Game of Fear

by Robin Perini

  A spark of hope sparked within Deb. “Can we track that information?”

  “Luke’s researching a company that bought a big tract of land around here in the last several years. Whitney’s matching it with the FBI’s list of possible Gasmerati shell companies. They’re close.”

  Deb glanced over at Nick, who had the cell phone to his ear. She lowered her voice. “Whitney is with your brothers? Do they know who she is?”

  “Yeah, and she pretty much told them to man up. Zach’s watching out for her.”

  Deb’s phone rang. She looked down. “Oh, no. It’s my father.” She let out a slow breath and picked up. “Hello?”

  The General didn’t speak for a moment. “Deb? I . . . uh . . .”

  She hadn’t heard him stutter like that since . . . Fear clamped her gut. She braced herself. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “It’s Ben.” Her father’s voice went thick with emotion. “There’s been an explosion. The Army lost all communication with his unit.”

  He paused. She didn’t want to hear it.

  “Deb, they think Ben’s dead.”

  She froze. No. Not true. Not possible.

  With both hands, she clutched at Gabe, her mind strangely numb. She couldn’t think, couldn’t feel.

  A fog fell over her. She could barely make out her father’s words.

  Something wet streamed down her face.

  “Deb, what about Ashley?” Her father’s voice was soft, hesitant. “Did you find her?”

  He’d asked her a question.

  Gabe’s thumb wiped away her tears. She clung to him.

  “Not yet.”

  He paused. “I see. I’d arranged to come stateside, but now I’ll need to wait until I receive confirmation . . . of your brother’s . . . status.”

  “I’ll find Ashley,” Deb said softly. “I promise.”

  She heard the hitch of her father’s breath on the other end of the line. “I can’t lose two of my kids, Deborah. Do whatever you can.”

  “I . . . I will.”

  Her father cleared his throat. “Stay safe, Deborah. I . . . I do love you.”

  He disconnected before she could respond.

  He hadn’t said those words since her mother died.

  She clutched the phone, unable to move. She’d wanted to stay on the line with her father. This was the man she remembered from so long ago. She wanted him here. She wanted someone to count on.

  Gabe stroked the side of her cheek with his knuckle. “You all right?”

  She looked at Gabe. He’s the one she could count on. He’d never let her down. He’d proved that already. No matter how tough things got, he was always there.

  “You heard?”

  “Enough,” he said gently. Gabe’s phone rang. “It’s Zach,” he said, then pressed Speaker.

  “We found the warehouse. Wheels up in twenty minutes.”

  The wake-up alarm shrilled over the intercom and echoed down the hallways.

  Ashley groaned and pulled herself up to a sitting position. Her room had no windows, but from the grit in her eyes, it had to be night. Why were they getting up now?

  She’d heard the moneymen might be coming this afternoon or tomorrow. What was going on?

  She dressed swiftly, not wanting to be caught unprepared should the Warden or one of the guards come in.

  The Warden was still angry with her. He hated her so much, he would probably do the deed himself when it came time to kill everyone.

  She had to stop thinking like that or she’d paralyze with fear. Bravery came and went with increasing irregularity.

  Moving carefully, she slipped the tiny screwdriver back into her bra. Today would be the day she’d use it. Ashley couldn’t avoid finishing the programming they’d assigned her the day before. She’d had to do it right. She couldn’t fool them.

  Niko was the best programmer among the bad guys, but even the Warden knew code. Enough to verify her subroutines did exactly what they were supposed to.

  She’d embedded the grid commands deep, the virus even deeper. But after Justin and Dave’s escape, they checked her computer thoroughly every night. Was she really that good, or had Niko just chosen not to see what she’d done?

  The two kids down the hall had disappeared yesterday. Ashley closed her eyes. She’d watched Niko carefully last night. He’d come inside, his face almost gray with fatigue.

  And she knew. The purge had started. The least talented went first, but no one was getting out alive. They’d outlived their usefulness.

