Mason Walker series Box Set

by Alex Howell

  “I’m sorry, Clara. I wish I could provide more details, but as a matter of national security, that’s really all I can say at this time.”

  That’s more than enough at this point.

  “That’s okay. I understand. Thank you for your time, Mr. Simon. Bye now—you take care.”

  She quickly hung up the phone, dropped it to her side, and sighed. Well, she knew Mason wasn’t in Iran or China or any remote country from which she could do nothing. That was the… silver lining, she would say. Not the good news—there was no good news until Mason himself reached out to her.

  The bad news was everything else.

  Luke’s not going to talk to you. Or he’s not going to reveal more.

  But you know who would?

  Clara began searching through her contacts once again.

  She came upon Raina Martin’s number. As soon as the call connected, though, it went straight to voicemail.

  Clara cursed loudly and thought of hanging up, but at the last second thought better of it. Any moment that Raina picked up the message was a good moment, and so long as Mason wasn’t six feet under, Raina would be able to act on it.

  “Hello Raina, this is Clara Walker—Mason’s daughter. I haven’t heard from him all day, and am getting a little worried. Could you please call me back as soon as you can? I think something might have happened. I would really, really appreciate it. Thank you.”

  Clara hung up, but she didn’t want to feel like that was the end of it. Luke would obviously put the word out, but that would take some time to reach the team. Who else…

  And then she remembered the guy who had had the audacity to call her cute in front of her father.

  Admittedly, she didn’t know a single thing about Kyle beyond that he was the tech guy, he was kind of cute, and he’d said as much about her. That gave brownie points to him, but right now, that was the furthest thing on her mind—she just wanted someone who could help him the hell out.

  “Hello?”

  The poor guy sounded half-nervous and half-agitated, but not in an aggressive sense—like a scared cat cornered who had started hissing. But there was no time for pleasantries.

  “Hey Kyle, this is Clara. I—”

  “Cla—Clara! Hey! What’s up? How are things? Are you—”

  I have got to set some ground rules for this guy. Starting with none of these while we’ve got a mission going on.

  “Hey Kyle, I’m not calling to chit chat, I need your help.”

  The silence on the other end of the line worried Clara that she had at first broken him, but she dismissed that thought as ludicrous. He was supposed to do his job, regardless of his feelings. Kyle eventually spoke up, sounding a bit heartbroken, but there was no time to care for that.

  “What? What’s wrong?”

  “My dad isn’t responding to my texts or calls. I think something has happened to him.”

  “Oh wow, okay,” he said, nervous and stumbling over his words. “Well—I haven’t seen Mason since our last briefing the other day, I’ll alert the other team members and let them know what’s going on.”

  “Thanks, Kyle. But you don’t know anything else?”

  “I don’t.”

  Damnit. Dad, where are you?

  “So… how’s everything else going?”

  “We can have this chat later, Kyle, not in the mood right now.”

  She didn’t even say goodbye when she hung up. She was frustrated, yes, but it wasn’t at Kyle per se. It was at the fact that Mason seemed to be missing and no one knew where the hell he was. For all Clara knew, he could’ve been taken to Cameroon and no one would have any idea of it. Not Luke, not Kyle, not Onyx, not anyone.

  It was a dead trail of meaningless responses other than Luke saying he was operating in D.C.—but that was a far cry from actually being in D.C. at the moment.

  At least, finally, Raina was calling back now. Clara answered on the first ring.

  “Hey, Raina.”

  “Clara, you OK? You’re having a hard time getting a hold of your dad?”

  The concern in Raina’s voice, unsurprisingly, was equally nervous. So, once again, no one knows where my dad is. Well, that’s just great. Do I have to come back and rescue him like I did in Kansas?

  Clara struggled to keep herself in control, reminding herself that this was a team of professionals and that as soon as they realized one of their own was missing, there wasn’t going to be any time wasted searching for him.

  “Yes,” Clara said, slowly gathering herself. “I have tried texting and calling him all day today, and can’t get through—I’m starting to get really worried about him. Is he all right? Raina? Do you have any ideas?”

  “I…” Raina started, her voice trailing off. “I’m sure he’s fine.”

  No way. That’s bull. Dad would’ve messaged me so long as he could, even if he had his legs shot off.

  “I’ll make sure I have team members out there looking for him.”

  As much as Clara wanted to cuss out Raina for treating her like a teenager who needed aide, much as she almost had with Luke, there was just no point to it other than some ego satisfaction. Clara held the phone away from her, mumbled multiple swears, and then brought it back once she’d gotten it out of her system.

  “Okay, please let me know.”

  It was the best she could say without becoming even more frustrated.

  “Sure thing, Clara. You will be the first one I call when I find him. I’ll keep you posted Clara, take care.”

  “Thank you—you too.”

  Both hung up at the same time. Clara dropped her phone to her lap, said, “damnit,” and stared at the setting sun, wondering what else might be setting in her life. She was in a new world without her father, and now, “without her father” was taking on disturbing new meanings.

  For the first time since she’d gotten to Stanford, the word “transfer” came to mind.

