The Four Corners of the Earth (Matt Drake Book 16)

by David Leadbeater

  In any case, she quickly sent the thirty thousand to a local LA bank account she’d already set up.

  Risky, but if we’re quick we can withdraw and take the cash. If anyone was monitoring the account, which seemed unlikely given its low balance, they should be able to make it happen before they caught on.

  She moved on to the next account, saw a balance of eighty thousand dollars, and had to admit that was better. But nothing like the millions she’d been expecting. At her side, Dino remained silent. She took the cash and held her breath as she clicked on to the final account.

  Bloody hell. Fifteen thousand?

  She was forced to run through the remaining accounts, netting by the end a sum of around one hundred and thirty thousand dollars. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t lifelong security type money. This was taking time, and she was wary of staying plugged in any longer, but the scarcity of the pickings so far made the next step a necessity.

  “Blackmail fodder,” she said.

  “I ain’t comfortable with that,” Dino said.

  “Depends who it is,” Karin pointed out. “And what they’ve done. We can expose the properly evil bastards—maybe through some kind of new, dedicated website—and discuss what we might do to those that could stand to lose a few quid.”

  Wu shook his head. “What?”

  “A few dollars. Centarinos. Wonga. Shit, where do we start?”

  The new file contained pages and pages of names, each highlighted in bold and accompanied by a photo and date. Karin scrolled down the list. “Right, well, they’re in alphabetical order. That’s something, at least. Any preferences?”

  “I don’t know any rich guys,” Dino said. “Let alone any to blackmail.”

  “I recognize some of those names,” Wu said as Karin scrolled steadily from A-C. “Celebs. Sports stars. TV personalities. Jeez, who was this Webb guy?”

  “Who was he?” Karin felt the hatred rekindle. “One of the worst, creepiest and most altogether powerful creatures that ever lived. Evil incarnate, with the influence to touch any life on the planet.”

  “I could name a couple of those right now,” Dino said.

  “Yeah, so could anyone. But those are exactly the assholes whose radars we want to stay underneath.”

  Karin checked her system’s firewalls, looked for any early warning signals that someone else was sniffing around. Nothing presented itself, but she wasn’t conceited enough to believe somebody out there wasn’t a whole lot smarter than she.

  “Check the entire place,” she said, removing the flash drive. “We need to monitor everything for a day or so from site B. Then, we’ll see.”

  *

  It was all part of her careful set up. If anything did go wrong and they were seen, captured or killed it wouldn’t be through lack of preparation. Karin had used every trick in her considerable arsenal and every ounce of her immense intellect to safeguard them.

  And my plan. My tiny retribution.

  Dino, Wu and she removed themselves from their house in the desert and retired to a small shack they’d found in the middle of nowhere. It had taken weeks of methodical searching, but once found it proved the ideal place to act as a backup hideaway. Wu spent twenty four hours watching the house through CCTV. Karin and Dino drove to LA, withdrew a stash of money and deposited what remained elsewhere, whilst periodically testing her network’s firewalls, its toughness, and the state it was in. Again and again she saw no sign that it had been tested in any way.

  Methodical and careful, though; this was the only way they would stay free.

  It was a whole thirty hours later when they returned to the house. More checks, and then Karin was ready to work on the flash drive once more.

  “Checked the cameras?” she asked.

  “Yeah, just do it.”

  It took just a few seconds and then, once more, she was scrolling through the list of names. After C of course, came D.

  There was no Matt Drake listed.

  But there was a separate section for SPEAR. Drake’s name was on the list. So was Alicia Myles. Hayden Jaye and Mano Kinimaka she’d expected. She saw Bridget McKenzie—no surprise. Lancelot Smyth? Hmmm. Mai Kitano. Lauren Fox. Yorgi. Interestingly there was no link to Torsten Dahl.

  But there was a link to Karin Blake.

  She stared at it for a moment, then chose to ignore it for now. Other links associated with the SPEAR team and added to the foot of the front page were those belonging to Kimberly Crowe, the Secretary of Defense; Nicholas Bell, the prisoner; and a whole sub menu entitled Family/Friends.

