The Mason Walker Bundle 3

by Alex Howell

  Pulling with all of his might against his restraints, he groaned, “Aahhh! What is this stuff?”

  Tessa then gave him a strange look—one in which she seemed to be amused, but yet at the same time somehow conveyed pity. Mason thought to himself, ‘Either she’s crazy or I am—somehow she doesn’t seem like she wants to do this.’

  Knowing that physical resistance was all but useless, and seeing a possible window of opportunity to talk Tessa down, he attempted to reason with his old friend once again.

  He shouted at his captor, “Tessa! How could you do this? This isn’t you? What are you doing? Think about all the people you will kill! Hundreds of thousands if not millions! What is going on in your brain?”

  Tessa glanced at Mason, looked away and remarked, “What’s it to you Mason?’

  The remark struck Mason as strange at best, as he repeated, “What’s it to me? What do you mean what’s it to me? I don’t want those people to die!”

  Tessa asked softly, “Do you really care that much for your fellow man?”

  Mason was surprised at how uncomfortable he felt with her line of questioning, as a SEAL and then as a private, military contractor he was in the business of rescuing people. That was his job. He figured it was a relatively easy thing to answer, ‘Of course he cared for his fellow man!’

  But what she asked him next seemed to take his breath away as she made him consider, “What if it was all up to you Mason? Would you be willing to lay down your own life in order to save the masses? Would you be a modern-day savior for the world? In the end, could you make that call.”

  Strapped to a makeshift altar, Mason wondered to himself, ‘Is this what this is all about? But how would my death save anyone?’

  As he rolled it over in his mind, Tessa answered for him, “I’ve already made that decision Mason—and for me, it is an unequivocal yes.”

  Mason not understanding he drift, thought that this was simply more propaganda and rhetoric that “The Blood” had somehow programmed into her troubled mind.

  Trying to snap her out of the state she was in, Mason extolled her, “Tessa! Nothing you are saying makes any sense! They’ve got you brainwashed! Can’t you see that?”

  Tessa ignored him however, and continued to methodically check and recheck settings on the doomsday device. For the first time in his career, Mason thought that it was over. He believed that all was lost, he had failed, and the terrorists has won.

  But just as these terrible thoughts were taking hold, Tessa did something unexpected. He watched as she pulled out a glass vial and a small black flash drive. Mason asked, “What is that?”

  Tessa’s face seemed to completely change as she turned to Mason with a look of deep and profound sadness. As if a spell had been broken, she looked just like the old Tessa. The cynical smile was gone and she was back to normal as she softly offered, “I’m sorry Mason. There was no other way. You can’t talk me out of it. The decision has already been made.”

  She then informed him, “And…. I did this for you.”

  Still clutching the flash drive in one hand, she threw the glass vial that she held in the other to the ground, before throwing herself on top of it. It wasn’t exactly a precision science when dealing with bio weapons, but as far as Mason could tell every bit of the virus seemed to have been absorbed into her own body—she took the brunt of the biological blast.

  Tessa like that heroic soldier who was willing to jump on a live grenade in order to save their whole platoon, had taken the worst of the onslaught upon herself. Her body convulsed in terrible tremors as it was overloaded with enough Ebola to kill hundreds let alone just one person. The tremors quickly subsided and all life wrenched out of her in less than a minute’s time.

  As her body stiffened over the shards of glass, Mason knew that she is dead. Mason was absolutely horrified. She had taken a bullet—but why? None of it made any sense. Would he ever know the motivation for it?

  Mason then saw the flash drive slip from her cold, dead fingers and thought to himself, ‘It’s a flash drive…. What’s the significance of this? She must have left me some kind of message. What the hell is going on here?’

  To Mason’s amazement, just seconds later the Nano tape that held him bound suddenly flexed of its own accord and released its hold of him, allowing him to easily pull it off of his person. Tessa must have programed the Nano fibers ahead of time to release precisely at this designated moment.

  Mason was still trying to wrap his mind around exactly what had just happened, but no matter the details were that led her to this point, he knew that Tessa had made the right decision in the end. She had made the ultimate sacrifice—and he would never forget it.

  22

  Seeking Answers

  OUTSIDE ONYX HQ IN BALTIMORE

  Mathew Benton didn’t like to let people down. He most certainly didn’t like to let people down whom he considered brothers and sisters in arms as he held Mason and Raina to be. He knew it was rash to go out on his own to find them, but isn’t that what he had done before? Hadn’t he successfully pulled Mason out of the fire in the past when his enemies had gotten the better of him.

  But as much as he hated to admit it, things were different this time around. There was an obvious concerted effort on the part of Tessa Rogers to ensnare members of the Onyx team. He knew Oliver was right, the way things were going if they weren’t careful there would be no Onyx team left.

  Even as he was getting in opening the door of his Humvee that had been parked and waiting, a short distance away, his own doubts began to settle in. What if Marshal Oliver was right? Was he just creating more harm than good by unnecessarily stepping into the fire? Standing with his hand on the door handle of his vehicle, he realized that he couldn’t do it.

