Redemption

by Ever N. Hayes

  “You think Danny is close enough to have heard the explosion? Or seen it?”

  “General Roja was here. He would only have come for Danny. He knows what Danny looks like.”

  “So you think they know Danny is near?” I couldn’t keep the hope out of my voice.

  “Yes. You said Lazzo was killed last night?” Eddie’s mind was apparently still on his own brother. “There was gunfire?”

  “Of course.” I gave him a puzzled look.

  “Lots of gunfire? Loud?”

  “Yes. Loud gunfire.” What is he getting at? “Why?”

  “I think if Danny is here, Danny would have heard it.”

  I hadn’t thought of that. Gunfire out here—if Danny was anywhere nearby, he would definitely have heard it. And we were far from the rescue plane. Danny would assume Qi Jia was fighting with someone. He’d be trying to figure out who. He’d be trying to figure out if it was Lazzo and me.

  Eddie continued. “I think, if your brother heard the gunshots last night, then yes, I think your brother was here and saw the explosion.”

  “Then we need to go find him.” I stepped in front of Eddie, looking up at him.

  “No.” He blocked my access to the steps. “We stay here in this tunnel.”

  Storm shelter. “But—”

  “We stay here. If I’ve learned anything about your brother by now, it’s that he will find us. We stay here.”

  We stayed put.

  THIRTY-SEVEN – Red Hot Mess (Danny)

  ---------- (Tuesday. August 9, 2022.) ----------

  I admit I was a little confused. I was certain the paratroopers were searching for us, that they’d seen us driving toward the mountains and been sent to capture or kill us. And then there was that gunfight in the valley that had nothing to do with us. So now I was wondering if Baker and his men had already rescued the people in Cheyenne Mountain, come out the back exit, and started that firefight. But even that didn’t make sense because the bunker’s back tunnel had been sealed off for security reasons several years ago. The tunnel wasn’t on the map Baker had, and the airfield he’d intended to land at wasn’t anywhere near here. It wouldn’t have surprised me in the least if he’d gotten lazy or greedy and changed his plans, landing closer—too close—to Cheyenne Mountain. But that gunfight had sounded awfully one-sided—more one hundred to one than one hundred to fifty. That left Hayley, Lazzo, and Baker’s daughter. The gunfight had come to an abrupt end, and there had been no more shots after Blake’s last sniper kill. So either the soldiers had gotten what they’d wanted, or their targets had escaped. We didn’t hang around to find out.

  I didn’t want to overthink it, because where my mind was now, I couldn’t imagine their targets had escaped. The soldiers hadn’t been in any urgent pursuit after the last shot had been fired down in the valley. There hadn’t been torches, flashlights, or dogs cutting through the forest below us—not in either direction—east or west. If they were searching for someone, it would have been visible to us up on the ridgeline. That train of thought was disturbing. I was hopeful the targets hadn’t been Hayley and Lazzo, but it was all that made sense. I considered going down to investigate, but I also knew we had between six and seven miles to go to reach the coordinates before daylight.

  We maintained our elevated approach along the ridgeline for the next few hours and found a secure perch over the designated meeting place about a half hour before dawn. We were there when the trucks arrived and the helicopter flew in. I watched through the rifle’s scope as a man who looked like General Roja ducked out of the helicopter. I thought you were dead. How did that grenade not kill him at Lake Powell? The general marched into the building, followed by a majority of the troops. A short while later, most of the troops came back out and took up patrols around the perimeter of the plateau. We saw a few patrols heading our direction and figured they’d been ordered to take a high position. Sixteen men. Manageable.

  I told Blake and Keena to keep an eye on them as I continued to watch the compound on the plateau. I saw four men go down the hillside to the west, and then about twenty minutes later a single man came back up. None of the four who had gone down the hill wore backpacks, but this man had a pack slung over his shoulder. What the heck?

  “What?” Blake was looking at me.

