His features tightened. Vaghn smirked and Barasa wanted to slap him. Though he had to admit the young man hadn’t given him anything beyond his own cryptic explanation.
“Be useful or be gone,” Odette said. “Bring him to Seletar airport and wait. Quietly.” Her voice was tinny through the speaker. “I will retrieve him myself. Treat him with the utmost care till then. He is the heart of this.”
Vaghn smiled smugly, and red heat slipped over Barasa’s face. “I will deliver him at the appointed time and no sooner,” Barasa said and noted the quick spark of fear in Vaghn’s sweaty face. He enjoyed it; the little prick was too damn full of his own importance.
“Absolutely not. You’ve done enough damage.”
“I am invisible, Odette, and if you want your little pet,” he said patting Vaghn on the head as he strolled around him, “you will accommodate me.” He gave her instructions and before she could respond, he ended the call.
“Now, Dr. Vaghn. It’s time to see your work.”
The scientist tilted his head, and said, “I need a phone with satellite and text message capabilities, and my laptop.”
Barasa waved at the table, the laptop running. Rahjan cut his bonds.
Jason slumped forward and slowly worked the feeling back into his arms and shoulders. Christ, these guys needed to die and he wanted to be around to watch it. He’d make an asshole bomb just for it. He swiped his bloody face across his shoulder, then rolled his wrists. Rahjan nudged him with a bulky phone. Vaghn snatched it and stood. His knees went mushy.
Rahjan reached for him, but he slapped him away. “Don’t. You’ve done enough already.” The bastard had the balls to smile.
He opened the satellite phone, bringing up the text screen, then hobbled to the laptop. Agony punched each step, and he stopped, gripping the table ledge and catching his breath for a second. Then he pressed a button on the side of the computer and a latched cavity opened. He pulled out a universal cord, then attached it to the phone.
He punched in a sequence, then stopped. “There’s no turning back now. You better hope they aren’t nearby or we die with them.”
Rahjan looked at Barasa. “We don’t know. You cannot risk this.”
Jason felt a prickle of conscience. Donovan likely had it. An old part of him recognized the determination in the former Marine, and his deep sense of honor. However useless, he’d been seeking justice for the deaths. Any sympathy vanished as pain softened his muscles and he flattened his palms on the surface to steady himself.
Blood dripped off his chin and onto the keyboard.
He grabbed the phone. “Bye-bye, Donovan.”
He hit Send.
Nine
Deep Six
Satellite Intelligence
David’s special assignment was giving him fits. He still didn’t know what the transmission contained, but he was close to narrowing the field of the send. With Gerardo’s play-for-free card, access to several other pieces of hardware in the sky was easy and kind of scary. The government was everywhere, he thought. He’d spent hours going through data and looking for something similar to the encryption. He just had to find the primer, the sequence embedded in the binary code. He was afraid the General would call it quits before he learned the truth. Although there were about two dozen analysts working inside Deep Six, divided only by sound muffling partitions, someone else was taking his daily workload while he hunted.
“Whoa, what was that?” Beckham said from behind him, sliding his feet off the desktop.
David frowned at the neon red signal that wasn’t there a moment ago. Saving his work, he turned away from his station and rode his chair across to another area. Immediately he switched frequencies and turned all his attention to it. The computer started spewing data down the screen.
“It has a high heat signature.”
“God damn suicide bombers.”
“No sir, bigger, South Pacific.” He glanced back at the Major. “Like Chernobyl.”
“Holy Hanna.” Major Beckham sent the message to the proper authorities. No one wanted to get caught with their pants down.
The eye in the sky slid east from Indonesia. David felt adrenaline pump through him as he manipulated the signals, shifting billion dollar pieces of engineering to be able to see the topography ten thousand miles across the globe.
“Singapore, Johor Straits.”
“Magnify,” Major Beckham said, leaving his console and moving off the dais. He stopped beside him and watched on the smaller screens.
