by Robert Clark
‘Found anything?’ asked Miles.
‘Nothing concrete,’ said Whyte.
‘I found a recipe for a cheese soufflé, it that’s any help,’ I said, looking at the underside of one of the articles I’d read, which did indeed have such a recipe printed on the back.
‘Asshole, take this seriously,’ Whyte snapped.
‘Do you need further proof this guy is the target?’ I asked. ‘How many murder walls do you need to just call it in and tell Parker to pull a sickie?’
‘We’re already in up to our assholes in shit,’ said Miles. ‘We need to come back with proof, otherwise this is all just circumstantial.’
‘It’s circumstantial to create a murder board of the man trying to destabilise the thing you’ve built your life around?’ I asked.
‘Get this through your skull, Stone,’ shouted Whyte. ‘We go to our bosses and tell them Parker is a target to a bunch of hippy lunatics in the mountains, but we don’t know what they’re planning, where they plan on doing it, or even when. We can’t even be damn certain he is their target. I hate my next-door neighbour. Doesn’t mean I’m going to hit them with my Prius, does it? If we can’t give them proof, we’re better off dead. Throwing a wrench in a guy like Andrew Parker’s schedule costs tens of thousands of dollars. We can’t do that on a whim.’
‘But it’s a threat on his life,’ I said. ‘You can’t tell me they won’t take that seriously.’
‘James, the man is a presidential candidate,’ said Miles, emphasising the last two words. ‘He gets a hundred death threats before breakfast. And not all of them are hoaxes. They have a team that deal with this shit twenty-four seven. And it’s only going to get worse the closer we get to the elections. All we have to go on is a collage of the guy’s face, and the word of a wanted fugitive.’
‘And those cassettes,’ I said. ‘There’s plenty of proof on them.’
‘Do they say when and where they plan to attack Parker?’ asked Miles.
‘No, but-’
‘Then we keep searching,’ he interrupted, ‘I know you’re just trying to save the day, but in the real world we need proof, facts, evidence. Something we can take to the boss to shut this shit down before it goes too far.’
‘Then might I suggest we look elsewhere?’ I said. ‘Unless you two want to book a getaway to Manhattan, or find out what flavour ice-cream Parker likes the most. Because that’s about the most we’ll find here.’
‘Lead the way, Jimmy.’
‘Don’t call me Jimmy.’
I felt a prickle in the back of my head as the Wolf reappeared.
‘Here to guide my hand once more?’ I asked him.
‘I was here,’ he muttered. ‘While you were - let’s say - predisposed, I got us out of trouble.’
‘So you know the way out?’
‘Maybe.’
‘What do you mean, maybe?’
‘It wasn’t that simple,’ he said. ‘I needed out, okay? I don’t like being underground.’
Yeah, don’t I know it.
‘I don’t remember this place, but down there I’m getting something,’ he said, pointing at a door off to my right.
Without offering a word to Miles or Whyte, I walked over to the door and opened it. The corridor beyond was dark, much darker than what my eyes were used to. Hurried footsteps behind me told me the two agents had followed, and a moment later their beams of light cast ahead of me.
‘This way,’ said the Wolf, guiding me further and deeper.
Another set of stairs took us down. The air was stale and damp. The walls oozed with condensation. It was impossible to tell how far down we were, but it felt like one more set of stairs would take us straight to the gates of hell. I turned a corner, opened a door and…
Two people turned to look at me. Both men, dressed in battle gear, both armed with assault rifles. They turned to look at me as I opened the door.
No one spoke.
The moment shattered as they swung up their weapons and pointed them at me. A hand on my side threw me aside, and as I crashed into the wall, a chorus of gunfire exploded in the confined space. Two loud, scattering bursts from the two hostiles stunned and disorientated me, while two quieter, suppressed bursts finished the job. The two hostiles dropped to the ground, heads turned to mush. I looked up at Whyte.
‘Jesus, boy, you ever think about not bursting into rooms like a goddamn elephant?’ he snapped.
I didn’t reply. My head was too much of a stunned mess. Miles extended a hand and helped me to my feet.
‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘Didn’t think they’d be down here.’
‘Try a subtler approach next time,’ Whyte said. But as he spoke, his face changed. ‘You hear that?’ He asked.
I turned and listened. Couldn’t hear anything, save for the ringing in my ears. But as it subsided, I heard a noise.
Nothing big. Just a murmur. A whimper.
‘I remember this place,’ said the Wolf. He drifted ahead, looking around at the space.
I watched him, followed his gaze with my own eyes and took in the room. It was unlike anything else I’d seen. A narrow corridor ran through the centre, splintering off at intervals into small alcoves, each of which was separated by thick iron bars. The noise was coming from the space at the back on the left.
I approached. The noise grew a little louder. Definitely a whimper. Definitely a living being, startled by the loud noise.
‘You two better get over here,’ I shouted, as I reached the source of the noise.
There was space for a door, with a heavy iron bar holding it in place. I heaved it loose and swung the door open.
And looked at the person cowering inside.
