Come in my office,” said Mac. “We have a few things to figure out before we call it a night. Razorback, Sloan, you too.” She dutifully followed the men to a ridiculously cold room, watching as Mac closed the window without comment, and took a seat at a small, round table.
“Nice job at AGL, Summer. I wasn’t sure the sales rep thing would work.”
“We all use the same vendors.”
Mac nodded. “Well, you did good.”
She crossed her arms. “What happens now? We know they have the brancium, and I still need to get it back.”
“Wiseman said it couldn’t be there, that the equipment would be too big.”
“That’s right.” An image of the oscillating friction accelerator appeared in her mind. It had been made by TJ Selling Industries and built right on the testing floor.
We all use the same vendors.
She’d seen a binder from TJ Selling Industries in the IT director’s office. “They’d have to make the machine,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry?” said Mac.
“They would have to have their own equipment manufactured if they intended to use the brancium, and we all use the same vendors. There’s only one company on the entire East Coast capable of making the machinery we used for testing Alloy 531. TJ Selling Industries. AGL must have used them, too. But the machine is so big they have to assemble it onsite.”
“And this TJ Selling Industries is the only place that could have done it,” said Razorback.
“Exactly. If we contact them with the specifications the testing machine for Alloy 531 requires, they should be able to tell us where they built the machinery.”
“How can we be sure it’s still there?” asked Mac.
“It weighs more than a hundred tons. It’s manufactured off-site but put together onsite. It can’t be moved.”
Mac smiled from one side of his mouth. “So, if we find out from this TJ company where they built the machine…”
“Then it’s still there,” said Summer, a smile pulling at the corners of her lips. “Along with the brancium. What time is it?”
“Almost six.”
“TJ Selling opens at nine. That gives us three hours to kill.”
“If you don’t mind me saying so, Miss Daniels, I think you should use that time to get some sleep. There’s a bunk room at the end of the hall.”
She wanted to say no, to tell him she was elated and there was no way in hell she was going to sleep, but even as she thought the words, she knew they were not true. Yes, she was excited, but she was also very tired, the idea of even someone else’s pillow sounding better than she could have imagined.
She nodded. “That’s probably a good idea.”
Her cell phone rang and relief swept through her when she saw her father’s name on the caller ID. “Hang on. I’ve got to grab this.” She answered it. “Hi, Daddy.”
“This isn’t your father, but if you want to see him alive again you’d better listen carefully. He seems to be having a hard time breathing.”
The back of her neck flooded with a prickly heat as she worked to make sense of the impossible, her wide eyes going to Mac’s. “What have you done to him?” she demanded, her voice completely unlike her own, a desperate sort of roar. Mac moved next to her, loosening her grip on the phone so he could listen, too.
“Nothing yet, and if you want to keep it that way, you need to tell me what’s in Alloy 531.”
“He needs his medication.”
The man chuckled. “Then you’d better tell me quickly, or else the old man’s going to die. Now start talking.”
21
Luke pulled into the parking garage next door to HERO Force’s Midtown offices. It was nine thirty in the morning, the streets stuffed with too many cars and the sidewalks riddled with pedestrians.
The whole drive back from Boston he’d been a man tormented, the craziness of New York City just the icing on what was turning out to be a shit-filled cake. He held no illusions. Summer wasn’t going to forgive him, and he wasn’t going to see her again. If she needed HERO Force’s help, she would get it from a different member of the team.
He jostled for position on the sidewalk, the air reeking of cologne, telling himself he should quit this job and never look back. But this time the words didn’t quite ring true. He was no longer sure if he should keep working here or not.
Before Summer arrived on the scene, he was halfway out the door with no intention of sticking around.
And now?
Looking back, he could see he’d been some sort of tragic character in his own mind, leaving HERO Force forever, sacrificing himself for a cause he could barely even name. Now he knew better. He was just an asshole, just another screwed-up guy. He wasn’t special, and going back to hide in his cabin in the woods wasn’t going to make the world a better place.
At least here he could do some good. Here among the relentless crush of people and the stench of corporate America. It was a battlefield of sorts. A different kind of battle he might actually be able to win.
Even if I couldn’t help Summer.
He took the elevator to the office, Mac standing in the lobby as if waiting for him. “Took you long enough to get here,” said Mac.
“Rush-hour traffic is a bitch. I need to get some shut-eye before I can drive back to my place.”
“I need you with me.”
Luke frowned. “What for?”
