by Maddie Wade
“Well, it’s only accessible by air or sea, so I say we infil here using Zodiacs.”
“Is Eidolon supplying those?” Zin asked of the small inflatable raiding boats used to make land when they needed stealth.
Zack nodded. “Yes, Jack has given us access to anything we need, but unfortunately, we won’t have back up from them on this as they have a situation of their own they’re dealing with.”
“We’ll need dry suits and breathers too,” Dane added.
Just then a call came through from Will.
“Will, I have you on speaker.”
“I have visual on Cosa and IR suggests there are fifteen heat signatures, mostly crowded into the main part of the village. I’m going to connect you so you can see.”
The large overhead screen went black for a second and then it was filled with the image of the village again, only this time with red dots that were people inside the homes.
“Are you saying the lab is inside one of those structures?” Nate asked.
“Yes. My bet is she left the outside to look exactly like it does so as not to raise any suspicions. Rhea is a calculating bitch and paranoid about everything too,” Smithy bit out not hiding his contempt for the woman who was trying to ruin everyone’s lives.
“Agreed. So infil here and then split into two teams of two with Nate on overwatch here.” Zack pointed to a ridge of hillside that would give him good sight lines and cover. “Smithy and I will go in here. That’s the most logical place for the lab because of the waterline.” He pointed to where most of the heat signatures were. “Dane and Daniel will take this area. Will is on comms and Zin, K, and Drew are here to keep a watch on Lizzie, Lucy, and Meg.”
Smithy felt his heart skid over at the thought of Lizzie in danger, torn between his need to go and his need to protect her. He’d never understood it before, how having this connection pulled the men’s loyalties in two—family or the job. Although in this case, keeping their wives and kids safe was the job.
“Do we have intel that suggests this is a trap?” He knew Zack would’ve said but needed to ask anyway.
“No, but we’d be foolish to assume anything with her.”
Smithy nodded. “Fair point. What time are we leaving?”
“I say we head out now and drive down so we’re close and can do some recon.”
Smithy stood. “I’ll get my stuff.”
He moved through the building towards the lockers where he got his gear and then to the weapons lock-up for his HKP11 underwater pistol, his C8 Carbine, a couple of K-bar knives, and a pistol for close contact.
Once he was done, he stepped outside for some air. He wanted to get his head on straight before he went into this mission. One mistake and it could be a disaster, not just for him and the team, but for millions of people who would die if the drug was released.
His breathing became faster as for the first time since this entire nightmare had begun, the impact sunk in and he realised that it wasn’t just those he cared about, it was mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters all over the globe.
He tipped his head back and looked towards the hills behind Fortis, concentrating on the beauty he could see there, the tranquil calm of the green countryside and after a few moments his breathing eased, and the tightness in his chest relaxed.
He picked up his phone, wanting to hear Liz’s voice again but hesitated. She’d hear his anxiety and worry. He didn’t want that, so he sent her a text instead.
Hey, Sweetheart, we’re a go. I’ll be back tomorrow, but Zin has the details if you want them. Do you fancy taking Mateo out for a burger tomorrow night?”
He hit send and tucked the phone back in his pocket, not expecting an immediate reply. He’d only been around Mateo a little bit, but the kid was a good boy and loved his mother, and that made him solid in Smithy’s eyes. Rhea Winslow had taken so much from them all, and it grated to know that included a mother from her child.
“You up for this?”
Smithy spun at the sound of Daniel’s voice, the man had as much to lose as anyone, with his baby daughter having no known ability, they would likely perish if this was allowed to happen. He had grown closer to the couple working so closely with Meg on the vaccine. “Yeah, I’m up for it.”
Daniel shoved his hands in his pockets and looked around just as he had, and he knew he wasn’t the only one to carry scars from this whole mess. His were different, yet in many ways, the same.
“Is it harder going out on a mission and knowing you could die now you have a family?”
He hadn’t meant to ask the question, but it was out now, and he couldn’t snatch it back.
Daniel raised an eyebrow, his mouth turning down as he considered his words. “Yes and no. Yes, because I have the responsibility to come home to them, and that makes every mission that much more crucial. And no because I have a reason to go home. Family is everything. It’s my reason for breathing. I love Meg and the girls more than I can even put into words. That doesn’t make me weaker, it makes me stronger because there is nothing, and I do mean nothing, I wouldn’t do to protect them.”
Smithy thought for a minute and wondered if there was a line he wouldn’t cross for Lizzie and realised there wasn’t. Was that love or was it still part of some deep-seated guilt? “Do you ever feel guilty about the things you’ve done?”
“Every day. I don’t think we ever fully separate love and guilt. I feel guilty for not loving Claire like I do Meg. I feel guilty every time I go on a mission or a risky job, knowing I could die and leave the people I love behind.”
