Mason Walker series Box Set

by Alex Howell

  “What is it?”

  Mason recognized it already. It was the exact same thing as what had happened in Tehran.

  “It’s blood.”

  Matthew shook his head in disgust.

  “What the hell is wrong with these people?”

  Many, many things.

  But if we don’t keep moving, there’s going to be a hell of a lot more blood than what we see right now.

  The two soldiers stepped into the one room they hadn’t yet looked through—the pastor’s office. Stepping inside, they come upon a desk littered with paperwork. Mason was stunned at what he saw.

  As they sifted through the documents, Matthew took out his phone and began taking pictures of everything they found. The plans they documented gave details of what amounted to a religious, terroristic cult hellbent on committing mass murder across the D.C. metropolitan area—and by mass murder, it might as well have meant an entire city. As far as what Mason saw, it was the same as a 9/11 attack in terms of impact—actually, much worse, since that fateful day had killed thousands of people, but this would wipe out an entire city.

  Mason snatched up a document called “What We Believe” which seemed designed for the rest of the congregation or membership. He read through it before reading it aloud so Ghost could hear it.

  “‘Man is nearly irredeemable because of the corruption in his government. It is for this reason that we believe that it is necessary to strike out at this corruption at its heart. Seeing that the United States is the current Great Babylon—or Great Empire of the world, it is necessary to cleanse this nation’s capital of corruption. And that corruption can only be cleansed through blood.’”

  Jesus.

  They’re not kidding around at all.

  “We search every nook and cranny of this office,” Mason said. “I’ll get through this fine, but we can’t waste time. Got it?”

  Matthew smiled.

  “That’s the Mason I knew from the teams.”

  The two proceeded to ransack the office, going through every file cabinet, looking under every piece of furniture, and even pulling out individual ceiling tiles in an attempt to find anything that was a vial or could contain a vial. They looked everywhere visible, pulled out some places that were invisible before, and tore down things that should not have been torn down.

  But it was all empty.

  “Damn it! They’re not here! They must have already taken them!”

  This is my fault. I got stupid. I got noticed. If I had just taken them out before stepping on that damn beer bottle…

  “All right man, but there’s nothing we can do about that now,” Ghost said, bringing Mason back to the present. “Let’s just take what we have and get the hell out of here. We can then hunt them down. The important thing for you and for Clara.”

  “Hmm,” Mason said.

  Matthew smiled.

  “Does that mean that you’re back in action?”

  24

  September 19th, 2028

  7:59 p.m. EST

  Baltimore, Maryland

  Ghost had offered to take Mason to his house to recover, but given the shorter distance to Baltimore, the choice was easy.

  The two old friends were going to recuperate for at least a couple of hours—but no more than a few hours—to give Mason the chance to fully become Mason Walker. He was not going to suffer any further than he had to. He was going to recover, eat some food, feel energized, and then kill the terrorists and the cult who thought they could cleanse Washington D.C.

  As Matthew led Mason into Mason’s home, with Mason still weak and unable to fully walk, it all seemed like a dream. Benton’s rescue of Mason was so fluid and flawless, Mason was almost tempted to think that he was actually still knocked out, asleep at the terrorist’s hideout. It just all seemed so unreal—and they had done some truly unbelievable things during their time in the black ops.

  But rather than having to pinch himself, Mason’s aching head already did the favor of letting him know that this was no dream. If Mason ever needed a friend he could rely on, to put him up for a night, his weary, battered, and beaten body could certainly use one now—and fortunately, he had one just in that.

  The idea of a hot shower, and a hot meal seemed like heaven to Mason at this point. And he quickly proceeded to partake in both. He went into the fridge and guzzled a gallon of milk as Matt put a steak on the stove top. Matthew put Mason on a chair to avoid him from overindulging, but as soon as the one-pound ribeye was done cooking, Mason tore into the meat like a wolf who hadn’t caught prey in a week. Matthew hurried to cook a sweet potato and then also supplied some peanut butter to Mason, who just gobbled up chunks of it before the potato was ready.

  Mason was still sore, but he had the energy to take a very short but very sweet hot shower. When he came downstairs, he plopped on the couch, about 80 percent recovered—more than enough to return back to the focus and the goals of the mission.

  Which started with a bit of hell-raising to his employer.

  “All right,” Mason said as he slapped his knees. “We better call the other Onyx tam members and let them know what we found out.”

  “You mean,” Matthew said. “You should first tell them that I found you.”

  Mason laughed, but as thankful as he was of being found, Mason couldn’t deny that he was a little bit disappointed in the other Onyx members for not coming to his aid. Granted, that was probably an unfair way of thinking about it—it was more likely that Luke and Marshal had decided to keep the focus on the mission instead of going to rescue him at the moment; much as Mason didn’t like it, the city of D.C. mattered more than a single soldier—but still.

  If nothing else, Mason did remember that Raina had begged him not to go alone. Consider that a lesson learned the hardest way possible.

  She should be the first one to know.

  “All right, let me give Raina a call,” Mason said. “She and Kyle were the ones I was working closest with.”

