Reckoning

by Leigh, Jo

  The future looked bright. He just had to live, that’s all. Live and fight for one more day.

  He knew they were getting close to the fence they’d prepped last night. He checked his weapon as Boone pulled the jeep to a stop. “You ready?” Boone asked.

  “Let’s do it.”

  They got out of the jeep, leaving the key in the lock. With one last look at the team, at the women they loved, they checked the time, and knowing the guards wouldn’t be patrolling by for seven more minutes, they crawled through the gap in the fence and started off across the desert, double-time.

  * * * * * *

  Nate checked his watch as the men disappeared into the night. The rest of the team had climbed out of the truck bed, and Vince took over the driver’s seat. But they wouldn’t be going anywhere, not for a while. Not until they got the signal.

  He got out of the jeep and walked, stretching his legs, his neck and back. He hated this part. The waiting was torture, always had been. But one thing you learn in the service is patience.

  About ten minutes in, he took out his walkie-talkie. It was a small unit, not regulation in any way, but for this operation it was perfect. Although it looked like a toy, the range was exceptional. Each member of the team had one, but there was only one voice he wanted to hear.

  “They should be there by now,” Christie whispered. She had her arms folded across her chest and she was shivering. It was cold out, but not freezing. He figured it was fear for Seth that made her tremble.

  “They have to be very careful.”

  “I know, but still. Shit. I hate this, Nate. I hate this plan with all my heart.”

  He drew her to him in a bear hug. “These are the best soldiers I know. If anyone can get through it, they can.”

  “But you don’t know. After Cade, they could have changed everything about their security.”

  “Trust me, Boone’s seen a lot worse. He’s gotten out of scrapes you wouldn’t believe.”

  “I don’t want to know.”

  They stood for a few minutes, rocking gently back and forth. He was crazy about his little sister, and all he wanted for her was the best. He wasn’t crazy about bringing her along on this trip, but as with Tam, there was no choice.

  “You gonna go see Mom and Dad?” she asked.

  “I suppose so.”

  “She’ll want you to.”

  “I know. I just—”

  “We don’t even know if Dad’s still alive. He wasn’t looking so well the last time I saw him.”

  “I’ll go. But I may have to take care of some business first.”

  “With Tam?”

  “No. With the U.S. Government.”

  She stepped back and looked up. “Is Tam going with you?”

  “No. Tam is going home. She’s lost a lot of her life. It’ll take time for her to find it again.”

  “Wait a minute. Are you kidding? You’re good with her, Nate. I’ve never seen you like this. You can’t walk away from her.”

  “I—” He stopped at a crackle from the walkie-talkie. He held it up and listened, the rest of the team gathering around.

  He wanted—more than anything—to say something. To ask Boone what was going on. But he figured it out when he heard Boone scream.

  Chapter 15

  He had to grab Christie before she crumpled to the ground. Her sobs hit him in the gut, and he cursed himself for being every kind of a fool. He’d just stood here and let them listen. Harper wasn’t crying, but she was so still he thought she might pass out.

  Pulling Christie into his arms, he felt her body spasm against him. He’d made a mistake, and this one might end the mission right here. “Honey? Christie? Come on, look at me.”

  She shook her head and she hit him in the chest. “You let them do this!”

  “Christie, you need to listen to me. Just for a minute. We don’t know anything. We don’t know why Boone screamed like that.”

  “Because he was being murdered!”

  “No, that’s only one scenario, and the most unlikely one at that. Boone’s been in this kind of situation before, and he’s going to use every trick in the book to get what he wants. That scream could have been to get someone’s attention, to fake them out so he could strike. He could have been warning Seth, or scaring someone into losing their aim. I’ve seen it done before, so please, do not give up on him. He needs you now. He needs all of us.”

  “You’re lying. You’re lying so you don’t have to face me.”

  “I swear to you, I’m not. You’re his partner. You have to hang tough.”

  She wiped her face with her sleeves. “I’m an interior decorator. You hear me? I’m not a soldier. I never wanted to be. You ask too much.”

  “I ask what I have to. We can’t live the rest of our lives as fugitives. We can’t let them kill more people.”

  “That wasn’t the scream of someone playing a trick.”

  “If Boone was really in trouble, we would have heard something else.”

  “What?”

  “The grenade.”

  That stopped her. She hiccupped and wiped her face again, but the wracking sobs had stopped. “If you’re lying to me, I swear to God, Nate Pratchett, I’ll kill you myself.”

  “Save that anger for the bad guys. Now come on. We have work to do.”

  * * * * * *

  Tam watched as Nate and Vince started cutting the fence. They used wire cutters and the lights from the jeep to guide them, because if they made a mistake, they’d fry. Literally. It all had to be done incredibly fast, too, because of the frequent patrols.

  But all she could think about was how the world had turned upside down yet again.

  A moment before that horrible scream, she’d been awash in her own fear, coaching herself to keep breathing, trying hard to remember everything she’d learned in the last couple of days. To remember her part. By the time Christie had collapsed in Nate’s arms, she wasn’t afraid at all. Not for herself, at least. She realized the thing that would truly hurt her, kill her, would be losing Nate.