The Hawkeye satellite system had the capability to return deeper imagery than any of its kind, then proved it as the graphics on the wall of screens in front of them refined and divided, narrowing their view. He could look inside a kitchen window if he tried hard enough. He slowed the process and focused on the thermal signature.
“It’s hot, minor explosions near the epicenter.”
“Pull back five hundred meters.”
David did as ordered. They could see the results.
“I need an address, Davey boy. A-sap.”
David typed, filling in with a street map, then waiting for the overlay. “Oh man,” he said. “It’s ours. A station house.”
Beckham’s features pulled tight. “I thought so. Give me all records for that location. Recent transmissions, agents in the area, Sat use times, everything.”
David pushed off, his chair skating across the floor to another computer station. He pulled up the records. He’d spoken to Ellie Mullins only this morning. Deep Six was mostly covert Intel; he relayed and assisted the base operations with her and numerous other stations. He was glad she wasn’t near that place.
E Ring
Pentagon
Hank Jansen didn’t stop writing when his clerk buzzed him.
“Sir, Agent Choufani, Interpol, is on the line for you.”
There was a little question in the clerk’s voice and Hank suspected it was the agent’s Middle Eastern accent that put him on alert.
Hank picked up the phone. “Agent Choufani, how can I help you?”
“It is I who am returning a favor to you, sir.”
Antone Choufani had been tracking a Hezbollah bomb maker who’d detonated at a Yemen wedding, Choufani’s own sister’s. It was Antone’s police work in tracing a slip of specialty paper found on a deceased bomber that helped uncover an arms network in the Peruvian jungle. Taking out the terrorist who’d killed his sister and forty-eight other people had been the agent’s sole pleasure.
“Can you please scramble this line, sir?”
Hank hit a button and the tone hummed. “Done. Go ahead.”
“I am in Istanbul, Hagia Irene. Can you bring up your email?”
Frowning Hank wondered at the cryptic tone of the call. He did as he asked, then opened the picture sent from a cell phone. He saw a small European car, the doors open. The bodies of two men in street clothes were inside, slumped over each other like lovers. Deceased, he assumed.
“I believe I’ve uncovered a link,” Choufani began. “You should know that I have followed the two men from Syria. From a cell training camp. They have criss-crossed their own paths several times without resistance, assisted as if the followers dared not have them in their camps for long. I do not feel it’s because American agents could be searching for one of them already.”
“Why are you contacting me with this?”
“He’s one of yours. A U.S. Army Ranger. He has the emblem tattooed over his heart.”
Damn, Hank thought.
“I have run prints, he is—was Daniel Porter.”
Hank worked the military database. “He was declared Killed in Action four years ago in Iraq.” Apparently, he crossed the border and worked for the other side. The press did not need to know this. Not now.
“I found dirty black ops clothing in duffels, and two million in cash in the car.”
It just gets better, he thought. “Cause of death?”
“I haven’t had time to confirm, but I be
lieve they were killed by some sort of dart.”
Hank stilled, the connection outrageous, but he suddenly needed to be there with Choufani. “You’re right, Antone. You have a link. I need that evidence. All of it. It can’t be tested. If I’m guessing correctly, what they’d find would be classified.”
“I understand.”
“It’s imperative that word not leak of a U.S. soldier dead in Turkey with two million in cash.” Not with so many bases in Turkey, and the latest Blackwater scandal, he thought. “Can you send the evidence to me, A-sap?”
“I have already done so, sir. It should arrive by morning, diplomatic courier.”
Hank’s brows shot up, and he sat back in his leather chair.
“Your silence is meaningful,” Choufani said with a light chuckle. “The less the local constables know, the less of a trail they’ll follow that could get them killed. These two men were a cog, and unfortunately, whatever they sold for two million is gone.”
Hank had the feeling it was a half liter of RZ10 and now there was no chance of locating the deadly chemicals until it was used.
Fifteen minutes later, a call from Major Beckham confirmed his worst nightmare.