Thirty-Four
The Prisoner
The figure shrunk deeper into the cell. Long, tussled hair hung over the face of what was either that of a small, malnourished child or a woman on the brink of starvation. As the glare of Whyte's flashlight hit her, I knew the answer. A hollow, gaunt eye peered at us through the clump of hair, terrified and blinded by bright light. This was a figure far removed from the photo I had seen all those weeks previously of a strong, confident federal agent with the world at her fingertips.
‘Jessica?’ it was Whyte who spoke. His voice full of incredulity.
‘Turn that off,’ barked Miles, startling the poor woman.
Whyte switched off the light and dropped his MP5, which hung down by his side.
‘Jess, it's me. Kayden,’ Whyte cooed. ‘We've come to save you.’
Noble didn't speak. Whether she knew who Whyte was, or believed what she saw with her eyes was true, I couldn't tell, but she didn't leap up in celebration. Instead, she sunk back deeper and tighter up against the wall. An act I would have thought impossible, given how small she already appeared.
‘It's okay,’ said Miles, dropping to his partner's side and mimicking his reassurances. ‘You're going to be okay.’
Her body shivered. Her breathing was fast, and hoarse. Each gasp sounding like a wounded animal. I stayed back. No need to spook her further.
‘Jess, it's me. Kayden Whyte. We're going to get you out of here,’ Whyte pushed. ‘Do you understand what I'm saying?’
She made a noise that was somewhere between a gasp and a whimper.
‘Everything is going to be okay,’ said Miles. ‘You don't have to stay here anymore.’
‘No.’ Her voice was high and shrill and ended with a sob. ‘You're not real.’
‘We are Jess,’ insisted Whyte. ‘We've come to get you out. I promise you, we are real.’
With a gentility I had not seen before in the man, he reached out his hand. Not all the way to her. Halfway. A compromise. Proof he was real, should she decide to check. She didn't take it. Her hands wrapped around her knees, which were buried deep into her chest. They were near skeletal.
‘Please,’ whimpered Miles. ‘We need to get you out of here. It's not safe.’
‘Leave me alone!’ Noble screamed. The shock of it s
tunned both men, but neither of them faltered. Whyte's hand remained outstretched.
‘We're not leaving here without you, Jess,’ Whyte said, and I could hear in his voice the hurt he felt. ‘I'd rather die than leave you.’
But no matter what they said, Agent Jessica Noble wouldn't budge. I looked around. It wouldn't be long before someone came searching for the sound of the gunshots, no matter what the suppressor had done. And with two guards down, Cece would certainly send reinforcements the moment she figured out I was back in her lair. We didn't have time to do things the right way. Noble needed a push.
I squeezed between the two men and, before they could stop me, I hopped across the cell and knelt down beside Noble. She recoiled by my presence, and her breathing intensified. I leaned in close, and blew air into her face.
‘Did you feel that?’ I asked in a low whisper.
She nodded.
‘Ghosts can't do that,’ I said. ‘And trust me, I've had enough of them haunt me to know.’
She loosened up a fraction.
‘Do you know who I am?’ I asked.
She nodded again.
‘James Stone,’ she said. Her voice was groggy and fractured from atrophy.
‘Have we ever met?’
‘No.’
‘Then why would your mind conjure me up?’
She said nothing to that.
‘Let me tell you something,’ I continued, keeping my voice low and calm. ‘When I was in Afghanistan, I was held in a place like this too. Maybe a little smaller, and hotter. I hated it, being trapped and unable to move much, but over time, I started to fear what lay beyond my cage even more. I was afraid that whatever was out there would hurt me much more than my little cage. I panicked every time they opened it up and threw food at me. I was terrified to leave.’
I watched her face. Saw the look of recognition in her eyes.
‘When they came to rescue me, I didn't want to leave,’ I said. ‘I fought it. I screamed and shouted and tried to stay put. But they pulled me out anyway, and when I saw the sun for the first time in months, I felt a part of me return.’
With great care, I placed my hand on hers. Her skin was icy, and I could feel the bones in her hand protruding through the skin. She didn't pull away.
‘I bet you want to see the sun too, don't you?’ I said.
She nodded again.
‘Do you think you can walk, or should we see if those two buffoons fancy giving you a lift?’
Her eyes flashed across to Miles and Whyte, both poised in the door, ready for something. Recognition dawned in her face.
‘Those assholes? I'd like to see them try,’ she said. ‘They couldn't carry a conversation.’
A tiny smile broke across her face. Whyte made a noise somewhere between a blubber and a laugh.
I took a step back and stood up, held out my hand to her.
‘Whenever you're ready,’ I said.
Her fingers reached out and gripped mine. And Agent Jessica Noble stepped back into the fight.
And not a moment too soon.
It happened, not all at once, but in a delayed relay. Yet we heard it right from the start. A distant noise met the silence. Hard to place at first, it grew louder with every second. At first, I thought it was an animal crying out in pain. No longer than two seconds in total, the noise shot up the octaves before it died away, so that it sounded like the beginnings of an ambulance's siren cut short. It repeated the noise, again and again, as it leapt from speaker to speaker, all the way down to us, until it was loud enough to confuse and disorientate. An alarm. A warning. We are coming for you.
