“Love those scrubbing bubbles,”
“Smart man, now there are a few things I need you to sign.”
Roberts handed over a number of papers and Jace began signing, but then something caught his eye.
“What’s that number? Is that the fee for all this?”
“Yes, but don’t worry, it’s been paid by your friend.”
“Damn,”
“What’s wrong?”
“I just realized that my friend is a better friend than I thought.”
“It is a princely sum, and it’s much less than Mr. Roman’s normal fee.”
“I guess Roman makes more than a janitor, huh?”
“No doubt,”
***
They took a helicopter and rendezvoused with Carter near the farm where the gun battle had taken place earlier.
Carter clapped him on the shoulder.
“Thank you for agreeing to this, but until we’re certain all the rats have been accounted for, you seem to be the only one I can trust.”
“How many more people are involved?”
“Lawson tells me that they now think it’s down to Matthews and a handful of men, mostly Americans. They’re hiding somewhere while they work on decrypting those files, we find that location and this all ends.”
Lawson sighed.
“That’s easier said than done, Carter, we don’t have a tracker.”
“We do if you brought me what I asked for?”
“I did, but it’s useless without the random sixty-four digit alpha-numeric code.”
Lawson opened a briefcase and took out a new tracker.
“And the tool kit?” Carter said.
Lawson handed him a packet that contained a set of fine tools, such as a jeweler would work with.
Carter selected the smallest screwdriver he could find and began taking apart the tracker.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“These things have something similar to the SIM card in your cell phone. That card is where the code number is input.”
He thought for a moment, and it came to him.
“We can retrieve the unit I smashed against the tree and use that card in this tracker.”
“In theory, and I already trudged back into the woods and retrieved it.”
Carter pulled the old unit out of his pocket. It had one side caved-in and the screen was shattered. Next, he used the tiny screwdriver and opened the back to remove the card, which he then installed in the new unit.
Once the screws were back in place, Carter flipped the unit over and pressed the Power Button.
“Nothing’s happening?” Lawson said.
“Give it time, these are sensitive machines and once it does come on, it will need to acquire a satellite.”
The screen came to life and displayed a map of the area they were standing in.
Carter made a sound of annoyance.
“Hell, I bloody forgot to press the search button so it will trace the signal that matches the code. Give it a moment more.”
It took several moments, but the map expanded to an overview of North America, followed by the appearance of a tiny, pulsing dot several hundred miles northeast.
Lawson laughed, as he copied down the coordinates listed on the screen.
“You did it, Carter, now I’ll send agents to that location, and this will be over in no time.”
“Do you trust every one of those men, Lawson? Because if even one of them is in Matthews’ network or even if he’s just monitoring communications, he’ll get word of this and hide the drive underground where it can’t be tracked. We’re damn lucky that he hasn’t done it already.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“Give us a head start, then, bypass your agents and involve your army. Can you do that?”
“I’m authorized to do whatever I think is necessary for this assignment.”
“Good, give White and me a head start while you move troops near these coordinates, and then send them in when we give you the go ahead. Matthews has contacts in your intelligence community, but I’m betting that he doesn’t have any in your army.”
“And if he makes it past you two before you give the go ahead?”
“He won’t,” he said. “I am highly motivated to end this quickly and get back to my wife. Decide now, Lawson; you’re wasting time.”
Lawson stared at them for a moment.
“Your file says you’re a pilot, Carter. Is that true?”
“I’ve flown everything up to small jets.”
“Give me the keys to your rental and take the helicopter to the airfield, there’s a plane there fueled and ready to go; I’ll contact you about where to land once you’re in the area.”
“Good call, mate.”
“White?”
“Yes?”
“Come back in one piece, hmm?”
“Count on it,”
***
Back at the house, Jessica stood by the windows in the living room, looking out at Maggie as she played fetch with the dog. With them was Heather Beck, the girl Maggie had met earlier.
Amanda came up from behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Are you worried about him?”
“Yes, but it’s more than that. We’ve always faced things together, but ever since the pregnancy things have been different, and they’re bound to change more once the babies come.”
“Not to speak negatively, but what will happen to Maggie if Betty’s operation isn’t successful?”
“God forbid, but if that happens, then she’ll live with us.”
“Speaking as a stray you’ve already given a home to, she’ll be a lucky girl to have you care for her.”
“You’re not a stray, Amanda, you’re family, and you’ve been a huge help to me.”
“I love living here, being with you two. I spent so many years living alone and in hiding, and now I have family, and I’m even seeing a lovely man.”
“I spoke to Daddy earlier, he seems very happy these days.”
“I’d like to take all the credit, but he’s also happy about Jimmy being home, and don’t forget, you’re about to make him a grandfather. He’s very excited about that.”
“Ohh,”
“What’s wrong?”
“They’re active today; I think they’re getting restless in there.”
Amanda grinned.
“I remember what that’s like, only I had three of them.”
