Target For Revenge

by Laura Scott

  “I have a theory on that,” Mack said grimly.

  She shot him a questioning glance. “Like?”

  “Street cameras, remember?” Mack scowled. “At first their tracking seemed sporadic, but now I’m wondering if they have someone working full time on this. A serious hacker with skills good enough to watch the street camera video feeds as well as subway video minute by minute.”

  Minute by minute? As in, right now? She glanced up to see the very small camera mounted on the light pole.

  “If that’s true, they’ll find us at the new location.”

  “I know, but I might have a solution to that problem.” Mack patted the satellite computer that he’d somehow managed to keep ahold of during their brief but intense fight.

  She was afraid to ask what that solution entailed, but no matter how outrageous it may be, what choice did they have?

  None. Not if they wanted to stay alive long enough to foil the impending nuclear explosion.

  * * *

  January 19 – 1:22 p.m. – Chicago, IL

  Under normal circumstances, Hana would have enjoyed traveling by train, but there was nothing normal about these circumstances.

  Somehow, they’d arrived at Union Station just in time to catch the train heading to Michigan City, Indiana. A ride that would take them one hour and forty-five minutes, which wasn’t much faster than driving by car.

  Except maybe by avoiding the crush of Chicago traffic.

  Jarek’s plan was to find a car in Michigan City and head out across the country to Washington, DC. A drive that would take longer than she liked. Time was of the essence.

  Yet she also knew they’d both been followed to their respective airports in the past.

  “Hana?” Jarek’s low voice interrupted her thoughts. “Does Sun know we’re coming?”

  “No.” She forced a smile. “Unfortunately, we aren’t able to communicate regularly. I do have a disposable phone, but when I last checked the answering service, there was no message.”

  “I see.” He looked concerned about this. “W-what about me? I’m sure having her father show up out of the blue will be a total shock.”

  “Maybe, but try not to worry. I truly believe Sun will be happy to meet you.”

  “I hope so.” He lifted a hand to straighten his wrinkled jacket. “We don’t necessarily need to tell her who I am right away. You know—the part about me being her father. We may want to wait for better timing.”

  “Are you nervous?” She rested her hand on his forearm. “There’s no need to be. Sun is very bright and will likely see through any attempt to cover up the truth.” She hesitated, then added, “She has your ears.”

  “My ears?” He raised both hands to his earlobes as if to make sure they were still attached to his head.

  Her smile widened. “Yes, you have longer earlobes than I do, and Sun’s are similar.”

  He frowned and dropped his hands. “I doubt that. I’m sure she looks just like you.”

  “Very similar to me.” Her smile faded. “Unfortunately, that makes her even more of a target for the regime.”

  Jarek took her hand in his. She soaked in the warmth of his skin against hers. “You have never told me why the regime has come after you. And Sun.”

  She stared down at their entwined hands for a long moment. There were certain things she didn’t dare say out loud on a train, even though there was no one sitting directly in front or behind them. “I believe I mentioned this before, but I defected from my country.” She couldn’t go into details on the spying she’d done. This would have to be enough for now. “In their view, that is a serious crime punishable by death.”

  “But why?” Jarek insisted. “I don’t understand.”

  Her bleak gaze met his. “Because they must set an example in order to prevent others from doing the same.” Especially since others, like her, had turned around to use their knowledge about the regime against them. Spying on North Korea had been her attempt to help quash the power of the regime.

  Now, the small attempt seemed absurd.

  “That’s ridiculous and terrifying,” Jarek sputtered.

  Yes, it was. And this was the world she’d exposed him to.

  His being in danger was her fault, not the other way around. It was the reason she’d sent him away thirty years ago, despite being pregnant with his daughter.

  Despite how much she’d loved him.

  She’d managed to stay far away, until now.

  And she would never forgive herself if Jarek died because of the choices she’d made.

