Darkest Hour

by Jamie Garrett

  Jackson and company nodded politely and gave quiet thanks to their distinguished host.

  “We’re approaching the point of no return,” Jackson continued. “I understand some of you actually have personal lives now, things to do outside the military, outside of this little fraternity. I understand, and respect that. And I envy it.” He drummed his fingers on the table, looking over all the faces of his men. “And I understand why some of you would rather just walk out that door and just walk away from all this shit. I get it. And so if that’s how you feel about it, there’d be no hard feelings. None whatsoever. Is that clear?”

  There was some grumbling about that. Jasper was shaking his head.

  “It’s not clear?”

  Matthias spoke up. “It’s clear, Jackson. But I don’t think we’re going anywhere.” he looked around. “Right?”

  “We don’t have to decide right this second,” Jackson said. “Take some time if you want—”

  “No.”

  “Fuck that . . .”

  “Jackson, come on . . .”

  “We’re all in,” Tansy said, louder than the rest. “We were all in this shit together, and we’re still in it. And it’s time to get out the right way.”

  More agitated mumbling, and then growling affirmations, and then fists slamming down onto the table. They were hungry for revenge, to right an injustice that was well overdue.

  They were also, apparently, just hungry. After a hearty, late dinner of steaks and potatoes prepared by Mr. Rhode’s personal assistant, they separated into the groups that would hold for the next day. Jasper and Tansy, covering the tech angle, returned to the computer bunker and hunkered down over their strategy. The duties of Matthias and Jackson, however, were a little more straightforward and tangible. And perhaps dangerous.

  They went over the layout of Hunwick’s headquarters, the two of them bent over a blueprint for two hours in Rhode’s map room. Together they plotted the best options of entry and exit. The areas to avoid, the possible kill zones, the areas to exploit. Their team would be outfitted with security badges with a working clearance. A clearance high enough to get them down to the interrogation rooms in the basement. It was the location of Anncia’s phone, and, they hoped, Annica. It wasn’t much to go on, and it was little more than a stab in the dark. But it was a start.

  “We’ll be doing this in a series of sweeps,” Jackson said. “Each one penetrating a little further, each one taking a little more risk. Think of the first attempt as recon, just to feel out the building. We need to be in and out in under an hour. With each entry, we’ll be going deeper until finally we’re in the basement, and, depending on what we find there, we might then go for it.”

  “Go for it?”

  “Grab Annica, guns blazing.”

  “I thought we couldn’t get our weapons in there?”

  Jackson folded up the blueprints Tansy had obtained for them, stuffing them into a cardboard tube. “We can’t carry anything heavier than a concealable pistol,” he said, walking out of the room with Matthias. “But Jasper’s working on getting the rest delivered to their shipping dock. He’s also taking out select security systems for us.”

  They’d gone outside for some fresh air, and to not be surrounded completely by the plans of the next day’s operation. Jackson, in particular, looked like he could use the peace and quiet, the view of the stars through fluttering palm fronds.

  “It’s a nice night,” Jackson said with a sigh. “Weather-wise.”

  Matthias was first to suggest the wicker chairs, which ended up being surprisingly comfortable when they took their seats.

  Jackson had been looking at him for a while, finally saying, “Just so you know, tomorrow is only the beginning.”

  Matthias nodded. He figured as much. It would be a long road, starting, he hoped, with Annica’s rescue. And then he imagined what would come next, the depositions, the trials, the media. A long road indeed. And not a very fun one—particularly for Hunwick, with any luck.

  “But I don’t just mean taking down Hunwick,” Jackson said. “I’m talking about us, organizing. Forming a group.”

  “We are a group.”

  “I mean, officially. And out of the fucking military. We’d be on our own.”

  “Hmm . . .” Matthias definitely agreed with getting out of the military. “But on our own, doing what?”

  “Tansy and I have been talking about forming a cybersecurity firm. But we could expand it to include all types of paramilitary service, but with an emphasis on hacking, and IT. He already does some of that as a side job, or did.”

  “Well, depending on how this mission goes, and the rest of it, we might just have to become our own army.”

  “So why not get paid in the process?” Jackson said.

  “Get paid for taking down assholes like Hunwick?”

  “And paid well.”

  Matthias sat quietly for a moment, and then said, “I like how that sounds. But we should probably focus on tomorrow.”

  “I know,” Jackson said. “I know. I just need some good news. Something positive. But, seriously, think about it.”

  Matthias was already thinking about it. Harder than he should.

  14

  JASPER

  Jasper smiled and said, “Hi.”

  “Hi. Are you David?”

  With a nod, Jasper agreed to being David and was immediately shown into the security offices of Hunwick’s compound. He had arrived through the service entry at the rear of the ground floor, wearing a clean, freshly pressed white shirt. A simple red tie. And a badge which read, BioCleanse.

