Zero Hour: Brotherhood Protectors World

by Holt, Desiree

  “You think he knows I’m here?” A chill raced along her spine.

  “Terry, I think Morgan can find out anything he wants. We’re not taking chances.”

  “Oh. Of course. Thanks.”

  “Something wrong with your hand?” Jesse asked her, noticing the awkward way she’d moved with her hand in her pocket.

  “Nope. Hold on.”

  She opened her hand slowly and saw a SIM card—a subscriber identity module— stuck to her palm. Holy shit.

  “What’s that?” Jesse asked.

  “Max Jaeger said he had a source deep undercover with Morgan’s group. I’m pretty sure that’s the guy who shook my hand today. He gave me this. Zane, get us back to the house fast. And can you call Alex to meet us there? I might as well see what’s on this when everyone’s together.”

  By the time they reached the house, Alex was there waiting for them, with his laptop.

  “I know you have yours here,” he told Terry, “but I thought we might need two.”

  “Always glad to have extra,” she agreed.

  She pulled out her cell phone, took out the SIM card and replaced it with the one she’d been given. The she hooked it up to her laptop and began to upload what the card contained. As text scrolled across the screen, they all stared, mesmerized. When the last bit of information was uploaded, Terry turned to the others. Alex and Zane had shocked looks on their faces.

  “What the hell?” Terry looked from one to the other. “What is this? What’s Malmstrom? You mean the Air Force Base? You think they’d try to blow it up? Easier said than done. And would it make the statement he wants?”

  Alex spoke up first. “Malmstrom Air Force Base is one of only three bases that continues to maintain and control the Minuteman III ICBM. The Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. It’s part of the Air Force Space Command in Colorado.”

  Terry frowned. “I’ve heard of them. Who hasn’t? But I thought all the missiles were decommissioned or buried or something.”

  Alex shook his head. “All but a few still alive at Malmstrom and two other bases. This particular missile has a range of 3,400 miles and carries a nuclear warhead.”

  Everyone stared at him, the silence so thick Terry thought she could actually feel it.

  Finally, Jesse cleared his throat. “Do you think Morgan is insane enough to try and steal one of those missiles?”

  Alex rubbed his jaw. “Stealing one is not the problem. You can’t get it out of the base without the proper transportation plus the codes to unlock the silo. Plus, you have to go through so many layers of security to even get to it I don’t see how it’s possible. But more

  than that, you can’t haul a missile away in any kind of secrecy.”

  “I don’t think they want to steal it,” Jesse told them. “I’m guessing they want to aim it somewhere.”

  Again, there was heavy silence as they each absorbed the possibility.

  “Those missiles are heavily guarded,” Zane pointed out. “And not exactly out in the open. You’d have to get through a secure gate then be able to proceed from the gate to the first silo. Enter the small building housing the elevator. Punch in codes to take you down to the surface where the missile itself is located. Then remove the operators on duty, have the launch codes, and make it happen. Do you realize how impossible that sounds?”

  “Improbable,” Alex corrected, “but not impossible. You can buy anything with money if you have enough.”

  Terry snapped her fingers. “Beckett. Lyle Beckett. I asked Max Jaeger to find out everything about him and how he’s connected. He’s got enough money to pay off half the military if he had to.”

  For a long moment, no one said a word. The prospect of what they were discussing was so frightening they hated to even give voice to it.

  “All right.” Alex looked at them. “Let’s move forward as if this, as unbelievable as it is, could really happen and that’s on Morgan’s agenda. What can we do to stop it? And fast because you know things are poised to roll any minute.”

  “Terry.” Zane looked at her across the table. “Can you get your boss to help us with some facts we’d need? Like entry to the part of the base where the missile are stored? How long it takes to actually launch? And what kind of human protection is provided?”

  ”I can do that. But let’s make a list of everything we need to find out and then regroup here. “

  “Good,” Alex agreed. “Let’s get moving. We don’t have much time.”