  Holy shit, this guy really went to town on them.

  Good.

  The first click just had to be on the name: Matt Drake.

  Her gaze flickered, flinched and then started to widen; her eyes widened to the size of saucers.

  “Fuck me,” she whispered fearfully. “Oh. Fuck. Me.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

  Matt Drake saw the Strask Laboratories sign long before they reached the place. On the outskirts of Dallas, it was still a tall building and its blue and white stylized ‘S’ logo was mounted near the very top of the structure. Their vehicles were moving fast though, and soon he saw the whole area opening up ahead.

  Strask Labs looked unimportant, bland, a stick in a field of sticks, and that no doubt was the idea. Its windows were impenetrable, but many were. Its car park was covered by a nest of CCTV cameras, but it was that kind of world. No one could tell just how advanced the cameras were, or how far they ranged. There was no gate other than a flimsy barrier. No security visible at all.

  “Any answer yet?” Dahl asked.

  Hayden pinched the bridge of her nose. “Dead silence,” was all she said.

  Drake studied the landscape. The parking area made an L-shape around the building, front and east. To the west was a steep grassy embankment. No fence. The whole area was open plan. A network of roads ran around it, and dozens of smaller office buildings, warehouses and a strip-mall made up the immediate prospect.

  “Police,” Dahl said.

  The DPD were already on site, parked outside the area along the side of the road. Hayden told their drivers to park up alongside, and jumped out.

  Drake was quick to follow.

  “You guys seen anything? Anything at all?” Hayden asked.

  A tall bewhiskered officer looked up. “What you see is what we got, ma’am. We were instructed to watch and not take action.”

  Hayden cursed. “So we have no idea what we’re walking into. Just a madman’s promise that it’s about as bad as it gets.”

  Alicia shrugged. “Hey, what’s new?”

  “If they have a bio-weapon in there, or a bio-device specifically engineered to target our crops then we don’t have a choice,” Dahl said.

  “And how do you suggest we get inside?”

  “Head on and head first,” Dahl said with a smile. “Is there any other way?”

  “Not for us,” Drake said. “You ready?”

  “Shit,” Alicia mumbled. “I really hope you two aren’t about to hold hands.”

  Hayden asked for the items they’d requested and handed them out. Drake took his gas mask and slipped it on. No chances would be taken at the lab.

  Drake then slipped down the grassy embankment, and hopped over a gully at the bottom and into the parking area. About forty cars were dotted about, everyday runners in varying stages of age and cleanliness. Nothing out of the ordinary. Dahl jogged at his side, Alicia and Mai to the right. They were fully prepared and guns were at the ready. Drake was expecting the worst, but so far all that had greeted them was an ominous silence.

  “You think word did get out to the other teams?” Kinimaka was staring around the perimeter. “If some of those countries get wind that such a bio-weapon is here and vulnerable in this lab we could face an attack. And Strask is far less protected than Fort Sill.”

  “Other teams?” Lauren sighed through the comms. “I’m worried the Order’s recording was broadcast without restri
ction. And that the shitstorm might well and truly be on its way.”

  Kinimaka’s mouth turned into a large circle. “Ooooh.”

  Drake and Dahl pushed on, threading through cars and keeping a watch on all the windows. Nothing moved. No alarms were sounding inside. They reached the walkways that led to the front lobby, and saw even these smaller windows were obscured.

  “If I delivered here,” Dahl said. “I’d guess straight away that this was no normal lab.”

  “Aye, mate. A nice pretty little reception is always best.”

  Dahl jiggled the door handles, and looked surprised. “Unlocked.”

  Drake waited for the team and Hayden’s order. “Go.”

  Gas mask restricting his vision, he watched as Dahl threw the doors wide open and then slipped inside. Drake’s leveled his new HK, searching for enemies. The first thing they saw were bodies lying next to the reception desk and in the hallways behind.

  “Quick.” Dahl ran to the first, covered by Alicia. Mai ran to the second, covered by Drake. The Swede checked quickly for a pulse.