  He was there to treat the building’s mold problem. It had poor ventilation, and up on the top floors—the southern, ocean side specifically—the office workers would open the windows and allow in all the moisture. It would settle into the walls and make the paint bubble and flake, or, in the corners, go black with mold. This was especially problematic in the closets. Jasper—or David—was an expert at this. Just let him in and don’t pay much attention to him, and the problem should solve itself by midday. No big deal.

  Jasper wheeled his cart through a long, empty hallway. The place was quiet. Too quiet. “Everyone got the day off today?”

  “Yeah, something like that. We’ve also got some more repairs going on downstairs. A lot of power interruptions.”

  He stared into the various rooms as they walked down the hallway, all of them appearing dark and empty.

  “I’ve actually treated this building before,” Jasper said, doubling down on his role. “Maybe a year ago? No offense, but, whoever designed this place . . .”

  “I can’t wait till the move,” the security guy said. “The lease is up in March.”

  “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this,” Jasper said. “But with the kind of mold you’ve got . . .”

  “What?” Security Guy looked concerned.

  “Nah, never mind.”

  “No. What?” The guy had stuck his foot in front of the cart’s wheel, pinning it against him.

  “I just assumed you owned the building.”

  “It’s a lease.”

  “You should look at your contracts,” Jasper said. “Maybe bring a case against them.”

  “Is it dangerous?” he asked. “Being here with this mold? I’m not tracking it home with me to my wife and kids, right?”

  “Not after today.” Jasper continued with the cart. “But you’ll probably want to stay away from the sixth floor, though, until I’m done.”

  “Yeah,” he said, catching up to Jasper and his innocuous little cart. “Yeah, okay. Well, here’s the elevator.”

  Jasper was finally given some privacy on the sixth floor, a little breathing room to step out of his mold-control role and think more clearly about the mission at hand. His undercover mission was the first prong of the attack, to get in and neutralize their security systems. Jackson and Matthias would follow up, beginning the first phase of their expanding search for Annica’s phone. It was
a point made earlier, specifically, that their goal was to find her phone because they knew for sure it was still in the building. Annica’s whereabouts, however, or even whether she was alive or not, was way too unclear.

  And there was also that niggling feeling that Jasper knew not to share with anyone. He’d had no conversations about it, but could tell he perhaps wasn’t alone in the thought that Annica was a trap from the get-go, that she hadn’t been abducted after the crash, but merely walked back into the shadows. And now, it was those shadows that they were all walking into. The same perilous, murky shadows that had surrounded them in Libya. How else could Hunwick’s clandestine headquarters be described?

  He flicked on the light in a nondescript sixth-floor office. It smelled of mildew and cheap cleaning supplies and it looked to have been empty for some time. It had become a storage space for old, leftover office crap. Old, broken shelving, stacks of chairs. A half dozen water coolers. In the far corner, behind a file cabinet that had already been moved out several inches from the wall, Jasper took note of the dark stain growing out from the corner. Black mold. He stared at the stain, imagining how teeming it was with life, horrible rotten life, expanding and radiating out, and infecting. It reminded him a little of the steady growth of the US shadow government, the rogue cadre of assholes who had trapped them in Libya, and who were probably still trapping others. His brother included.

  A crackle of radio static knocked Jasper from his increasingly morbid thoughts.

  He clicked back—two clicks—a wordless response that meant it was safe to talk.

  “ETA?” Tansy asked. He had been stationed in a large moving van, parked outside the building. By the looks of the beat-up old van, anyone might think that it was full of plumbing supplies or old, water-damaged rugs. Not thousands of dollars in computer equipment. “Hello? ETA?”

  “I’m in position,” Jasper said, moving away from the mold, and then leaving the room completely. He pushed his cart across the hall to what looked like a call center. Rows of computers with headsets hung atop the monitors. “You should see something in a minute.”

  He pulled a wire from one of his bags, crouched down next to a router panel, and inserted the cord. It looked like just another USB cable, not something that would link up a hacker outside the building to their systems.

  “I don’t see it,” Tansy said.

  “I said a minute.” Jasper pulled a router from his bag and then fed the cord into it with a loud, rewarding snapping sound. “You good?”

  Tansy replied. “We’re good.”

  And so Jasper began packing his bags.

  15

  TANSY

  He got to work in the van, first hacking through the data center’s encryption, and then scanning for the appropriate security controls. His first targets were the cameras. All of them. It would look less suspicious that way, rather than deactivating a select few—which might even tell Hunwick’s men where Jackson and Matthias could be found.

  “Cameras,” he said into his radio. “Check.”

  Jackson’s voice came over the radio. “Roger. Cameras, check.”

  Tansy got started next with the prioritized security settings, sorting though how each area or room had its own level of security. The basement, where the interrogation cells were located, as well as Annica’s phone, was the highest priority.

  “Jasper, come in.”

  Jasper clicked his radio.

  Tansy asked, “Are you clear?”

  “Clearing right now.”

  A moment later, Jasper’s voice returned, but was far from its usual calm. “Tansy. Stay quiet.”

  Tansy didn’t say anything in return.

  Although his eyes felt glued to one of his monitors, a 3D map of the building, he couldn’t help look over his shoulder to the van’s rear door.

