by Nick Thacker
Jen winced as she saw Carter’s elbow catch Nelson’s chin, directly where he’d been hit earlier. She ran to help, but Erik held her back.
“He’s rabid, Jen. There is nothing you will be able to do. If Nelson cannot fight him off, you will not either.”
Jen knew he was right, but still she hated just watching. “Maybe we can all attack him together?”
Nelson groaned, his face covered by most of Carter’s body, and he shifted quickly, spinning himself around and then up onto his knees. Blood dripped from his nose, and a large welt was already forming above his left eye.
“All right, you bastard. You want to fight?” Nelson stood up and waited for Carter to attack again.
This time, he was prepared. As Carter stumbled forward, Nelson caught him with a massive uppercut to the soft fleshy skin just below his jaw, and Carter’s body literally lifted off the ground from the hit. He somehow landed on his feet, and again stumbled toward Nelson.
Nelson leaned back for a kick, but Carter moved swiftly to the side. Using Nelson’s wasted leverage, he slashed out with his open hands at Nelson’s face again, this time tearing his shirt down the sleeve. He scratched again, ripping the shirt more and drawing blood.
Finally, he jumped on Nelson from behind, his weight pushing Nelson to the ground.
Saunders came to six feet away, and she sat up to recover.
Carter’s frame was too much for Nelson, and he was now sitting on his chest, pinning both of Nelson’s arms to the ground with his knees. Carter was looking straight ahead, not even seeming to notice that he’d pinned one of his own team members. He brought his hands down at full force, scratching Nelson’s face and neck each time.
A gunshot sounded, and Carter’s body went rigid. He rolled off Nelson’s chest, and Nelson opened his eyes. He looked up to see who had saved him and found Saunders staring down at him.
She offered him a hand, but he shook his head. “I think I’ll lie here for a snap, if you don’t mind,” he said.
Saunders shrugged, sighed, and turned to Jen and Erik. “Get ready. We’re going after these people, and I need you in the fight. No more hiding around or running away. Got it?”
Her voice was steady, but Jen heard the steely truth behind it. She just killed her friend because of them.
Jen didn’t need any encouragement, and she certainly didn’t have it in her to be timid. She grabbed Carter’s rifle and sidearm and threw the smaller gun to Erik. She checked it, just like the man had shown her, and then waited for Nelson to recover. He stood, silent, and started walking.
Jen looked toward Saunders. Their eyes met, and she thought she saw the slightest glint of moisture in the soldier’s eye. She was about to say something, but Nelson grabbed her arm.
“Wait,” he said. “Let her be. She’ll come around.” Jen, Erik, and Nelson started walking toward the stairs at the edge of the level as Saunders held back.
Jen looked at him. “What happened? I mean, before—”
“You mean, were they in love?” Nelson asked. “No. But he was once. Had a wife and a kid, too. Served on a private security detail for a company that got into some shady business, and it all blew up.”
“He was injured?”
“No, and as he would say, unfortunately not. His wife and child were murdered, and the government wouldn’t do anything to help.”
“So why did he join the Royal Marines?” she asked.
“He wanted to fix it, I guess, in his own way. He had a mentor—the same man who trained Saunders. That’s how they met.”
Jen waited for more, but Nelson was done.
Nelson reached the edge of the level first, but before he mounted the stairs a man appeared on the landing, pointing an assault rifle. Behind him, three Russian soldiers fanned out and pointed guns in their direction.
Chapter 44
“PLEASE LOWER YOUR RIFLE, SOLDIER. You’re outnumbered and severely outgunned.”
Jen saw Nelson’s shoulders rise as he realized they’d been ambushed. He turned around to face the voice. Jen, Erik, and Saunders did as well.
The man stood about fifty feet behind them, having walked over from behind the house adjacent to the one they’d found Carter standing behind. This man was unarmed, but he, too, was accompanied by a small group of black-clad military men and women. They all stood near the center of the great level’s expansive space, in the fields. Jen could see both the cave system opening and the housing district on one side, as well as the large propane tank in the distance that she’d noticed earlier.
“Not bad, actually, for a haphazard group of scientists and Brits,” the man said. He walked toward them, and as he did the group from the stairs came to them and removed their weapons and effects. “It seems like only yesterday that you had, what, twice the members in your little group? Right—it was only yesterday.”
Jen’s face flushed, and she couldn’t hide her emotions any longer.
“What do you want?” she screamed, her words carrying the weight of grief and anger. “Why did you bring us here?”
“I brought you here?” the man asked, mockingly. He was wearing black slacks and red buttoned shirt, tucked in. His shoes had been recently polished and shined, and his hair was slicked back to a small ducktail. “I did no such thing. I may have enticed, but I certainly did not send any invitations.”
“What do you want from me?” Jen asked.
“You are Ms. Jennifer Adams, correct?” he asked, not waiting for a response. “Ms. Adams, I believe you are mistaken. While I’m flattered you’ve made the trip, I don’t understand why.”
“You took my son!” she yelled.
“Reese Adams in safe, I assure you. We’ve been taking good care of the boy, and he’s quite a young man. You’ve done a fantastic job.”
