by L. T. Ryan
Blake shifted in the seat next to Haeli, put his hand on her back, and settled in for the long, silent flight back to Henderson.
24
From above the tarmac, Blake picked out Peter Grant by the mop of blonde hair. He appeared to be riding an oversized skateboard in a lazy zig-zag pattern. Grant had been a fearless and brutal operator. Now, he didn’t seem to have a care in the world. A marked difference from his own post-retirement experience.
Beyond Grant, two men leaned against a lifted Ford F-150 with enormous tires, their arms crossed. It took Blake until the helicopter touched down onto the asphalt before he recognized them.
Before pulling off his headset, Blake keyed the mic one last time. “Looks like we’re getting the band back together, Griff.”
Fezz and Khat stayed put while Griff, Haeli, and Blake hopped off the helicopter and approached the welcoming party, the rotors still winding down behind them.
Grant skated toward them. He jumped off the board and kicked the back of it to flip it upward. Grant caught it by the wheel truck and caught up to the group.
“Easy peasy?” Grant asked.
“Yep,” Griff said. “Easy in and out. Not a scratch on her.”
“Sweet.” Grant tossed the board on the ground and jumped on it.
Fezz and Khat stepped forward as the group approached. Blake and Griff moved out in front.
“Who let these cowboys in here?” Blake said.
The four men shared handshakes and the usual rough embraces.
“Couldn’t let you two have all the fun,” Fezz said.
“Well, you’re a little late.” Blake smiled.
“I see you’ve met Kook.” Khat motioned toward Grant. “And this must be Haeli. I’m Khat. That’s Fezz.”
The group exchanged greetings. Grant circled them, intermittently pushing his foot along the ground to increase his waning speed.
“We’ve heard about you,” Fezz said. “We had to come out and at least meet the woman that brought Mick back from the dead.”
“Yeah. We heard you were a cyborg or something,” Khat added.
“Please.” Haeli feigned disgust. “I prefer you refer to me by my proper title. Cyberdyne Systems model T-102.” She grinned.
Blake chuckled at Khat’s failure to put Haeli on the spot.
Fezz’s big shoulders bounced as he burst into laughter. “I think we’re gonna get along just fine. Now, I hear we’re about to mess up somebody’s day.”
“Slow down, killer,” Blake said. “I appreciate you coming out to help, but even with the five of us—.”
“Six,” Grant piped in as he rolled by.
“Even with the six of us, I don’t know that we’re looking at a viable operation.”
Grant rolled up next to Griff, pulled a roll of papers out of his back pocket, and handed it to Griff.
“What’s this?” Griff asked.
“That’s the stolen vehicle paperwork I was going to file if you guys got caught. Not that I didn’t have faith.”
“There is one thing you should know.” Griff turned toward the dormant helicopter. “If I were you, I’d get new decals on her as soon as possible. We may have taken a bit of a detour over the strip and we may have drawn a bit of attention.”
“Fantastic.” Grant laced the word with sarcasm. “Did you at least bring my guns back?”
Griff reached in his waistband and withdrew the Kimber. He slapped it down in Grant’s outstretched hand.
“And the others?” Grant asked.
“Jettisoned in pieces from here to Amargosa Valley.” Blake squeezed his lips together to prevent himself from smiling.
“Aw, come on. Seriously?” Grant shook his head. “What happened to easy in, easy out?”
“Relax, Kook,” Fezz said. “We’ve got you covered.”
Fezz walked to the back of the truck, opened the tailgate, and pulled back the green canvas tarp to expose two long trunks.
“Give me a hand with these,” Fezz said.
Fezz and Kook grabbed the two exposed handles of the closer crate and dragged it to the edge of the tailgate. Blake and Griff reached around to grab the other two handles. They lifted the case with a duet of grunts and eased it to the ground. Fezz popped the latched and cracked the lid to reveal a cache of small arms.