  “They’re right by the van.”

  “Who?”

  “Stay quiet.”

  “Who?” he whispered sharply.

  “They look like security guards,” Jasper said. “Four of them. They’re looking at your van.”

  Tansy didn’t like the tables getting turned around like that. He was supposed to be the eye in the sky for his team, the lookout. Now he was the one being looked at, and Jasper was giving him the play-by-play. But there was another reason for him not liking the situation. Through the excitement, he’d lost track of Jackson’s progress through the building. Everything, including which specific security system to deactivate, needed to be coordinated to a T.

  He quietly radioed for Jackson, who had more questions than answers.

  “Are you seeing any security activity?” Jackson asked. “Anything done remotely?”

  “No.”

  “Someone here just asked us if we were taking part in the drill.”

  “A drill?” Besides the relatively empty building, Tansy hadn’t seen anything that would indicate there being a drill. No unusual changes to security settings, either. “I’ll keep my eye on it.”

  “Well, there’s something going on, and they’ll be clearing the building soon. We might have to take deep cover and so we’ll be off the radios for a bit.”

  “Just give me a warning.”

  He hadn’t forgotten about the crowd of people near his van, but what could he really to do about it?

  And then there was a knock.

  16

  JASPER

  The van’s rear door swung open and there was a gun pointed at his face.

  “Whoa,” Jasper said. “Hold your fire.”

  Tansy lowered the gun with a roll of the eyes. “Get your ass in here.” He turned and walked hunch-backed to his computer station, leaving Jasper to hop in and shut the door behind him.

  “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “Where did those guys go?” Tansy asked. “I thought I had some big crowd gathering near my van.”

  “They got a call and then scattered. Left in four separate cars. Everyone’s taking off. It’s like it’s five on a Friday around here.”

  “Jackson mentioned something about a drill.”

  “The guy I talked to was saying they’re doing repairs in the basement. Power outages. Have you seen any?”

  “No,” Tansy said.

  “How about someone messing with the security systems?”

  “You mean, besides me? No. It’s been quiet. But I have just stumbled upon this.” Tansy pointed to the screen and Jasper rolled his chair over. It appeared to be a little box with numbers, a timer, counting down.

  “What’s the countdown for?”

  “I have no idea,” Jasper said. “But it’s been counting down from an hour.”

  There was twenty minutes left.

  “Should we tell Jackson about it?”

  “Already did. He says it’s a ghost town in there.”

  Jasper didn’t like how easy it had been so far. The building was virtually empty with most of Hunwick’s men having already left. Even the parking lot was just about deserted. And now this countdown . . .

  “Don’t you think Jackson and Matthias should leave the building?”

  Tansy took a moment between flurries of typing to stare at him.

  “Like, just in case?” Jasper said.

  “Just in case what?” Tansy returned to his screen.

  “What if it’s . . . I don’t know.” He didn’t want to say bomb, but a timer was never a good sign.

  A low rumbling of a truck rattled past their van. Jasper crept over to the door and cracked it open slightly. A mail truck was driving quickly to the rear loading dock.

  “It’s driving up to receiving,” Jasper said. “No other activity at all. Parking lot is just about empty.”

  “Uh-oh,” Tansy said, still looking at the screen. “Someone just deactivated the cameras in receiving. Someone other than me.” He typed madly again.

  Jasper got on his radio and gave Jackson the update.

  “I’m sending Matthias over,” Jackson said. “Let us know when the truck leaves and we�
��ll see what’s there.”

  Jasper watched the screen, and the countdown timer, when a terrible thought occurred to him. “What if they’re not dropping something off, but picking it up?”

  “Annica?” There was a slight pause, and then Tansy asked, “Why don’t you see if you can walk over there?” He turned, reached into a bag, and drew out a small tracking device. “Here, attach this to the truck. Just in case.”

  “Yeah,” Jasper said, holding onto the small, silver bead. “Just in case.”

  “Good luck.”

  Jasper slipped out of the van and began making his way around the rear of the building, to where the truck had been backed up against the loading dock. The engine was still running. And as he approached, the sound of something heavy being moved clanged around inside. Either loading or unloading—both signifying something potentially disastrous. Also disastrous would be running into someone while he was tagging the truck with the tracker. Though he could always talk his way out of it. Couldn’t he? He was the mold guy, trying to ask where everyone was. Something like that.

  He checked the cab first, making sure it was empty, and then back around to the other side of the van. All clear. Though he could still hear the work of men inside, a loud rumbling sound as something was being pushed on wheels over the truck’s wooden floor. As he walked by the passenger side of the truck, he placed his hand absentmindedly against the bottom of the cab. Just completely absentmindedly, for no reason at all. Then just as swiftly, he turned and went back to the van.

  17

  MATTHIAS

  He left Jackson in the basement, an odd feeling coming over him as he leapt up the stairs. He didn’t like leaving people in basements. But the truck had left, and so he was given the go-ahead to search the loading dock for whatever new items had been dropped off. It was also time to grab their weapons.