  * * *

  January 19 – 1:46 p.m. – Washington, DC

  He glanced at his watch for the third time in thirty minutes. Why hadn’t he heard from either of his sources? What on earth could be taking them so long? Once the deed was done, he could relax.

  At least until tomorrow. A hint of a smile crossed his features. He could just imagine how the utter chaos would play out.

  The only problem was these two meddlers who needed to be removed from the equation. After all, he had a team to report to as well and did not relish the idea of admitting failure yet again. Especially now that he’d joined forces with people who would just as easily kill him too.

  Several high-level people were counting on him to deliver.

  And he would. Going to any lengths needed to get the job done.

  Finally, the disposable phone in his pocket vibrated with a text message. Subtly pulling the phone from his pocket, he kept it shielded beneath the edge of the desk, ignoring the droning voice regarding the latest political strategy as he read the message.

  Injured, will need to regroup. Will be in touch soon.

  He ground his teeth together in frustration as he dropped the phone back into his pocket. Injured? Regroup?

  He’d show them injured! The wave of fury was difficult to suppress, but since he was surrounded by others, he did his best not to let his feelings show.

  It was inconceivable that these men had once again failed to execute such a simple task. Getting rid of two people shouldn’t be this difficult. Not with the resources he’d thrown at this little problem.

  Time to implement plan B.

  And to get rid of two utterly useless loose ends.

  * * *

  January 19 – 1:51 p.m. – Washington, DC

  Mack emerged from the passenger side door of the SUV and regarded the members of Security Specialists, Incorporated warily. They’d parked the two vehicles side by side along the side of the hotel that was not visible from the road.

  Sloan’s dark hair was a direct contrast to his wife’s straight blond hair. Natalia was slender, with a slightly rounded abdomen showing the early phase of her pregnancy, yet her direct gaze let him know she was no pushover.

  Mack imagined that, much like Sun, Natalia was more than capable of holding her own.

  Jordan also had dark hair and olive skin, reflecting his Arabic heritage. There was no sign of Jordan’s wife, Diana, or their daughter, Bryn. A fact he was secretly grateful for.

  As if things weren’t complicated enough. He didn’t want to add other innocent lives to the mess they were in.

  Personally, he didn’t much like the idea of exposing women to danger, especially pregnant ones, but how these men involved their wives in their business was not his concern.

  Keeping Sun alive and safe from the regime while finding this dangerous nuke was.

  Then again, Sun was proof that women were just as valuable in the field as men were. Maybe more so as assailants often underestimated a woman. Especially one as tiny and petite as Sun.

  He still couldn’t believe he’d kissed her. And that she hadn’t flattened him for doing so. Maybe he should test the water by kissing her again? The thought made him smile.

  “I’ll secure a set of connecting rooms,” Jordan offered.

  “Thanks.” Sun turned toward Sloan and Natalia. “Natalia, I may need you to look at a wound on my wrist. I believe the artery was nicked in the
knife fight.”

  “Wait, what? An artery?” Mack had convinced himself that the blood on the sidewalk wasn’t Sun’s, but apparently he was wrong. “Let me see.”

  “Mack, please. Natalia is a nurse, and I’d prefer to hear her expert opinion.”

  Sun pulled her coat sleeve up, revealing dark red blood-stained paper towels that had been clumsily wound around her slim wrist.

  “Hmm.” Natalia peered closely at the wound. He stepped forward to get a better look for himself, but Sun pushed him back with her uninjured arm. “You did a good job of using a pressure dressing, but I think a few stitches are in order.”

  “Stitches?” He scowled. “You’re not a doctor.”

  Natalia gazed steadily at him. “No, but I have done more than my share of patching up injuries far worse than this.”

  Mack rubbed the back of his neck, trying not to overreact. “What if those stitches cause a problem with the circulation in her hand?”