“What were they like, what was he like, as a small child?”
“Much like he is now, self-contained, of the three of them, he cried the least, and oh, he began walking at eight months.”
“Eight? That’s extremely early from what I’ve read.”
“It is, but he also never crawled. One day he just stood up and walked over to me.”
“What about the other two, Jeffrey and Michael?”
“Jeffrey walked at nine months, but Michael didn’t walk until he was a year old. Michael was always the last to do anything, even to be born.”
“I’m sorry that you didn’t get to raise them, but you’ll be a big part of your grandchildren’s lives.”
“I’ll never know what happened to Michael. Jeffrey is a monster, but I know what’s become of him, with Michael, everything is a mystery.”
“We’ve had someone looking for him, our friend, Carly, but there’s so little to go on that it’s difficult.”
“Tell her to stop searching.”
“Why? In time, we just might find him.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,”
“I don’t understand?”
“Jessica... what if he’s another Jeffrey?”
CHAPTER 8
The tracker took them to a house in Wisconsin that was only a few hundred yards from the border of Illinois and little more than a mile from Lake Michigan. It was after nine at night and the tail end of a winter storm was adding to the eighteen inches that had already fallen.
T
he home’s nearest neighbor was a quarter of a mile away, secluded, but hardly isolated,
The tracker’s screen had gone blank once, as the storm blocked the satellite’s signal, but as the storm moved eastward, they saw that Matthews had not changed his location.
They were in a rented jeep, driving along West Russell Road, and he blocked the entrance of a nearby driveway so they could look at Matthews’ lair through night-vision binoculars. They had to land near Greenfield and make the drive to the Kenosha area, because the storm had closed the local airports.
Carter made an adjustment, and the house came into clear focus. The driveway was accessible by a path made through the snow, and was just wide enough for a vehicle to squeeze through.
“Two men on the front porch and doubtless more inside,” Carter said
“They don’t look like agents, they look too grungy.”
“That’s a good sign. Perhaps there are few conspirators left and he had to hire mercenaries.”
“Why here?” he said.
“What?”
“Why come here?”
“Well, the landscape is flat with barely a tree in sight. Anyone approaching is visible for hundreds of yards, although, personally I would have picked a more isolated location.”
“That’s what I mean, what’s the attraction? Also, why isn’t he underground somewhere? It doesn’t make sense to take the chance of being tracked when he doesn’t have to be.”
“True, but he also believes that it isn’t possible to be tracked.”
“That’s true now, but it wasn’t always. If I hadn’t disabled your tracker, then what was their plan? It couldn’t have been to come here. This place is far too exposed.”
“My guess would be that the storm changed his plans.”
“Possibly, but he could have flown around it.”
“No, not if he was being tracked. That much time in the air would have left him vulnerable.”
“So, he planned to come here all along, but why?”
“It is a mystery, but drive on for now; they’re looking this way and I don’t want anyone to begin to wonder why we’re sitting out here when there’s barely another car on the road.”
They drove along and pulled into the parking lot of a local business that was closed due to the storm. The lot appeared recently plowed, but was still coated with a dusting of fresh flakes, and the line of trucks parked at the long dock were little more than shapes under the snow.
The surrounding landscape was so flat that they could still see the entrance to the home’s driveway through their binoculars.
Also, despite it being dark, there was plenty of natural light, as a full moon reflected off the snow.
They contacted Lawson and called in their position, and then they asked him a question.
“Tunnels? No, the topography maps show no tunnels or caves in the immediate vicinity, but tell me, do you think an assault on that house will be successful?”
“I don’t see how it could fail, Lawson, which makes me wonder why he’s here. Something must have changed in his escape plan. This storm, are you certain it closed all the airports, even private airfields?”
“Yes, but they’re reopening now. We have the airports and railways, and even the ports covered, and if Matthews gets near a traffic camera, our facial recognition software will spot him. Maybe they just didn’t think things through?”
He considered that and then dismissed it. No, the conspiracy to acquire the drive was something that must have taken time and careful planning, so why leave the escape to chance.
“White?”
“Yes.”
“You and Carter did what we needed, you located them. Now your part in this is over. I’ll send in the troops and we’ll deep six Matthews and his men and then you can go home to your wife.”
“Deep six?”
“What?”
“Deep six, it was originally a nautical term meaning six fathoms. Lawson, is it possible for a submarine to navigate its way through the Erie Canal?”
“A submarine?”
“If Matthews climbs into a sub he’ll bypass all security checkpoints, avoid satellite detection, and once he reached the Atlantic he could go anywhere in the world.”
“That’s something we hadn’t considered, but it’s moot now. We’ve got troops headed to that house to take them down.”
Carter put down the binoculars and took out his weapon.
“We’ll have to call you back, Lawson.”
“Why?”
“We’ve been spotted, and Matthews is on the move.”
He lifted his binoculars to see what Carter meant, and saw two Hummers headed their way, as two more left the driveway and drove towards Lake Michigan.