Sungei Kadut
Singapore
Max was damned pleased with himself and hoped he had enough of an imprint on the pad to get Vaghn’s notes. He down-shifted around a curve, heading north back to the CIA station, zipping along till something shook the ground. He braked slowly. Earthquake, he thought as the small hatchback car shivered like a nervous terrier. He stopped, but it was a struggle to get out and he stared over the car roof toward the water. It was too dark to see much, but he heard a rumbling, like rocks falling down a mountain.
He felt it before he saw it, the collapse of buildings, cars and my God, people in a wave that wouldn’t crest. It neared and he realized he was facing the wrong direction to escape it. He jumped back in the car, shoved it into reverse, and stomped on the gas. He threw his arm over the seat, steering backwards through the streets. Pitch dark, the tail lights didn’t illuminate enough and he rode over anything in his path. A glance ahead said he wasn’t going to make it. The spew of glass, concrete, dirt, and steel chased him in a thick cloud, and he maneuvered wildly, clipping cars and buildings.
“Ohgodohgodohgod.” He cut sharply to the right, the rear end fishtailing and he braked, spinning the car around. He threw the gear, slammed his foot to the floor, and rode over curbs, then clipped a sandwich board sign, kicking it into the air. He passed it as it crashed to the ground behind him, the shattered wood ricocheting like spears.
But the blast caught up with him and a chunk of debris hit the rear window. He braked hard and ducked as glass pummeled him. Fractures embedded in the dash.
He felt blood trickle warmly near his ear a breath before his world went quiet.
“Base? Confirm the tag,” Safia said from the rooftop.
“Roger that. I have thermal as well. Three figures, one seated.”
“Interrogation,” Safia muttered.
“There are incoming and outgoing calls,” Base said. “Tracking. Something’s going on. Too many appliances to isolate.”
Riley sighted in and saw the long town car pull from the garage, the indoor lights brightening the area for a moment before the door lowered. It was Barasa’s car.
“They’re leaving,” she said.
On the rooftop, Riley sat back on his haunches, then scooted further from the edge. “Do you feel that?”
Safia twisted to look at him, then caught the sensation. “The shaking? Yeah.” Earthquake, she thought, a minor one. She backed up to avoid a shadow, then stood.
Scowling, he rose and looked around, then moved to the edge of the building’s roof to view Queen City. The traffic signals and neon signs sparkled like on any other night. The snail of headlights blinked in and out as traffic moved.
“Raven, I lost the station,” Base said.
Safia touched the volume on her comm-link. “Repeat last.”
Riley scowled at her.
“I lost connect to the station.”
“Which one?”
“All of them!” Ellie said and Safia could hear her typing furiously. “There’s nothing there. No computer tracking, no land lines, cable, nothing.”
“Oh sweet mother Jaasus,” Riley said.
Safia rushed to him. “Base has no communications.”
He didn’t answer, staring, and Safia moved around him.
In the distance along the water, an intense burst of light radiated in a pinwheel, suspended, and she flipped off the night vision on the scope and sighted. It was there for a moment, then it was gone and in that instant, she felt as if there wasn’t enough air to breathe in. She reached for him, and he gripped back, scowling darkly at the sight.
Then a wave of heat came like a slap, the temperature rising in seconds and she felt it on her skin, her hair. Like she was cooking in the noonday sun.
“Are you mad, woman?” Riley pulled her down below the roof’s rim, and covered her with his body. A second later, a flash of heat passed over them like a molten river and he wedged them closer to the only barrier. Sweat flushed down her body, the air baking in her lungs.
It lasted only a moment longer. The temperature quickly returned to the cloying humidity. Riley unwound from her and she met his gaze.
“That wasn’t anything good,” she said.
“You’re telling me.” He rubbed the top of his head and she smelled singed hair.
Cautiously, she rose to peer over the edge, sighting through the scope. “Oh my lord.” It wasn’t over.
