Whatever Harrison whispered in Jonathan’s ear wasn’t important. Olivia knew it would be something along the lines of, I don’t want to cripple you for the rest of your life, but don’t doubt that I will if you leave me no choice.
Whatever it was, Tibbs nodded, but his response was not a whisper. “I’m sorry, Harrison. Shooting Rolland doesn’t bother me, but you’ve always been decent. Wish it didn’t have to go this way.”
Seeing as how Rolland was standing opposite Jonathan and well within ear shot, the two swapped a glance. Rolland tilted her head such that it seemed she was looking forward to seeing Harrison pull the trigger. “Well, Tibbs that sure didn’t sound like a crystal clear ans—”
For Olivia, the next few seconds might as well have been a slow-motion nightmare. One of those cruel dreams where time and physics works against every outcome you’d have tried to stop.
Harrison’s understandable hesitation to pull the trigger lasted just long enough that the gun had yet to fire when the floor began to quake beneath them. There was no other explanation, the vibrations must have come from the alien’s shell, but they’d never been this strong before. Olivia feared they were past functional thresholds.
However, none of Olivia’s people focused on the rumble for long. Because at that moment, every eye in the room had turned toward the massive doors—the one way in or out of the room. The heavy reinforced steel possessed an equally massive lock—and when that lock disengaged there was no mistaking the sound.
Olivia alone had remained fixated on Jonathan. She’d heard a fainter sound under the rumbling and opening doors just before the large lock disengaged. A tiny metallic click, a much smaller lock. The timing of it all too perfect, as though Jonathan knew exactly when that massive lock would draw everyone’s attention.
Harrison and Rolland, like everyone else, looked to the large doors. As such, they were focused exactly where Jonathan wanted when he became the greatest threat in the room.
As Olivia’s yell began, Jonathan was already moving, having set himself in motion in that split second that Rolland and Harrison became distracted. Yet, the way he moved seemed impossible. Even unable to see, it was as though he had taken the lead in a choreographed dance with Rolland and Harrison pulled along against their will.
His palm shot from behind him, grabbing Harrison’s wrist, and pushing the barrel off his knee. In surprise, Harrison tried to pull the trigger, but the delay was just enough. The shot rang out, and Rolland let out a shocked scream as a bullet tore through her calf and the force knocked her feet out from under her.
As Rolland was about halfway through the process of her head trading places with her feet—a second shot rang out.
The top of Harrison’s boot imploded.
Jonathan had twisted her wrist downwards as he’d begun to stand, forced the barrel into position over her foot just as she’d tried to get a second panicked shot off. Harrison’s brain hadn’t even received the pain signal from her foot before another twist of her wrist forced the gun from her grip and pulled her off balance.
Tibbs wasn’t trying to get her out of the way. She staggered into his free arm, her throat landing in the crook of his elbow as he stood. As her sidearm fell free, Jonathan’s hand released her wrist and moved to catch the gun by its grip with two fingers. When he stood up straight the pain caught up to her. Harrison screamed as she realized that she’d become a human shield.
In a final flourish, Jonathan let go of the weapon with his fingers and caught it again, now with his hand on the grip, the finger on the trigger. Rolland hit the floor and the blindfolded Jonathan Tibbs stood with Harrison’s gun leveled on Olivia, the open end of his picked handcuffs dangling from his wrist.
Olivia could see Harrison’s face. Wide-eyed disbelief as she stared down the sight of her own gun. Desperately, she tried to keep her weight on her good foot while Rolland began grunting painfully as she cradled her bleeding leg.
All this had happened, and Olivia had barely managed to pull her weapon free and take aim back at Jonathan’s head. No one in the room moved. Olivia was the only person close enough to see when something translucent ran up along Jonathan’s skin. It darted from the picked cuffs, up his arm and neck and disappeared beneath the blindfold.