“Summer’s father has been kidnapped. They’re holding him hostage until they get the formula for Alloy 531.”
“By who? Walsh is in fucking jail.”
“I thought the same thing, so I put in a call to the local PD. Turns out there was some sort of misunderstanding involving a phone call from a prominent senator. They let him go.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” He kicked the wall. “How could they just let him go? Summer must be a wreck.”
“See for yourself. She’s in the situation room.”
“No.” Luke shook his head. “She doesn’t want to see me. I told her what really happen
ed to Buckeye.”
“I figured you might. You never were any good at letting sleeping dogs lie. We need to head out in a minute. I’ve been watching your GPS, waiting for you to get here.”
“Where are we going?”
“An underground missile silo in Pennsylvania, about halfway to Philadelphia. Summer figured out the same manufacturer who built their equipment must have also made one for AGL Aerospace. We just got an address.”
“A fucking missile silo?”
“Yep.”
“What’s the plan to retrieve the father?”
“She gave them what they wanted, the formula for Alloy 531. They say they’ll release him when they manufacture the metal and see for themselves it’s the right one.”
“How long will that take?”
“Thirty to thirty-six hours.”
“You waiting?”
“And let her dad die? Hell no. Without his medicine, he’s a ticking time bomb of blood clots and a stroke waiting to happen. That’s why I need you.”
He held up his hands. “I’m out. She doesn’t want me there.”
“I don’t give a shit if she wants you there or not. She thinks they’re using this stuff to make bombs. You’re my go-to guy for bombs.”
“I froze up, Mac.”
“You’ll do better this time.” He turned to walk away.
“And what if I don’t? What if I freeze again, only this time it has worse fucking consequences?”
“You’re all I’ve got.” He shrugged. “At some point, you’ve got to realize you have special talents ain’t nobody else got. I can’t call somebody who isn’t fucked in the head to come help me. There isn’t another explosives expert on call for emergencies. It’s you or nobody, Wiseman. And I choose you.”
Luke dropped his head.
“I’m guessing she didn’t take the news very well,” said Mac.
“I killed her brother. How did you think she was going to take it?”
“You saved more than a hundred men that day. I would’ve made the same call in your shoes. Almost anyone would have.”
“Doesn’t change the bottom line, old man.”
“Maybe it ought to. Give her a chance to let it sink in, but don’t abandon her when she needs you most.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? You’ve spent the last three days telling me every time I turn around to stay away from that woman. Now you’re giving me shit because I’m taking that advice?”
Mac pointed at him, punctuating his words. “I told you to back off so you wouldn’t throw yourself under the bus like you did. But you didn’t listen to me. Now you’ve taken that poor girl’s world and you’ve shaken it all up, and you want to walk away? That ain’t right.”
“She doesn’t want me to stay. Don’t you get that?”
“Yeah, my wife didn’t want me to stay, either. So you know what I did?”
Luke shook his head. “This isn’t about your wife.”
“Of course it fucking is. All of it’s the same, or haven’t you figured that out yet? I left. I left again and again until one day she wasn’t there when I came back. All that ‘if you love something set it free’ crap is a bunch of horse hockey. If you love something, then stand your goddamn ground and fight for it.”
“I hardly even know Summer.”
“Who are you lying to? Me or yourself? I saw the way you two look at each other. And you were kissing her damn near the first time you got her alone. I ain’t saying you’re ready to walk down the aisle with the woman, but if you let her walk away instead, you won’t ever get her out of your mind. Now grab your shit so we can get the hell out of here. You can sleep on the bird.”
22
The chopper rumbled as they flew low over the land, hills giving way to vast fields glowing blue in the moonlight. Luke stared at his reflection in the window, wiping his face as if it was wet. He’d gotten a little sleep and was physically better than he had been, but emotionally he was dark and distant.
It was a combination he was used to, the feelings of hopelessness and power twisted around each other like rope, strong and capable but heavily frayed. This was the way he’d grown accustomed to living, first in the SEALs and later in his cabin, a pitiful kind of existence that made you wonder if you had any value left at all.
He never should have hoped for something different.
What the hell did you think was going to happen? She would learn the truth and wrap those sweet arms around your wretched ass, offering comfort? Did you think she would love you?
His eyes shifted to the cockpit, Summer and Sloan visible from behind. She shouldn’t be here, didn’t belong, and though she was staying in the chopper and not parachuting to the ground, he hated that she was here at all and longed for the moment their paths would diverge into different futures.