  I must have said that last part out loud. “Not sure yet.” I watched the man talk to a couple of troops at the corner of the building and then disappear around the back. “There’s this guy …”

  “This guy? Could you be a little more—”

  “I don’t know. Hang on.” Only a few minutes passed before he came back into view—this time without the pack. He shook hands with the soldiers at the corner of the building and headed back down the hill. Where is he going? He disappeared down the side. No sooner had I dismissed it as nothing, than an explosion disintegrated the large building, leaving a mess of burning wood and twisted metal and a decent-sized crater. Holy shit! A landslide of boulders rained down from the mountain, crushing everything in their path and crashing through the debris. There was no way anyone in that building had survived. If that was General Roja who had entered, he was certainly dead now.

  Suddenly the dots connected in my head. “Damn it.”

  “What?” Blake turned to look at me. “What the heck was that? Who blew it up?”

  The soldiers who had been climbing the hillside had turned back and were running toward the destroyed building. More soldiers were pouring out of the forest from every direction to see what had happened and likely intending to help. But there was no one to help. Anyone within a hundred yards of that building was dead. “There was a soldier with a backpack.”

  “Okay …” Blake clearly didn’t know where I was going with that. “Was that the guy?”

  I nodded. “He came out of the forest with the backpack, by himself, and walked around the building. Then he came back into view—without the pack—and disappeared down the hill into that far corner of the forest. I think that pack had the bomb in it. The bomber is still alive.”

  “Danny, you think that one guy blew the whole place up?”

  “Sure, Keena. Why not?”

  “But why?”

  “To send a message would be my guess.”

  “What message and to who?” Keena asked.

  “Maybe stay away?” I shrugged. “Maybe the message was for me—for us.”

  “You’re kidding?” Blake was as doubtful as Keena.

  “No.” I turned to both of them. “Think about it. That had to have been Lazzo. I don’t know why he did it yet, but he had to be telling us to stay away.”

  “You said the guy just walked around the building? No one saw him?” Keena asked.

  “Actually ... he stopped and talked to two guys at the southwest end of the building.”

  “And they didn’t recognize him? But wouldn’t they know what Lazzo looks like? Wouldn’t that be like surrendering yourself?”

  Blake was right. Yes, they would know what Lazzo looks like. That can’t have been Lazzo. I don’t get it. “Good point … of course they would. So if that wasn’t Lazzo, who was it? And why blow up the building?” I asked myself as much as them. Before either could suggest anything, I continued. “Unless someone in Qi Jia was trying to get rid of the general.” That was a new thought. “Maybe Roja knew too much or maybe he was competition. There’s really only one way to find out.”

  “No, Danny. It’s not a good idea,” Blake was shaking his head. “It’s a hot mess down there.”

  “What’s he thinking?” Keena asked, though Blake had kind of given it away already.

  We have to follow that guy. “Let’s go.” I didn’t answer her question.

  “Dang it, Danny,” I heard Blake mumble. I smiled. Objection noted.

  Blake and Keena were on my heels as I cut down the hill. The enemy was distracted now. They had no idea what had hit them. The patrol that had gone down into the corner before the explosion—the same corner where the bomber had ju
st disappeared—those guys had never come back up. I had a feeling we’d find them down there—dead—and another feeling there’d be tracks I could follow to whoever this bomber was.

  THIRTY-EIGHT– Crystal Clear

  ---------- (Tuesday Afternoon. August 9, 2022.) ----------

  Word of the Knights Peak explosion spread quickly. Commander Boli was informed immediately in Denver, and he wasted no time in reaching out to his contacts at the former Marine base in Hawaii. Governor Barnes was summoned to the base. He knew Trigger and Twix were under strict orders not to leave his side, so he had to sneak out. They couldn’t know where he was going or why he was going there.

  He arrived at the base, and four armed and masked men escorted him back to the radio room. “What can I do for you?” Barnes spoke into the handset.