  “Thank God,” he said. “She’s alive.”

  “This one too,” Mai affirmed, and pulled the victim’s eyelid open. “I think he’s been drugged. Sleeping gas, or whatever fancy term they call it.”

  Hayden carried a gas, vapor and fume detector. “It’s something along those lines. Not toxic. Not deadly. Something light to put them to sleep, perhaps?”

  “Weaponized vodka,” Alicia said, her voice distorted by the mask. “That’d do it.”

  Kenzie looked over at her, shaking her head slowly.

  “What you looking at, Bridget?”

  “Well at least with that mask on I can look at you without needing to throw up.”

  “The gas must have been fast-acting with full coverage,” Hayden said. “How the hell did they do it?”

  “Vents,” Lauren said. “Heating system, air con, that kind of thing. There may be some scientists locked in their labs somewhere though. Considering the type of facility this is, not every lab or storage unit will be connected to the main hub.”

  “Okay,” Hayden said. “Then why? What have they gained by putting all the staff to sleep?”

  A new voice broke into their conversation, not through the comms system but over some kind of loudspeaker system that probably covered the entire building.

  “You’re here? And the others? Oh, good. We can begin in around twelve seconds then.”

  Drake spun swiftly, watching the door. Lauren’s voice broke across the comms like a tidal wave.

  “Incoming! Israelis, I think. Breaching right now. And the Swedes!”

  “If ever there was a place not to have a gun battle ...” Alicia pointed out.

  The gunfire had already started; the Dallas cops no doubt drawing on the infiltrators. Despite that, the attack came incredibly fast. Drake was already walking along the corridor and keying his comms, asking for the emergency override code that would open most of the interior doors. At this point, beyond the first set of doors, a large bank of windows exploded, grenades making short work of the triple-glazing. Drake saw razor sharp splinters imploding in a deadly, unstoppable wave, spilling through rooms. Shards embedded into every surface. Interior partitions and office windows also smashed or wilted. Drake aimed his gun at the doors.

  Lauren’s voice: “Two, three, five, eight, seven.”

  Quickly, he input the override code, then ran through, followed by the rest of the team. There were bodies everywhere, knocked out by the sleeping gas.

  “Are we safe to remove the masks?” he asked.

  Hayden had been monitoring the air quality. “I don’t recommend it. Yes, it’s now clear but whoever introduced the gas could do it again.”

  “With worse,” Dahl added.

  “Dammit.”

  Drake opened fire as he saw masked figures entering. Five at once, so that was probably the Russians, making free with their bullets and indifferent to whom they hurt along the way. Drake hit one on the vest, the others scattered.

  “I think we can safely say the Russian team isn’t government sanctioned. No government in their right mind would go along with this.”

  Kinimaka grunted. “We’re talking about the Russians here, bud. Hard to say.”

  “And if they thought they could get away with it,” Kenzie said. “The Israelis too.”

  Drake took cover behind a desk. The partitioning all around inside this inner maze of offices was flimsy at best. They should keep moving.

  He waved Alicia and Mai past. “Lauren,” he said. “Do we know where the bio-weapon is?”

  “Not yet. But the info is coming.”

  Drake made a face. Bloody bureaucrats were probably weighing the cost of lives versus revenue. Hayden pushed past. “Go deeper,” she said. “It’ll be this way.”

  The Russians strafed the inner offices. Bullets shredded fiberglass paneling, sending the panels crashing down and aluminum struts tumbling everywhere. Drake kept his head down. Hayden crawled onward.

  Drake glanced between debris. “Can’t get a bead on them.”

  Dahl sat at a different vantage point. “I can.” He fired a shot; a man fell over, but Dahl shook his head grimly.

  “Vest. Still five strong.”

  Lauren broke over the comms. “Just a snippet of info, people. The command that released the sleeping agent definitely came from inside the building.”

  “Understood,” Hayden said. “Lauren, where are the Swedes?”

  Silence, then, “Judging by the way they came in I’d say on the other side of the building coming right at you.”

