Crystal Clear

by Serena Zane

  She tried the cuffs on her hands. They were tight, but feeling slowly returned to a painful tingling as she moved her fingers around. Her feet wouldn’t budge. They were tied to the base of the chair.

  Hearing movement on the outside of the room, she became alert. Her door opened to reveal two men in lab coats Halverson standing behind them, gun in hand. The men wheeled in a cart that held all sorts of torturous looking instruments. Her eyes widened just a bit when she noted the jumper cables and a voltage battery complete with a bowl of water and a sponge. An archaic, but effective means of torture in several countries, electrocution in low doses worked well to make prisoners talk.

  Cindy pressed down her fear and lifted a steady gaze to Halverson. Her eyes filled with the promise of his impending death. She waited for them to speak. Cindy was trained for this, and she wasn’t about to give up her country.

  “Agent Hawke,” one of the men in the lab coats approached her, but wisely kept his distance for now, “we have no wish to harm you.”

  She suppressed a hysterical giggle.

  “What we do need is to retrieve the information that we gathered via our satellite. Unfortunately, it’s encrypted. Thanks to Agent Halverson here, we know that you have the ability to decrypt the information and retrieve codes that we need. Now, will you cooperate, or do we need to result to less civilized means to coerce you to help us?” The man’s hand gently stroked the table with the torture equipment.

  Cindy wondered how long she would be able to hold out. Her mind worked through several different scenarios. If she held out, she could buy time for her team to come and get her. A tracking device was planted into her bloodstream before she was sent out on this mission, just in case. They would be looking for her.

  Her thoughts strayed to Jack for a moment and a brief flash of concern passed through her mind. She hoped he got out okay. He was a man capable of taking care of himself. Her chin came up. She could think of a way out of this, she just needed a little time.

  The man in the lab coat turned toward the table and started preparing the jumper cables he placed the sponge on one end and attached the other to the battery. Her brain focused on her training. Name, rank, and birthday, that’s all they were getting out of her.

  “I’m sure that with a little persuasion you’ll be far more cooperative.” He grinned as he turned toward her, sponge end in her hand. She locked her gaze onto Halverson. He was going to pay for every ounce of pain they put her through.

  The first jolt of electricity ran through her system as the sponge touched her skin. The pain excruciating, she felt like she burned up from the inside out. She gritted her teeth to keep herself from screaming out. She would not let them hear her beg.

  The lab coat guy smiled, “Are you ready to help yet?” He pulled the sponge from her and gestured to the other guy in a lab coat. He held a laptop.

  She glared at the technician and shook her head.

  They could go to Hell if they thought a little torture would induce her into selling out her country.

  “Special Agent Cindy Hawke, United States, July twentieth nineteen seventy nine.” Nope, they weren’t getting a thing.

  “Good, I hoped you weren’t going to give in yet.” He leered at her as he once again cranked up the voltage and placed the sponge against her bare skin.

  Cindy passed out after the tenth application of electricity. She woke some time later still tied to the chair. The little men had left. They probably went to plot her next torture session the first man in the lab coat seemed to enjoy it a little too much.

  As she came to, her mind went over possibilities for escape. She snagged onto a plan as it formed in her mind, which she had to admit was a bit sluggish right now.

  If they wanted her to decrypt the information for them, she could just as easily plant a virus while she was at it. They would have to give her access to a computer, and she could do anything with computers. She could kill two birds with one stone. They would also have to untie her. She hid her grin as her plan formed.

  She would have to hold out through one more torture session, but they would think nothing of it if she caved in the middle. All she needed to do was get her hands on that laptop, and they were giving her the means to destroy all their hard earned information.

  Hmmm, yup, she could do that. Her team had to be on the way, Garrett and Lucy wouldn’t let her down. If she had to, she could get out once her hands and feet were untied. She wiggled in the chair and heard the metal scrape against the floor. It would make a good weapon when the time came.

  She didn’t have to wait long. They must have the room wired for surveillance, and had someone at the ready for when she woke up. The cart rolled into the room again. The same man in the lab coat pushed it, but Halverson didn’t follow. There was another guy with a gun standing guard.

  Perhaps they took shifts. It would be easier if Halverson wasn’t there. The other man didn’t know her training as well. She could probably take him out fairly quickly when she was done altering the program.

  “Well young lady, are you ready to cooperate? If you are, then there really is no reason to continue the torture. Al here will hand you the laptop and you can get to work doing what it is you do best. Hmmm?” He kept his voice pleasant, but she could tell he hoped she would not play nice.

  She was more than willing to oblige him. She let her mouth widen into a bright smile and spit on him.

  “You can go to Hell. I’ll never sell out.”

  The man leaned over her grinning with that evil rat smile.

  “I was hoping you would say that, we have a surprise in store for you.” He stepped back to the hallway, “Agent Halverson, would you come in here please? I believe the lady needs a special brand of persuasion that only you can give her.” He re-entered the room. Halverson following close behind.

