by Elle James
“They’re armed,” Mack said softly.
“I’ll get the one on the right,” Jack said.
“Better make it fast—someone just threw a match,” Cole said.
“Let me up.” CJ bucked beneath him. “We have to help them.”
“I will as soon as you promise not to go off half-cocked.”
“I promise,” she said too quickly.
“They’re armed, CJ. You can’t help those kids if you’re dead.”
“I can handle them. Let me go.”
Cole rolled off her. “Stick to the shadows and be careful.” He didn’t want to let her go, but he had to. She was a trained killer, and she’d find a way out of his grasp no matter what he did. Better to let her go and help her than to have her work without his knowledge. CJ could take care of herself.
As she took off toward the dormitories, he prayed that was the case.
* * *
HER HEART SLAMMED against her ribs as CJ ran toward the first building, the one that housed the youngest of the children.
When the man dropped the match, flames spread and rose up the walls like a dancing, heaving blanket, consuming the gasoline and eating into the wooden walls.
Mack, Gus, Mustang and Jack sneaked up on the two men swinging around the rear of the dormitory with their jugs of gasoline. The Defenders took the two men out without making a sound.
As smoke and flame rose, sounds came from inside the dorms. Sounds of children coughing and crying for help. The building had no windows. CJ remembered there being a back door and a front door. Since the guys with the gas hadn’t made it all the way around the building, the back door was still clear of the fire. CJ ran to the back door.
Hands banged on the door from the inside and voices shouted and screamed there.
CJ’s heart squeezed hard in her chest. She tried the doorknob, then realized there was a padlock on the outside, locked tight. The men had locked the children inside and planned on burning the building down and the kids with it. This would cause a stir and attention, something Trinity liked to avoid, but CJ guessed in this case they might want to send a warning to people like her who got out. Trinity was ruthless enough to kill dozens of kids just to let a traitor know they’d stop at nothing.
CJ used the handle of her pistol and slammed it against the padlock again and again. No matter how hard she hit it, it wouldn’t break. Then she remembered the file she’d placed in her pocket. She pulled it out, her hands shaking, and almost dropped it on the ground. After two attempts, she had the lock opened and removed from the hasp. Then she tackled the lock on the doorknob, releasing it on the first attempt. Finally, she flung open the door. Children rushed out, wearing the T-shirts and underwear they’d gone to bed in. Smoke billowed out with the children.
Mustang, Cole and CJ ran into the smoky room, checking beds and beneath the bunks. When the building was clear, they ran out, coughing.
CJ’s lungs burned and her eyes stung, but there was another dormitory full of people and the flames were burning hotter and brighter from that building.
Mack, Gus and Jack had moved on to take out three other men wielding jugs of gasoline. These three had come looking for their cohorts and found Declan’s Defenders. They were in the midst of hand-to-hand combat when Mustang, CJ and Cole arrived on the scene from behind.
Cole took out the one closest to him and CJ side kicked the other, sending him flying into Jack’s fist. CJ didn’t wait around to watch the outcome. She ran to the second dorm. Like the first, it had been locked from the outside with a padlock. Using her file, she unlocked the padlock on her first attempt and then the doorknob lock. Teenagers spilled out as soon as the door opened.
The ones closest to the doors stumbled out of the smoke-filled room, coughing and hacking. Some helped others escape. Still others lay on the floor, having succumbed to the smoke.
While Gus, Mustang and Jack went after the men on the gate, Cole and Mack helped CJ get everyone out of the second dorm, some leaning on them for support, others having to be lugged out in a fireman’s carry over broad shoulders.
When Cole went back into the dormitory for the last teen, CJ turned toward the main house where the trainers lived and held court. They’d been the judges, juries and hangmen of the compound, keeping order through threats of harsh sentences. If the leader of Trinity was anywhere around, he’d be inside the main house, packing his stuff to get out before the fire department arrived and found all the dead children.
Would he be here at all? Part of her thought a leader this cruel would enjoy seeing his sickening plans in action, might even take pleasure in seeing her suffer as she witnessed the tragedy unfolding.
Anger burned inside CJ hotter than the actual fire as she ran toward the house. An SUV stood outside, the engine running and the headlights shining. Several men were inside the vehicle. The driver’s door hung open and no one sat in the driver’s seat. A smaller SUV stood in front of the larger one, also running but unoccupied.
A man came out of the house, got into the larger vehicle and started to drive around the one in front of it.
CJ couldn’t let them get away. While running toward the vehicle, she pulled out her handgun, aimed for the tires and fired off one round after another. She hit the right front and rear tires. Windows lowered and guns poked out of them.
CJ dived to the ground and rolled behind the rusted-out hull of the abandoned 1957 Ford Fairlane that had been in the courtyard of the compound for as long as she could remember.
Bullets slammed into the metal and kicked up dust around her. She edged toward the opposite end of the massive pile of junk metal and fired several more rounds into the windows of the SUV. The driver swerved and hit the vehicle that had been parked in front of it, sending it sliding up against the front porch railing of the house.
A couple of the men dived out the doors onto the ground, rolled to their feet and started running.