  “You have betrayed me,” the cold voice of Commander Boli replied on the other end.

  “I haven’t—what are you talking about?”

  “The man you send, he has killed one or two hundred of my men, including General Roja.”

  “Whoa, wait, Commander. I didn’t send anyone. What man are you talking about? This has nothing to do with me. I have done all you have asked. Every single thing. No one even knows I’m involved.”

  “You lie.”

  “No, Commander, I swear. I would never jeopardize my wife. You killed my daughter. You think I don’t know you’d kill her too? I promise you, I did nothing but what you’ve told me. Please …”

  There was a lengthy pause on the other end. “We shot down one rescue plane and found other. We killed everyone you send. Your information was good there. But you are responsible for this Danny too, no?”

  “No.” Governor Barnes was panicking. “I couldn’t say anything to Danny. If Danny knew I was involved, this all would have been over before it started. He never would have gone to meet you. I have risked everything here. I told you when he was coming, so you would be ready. I’ve been monitoring his dog tag the entire time. I told you to stay back and let him come. He couldn’t have blown up your building. Danny’s not even there yet. He’s still miles away from the coordinates.”

  “He will never come now. I should kill your wife and the girls now.”

  “Commander, please …” Barnes took the opportunity to plead with him. “Listen—please—it was your men who shot down Danny’s plane. If Danny made it to Colorado, he would never have blown up the building that gave him his only chance to save his sister.”

  “Maybe so. But how do we find him now? Who else would have blown that building?”

  “Commander, I’ll give you Danny’s current coordinates. But I have no idea who could have blown that building. Maybe some of the men from the other planes escaped. I don’t know. You killed a plane full of Captain Baker’s men. Maybe this was his revenge.”

  “This was not Captain Baker.”

  “How do you know? It could have been.”

  “I know.”

  “Sir, please, I have done everything you have asked. I have risked my life and betrayed my own country to help you. I just told you where you can find Danny. Please…please, sir…let my wife go.”

  “You know I cannot.”

  “You promised—”

  “No!” Boli screamed back into the radio. “You have not delivered. I do not have the information I need. I have lost over hundreds of men. I promised you I would deliver when you deliver. That was my promise.”

  “Commander, there is still plenty of time before the deadline you—”

  “No. No more time. I give you three days. I will send men to pick up Danny where you tell me to look but if he is not there you must reach him and get him to turn himself in to me. Three days. I no have information by then, your wife—all the prisoners—they die. Three days.” And then there was an audible click.

  “Commander—”

  It was too late. He was gone.

  THIRTY-NINE – 99 Problems

  ---------- (Tuesday. August 9, 2022.) ----------

  Governor Barnes had problems. Real, serious problems. As he left the base and headed back to the governor’s mansion, he racked his brain for anything he could do on this end. He needed to get back to his tablet and message Danny. But what was he supposed to tell him? That the Libyan commander had contacted him out of the blue and asked him to please have Danny turn himself in? Right. Danny would see through that. But if he didn’t message Danny immediately, he was wasting time. He only had three days to save his wife.

  What was he supposed to do? He couldn’t ask anyone for help or advice. He couldn’t tell anyone here he had basically sacrificed both rescue planes to save a single person—his wife. Commander Boli had confirmed they had killed all the rescuers—Baker’s entire party—but no one in Hawaii knew that yet. And the governor couldn’t say anything. Apparently no one from Cheyenne Mountain was aware either, or they would have reported it. They hadn’t radioed anything of the kind in. In fact, there’d been no communication from the bunker all week. That would probably change in a matter of days.

  On the other hand, the Hexagon was buzzing with news of the Knight’s Peak explosion. That story had spread rapidly across the wires between Colorado Springs and Denver, and they’d intercepted numerous messages being sent to other parts of the country. Qi Jia’s commanders were concerned about an impending attack, even though none was coming that Barnes knew of. Whoever had blown up that building had awakened a sleeping giant. And General Roja’s death would turn Mexico’s focus back on Hawaii. Hawaii’s closest physical threat would be seeking some form of revenge.

