by Amy McKinley
“All they’d need to do is sneeze?” I asked.
“Yes,” Chris replied.
Stella finished up with my arm, and I thanked her.
“We were unable to locate the secretary of energy. The secretary of the army was picked up a few hours ago and is undergoing treatment for the virus he was infected with,” Jack clarified.
If we didn’t find the secretary of energy before he met with and unintentionally infected any of the remaining National Security Council, we would be in a world of trouble.
Kara
I smoothed Lily’s hair as she helped Mari scoop batter into balls and place them on the cookie sheet. My hand shook at the shock of what both of us together in Maine meant: freedom for all of us, Samir, Lily, and myself. We could start over.
The enormity hit me, and I sucked in a deep breath and worked hard to control my ping-ponging emotions.
“There are my girls.”
“Hi, Daddy!” Lily shouted. “We’re making cookies. Want some?”
“Of course I do, sugar plum.” Samir smiled then tweaked Lily’s flour-coated nose.
Samir’s voice broke the dam, and tears rolled down my cheeks. Before I knew it, I was in his arms, sobbing.
“Mama!” Lily tugged at my elbow, and I reached out to include her in our embrace.
“She’s okay, baby,” Samir reassured Lily. “She just missed us.”
“I’m going to give you a few minutes and check in with the guys,” Mari said before she left the kitchen.
I pulled back and flashed a watery smile at my best friend. “Can you believe it?”
Samir shook his head and laughed. “No. I didn’t think we would ever be free of your father.”
Lily wiggled free and went back to the cookie dough, sneaking peeks beneath her lashes at us as she went back to alternating between putting some in her mouth and then on the tray. She would probably get a tummy ache, but it would be fine.
I dropped my forehead against Samir’s chest and worked hard to gain control of myself. “How’s David?”
Samir’s smile shone from his eyes. “Aside from work stress, he’s relieved about finally making our relationship official. He’s already talking about redecorating the house so it’s ours and not only his choices.” A shadow flitted across his features, and he cast a glance at Lily.
“It’ll be okay. Please don’t worry.”
“I can’t not be a part of her life.” His voice shook.
“You always will be. There isn’t any other option. We’ll figure things out.” I squeezed his arm. “Promise.”
“What about you?” He notched his head in the direction where Keegan was, and I shrugged.
“We’ve been too busy running for our lives to talk much, but I’m here. Things are good.” I didn’t know where things would go with Keegan. I knew where I hoped they’d go, but if there was one thing I’d learned, it was that nothing could be certain. For the time being, the moments with my family were a gift, and I wanted to enjoy every second with them.
30
Keegan
We arrived early in the morning and, with special permission from Rich, got into position around the White House grounds. Security was tight, as expected. The meeting was scheduled for a secret room accessed through the interior of the building or hidden tunnels that exited further out. We guarded the tunnel door.
I fought the urge to seek Kara out. Several feet away, she waited by another entrance in case the secretary of energy decided to go in the main. He’d been MIA by phone and wasn’t at his office or residence. It was a concern. But one of the other members said it wouldn’t be an issue regarding the meeting. If he was alive, he would make it.
Their agenda was a weighty one, and Rich’s attempt to cancel or move the meeting had fallen on deaf ears. Their schedules were full, and a decision had to be made. The most they would agree to was having us surround the entry points and allowing us to search for the threat as we saw fit. Come hell or high water, the council and the head of the anti-terrorist department would convene.
We’d taken every precaution possible. Hugo must have had someone on the inside or one of the recon nanoweapons monitoring their conversations, at the very least. We’d done a sweep of their offices and homes but had come up with nothing. They’d drawn a line when we attempted to track their administrative assistants. Overconfidence should not have been a luxury—apparently, they’d learned nothing from the death of their fellow council member.
The FBI was involved and crawling all over the White House and providing surveillance for the members of the National Security Council. Their presence gave the council members a level of security, of comfort, lulling them into believing that they would be safe. That wasn’t quite the case, not if Hugo already got to them.
Rich had informed us that we could not, as we’d planned, disturb the wavelength on a mass scale with a frequency jammer. Apparently dignitaries were scheduled to arrive via the helicopter pad on the roof for an unrelated meeting inside the White House. That limited our use of Chris’s technology. But there were key places where we’d installed the blocks.
The secretary of defense’s death was proven not to be a heart attack but cardiac arrest caused by lethal poison. So intent on deciding the fate of the Venezuelan president this morning, the remaining members had forgone the extra steps we’d attempted to put in place to ensure their safety.
Jack and Hawk covered the most likely entrances, and Chris monitored for any incoming drones. If the secretary of energy didn’t make it in, then our analysis suggested that Hugo would have to utilize a backup plan that would involve direct contact with nanoweapons. That would have been a riskier method as opposed to contamination via the other council member.
The meeting would determine whether the Venezuelan president would be added to the secret kill list. That wasn’t our mission, nor was the outcome of their decision. Our job was to stop an attack, keep the council members safe, then capture Hugo and recover the drones.