As she stared at the man’s blindfold in disbelief, fully convinced that he could see her plain as day, a faint line of horizontal light began to glow between Jonathan’s eyes. The fabric smoldered a bit, then fell away as though it had been cleaved.
Olivia shivered when her eyes met his. They were too full of knowing. Neither so much as blinking, until the sound of the massive doors opening wider sent ripples of uncertainty through the room. Everyone’s eyes trying to rapidly glance back and forth between the standoff at the back of the room and whatever fresh hell might come through the doors.
“Keep your weapons on the door!” Olivia yelled, while her own gun remained on Jonathan.
She heard when the doors had finished opening, and for a moment the only noise in the room was the shell’s growing rumble. A few tense moments passed leaving Olivia wondering why chaos had yet to erupt now that the blast doors were open.
“What do you see Harrison?” Olivia asked.
Harrison’s eyes flicked over Olivia’s shoulder, and she grunted out an answer between painful breaths. “It’s . . . Leah and Rivers. They’re . . . tied . . . together.”
Jonathan’s head tilted, giving Olivia a clean shot if she wanted to take it. “You’re surprised? Olivia, at some point, not trusting me just gets hurtful.”
They were lashed together with a rope, Rivers’ hands restrained behind his back and Leah’s in the front. What was more disconcerting was that while Leah was gagged, Rivers was now blindfolded. As though Rivers was to do the talking, while dependent on Leah to navigate the room.
“Olivia,” Jonathan said, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear even over the growing vibrations. “I know. I know how heavy your front pocket is feeling.”
Of course. The moment was here, it was almost exactly as she’d predicted it might look, except she’d never thought Jonathan would have a gun on her.
She was exhausted. Tired of trying to keep ahead of it all. She felt herself wanting it to end.
“So, it’s almost here,” Jonathan said. “Almost time to take that detonator out. Find out if you’re cold enough to kill everyone in the building. Think it’ll be worth it?”
“Damn you! This isn’t a game!” her anger poured out, the first tear she’d had in years rolled down her cheek.
“It’s a choice,” Jonathan said. “Let us go or kill us all. But, you should wait, because Rivers has something he needs to tell you.”
Olivia shook her head, was afraid to hear any more. “It’s a trap.”
“Everything feels like a trap when you believe you’re being lied to,” Jonathan said. “But I haven’t lied to you. So, humor me, take the detonator out. Keep your finger on the button if it makes you feel like you’ve got control. Then tell your men to let Leah bring Rivers in.”
She considered him for a long moment. Low on options, she was desperate to buy any time she could to think. Slowly, she slipped one hand off her gun and reached for the trigger in her pocket.
“Let them in,” Olivia said. “But everyone keeps their weapons on that door. Nothing else comes through!”
Leah began to step forward and Rivers followed the pull of the rope. Olivia’s weary soldiers, the two dozen or so that remained, all parted nervously as they allowed her through and immediately closed their line behind her after Rivers followed past. Finally, Leah came to a stop beside Olivia, close enough that Rivers would be heard over the shell’s thrumming.
Jonathan’s eyes never left hers.
“Agent Rivers,” Jonathan said. “I trust you’ve both been treated as gently as possible under the circumstances.”
Rivers voice was that of a man who knew his team had already lost. “I’ve . . . not been harmed.”
“I
’m glad. Now, with Olivia’s permission, I am going to ask you some questions, feel free to answer them anyway you please. I only ask that you answer honestly and give her the best intel you can.”
Though he seemed puzzled he nodded. “Alright.”
“Have you seen a single one of the men who infiltrated this facility injured by any of your efforts this evening?”
“No,” Rivers said. “They seem armored . . . invulnerable to gun fire, and we’ve been afraid to risk anything more powerful down here.”
Olivia studied Jonathan, unsure how it was that this was supposed to change anything for her.
“Have you seen any harm done to any of your people this evening?” Jonathan asked. “Again, within reason.”