“The beauty of military flights,” Khat said. “Take your pick.”
A pearly white grin spread across Grant’s face while his arms disappeared behind the open lid and emerged with an M107 Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle. Grant brought the weapon to his lips and kissed it. “Forgiven.”
“Mind if we leave this stuff here for a bit?” Fezz asked.
Grant whistled air through his teeth. “That’s a dumb question, brah.”
“Thanks.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Khat said. “You can fill us in, and we’ll figure out our next move.”
“You guys know we can’t go back to Vegas, right?” Haeli said.
“We’ve already got it covered,” Fezz said. “Booked a few rooms out of town. Hop in the truck.”
“Damn it.” Griff groaned. “I left my laptop at the hotel.”
“We’ve got one,” Khat said.
“But there’s a thumb drive—”
Haeli laid her hand on Griff’s shoulder. “I’ve got it.” She tapped her pocket as if she were confirming for herself that it was still there.
“Okay then, let’s go.” Blake opened the rear door of the truck and waited for Haeli to climb in. Fezz moved around to the driver’s side and Khat took the front passenger seat.
“Thanks, Kook,” Griff said. He pointed to the EC-130. “She’s a beauty.”
Grant agreed.
“We’ll call you if we need you,” Khat said through the open passenger side window.
“I’ll be here,” Grant responded.
Griff stepped up to the back seat as Blake scooted` into the middle.
“You’re ridin’ bitch,” Griff jabbed.
“Someone’s got to,” Blake said. He looked around the truck and wondered how the hell he ended up there, surrounded by the people he cared about most. Why he ever thought that isolating himself would aide him in battling his demons. These people strengthened him. Emboldened him. He could feel it radiating off them. And he would never make the mistake of remaining solo again.
“Where are we headed?” Haeli asked.
“A terrible place.” Khat paused, waiting for someone to take the bait. Receiving no bites, he said, “You’ll see.”
25
“I can’t believe they changed the name,” Khat said. “Terrible’s Hotel and Casino was way more fitting. Truth in advertising and all that.”
“Whatever you call it, I don’t know how much longer I can stay in this room,” Fezz said. “It smells like cat piss.”
“I’ve stayed in worse,” Haeli said. “Anyway, it was a good idea. No one will look for us out here. I’d never even heard of Jean, Nevada, until twenty minutes ago.”
“Can we get this going, Mick?” Fezz clapped his hands.
“Just another minute.” Blake glared. “Could you guys be any more impatient?”
Blake double checked the thermal screenshots and blueprint documents he had superimposed onto the Google Earth satellite images were oriented based on the recorded coordinated directions. Along with this work, he had been listening to the banter and agreed. The room was not the ideal location for a briefing.
“Logos would be super handy right about now,” Khat said.
An understatement if Blake ever heard one. The military intelligence satellite array, code named Logos, would have provided them with a real-time high-resolution feed. The problem was access to the system had been locked down after they had discovered an inordinate amount of system allocation procured and directed over Virginia for reasons later officially deemed exploratory. Griff took the hit for it—with almost no real consequence to his own career—but the request protocol was no longer rubber stamped. Going a
nywhere near Logos now was off the table.
“Okay, this is the best I can make it.” Blake placed the laptop on one of the two double beds. Griff, Fezz, Khat, and Haeli sat in a line on the other. Blake dropped to one knee.
He pointed out several of the blue-colored areas. “Each of these is in the corner of a room. Every lab, office, and living quarter has one, and only one. They serve as a point of air exchange, but I’m willing to bet that each is a hatch that could provide access to the compound. Problem is, I doubt any of them are accessible from the outside.”
“Then how do they get in?” Fezz asked.
“Good question,” Blake replied. “Do you see this section of the blueprint labeled Main Access? On the satellite image, there’s nothing visible. But, if you draw a line a half mile north, you end up here.” Blake tapped his finger on the screen, then put two fingers on the computer’s track pad and zoomed in on the image, an overhead view of a small building positioned along a narrow access road leading toward an established state route. Next to the building was a parking lot big enough to hold twenty or thirty vehicles.
