by Liz Johnson
Jess pointed to the air compressor in the corner. The round tank sat on four wheels, a motor, fan and dials attached to the top. “We’d better test that out and make sure it actually works.”
He did as she asked, moving over to the machine, plugging it into the wall and turning it on. It sputtered, as old as everything else in the lab, but finally settled into a steady hum that competed with the air conditioner for supremacy in noise pollution.
Grabbing the nozzle at the end of the black rubber hose, Will pressed the lever. A stream of air released with a loud hiss and a jerk of the tube.
“Looks like it’ll work to me.”
Jess nodded and motioned for him to bring it over, the muscles in her neck visibly straining.
Sergio’s eyes followed Will as he bent and rolled the machine across the floor, every third step earning a squeak from a wheel. When he reached her, she was scooping the mixed powder into one of the cleaned tear gas canisters. She weighed it on an electronic scale several times, and when she was satisfied, screwed the stopper and detonation mechanism into place. It looked like a miniature fire extinguisher, and it would work nearly the same way.
Will waited for Jess to say something, to break her silence as she worked. But with every tick of the clock on the wall, taking them closer to their date with El Jefe and the demonstration he demanded, she drew further away.
Finally, he reached for her, resting his hand on her back. She didn’t flinch or push him off, so he leaned in a bit closer. “Jess, tell me what you’re thinking.”
She sighed and rubbed her gloved hands over her arms. “This is a precursor to what they want to do with the toxin.” She shot a glance at Manuel, who was watching her as closely as Sergio was. “What if this is enough? What if they can use this to unleash death on an entire camp?”
“They won’t risk it without you.”
“But they have me.”
“Not for long.” Will hoped his smile masked the uncertainty that burned through his chest.
Her nose wrinkled and her lips pursed. “We only have three days.”
“Which means we’ll be gone in two.”
“How?”
Such a simple question with no simple answer. If he knew how, they’d already be gone. But jumping the wall, knowing there were snares out there, would be stupid. Doing it with a cartel on their tail would be a suicide mission.
They had to get free with a head start. And preferably an extraction plan in place.
“I’m still working on it.”
He mentally ticked off the intel they’d collected so far.
He was getting a pretty good sense of the guard rotations. They worked eight-hour shifts, changing at midnight, eight in the morning and four in the afternoon, never leaving the front gate unattended. The guardhouses at the top of the wall were a little harder to gauge. Sometimes they were occupied, and sometimes he just couldn’t tell. Of course, there were also a hundred other thugs roaming the compound who couldn’t be accounted for at any given point in time.
He and Jess had seen the map of the area. He hadn’t had time to memorize it, but he’d gained a pretty good sense of where they were and how far west they needed to go.
But he also knew there was something waiting for them on the other side of those walls. Whatever it was could be better than what they faced inside. Or it could be a whole lot worse.
It was a risk they were going to have to take.
And the big question still loomed. How were they going to get the Morsyni out of the lab? He glanced at the window, which had been shut by someone else in the past couple days. If whoever had closed it connected the open window to his absence from his room two nights prior, this lab was going to be under surveillance 24/7.
“I’m going to figure something out,” he whispered. “I promise.”
She nodded, picking up the can and checking the small dial at the base of the neck. “Turn that on for me?” Her chin indicated the compressor.
He did as she asked, as she squeezed the release handle of the container. If there had been any air pressure inside, it would have released everything inside the tin.
“All right.” She squeezed her eyes closed and bit the inside of her cheek. “I want you to put the nozzle against the opening here.” She tapped it with her finger. “When I tell you to, start the air. But whatever you do, don’t pull it away until I let go of the handle. Got it?”
Will nodded, and Sergio and Manuel leaned forward.
“Now!” Jess said, and he rammed the compressor’s nozzle into place. It all seemed to take just a second before she released the handle and shoved in a pin to keep it from accidentally going off.
If the pin was pulled and the handle held down, then the canister would release. Just like a grenade.
For this trial run, with a nontoxic mix inside, it was safe. But it wouldn’t be when Juan Carlos returned.
Just as Will pushed the machine into a corner and out of the way, the lab door blew open, revealing a slim man. With a black eye.
Jess glanced up, but clearly didn’t recognize him.
“Ready?” His voice was gruff. “El Jefe is waiting for your demonstration.”
“Almost.” Jess picked up the canister and looked into Will’s face.
This was his only chance to warn her before they marched outside. Turning his back to their guards and El Jefe’s lackey, Will leaned to push the compressor farther into the corner. In a barely audible whisper, he said, “The man with the black eye was your visitor last night. Be careful.”
*
Jess was going to be sick.
Doubling over, she leaned her forehead against the cool counter, gasping the thick air even as it threatened to choke her.
“Hey. It’s okay.” Will rubbed her back in perfect circles.
But it wasn’t okay. It was all too much.
Forced to do a test run for the release of a toxin that would kill hundreds, maybe thousands. The man who had stolen into her room in the dead of night only feet away.
A sweeping, sure knowledge that she wasn’t going to make Christmas with her dad.
Tears pooled in her eyes, and she knuckled them away.