‘This way,’ roared Agent Miles over the deafening racket and, without waiting for anyone to respond, he turned and ran back to the prison room door. Whyte took Noble's arm and slung it around his shoulder, holding the MP5 with one hand while his other proffered her waist. They moved slower than Miles, but not by much, and I could tell the work wasn't the sole credit of Whyte.
The road ahead of her was a long, uphill struggle, but she was taking her first, frightful step. Noble was a fighter. The best of the best. And she wasn't ready to die.
I followed close behind, ever aware that someone might come from behind. But as we navigated the labyrinth of corridors back to the elevator, not only did no one appear behind, but no one attacked from the front. And the realisation of why did little to lift my spirits.
The elevator was right where we'd left it. Shutter open wide for us to jump inside. Miles was the first inside, with Noble and Whyte close on his six. I stopped short.
‘We need to find another way,’ I shouted.
‘We don't have time for your shit,’ barked Whyte over the noise. ‘Get inside.’
‘They're waiting for us,’ I shouted back. ‘They know we'll have to take the elevator. We'll be playing right into their hands.’
‘What choice do we have?’ said Miles.
I didn't know, but there was something there in my mind, telling me no. The Wolf.
‘What is it?’ I asked of him.
‘I don't know,’ he snarled.
‘You were down here. How did you get out?’
‘I don't know. I was panicked. I needed air. I didn't pay attention to which way I went. All I know is, I didn't take the lift.’
‘There's another way out,’ I shouted to Miles and Whyte.
‘Why didn't you tell us sooner?’ barked Whyte.
‘We don't have time for this, come on.’
I turned on my heel and ran back the way we had come. I dug deep into my mind, recalling fragments of information. Flashes plagued my memories. A rising sense of fear bubbled to the surface, yet it was not mine, it was his. Anxiety, claustrophobia, I could recall them with crystal clarity. And the clearer they became, the more I could see. I darted left and right, following a different path under the mountain.
And on this new route, we were not alone. Two figures lying in wait opened fire as I turned the corner. I barely had the chance to leap backwards into Whyte as bullets ricocheted off the wall. Miles darted forwards and pinned himself against the corner. He returned fire, hitting his targets with careful, precise shots that caught both men in the face.
‘Keep moving,’ he bellowed, taking the lead.
I followed close behind, showing him which way to go. The memories were there, shrouded in mist, but clearing with every turn. Twice I made a wrong move and had to double back at the chagrin of Miles and Whyte. But for every wrong turn made, three right turns brought us closer to freedom.
I turned the corner, saw a single guard up ahead, and fired. Three bullets exited the chamber of the pistol, and two hit their target. As I squeezed the trigger a fourth time, and heard the click of an empty magazine, the guard crumpled to the ground, revealing behind him our exit.
‘Told you,’ I said over the excessive thumping of my heart. Miles pushed me aside and ran for the door. Whyte and Noble passed, and I followed behind, aware that I was out of ammo. I stowed the pistol and replaced it with the axe. Better than nothing.
Daylight poured into the mountain as Miles wrenched open the door, and the smell of bitterly fresh winter air washed over us. The sight and smell lifted Noble up higher, closer to the source. Unaided by Whyte, she drifted out into the world.
I was the last to leave. I swung the heavy door shut behind me and turned to watch the freed agent. Her body was atrophied from months of captivity, a feeling I knew all too well, but there was life in her veins, and spirit in her heart. The woman that turned to look at me was beat and wearied, but not that of the frightened creature secluded to her prison cell. This was a woman renewed. She ran her fingers through her thick, bushy black hair, revealing a contoured, dirty face. In the sunlight, I could see numerous grey hairs that hadn’t featured in the photograph Whyte had shown me. Months in captivity had done a number on her, but she wasn’t giving up.
‘Where’s the rendezvous?’ she asked of Miles and Whyte.
The pair shared an uncomfortable glanc
e.
‘We haven’t got one,’ said Miles uneasily. ‘We’re on our own here.’
‘Seriously?’
‘This whole thing is a serious fuck up, Jess,’ said Whyte. ‘They’ll have our asses the second we get back to HQ.’
Noble sighed and looked around, caught between relief and dismay that the nightmare was not yet over.
‘I know where we can get a vehicle,’ I said, drawing the attention of all three federal agents. ‘They have a cave at the top of the bunker. They use it to park their trucks out of sight.’
‘Then what?’ spat Whyte. ‘We ask real nice if they don’t mind us taking one of their trucks and hauling ass out of here?’
‘Unless you fancy a thirty mile hike over the mountains, we don’t have much choice,’ I said.
‘And you know the way from here?’ asked Noble, eager for a plan.
I shrugged.
‘How hard can it be?’ I said. ‘It’s higher up, and it faces out over Second Solace, so-’ I turned to locate the settlement, spotting it down through the trees to my left, ‘-we need to track around to the left.’
‘And you’re sure they have something we can drive up there?’ asked Miles.
‘Unless they all decided to vacate the base. And we better hurry,’ I said. ‘There’s only so long they’ll hang around waiting for us to go up in the elevator before they realise we came out the back. If we want to get the jump on them, we need to go now.’