  “Let me call Max right now, and we can start there.”

  As with every other call she’d made to him, Max answered on the second ring.

  “Go,” he said.

  “We have a situation,” she began.

  “Hold on. Let me get to my office. At the moment I’m in a meeting room with other people.”

  Terry waited, impatient, until Max came back on the line.

  “Okay,” he said let’s have it.”

  She told him about her trip to the Morgan property that morning, including the large number of men there.

  “Something big is about to happen,” she told him.

  “Did you manage to hook up with our guy?”

  “He made it happen. And, Max, this is going to scare the shit out of you.”

  She told him everything that had been on the SIM card his man had passed to her. For the first time in all her conversations with him, Max Jaeger was dead silent on the other end of the connection.

  “Jesus, Terry,” he said at last.

  “Exactly what we all said here. Max, we can’t do this by ourselves, but you can’t deploy an army here, either. We don’t want to signal Morgan we are onto him.”

  “You’re right. Okay, give me a few minutes here. I have to take this higher on the food chain, but I will call you back as soon as I can. Hopefully within a half hour. Stand by.”

  “What did he say?” Alex asked the question the moment she disconnected the call.

  “About what I expected. This is beyond his pay grade. He has to reach higher up, and he’ll call me back within thirty.”

  “One of the most critical pieces of information,” Jesse pointed out, “is knowing

  when they plan to do this.

  “We’re all agreed on that,” she said. “I know Max will want us to keep an eye on the place. Alex? Zane? Is there a place we can do this without exposing ourselves.”

  “Yes. I think there are a few. Let me pull up the different county maps. Terry, I’ll send you the links so you can pull them up, also.”

  In seconds they were all hunched over the two laptops studying the images on the screens.

  “I’ve got a couple of suggestions,” Zane began.

  “Hold that thought,” Terry told him as her phone beeped. “Here’s Max.” She punched Accept. “What did you find out?”

  “That this is a big fucking mess.” His voice was harsh and tight, the way it always got when he was faced with a critical emergency and someone had fucked up.

  “Someone took a payoff,” she guessed.

  “That’s it. What pisses me off is that people in other areas knew about this weeks ago and never passed it along to our agency even though we had a watch on him. They were using the creep for bait to draw out Morgan and his top men for a bigger sweep.” Max snorted. “He’s lucky we didn’t kill him ourselves. I can promise you heads are going to be chopped off for this. The director is out for blood.”

  “How did he find out?”

  “He put pressure on some people, and one of them got nervous and caved.”

  She felt sick. “Tell me if I’m right. Morgan’s money man, the former or the present, paid someone to give him diagrams of the missile sites, the schedule of the teams who guard them, and the codes for the security gate, the elevator, and the missile itself.” She swallowed. “Holy shit, Max. That’s treason!”

  “Believe me, that person—and his superiors—are being stuffed in a dark box as we speak.”

  “But that doesn’t remedy the sit
uation. Listen, right now we’re looking for a vantage point to keep an eye on Morgan’s place, but when is this disaster supposed to occur?”

  “Sometime within the next three days,” Max said. “That’s as close as I could find out at the moment. But here is the worst part. The target?”

  “Yes?”

  “Washington, D.C.”

  Terry was afraid she was going to throw up. My god!

  “And of course, the best way to destroy the government.”

  “Right on.” Max cleared his throat. “Listen, I am headed into a meeting with some of the top brass who are then headed to the president’s war room. Find a place to keep watch. I’ll be sending troops to back you up, but I’ll call, and we can figure out the best way to do this under the radar.”

  “Okay. I’d say thanks, but I don’t know what I’d be thanking you for.”

  “Later.”

  Alex stared at her. “What?”

  When she related what Max had said, every face at the table turned pale.

  “Fuck.” Jesse spat the word. “Fucking assholes. Fucking shithead assholes.”