  She didn’t hope to get out alive. She could stop what they planned, though. But only if she or Floyd did the demo. She definitely shouldn’t tick anyone else off until then.

  The Warden had engineered the creation of a pervasive piece of code that would make any computer on any network vulnerable. If the computer was connected, he and his people would have a back door into the system. Anywhere in the world. Military, government, financial. Ashley shivered. They had to be stopped.

  Boots and shuffling sounded in the corridors. Guards were escorting people to the cafeteria, she assumed, before starting their unusually early day.

  Tension made her fidgety. She sat on the bed and her ankle bracelet hit the metal bedstead with a clang.

  She studied each corner of the room. No obvious cameras in the ceiling, but she’d seen enough to be careful. There were vents, and she couldn’t risk being caught. This could be her last chance.

  Lying on the bed, she huddled beneath the blanket, tucking her legs into a ball, feigning feeling ill. Niko said if she used the wrong tool on the cuff, she’d set it off and they’d know. She sent a little prayer upward, then pulled the small screwdriver from her bra.

  Nerves had her fumbling as she felt around the bracelet. A small screw attached at the back.

  God, what she wouldn’t give for a flashlight.

  The blanket clung like a suffocating hand around her throat. She caught the groove in the screw and turned. No alarm went off. Did it trigger a notification somewhere else? She was committed now.

  Every few turns, she fumbled with the screw. Finally, the tiny piece of metal fell to the bed. After undoing the second screw, she pulled apart the ankle monitor and brought it up to her chest. She had to risk a bit of light to check it out. She lifted the blanket slightly. Inside the bracelet two small sets of marks were scraped into the inside rubber casing. C2.

  That was the door Niko had pointed out when he’d led her to the armory, and again when he took her the long way back to her room tonight.

  A door, metal, but no guard. Only the wall panel. She’d seen cameras . . . and yet . . .

  God, could she trust him? If she was wrong . . .

  She had to take a chance. There was no time left.

  A loud knock sounded at her door.

  “Get up,” Niko’s voice yelled. “You’re on display.”

  Heart pounding, she tucked the tracking device into her pocket and made certain her pants covered her ankle. For a while, she’d let them think they knew where she was . . . and she prayed she’d know the right time to run out of door C2. She’d take whoever she could with her.

  Niko slammed open the steel door. The clang echoed through the halls. The Warden stalked in, Niko and the red-haired guard behind him. “We’re going to the main computer room. Our guests are coming earlier than expected.” The Warden’s eye twitched in irritation. “They want to see you play. You will perform brilliantly. Understood?”

  She nodded.

  “I’m serious, Ms. Lansing. No stalling. No purposeful mistakes. Nothing rebellious at all. You will do exactly what you are told to do or I will gun down Floyd and your friend Mylo. Right in front of you. Do I make myself clear?”

  She nodded again, but she felt sick this time. Endangering herself was one thing, but her friends?
She hadn’t even been allowed to talk to Mylo since he’d been here. At least he was still alive and hadn’t vanished like so many others.

  She ducked her head, not wanting the Warden to see her hatred. No mistakes. No trouble. Not today.

  “Good.” The Warden gripped her chin and yanked it up so that she had to look him in the eyes. “You screw up even one thing, and I’ll shoot you right in the chair after I dispose of your friends. A little blood on the machine may make the next person more receptive to commands.”

  Ashley clenched her teeth so she wouldn’t spit in his face.

  “Niko, pat her down. I’m heading to see our guests now.” He addressed the red-haired guard. “Watch her carefully.” The Warden paused. “In fact, watch them both.”

  She swallowed.

  Niko patted her down, not even pausing as he felt the ankle bracelet in her pocket.

  “Bring her,” Niko ordered the guard, then stepped away, until he stood behind the red-haired guard. In a movement so fast she barely caught it, Niko formed his fingers into a C, then held down two fingers. “Today should be very interesting. Remember your lessons well.”