“Got him,” Hawk reported through our communication link from the parking lot. I sensed rather than heard a collective sigh of relief. Finding and holding the secretary of energy was a step in the right direction, but it wasn’t over. The Center for Disease Control was on standby, and Hawk redirected the secretary to them. We’d sabotaged phase one of Hugo’s plan.
It wouldn’t stop a disaster from befalling us. Hugo had decimated my youth until I’d escaped, and I didn’t have any doubts that he had other tricks up his sleeve.
Chris had rigged the entrances we were monitoring with anti-wavelength devices to neutralize the signals to the drones. Hugo wouldn’t get any of the robot insects inside, and with the rest of the council members behind the walls, we were clear to search for him elsewhere.
I scanned the area, holding my position beside the shrub-covered tunnel entrance. Nothing moved, and my mind continued to race with what could happen. What if Hugo landed one of the small insects on any number of employees, essentially hitchhiking on someone walking into the White House? Then our countermeasures wouldn’t matter. There were too many options for failure. I had to find Hugo.
I shifted my weight in an attempt to ease the tension. I wanted to stop him, to make him pay for more than his involvement with the drones.
“I’ve got a hit. Several feet away,” Chris notified us.
“I’m on it.” That could only have meant one thing. He’d caught Hugo on the software he used for facial recognition. Another precaution we—Chris—had taken was using a radio transmitter capable of seizing control, basically hacking it and taking over operations for drones in flight. Not only that, but the device enabled us to detect the fingerprint of the owner of the drones infringing on the airspace.
From the shadows, I left my post, and we moved like ghosts infiltrating the grounds. I headed in the direction Chris directed. It’d been years, and I’d never known Hugo well. However, I did know what the Dark Wings would do, and he was one. That gave me some predictabi
lity in my approach and how I would flush him from his hiding place.
I spotted a small building that would provide good cover and suspected that was where he hid. The ground shook. I bent my knees to stay steady. I was two feet from the target when an explosion shattered the relatively quiet morning. Screams blended with the blast. Dammit. I pivoted, and my shoulder slammed into the small building. I couldn’t let him escape. A quick sweep revealed no one inside. I gave the door a hard yank and was on the path in a dead run toward the tunnels.
“Far exit!” Jack shouted into our mics. “Chris and I are close.”
“On an east balcony,” Hawk responded.
As a sharpshooter, Hawk would be able to keep an eye on anyone entering or leaving who shouldn’t. Security swarmed the area, making it difficult for us to do our job.
I cursed our misstep. We’d thought they would target the remaining members silently, with the fewest possible repercussions and ties to where they’d originated, as the first attack had. We hadn’t considered the possibility that one of the robot insects was a bomb.
Hugo lacked patience and finesse, though. It was on me. I’d been away too long. I should have anticipated it. A flash of black hair in my peripheral vision alerted me to who was closing in. Kara was half a step behind me when I crashed through the gaping hole in the side of the building.
A sense of compulsion hit me, and I glanced over my shoulder. She was okay and on my heels. Determination pulled her features taut, and my mind warred with needing to keep her safe and completing the mission. She could hold her own—I knew that. But I wanted to shield her and always had.
Jack and Chris would secure the council members. Kara and I would go after Hugo. Dust filled the air. Smoke, fire, and rubble elicited fear and desperation, and people screamed and evacuated the compromised area. We wove through groups of frightened employees. Military police rushed the area. The explosion site, with its mass confusion, was perfect for what I knew Hugo had planned.
“Got them,” Jack said, letting us know that he and Chris had managed to collect the council members. “Reconvene at the exit point.”
We glimpsed Jack’s back as he led several men toward the east exit. Where the hell is Chris? Agitation climbed my spine at Jack’s command to abandon the chase. The primary goal, for the time being, was to get the men to safety. I glanced at Kara and noted the frustration pulling at her mouth as she turned with me. We exited the building and headed to the truck.
Panicked people raced from the exits. Sirens increased in volume as help grew closer.
Kara and I caught up, surrounding the men as much as we could. Hawk joined, taking the vulnerable side as we hurried through the corridors. Through the mob, I caught a glimpse of Chris.
Keeping the crowd from separating our group, we used our guns to wave the majority away, shouting for them to move. The path we were on cleared enough for us to maneuver. We were close, maybe ten feet away.
Chris shoved through a group of fleeing people. The threat was still a viable one. Though he’d installed devices to interrupt wavelengths, which would render any drone flightless, it would have helped if the nanoweapons were the injectable, mosquitolike ones. It would do nothing to keep a tiny nuke or bomb from exploding nearby. If they hit the no-fly zone, there was a high probability of detonation.
The doors were wide open. Hugo could be anywhere. I scanned the area as we ran across the lawn, as did my teammates. No matter where I looked, I didn’t spot him. The armored car was nearby—it wasn’t what we’d arrived in; it was our best bet for getting the men out safely.
I held open the back door, and Kara followed the men in, along with Chris and then myself. Hawk climbed into the driver’s seat, and Jack rode beside him. We had to get them out of there.