  “I’m with you,” Zane agreed, “so let’s do our part to stop them. Alex, I think I’ve figured out a location where we can keep an eye on Morgan’s place. Terry, pull up the topographical map Alex sent you the link to.”

  “Got it,” she told him.

  When he explained his idea, they all agreed, although putting someone in that spot was going to take a lot of maneuvering.

  “We can use the helicopter,” Alex agreed, “because most of the ranches in that area have one so its appearance won’t raise any eyebrows. But we need to plan the drop carefully.”

  “Okay.” Jesse dipped his head. “I’m in for whatever you need. Let’s do it.”

  “This isn’t exactly what I had in mind for you, Jesse,” the sheriff told him, “when I had Zane contact you.”

  “Are you kidding? This is the most alive I’ve been in ages.”

  “Yeah, well, good on that, but it’s not like that around here all the time.”

  Terry sneaked a look at Jesse and saw him grin.

  “I’ve been here less than twenty-four hours,” he told them, “but it’s already growing on me. Now. Let’s get down to business.”

  Chapter 10

  Reed Morgan climbed down from the helicopter after it landed at his place, rage and frustration boiling inside him. Lyle Beckett had given him information that made him want to shoot everyone in sight. That fucking bitch Teresa Franklin—no, real name Teresa Fordice—worked for the fucking ATFE. They’d sent her to dig out information on him and find out what he was up to. How had he missed that?

  Because I let my fucking ego get in the way. I thought the magazine was seriously going to do a profile on me and give me the creds I wanted.

  Yeah, he’d never do that again. And it pissed him off that Beckett was the one who’d dug it out.

  But that wasn’t the worst of it. Beckett had also discovered that the Fordice bitch was here in Montana. And right here in the Crazy Mountains. Was nothing going his way? He’d tasked Curt Renshaw with finding her exact location and getting rid of her. He wasn’t giving Beckett any more power over him.

  Why did the money men turn out to be so power hungry?

  Frank Vanetti had been the one to pay the guy at Malmstrom to shoot him the diagram, the schedule, and the codes. Then Frank had wanted to be top dog when the thing went down, and Morgan had worked too hard for too long to let that happen. Morgan told Ed Gooding who as second in command wasn’t giving up anything to anyone, and that was the end of Vanetti.

  Now Lyle Beckett was proving to be another problem. He guessed the people with the most money always wanted to have the most power. He had three days to make sure the plan was solid together and keep his army in place and up to speed and with himself as the recognized top man. He’d do it. After that, it would be his show all the way.

  Meanwhile he had to get his shit together and not be distracted in any way. This event was too big to blow because he wasn’t paying attention. He’d worked too long and too hard for it. Selected and trained his men. Believing the only way to fix the government was to destroy it and then rebuild it, he’d put this master plan together, and they were within days of accomplishing it.

  Floyd Gorman, the man in charge of training at the house and keeping people on track, came out to meet him, and they shook hands.

  “Everything okay?” Morgan asked.

  “As planned. Come on in.”

  He followed Gorman into the house, Don Emery right beside him. With Renshaw off searching out Teresa Fordice, Emery was serving as his bodyguard. With things the way they were, he wasn’t going anywhere, even his own houses, without his private security. He wasn’t sure who he could trust anymore.

  In his private study, he dropped into the chair behind the desk and turned to Gorman.

  “How’s everything here really? The truth. We’re too close to Zero Hour to have any loose threads.”

  “The men are working hard. Their proficiency at the range is practically perfect. When we follow up in D. C. with boots on the ground, they’ll have no trouble nailing anyone who gives them trouble.”

  “Good. Very good. And the training?”

  “They’re in tiptop shape,” Gorman assured him. ”Couldn’t be better.”

  “Excellent. That’s what I like to hear.”

  “I told them that this afternoon you’d be giving them a little pep talk, and they’re excited about it. I figure we could do it at the range. It’s the only place big enough to hold everyone.”