  “Since you seem to be able to withstand other types of torture, we are going to let Agent Halverson persuade you to help us.” He grabbed his little cart and started rolling it out of the room. They left and her fear mounted as she watched Halverson advance on her.

  “All you had to do was cooperate.” He took a step closer. “It’s not hard. Just use the keyboard and work your magic and they’ll have what they want.”

  “Halverson, I don’t understand. I respected you. How could you sell us out? You can’t believe what these guys do. Its bull and you know it.” Her best bet was to play dumb.

  “Shit Hawke, you think the Agency really gives a damn about any of us? Where are they now?” Staring at her for a moment, he shook his head and took another step towards her, “You know what? It’s none of your business why I did this, just shut up and do what they want.”

  “You can go to Hell too, as soon as they catch up with you, you’re a dead man, and you know it.” She glared up at him, anger and pride warring on her face. Her head snapped back as he landed the first blow.

  “You were always so damn arrogant. We’ll see how long that lasts.” He landed another blow straight to her gut and she doubled over trying not to throw up.

  “It’s real easy to beat up a girl when she’s tied up. Go ahead, do your worst.” This would hurt, but she had to make it believable when she gave in.

  Halverson laid into her making sure he didn’t let her pass out. By the time her eye was swollen shut, her lip was broken, and she was pretty sure she had a cracked rib, Cindy gave in.

  “Okay,” she said too quietly for him to hear, his ham-like fist swung again, “Okay! I give in. No more please.” She put just the right amount of pain and pleading into her voice that he stopped.

  “You ready?” His voice was clipped, and he puffed slightly out of breath. His eyes excited.

  “Yes,” she glared up at him through her one good eye. “Just give me the damn laptop.”

  He exited the room for a moment and came back in with the lab coat guy following behind, la
ptop in hand.

  “Don’t try anything funny. I’m watching you.”

  “Of course you are.” The real pain in her body helped her to make her act look real.

  Halverson circled around behind her and released the cuffs. The man in the lab coat handed him the laptop which he carried over to Cindy.

  “This may take a while, especially with only one good eye.” She took it.

  “We’ll know when you’re done.” His glance went to a spot just behind her chair.

  She turned her head and noted a small camera there.

  “Can I get my feet untied as well? I don’t have any feeling in them and it’s a little hard to concentrate.”

  Halverson looked back toward the man in the lab coat. With a slight inclination of the head Halverson turned back to her.

  “Yes, but don’t try anything.” His tone gruff as he gave consent.

  Her head hurt like a hammer had been driven through her skull, and her eye ached. She would need a little recovery time anyways. She also needed time to plant the virus in the encrypted program. He bent and untied her legs.

  “When you’re done just look back at the camera.”

  “Fine.” Taking the laptop she set about getting to work.

  Halverson and lab coat guy left the room, making sure the door was shut behind them.

  She grinned, and quickly stopped smiling. The crack in her lip stung. Even better, they wouldn’t know what she was up to until it was too late. She loved it when plans came together. Cindy pushed the pain to the back of her mind and let her fingers fly across the keyboard. If they wanted the information, they would be sadly disappointed.

  She hunched over to hide the screen from prying eyes as she typed and tried not to smile. Once she finished she would make her escape.

  God, she could really use a Snickers right about now.

  Chapter 17Jack landed the small charter plane on the airstrip just outside of Truth or Consequences. They touched down with a screech of tires and brakes. Jack was in a hurry and finesse at the wheel was not foremost in his mind right now.

  Patrick touched his arm and pointed to the black SUV waiting at the edge of the strip near the end. A man and a woman stood nearby and looked like business. Jack could only assume it was Agents Montgomery and Garrett. He was glad they were there. The plane rolled to a stop at the parking area, and they disembarked. After securing the cab, Jack strode over to the waiting agents.

  “You must be Cindy’s teammates? I’m Jack Wilde, and this is my friend Adam Patrick. I take it you’ve found where they’re holding Cindy?” His gaze slid between the two agents in question.

  Agent Montgomery nodded, her long strawberry blond hair falling over her shoulder.

  “We located her tracking beacon while you were in the air. She’s at a compound not far from here. We’re sure that once they use her for whatever their purpose may be, they will kill her. I’m not going to let that happen. So, we have only one option. We have to work together as a team and extract Hawke as soon as possible. I’ll drive.” She turned back to the SUV and climbed inside.

  Garrett went to the other side and got in beside her. Jack and Patrick climbed in the back, neither man about to be left behind.

  Jack spoke up from the back of the SUV, “Do you have the schematics for the compound?”

  Garrett’s smile was cold as he turned to face Jack. His silver eyes flashed death. Jack wouldn’t ever want to cross this man.

  “Yes,” Garrett flipped up the screen on the laptop built in to the seat between Jack and Patrick. It loaded with the diagram of the compound.

  “We’re going in from two different points. There’s a small entrance on the left side of the compound near the base of the watchtower, and another toward the back of the base on the other side.”

