“Well, let’s keep going,” Emily replied as she tried to pull his wrist.
“I can’t,” he said with real regret. “He knows me, but he doesn’t know you guys. He couldn’t have seen you walk by his door. Ram only looked up when I was in the frame. You’ve got to keep going.”
“I’ll stay with you,” Kyla acknowledged.
“No, your mission is to protect the president, and she needs you to knock out that nuclear code problem. You have to go with her.” He’d come to terms with their roles. Meechum would get them there, Emily would provide the code, and Kyla would be there in case on-the-fly programming was required. His role was taking care of surprises.
He was anxious to push them away. If Ram came around the corner, they’d all be implicated. “Please hurry!”
Emily looked like she was going to speak, but she ended up grabbing Kyla by the sleeve and dragging her away. The president smiled at him, then followed Meechum into a stairwell door.
Ted got up against the wall and crept back to the corner. If the guy never showed up, he’d go down the steps after his team. However, if his old friend Ramirez came around the bend, he wanted to be ready for the reunion.
As he stood there, Ted thought back to his failed mission with ER. They’d confirmed that President Tanager was dead, but Ted was duped out of the nuclear briefcase. He’d more or less forgotten about ER until he saw him a minute ago, but it all made sense in retrospect: the man who captured the nuclear briefcase would probably also be the one to bring it to Minot for reassignment.
Even from around the corner, he heard the heavy footsteps of someone jogging to catch up. Ted hoped he could surprise the other guy.
I’m supposed to be dead.
NORAD Black Site Sierra 7, CO
It had been easier than Tabby thought to get the small milk truck out of the mud, and once it was back on pavement, she, Peter, and Audrey reluctantly climbed back inside. She had no sense where they’d been going, due to the opaque windows, but she figured it was somewhere in the mountains. However, when the automated transport opened the doors again, she was in an underground cave or mine.
Two women in black jumpsuits with silver sleeves stood at the ready as they came out of the truck. “Welcome to NORAD,” one of them said to her.
“Your people killed my dogs,” she said dryly, repeating the charge she’d leveled at the men who’d put her in the truck, before remembering there was much more to it. “And all of our freaking parents!”
The practiced smiles faltered on both women. The closest one had brunette hair that was gathered in a rudimentary bun on the back of her head. She wore silver earrings, which seemed to match the silver sleeves of her jumpsuit. The other one was a blonde with her hair cut short, like she’d been in the Army.
The blonde replied, “We’re sorry about all that. You’re luckier than most. You’ve been invited here by David himself.”
Peter chuckled like he’d heard the joke before.
“Who’s David?” Tabby asked. “Is he in charge? My friend needs medical attention for her diabetes.”
“Of course he’s in charge,” the woman went on, “though he doesn’t like Americans, generally. You three are the first ones he’s brought here. They usually get rebooted.”
After the long drive, Tabby was in no mood for pleasantries. “Is that what we’re calling it now? I watched one of your robots cut apart two men back in St. Louis. It was a little more than a reboot. It was murder!”
The woman seemed ready to defend herself, but she noticed someone outside of Tabby’s field of view. When she turned to see what had her captor’s attention, a woman in a white jumpsuit walked alongside the milk wagon until she joined the conversation. “Hello, Tabitha Breeze. I’m Charity, one of David’s handmaidens. I’m the one who will get you settled.” She fluffed her luxurious, long red hair, then extended her hand.
Tabby made no effort to return the handshake, but she did give the woman a thorough inspection. Where the other women were clad in heavy overalls for their jumpsuits, like they were working at a racetrack pitstop, Charity looked like someone out of a rerun show Dad used to watch called Buck Rogers. Her tight-fitting spandex one-piece had a half-opened zipper down the front, with long sleeves, and a hint of a belt around her waist, but was otherwise devoid of decorations. Tabby didn’t let the oddness distract her. “How the hell do you know my name?”
