by Hunt, Jack
Wallace stood to her feet; a look of fury spread across her face. She flipped back her dark suit jacket and rested a hand on her service weapon in a threatening manner. She was wearing a white shirt and dark pants with sensible shoes that were polished a little too shiny. “You are…”
“In a world of trouble. Yeah, yeah, you said that already. Geesh. You need a new line.”
Suddenly, Wallace shot around the table and grabbed a handful of his shirt and threw him on the floor. Martin and Danielle looked at each other for a split second before rushing in and pulling her away.
“You think you’re smart, you little bastard? You caused thousands of deaths. It’s because of you. You can blame it on them but at the end of the day you were the one who gave them access to security. I hope you are proud.”
“Wallace!” Danielle bellowed, struggling to pull her back. For someone that was only five foot five, she sure as hell was strong and determined to get her point across, except she was out of line, and probably could end up in a lot of trouble once the video was seen by higher-ups. Still, it was to be expected everyone’s nerves were a little frayed. She was right. Too many had died. Too many had suffered and no matter how Ryan wanted to look at it, he played a massive role in that happening.
Together they finally managed to get her out of the room though she didn’t make it easy. As soon as they were outside and Martin slammed the door, Danielle went at her, fingers pointing, a stern expression spreading.
“You’re supposed to be a professional.”
Wallace straightened out her crumpled suit. “He’s playing you. Can’t you see that?”
“I can see that you need to go cool off.”
Wallace pursed her lips and walked away, knocking over a chair in the process.
Danielle shook her head. “What is her deal?”
“She lost her mother,” Martin said, smoothing his tie and tucking his shirt back into his pants. “And everyone is a little high-strung at the moment.”
“What?” Danielle shot back. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“I guess they didn’t think it mattered.”
“Mattered? Of course it matters. Having an emotional breakdown with the only person that can lead us to this group is jeopardizing everything we have worked for. Shit!” Danielle placed a hand on her hip and looked off down the hallway. She went and got a paper cup of water and downed it before reentering the room. Ryan was already back in his chair. Martin took a seat beside her. She didn’t say anything at first but just stared.
Ryan rubbed the back of his head. “She really should see a therapist.”
“Jokes aside, Ryan. Continue with what you were about to say earlier.”
He tugged at his shirt, there was now a rip in it. “I told you but no one is listening. You’re too busy creating your own narrative. You brought me in to find them. Now if I handed over the first cell and you managed to swoop in and arrest them, do you really think they would flip on the rest for a lesser sentence?”
“Happens all the time.”
“Yeah, maybe for two-bit criminals when society and prisons were functioning. We are past that now. Besides, these are people that are willing to die for the cause. Why do you think they were here when the bombs hit? Huh? For some this is about martyrdom as much as it is about punishing the U.S. No, if I’d handed you the one group, the rest would have dispersed.” He leaned forward. “To get the big dogs you have to earn their trust.”
“Bullshit,” Martin said. “We saw the message.”
“Of course you did. You wouldn’t have figured that out if I didn’t want you to.”
Danielle was confused. What was happening here? Was he playing them or telling the truth? Ryan continued. “I held back because if I had come out with information on who my parents were and told you about the encrypted message, not only would I be shut down by those who didn’t understand what I was trying to do, but it could jeopardize the purpose of why you brought me in, which was to help you find and arrest them.”
Martin rose, throwing a hand up and looking exasperated. “Wallace was right. He’s playing us.”
Danielle, however, didn’t react or take her eyes off him. She read between the lines. “You think there are people in Homeland Security that are part of this group, don’t you?”
“Homeland. FBI. Who knows? You’d be surprised what they have infiltrated. You can’t be too careful.”
“But you also understand, Ryan, how this looks. It’s deceptive.”
He nodded. “Of course it is but to catch a criminal you have to think like one.”
She shrugged and leaned back glancing up at the clock. “So what was the great plan? Because I can tell you right now, people here aren’t as patient as I am.”
“Obviously. Look, they might be my parents but they aren’t stupid. They’ve managed to stay on the run because they don’t take chances.”
“But they put you up to this, right?”
“I told you the truth. My only crime is that I listened to them in the first place. They wanted access. I did it. You have to believe me when I say that I didn’t think they had this in mind. My mother told me they wanted access to stay ahead of the feds, they wanted to gather intel, they wanted to protect Iran from future attacks. That’s all. I didn’t know they were going to kill thousands of people.”
Danielle leaned back. “You expect us to believe that?”
“It’s the truth. Okay, I was wrong to hack into those places and sell the code but she told me if I did it…” He trailed off running a hand over his head and sighed.
Silence stretched between them.
“They would take you back,” Danielle added.
He nodded, his eyes cast down.
“That’s why you wanted California.”