  “Crap, then we need to reach the center point first. Assuming that’s the way down to the sub levels, Lauren?”

  “Yeah, but we don’t know where the bio-weapon is yet.”

  “It’s down there,” Hayden said. “They’d have to be stupid to keep it anywhere else.”

  Drake nodded over at Dahl. “You okay?”

  “Of course. But, like you said earlier, no government would sanction this attack.”

  “Now you’re thinking the Swedes are operating independently?”

  Dahl frowned, but said nothing. Anything was possible at this point, and the new revelation that the Order may still be operating, updated to a modern infrastructure, also threw question marks across the page. Just how many steps ahead of us are they?

  And the fourth? If Famine doesn’t get you, Death will!

  Drake rolled. Kinimaka crept toward the back edge of the office and hugged the outer wall, followed by Smyth as they converged on the inner hub. Hayden, Mai and Yorgi went straight through the middle. Drake fired shot after shot to keep the Russians pinned down. Kenzie crab-walked among them, gripping her gun but looking glum nonetheless. Poor thing was missing her katana.

  Drake reached the end of the open-plan office area. Hayden was already there, surveying the open space that led to an elevator bank and another large area of offices beyond. Somewhere in there, were the Swedes.

  “I hate to keep giving you bad news,” Lauren said in their ears. “But the Israelis just breached too. It’s a war zone out here. You’re goddamn lucky you’re in there.”

  Now Kenzie came back. “I highly doubt the Israelis are government endorsed. But I do believe they’re Special Forces. Don’t you have backup?”

  “On its way. A boatload of it. I have no idea how these teams expect to get away afterward.”

  “Don’t you believe it,” Kenzie said. “There’s always a way. You need to start securing the victims in here. Getting them the help they need.”

  Hayden came back. “Sorry, I can’t agree to that yet. We don’t know what we’re dealing with. We don’t know if the Order can release anything more deadly.”

  “Isn’t that a reason to get them out?”

  “The Order may be wanting us to do exactly that. Open the doors.”

  “Umm, dude,” Alicia drawled. “Some twat already opened the windows.”

  Hayden th
ought about it. “Shit, you’re right, but that makes it all worse. What if the Order’s ploy is to release something lethal across Dallas?”

  Drake glared at the elevators. “We need to know where that fucking bio-weapon is.”

  Bullets exploded from the Russian contingent, making a papier-mâché of various panels. Office implements jumped into the air: a set of pencils, a telephone, a whole ream of paper.

  The team hit the ground.

  Lauren’s voice was barely heard. “Sub Level Four, Lab 7. That’s where it is. Hurry!”

  CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

  Using the bank of elevators as a shield from the Swedes, the SPEAR team fired a non-stop volley at the Russians as they sped toward the steel doors. Hayden and Yorgi were freed up whilst Kinimaka and Smyth kept an eye open for the Swedes and the rest of the team concentrated on the Russians.

  Hayden punched the button marked SL4.

  If the elevators dinged, the sound was lost under the heavy gunfire. Drake kept low, but the enemy still managed to return fire and creep forward, coming around desk after desk and using the sturdier objects to shelter behind. Even then one man fell, shot through the head. Another shouted in pain as he was winged, and yet another was wounded in the leg. Still, they came.

  The lights flashed above the metal doors and then they whooshed open. Hayden jumped inside, the rest of the team following. It was a tight fit, but they managed it.

  Drake was crushed up against Dahl, the HK between them.

  Alicia was chin-first against his back. “Who the hell is that behind me? With the wandering fingers?”

  “That’s me.” Kenzie puffed as the tight space constricted them, leaving no room for movement as it sped down to Sub Level Four. “But my hands are trapped near my neck. Surprisingly, my fingers are there too.” She waggled them.

  Alicia felt the movement. “Well, somebody has something pressed into my ass. And it ain’t a banana.”

  “Oh, that’s probably me,” Yorgi said. “Well, it’s my pistol.”

  Alicia raised an eyebrow. “Your pistol, huh?”