She wouldn’t let herself break down.
She wouldn’t.
After gulping three quick breaths and swallowing as many hiccuping sobs, she pressed her gloved hands to her cheeks and squared her shoulders.
Her dad had taught her to be a good sailor, both on the water and off. And right now that required a rigid backbone and a stiff upper lip. Forcing her fists down to her sides, she shrugged off Will’s hand at her elbow.
“Let’s just get this over with.”
“All right.” He motioned for her to take the lead. “After you.”
She marched past the man with a black eye without even acknowledging him. He glared at her, his hand absently rubbing the back of his head. If she had her wrench, she’d remind him just who he had tried to mess with.
But the black eye made her grin. Though the room had been dark, she was pretty sure that he hadn’t had it when Will had hoisted him over a shoulder and carried him away. Will had gotten in at least one good jab.
She followed a narrow alley all the way to the courtyard, Will, Manuel, Sergio and Mr. Shiner trailing. Will carried the can filled with the improvised, harmless compound. But every time Jess envisioned the container filled with the Morsyni, her chest tightened and her hands shook.
These people had no idea the power they were dealing with.
“Welcome. Welcome to our little party.” El Jefe spread his arms wide, indicating the crude circle of forty or so men. Most sported hands and clothes dirty from their labor, but their eyes were bright with curiosity. “Arturo, thank you for bringing our guests of honor.”
The man with the black eye nodded in reply.
El Jefe motioned for Arturo to join him, and Sergio herded Jess and Will in the same direction. “We’ve been looking forward to your demonstration all day, Jessica.”
Jess had been trying to get rid of that reminder since her mother had taken off. Since Lynn McCoy had decided that being married to a sailor too often deployed on a submarine wasn’t always fun. Since she’d decided that her twelve-year-old daughter wasn’t worth taking along.
Even when someone called her by the wrong name, Jess was reminded of what her mother had done. Lynn hadn’t come back, but Jess was stuck with her name. Even publishing her research under her nickname hadn’t kept the constant reminders at bay.
“Let’s not keep everyone waiting.” El Jefe’s high-pitched voice brought the low rumble of the crowd to an immediate halt, every eye turning in her direction.
Reaching for the canister, Jess took a deep breath and begged heavenward for an intervention. If ever the DEA was going to find them, this would be as good a time as any. God, if You want to send help…
She listened for the sound of choppers or an explosion at the front gate. None came. So she lifted the can and stretched her arm back to launch it.
“Wait.” Arturo waved a clean hand, free from the grime his compatriots wore. “He should do it.” A slender hand clapped Will’s shoulder, and if Jess had a guess, she figured Will’s lurch forward was an exaggerated response.
El Jefe’s eyes grew wide, his frown turning into a wicked smile. “Sí. Yes. Let’s do that.” Pointing at Will, he said, “You do it.”
Her breath caught, and she almost choked. They hadn’t talked about how to release it. Not that it was terribly difficult to figure out, but what if he didn’t hold it high enough and ended up spraying himself in the face? They’d quickly figure out that he wasn’t the brilliant scientist his cover touted him to be.
Will stepped forward, his brown eyes blank, his face completely passive as he held his palms up in front of him. She mimicked pressing the button next to the nozzle, and he gave a quick nod. Then she mouthed, Toss it hard.
With every eye on them, it was all she could risk.
He took the stage, walking into the middle of the circle with the confidence of an Oscar winner. He made a show of every step, as if he’d been throwing death cans every day of his life.
Every head tilted down to stare at the billowing white cloud spiraling out of the flying can. Then they looked up as the cloud wafted in the breeze before slowly falling to the earth. Several men held out their hands to catch the haze. It vanished in their grasps, leaving only a faint trace on their shoulders and heads.
El Jefe clapped three times in slow succession before the entire assembly broke out in applause and excited whoops.
“Very good. Very good.” He turned to Arturo, his face twisting with the joy of menace. “We will be ready when Juan Carlos arrives.”
El Jefe and Arturo spit out several excited lines of Spanish, their hands cutting through the air as their volume grew.
Suddenly El Jefe turned on Jess. “How far will the cloud spread?”
“As far as the wind takes it,” she answered.
“And anyone who comes in contact with it will die?”
She closed her eyes. They’d distorted and twisted all her research for their own gain. She’d spent almost three years studying this toxin to find a cure for its effects, something to neutralize it and keep it from killing anyone else. And they’d taken that from her and were going to use it to destroy another cartel.
The other compound might not be filled with “good guys,” but they were still human. They deserved better than a painful, prolonged death.
“They will die?” El Jefe’s voice dropped to a growl.
“Yes.”
She had a sick feeling that she and Will wouldn’t be far behind those other poor souls.
*
“Very, very good.”
Will glared at the evil little man. What kind of warped mind took pleasure in plotting the demise of hundreds of lives?
It shouldn’t surprise him. Will had seen plenty of evil in his six years on the SEAL teams. It was part of the job. L. T. Sawyer, the CO of his platoon, had described the job of a SEAL as a “sin eater.” They faced the worst, the most heinous evil in the world. And then they removed that sin so that others could be free.