CJ shot them in the legs. They fell to the ground, screaming and clutching at their wounds.
The flames from the burning dormitories lit the yard, making it nearly impossible for her to run across to the big house without being seen.
Taking a deep breath, she left the comparative safety of the Fairlane and sprinted across the yard, heading for the house. She zigzagged, making it harder for potential shooters to get a bead on her.
Shots rang out, kicking up dust beside her.
She didn’t slow until she reached the porch. Taking the steps two at a time, she dived through the door into the front foyer, rolled to the side and came up on her feet, her Glock in her hand.
“Stop right there,” a voice said. A man stood before her with a handful of documents, fire burning one corner of them, and a pistol in his other hand, aimed at her chest.
With her heart pounding against her ribs, CJ stared down the barrel of the pistol and then looked up into the face of a man she recognized. Not from her time spent in training, but from her short time in the West Wing of the White House. “Chris Carpenter,” she said aloud.
He gave a slight nod and tossed the papers onto the floor among a larger pile of documents and folders. The flames spread, gobbling up more paper, sending a bright flame climbing into the air.
“It’s about time you came back to the fold, CJ.” Carpenter shook his head. He brought his free hand up to stabilize the one holding the pistol. “I didn’t recognize you when you took Dr. Saunders’s position, I wasn’t here when you went through training and I only had grainy photos to go by, so it didn’t come to me right away. But once I learned you’d been in my house, I compared videos of the woman in my office with the one in the exterminator’s outfit and realized my mistake. We taught you well.”
“I’m not here for compliments, nor am I here to rejoin Trinity,” CJ said. “I came to put a stop to Trinity and keep them from stealing children and killing innocent people.”<
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“Like you kept them from killing my wife and Orlov, her lover?” Carpenter snorted. “I put out that kill order as well as the one that put a stop to John Halverson’s snooping.”
“You were responsible for John Halverson’s death?” Her teeth ground together, her finger itching to pull the trigger.
“I had to. He knew too much.”
“Bastard,” she ground out.
“Maybe so. We had a job to do, and he was in the way. But no more. The wheels are turning, the plan is in place.” He gave her a smile that looked more like a sneer. “And you’re too late to stop it.”
“Too late?” She frowned. “What do you mean?”
His lip curled. “The remaining recruits are being eliminated as we speak and, after tonight, our primary purpose will have been accomplished.”
CJ lifted her chin, her eyes narrowing. “And that is?”
“Assassination of the most prominent figure in US government. In doing so, we’ll put our own man in position to effect change.” Carpenter snorted. “It’s finally happening. What we’ve been working toward for so long.”
“The president? Trinity is going to assassinate POTUS?” CJ’s heart slid to the pit of her belly and back up to pound against her ribs. “When? How?”
Carpenter’s lips twisted. “Sooner than you think. And we’ll finally be rid of the other half of the Halverson annoyance.”
CJ shook her head. “Charlie Halverson?”
“We thought we’d done away with the trouble when the Director had me eliminate John, never expecting his widow to pick up the baton and run with it.” His jaw tightened. “But that will all be behind us soon.” He took his gaze off her for a brief glance at his watch. “Yes, soon. Now, I need to get out of here before the gasoline tanks explode. You’re going to be my ticket past your bodyguards.”
“What makes you think I won’t shoot you first?” CJ held the gun steady, her finger resting on the trigger. She’d always been taught never to put her finger on the trigger unless she intended to shoot.
She intended to shoot.
“You don’t have it in you to shoot. You proved that when you wouldn’t shoot your target a year ago.”
“I don’t shoot defenseless pregnant women,” she said. “You’re neither a woman, defenseless nor pregnant.”
His eyes narrowed. “I could pull the trigger first, but if you die, you won’t have time to warn your friends of the impending explosion. If you come with me without a fight, I won’t shoot you. You can tell your friends about the tank before it goes up, and be my ticket out. I’ll take you back to the people you belong with. You’ll be an asset to us, with all you’ve learned on your little...vacation away from Trinity. But you only have a few seconds to make up your mind. What’s it going to be?”
CJ didn’t hesitate. She pulled the trigger, then dived to the side.
The sound of gunfire echoed in her ears and a sharp pain ripped through her shoulder as she hit the wooden floor hard, rolled and came up, her Glock pointed at the man still standing. He dropped the gun from his grip and stared across at her, his face pale. “Won’t do you any good. This place will blow any minute... The president and Halverson—” he dropped to his knees, clutching at his chest, blood seeping through his fingers “—will be dead...and the Director—” Carpenter slid to his side and stared up at her “—will...be...in...charge.” The corners of his lips curled upward. “You’re too...late.”
CJ turned, pain shooting through her at her sudden move. Warm liquid dripped down her left arm. She glanced at her jacket, surprised to see blood. It didn’t matter. She didn’t have time to deal with it—she had to warn the others.
As she stepped through the door, gunfire rang out. A bullet hit the door frame beside her. Splinters rained down on her.
CJ darted to the side and dropped to a prone position, flattening her body against the wooden slats of the porch. She searched the darkness for the shooter. A man stood beside the crippled SUV, aiming for her.