  Ashley walked through the doorway with them. She understood what Niko meant. Today was the day to escape through C2. He would do—or had done—whatever he could to help her.

  * * *

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  * * *

  DEB HUNKERED DOWN behind a dune and settled into position overlooking the northwest corner of a huge square building. Darkness shielded them from view, but dawn wasn’t that far away.

  Gabe’s family had come through. Zach and Whitney, of course. But Luke and his sniper wife, Jazz, the über-mysterious black ops brother Seth, and even Nick had flown in. They’d need the help.

  Poor Gabe had even relented. Steve Paretti held a sniper location in sight of one of the building’s corners.

  “Is everyone in position?” Deb whispered to Gabe.

  He swept the area with infrared binoculars. “Close.”

  Gabe clicked his mic. “Roll call, Mousketeers?”

  Each member of the team sounded in through the communications system. “Affirmative,” Seth responded last. “We have good coverage, but no obvious exits.”

  Nine against however many manned that huge building. The odds didn’t look good. Even Zach and Luke, with their combined equipment and skills, hadn’t been able to find a hole in the security.

  She shivered, fighting a fear that threatened to overwhelm her resolve. Not for her, but for Ashley. Deb rubbed her temple. Did they have a chance?

  About ten feet away, Jazz Montgomery had set up her Remington 700/40 to provide a clear view of two sides and two exits. Jazz must have noticed the sag in Deb’s shoulders and crept over before flipping off her mic. “I can tell you one thing, Deb. When the chips are down, there’s no one I’d want on my side more than the Montgomerys. They don’t give up. They fight until the end. If Ashley is in there, they’ll get her out.”

  Deb nodded. “Thanks.”

  Jazz gave her a small smile and resettled her Remington against her shoulder, returning to an eerily still, prone position.

  “She’s right.”

  Deb shifted closer to Gabe. “What’s happening?”

  “We’re waiting.” Gabe didn’t waiver from sweeping the area with his binoculars. “We need to create a break in their security to gain access to the building. Zach and Luke will do the tech work. They have heat sensors and are looping the remote viewing cameras, shutting down what they can. If it doesn’t work, we’ll have to pull in reinforcements.”

  Deb swallowed hard. “Ashley may not have that kind of time.”

  “Believe me,” Gabe said. “We’re all aware of that. We’ll do everything in our power to get into that warehouse as quickly as possible, but if we screw up, we could put every innocent life in that place in more danger.”

  “Is your family safe?” Deb asked. “Have you heard?”

  “Yeah. Mom stewed for a while, until Caleb gave in. No secrets, about the op anyway. She’s got her rosary out for us.” His voice lowered. “We decided not to tell her about Whitney. Not yet. She’ll kick our butts for keeping it from her, but we need to find the right way.”

  “Good luck with that. From what I’ve seen, your mother doesn’t take any prisoners,” Deb whispered.

  “Yeah. I don’t know what she’ll do.”

  Deb could finish the sentence for him. About me keeping a secret for all these years. She moved her hand to stroke his arm with a comforting touch. “She loves you. She’ll forgive you.”

  “Yeah. Probably. No matter how much we hurt her. She’s like that.”

  His words said it all. The guilt ate at him, probably had been all these years. His back stiffened as he tried to shake off too many thoughts.

  “At least Neil Wexler’s been cleared,” Deb said, a not-so-subtle attempt to change the subject and get him out of his head. There would be time for that. Later. “Tower kept good records and they were able to tie him to Menken’s so-called suicide. They also arrested two more deputies. I’m so relieved for you.”

  “I’m just sorry I couldn’t sit in a courtroom and watch Tower go down. The SOB is dead,” Gabe informed her.

  Deb couldn’t stop her jaw from dropping in surprise. She’d thought they’d have another battle with the sheriff once they returned to Denver.

  “Yeah, Nick just told me,” Gabe said. “One shot. Assassinated. Hand cut off.”

  “Gasmerati.”