Charity kept her hand out.
Tabby crossed her arms.
Charity didn’t shift an inch. “You know, it’s polite to reciprocate when someone offers the hand of friendship. We’re not going to leave this room until you shake my hand like a civilized person.”
She became uncomfortable as the seconds ran into half a minute. Charity’s hand was still out, and Tabby’s arms remained crossed. It satisfied her to see the look of horror on the other two women’s faces. Whatever she was doing to drive them into such fear, Tabby wanted to keep it up.
When a full minute went by, Charity shifted in her little space-boots. “This doesn’t have to get ugly, but you aren’t going to win, dear Tabitha. We can either stand here all day and get nowhere, or I can show you where to go to meet David, our leader.”
“There’s nothing you can do to make me shake your hand.”
A look passed over the woman’s face, briefly, but her smile returned in a flash. She figured her dad would be encouraging her to keep going, now that she had a chance to stick it to the people who killed her family.
Charity spoke in an unnatural, emotionless monotone. “If you don’t shake my hand vigorously by the time I count to ten, I’ll put your two friends back in the delivery van and drive it into a lake. David would hate to lose an expensive piece of equipment, but sometimes, the end justifies the means.”
She counted down, starting at ten.
Tabby waited a few seconds out of anger, but she was beaten. She’d overlooked the easiest and most obvious method of coercion. Before it was too late, she clasped hands with the she-devil in front of her.
Charity shook it vigorously and acted as if the last couple of minutes didn’t happen. “So glad to meet you, Tabby. And so happy you brought your friends Audrey and Peter. We will, of course, tend to Audrey’s condition.”
“Thanks,” she forced herself to say.
Peter’s eyes darted across the pretty woman’s outfit, but he held out his hand like a dead fish. “I guess you want us to shake like trained dogs, too?”
Charity practically scoffed at him. “I think one test was enough, don’t you?” She turned to Tabby. “And this is about you, really, so I’m glad I get to help you.”
She sighed deeply. “Who the heck is David? How do you even know who I am?” She had no ID on her. When she went to work in the mine, she kept her personal belongings in a locker in the main office. Her phone might have given clues, but she didn’t have that, either.
Charity motioned for her to move. “Walk with me.”
The three of them fell into a line. Charity and Tabby in front. Audrey and Peter in the middle. The two other women in the back.
Charity spoke. “I cannot say why David brought you here. He only instructed me to get you through decontamination before you have an audience with him.”
“Decontamination?” Tabby asked. “Are we in danger?”
“Of course not. I’m talking to you, aren’t I? It’s merely a precaution. Besides, David does not like things to be messy or out of order.”
“The whole world is out of order right now,” Tabby said under her breath.
“That’s right,” Charity went on cheerfully. “It’s our job to bring the order back. David has said the same thing many times. Perhaps I understand a little better why he chose you for this honor. You think like us.”
“All right. This is too weird. What the hell do you want me to do, exactly?”
Charity pointed to a heavy metal door with the word decontamination emblazoned across the middle. She hit a button next to it, which made the d
oor swing out on a stout hinge, much like a bank vault. The inside was dark, leaving no clue as to what was in there.
“Tabitha, you will be first. I’m afraid the system only accepts one person at a time.” Charity motioned for her to go inside, but her eyes became predatorial. They seemed to convey the idea she was not to be disobeyed or someone was going to get hurt. The silver-sleeved women maintained their presence in the back.
She glanced at Peter and Audrey. They’d gone so far together in such a short time. She still remembered that first hour with them on the tour, where Peter had been flirting with Tabby the whole way. It wasn’t to hit on her, though she wondered what he would have done if she’d been interested. Instead, the boy was trying to make Audrey jealous. It failed miserably at the time, but their shared terror had kept them together every minute since. Now it felt like good-bye.
Tabby turned to Charity. “You’ll send them through after me, right?”
The woman bowed her head. “Of course.”