“Yeah, then all this happened. Then I got to know Alex and Sophie. They’re a little messed up but they’re good people, they mean well. And one thing is they love their kids, that’s for sure. Kind of wished my parents were like that.” He sighed, then shook his head as he breathed in deeply. “They crossed a lawless country to find their daughter. Mine wanted me to break the law for them.”
There was a long pause. Even Martin remained quiet.
Ryan continued. “Look, I can hand them to you but you’ve gotta trust me.”
She inhaled deeply and grimaced. “I think you know that’s a little hard to do.”
Danielle got up and paced, bringing a finger and thumb up to her lips. “What did you have in mind?”
Martin shot her a stern look. “Are you kidding me?”
“Let’s hear the kid out, okay?” she said raising a hand.
“I can get them to meet me but if I go alone they’ll assume the feds are watching. They won’t show. But if they believed that someone helped me escape, well, they might be more inclined to show their faces.”
“Someone delivers you to them?”
He nodded.
“Oh c’mon!” Martin bellowed. “I can’t believe we are listening to this.”
“Hey,” Ryan chimed in. “If you’ve got a better idea, be my guest. But I’m telling you right now, if you force them into a corner and show up with an army, you’ll come away empty-handed, and if I show up alone, they’ll think they’re being monitored.”
“You were going to show up alone the first time around.”
“That was before you brought me in. Plans change. Why do you think I gave them the heads-up? It lets them think I still have their backs. It maintains trust.”
Danielle didn’t say anything; she was contemplating. “Who did you have in mind?”
Without missing a beat, Ryan replied, “Sophie.”
“Sophie Reid?”
“Mothers trust mothers. My folks already know about the fostering but they don’t know that Sophie and Alex went home. They would buy it if they believed that Sophie got me out.”
“From a high-security place like this?”
“I won’t say it was here. It could be an
ywhere.”
Martin stabbed the floor with a finger. “No, I say you give us the location, asshole. Set it up and we’ll move in.”
Ryan laughed as he rocked back in his chair. “Do you honestly believe that they will show up at the location? No. They’ll be watching. They’ll know it’s a trap if it’s anyone else but Sophie.”
Martin tapped Danielle on the arm and nudged toward the door. “Think about it,” Ryan said as they walked out and strolled a short distance down the hallway.
For a moment they stood there in silence.
“You can’t seriously be considering what he’s suggesting, can you?” Martin asked.
She blew out her cheeks. “We are running out of options. Every day that passes more people are dying. That second wave of attacks by drones took out even more and has driven people out of the cities.” She paused for a second, her mind making connections. Danielle’s brow knit together.
“What is it?” Martin asked.
She turned and went back into the room, placing both hands on the table and leaning toward him. “The third wave of attacks. It’s to do with the safe zones, isn’t it? That’s why Abner was broadcasting a safe zone and drawing people to them.”
He nodded. “The first wave was to destroy infrastructure and cause massive loss of life, the second was to take out key targets in the cities and drive people toward safe zones.”
“Then what?”
“What do you think?” Ryan replied.
She took a few steps back, the wheels of her mind running amok. She thought back to what the Rangers had said about those at the ranch, and how they fought back. “They plan on turning them against the government.”
He nodded. “They’ll target the people who killed the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, the very people who are a threat to the continuity of Hezbollah, using America’s citizens.”
“But not every safe zone is run by them,” Martin said. “Right?”
Ryan shook his head. “No but they don’t need to be run by them, they just need a few to infiltrate and cause dissension. The American people only need to believe that the government doesn’t have their best interests at heart and you have—”
“A civil war,” Danielle said cutting him off. A civil war was nothing more than a conflict within a country fought by organized groups with the goal of taking power or changing government policies. Although the idea was horrendous, she would have been lying to say she wasn’t impressed with how they’d gone about planning this. Most, if not all countries attacked and hoped for the best, but this was strategic using sleeper cells, using a hacker, using flaws in code, using a country’s own weapon system, using drones and then finally the American people. What bigger slap in the face could there be than to turn a country’s people against those in power?
Danielle headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” Ryan asked.
“We’ll be back.”
She exited the room and Martin followed.
“You believe him, don’t you?” he asked as they made their way down the hall.
She moved to one side of the hallway as a group of military personnel walked by them. “Has he been wrong yet?”
“That’s debatable.”
“Martin, he’s nothing but a cog in a wheel. A distraction. They’ve used him from an early age to bring this about and it worked.”
Her mind was spinning.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“To inform the president.”
Martin grabbed her by the arm. “But what if this is a trap?”
“What if it’s not?” she shot back. “What if he’s right?”
They remained locked in a concerned gaze.
She continued. “What do we have to lose right now? We are fumbling around in the dark. You saw the way he was with Sophie. I don’t like this anymore than you do but at some point we have to make a decision and move forward and let’s face it, if he wanted to run, he had his opportunity back at that ranch. There were a lot of people who fled. So call me what you will but I believe him.”
His jaw tightened. “And what about him?”
“He’s not going anywhere — yet.”