“Lawson?”
“Yes, White?”
“Speed up those troops.”
***
He turned the jeep around and headed for the building.
The snow-dappled sign read, Henderson Electrical Supply.
Most of the trucks parked at the long dock were straight jobs, twenty to twenty-four feet long, but there were also six tractor-trailers parked at the north end, near an overhead door made of corrugated steel.
“What’s our play, White?”
“We have to get out of this snow. We’re likely out-numbered and if they can read our tracks in the snow, we’d be too easy to follow and kill.”
“So we go inside the warehouse? Smart, but how do we get in?”
He turned his head and smiled.
“Hold on.”
He rode up the concrete ramp at the end of the building and rammed into the overhead door. The door held, but bent enough to cause a gap to form on its left side, and to set a burglar alarm to blaring.
“Hit it again!” Carter yelled, as behind them the Hummers sped closer.
He backed the jeep down the ramp, and then floored the pedal, but the slippery surface of the ramp made the vehicle slide to its side, and the impact with the door had little power, and only widened the gap another inch.
This time he eschewed momentum for brute force and just kept the gas pedal down, and as the engine whined and the tires alternated between slipping and catching, the gap expanded.
Gunfire erupted just as they piled out and hit the ground, and he squeezed through the gap with Carter following, and entered a cavernous expanse filled with high shelving, with a smaller shipping area at the other end.
As they ran past the glass-enclosed office in the middle, their pursuers entered and a burst of gunfire shattered the office windows.
He ran to the right while shouting to Carter.
“Like we did at the farm, divide and conquer,”
“Good luck, White!” Carter shouted back, but his words were lost in the sound of the alarm’s whine.
Carter ran straight ahead into the shipping area and used a forklift for cover as he tried to determine the enemies’ numbers.
They were eight, and four of them split off into pairs to chase down White as the rest spread out and headed his way.
Carter got down low and crawled under an elaborate rail system of metal rollers upon which several colorful, plastic totes sat. The rollers ran the width of the building and made it possible to move incoming stock quickly to the receiving area in the rear.
When he reached the other side, he climbed up the creaking, metal shelving while being grateful for the blare of the alarm. The sound covered his movements, and was so loud that he himself couldn’t hear the noise he was making, much less his pursuers.
Once on top, he settled in between a pair of crated generators, lied down, and steadied his gun, while waiting for a target.
***
He ran along a shadowy aisle between twenty-foot-high shelving packed with electrical equipment. The only light drifted in from windows high up in the surrounding cinder block walls and the ear-splitting alarm all but rendered him deaf to any other sounds.
His silenced gun was in his hand, and he turned his head every few
steps to see if he was being pursued. Halfway down the aisle, he spotted a gap between two large electrical transformers. He crouched down and rushed into the dark space, then, he peeked out and saw two men, one black, one white, entering the aisle from the same direction that he had come from, and both men were armed with shotguns.
He moved back as far as he could and waited for the men to draw closer, and as he waited, his eyes darted about, looking for signs of movement, for the two coming his way were but a fraction of the men looking to kill him.
When he leapt out with his gun held out at arm’s length, the two men were ten feet away. He fired six shots and the men went down, mouths opened, grunting, but their cries were swallowed by the blare of the alarm.
The next instant, the blast from a .44 magnum managed to pierce the wail and a case of light bulbs exploded on his right as two more men entered the aisle from the other end. Then, a bullet ricocheted off a shelf as the other man fired a pistol.
He was out in the open and returning to the gap he ambushed the first pair from would just leave him trapped. He needed cover and he needed it immediately or he was going to die.
***
Four men gathered below Carter’s position as he hoped they would, gaining comfort by the full shelves at their backs, as their eyes scanned for movement in front of them.
As one of the men shouted orders to the others, Carter slipped his gun back in its holster, stood, and pushed at a crate. The generator inside weighed over a hundred pounds and his feet slid back upon the dusty metal shelf, but once he shoved the crate past the halfway point, gravity took over, and the box fell end over end.
One man died without ever knowing it as another’s leg snapped, but the remaining men were only rattled. Carter followed up by firing down at them, killing the man with the broken leg, as the two survivors managed to flee.
One of the men hid behind a pallet with merchandise stacked high upon it and wrapped in plastic. Carter fired shot after shot at it, hoping to get lucky, but all luck ended as the shelving he stood on shook, then canted, and finally fell diagonally.
Carter instinctively released the gun to grab ahold and brace himself as he rode the hulk of metal skeleton to the floor. The impact broke two ribs, even as a crate fell over, pinning him, and breaking his left arm.
As he cried out in pain, he saw one of the men climb off the forklift used to ram the shelving. The man who had hidden behind the pallet joined him, and then the two of them closed in with smiles on their faces and assault rifles in their hands.
The TAKEN! Series - Books 9-12 (Taken! Box Set Book 3) Page 28