  “You’ll have to use my phone,” Matt said, drawing a groan from Mason. “They got your phone. Couldn’t find it.”

  “Well, damn,” Mason said, too tired and too worried about other things to worry about his own phone. “OK, appreciate it.”

  “No problem, and when you call Clara, thank her for providing me their numbers.”

  He then slid a piece of paper that had the phone numbers—which he realized then he’d never committed to memory—with the names next to them. Damn, Clara. Don’t get too good at this. Daddy might have to start taking classes at Stanford to become a tenth as smart as you.

  He put the thoughts behind him, though, as the phone began to ring for Raina. A few seconds later, she picked up, sounding nervous and a bit on edge.

  “Yes, this is Raina. Hello?”

  Probably stressed about the mission. Now’s not the time for petty comments. Keep it focused and straight.

  “Hey Raina, it’s Mace.”

  “What?! Oh my God, Mason! Mason! Is that really you?”

  Mason couldn’t help the smile that formed. He supposed that he could let his guard down for a few seconds—especially since it was to the woman whom he had the… most complicated relationship with on the team.

  “Sure is,” he said. “Thanks to an old friend, I’m back in the game. A little worn out and a little beaten down, but I’m back. And good news, too. I have photographic evidence of the plot that’s been hatched. It’s all here, in every detail.”

  “Really?”

  Not bad for someone who, a few hours ago, was still in sedation because of an elephant tranquilizer, huh?

  “Yes, should I send it over now? Or are you working on other things.”

  “Mason, you are incredible! Yes, of course!”

  The giddiness in Raina’s voice seemed so out of character… but Mason knew that was only the case if she had been talking to anyone else besides him. To him, it was pretty much what he would have expected for the situation—which was a little terrifying but ver
y sweet for the most part.

  For now, though, that didn’t matter. The mission mattered.

  “Mason, I’m so sorry we couldn’t find you—we were looking all over the city, but just didn’t have any luck.”

  There would come a day and an hour when Mason would have to get the full story from Onyx as to why they had failed to help him. He would seek not to criticize, but to understand, and then provide feedback to better the team. Grudges would do nothing for team morale.

  But, for now, that was all in the past. Mason listened to Raina apologize as he sent over everything that he had.

  “It’s all good, Raina,” he said. “Anyways, have whoever is here come over to my house. I’m still recovering, but I think we can start to plan, and by the time everything is discussed and decided upon, we can head out, OK?”

  “You got it,” Raina said, still sounding relieved. “Kyle will join me. Mason… it’s really good to have you back.”

  Mason smiled.

  “Save the good times for after we finish,” he said. “I’ll see you guys shortly.”

  Mason then hung up and held the phone to his chest.

  “Still one more call I have to make.”

  “By all means,” Matthew said, not concerned or in a hurry to get his phone back.

  Mason dialed the number he most needed to hear. He only had to get through one ring before the girl on the other line answered.

  “Hello!”

  Mason grinned from ear to ear at the sound of Clara’s voice. It was a bit harried and nervous—but it wouldn’t be for long.

  “Hey, honey.”

  A long, long, long pause came, so long that Mason wondered if he might be missing something.

  “Daddy?”

  Her voice suggested she was on the verge of tears. So, too, was Mason.

  “Yeah, sweetheart. It’s me.”

  “Daddy! Oh, daddy! I was so worried about you!”

  Mason actually let a tear fall. It was just like a few months ago—some day, I’m going to have to do something in D.C. where no Walker gets kidnapped and the other has to spend more than an hour wondering what happened to the other. But just as the pain and the heartache was like a few months ago, so too was the relief and the joy all sides felt.

  “Dad—are you all right? What happened?”

  “Yeah—sorry I couldn’t get a hold of you. I—uh—I ran into some complications out in the field.”

  Mason immediately knew that answer wasn’t going to fly, most especially with Clara’s background and history with him. In fact, as soon as she started speaking, he started laughing like a school kid who had wanted to get caught by the teacher.

  “Dad, you don’t have to sugar coat things for me. I know something terrible must have happened to you. So what happened?”

  “Yeah, Clara, you’re right, and I know that I actually owe my safe return in no small part, to you. It—”

  “What exactly happened?”

  Really not going to let me off the hook here, huh?

  “It was stupid,” he said. “I had the jump on two suspects and followed them down a hallway when I stepped on a beer bottle and alerted them to my presence. I chased after them but failed to account for one of their guys following me. They knocked me up the back of my head and I was out. I was held captive in a church basement for several days. They used some serious drugs to keep me out. But… you made the call to Ghost, and here I am. Thank you, Clara.”

  “Of course,” she said.

  Another long pause came.

  “But dad.”

  Uh oh. Now I’m in trouble. Now here comes the stern lecture that… yeah, that I deserve.

  “Where were your teammates?!? You never should have gone out there alone! Why the hell did Onyx leave you?”

  “I…”

  Take ownership.

  “I told them I could handle it on my own. I felt like if we all spread out, we could contain the threat. That was all my fault, Clara. Onyx and Raina and Kyle and all of them had nothing to do with it. It’s my fault.”

  Clara let out a long sigh that seemed designed to mask her nerves.