Before she could bring her weapon up to shoot the man, another shot rang out. Fully expecting to take the hit, CJ was surprised when she didn’t feel the pain. The man by the SUV crumpled to the ground and lay still.
“CJ?” Cole’s voice called out. “Are you all right?”
Her gaze swept the yard, landing on the man who’d captured her heart. He stood with his gun pointed at the SUV.
CJ’s heart swelled. “I am,” she said and rose to her feet. With no time to spare, CJ leaped off the porch and ran toward Cole. “We have to get everyone out of here. Now.”
Mack, Mustang, Jack and Gus appeared, silhouetted against the blaze.
“The recruits are hiding in the woods,” Gus said.
CJ shook her head, dread crushing her chest like an anvil. “We have to get them out of here. Now,” she repeated. “They have explosives on the fuel storage barrels. It’ll blow any minute.”
“We’ll round up the children and send them down the road,” Mack said.
“Go!” CJ said.
The four men ran toward the woods behind the dormitory infernos.
“I’m afraid they’ll be too late,” CJ said to Cole. “I have to find the explosives.” She started toward where she knew they kept the barrels of gasoline.
Cole’s hand shot out and captured her arm. “You can’t.”
She shook loose. “I have to.” Then she was running, her feet carrying her the fastest she could go toward the possibility of death. If she didn’t get to the explosives before they went off, she’d be blown away and die a fiery death. But so, too, would Declan’s Defenders and the children who’d been involuntarily recruited to become assassins.
She couldn’t fail. Those kids deserved to be children. Cole, Jack, Gus, Mustang and Mack deserved to live long, full lives.
If she died, no one would care, but they deserved to live.
Footsteps pounded on the ground behind her. Cole caught up with her and kept pace as she dodged between storage buildings to the back of the compound where the fuel was stored. Eight fifty-five-gallon barrels stood in a line. She didn’t know which were empty and which were full. It didn’t matter. What mattered was finding the explosives and disarming them before their world erupted into a fiery crescendo.
Cole started on one end, CJ on the other, as they examined the barrels, searching for the explosives. They met in the middle, both locating the wad of C-4 smashed up against a full barrel with a timing detonator pressed into the middle. The red digital numbers indicated thirty seconds until detonation.
CJ tried to pry the detonator loose from the C-4 plastic, but she couldn’t get it to release.
Twenty-five seconds remained.
“Let me,” Cole said. He dug his fingers into the C-4 and pulled as hard as he could, but he couldn’t get the device out.
Ten seconds ticked by and still, they couldn’t free the claylike plastic from the barrel or the detonator from the plastic.
Pulling her file out of her pocket, CJ rammed it beneath the C-4.
Nine seconds...eight...seven...
Cole found a stick and used it as well, prying the explosive free of the barrel with five seconds to spare.
He ran for the woods, cocked his arm and threw the device into the darkness. “Get down!” he yelled and dropped to the ground.
CJ dropped to her belly, closed her eyes and covered her ears.
An explosion rocked the ground beneath her. A loud cracking sound followed.
CJ looked up in time to see the dark shadow of a massive tree falling toward them.
“Cole! Run!” she cried. Instead of running away from the falling tree, she ran toward Cole.
He staggered to his feet and took off.
She caught up with him and they ran as fast as they could to get away from the massive tree falling toward the buildings of the compound an
d the barrels of gasoline.
As it fell, other trees slowed its descent, buying CJ and Cole enough time to get out of the way of the largest of the branches.
When it hit the ground, a branch full of leaves slammed into CJ’s back, slapping her to the ground like a fly beneath a swatter.
Cole, a few steps away from her, staggered but regained his balance.
He parted the leaves and helped CJ to her feet.
They turned to survey the damage the giant tree had created. The acrid scent of fuel filled the air again.
“I smell gasoline,” CJ said.
“The tree fell on the barrels. We have to go.” Cole’s quiet voice sent shivers down her spine.
CJ launched herself away from the tree, the barrels and the burning buildings that would soon catch the tree and the spilled gasoline on fire. They had only moments to spare.
As she ran, her ankle screamed with pain, until she was limping as fast as she could.
Cole slipped an arm around her waist and let her lean on him as they hurried away from impending disaster.
They were passing the main house when Cole veered toward the smaller SUV Chris Carpenter would have used as his getaway vehicle. It was still running with the driver’s door still open.
Cole opened the passenger door. CJ dived in.
He rounded to the other side and slipped in behind the wheel. He’d just shifted into Drive when the barrels ignited, sending up balls of flames into the sky.
CJ could see the fiery reflection in the side mirror. “Go,” she said. “We can’t stop now. We have even bigger problems.”
“What do you mean?” Cole asked.
Her fists clenched in her lap, a dull ache throbbing in her injured shoulder. “Trinity is planning a coup. They’re targeting the president.”
“When?”
“I assume tonight. Carpenter kept saying we were too late.” She touched Cole’s arm. “And they’re taking Charlie out at the same time. They want the Director to take over as president.”
“The only person who can do that is the VP. And if he’s killed, then the speaker of the house.”