“I want to see him. Is he here?”
Why would this man tell me the truth?
“He is. And you will. I need you all to cooperate, Ms. Adams. Is that too much to ask?”
She shook her head.
“Good. Let’s move somewhere a little more conducive to conversation, if you don’t mind. You two—” he pointed at Nelson and Saunders—“feel free to catch up on some sleep while we conduct business.”
Suddenly two Russian soldiers appeared behind Nelson and Saunders and lifted their guns. They swung them forward, catching both at the backs of their skulls. Nelson and Saunders dropped to the ground, groaning in pain.
Erik’s eyes were widened, but he didn’t speak.
“No.” Jen said. “Tell me what I’m doing here, and we’ll move. Otherwise, you’re going to need to carry us over there yourself.”
“Ms. Adams,” the man said, his voice growing solemn. “I have no idea why you’re here. Frankly, I’m surprised you came along.” He spoke to one of the soldiers at his side, who then ran behind a wall near the houses. A few seconds later, Jen saw the same soldier emerge with a blond woman and two other people, followed by another two Russians.
“Reese!” she shouted as she identified the smaller person approaching them. She ignored Erik’s protests and ran toward him.
“Mom?” Reese looked confused, but his eyes were filled with tears. He ran forward too, and they embraced halfway between the houses and the open area.
“Are you okay?” she asked. He nodded, crying now while he hugged her. She stood after a moment, realizing she’d almost forgotten about the second person she’d recognized.
“Mark,” she said. “Mark, I—” she couldn’t find the words. They kissed, but were suddenly torn apart by the soldiers behind them.
“Wonderful,” the man said. “A family reunion. How delightful.” Jen glared at him as she held Reese’s hand. “As I mentioned, Ms. Adams, I don’t understand why it is you decided to come along.”
He paced a bit, then stopped. “It does seem rather pointless to keep the charade going, I guess. I have received what I wanted, and I have no use for you any longer. Kill them.”
Two soldiers immedia
tely brought their guns up and pointed them at Jen and Reese. Jen was stunned speechless.
“Wait!” Mark said. “Wait. You don’t have what you need, Austin. You brought me here to find something, right? And I haven’t found anything useful.”
Jen whipped around and stared at her husband. “What…what do you mean?”
He sighed. “Jen, I—I didn’t realize it at first, but I understood as soon as I knew Nouvelle Terre was involved here, I figured it out. It wasn’t you, Jen. They didn’t need you for anything.”
Jen suddenly knew he was right. They didn’t need me, she thought. Everything they would have needed her for—the geological surveying, the power plant—was already finished. They had a fully-operational system here, and there truly was no use for her.
“They needed me.”
Mark hung his head. “I wasn’t honest with you, Jen. Back when we, uh, that night—” he knew she knew what he was referring to. “Anyway, I had been doing work for Nouvelle Terre, back when they were just known as an environmental advocacy group. We were providing some data sets, and…I was set up, Jen. I swear. That woman, from the bar—I knew her. I’d seen her before.”
He stopped. There was no way to explain it.
He tried anyway. “They sent her to the bar, and then had her follow me to the house. I never understood why they would do it, and that’s why I didn’t tell you. But I get it now. She was sent by the people I worked with on the Nouvelle Terre projects, and they planned to use me to give her information. It was part of my parameters to keep the security files on my own computer, and to not ever let them on the mainframe.
“They could have taken them from me at any point, and it would have looked like I leaked them. But I added another layer of security; I never let the access files get on my hard drive. I ran the scripts from a USB drive that I’d encrypted and kept on my keychain. They didn’t expect that to happen, but they sent her—a low-level technician—to figure out where their information was.” He paused, looked at her.
“I love you, Jen.” Tears formed in his eyes, as Jen just stood still. “I do, I really do. I never stopped loving you, but I couldn’t talk about it.”
Austin walked toward them. “Jen, I can’t help but pity you right now. I hope you can understand that I am a rational man, and I want you to know that your husband is telling the truth.”
Chapter 45
KEN DAWSON WAS EXHAUSTED.
HE was driving back to his house after the third late night in a row at his mentor’s apartment. His wife and son were still out of town, visiting her parents in Virginia. They were due back this weekend, so he’d been living the life of a bachelor once again.
The house was a mess, he’d ordered takeout every night for the past three days, and the laundry was overflowing.
Further, his yard was in desperate need of a trim, the cars needed washing, and there were a few small projects he needed to do around the house.
But he had a good excuse.
This case he and his mentor, Craig Larson, were currently on was easily going to be the biggest of the year for him. He’d started at the agency five years ago, getting paired with Larson during his last two years before retirement.
Dawson had previously been a police officer, moving to the private investigation firm after ten years, and he loved the freedom of the new job. Larson was a veteran attorney, a great teacher, and an amazing detective, and his network in and around the political scene was staggering.
