“Dur!” someone yelled behind him.
He kept running. They’d have to shoot him in the back if it came to that. He didn’t want to die, but it was preferable to spending even one more minute chained up like an animal as a captive. Otherwise, he was running for it.
“Stop!”
Now they were speaking in English? Although Adam noted it, he didn’t know what to make of it, and there was no time to process it. He came upon another stairwell and started running down the stairs, wincing and then crying out as he hit his bare toes against the steps. He didn’t even have socks on his feet, much less shoes. He got to another landing, but there was more smoke there, so he continued on down the stairs.
He heard one of the guys behind him call out again. Was that his name, “Clemento,” they called out? Maybe these guys had come to rescue him. But if he was wrong? They’d already shot the other guy; Adam was pretty sure he was dead. He’d have to take his chances on his own.
Was he running into a basement? Would he just trap himself? There was no time for him to think as he stumbled down the steps, trying not to bang his toes while also trying to keep moving as fast as he could. At least none of that smoke was down there.
There was a dim light in the room at the bottom of the stairs, although room may not have been the right word for it. Adam couldn’t make out where the room ended. Massive machines with blinking and flashing lights lined one wall, and it went as far as he could see. It was like… a tunnel, maybe?
There was the sound of more shouting and scuffling. Was it up ahead of him or behind him? He couldn’t tell: there were noises coming from everywhere.
A hand grabbed his shoulder, whirling him around.
Adam flailed out, knowing just from the guy’s grip that he was completely outmatched, strength-wise, but he wasn’t going down without a fight.
“Clemento! Adam Clemento?”
That stilled him. No one had called him by his name since he’d been kidnapped. Could it be that these guys were here to rescue him?
There were two guys, both wearing masks and goggles, both carrying what looked like assault rifles along with other weapons. Soldiers? They looked like soldiers.
The guy spoke. “We just have a couple of questions we need to ask you to verify your identity.”
“Verify my identity?” His voice cracked; his throat was incredibly dry. He tried to swallow, but he hadn’t drank anything for several hours. Were they trying to trick him somehow: get him to tell personal information to fool him even more? But why would they do that?
“Can you tell me the street you grew up on?” the guy asked.
The street he grew up on. His parents still lived on that street, in the same house. What if this was another bad guy: would that put them in danger? He couldn’t think, so much was going on. He wanted to believe them but knew he couldn’t risk his parents’ safety. And why the hell would soldiers be coming after him anyway? He was a grad student, not a government official or a famous person or anyone.
Adam shook his head, backing up. The guy reached out to grab his arm again. “Listen, we’re trying to take you home. You need to cooperate.”
He stopped moving, so the guy dropped his arm. He spun on his heel and fled further in the room without a visible end. It couldn’t be any worse than what was behind him.
***
Since all of the SEALs were equipped with miniature cameras and mikes, and there were 32 of them, Elle and Preston had a lot of screens to monitor in the van where they were sitting. She forced herself not to pay close attention to the commander of the Red Team: that was Reese. The security force was estimated to be about 24 men, so the SEALs had them outnumbered. She had to trust he would successfully execute his mission and get out safely.
“You okay?” Preston asked as they watched the first of the Red Team SEALs land inside the compound and gather up their parachutes before splitting up to enter each of the main buildings.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” She stayed focused on the monitors. Reese seemed to be moving about fine: his camera wasn’t especially jerky or anything, like he was limping. He was giving orders by hand signals so they didn’t make any noise to alert the people in the compound.
“Surely by now it’s struck you how bizarre this whole thing is?” She could feel him looking at her.
How could it not have struck her? She was sitting in a van with one ex-lover while her ex-boyfriend was held hostage inside. Meanwhile, her current lover was leading the effort to rescue the ex-boyfriend. It felt weird to think of herself as having lovers, but since Preston and Reese were both flings, she guessed that was the appropriate term for them. Yeah, the whole thing was bizarre.
“You want to discuss this now?” she asked after a pause. She couldn’t think of anything else to say. Like this was the time to talk about it.
Preston shrugged. “You’ve got a point. You monitor the team going into Building A: I’ll follow the team going into Building B and the ones dealing with the security force.”
Building A was where they thought Adam was being held and likely held the technical intel they wanted. Elle watched as the SEALs cleared the building. The haze of the smoke seemed to disorient the terrorists: some were fleeing but others either held their hands up or laid down on the ground as ordered.
A couple of SEALs who went into the back of the building gave chase to some guys who fled down a staircase. It must have led to the basement of the building, although the terrorists were still running. It was a long basement. Elle could see that they were passing a row of machines with blinking and flashing lights.
“The servers,” she said aloud, leaning in closer to the screen, “those look like the servers for the network.” One of the SEALs turned his head to see them better for a moment as he continued running forward in pursuit of the feeling terrorists.
She heard Preston move closer to peer over her shoulders. “You think those are it?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised: an underground location is a pretty secure one.” As long as it was well-sealed from moisture and ventilated properly, it would be a great hiding place.