  “There are two arteries that supply blood to the hand, the radial artery, which is what has been injured here, and the ulnar artery. I would not offer to place stitches if I thought they would cause more harm than good.” Natalia shifted her gaze to Sun. “It’s up to you, Sun. I travel with a very large first aid kit these days. I’m happy to apply a pressure dressing or stitches, whichever you prefer. But know if you have to fight again, the blood clot could break free of a pressure dressing and cause more bleeding.”

  “I trust you, Natalia.” Sun sent him an irritated look. “Ignore Mack, I’m not sure what his problem is. You can stitch it up when we get into the room.”

  Mack scowled but didn’t say anything more. Clearly, Sun had everything under control as usual. Besides, how was he supposed to know Natalia was some sort of expert trauma nurse? He hadn’t liked the way she’d treated an arterial bleed as negligible, but it certainly sounded as if stitches were the way to go.

  By the frown on her face, Sun must not have enjoyed their kiss as much as he had.

  Jordan arrived with room keys, and they made their way across the parking lot to where their connecting rooms were located. Mack entered last, setting the satellite computer on the desk, plugging it in, and opening it.

  “Sloan, will you grab the first aid kit from the SUV?” Natalia asked, holding Sun’s wrist as fresh blood oozed from the wound.

  “Sure.” Sloan left without hesitation.

  “What are you doing?” Jordan asked as he waited for the computer to find a signal.

  “We have been found several times, despite taking great lengths to ditch our tail.” He glanced at Jordan. “I believe there is a hacker involved in this scheme, the same one who embedded the transcript to self-destruct has also likely found a way into the street camera and subway video feed. It’s the only explanation I can come up with.”

  Jordan whistled under his breath. “That’s a level of expertise I don’t have,” he admitted.

  “I do.” He pulled out the chair and dropped into it, ignoring the various aches and pains from the blows his assailant had landed. Nothing he hadn’t experienced before.

  Although the deep slash in the computer case was proof that he’d been fortunate.

  He glanced over to where Natalia was using soap and water to clean the wound on Sun’s wrist. He wasn’t squeamish by nature, but watching Sun’s wound bleed made him feel a tad queasy.

  Ridiculous reaction to a minor wound. He gave himself a mental shake, then turned his attention to the computer.

  He’d never tried to hack into the DC street camera system, but how hard could it be? He’d hacked into plenty of other secure systems.

  But first he needed to find the name of the company hosting the Washington, DC, city-wide camera system. And since this was the home of the White House, he figured the hack job would be anything but simple.

  Jordan leaned close, watching as he worked. Mack tuned him out as best he could, along with the medical treatment Sun was receiving. Although out of the corner of his eye, he saw Natalia pull a needle and thread from the large first aid kit Sloan had fetched for her.

  His stomach rolled, and he quickly looked away.

  No way was he going to pass out in front of Sun’s team.

  He found the camera company and began to dig into their network. It wasn’t easy starting from scratch, but soon he found the gateway he needed to enter the program.

  Hacking was tedious detailed work that encompassed a lot of trial and error. After five minutes, Jordan grew bored and moved away.

  “All set,” Natalia said. “Three stitches, not too bad. We’ll wrap it too, just in case you find yourself in another tight spot. And here are some antibiotics, three days’ worth should do the trick. If you can remember to take them in all the excitement.”

  “Thanks, Natalia. You’re the best,” Sun said.

  Mack was relieved to know Sun’s injury had been taken care of and made a mental note to make sure Sun took the antibiotics over the next, well, less than twenty-four hours.

  The shrinking timeline was sobering.

  Here he was wasting time hacking into the stupid camera system when they should be looking for the stupid nuke.

  His frustration only added to his determination. And soon his persistence paid off.

  “Gotcha!” He felt a surge of satisfaction as he broke through the last firewall.

  “You’re in?” Jordan and Sun both came over to see for themselves.

  “Yep.” He entered a series of commands, then sat back. “It’s done.”

  “What is?” Sun looked confused.