The truck shuddered as another loud explosion echoed from nearby. Cars careened from the bomb that’d detonated several feet to our left. He’d found us. Hawk got the vehicle back under control and increased our speed. Chris slammed several devices against the sides of the interior walls. They would interrupt the signals if the insect robots got within a certain distance. It would be enough to stop one of the robots from landing on the truck but wouldn’t totally prevent damage being done. Either way, we stood a chance.
“Do something!” one of the men yelled through the divider between the back and cab.
Tires squealed. Our bodies slammed to the side. Kara pushed the men closest to her down. I did the same. Hawk got the truck straightened out and gunned the engine, and we shot forward.
Our speed climbed, and we hit a bump in the road hard enough to catch air then swerved left.
“Stay down!” I yelled. I couldn’t do much for them, but if they remained on the ground, their injuries would hopefully be minimal. Legs tangled, and the four men remained on the ground. As they separated, they pressed against the sides, and I hoped they would gain stability. The only light in the armored truck’s back cab came from a narrow slip that allowed the glow from the windshield in.
A loud explosion cracked to the rear passenger side, and the force pushed our heavy vehicle around and caused us to fishtail. I slammed my head into one of the down seats and cursed Hugo. The tires screeched as the vehicle listed from side to side, nearly rolling. Hawk fought and won control once more. “Stay down and hold onto something!” he shouted.
“Almost there,” Jack said through our communication lines. All three of us had our guns out and ready.
Hawk jerked the heavy vehicle to the right. We bounced as the front of the truck scraped against the concrete, our speed too fast to handle the initial incline. We must have been in a parking garage. We spun at a dizzying pace.
No other attacks sounded, but I doubted we were in the clear. We had a backup plan. After a few more seconds, we would move again, just not in that truck.
Hawk slammed the vehicle into Park, and we could hear Jack and Hawk’s doors opening then slamming shut. Kara pressed close, and awareness sizzled between us. Despite the danger, I was glad she was there.
The bar that held the truck’s rear doors released, and the back opened. The three of us stood with our guns pointed. The sight of Jack and Hawk had us lowering them and helping the council members from the car.
The black SUV parked next to us beeped as Chris hit the unlock button on the key fob he’d pulled from his pocket. We needed to mix things up, so Chris would drive and the rest of us piled in the back. A divider was in place between the front and the rear seats. After we squeezed in, Chris started the engine and reversed the SUV, and we began the trek down the parking garage. If Hugo or anyone working with him spotted us, they should only have registered Chris as the driver and the rest of the interior as empty. The divider had a picture of the inside without passengers on it, and a glance shouldn’t have caused suspicion. The only problems would come if Chris was recognized. He pulled his Mets cap down low on his forehead.
The head of the anti-terrorist department turned to me. “What happened to the secretary of energy? Is he all right?” he whispered.
I met his concerned brown eyes and furrowed brows and offered a nod. “He’s being treated as we speak.”
That’s all I could offer. The men turned to one another. The three of us kept watch outside, paying little attention to them. Their voices were quiet, but we heard enough, regardless.
“If there was any doubt before, this solidifies our suspicions,” the head of anti-terrorism said.
“Agree,” two of the council members murmured.
“We’ll reconvene with a plan of action after determining the best place to strategize and secure the secretary of energy and the secretary of the army’s votes.”
“I’m going in first.” Chris threw the SUV into Park. We’d arrived at a low-budget hotel. It was one used by the Secret Service on occasion. Chris would go in and ensure the cameras were off so there would be no record of us entering the building. Should Hugo or one of his men attempt to find us, they would see only one man exiting the car an
d entering the premises. He’d set the camera on a looped feed until our backup, the FBI, arrived.
There was no question in my mind that Hugo was hot on our trail.
31
Keegan
Half an hour later, Secret Service and FBI teams were inside the hotel room. Our job with the council members was done, but the mission was far from over. We’d moved quickly, but I knew Hugo wouldn’t be far behind. He had a job to complete.
“Did you find him?” I couldn’t stand it. The stakes were too high. He will be caught today.
Chris met my gaze as we filed into the parking lot of the hotel, and a smirk curved his lips. He flashed his phone’s screen and showed me his tracking app. “Did you seriously doubt me?”
“Where?” Kara moved to stand alongside me.
Part of me hadn’t wanted her to come—I couldn’t lose her, not again. She’d finally gained her freedom. I’d had years of it. But she was stubborn, determined, and fierce, and I loved that about her. I couldn’t deny her the chance to join our mission.
“He’s in the parking garage where we left the armored vehicle,” Chris answered.
With no other car, we piled into the SUV, decommissioning the divider that kept the passengers in the back shielded from visibility. Hawk took the wheel so Chris could freely monitor any camera he chose to hack into and use for eyes on the streets.
“He’ll find the abandoned vehicle based on the dark zone if he searches for us with nanobots.” Chris’s devices interrupted electromagnetic fields and would disable the drones’ radiofrequencies, resulting in a dark zone. “My guess is he’s searching inside for us.”
“Great.” My blood heated. We had him. I knew it. Kara reached over and squeezed my arm in a brief show of solidarity. She knew what it meant to me to catch him. The guys did, too, but Kara had lived the life in the camp when we were young and had experienced the horrors firsthand.