  “You have got to be more careful. You don’t know how much you mean to me—I can’t lose you.”

  Mason knew that and had heard that before, but hearing it for the first time when she was on the other side of the country made him lose it. Tears streamed down his face, and he didn’t bother to try and stop his sobbing.

  “Honey, I’m sorry. I’ll try to be more careful.”

  Clara sobbed on the other line, and for a few minutes, the two just said how much they loved the other. Mason reminded himself of how fortunate it was that both of them were still alive after all that had transpired up to this point; he had dared fate and fortune to defeat him, and they really nearly had. Without Ghost, it was not a lie to say he would probably be dead.

  “OK, enough crying,” Clara said, followed by a laugh.

  “Agreed,” Mason said, knowing Raina and Kyle were bound to arrive sooner rather than later. “Clara, I love you. I will keep you informed of how things go. But you just stay tight and I’ll take care of it, OK?”

  “OK,” Clara said. “I love you, dad. Be safe.”

  Mason smiled.

  “I got this, Clara. You got nothing to worry about at all.”

  25

  September 19th, 2028

  8:30 p.m. EST

  Baltimore, Maryland

  The rest of the Onyx team, even those beyond Kyle and Raina, converged at Mason’s home shortly after, and despite the sense of impending doom, Mason had never felt so happy in his life to see coworkers.

  Additionally, this was the first any of them had seen of Matthew “Ghost” Benton. He was easy to get to know, however, and they all took to him right away. Even the nervous and shy Kyle seemed to open up.

  Not that they had any choice. At this point, as far as Mason was concerned, it was time for the team to embrace Ghost. And if they didn’t, they had to for the next 24 hours.

  Kyle and Raina had showed up first. As soon as Raina saw Mason, she ran over to him and squeezed him so tight, Mason wondered if he would run out of air. He had to tap her to lighten up, but when she pulled back, he almost wondered if she was about to kiss him. Fortunately, for the sake of not making an incredibly awkward scene, she did not, although she looked mighty tempted to.

  Kyle came over and gave a decently strong handshake before leaning in.

  “She did more to try and find you than anyone else on the team,” he said in confidence. “She went over to you to find you. No one else did. We all were just told to stay to the mission, but she did.”

  “Really,” Mason said.

  In sincere honesty, he wasn’t mad that the rest of the team had stuck to the mission. He would have hoped that they would have put the lives of millions of people in the area over the life of one. Still, hearing that Raina had gone as far as she had and done as much as she did…

  It was touching. It was very sweet. “Someday” for Raina and him, he thought, was going to come a lot sooner than he had originally anticipated.

  “Really,” Kyle said. “I, uh… yeah.”

  Mason chuckled as he patted Kyle on the back.

  “Thanks for letting me know,” he said. “You’re a good kid. Even if you did hit on my daughter.”

  Kyle just blushed, causing Mason to laugh even harder as the rest of Onyx came in. Mason decided to spare Kyle the humiliation of explaining why he was laughing so hard as one by one, the team came over and hugged or shook Mason’s hand.

  As everyone settled in, Mason had them look over the photographs obtained from his captors. As the group looked over it all, Raina began to speak up for the other members of Onyx, discussing how even though they had failed to maintain leads early on, they had not let their time go to waste.

  “During your absence we’ve managed to compile a lot of data on the suspects and the event they seek to target.”

  “Pierce Richards’ speech,�
� Mason said, already having an idea.

  “Right. And since you’ve been gone, we’ve been prepping for Pierce Richards’ upcoming speech with a vengeance.”

  Matthew, who had been sitting across from them at his desk, going through files on his laptop, suddenly spun around in his chair.

  “Okay—guys I’ve just uploaded all of mine and Mason’s photographic evidence from the terrorists’ hideout.”

  “Looks like we can add on to your prep a little bit,” Mason remarked. “Marshal?”

  “Thanks, we’ll have to go over that shortly,” Marshal said. “God only knows we could use as much information as possible.”

  Mason glanced over at Marshal. It didn’t exactly sound like the kind of statement one would make if they were fully confident in the extent of their preparation and knowledge, but Mason wasn’t really in timely spot to critique such matters.

  “Right, first let’s go over the game plan for what we need to do during the Richard’s speech,” Marshal said. “As you are all aware, the crowd during the speech is going to be massive. It’s going to be exceedingly difficult for our group to be able to keep our eyes on every human being in attendance. And of particular concern is the fact that conventional weaponry isn’t going to be available for us.”

  “NSA won’t allow it huh?” Raina said.

  “But even if we could get a few guns through—just think about it. What good would it do?”

  Onyx fell silent. Mason assumed that Marshal wouldn’t have spoken like this just to leave their spirits crushed and hanging in the wind; it wasn’t what a good leader did. If the situation was so dire that nothing more could be taken care of, then he would have said so right up front. Marshal didn’t sugarcoat things, anyways.

  “Fortunately, Chris has some nice weaponry that can help out.”

  Mason turned to the normally hotheaded Chris, who now sported a big smile on his face.

  “Yeah, all right folks,” he said, reaching into something. “Check it out.”