  “The buildings are built like your standard barracks. They have vents and slots between the blocks of concrete in the walls just big enough for a man to get through. With just four of us we can’t go in with guns blazing, so we’ll take the quick in and out method.”

  Jack silently agreed it was along the lines of what he used to do, so he was familiar with this type of retrieval.

  Garrett continued, “Patrick will be on your team and Montgomery will be with me. She’s being held here.” He pointed to a spot in the main building. “They have holding cells in the basement level. If we can, Montgomery and I are going to plant C4 at strategic places and we’ll blow the building sky high as we leave. That should alert the military nearby to their presence and they will no longer be able to use this as a base of operation. They’re too close to the missile range to be up to any good.”

  Running a hand through his hair with impatience, Jack tried not to think of what Cindy must be going through. “Your plan sounds good. It’ll take care of both problems.”

  Garrett turned to the front. Jack looked at Patrick. His friend appeared grim.

  Patrick put a hand on Jack’s shoulder, “Don’t worry Jack I’ve got your back. Always will. These guys are up to some pretty serious crap, and I want to see them taken down just as much as anyone who gives a damn about their country.”

  Jack and Garrett spoke for several minutes and proceeded to outline his plan of entry. There were air vents that ran all the way to the bottom level. Jack would take one of those and enter through an air shaft avoiding any unnecessary contact. He would get out the same way if nothing went wrong with Cindy in tow.

  Montgomery spoke up from the front seat, “Once you’re out, call our cell. It’s the number Hawke gave you. We’ll blow the charges once you’re clear.”

  Jack nodded that he understood when he met her eyes in the rearview mirror.

  “We’re going to pull over soon and hike in. We can’t chance them finding the vehicle. Meet back here as soon as possible.”

  They’d been driving for about twenty minutes, and the road became increasingly riddled with potholes that felt like they wrenched Jack’s spine out of place.

  “Where exactly are we?” He asked.

  Garrett answered, “Just outside of the White Sands Missile Base at Elephant Butte. We’re on the right side of the lake closer to the base, it’s my guess that they set up here to ease suspicion about the vehicles coming and going at all times. People will be used to that and think nothing of it and assume it was just another drill.”

  Jack silently acknowledged that whoever thought of that had a stroke of brilliance. Hiding in plain sight was one of the oldest tricks in the playbook, but it worked nine times out of ten.

  Montgomery pulled the vehicle onto a small access road and found a concealed pullout. She parked the SUV and hopped out. Rounding the back of the vehicle she popped the hatch and pulled out two packs. She handed one to Garrett. Jack and Patrick came around the back.

  “Take what you need. The smaller packs contain guns and first aid equipment. You may need to use both. We don’t know what shape she’s going to be in.”

  Jack noticed Montgomery wince for the first time, it was a quick flash of pain as Garrett spoke, but he caught it.

  “She’s your friend, isn’t she?”

  Montgomery nodded and met his gaze, “My best friend. Get her out. We’ll do the rest.” Enough had been said. It was time to retrieve Cindy.

  Chapter 18Cindy took her time planting a corrosive virus into the system file. When the terrorists went to retrieve the information it would infect their main computer hard drive and destroy any information they may have retrieved. She glanced back at the camera as she was asked and gave a nod. They would be entering shortly.

  Cindy had worked feeling back into her hands and legs, and though she was sore from getting her ass kicked by Halverson, she was not out of the game. She prepared herself as she heard footsteps approach her cell. The door opened and the same man in the lab coat entered followed by Halverson.

  “It appears
that you’ve exceeded our expectations. We thank you.” The man said sarcastically as he bent over and retrieved the laptop. “I’m sure that you and Agent Halverson have a few things to say to one another, so I’ll leave you to it.” He left the room quickly and shut the door behind himself.

  She noted that it was not locked. Eyeing Halverson warily, she edged behind the only weapon she had in the room, the steel chair. Halverson advanced a smile on his face.

  “You know, you disappointed me earlier when you caved so quickly.” He circled around the room for the best position.

  Knowing the moment to escape was at hand Cindy kept her eye on Halverson. Her usefulness was at an end, it was her time to die.

  Well, she thought, they can just kiss my ass. Looking back at the camera in the corner, Cindy was sure they were probably recording this little session. They would be aware when she took off. She’d need the gun that Halverson had slung back over his shoulder.

  “I still don’t understand how you can betray your team. You’ve been with the Agency for a couple of years. What went wrong?” She tried to sound worried. He seemed to buy it.

  “Nothing went wrong. I just got a better offer. It happens.”

  Halverson eyed her warily as he laid his gun against the far wall of the cell. Advancing closer a leer came into Halverson’s eye that she didn’t like.

  ****

  Jack and Patrick approached the West side of the facility. With his combat knife clenched in his hand, he moved forward in the shadows slipping from tree to tree. There were watchtowers on each corner of the facility and guards pacing at regular intervals along the fence. The operation was larger than anticipated, but nothing they couldn’t handle. Extraction is what he trained for. He couldn’t think about what Cindy went through right now. His brain slipped into battle mode.