They looked huge, at least six feet tall. She couldn’t even tell how far down the wall they went: the SEALs were still in pursuit of the terrorists.
“Definitely not portable,” she said as her eyes scanned the screen. Trying to direct them to find a backup disc that may be only inches in size would be quite a task.
As the first pair of SEALs ran farther into the room, Elle heard “Clemento!” being called out and searched the other screens.
They had located Adam. He had a black eye, with a nasty gash over it that practically split his eyebrow in two. His nose looked swollen, and his lip clearly was. He’d taken a beating. It was obvious looking at him and listening to his responses that he didn’t trust the SEALs, either. She couldn’t blame him. Why would he trust anyone in this crazy mess?
“I have to go down there.” Elle was standing up and reaching for her firearm as she spoke. She was already wearing her bullet proof vest and had a handgun tucked into her waist holster, but she’d need more firepower in there. Watching Adam, pale faced and wild-eyed, croaking out questions to the SEAL had been wrenching. He didn’t know who to trust.
“Elle, that isn’t the plan.” Preston held up a hand which she completely ignored as she pulled out her night vision goggles.
“Tell them I’m coming in.” As far as anyone knew, there weren’t any women in the compound, so being told the woman was a CIA operative should be enough to keep the SEALs from firing on her.
“There are 32 special operators running around trying to subdue at least 24 terrorists: we don’t need to add to the mix.” He stood up, standing before the van’s sliding door.
“And now there will be 32 and one CIA operative. It’s why we’re so close, right? We can go in if we have to. Adam will trust me.”
“Friendly fire is not a myth.” He remained in place before the door. “Hostiles are still running around
loose in there: the area’s not secure.”
He was right, but dammit, she knew she was, too. “We need to get a better look at that server, see if we can locate the disc before destroying it. Between dealing with the hostiles and Adam, the SEALs won’t be able to locate it.” When he didn’t respond, she added, “Mason said retrieving the backup disc was a key objective if at all possible.”
“It’s not possible.” He folded his arms, unmovable.
“Yes it is; we’re right here.” Would she really have to shoot him to get him to move? She hoped not, but she was going in there.
“Preston, this is what I know.” Despite all the questions about her capability as a field agent, her technological knowledge was unquestioned. If there was ever a time for her to stand her ground, this was it.
He still wasn’t budging. “You’ll blow your cover with Beckwith.”
Dammit, he had a point there. “That was always a possibility,” she countered. “Accomplishing our objectives is our first priority, and those are extracting Adam and getting the backup disc from the server.” Her rationale made sense. She’d feel comfortable giving it to Mason.
He studied her with one of his piercing stares. No matter: she could return his stare with an impenetrable stare of her own.
“We should contact Mason, see what he has to say,” Preston finally said.
“There’s no time for that, and we can’t risk the transmission being traced or blocked.” It was the reason they weren’t in contact with him.
Finally, after a long pause, he said, “I know how these guys operate; I’m going in with you.”
She nodded. Fair enough.
He didn’t waste any time getting his own equipment together. As she slid open the door to the van, he spoke into his mike. “Red Team Leader and Blue Team Leader, this is Aston Martin and Bookworm. We’re entering the compound.”
Chapter 28
The voice that came through on their headsets was unfamiliar to Elle. “Roger that, Aston Martin. Be advised: hostiles are still on the loose.”
“Roger that.” Preston walked beside her but somehow he still managed to stay one step ahead. “We’re going to Building A to secure the package.”
“Roger that.”
She kept moving as she made sense of the green and black world that was visible through her night goggles. Even in the field, it wasn’t as hard as she anticipated. All objects were green, standing out from the darkness. She could make sense of everything. Just like in other missions, it was like the excitement and trepidation heightened her senses rather than leaving her immobilized.
Two SEALs stood guard at the gate they had blown open to get inside the compound; they nodded as Elle and Preston passed. She could see men lying on the ground, hands tied behind their backs, as more SEALs stood guard, yet it was calmer than she would have expected. The action was going on inside the buildings.
They wasted no time getting to Building A. Their briefing materials included as much detail about the buildings as the CIA had been able to get from surveillance photos and information about the buildings that was provided to local officials for zoning purposes and such. Yet there was no telling what had been changed after the initial building designs were filed.
They entered the building to stand in a large foyer with rooms to the left and right, a staircase leading upstairs, and a hallway leading to the back. Smoke hung in the air. The SEALs had cut the electricity, so there weren’t any lights. The sound of running footsteps and scuffles could still be heard.
“We need to get to the basement,” Preston told a SEAL who was standing guard at the door.
“Go straight back and down the stairs,” he said, pointing down the hallway past the staircase.
As Elle and Preston began walking in that direction, Elle heard the SEAL say, “Aston Martin and Bookworm are going to the basement of Building A.”
The door to the stairs leading down to the basement was open. It was just off a kitchen. It was so odd to see a room as normal as a kitchen in this building, but really, it was a large house. She didn’t have time to marvel about the normalcy of the place as they headed down the steps. Adam’s voice snapped her back to the moment at hand.