  It took all her energy and courage to keep from running away as fast as she could. It would be better not to know, that’s what she told herself, but it wasn’t true. She had no idea what would happen after tonight. The only thing that mattered was that they all made it out alive. In order to do that, she had to perform to the best of her ability. No weeping, no closing her eyes. She was Nate’s partner. She was a member of this team. She could do this.

  The minute the fence had been cut wide and high enough for the jeeps to get through, Nate turned out the lights and had everyone but Vince climb in their assigned vehicles. Then the two men slipped through the wire. Like Boone and Seth, they disappeared into the darkness seconds after they were on the other side.

  Tam was in the passenger seat, with Harper in the rear. Tam turned to the doctor. “Are you okay?”

  “I won’t be okay until I see Seth.”

  “I understand.”

  Harper looked away toward the empty desert. “I didn’t mean to fall in love with him, you know. He was a royal pain for a real long time.”

  “What happened?”

  “He saw through me. He saw that I was all bluster and walls, and he just kept on pushing. Eventually, I gave up.”

  “That’s good.”

  “I’m not so sure. Not tonight. I was never this scared before Seth. No one’s ever been this close to me, and there’s a lot that’s not so great about that.”

  “But the good parts, they make it worth it, right?”

  “They did. If something does happen to Seth, you can bet your life I’ll never go through this again. It’s too much.”

  “Seth has a lot to live for. He’s not going to give in easily.”

  Harper nodded, and looked away for a moment, clearly trying to get a grip on her emotions.

  Tam turned to the gate, and she saw Nate and Vince come back through. They each held clothes in their hands, and in minutes they’d stripped off their civ
vies and donned two security uniforms. Nate’s didn’t fit so well, not over his chest, but it would do if no one looked too closely. They clipped on their ID badges, then got to work.

  Nate took out the receiver and transmitter and set them in the front passenger seat of the lead jeep. Christie got behind the wheel where she’d stay for the remainder of the mission. He hated to leave her alone, but they needed someone to monitor the transmission that would be relayed from the plant to a server in Las Vegas and finally to the Los Angeles Times, where Eli had a DVR system all set up, ready to go.

  She went over her instructions, and then she put her weapon and her walkie-talkie on her lap. Nate kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll let you know the minute I find Boone.”

  “I’m counting on it.”

  He nodded, then he climbed in the second jeep. All the other equipment was there, and so was the rest of the team. It was a tight fit, but they weren’t travelling far.

  “You ready?” Nate asked. He didn’t wait for an answer. They all ducked as the jeep went through the fence.

  This was it. No turning back.

  * * * * * *

  “Make sure they don’t move a muscle.” Tom Cannon looked at the two men who’d been brought to him by his guards. He’d expected some action from these jokers, but not so soon after the other one had blown himself up. Despite the blood and swelling on their faces, Tom knew exactly who he had in his office. He could smell his promotion already.

  He picked up the phone and dialed Leland Ingram’s private line. He’d wake the old man up, but Ingram wouldn’t mind. Not for this.

  The phone rang as Cannon thought about finally getting out of this dump. He’d never wanted to work at the plant. He’d been a great agent in his day, and he wanted to be in the field. But Ingram had made him head of security, graveyard shift. The money was good, but he hated the desert. He hated working graveyard. His house was crap, the women in town were dogs and he didn’t particularly like spending his nights on top of a powder keg.

  The engineers had sworn up and down that the safest place he could be was in his office. That the walls and ceiling were made of aluminum, the same thing they used to contain the gas, and that if there was even the smallest leak, the upper floors would close up tight.

  “Who is this?”

  “It’s Tom Cannon, Mr. Ingram.” Jeez, he sounded pissed. “I’ve got two packages here.”

  There was a considerable pause. “Don’t do anything. I’ll be there within two hours.”

  “Yes, sir.” Cannon hung up the phone and looked at his captives. They weren’t going anywhere. He looked forward to seeing what Ingram had planned for them. It was going to be an interesting show.

  * * * * * *

  Ingram dressed as quickly as possible, then woke up the Omicron pilot who assured him the chopper was ready to go. It was a ten minute drive to Omicron’s downtown L.A. headquarters, and he used that time to get his men rounded up. They’d take a second helicopter and meet him at the plant.

  By the time he reached the helipad, the sun was just inching up on the horizon.

  He buckled in. It wouldn’t take long to get to Nevada. Once he was there, it also wouldn’t take him long to make those bastards break. It was still too early to call Raines, but he was looking forward to that conversation. Shit, this was going to be a good day.

  * * * * * *

  Nate stopped the jeep A quarter of a mile from the plant. They’d go the rest of the way on foot. They had four minutes until the next patrol, which wouldn’t leave them enough time to unload, then camouflage the vehicles. He and Vince had the women crouch down as they unrolled some of the niftiest NISH desert camo tarp he’d ever seen. By the time the guards rolled by they’d see a sand dune that looked like all the other sand dunes, complete with sagebrush and cactus. The only thing missing were jumping lizards.

  When he climbed under the tarp, the dark caught him by surprise. He’d barely noticed the scarlet sunrise. He would have preferred waiting it out on the ground, weapon ready, but he wasn’t about to leave the women alone.