  “I shut down the entire camera system.” He exited the program and stared for a moment at the computer.

  “You what?” Jordan’s incredulous tone made him wince. “Isn’t that illegal?”

  He wasn’t going to admit the obvious. “They were constantly one step ahead of us and tried to kill us. We need to be able to travel the city without being followed, so I shut the video system down using a coded virus that should take them a long time to repair.” Mack glanced between Jordan and Sun. “We need to find that nuke before they’re able to do that.” He hesitated and added, “Or all of this will have been for nothing.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  January 19 – 2:14 p.m. – Washington, DC

  Sun was secretly impressed with Mack’s idea of using a virus to shut down the cameras in the city and hoped he was right about the time it would take for them to get it back up and running. “Okay, so now what? Where do we go from here?”

  There was a long moment of silence as they exchanged grim glances. “I’ll start reviewing the other files on the USB drive, maybe that will give us something to go on,” Mack finally said.

  “What else do you need from us?” Jordan asked.

  She ruefully shook her head. “I wish I knew. I appreciate the extra cash and the SUV. We already have the sat computer. If we had even a remote idea where to look for this bomb, we’d be in business.”

  “Natalia and I are both available if you need backup,” Sloan offered. “I know we don’t speak any North Korean, but we can help keep you both safe.”

  “Thanks, Sloan.” She shrugged. “If Mack can find something in Chandler’s files, I’ll let you know.”

  Jordan and Sloan exchanged a glance, and she understood their frustration. “Doesn’t seem like much to go on, does it?” Jordan groused.

  “No. But Chandler was murdered for a reason. We can only hope and pray his death isn’t in vain,” Sloan agreed.

  She snapped her fingers and met Jordan’s gaze. “That reminds me of the two men who’d attacked us. Can you try to find out from the local authorities if they were picked up?”

  “Yes.” Jordan’s dark eyes gleamed. “Knowing their names would be helpful in tracing who may have hired them.”

  “Exactly.” Sun gestured impatiently. “Try them now.”

  Jordan pulled out his phone and moved to a quiet corner of the room to make his calls. She leaned over Mack’s shoulder to chec
k on his progress.

  “These are all previous transcripts.” He glanced up at her. “So far, it’s the same type of rhetoric as the one we have.”

  “Nothing about the location or type of nuke?” Sun asked.

  “The constant reference to the word small reinforces our theory of a suitcase nuke,” Mack admitted. “Like this here, big surprises come in small packages.”

  A shiver snaked down her spine. “The saddest part of this is our own government is the one who first manufactured these small nukes. Now it may be used against us by North Korea.”

  Mack grimaced. “True, but remember it was a different world back then. These suitcase nukes were made back in the 1960s during the Cold War. The US was fighting against Russia, which posed a very real threat.”

  “Exactly,” Sloan agreed, coming over to join them. He kept his arm around his wife, Natalia, who Sun knew had been born in Russia but adopted and brought to the States when she was a baby. “I can’t help being surprised at the idea that North Korea has created the same technology all these years later.”

  “Those in power will do anything to keep it,” Natalia said darkly. “We learned that lesson the hard way.”

  Sloan gave her a hug, and Sun had to tear her gaze away from the happiness radiating off them. Times like this it felt like something she’d never have.

  “There is no doubt in my mind that the North Korean regime craves power.” Sun sighed and raked her fingers through her straight hair. “Yet, if someone asked me which country would try to build a new, secret, small yet powerful nuclear bomb, I’d guess Russia over North Korea.”

  “Same here,” Sloan agreed, and Natalia nodded.

  “Russia.” Mack straightened, pinning her with an incredulous look. “Sun, you might be onto something.”

  “I know, I’m brilliant,” she teased. “But humor me anyway. Why do you think I’m onto something?”

  He turned in his seat to face them. “What country meddles the most in our elections? Russia. And what’s the potential target of this nuclear explosion? The presidential inauguration.”