As if a giant fist slammed into the land, buildings collapsed, flattened effortlessly. The percussion took the same path as the first blast of heat, a crushing force she’d only seen in movies. Scream after scream punctured the night air, the scrapping compression of metal and concrete fast and destructive. It was over a mile away.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” she said.
Then it simply stopped. Alarms went off in all directions. The dust hadn’t begun settling before people rushed in panic.
Safia’s stomach sank hard. “Base, what do you have on satellite, where is it?” Ellie told her. “Riley?”
He met her gaze. “It’s the station, isn’t it?”
She nodded, her chest tightening.
“I told you we should have taken him back,” he said without malice. “The only thing we brought into the station was Vaghn’s backpack. And I left Sebastian sleeping right beside it.”
His voice broke, a slight fracture that told her just how close those guys were. She looked at the destruction. Sebastian couldn’t have survived that.
Riley headed for the rooftop door, vaulting over abandoned planters then threw open the door. He raced down the interior staircase, Safia close but his heart was pounding too fast to care if she caught up. Outside he scanned for a ride, and saw her motorcycle tucked between the buildings, leaning. He maneuvered it into the open.
“Hurry up,” he said as she burst through the tenement doors.
She swung her leg over, and started it with one touch. She pulled on her helmet as he slid on. “Base, track on all traffic in that area.” She rode.
“Raven, there isn’t anything coming from there. Electricity and phone circuits are down all the way to Sungei Kadut.”
Safia didn’t have to ask Riley. That’s where Max had gone.
They rode closer, streetlights sputtering out as the damage spread. The debris forced Safia to move slowly and she passed a car crushed to two feet thick, the driver still inside. A body lay in the road, the victim on his back. His skin clung tight to his bones, as if mummified. Her heart lurched when she recognized the red apron of the old man who sold vegetables in the common market. She slowed, the rubble heavier, some of it flaming, and she was forced to stop.
Riley slid off and ran the rest of the way to the station. She didn’t follow immediately, the terrain no longer
familiar. Homes and shops she’d frequented were crushed as if the bones were missing, all the support stolen. She slid off the bike and turned in a circle, stunned by the landscape. It looked like a nuclear blast.
Five blocks of Singapore coastline was simply gone.
She stepped carefully, forcing herself not to look too closely, then spotted the leg of a child under tons of concrete, steel, and glass. “Oh geez,” she moaned. She’d seen worse in her career, but it was the children that always tore at her soul. Singapore was densely populated. The death toll would be high.
Yards ahead, Riley stood on a pile of bricks and stones, and she climbed the rubble to his side. She stared down into a smoldering hole in the ground a hundred feet wide. The house was gone. They stood on what was left of the building that had been across the street.
She slipped on jagged cement, then just sat. A few feet from her, Riley stared at the cavern, then sank to his knees. “Oh Sebastian,” he said softly.
“I’m so sorry.” Her throat ached and she reached for him, then hesitated.
Safia felt his grief as if she wore it, his body trembling a little, his breathing fast. She touched his shoulder, slid her hand down to grip his. He squeezed, then suddenly grabbed her close, almost painfully, and Safia simply held on. He breathed hard into the curve of her neck, his fingers digging into her skin as he fought the scream she felt boiling up in him. Then as if he broke inside, the tension snapped. He sagged against her and after a moment, he let her go and turned away. Riley stared at the spot where he’d left his friend.
She blinked, feeling helpless, and angrily brushed at her own tears. “Base? Alert all emergency services. Start with outside the blast perimeter.”
“Why past it?”
“There is noting left inside it.”
She ignored Ellie’s moans of sympathy and added, “Send a directive to NMCC, the JCS. Don’t wait for DDO approval, go right to the top.”
Riley turned, his emotions in a hot glare that softened instantly.
She was going to piss some people off, but the Joint Chiefs needed to know this, now. “This is going to ring across the world,” she said. “Maybe someone knows what that explosive is.” Then to Base she said, “I need Intel. Now, all channels. Flash priority.”
Fight Fire With Fire. Page 14