  As the governor climbed back into the window of his bedroom, he stopped short at the sight of two men in the corner. Twix was sitting in his reading chair, and Trigger was standing beside him.

  “Governor.” Twix stood and approached him.

  “Jeez … you guys scared the crap out of me.”

  “Mind telling us where you’ve been?” Twix stood behind the governor who had turned his back to them. Trigger still hadn’t moved, or made a sound.

  The governor didn’t want them to see his face. “I needed some alone time. I went for a walk on the beach. You guys have been on me—”

  “Sir, you don’t get alone time.” Twix’s annoyance was evident in his voice. He grabbed the governor’s arm and turned him around.

  “Now wait—”

  Twix held up his hand, and Barnes stopped talking. “At Danny’s orders, Keena put a tracer in your watch. Nicole told us you had left, and we watched you go to the Kaneohe Bay Marine Base. We didn’t follow you because we didn’t want to jeopardize whatever it was you were there for. But we know you met someone there.”

  “What? Don’t you guys know? You can’t trust Nicole. She’s the mole. I thought you knew that—”

  “No, sir,” Twix replied. “We know she isn’t the mole. She has done exactly what Danny wanted her to.”

  “I think you really want to be careful here.” Trigger finally spoke up.

  Panic was evident on the governor’s face. “It’s not what—”

  He stopped talking as Twix nodded, almost directly in his face now. “Yes, it is.”

  “Guys, you don’t … I can’t.”

  “Listen.” Trigger approached them now. “You’ve probably seen a lot of movies and TV shows. You’re not going to jail. We don’t report to anyone but Danny now, and we have no way of reaching him. You telling us what’s going on will not get to anyone else. The FBI—if any of them still exist—won’t trip all over themselves and piss on your plan. We’re not going to shoot you unless you keep treating us like idiots. We need to—”

  “They have my wife.” Governor Barnes threw his arms up. “Okay? What do you want me to do? They have my wife.” The room was suddenly silent.

  Trigger took two more strides toward the governor. “What have you done?”

  Twix cut him off. “Easy.”

  “No. What have you done?” Trigger was almost yelling. “Telling secrets is one thing, but—” />
  The governor was trembling, backing toward the window. “Guys…”

  “Trig.” Twix stood between Trigger and the governor. “Give me a minute, will you.” Trigger was shaking his head. “Please, just a minute,” Twix insisted. Trigger glared at Barnes but finally nodded and stepped back.

  Twix turned to speak to the governor. “They’re watching you too, aren’t they?”

  “I don’t know,” Barnes replied honestly.

  “I’m guessing they at least have your phone and radio monitored. We also know they’re tapped into all of the computers but one in Area 52.”

  “Why didn’t you—”

  “Why didn’t we tell you? Isn’t that obvious now? Danny doesn’t trust anyone. You should know that. He tells people what they need to know and that’s it. He doesn’t know who’s been compromised. He wouldn’t have suspected you, but clearly…even that would have been wrong. So what exactly did you do?”

  Governor Barnes appeared dumbfounded. He turned and stared out the window. “She’s dead, isn’t she?”

  “She who? Your wife?” Twix asked.

  Barnes nodded his head. “They killed my daughter because I refused to believe they were capable of it. And now they’ll kill my wife.”

  Trigger softened considerably at the governor’s revelation. “They killed your daughter? You’re sure?”

  Tears had formed in the governor’s eyes, and he wiped them away. “Yes. They asked me to get the book from Danny and give it to them. I refused, and they took both of them. I listened to my daughter die as I tried to convince them I’d get the book. They said it was too late…that next time I should take them seriously. They shot her. I listened to her die.”

  Twix put two and two together quickly. “I take it you met with the same people Nicole met with at Kaneohe Bay?”