  She knew that she was there only because the government wanted to make up to her what had happened in the capture of her. She wasn’t there on her own academic merits. Maybe if Palo Alto was a suburb in Washington D.C. it could have worked, but, right now, it just felt like a never-ending reminder that the gulf between her home and here, her capabilities and here, and her happiness and here was as wide as anything else in the world.

  And then she saw Serena approaching, and Clara did her best to brace herself for the worse. She feared old wounds from their fight being opened up and maybe much more coming—why not, at this point.

  “Fancy meeting you here, Clara!”

  Her roommate was far too chipper and far too upbeat for Clara to even pretend she could match. It was like the difference between an excited, young puppy and a grouchy, old dog. There was nothing about it that could have made her feel good; even if her dad suddenly texted her, her mood was just too far down to match Serena’s energy.

  “Oh—Serena, hey.”

  She didn’t try to hide her depression and her disgust with the day. It wasn’t like she wanted Serena to give her sympathy, but once she started doing so, she wasn’t about to stop her.

  “Are you all right?” Serena asked, taking a seat next to her.

  Clara bit her lip, looked away, and sighed. There was just no way she could tell Serena the whole truth. Even if she did, there was no way Serena would believe her. The life that Clara lived, both here and by association, was too surreal to be believed upon first hearing it. Too much craziness, too much drama, too much that couldn’t be said for security reasons.

  “Oh yeah, everything is fine. I’m just a little stressed about a test I have coming up.”

  That was technically true, but it was certainly not the full truth or even a quarter of the truth.

  “See! This is what I’ve been telling you! All work and no play make one heck of a stressed-out Clara! I’ve just got to get you out more!”

  You’ve got to get me out more?

  But Clara didn’t have the energy to fight back. She just wa
nted Serena to go away—not permanently or in their relationship, because they did overall have a nice one—so that she could cry a little, rest, and then figure out what the hell to do.

  “Uh, yeah, maybe, sure.”

  If it was meant to drop a serious hint to Serena, then her roommate didn’t seem to get it. In fact, she went the other direction.

  “I tell you what—one of the sororities is throwing a big party on campus next Friday, and I want you to go with me. Deal?”

  Oh, hell.

  Fine. If it’ll get her away right now.

  “Okay—sure.”

  Serena squealed with delight as she hugged Clara, an action that felt a bit over the top—but what didn’t feel over the top right now?

  “Awesome! Just stick with me and you are going to have so much fun! Oh, woah, I forgot I’m late to my meeting! I’ve got to run. I’ll see you later!”

  It all happened so fast that Clara was still trying to process what the hell Serena had just said.

  But by the time she disappeared from view, Clara’s mind had turned back to a couple of answers she was looking for.

  One, she would get involved with Stanford and commit to it and its social life… once she took care of the second point.

  Which was two, she was going to do whatever it took to find Mason.

  Even if that meant going back home.

  16

  September 16th, 2028

  10:11 p.m. EST

  Washington, D.C.

  It had been over 24 hours since Raina had last heard from Mason, and Clara’s call confirmed the worst of it.

  It was one thing if Mason had just been pissed off at her for the way she had walked out on him. While it would have been annoying to have had personal issues get in the way of standard operating procedure, it wouldn’t have been the first time that feelings and romance made things tough on a battlefield. It would have just been something to account for.

  It was a very, very different thing for Mason to have not even called or texted Clara in that time. Clara had done some unbelievable things that could have gotten her on her dad’s bad list for the rest of her life, but he still would have communicated with her daily. For him not to do that…

  Raina was beginning to feel like she had screwed this up somehow, as if she were at fault for what she had done. After all, it was her who had left Mason with the snide remark about going alone in the last meeting. It was her who had told Kyle to stick to her side in secret, leaving Mason without the support of the smartest guy on the team. It was her who had not spoken up strongly enough to persuade Mason to realize the danger of his mission, now leaving him in the spot they were in.

  But the worst part was that there was nothing she could do at this point to make things better. She was on patrol in western Washington D.C., roaming the streets, doing her best to see if she saw anything suspicious, but the only thing “suspicious” were some teenagers giggling as they spray-painted a wall and, frankly, Raina wasn’t in the mood to play civilian vigilante. She was in the mood to either solve the terrorist threat or to figure out where the hell Mason was—given that neither were coming to fruition, her frustration was only increasing.

  As the night wore on, she became increasingly agitated, spurred on both by her sense of responsibility for what had happened to Mason and by her desire to know what, exactly, was going on. She had lied to Clara to some extent by saying she was sure he was fine, but that was partially because she didn’t know what was going on; maybe she had told the truth by accident.

  Whatever it was, she couldn’t take it any longer. She called in to Luke at headquarters, who answered immediately.

  “Raina, did you find something?”

  “Where’s Mason?” she asked.

  A long sigh came on the other line, which was about the last answer Raina wanted to hear.

  “He hasn’t communicated with us since he talked to you and Kyle, we don’t have any further updates,” Luke said. “Truth be told, his dot on our map is frozen. I think whatever happened, he lost his cell phone in some fashion.”

  “Damnit,” Raina said. “The terrorists got him. I guarantee it.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far, but—”

  “What else would you say?” Raina snapped.