  “Once we find Ashley, we’ll bring Gasmerati down. Luke and his family will be out of danger.”

  He didn’t mention failure, as if he wouldn’t entertain the notion. Deb prayed he was right. Because if Gasmerati was eliminated, Gabe would be safe, too.

  “I’ve got bad news.” Seth’s voice sounded through their communication devices. “Really bad.”

  Deb’s entire body tensed. She dug her fingers into Gabe’s arm. “Tell us,” he said. “We need to be prepared.”

  “Fresh digging on the east side of the building. Our radar shows human remains. At least a half dozen.”

  Deb couldn’t move, or breathe. “Ashley?” she asked quietly.

  “I don’t know,” Seth said. “We won’t know until we dig.”

  Deb didn’t fall apart. She couldn’t. Gabe pulled her close to him and rubbed her arms. The chill taking over every fiber of her being begged for heat.

  “It’s probably not her.”

  Deb’s jaw clenched and she nodded, but everything inside seemed to shatter. First Ben, now Ashley? God, none of it could be true.

  Gabe turned her to face him. “Look at me, Deb.”

  She stared at his chest. She didn’t want to look. She didn’t know if she could hold her emotions back if she saw the least bit of sympathy in his eyes.

  He lifted her chin. All she saw was determination and fury lighting his eyes.

  “We’ll find Ashley, honey.”

  Deb nodded again, unable to respond to the unexpected endearment. She looked back at the warehouse. She just prayed they found her sister alive, and not her body.

  Step by step, Ashley closed in on the computer room. She couldn’t stop her heart from slamming against her chest. Only a few more feet.

  Niko slowed the pace as he and Ashley approached the corridor to the computer room. “Go check the rooms,” he ordered the guard. “We want no mistakes.”

  The man nodded and methodically opened door after door. Once he’d moved far enough away so he couldn’t hear their conversation, Niko drew her close to the wall.

  “Shut up and listen. We’re between cameras. Act like you feel nauseous in case the guard comes back.”

  Ashley clutched her stomach and bent a little at the waist, one hand on the wall as if she needed support.

  Niko moved in closer. “It has
to be today. They’ve planted gas canisters in the basement. They’ll take everyone down there, then destroy the building. By tonight, this place will be gone.”

  Shocked, she stood again, though the pain cramping her stomach was now real. “Why are you telling me this?”

  Niko stared at her in frustration. “You’ve got guts like I’ve never seen, Lansing. The worst part, you’re who I used to be. Who I thought I could be before . . . You’re like Shannon coming back to remind me—” He stopped. “Never mind.”

  “Are you coming with us?”

  “I’ve done too much.” Niko’s voice was resigned. “I don’t deserve to escape.”

  “You helped us. I could tell them . . .”

  “There’s no time. As soon as our important guests arrive, the Warden will be distracted. I’ll disable as much of the security system as I can to help you and the others escape.”

  “Can we make it?” Ashley asked. “There are so many guards.”

  “Justin and Dave made it. The Feds have them. I’ve never seen the Warden so furious. I thought he might shoot someone just for fun.” Niko shrugged. “He has before.”

  Relief flooded through her. “Then help could be on the way. Justin was going to contact my sister.”

  “The Admiral? The one you sent the game to?”

  Ashley blinked in surprise. “You knew about that?”

  “I told you. I followed every keystroke you made.”

  “Then I was lucky it was you watching me.”

  “You’d be dead right now if the Warden hadn’t betrayed me and planned to get rid of me, too,” Niko said bluntly. “If she shows up, how could I signal her? No way can I risk a phone call or text.”

  Boots sounded down the hallway. Ashley bent over even more, imitating some dry heaves. There had to be a way. “She taught me Morse code,” Ashley said, her voice hesitant. Then she smiled. “No. Four stars,” she said. “As in a four-star admiral. Like the address label. She’ll get that it’s from me.”

  The Warden’s voice boomed down the hall. “Niko, where the hell have you been? Get her in here. She’s late.”