  ‘What is this?’ Mathew Benton thought to himself. What was this? Was he getting weak? Or was this just a sign of him growing older and wiser—more cautious maybe. Whatever it was, he knew for the moment he would just have to wait it out.

  Staring up at the moonlit sky, he muttered, “I’m sorry Mason. I hope you can forgive me.” Benton then shut his Humvee and turned to walk back to Onyx HQ to return to his post.

  MEANWHILE, BACK IN DC’S CENTRAL PARK

  It was a complete reversal of fortune but Mason was free and Tessa was dead. It had all happened so fast that he could barely even process the events that just taken place. Just whose side was Tessa on? Like some double or triple agent, it was hard to figure out where she really stood in the strange world of espionage in which she had come to inhabit.

  Mason eyeing the black flash drive on the ground next to her dead, outstretched fingers, squatted down and began to reach for it. But remembering how Tessa had chided him for failing to wear gloves before he had infected himself with a paralytic agent, he hesitated.

  He thought to himself, ‘The deadly virus seems dispersed…but I can’t take any chances…’

  It was then that he noticed a pair of gloves neatly stacked on top of the altar he had been bound to. Mason couldn’t help but smile, as he muttered, “Damn it, Tessa, you always think of everything don’t you?”

  Slipping on the gloves, Mason carefully picked up the black flash drive and pressed a button on the side. This drive had holographic projection capability, and soon enough a holographic monitor was projected about six feet away from the drive.

  On the virtual screen, Tessa’s face emerged and a prerecorded video sequence began. In the video Tessa looked completely somber and serious, just like she had looked moments before she had died. Mason realized now that this was the real Tessa, the rest of it had simply been an act.

  He now watched as Tessa finally provided him the answers he had long been seeking. She opened with an apology, “Mason I’m really sorry for all of the pain that I have caused you. You have to believe me.”

  She sighed, “It was certainly not my intention—it was all simply a byproduct of the twisted world that I have found myself caught up in.”

  Te
ssa shook her head and laughed, “You know the expression—oh what a tangled web one weaves when first they choose to deceive?”

  Tessa laughed, “Well what about when your profession has you lying on a daily basis?”

  She then admitted, “I have been lying as a way of life for a while now… so much so that sometimes I even convince myself.”

  Furrowing her brow, she remarked, “But I’ve grown pretty tired of all the facades and mine games Mason. I’ve played enough roles and adopted enough false personas to fill up several lifetimes.”

  Looking right into the camera as if she were looking right into his eyes, she told him, “But here Mason…. Finally, at long last—here is the truth.”

  She paused briefly before revealing, “I have been chasing these religious terrorists for a while now, but just as I was getting close, I messed up Mason. I was betrayed by one of my own agents who turned out to be a spy. I found him out, but not before he purposefully inflicted me with one of their viruses.”

  She cleared her throat and continued, “It was a slow killing virus, it wouldn’t get me right away. But the doctors told me it was just a matter of time before it would kill me.”

  Tessa sighed, “I was essentially given a death sentence.”

  Tessa then took a breath before continuing, “I was out for revenge, and so I was able to use my contacts as an espionage agent, to delve deeper and deeper into the terror cell. I went deeper and deeper into this convoluted world Mason… And knowing that you were after the same people I was, I couldn’t afford to have you blow my cover so I pretended to betray you. In my efforts of playing both sides of the fence I managed to get as far as I could in the organization. I ended up second to only General Fanelli.”

  As Mason continued to watch the transmission, the mere mention of the General’s name made his blood boil. He listened as Tessa continued to explain, “I knew that if I was considered Fanelli’s right hand, I could then put myself right between him and his efforts to come after you Mason.

  That was precisely where I wanted to be. I went after you Mason so that I could get the General to leave you alone. He thought I was doing his bidding to lure you into a trap, but really the trap has been sprung on him, because now you have enough information to bring the General to justice.”

  Tessa then repeated what had ended up being her last words, “I did this for you Mason.”

  She then seemed ready to end the transmission, but remembered almost as an afterthought, “Oh—and Raina is fine. She is only under a sleeping agent. Your comm to Onyx is in the car by the keys. The General is at JFK getting on a plane to leave the country. You have enough now to stop him. He thinks I set the bomb off and killed us both. I have said I owed you my life, my friend, and now I’ve given it for you. I only played the part of your enemy to keep the General off of you, and to bring you in as close as a I could, so that you could be close enough to the general to stop him.”

  Tessa then looked intently at the camera as she explained, “I have put everything in place for you to get the General and shut this terror cell down. You’re the last real hope at stopping the potential horrors of biological warfare in its tracks.”

  Tessa then ended her transmission with a knowing smile as she told Mason, “Alright Mace! Go get him!”

  After Tessa’s transmission ended, just as she had mentioned, a series of important pieces of information against the General and other members of the group manifested. After several documents flew across the virtual screen in a kind of data dump slide show, Mason was shocked to see a videotaped confession of the very man he shot, describing how he was ready to give his life for “The Blood”.

  As he professed his undying commitment to the “cause” the man for all intents and purposes the man seemed to be a regular Joe Scmoe. Mason was shocked at how far the terrorist’s tentacles had reached in order to drag everyday Americans into their warped embrace. This man was the end result of this indoctrination and brainwash-he had succumbed like millions of other lost souls to their treacherous conditioning of “The Blood”.