Tabby didn’t believe it for a second, but she was at her mercy.
“I’ll see you guys in a few,” she said with all the cheer she could muster.
The couple waved while still holding hands.
God, please let me see them again.
CHAPTER 25
Minot Air Force Base, ND
“Is he coming? Did you see him?” Emily was uncharacteristically frazzled as she asked her and Meechum about her uncle. Uncle Ted stayed upstairs to deal with some guy, which was a bummer, but she understood. He was a warrior, and that was what warriors did. Emily came across as a warrior, despite her diminutive stature, so her concern seemed like more than professional courtesy.
“He’ll be here as soon as he can,” Meechum assured her.
The three women walked briskly down the hallway, past more technicians who seemed enthralled by their tablets and phones. Kyla tried to get a look at one of them and saw the face of a man talking. When a woman walked by holding her phone at a low angle, she saw the same man’s face. The white-haired guy seemed to be giving a speech. The curious side of her wanted to ask one of the strangers who was on their screens, but she discounted it as a very bad idea.
“It’s that one, at the end of the hall.” Meechum motioned thirty feet ahead. The wooden door faced them and was closed.
As they passed the doors in the rest of the hall, Kyla figured out that this floor was dedicated to computer labs for security of the air base. The screens in one room faced toward them, and she saw what was on the giant terminal: aerial images. Most of them were open, with people going in and out, but the one Meechum called out had no activity.
“Does it need a key?” Emily asked, reading her thoughts.
“Don’t know.” Meechum whispered. “It wasn’t in my briefing.”
They got to the end of the hallway and Emily did an abrupt turnaround. “Where is he?”
Meechum went to the door while Kyla pulled gently at Emily’s elbow. “My uncle knows what he’s doing. If he stopped, it was for a good reason. I’m sure he’d want you to complete your, uh, mission.” She didn’t think of herself as being on a military mission, but it came out of her mouth sounding that way. Mom would either be so pissed she was doing this or proud of her for avenging her country. She went with the latter.
Emily glanced at her. The woman’s brown eyes were balanced between crying and desperate resolution. It confirmed her suspicion that maybe Uncle Ted meant more to her than just another pretty-boy pilot. It grossed her out to think of him that way, but she was proud of him for catching the eye of someone as important as the VP. “Thanks. I feel responsible for him, you know? I pulled him off Air Force Two and made him do special missions for me. I hate being separated.”
Oh, yeah. She likes him.
Kyla kept her excitement in check. “Ma’am, Meechum has the door open. We need to get inside and log you in.” She tugged at her arm to get her to move. The techs weren’t too big on security, based on how they walked around with their noses stuck to their tablets, but someone might recognize the vice president, despite her efforts at disguise.
“You’re right,” Emily said with a heavy sigh.
They got inside without anyone shouting at them, but Kyla checked the hall once more as she shut the door. Uncle Ted was nowhere in sight. It would have been great if she could cheer up the VP before they got into the system. She had no idea how long it would take.
The inside was a lot like the other rooms on the level, but it was extremely cool. It was about twenty-by-twenty, or about the size of an average school classroom. In the middle, four or five computer desks supported giant desktop cases and even bigger monitors on top. The outer part of the room was lined with computer cabinets, servers blinking and humming inside. An industrial air-conditioning unit sat on the floor near the back, keeping everything cool. A long tabletop hung from another wall. A hundred tablets were lined up in a row, each with charging cables attached. Though she was there for the computer terminal, she trotted to the tablets and picked one up.
“This is what everyone has out there.” The lock screen showed the white-haired man’s face. She walked it over to the two women.
“That’s David,” Emily reported. “His real name is Jayden Phillips. Your uncle and I saw him when we were in an apartment the other night.” Nosy Kyla immediately wondered if anything had happened that night. It was the type of gossip she used to fake interest in when talking to Ben. He always wanted to hear about who she was dating, so she’d made up a lot of stories. If they ever got a minute where their lives weren’t in danger, she was going to plumb Emily for the truth, but it wasn’t yet the right time.