Smithy turned to Daniel who was leaning against the side the building, his leg propped on the wall behind him. “I’m trying to figure out if what I have with Liz is the real thing or more guilt.” He had no idea why he was opening up like this when his mind should’ve been on the mission.
Daniel clapped him on the shoulder. “You already know the answer, mate. You’re just scared to admit it. Anyone who sees the way you look at her, as if she’s the moon, can see you love her, and Liz has never hidden her feelings for you.”
Daniel went back inside and left Smithy with his thoughts. Getting his feelings in order was like untangling a knot on a delicate silver chain whilst drunk, but then maybe that was the issue. He was trying to make too much sense of it instead of feeling it all and letting it happen. When he got back, he’d tell her how he felt.
With that decision made he felt lighter, his shoulders relaxing, the tension in his neck easing. It was time to roll out and get this lab taken care of.
Chapter 17
The light from the full moon and the stars were the only illumination they had apart from the torches on their weapons. The dark didn’t bother Smithy, it was his friend as he and the others dragged the zodiac up on to the rocks of the Isle of Cosa. Using camouflage nets, they stowed the boat and silently made their way up the sloping, craggy shingle.
The Isle had a haunting beauty in the dead of night, as if it had stories to tell that would turn many a man’s hair white. The wildness of the land spoke to him, in that somehow it had survived when so much had been lost to the sea.
His body was revved with energy, adrenaline coursing through him, any doubt or fear gone. The only thought in his head the mission and finding the lab, and if they got lucky she’d be here too. Smithy didn’t believe that she was, he knew he’d sense her in some way.
His mind and body was honed to her evil as if a thread of connection linked them in some way. It was fantastical, and he knew a crazy line of thought, but every operator had that sense, it kept them alive.
Silence filled the island as he watched Nate take off in the direction of the hills behind the village. He took a wide detour so as not to trip any alarms, although they’d not encountered anything so far and Will was monitoring them on satellite.
He adjusted his weapon on his shoulder as they stopped and waited for Nate to get into position, the dry suits they wore keeping them warm from the cold temperatures of the En
glish Channel. The frigid temperatures and the wind were a threat to anyone caught in the cold weather though.
The team had gone over several different scenarios on the drive down. They all knew preparing for everything was almost impossible, so they’d prepared for as much as was possible and the rest they would adapt and evolve as they went.
“In position, I have your six.”
Moving with quick, silent feet they made their way to the outskirts of the village. A crop of four buildings they believed to be where the lab was housed were up ahead.
“You have four heat signatures in the first building and two in the one behind. The buildings on the far right have nine heat signatures. My best guess is they’re sleeping quarters.”
They’d decided to hit the island at three in the morning so that most of the occupants would be asleep. They wanted as many alive as they could, and this was the best option.
Dane and Daniel moved off towards the sleeping quarters and he and Zack towards the lab. They cleared the first building with no problems, but as they advanced to the second, they saw movement and heard shots fired. In seconds they heard Dane and Daniel returning fire.
“We have enemy combatants engaging us from inside the building.” Dane’s voice rang out over the sound of the gunfire through the comms.
“You need back up?”
“No, take the lab.”
Smithy and Zack moved towards the lab, no longer caring about a silent entry now they knew they were there. As they stepped inside, it was like two worlds collided. Clean, sterile walls and floor, glass windows, and state of the art science equipment.
More shots sounded, then Nate confirmed he’d taken out three people escaping the lab through the back door.
Two startled and frightened-looking men held their hands up as he and Zack approached. Smithy quickly zip-tied their wrists.
“Go find the last one. I have this.”
Zack nodded and moved towards the other direction where Will had identified the four heat signatures.
“Do you speak English?” Smithy asked the two men who shook their heads. He tried a few other languages, French, Polish, and then German but still nothing. He’d have to look around on his own.
The computers were on, and he quickly inserted a flash drive into each one to download the information on the two machines. Zack came back in the room. “All clear. The last one tried to run so he’s dead. Dane and Daniel cleared the rest. We should get these two to the boat.”
“Let me just get this downloaded for Will and Meg to go through. This could hold the answer she needs for the vaccine.”
“Fine, I’ll start moving them out. Will says there are no more heat signatures on the island, so we’re clear.”
“Give me a few minutes, and I’ll be right behind you.”
He looked into the fridges as Zack led the two scientists away with no arguments, and he wondered if it was some sort of trick or if they’d been there under duress like he’d been.
He collected some samples from the fridges and put them in a protective case he carried and into his breast pocket before checking the downloads. They had two minutes to go, so he turned towards the microscopes but as he did, his body froze.
Pulling his rifle up, he pointed it at the man calmly watching him with a gun pointed centre mass at Smithy. A growl crawled up his throat as he took in the man who’d had such a huge influence on his life. “John.”
“Smithy, good to see you.”
Smithy snorted. “Yeah, that’s why you have a gun pointed at me.”
“Insurance, Smithy.”
“Of course. It’s always insurance with you, isn’t it?”