“That’s the main entrance,” Haeli said.
“I think so,” Blake said. “There must be an underground tunnel that leads to the facility. It’s the only above ground structure anywhere close to this location.”
“That’s a major problem,” Fezz said. “If they know we’re there, and they will, we’ll be trapped in that tunnel.”
“I agree,” Haeli said. “They’ll have cameras and sensors all throughout that compound. Even in the mountains. And especially on the road and at the entrance. We won’t be able to drive up to the front door and expect to walk in.”
“Exactly,” Blake said. “We have to figure out a way to take out the cameras for a couple of minutes. And we won’t be able to drive all the way in. We’ll have to get close, then trek in on foot.”
Griff stood up to walk away but realized there was no room for him to do so. He sat back on the bed. “I don’t like it. Even if we could get in and find Dr. Becher, there’s no way we’re getting back out.”
Blake said, “I don’t like it either. They built this place to be defensible. No matter how we slice it, there’s no smart play here.”
“What if I go?” Haeli said. “Alone.”
The room fell silent.
“I mean, what if I showed up at the front gate? They’d let me in, right? They’d have to. Then, once I get in, I prop open a hatch, giving you an in.”
“Are you insane?” Blake said. “They’d kill you before you could say hello. And if not, they’d deliver you to Levi on a silver platter.”
Fezz and Khat spoke up at the same time. Khat backed off. Fezz continued. “She may be onto something here, Mick. Say one of us could walk in, the right credentials, backstory, setup. Then it would be a matter of opening an access point.”
The room hushed as the collective wheels turned. Blake was the first to break the silence.
“This entire valley is wide open. From the north, it’s a little over a half mile. From the east or west it means navigating the mountains, and then it’s still a mile out in the open. The south is wide open, past the end of this map. There’s no way to get across this valley undetected. Hell, they knew we were flying over with enough lead time to deploy a helicopter to intercept us. The only way to do this is to go in fast and hard. To make the play so brazen that… Fezz, what’s the one enemy that’s impossible to beat?”
Haeli interjected with an answer before Fezz could respond. “The suicidal kind.”
“Right.” Blake pointed at Haeli with four fingers extended. “We always assume that, like us, the enemy is trying to survive. It gives us permission to eliminate certain vectors from our defensive strategy because for the enemy to attempt them, it would mean certain death.”
“I don’t know about you, but I’m looking to survive.” Khat protested with a snicker. “No offense Haeli, I’m sure your father is a good guy, but I enjoy being alive.”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it,” Blake said. “I’m talking about going straight in. No quarter given. Simple, quick, and dirty. Before they even know what hit them.”
“Mick.” Fezz paused and took a breath. He opened his mouth as if he were going to speak but bailed out. Fezz glanced at Haeli, who waited for the rest of Fezz’s sentence. An expression of realization washed over her.
“Let’s take a quick break, I need to get some air,” she said.
Fezz agreed. “It’ll be good to let the ideas ferment for a few.” He stood, as did the others. Haeli pushed by the group and exited the room as all four men watched in silence.
“Mick,” Fezz said, “what are you doing?”
“Making a plan. Isn’t that why you came all this way?”
“You know I will, and have, put my career, my freedom, my life on the line for you. Khat and Griff, too. We’re all glad you’re back from the abyss. But are you? Back? Because the Mick I know is smart and doesn’t make emotional decisions. He finds the angle by pure, cold calculation.”
“There isn’t one,” Blake said. “Not a good one, anyway. But that doesn’t mean that we can look the other way. Levi needs to be stopped.”
“So, this is about Levi? Or is it about Haeli?” Fezz paused. A puff of air escaped through his nose. “Or is it about Anja?”
Blake lunged toward him. “Don’t you throw that back at me.”