  He could breathe a sigh of relief however in the knowledge that Tessa was not one of them. In the end she proved herself to be a free ideological agent, marching to the beat of her own convictions. As the ultimate unsung hero, even when the whole world thought that she had gone bad, Mason knew that she was anything but.

  Tessa was right, Mason had everything he needed. She had opened the door for him to take the extremists down. He should have been happy. But looking down at the deceased form of Tessa Rogers—all he could do was cry.

  23

  Bringing Down “The Blood”

  A very quiet, somber, and subdued Mason made his way back to Tessa’s car. Upon getting into the driver’s seat he saw her car keys and his comm link on the passenger seat just as she said they would be. Putting the key in the ignition, Mason then activated his comm.

  Kyle Garrison came on the line, “Mason what is it? We were worried about you?”

  Mason then hastily revealed, “Tessa Rogers is dead! The virus has been stopped!”

  For a moment Kyle thought that Mason was saying that he had killed Tessa. His heart beat faster at the thought, Mason was already on the run for allegedly killing someone, was he now guilty of killing a second person? And of all people—their former friend and operative, Tessa Rogers”

  And he said as much, “Shit Mason… wasn’t there another way. Did you really have to kill her?”

  Mason was quick to put Kyle in his place however as he practically screamed, “Damn it, Kyle! Nobody said I killed Tessa!”

  Knowing that seeing was believing, he then jammed the flash drive into the comm as he shouted, “Here! I’m sending you some files that will explain everything to you right now!”

  Mason not feeling like wasting his breath any further, figured Tessa’s taped video explanation would clear things up faster than he ever could. And he was right. Kyle received the files and after skimming through Tessa’s video he understood.

  After they reviewed the files together, Mason then told Kyle to send them over to Luke Simon since he knew that Luke was handling his case, and the evidence contained therein would be enough to vindicate him. Luke was in his corner, trying to find a way to get Mason out of the mess he was in, and the taped confession that the flash drive contained, was a quite necessary piece of the puzzle for Luke to have in the process of clearing Mason’s name.

  With this established, Mason then grunted into the Comm link, “And tell Mathew Benton to get Raina out of that Warehouse!”

  Kyle answered in the affirmative, “Will do! I’m sending him the coordinates now!”

  The grim task of recovering Tessa’s remains and the left-over components of the failed bio bomb, he delegated to Marshal Oliver, and Chris Bradley the explosives expert.

  Kyle informed Mason, “We’re on it, Mace!”

  Mason then asked Kyle, “Oh and make sure that I have absolute security clearance with federal marshals at JFK airport over the next few hours.”

  Kyle suddenly feeling a bit of skepticism, as if Mason was about to make a run for it after all, asked, “Security clearance?”

  Mason confirmed, “Yes, I ‘m going to need it when I go there to stop this General in his tracks.”

  This made immediate sense to Kyle, and he realized Mason wasn’t just trying to make a break for it until his legal problems cleared up—and his skepticism lifted.

  Mason was about to hang up, but asked for one more favor. He told Kyle, “Oh and one more thing.”

  Kyle asked, “Yeah… what is it?”

  Mason answered, “Just make sure that all of this stuff stays out of the media. We don’t need to have the court of public opinion psychoanalyzing us again!”

  Kyle agreed, “You got that right! Will do Mason!”

  Mason was getting ready to end the call when Kyle suddenly piped in, “And welcome back!

  Sighing heavily into the receiver, Mason responded, “Good to be back my frien
d. It’s good to be back.”

  A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER AT JFK INTENATIONAL AIRPORT. Mason was guilty of doing the one thing that you are absolutely forbidden to do outside of an airport. He parked his car right outside the front door for arrivals.

  As he made a beeline for the lobby, a security guard on a Segway rolled right in front of his path and shouted, “What are you doing? You can’t park here!”

  Mason not having any time to waste, kicked the Segway right out from under the man’s feet causing him to crash to the floor as he shouted, “Get the hell out of my way buddy! I don’t have time for this shit!”.

  The guy had landed on his knee and shouted, “Oww! That hurts” and was in obvious pain. Mason quickly grabbed a few hundred-dollar bills and dropped them on the man’s stomach shouting, “For your medical bills!”

  That was about all the time that Mason was willing to waste as he took off once again and ran right up to the 2nd floor where a line of passengers was getting ready to depart. To the chagrin of several passengers Mason elbowed and shoved his way all the way to the TSA agent at the front of the line.

  The TSA drew his gun and aimed it right at Mason as he shouted, “Look maniac! I don’t know who you think you are! But cutting lines here ain’t gonna do you any favors. In fact, it could get your ass shot!”

  Mason then showed him his badge and the guard muttered, “What? Who the hell are you?”

  Mason shouted, “We don’t have time! There is an imminent threat to national security afoot! Just run my info and let me go!”

  The man keeping a wary eye on Mason as the passengers continued to grumble and complain behind him, did as directed. And after running Mason’s name in his database his face grew pale, as he muttered, in shocked realization “Oh crap….”