“I didn’t come here to kill you.”
John moved slightly into the room and Smithy moved with him, not letting him out of his sight for even a second. This man may be in his sixties, but he was deadly.
“Then why the fuck are you here?”
“I have information.”
“And an email wouldn’t do?” Smithy saw he had one more minute on the download.
“You have your mother’s sense of humour.”
Smithy felt his temper rise as John spoke about his mother. “The fuck you know about my mother?” His stomach muscles clenched, as if his body sensed something his mind wasn’t catching up to.
“She was beautiful, fun, easy to fall in love with. She was everything Rhea wasn’t, and I would’ve left Rhea for her except she fell pregnant.
“No.” Smithy staggered back a step as what John was saying began to hit him.
“Yes, Whittaker, you’re my son.”
“How could you?” Smithy rasped as the oxygen in the room became dense, and he couldn’t get his breath as anger and betrayal made his vision turn red.
“I had no choice. Rhea found out and would’ve killed you if I hadn’t turned my back on you and your mother.”
“Is that why she hates me?”
“Yes, she sees me when she looks at you. It’s also one of the reasons she kept you alive.”
“Is that why you recruited me?”
“Partly, I wanted to get to know the man you had become, and you were an excellent soldier. I was proud of what you had achieved.”
“You don’t get to be proud. You left me with a broken, alcoholic mother like I was expendable, a toy you no longer wanted to play with.”
“That’s not true. I sent money, and I looked in on you when I could. It was too dangerous to do anything else.
“Why choose her over us?”
John seemed to age in a split second, grief and regret pouring over his features like a tidal wave. “I loved Rhea too.”
“Yet you still fucked my mother and abandoned us.”
“Yes.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
Smithy was torn between wanting to kill the man who’d sired him and praying this was a nightmare. He’d never seen the resemblance before, but as he looked at the man now, it was clear he was telling the truth, much as he wanted it to be a lie.
“Because I need you to understand.”
“Well, you failed. I don’t, and I never will. If you love someone, your heart belongs to that person with no room for anyone else. The only person you love is yourself, so don’t pretend otherwise.”
He snatched the flash drives from the computers as they finished, and with his focus still on John, tucked them safely away. He had so many questions whirling in his brain, and this might be his only chance to ask them.
“Because you deserve to know the truth.”
“Why now?”
“There may not be another chance.”
“I should kill you.”
He felt his finger on the trigger tighten as his body almost shook with the need to kill his father, but then it hit him—his father. Some mystery figure who’d made him. A man he’d built up in his mind as a small child, believing he’d save him and make his life better. But he wasn’t a hero; he was a cold, calculating spy who’d used him.
“You could, but I’m your best chance of ending this.”
“How?”
“Those files have the answers. But you’ve been looking at this all wrong. Rhea has more soldiers than we ever thought possible.”
“How?”
He could hear the click of the comms that alerted him his team were coming back.
“The mind control drug she used initially has evolved. She put it into an implant that every man and woman serving in the UK military now has.”
“What? How?”
“An initiative set up to make sure all personnel were safe from standard viruses like the flu.”
“Yes, I heard about that but how did she get her drug inside it?”
“She didn’t. A biotech company makes the implant, and she had people inside the lab. The information is on the flash drives.”
“Jesus Christ, she’d be unstoppable with those kinds of resources.”
“Yes, but she won’t deploy them until the other drug is in
place.”
“How do we stop her?” He couldn’t believe he was asking this man for advice, but he seemed to have all the answers they were missing.
“You don’t, not alone. I started this, and I must finish it. You just make sure that drug doesn’t get into that oil pipeline.”
John cocked his head as he listened, and Smithy knew he had a decision to make—either let him go and hope he did as he asked or take him in and risk losing this war.
“Time to decide, Smithy.”
“Go.” Smithy dropped his weapon as did John.
“For the record, I’m sorry, and I do regret the choice I made, but that’s for me to live with.”
Then he was gone, and Smithy was left with more questions than he ever thought possible.
Chapter 18
Lizzie cradled her tiny niece in her arms as Lucy looked on with complete adoration on her face. The new mother was totally besotted with her daughter as she should be, and Lizzie remembered the feeling like it was yesterday. The complete overwhelming love and awe that you had created such perfection.
The sisters had decided to wait out the mission to Cosa together, all of them concerned and knowing the importance of what the men could find at this lab.
Zin had filled them in on the details surrounding the Isle of Cosa and the lab there, and Lizzie and Meg had gone into research mode, looking up the history, the topography, even the myths and legends about the island. Lizzie had called Ava who’d filled in some of the blanks for them too.
Like, the fact it was mentioned as far back as the bronze age with myths of witches and fairies residing on the inhospitable land that had weathered everything the English coast had thrown at it. If it hadn’t been for the fact it was linked to the Divine Watchers, and the birth of the cult that had been bastardised, Lizzie would’ve found the tales romantic.