“No . . .” Rivers said. “They’re using some type of tranq. They even let me examine our people. They’re unconscious, tied up, but the worst of it is some bruises.”
Jonathan took a moment to let that sink in, then continued. “You’ve been shown every point of exit in the facility, Rivers?”
Rivers shivered, but nodded.
“And is anyone getting in or out of here tonight?” Jonathan asked.
“I don’t see how,” Rivers said. “Well, unless . . .”
Rivers, seemingly unsure, trailed off.
“Go ahead, Agent Rivers, she needs to know.”
“The prisoners,” Rivers said. “I saw them disappear. Same as The Mark. All they had to do was free them from the shell.”
“If there is anything I missed,” Jonathan said to Olivia, “feel free to ask.”
She was so tired of trying to outthink him, see his endgame before it was too late to stop it. Still she had to try. Jonathan wanted her to know she couldn’t hurt his people. That his people could have killed everyone in the building, but had chosen not to. That her people had no way out at this point, while his could leave at any time.
The only exception was the alien.
If she hit the trigger, he would still die with The Cell.
Olivia swallowed, closing her eyes so she didn’t have to look at him for a moment.
He relaxed his arm slowly, taking his aim off her. Gently as possible, he began to lower Harrison down, careful not to put her in any more pain than she was. Then, looking to Olivia to make sure she understood, he placed the pistol on the ground. As though the weapon had never been more than a prop. Still moving slowly, his palms out, Jonathan reached for Rolland.
She didn’t get the feeling he was up to anything. He knew she could take a shot at him at any time and didn’t show the least fear that she would. The fact that he set down the gun didn’t really surprise her either; Jonathan’s weapons of choice were his words.
Still, she lowered her barrel with him as he knelt over Rolland as keeping her gun on him was one of the few things she still had power over.
“I have to take the alien,” Jonathan said, as he removed Rolland’s belt, then began to wrap it a few inches above her wound. He pulled it tight, and Rolland grunted in pain, but she knew he was just trying to keep her from bleeding out too much.
“It’s not ideal for you, but it won’t get anyone killed,” Jonathan said.
He rose back to his feet and faced her. “Not a single one of your people have been hurt by us tonight, they’re all alive and down here with us. So, if you believe you have to use that detonator, if you can’t let him go, there will only be one killer here tonight.”
Olivia’s eyes went cold. “Stop. Stop this! Stop acting as though it’s a decision. It’s protocol, it’s my responsibility. Everyone down here knew it might come to this when they signed on . . .”
He looked at her, as though he knew she wasn’t really trying to convince him. Still, he didn’t rush her. Seemed he thought she deserved all the time she needed to make a choice. Olivia’s eyes wandered about. Looking for something, anything to leverage.
Her eyes settled on Leah. Certain questions struck then. Questions that seemed important and yet Jonathan hadn’t asked.
Why was Leah gagged?
Why did they want her here, but not want her talking?
Why blind Rivers for that matter? They could have sent him in alone.
“Why is Rivers blindfolded?” Olivia asked. “Why is Leah gagged?”
Jonathan smirked.
“Good questions, I’m curious myself,” Jonathan said. “But, I’m not omniscient. All I can promise is that, if my people sent them in this way, it’s because this plays out the way we want it to.”
Olivia studied Leah; the girl looked sick with indecision. Yet, when she saw Olivia’s eyes focused on her, she seemed to be pleading to tell her something.
Olivia swallowed.
She was desperate to hear and at the same time terrified. Her hand was sweating on the detonator. She began to accept it, believe that she was damned no matter what choice she made.
“Now if I had to guess,” Jonathan said. “My allies don’t want Leah talking. That could only be because she knows something that one of us doesn’t. Personally, I’m fine not knowing. So, it’s up to you.”
If she was damned either way, then should she know what the girl wanted to say and be done with it? Yet, Jonathan—this bastard—thinks he knows what I’ll do. Thinks I can’t resist.