Just part of the job.
But it never got easier.
Especially face-to-face with the evil and unable to do more than wait for the right opportunity to take action. If he jumped the gun or chose the wrong moment, Jess’s life would be on the line. His, too.
El Jefe was still rattling on about his big plans for Juan Carlos’s arrival, but Arturo’s gaze had settled heavily onto Jess. Her entire body shivered under the weight of it, and he knew she felt it. Her hazel eyes were hollow, haunted by the situation at hand.
Before he even realized what he was doing, Will reached for her arm to offer a reassuring squeeze. But when his hand was only halfway there, Arturo’s eyes narrowed. Will aborted the movement and ran his fingers through his hair instead, but the other man’s scowl didn’t change.
Like volcanoes erupting, the thug’s eyes shot fire through the air. Will knew he should back down. He knew that a mild-mannered scientist would bow his head and take a couple steps back. In the face of such danger, a lab rat wasn’t liable to step toward the threat.
But Will wasn’t a scientist. And he certainly wasn’t mild-mannered.
Cocking his chin up a notch, he stared hard into Arturo’s stunned eyes.
The bully frowned and dropped his gaze quickly. He was used to having men cower in front of him, but Will wasn’t going to do it. Not anymore. He’d played their game long enough—sneaking through the shadows and caring for Jess mostly under the dark of night. It was time to stand up for them both.
“Manuel, take them back to the lab.” El Jefe, still bent over the used canister, dismissed them with a wave of his hand.
The guard did as he was told, corralling them down the alley, but he was too busy looking over his shoulder at the conversation still going on in the courtyard to pay Will and Jess much mind. Arturo and El Jefe continued their animated discussion about the successful demonstration they would take credit for as soon as Juan Carlos arrived. And from what they said, Will gleaned that he’d be there sooner than they had expected.
With a hand on her trembling back, Will ushered Jess to the far corner of the lab. He clasped her hands in his, not even bothering to check the level of the counter that might hide them from Manuel’s gaze if he ever looked away from his boss.
Jess gazed up at him, blinking rapidly, her eyelashes covered with a fine sheen of tears. Cupping her cheeks with his hands, Will brushed his thumbs across the top of her cheeks, stealing away the moisture collecting there.
“Hey, tell me what’s going on in your head.”
Her chin quivered, but she bit into her cheeks, screwing up her jaw against the telltale sign. She swallowed three times, but still didn’t speak.
“I can’t read your mind.” He stooped to her level while he smoothed the top of her hair in long strokes. “Let me help you. What’s going on in there?”
“It’s going to wor—” her voice caught on an unnamed emotion, but she twisted her face as she fought to finish “—work.”
“What is?”
“The Morsyni. The release mechanism. When they try to use it, it’s going to work. Even without me. And I’ll be responsible for it when that happens.”
Will’s stomach ached as if he hadn’t eaten in days. He’d give anything if he could take that weight from her shoulders. But she’d have to carry this experience with her. There was no getting around it. “Don’t think like that. They’re responsible for the actions they take, not you. They’re trying to use you as a pawn.”
“I hate chess.”
A laugh bubbled up in his chest, and he had to co
ver it with a cough, pressing his fist to his mouth. He’d seen her playing with her dad one time, and she’d gotten so upset that she threw the board and all the little marble pieces on the floor. Of course, she’d been thirteen at the time.
This Jess had just as much spirit.
“It’s a stupid game, and I’m really bad at it. But even I know that a pawn is the lowest piece, and I am not the lowest piece on the board right now.” The shimmering in her eyes vanished, replaced by a determined fire.
“Good. You’re ready for a fight. Because we’re about to get one.” He glanced toward Manuel, who had left the door open and wandered back in the direction of the courtyard. “It sounds like Juan Carlos might have moved up his visit. I think he’s going to be here sooner than we thought, and he’s most likely going to want to see what we’ve been up to. So we’ve got to look ready for him.”
Jess nodded, crossing her arms over her stomach and holding her elbows. “The attack?”
“As far as I know it’s still planned for three days from now.”
She let out a low sigh.
“Maybe we can use Juan Carlos’s arrival to cover our absence.”
God, let Amy and her DEA team find my GPS signal. We don’t have much time. And we can’t beat these guys through the jungle.
Jess gave another silent nod, and he wished he could trust his own words as easily. It wouldn’t be quite so simple to get away with Arturo’s eyes watching their every move, and that was before Will even thought about how they’d get to Panama City.
“Don’t worry. We’ll be out of here on our way back to the States long before they can lay a hand on the toxin.”
His words didn’t even come close to convincing himself, and the doubtful look in Jess’s eyes suggested they hadn’t done much to sway her, either.
ELEVEN
For days in captivity the hours had been dragging by, each second a year, each hour a decade of mental torment. But when Jess knew that the moment for their escape had nearly arrived, time seemed to vanish before her, no minute long enough to make plans and cover their tracks. In the meantime her hands moved without pausing, preparing the pressurized canisters to carry the Morsyni for Juan Carlos’s planned attack.