“I don’t know who the hell any of you are, but I just want to get out of here-”
“That’s what we’re here to do-” She recognized the voice of the SEAL who’d been talking to him.
“Pick him up.” That was Reese. No question about it. “We have orders to bring you home, Clemento-”
She got to the bottom of the staircase in time to see one SEAL reach for Adam as he skittered out of reach, banging against the servers in the process. Looking further into the room, she realized she couldn’t see the end of the room. Was this a tunnel?
“Adam!” she called out, passing Preston to run up to them before the SEAL just picked him up. Adam wasn’t even wearing shoes: he was in no condition to run.
The SEAL grabbed his arm, and he struggled to free himself even as he stared at Elle.
“Adam, stop fighting him: we’re here to extract you.” She looked up at him, hating to see the panicked and haunted look in his eyes. His bruised face looked painful, worse than the surveillance pictures indicated. Despite the panic and fear that already widened his eye, she could also see puzzlement start to flicker in them.
“It’s okay, Adam.” Now that she was in the situation, she didn’t quite know what to see. She reached out and took his free hand, but he snatched it away as he tried to take a step back. The SEAL didn’t allow that. “We’re here to take you home.”
His brow furrowed. Suddenly Elle realized what he saw: a woman talking to him with night vision goggles on and a scarf covering the lower part of her face. The scarf helped protect her against the smoke and made her harder to recognize. She pulled down the scarf and then pushed the night goggles up onto the top of her head. The room was dimly lit, so she could still see.
Adam’s eyes nearly bulged out of his skull. “E-E-E-E-Elle? Elle Paquet?” His hoarse voice cracked.
She couldn’t help but notice one of the SEALs behind Adam raise his own night vision goggles. Reese. His wide eyes let her know he saw her, too. His eyes darted to Preston behind her, and he slid his goggles back down, hiding his eyes again.
She focused on Adam. “Yes, it’s me: Elle.” She reached out for his hand again, and this time, he didn’t snatch away. “I know this is crazy, and I’ll explain everything later, but right now, I need for you to trust me. And these guys.”
She gestured to the SEALs, refusing to let herself wonder what Reese was thinking at this moment. She had a lot of explaining to do. “We really are here to take you home.”
He stared at her. Then he looked at the SEALs and Preston, who still had his goggles and in place. As his eyes darted around, she could practically see the wheels turning in his head while he tried to make sense of it all.
He yanked his hand out of her grasp. “I don’t know what kind of fucking game you assholes are playing,” he snarled, “but I know you aren’t Elle Paquet.”
She held up her hand as the SEAL who’d had a hold on Adam before moved forward to grab him again. “Ask me anything, Adam. I’ll prove it.”
He inched further away, but she wasn’t worried. Even if this room was a tunnel, there was no way he was going to outrun them. His eyes darted around again, going from the SEALs and Preston to her and back to them and then back to her again.
“Were we engaged?” he demanded.
“We talked about it,” she said, “but we didn’t actually get engaged.”
A man in loose pants and a loose top came running from the other side of the room, a knife raised in his hand, as he rushed for Adam.
As Reese and the other SEAL were turning, Elle shot past Adam and them to stop the man with a front kick to the abdomen. He doubled over before rushing her again, but she was ready with a spinning side kick.
“Impressive.” Reese’s voice was low, but she heard it as he and the o
ther SEAL moved in to take him down. Other SEALs rushed into the room from the same direction that the man had come from.
“This tunnel runs to Building B,” she heard one say.
She turned back to face Adam, whose mouth was now hanging open along with his bulging eyes. Preston stood behind him, probably to make sure he didn’t decide to bolt up the stairs.
“Elle?” He looked like he truly didn’t know if he could believe his own eyes. She couldn’t blame him. To say this whole experience must be surreal was a comical understatement.
“I know it’s crazy,” she said, “but it’s me. We’re here to get you out of here.” She was inspired by something. “But first, I need for you to give us a hand.”
Chapter 29
“Help you?” Adam’s brow wrinkled in even more confusion.
Elle nodded and gestured to the server behind him. “We need to get the backup disc out of here and then the SEALs will blow it up.”
“SEALs?” She could see his throat work as he swallowed.
“Navy SEALs,” she clarified, gesturing to them as they began to look around the tunnel more carefully. “Special operators in the military.”
“Navy SEALs,” Adam repeated. He coughed slightly. “Holy shit. What the hell is all of this?”
“This is a server.” Elle directed his attention back to it. “We need to find the backup disc and get it out. Can you do that?”
Normally, she knew he could. He knew more about this type of stuff than she did. He looked at the giant server behind her. “It’ll take these bastards down?” he asked.
She nodded.
He started scanning the server, which was at least seven feet tall, looking for a place that could hold a disc.
“You take that end with Preston,” she said, “and I’ll start at the other end.”
“Preston?” Adam’s voice cracked again. “Raddick?” He’d known Preston from when he and Elle worked together in college.
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