“I’m not throwing anything at you, Mick. I’m trying to make you see clearly.”
“I see more clearly than I ever have. It’s about right and wrong. Everything I’ve done, everything we’ve done in the last year is wrong by all societal standards. Illegal. Immoral by many doctrines. But it was right. I went to your so-called abyss to find out who I am. That is who I am. I’m the guy who makes it right when no one else is willing to.”
Fezz said, “I could have told you that.”
Blake plopped onto the edge of the bed and ran his hands through his hair. “If you guys want out, I understand.”
“Hold up, I didn’t say that. I’m not questioning whether you know what you’re doing. I want to make sure you know why you’re doing it.”
“You know I’m with you, Mick,” Khat said, breaking the tension.
Griff weighed in. “I vote we go with Mick’s plan. We fight our way in.”
“They’ll never know what hit them.” Khat added.
All eyes landed on Fezz.
“Screw ‘em,” Fezz said. “I’m good for at least a dozen of ‘em.”
Haeli stared out toward the mountains in the distance. The dusty little town was depressing. Oppressive, even. She felt the sting of every second deposited in the place; the way she imagined the vagrants felt as they dropped their last few quarters in a slot machine inside the roadside casino. The difference was even the most destitute person could happen upon a few bucks. Buy themselves a few more spins. Time was the one thing that couldn’t be earned, bought, or stolen. If her father was still alive, he was down to his last nickel.
Haeli wasn’t sure how the phone ended up in her hand. She scowled at it, transferring her anger toward her own lack of willpower to it. Turning it on would jeopardize the entire team. But her daily message to her father was the only proactive option available. What if he had responded? What if she had missed it?
Her thumb tensed. The screen lit up. It was done, she told herself. Too late to prevent the device from registering with the network. She might as well send a message.
The icons appeared. A notification slid down from the top of the screen. A text message. From Dad.
Griff startled at the explosiveness of Haeli’s entrance.
“You’re gonna be pissed.” Haeli bent over to catch her breath. She swallowed hard. “I turned my phone on. I know I screwed up. I probably gave away our position. But before you flip out, just listen, okay? Forget the op plan. Forget Levi. My father is safe.”
“What are you talking about?” Blake said. “You spoke to h
im?”
“He sent me a text. He finally responded.” Haeli’s face glowed in a way that Blake had not yet seen.
“What did he say?” Griff asked.
Haeli cleared her throat. “You were right to run. I know that now. They would have killed me. I had no choice but to flee. We can both be free to start a new life together. I hope you can forgive me. Meet me at your mother’s place if you can. I’ll be there at 6PM. Make sure you’re not followed.”
“So that’s it, then. Mission accomplished,” Khat said.
“Wait,” Blake said. “Where’s your mother’s place? I thought she passed away when you were a kid.”
“She did,” Haeli responded. “At least that was the story they gave me. The only reason I know what she looked like was a single picture I kept next to my bed for years. She was young and beautiful. I would stare at that picture for hours, imagining what she was like. She looked so glamorous with the City of Los Angeles sprawled out in the background. When I was a teenager, I told my Dad I wanted to go to L.A. one day. I asked him where the picture was taken. He told me it was the Griffith Park Observatory. He said it was my mother’s favorite place.”
“You’re sure that’s where he’s going?” Fezz asked.
“It has to be. He knew I would remember and that no one else could know what he meant.”
“This is a good thing, right?” Khat asked.
Blake would have admonished him for asking such a stupid question but judging by the deflated reaction of all the men in the room, himself included, he reconsidered whether it was a stupid question at all.
“Of course. This whole thing is finally over. We will disappear. Live on some tropical island somewhere, who knows. Techyon will be out of my life forever. Can I borrow your truck? It’s after one. I need to leave now if I’m going to make it on time.”
“I’m going with you,” Blake said.
“Thank you. But I need to do this on my own,” Haeli said.