He clenched his teeth and his hands dropped to his lap, the nylon jumpsuit and thermal layer more vestiges of war. Another skin. More pieces of his history he couldn’t seem to shed.
You don’t need to shed it now. You’re staying at HERO Force.
Yes, he would stay. He would help people and forget about himself. Stop asking for redemption. Stop believing in second chances. He didn’t have to feel, didn’t have to think. All he had to do was use his skills and tune out everything that used to matter.
Moto spoke over the intercom. “The missile silo has three sections: the main entrance, the command module, and the silo itself where the missile was housed. Each section is separated by tunnels and a series of blast doors.” He held a laptop, data from the chopper’s heat sensor now visible to him. “Dogs, at least two. We have a vehicle with a warm engine, no other heat signatures.”
“They’re too far underground,” said Luke. Goddamn missile silo. Out of all the places in the world, the enemy was holed up underground in a vast complex that had only a single way in or out. HERO Force would be little more than targets on their way inside, having no possibility of the element of surprise.
T-ball passed out tranquilizer darts and guns. “Aim for the central mass, just like you’re shooting for the kill. The tranquilizer will take a few seconds to work, possibly as many as ten, though four to five is more likely. Don’t wait until they have your jugular in their teeth before you fire your dart.”
Luke checked his ammo. Three darts in each weapon. He tucked the gun into his tactical vest along with his sidearm and several knives. Each of the men was equipped with a gas mask, smoke bombs, night-vision goggles, and even tear gas for this journey below ground, in addition to their regular weaponry.
“Approaching the drop zone,” called Razorback. Luke stood, adjusting his jumpsuit and pulling on his harness before standing in line behind Moto for their jump. He could feel Summer’s eyes upon him but he didn’t turn to face her, knowing the hatred he would see there and unwilling to let go of his focus on the task at hand.
They had their work cut out for them down there.
He kept his resolve as, one by one, the men jumped from the plane, the wind rushing past his body as he fell through the air. The drop zone was some three hundred yards from the perimeter of the property, which would give them a chance to regroup before facing the dogs and God knows what else.
There’d been a time when skydiving had felt like the epitome of being alive, but countless jumps in dangerous situations had changed the way Luke thought about falling to the earth under a silk canopy. It was a means to an end, an unexpected approach, a way to become invisible—and as he pulled his chute and glided on the air, his only thought was of the mission that awaited him on the ground.
The most important mission of all.
Summer’s father’s life hung in the balance of a scale Luke had already battered, like a child smashing the sensitive instrument with a hammer. And while nothing could bring Edward back, Luke was all too aware this was his only chance to make it right.
She’ll never forgive you.
It didn’t matter what he did. No heroics could make her look at him
like she had before she knew the truth. He shouldn’t want it, shouldn’t torture himself with what he couldn’t have, but the loss of her was too fresh for him to feel anything but broken.
He hit the ground hard on his feet, running to a stop as his chute collapsed and fluttered to the ground behind him. The others were already there and they worked quickly, stuffing parachutes in packs and readying themselves for the next leg of the mission.
Razorback held a pair of night-vision binoculars to his eyes. “Fence around the property has insulated posts. Appears to be electrified. No sign of the dogs yet.”
Luke pulled his tranquilizer gun from his tactical vest.
“Let’s move,” said Razorback.
The men jogged to the fence, Moto picking a long blade of grass and touching the far end to the fence to see if a current was running through it. “That sucker is hot.”
The fence posts were four feet tall, and Luke formed a step with his hands, giving each man a foothold to reach the top of the post with their second step and allowing them to jump over. Razorback and Moto were both inside when the dogs came charging.
They never made it to them, both animals collapsing on the ground, sedated. “Nice job,” said Luke, bracing the next man’s foot as he spoke. “Take my pack.” He took it off, throwing it over the fence to Razorback.
“You going to do a plié?” asked Moto.
“A plié is a squat, asshole. I was thinking more of a running leap with a full rotation and a curtsey at the end.”
“Need a hand?”
“Nah. I’ve got frog legs, remember?” He backed up several steps before running for the post, placing one hand atop it, and hurtling his body over the side in one smooth movement before strapping his pack back on.
“I don’t see any guards,” said Razorback. “Of course, if they were good ones, I wouldn’t see them at all.”
Luke scoffed. “If they were really good, we’d be dead.” He pulled out his Glock 18. On its own it wasn’t much, but Moto had an M4 that was sure to come in handy, because the shit was about to hit the fan.