  She had to temper herself from saying anything more that would get her in trouble. It was so unlike her to lose her temper—she legitimately couldn’t remember the last time she had done it. But, then again, she couldn’t remember the last time she had been somewhat responsible for putting a teammate of hers in serious danger.

  “He’s gotta be in that area, Luke,” Raina said. “I’m going to go over there and find—”

  “Raina,” Luke said. “I know you’re frustrated. I am too. I don’t want to think that someone picked off Mason. But at this time, the mission takes greater priority.”

  “Exactly. The mission cannot succeed if we don’t have Mason in tow. Therefore, I’m going to go find Mason.”

  “Absolutely not.”

  Luke rarely spoke so bluntly and with such authoritarian tendencies in his voice, but at this moment, there could be little doubt what he was trying to do.

  “I want Mason to be OK,” Luke said, his voice a bit calmer. “But I cannot put the mission at risk. If you rescue him, only to find out you could have stopped the terrorists if they were in your region, then would you ever be able to live with yourself?”

  “Oh, shut up, Luke,” Raina said. “You’re asking me to patrol how many square miles like I’m a damn drone?”

  Luke didn’t say anything.

  “Sorry,” Raina said to fill the silence. “This is just… I’m so pissed. I did this to him, Luke. I’m the one who told him after he said no to my suggestion to team up that he could go at it on our own. It was my actions that led to this.”

  “No, Raina, it’s not,” Luke said reassuringly. “Mason suggested at the very start that we all go alone. This was his idea from the moment you all got out of that meeting with General Thomson. I’m not going to hold you responsible.”

  That was polite of Luke to say, but it wasn’t enough. Nothing except the return of Mason would be enough at this point.

  And if Luke wasn’t going to authorize Raina to go and find him, she’d have to do it herself.

  “I understand, Luke,” Raina said. “Thanks for letting me vent.”

  “No worries, Raina,” Luke said. “Call me if you need anything. We’ll be here until two, and then again at eight.”

  Raina thanked Luke and hung up. As soon as she saw the line disconnect, she headed over to a nearby dumpster, where she stood, using her app to summon her automatic vehicle to her location. As soon as she saw its headlights approaching, Raina slid the phone underneath the dumpster, letting it make Luke believe that she was still in her area, patrolling. By her guess, she would have about an hour before Luke started calling in—and since Mason’s area was just ten minutes away by car, that would give her all the time she needed to figure out what the hell was going on.

  She hoped in her car and programed the car to head over to Round Robin, knowing that that was the center point of the circular area Mason was responsible for. When she hopped in, she couldn’t say that she was feeling particularly optimistic or hopeful, but at least she was taking action. Moving out was almost like a form of therapy for her—by taking action, she felt like she was improving the problem. Maybe she wasn’t actually, and maybe it would all be for naught, but at least it was a step in the right direction.

  She accepted that she would get in serious trouble if Luke or anyone else ever found out, but she didn’t care right now. This wasn’t just her abandoning the mission to rescue a friend and romantic interest—this was her going to rescue one of Onyx’s best operatives with the idea that his return would help the team immediately. And—something she just realized—if Mason had indeed been kidnapped and she rescued him, he would have a treasure trove of information that would make their lives much easier and their task much m
ore obtainable.

  Assuming they don’t then retaliate by launching the Ebola virus early. But that’s something you’ll have to worry about later. Just go get him.

  As Raina pulled up to the Round Robin, she realized just how particularly seedy and shady the area was. There was a decrepit church just down the street; most of the nearby shops had bars and barricades over them; and the few open establishments didn’t really have any patrons at this hour. It was kind of a miracle that Round Robin even got people to come by, but maybe that was the appeal—if everyone thought they were one of the few who headed there, then everyone thought it was a place to unwind out of the public eye.

  Still, for Raina, she knew exactly where to start—with the one guy Mason trusted for all of the going-ons in Washington D.C.

  When she stepped inside, the first thing that happened was an older, fatter man in a suit smirked at her and whistled at her. She didn’t even bother to hide her disgust for him as she walked over to the bar, looking for Sam.

  And then, thankfully, she saw Sam, who headed over to her with a smile.

  “I’m looking for Mason Walker,” she said.

  Sam’s expression immediately went from happy to confused.

  “What about him?” Sam said.

  “I know he was here last night,” Raina said, a fact which sounded more confident than she actually was. “I’m trying to see if you know if he was here.”

  “Well, he was,” Sam said. “But he disappeared shortly after ten. Hardly here a second. Just asked about some stuff and, well, that was that.”

  “What kind of stuff?”

  Sam looked hesitant to explain exactly what had happened. Raina really didn’t want to bust out the “I’m a private contractor” card—she had hoped to work her charm on Sam, whom she only knew through Mason—but it was looking more and more like he was going to crack.

  “Look, dear, if you’re asking if Mason was here to go to some gal’s place, that wasn’t the case, OK? I stay out of—”

  “I’m not interested in hearing about Mason’s love life,” Raina snapped. “I’m with him as a federal agent. Mason went missing last night. Do you have any idea what happened?”