“And me?”
Danielle tapped him on the arm. “Find the pilot who dropped off Sophie. Then make arrangements to bring her into custody.”
9
Mendocino National Forest
“I’m starting to think we should have brought Leo,” Thomas said without moving a muscle. Alex kept a firm grip on his handgun as he looked at the approaching threat. It was a strange sight to behold, three strangers draped in foliage that gave them an almost mythical Sasquatch appearance. The camouflage clothing of leaves and twigs allowed them to blend in perfectly with their environment.
Even the rifles were covered in loose strips of green burlap.
Alex expected the group to take precautions, they would have done the same.
“Just don’t do anything stupid,” Alex whispered.
“I feel we already have by coming here.”
“If they wanted to kill us they would have by now.”
“Turn off the engine, remove the keys, and set them on top of the roof. Nice and slow,” one of the camo-wearing guys bellowed, his rifle aimed at his head. Alex complied. As soon as the keys were on top they gave them instructions to step out of the vehicle, turn away from them then get on the ground with their arms out. It was a huge risk but what other options did they have? Resist? Only an idiot would do that when three rifles were pointed at them. They’d be dead before they got one shot off.
Two moved in on them, taking their weapons before hauling them to their feet. Thomas made a wisecrack. “I know times are hard but I’m pretty sure there isn’t a shortage of clothes.”
Before Alex could tell him to keep his mouth shut, an attractive female emerged from the tree line with two others. She held a rifle low, and was wearing green tactical pants, a form-fitting zip-up jacket, black shades, and had her hair pulled back into a ponytail. An older guy, late sixties, stood beside her, while the one to her right was in his forties at a rough guess.
“Thomas?” she asked.
“That’ll be me,” Thomas replied.
The female removed her sunglasses and slipped them into her top breast pocket. She cast a glance at Alex, her eyes dropping then rising. He was sure he caught her lip curl up at the corner ever so slightly. “Excuse the show of force but these are dangerous times and, well, we’ve faced our fair share of people looking to harm us. The name is Jodi Long, those are my boys, and this is Gus and Scott.”
“Alex Reid,” he said.
“So you were telling us that your group is looking to relocate, work with others. That true?”
“Well…” Thomas was about to answer when Alex cut in.
“That’s right. It depends on the group though.”
“By that you mean?”
“You’re not religious, are you?”
She chuckled. “Would that be a problem if we were?”
“That depends. Do you hold long-winded talks in the evenings where everyone hangs on your every word, worship an effigy, or don clothes that resemble the Dalai Lama?”
She smiled. “No. Most of our clothes come from JCPenney or Walmart. Is that okay?”
He flashed a grin.
Jodi continued. “What kind of skills do you guys have?”
Thomas took a step forward, his eyebrow rising and a smile lingering. “Many. The ladies say I’m very good with my…”
Alex coughed hard cutting him off and shot him a disconcerting look. Thomas stepped back. Alex was quick to fill in the void before it became more awkward. “We’re a mixed crew, my career was in the U.S. Coast Guard. We have a cop, and my ex-wife is a nurse, the rest…”
“Ex-wife?”
“It’s complicated.”
“I expect it is.”
“Is this all of you?” Alex asked.
“No. There are others.”
&
nbsp; “Where is your property?” Thomas added.
“We’ll get to that. What can you bring to the table beside your skills?”
Alex looked at Thomas then back at her. “Um, maybe we misunderstood this. I was under the impression that you were offering a safe place.”
She gave a nod. “We are but we aren’t letting just anyone in.”
“Okay, then how about you tell us what you expect, then maybe we will tell you if we have what you need. Let’s start with that,” Alex replied.
“You would be required to operate in shifts. We’ve been attacked at night, had folks waltz in and attempt to steal goods. You good with that?”
“That’s not a problem.”
“You’d also be required to fish and hunt. You ever done that?”
Alex looked at Thomas and chuckled. “Look, lady, we understand that this isn’t going to be a free ride. We are willing to do whatever it takes as long as there are no strange or unusual requests.”
She narrowed her eyes. “No, I can assure this is very straightforward.”
“We have supplies if that’s what you’re asking,” Thomas said. “Not a lot but what we have would be very useful in terms of long-term survival. Most of it was gained from the surplus store.”
“From Harry?”
“You know him?”
“Everyone knows him.”
“Well then you would know he’s dead,” Alex added. “Him and his wife.”
“I was not aware of that. Well, look, this has been good. We’ll meet a few more times here over the coming week. We’ll want to meet the others, of course, then we’ll make a decision.”
Alex’s brow furrowed. “You’re joking, right?”
“No. We have to take precautions.”
“I understand except Thomas here gave me the impression that you are facing a situation that requires immediate help. Can you risk going a week without additional support?”
Alex noticed Gus looking at Jodi. He leaned in and whispered something to her. It seemed that perhaps they were divided on answering that. Still, she stuck to her guns.