She felt weary as she stepped sideways toward Leah. When she was close enough to Leah to remove the gag, she looked again into the girl’s pleading eyes.
It was at that moment she realized there was something Leah might say, something that—just maybe Jonathan didn’t know. Something that might change his mind about who had the upper hand.
Leah was carrying his child after all. How could he know that and be willing to risk letting her die down here? What if that was what his people didn’t want her to tell him?
Her hand hesitated. But . . . what if she was wrong?
“Olivia, remember,” Jonathan said. “I promised I’d never lie to you. Whatever Leah might say, I can’t promise it’s the truth.”
It could all be reverse psychology, but everything he said seemed to be trying to keep her from pressing the button.
He thinks he knows me. What then? What is the one thing I’d never do?
He already told me. Give up control. Jonathan thinks the one thing I won’t do is give up control.
She fixated on that thought. Then made a decision—something she would never have considered. The only thing he might not see coming, because she wouldn’t have entertained it in a thousand lifetimes.
Leah’s hands were tied in front of her. The excess rope leashed to Rivers. But Leah’s fingers were free enough, they could hold onto something small. So, when Olivia reached for Leah, she didn’t untie the woman’s gag, instead, she placed the trigger in the girl’s hand.
Leah’s eyes bulged as she understood what Olivia had done. Her gaze racing between Jonathan and Olivia in horror. She might as well have been handed a grenade after the pin had been pulled.
“You decide,” Olivia said. “It’s out of my hands now—and his.”
She looked to him and his eyebrows went up.
“Hmmm, good on you, Olivia, I honestly didn’t see that coming.”
Olivia felt a moment of triumph, but just as quickly as her heart began to soar, she felt it sputter. He’d made the statement with a genuine honesty, as though it were a delightful surprise, but then he shrugged as though nothing could have changed the outcome.
Olivia looked back to Leah.
The girl let out a long breath as she stared down at the detonator.
She closed her eyes.
Then pressed the trigger.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
THERE WAS A brief delay. Then the ground began to tremble. Just as the floor was becoming too unstable for Leah to keep her balance, the lights went out.
She staggered in darkness, and for a moment she wasn’t sure if death had come or was still on its way. Her mind had been a storm up until she pressed that button. Every meaning, every possibility, every fear having
to resolve itself into a single question: Did she trust Jonathan?
When Beo had freed her from the shell, he’d been very short on words. He’d said Jonathan wouldn’t allow anyone to die down here. That, one way or another, Jonathan and the alien were leaving tonight—there was no stopping this.
But . . . she had a choice.
If she wanted to see Jonathan free of The Cell, if she wanted to be free of The Cell herself, if she wanted answers, then she would get one chance. All she had to do was whatever she could to convince Olivia to press the trigger on the detonator.
She didn’t get to ask follow-up questions before Mito restrained her. But Beo never said a thing about what she was supposed to do if Olivia handed her the detonator. So, she’d just had to hope that it didn’t matter who did the deed, as long as someone hit the button.
The rumbling, it seemed further away at first. For some time now, the whole room had been vibrating on account of the shell. But this was different, this was the sort of thing she’d have expected to feel if explosives were being triggered in a sequence that was rapidly moving through the facility toward this chamber.
The floor was growing more difficult to stand on as the sound drew closer.
She trusted. She’d believed. Had she just killed all of them?
No. She didn’t believe it. After chasing answers for years. After losing her brother. After watching Rylee and countless others disappear. Betraying her father, betraying people she thought of as friends. This was not how it ended!
She closed her eyes. Her child wasn’t meant to die down here, buried under an avalanche of concrete and dirt. Jonathan wasn’t meant to simply escape and never know.
She wasn’t going to die without ever getting a chance to fix all of this.
Her hands, they moved protectively for her womb, but she couldn’t reach while she was still tied. She was in the dark with no hope of freeing herself. Nothing to hold onto but the damn detonator.
Commotion was spreading in the room.
The Never Army Page 29
