The black Prius drove north out of Las Cruces with Ash in the front passenger seat, Hiller behind the wheel, and Chloe and Lin in the back.
Ash was holding the sat phone to his ear.
Two rings. “Can I help you?” a man said.
“This is Ash. Is Rachel there?”
“She’s right here, Captain. Hold on.”
A brief pause, then Rachel’s voice. “Ash, what’s going on? Have you found him?”
“He went to the base.”
“God, no.”
“We’re heading in that direction right now, but we don’t know exactly where it is.”
The line remained quiet.
“Rachel?”
“I’m sorry, what?” she said, clearly dazed.
“Rachel, we need your help. Where precisely is NB219?”
“NB219, um, right. Let me check.”
He could hear her asking someone for the base’s location.
When she came back on, she said, “We have a set of GPS coordinates. I’m not sure if they’re right, but they should be close. Is your GPS still working?”
“Last I checked,” he said. “Text the coordinates to me right now.”
Matt hurried down the corridors, wanting to get back to the safety of the empty office as soon as possible. The placement of the plastic explosives had taken him longer than he’d wanted it to. One of the screws holding in place the plumbing-access panel near the elevators had proved stubborn and needed extra effort to remove. Once it was out of the way, though, stuffing the explosives into the available space had been easy.
He was two minutes from his hiding place when the speakers in the hallway emitted a reverberating bong…bong…bong.
After the last tone faded, a voice said, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Principal Director Perez. I’m sure some of you have noticed that our televised message has been replaced.”
Matt unconsciously slowed his pace. Replaced?
“For those who have not, the new message is an attempt to warn people from traveling to one of our survival stations.”
It had to be Tamara and Bobby, Matt realized. They’d done it. They’d actually done it.
“This message is too little, too late, and, I’m confident, will prove to be ineffectual. We are, however, in the process of returning our own message to the air, and dealing with those who are trying to stop us. I ask that you continue with the excellent hard work you’ve all been doing. Soon we will be moving into our recovery phase and…”
Matt picked up his pace again.
To hell with the eleven p.m. meeting. This was his cue to act.
“Eames, this is Aldridge. I’m at the elevators. What is it I’m supposed to be doing here?”
Eames could see the man on his screen. He keyed his mic. “To the left of car one as you face the doors, see if there’s something on the ground or the wall there.”
“Uh, say again?”
“On the left. You’re looking for anything that looks unusual.”
“Unusual like what?”
“I’m not sure. That’s why I need you to look.”
Aldridge walked over to area where the man with the duffel bag had been standing. After a few seconds, he said, “Nothing on the ground, and the wall looks…wait a minute.” He paused and leaned closer. “I don’t know if this is what you mean, but there’s a scratch on the surface right next to one of the screws. Looks turned recently.”
That had to be it, Eames thought.
“You have something you can open the panel with?” he asked.
“Yeah, I got something.”
Aldridge pulled a Leatherman multi-tool out of his back pocket and set to work. As with when the other man had been there, Eames’s view was blocked.
Less than thirty seconds later, Aldridge said, “Holy shit,” and moved quickly back from the wall.
Eames could see the panel was off, exposing an area with pipes running through. There was also something oddly shaped stuffed on the side.
“What did you see?” he asked.
“Somebody put explosives in there,” Aldridge said. “There’s a detonator sticking out of it.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m no bomb expert, but that’s what it looks like to me.”
“Close down that area! Don’t let anyone without authorization anywhere near there. I’m sending someone to take a look at it!”
“Okay,” Aldridge said, sounding like he’d very much like to get the hell out of there himself.
Eames looked over at McCabe. “Did you find him?”
“One second.” McCabe stared at his screen, and smiled. “Got him. He’s in an office. Section 23. Room, um, 3C. I’ll send someone in.”
“No,” Eames said. Who knew what this guy might have with him in there? There were people at the base better equipped than the security staff to handle this kind of situation. Eames put a call through to the barracks.
“Sir, we have a situation.”
Sims was standing in the common room, at the back of the small crowd that had been watching the broadcast the principal director had just told them about. Sims looked back to find Neal Duncan, one of his men, standing behind him. “What kind of situation?”
“Security’s on the line,” Duncan said. In his hand was the wireless phone servicing the room. “They’re reporting an intruder who has possibly placed some explosives near the main elevators.”
Sims whipped around. “Give me that.”
Duncan handed him the phone.
“Who is this?” Sims asked.
“Eames in security, sir.”
“What’s this about explosives?”
Eames gave him a quick rundown, ending with a request for assistance.
“Keep your people away from there,” Sims said. “We’ll take care of it.” He hung up and looked at Duncan. “Get the men, now!”
Principal Director Perez looked up from his desk as the door opened, and was surprised to see Claudia returning so soon after having left.
“Have they found her?” he asked.
“Uh, no, sir,” she said, her face gravely serious. “There’s something else.”
“What?”
Matt removed the final item from the duffel bag, pulled on the straps, but left the apparatus sitting on top of his head.
He removed the remote control and unlocked the screen.
Wicks had distributed nearly half the devices by the time the principal director made his announcement over the intercom. After Perez finished, Wicks — like Matt — knew everything had changed. All he wanted to do at that point was get rid of the remaining devices and get out of there, so he was considerably less cautious in his placements. As soon as the last one was gone from his briefcase, he headed for the elevator, but was stopped before he could get there by security.
“Sorry, this area’s off limits at the moment,” the guard said.
“What’s going on?” Wicks asked.
“Security matter, sir.”
Wicks knew it had something to do with Matt, but what? Had they caught him? If so, even more reason for Wicks to get out of there right away.
The only available exit now, though, was the emergency stairwell. He took a second to remember where the entrance was and then headed off, hoping he wasn’t already too late.
Sims split his team into two groups. The first went to determine the nature of the explosive and whether it could be easily defused. The second — the group he took personal charge of — headed to section 23 to apprehend the intruder.