Since he’d begun the new job, Dawson had been trying to prove himself as a detective, and he’d put in his fair share of late hours. The rigor of the job required that he chase a lead before it went cold, regardless of how long it took. In this case, it meant tracking down every known bit of research on the pseudo-secret organization called Nouvelle Terre. He started in the usual places—libraries, web searches, old newspaper clippings—but found nothing.
After that he started to call in some favors from friends and acquaintances. The Library of Congress, the CIA Headquarters, and even a brief chat with a Smithsonian historian. Again, nothing. Larson would have balked at the brashness of Dawson’s calls and requests. He’d always been a man to move through information more slowly, letting it “come to him,” as he liked to put it. But Dawson needed to move quickly or they’d be out of luck. It had happened before, and he didn’t want it to happen again.
He pulled up the drive in front of his suburban home. Two stories, with a furnished basement, it was well more than they needed, just the three of them, but they’d filled it with three dogs, a cat, and enough junk to last a lifetime.
As his headlights illuminated the garage door, he reached up and pressed the button on the dome of the truck. The garage door jolted, then slowly rose. He checked his phone while waiting for it, and when he looked up again, he noticed the door to the house was open.
He frowned, but grabbed his briefcase and got out of the truck. He walked into the garage and entered the house.
“Hello?” he said loudly.
Hearing nothing, he stepped through the laundry room and into the kitchen.
“Amanda?”
No response.
Did I leave the door open?
He knew he didn’t. He remembered leaving out the front door three days ago when he went to Larson’s apartment.
Maybe Amanda and Zach left it open when they left.
Still, can’t hurt to check.
He walked through the downstairs floor first, checking the spare bedroom, restroom, and living areas. He moved upstairs, calling into each room. The upstairs was empty as well, so he went down to the basement.
He walked through the finished living room and den and entered the guest bedroom at the end of the hall.
He heard a clicking sound.
Whipping around, he instinctively reached for his side.
Shit, he thought. I haven’t carried a gun since I was on the force.
“Who’s there?” he said into the dark open room. He flicked a switch on the hallway wall and blinked a few times.
Still nothing.
He heard another click, and he tried to place its location. It sounded like it was coming from this room, but he backed into the guest room first. He turned the light on and reached the closet. Dawson opened the door and pulled out a seven iron from his set of golf clubs, then stepped back into the basement hallway.
Dawson had never been much of a fighter. He was smart, and his career’s trajectory had generally reflected that. However, he was in good shape, and was trained in hand-to-hand combat at the academy.
He called out again and stepped into the living room. Still nothing, but a few more steps forward and he heard a two more clicks.
Then another.
What the hell is that? he thought.
His eyes focused on the decorative chest in the corner of the room. It was large—Dawson liked to tease Amanda about that as often as they were down here—and could easily hide a grown man.
He walked toward it, raising the club over his shoulder with one hand while reaching out to grab the clasp of the chest with the other. The handle, a vanity antique to go with the fake vintage chest, wasn’t lockable, and he swung it open. There was nothing inside but a few blankets.
Something stirred next to the chest, and when he closed the lid he saw a squirrel running along the wall.
His heart skipped a beat, then he grinned. You’ve got to be kidding me.
The squirrel stopped in the corner, then looked at him.
Click.
It was the exact same clicking sound he’d heard before.
He shook his head, laughing inwardly to himself, then walked upstairs to get something to catch the squirrel with.
When he entered the kitchen, he reached for the light switch. He turned it on, and the room exploded. He was thrown backward into the family room, landing on the hardwood floor in front of the flatscreen TV.
A ball of fire had lit the ceiling on fire, and flames now spread wildly thro
ugh the kitchen.
He groaned, then tried to stand. His right arm ignited in pain, and he fell back to the floor.
Flames now engulfed the wall behind the couch, creeping toward him. He tried to pull himself farther away from it, but he was too slow. He rolled into a crouch, then slowly stood.
Smoke was filling the room, so he started toward the office in the front of the house.
This wasn’t an accident, he thought. Lights don’t explode. He had to get to the front door.
The smoke was thickening, and he had almost reached the front door when the next explosion rocked him sideways.
Upstairs?
The bomb had been triggered remotely, he now realized, and it had detonated directly above the kitchen. In my own bedroom.
He stumbled sideways and landed facedown on the carpet in the office. He breathed hard, trying to get as much air as possible. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, and he no longer felt the searing pain shooting up his arm.
He knew immediately what was going on. He’d been targeted, no doubt for his involvement in the case. What is this about?
He needed to get out of the house and get to his truck. He had to tell Larson.
But his arm was useless, and the left side of his house had now collapsed in on itself, blocking his way to the front door.
He lay on the floor, looking at the flames engulfing the family area and front entry. Reaching for his pocket, he took out his phone and dialed a number.
Come on, he thought, as he tried again to stand. Coughing, he checked the connection.
It was still dialing.
Pick up, he willed.
He stumbled through the smoke, dodging a few pieces of furniture that had already been consumed by fire.
He hacked and couched uncontrollably now, and sucked deep breaths of air as he crossed the living room to the back door. He tripped over the armchair and stumbled to the back wall. It was almost entirely covered in flames, but he knew he could easily kick through the single-bolt particle board back door.