  Morgan’s mouth curved in what for him passed as a smile. That was one of his favorite things to do, speaking to his troops and sharing his philosophy and goals with them.

  “And the pantry is stocked? We need enough for this entire group for the next three days, and you know how hungry they get.”

  Gorman nodded. “Delivered this morning.”

  “Anderson drove it out?” Two different drivers changed off bringing the deliveries to them. He’d checked them both out, and nothing had rung any alarm bells.

  “Yes, he did. And his people had it offloaded and into the pantry in record time.”

  “Yeah? Who did he bring this time? The two guys from the last delivery?”

  “No.” Gorman shook his head. “Newbies again. More day workers looking to pick up extra money.”

  Morgan set his briefcase on a table next to his desk, opened it, and took out some folders.

  “As long as they do the job.”

  “They got it done.” He chuckled. “Had a woman on the crew this time. I wasn’t sure she could haul that stuff, but she sure kept up.”

  Morgan paused, a chill racing through him “A woman?”

  “Uh huh. Not bad looking, either, if you like that type.”

  “What type? Floyd, what type is that?”

  “Oh, you know. Dark hair, big eyes. Not too tall. I like the tall, skinny blondes myself.”

  The chill settled in Morgan’s bloodstream.

  “Call Emery and ask him what her name is,” he directed the man.

  “Reed, it’s just a broad hauling groceries,” Gorman assured him.

  “Call him,” Morgan insisted. “Now. Humor me.”

  Gorman pulled out his phone, found the number, and punched it in. He held the phone to his ear for a long time, frowning as he listened.

  “That’s weird. There’s a voice mail message. Says he and his wife are off for a couple of weeks on vacation.”

  “Was that his landline? Call his cell.”

  Again, Gorman got no answer. “He’s got his cell on voice mail, too.”

  Morgan ground his teeth. “He’s made himself scarce.”

  The other man looked puzzled. “But why? What for? And what’s such a big deal about this broad?”

  Careful, Morgan told himself. Don’t let anything on to the people here.

  “Call the store and ask for the names of the peopl
e on Anderson’s team today. Humor me, Floyd. Okay?”

  But the owner of the store was in Bozeman, the clerk who answered the phone told them.

  Morgan wanted to bite nails. It was that bitch. He just knew it. Somehow, in the next couple of days, he’d find her and cheerfully kill her. He wasn’t going to be stopped now, when the goal was so close.

  He punched the speed dial on his phone for Renshaw.

  “Any news yet?”

  “No, but I’m still working on it.”

  “Find her and bring her to me, before our deadline. I want to deal with her myself.”

  * * *

  “He’s here.”

  “Saw the helo when it came in,” Jesse answered.

  Alex had decided—and the others agreed—that Zane should be the one placed to watch Morgan’s property. He knew the area. Jesse would be parked a few miles away, hidden in a copse of trees where people driving by would not spot him, and receive the updates. He, in turn, would notify Alex if action of any kind was needed. And Terry would go with him, bringing her computer to monitor the listening device she planted and also look up anything either Jesse or Zane might need.

  They were severely shorthanded if things ramped up. Alex still had vacancies on his staff, but he had reached out to the county and asked for support if he needed it. He explained they had a situation where a resident may be causing trouble, without giving out details. They were as prepared as they could be without knowing what next steps Morgan and his crew were going to take.

  It had taken some doing to get Zane into a place without his approach being seen and where he could still be hidden, but they’d managed to work it out. Now he was settled into a sheltered spot in a niche of the mountain Morgan’s spread bumped up to, watching for anything taking place on that land. Jesse was a half mile away, obscured from view by a thick copse of trees, ready to pass any information back to Alex. They’d both been in their spots for the better part of an hour.

  Terry sat beside him, huddled into her warm jacket and grateful for it. A cold spell had suddenly blown in, and she hadn’t wanted to waste either the time or money driving to Great Falls to shop.