  They were quiet for long, stressful minutes, and then they heard the sound of an oncoming jeep. He held his breath as the sound grew louder, then began to fade. He didn’t let anyone move until they could hear nothing at all.

  Then it was hustle time as everyone grabbed the gear. There was a lot, but none of it was too heavy. He made sure his hands were free to hold his Colt M4A1 rifle. Vince was more comfortable with his own Glock 9, but he’d been given a M4 as well. It was the weapon of choice for the Special Forces, and the rifles Omicron security carried.

  They covered up the jeep again and headed toward the lab. He knew there were workers inside, but they wouldn’t be a problem for long. It was Saturday, and the graveyard shift was just about to clock out. The worst of it would be getting inside the main door. But they’d all gone over this part of the plan a hundred times.

  As they closed in on the plant, the backpacks were transferred to the women. Then he pulled Tam’s arms behind her and encased her wrists in handcuffs.

  She winced, and he wanted to kiss her like nobody’s business, but he couldn’t. Vince had cuffed Harper and Kate. They walked their prisoners toward the front entrance just as the employees started a steady stream out.

  No one seemed too surprised that security had found trespassers. Nate felt sure by now they’d all heard about Cade, and likely the capture of Boone and Seth, too. Maybe they hadn’t expected women, but no one stopped them. Of course, these were just the plant grunts.

  They walked straight through the center of the lines to the chamber door. Vince took a keycard Boone had stolen, and the first door opened. There were still people hanging about, coming out of the locker rooms, talking and laughing.

  Just as he was preparing to break into the inner sanctum, a voice behind him sent a chill down his spine.

  “Who the hell are you?”

  Nate turned, pushing back his shoulders and puffing up his chest. “Who’s asking.”

  It was security, all right, dressed just like Vince and himself. He had his weapon up and aimed. “If I don’t see badges in about two seconds, the coroner will be asking.”

  Nate snapped his ID off his shirt. “We’re here on Mr. Ingram’s orders, and he’s gonna be here in about two minutes. If we’re not up there, I’m gonna mention your name.” He leaned to his left to see the man’s badge. “George.”

  George studied the badge, then Nate’s face. His lips pressed together, letting Nate know he wasn’t totally convinced. “Who are they?”

  “You want to know that,” Nate said, snatching back his badge. “You talk to Mr. Ingram.”

  George’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t think I won’t check up on this.”

  “You do that,” Nate said, turning his back on the guard.

  He heard footsteps retreating a moment later, then the look of relief on Harper’s face. “Let’s do this,” he whispered.

  The three women made a semicircle barrier to hide him as he got Rodney Hammond’s glove out of Tam’s pack. He slipped it on and pressed the hand on the scanner.

  A few seconds later, the big door opened.

  Even though he knew about the bombs, the sheer number of them made him lose a step. It was mass murder on an unimaginable scale. It was not a pleasant place to be, especially for the women who were cuffed. But they marched through, following the bright yellow line, until they reached the door to the clean room.

  The only good thing about being here was the absence of witnesses. The place was freezing, thick vapor coming from all of the vents. Because it was the final staging area, unless they were loading or unloading, everyone who could stayed clear. But this room wasn’t the problem.

  He looked into the clean room. Inside were the consoles and computers that ran the plant. They could lock down the building with a push of a button, and if that happened, his team was dead.

  A man in a white chem suit, minus the helmet, looked them over as they approac
hed the door. He pressed a button on the console and his voice came out of a speaker. “What the hell’s this?”

  “We’re supposed to bring them to Ingram.”

  “He’s not here.”

  “He said to meet him inside.”

  The man frowned, but he pressed the right button, opening the door.

  The women went in first. There were three men working there in addition to the guy who’d let them in. The second the door closed behind Vince, the women—as planned—hit the ground. Nate didn’t think—he just shot the four men each with a clean shot. The last one had been close as the guy had lunged for the alarm.

  Vince looked at him. “Holy shit. I didn’t even get the goddamn safety off.”

  “I always said you homicide cops were pussies.”

  “We’ll talk about that when this is over.”

  “Hey,” Harper said. “You two can play later.”

  Nate and Vince got out the keys and removed the cuffs. Then they went to the back of the room where the heavy duty chemical suits were hung.

  Harper got one down, and then Kate and Tam did the same, but they didn’t put them on. Not yet. They took them to the main section of the clean room, and Nate walked over to the front console. There, he found what he was looking for—the controls for all the entrances and exits. He nodded at Vince, who went back into the bomb storage area. Three minutes later, Vince was back. “It’s all clear. Now.”

  Nate pressed the button that turned off the biometric scanner. He locked the outside door, and even the ventilation shaft. The only thing he didn’t lock was the elevator. No one was getting in or out without his say so.

  He checked with Tam. “You okay?”

  “I’ve got it,” she said, as she held up the small camera. It was a beauty, the size of a paperback book, but it could broadcast a pristine picture with its miniature wireless transmitter. “Give me a test.”

  She held the camera steady as she aimed it out the window into the bomb room. Nate got on the walkie-talkie. “Christie? You getting this?”