“Why are all the people watching videos of him?” she asked.
Meechum seemed agitated. “We’re here, guys. This terminal is locked, just like we talked about. Kyla, you need to get your ass in the chair and do your thing. Madame President, be ready to input what you need.”
Kyla nodded, singularly focused on the moment. “Let’s get this over with.”
I have so many questions saved up.
Minot Air Force Base, ND
There wasn’t much time to plan what he was going to do if Ramirez came for him. His pistols had been taken at the door, and none of the workers seemed to have any he could borrow. If he got into a tussle, he wanted it to be out of view as much as possible. When the girls disappeared into the stairwell, he continued walking down the hall, purposely avoiding the stairs.
If it’s him, he’s going to shout my name.
He repeated the thought to make it stick. The last thing he wanted—
“Major MacInnis!” the man shouted.
Ted didn’t flinch. He kept walking as if deaf to the name. The rest of the workers in the hallway flinched and stopped, however, which inadvertently made him the one guy who stood out.
“Shit,” he said under his breath.
“It’s me, ER,” the other guy laughed.
Ted increased his pace and angled for an open door, which happened to be an empty room. There were twenty folding chairs set up facing a screen on a tripod, but none of it was in use. He thought about shutting the door, but it would be the end of his battle. He’d be cornered and would never get out. Instead, he took his chances the portly jerk would want him alone, so he took a seat in the last row.
When ER came in, he knew it was him by his heavy breathing. Ted’s initial impression of the man was that he was better suited to serve hot dogs at the ball game than be down on the field. The last few days hadn’t changed his mind. Neither had the man’s change of uniform. As he walked casually around the far side of the chairs, he seemed to show off his black jumpsuit. “It is you,” he said admiringly. “I didn’t realize you’d joined the winning team, Major.”
“Is the president really dead?” Ted asked, trying to cut right to the heart of his intelligence-gathering responsibilities. They’d gone to the White House, but ER had been the one who claimed he’d found the president’s clothes. As he sat
there, he spun the presidential challenge coin in his pocket, underscoring the only hard data he’d gotten from that mission.
Ramirez laughed and raised his hands, which were partially wrapped with skin-colored bandages. “I got what I needed from the White House, including that nice little fall on the glass. But my mission wasn’t to find the president; it was to get his precious suitcase.”
Ted nodded. “Which you then brought back here, didn’t you? Why would you betray your country so badly?”
The edge of ER’s mouth curled up. “Officers like you must live in some world where you see everything in such black and white terms. The rest of us live in the real world. A world where someone can offer you the entire state of Vermont for your service.”
“That’s funny. I knew a ship captain who was convinced he’d be rewarded with a giant swath of Vermont. Are you sure you’ve got your contract signed correctly? Might want to have a lawyer give it a once-over. Just sayin’.”
The smug look on Ramirez’s face disappeared. “What are you doing here?”
He wanted to delay as long as possible. “Thanks for saving me from the plane crash. I at least owe you for that.”
Ramirez bowed a little. “I might have killed you if I thought there was even a tiny chance you and I would cross paths again. I figured if the drones didn’t get you, the packs of wild dogs would. Plus, I’ve got to admit, I never thought you’d crawl out of the burning truck.”
Ted stood up. “Yeah, well, I guess the Air Force makes us tougher than you Army pukes.” He’d said it matter-of-factly, instead of with bile and venom. His blasé attitude worked as intended.
“You have no idea what you’re dealing with.” He patted his chest, showing off his uniform again. “This army is unstoppable. We took down the entire United States government in seconds. We’re cleaning up the rest of your military around the world in mere days. Everything that was once yours is now ours. How does that make you feel, tough guy?”
Minus America Box Set | Books 1-5 Page 63