“Jesus,” muttered Jackson as he watched Midori wipe her victims’ blood on her sleeve. He had never seen anyone kill with such clinical efficiency. Jackson walked over and dragged the bodies into the shadows, hoping that they wouldn’t be noticed for at least a few minutes. He bent down, picked up one of the dead men’s assault rifles, and nonchalantly slung it over his shoulder. Grace and Midori did the same. To complete their disguise, they put the guards’ black plastic safety hats on their heads.
“This way,” said Jackson, pointing to an open door near the underground base’s massive blast doors.
Deep inside the complex, Mitchell heard the alarm spring to life. He turned his head and looked over at his friends, all of whom were smiling.
“Game on,” announced Mitchell, knowing that Jackson was about to tear a path of destruction to free his friends.
41
With a flick of a switch in the control room, the annoying alarm blaring throughout the installation went silent.
Houston was relieved that the infernal racket had ceased. He put a pen he had been absentmindedly toying with down on his desk and looked up at his nephew. Two men stood guard over Owen. “I take it you spoke with Mitchell and then went to find what you were looking for?”
Barely able to control his temper, Owen said, “You’re damned straight I did. How could you do this to me? You’re the godfather to my children. Do you have one ounce of decency left in you?”
“Owen, please believe me, I always meant for your children to receive the vaccine before anyone else.”
“My God, listen to yourself. You’ve thought about my children, but killing me along with billions of other people means absolutely nothing to you. It’s just a number to help you stay richer than anyone has the right to be. I thought you were a good man, a kind man who cared about his family. However, it’s not true, none of it. You’ve been playing us all for fools. You’re nothing more than a cold-blooded, mass murderer.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” said Houston. “But everything I’ve done is for the good of the planet.”
“Bullshit! Perhaps at one time this was about saving humanity. However, the instant you schemed to place the blame on me and steal half of your fellow conspirators’ companies, this became about greed and nothing more. You can delude yourself into believing that you’re doing this for the world, but I know you’re doing this for you and you alone. ”
“Owen, it didn’t have to end this way,” replied Houston, looking into the enraged eyes of his nephew. “Take him and place him with the others in the briefing room,” said Houston to one of the two guards in his room.
“Come on,” said the guard to Owen.
As he stood, Owen looked one last time into his uncle’s eyes. If there had once been feelings there, they were long gone. The man’s heart was as cold as ice.
A phone rang. Houston picked it up. Instantly, his face contorted in anger and rage. “Why the hell wasn’t I told earlier?” he yelled into the phone. “Goddammit, don’t you realize that this changes everything?”
Houston slammed the phone down hard and shouted angrily at the guard to remove Owen from his office. After ordering the other guard to leave the room as well, Houston picked up a Motorola from a side desk and spoke into it.
A second later, McMasters answered the call.
Houston said, “Whatever you’re doing, drop it. My contact in the Pentagon has just informed me that two UAVs have already crossed into Albanian airspace and are on their way here. I want you back over by the vehicles ASAP. I want to leave before those UAVs get here.”
“Sir, we’ve got possible intruders inside the base,” replied McMasters.
“I don’t care. Hand over the search for the trespassers to one of your subordinates,” said Houston testily. “If we’re not out of here in thirty minutes, we’re all going to die.”
“Right sir, I’m on my way to the vehicles.”
With their heads down, Jackson, Grace, and Midori stepped through the open side door and onto the main hangar floor. A camera above the door began to flash as if it were experiencing some kind of technical problem. A second later, several armed men ran past them and out into the dark. The entire installation seemed to be alive with activity.
Thankfully, they think we’re still outside, thought Jackson as he looked over at a line of brand-new, up-armored Hummers and trucks lined up, facing away from the blast doors. A small cordon of well-armed guards stood watch over the vehicles. Jackson figured that his friends were most likely being held in a cell below ground. He was about to try and find a stairwell when a man from behind bumped into him hard, making him stagger on his feet.
Jackson’s heart skipped a beat when he saw it was McMasters.
“Out of my way,” McMasters said to Jackson as he pushed past him.
Jackson fought the urge to reach out and snap the man’s neck with his bare hands. It may have been satisfying, but it would have ended his mission and his life right then and there. Instead, he kept his head down and continued walking towards the nearest stairs leading below ground. He forced himself to avoid making eye contact with the people scurrying about the installation as he headed straight for the stairs. He was more than a little surprised when he saw Owen being escorted at gunpoint, out of the corner of his eye.
An idea flashed into his mind. “Stay close,” said Jackson over his shoulder to Grace and Midori.
Striding towards Owen and his guard, Jackson stepped into the man with his shoulder, bowling him over.
“I’m sorry,” said Jackson as he reached down and helped the stunned guard to his feet. Deftly, he pulled his pistol from a pocket and jammed it hard into the man’s ribs.
“Do as I say and I won’t kill you,” whispered Jackson. “Now hand your rifle to the young woman behind me.”
Midori smiled, reached over, and took the stunned guard’s weapon.
“Mister Jackson, is that you?” said Owen with an incredulous look on his face.
“Shh!” said Grace as she took Owen by the arm to make it look as if he were still under escort.
“Do you know where Ryan and the others are being held?” Jackson asked Owen.
“Yes, a couple of floors below this one,” replied Owen. “I can take you there.”
“Good, lead on,” said Jackson.
With his pistol barrel, Jackson prodded his prisoner. “Remember, if you so much as look the wrong way, you’re a dead man.”
The guard, a scared-looking redheaded man, nodded his head and followed Grace and Owen as they walked towards the stairs. In the back, Midori slipped her rifle off her shoulder and made sure that the safety was off.
“At least I can hear myself think again,” proclaimed Jen as she paced the cell.
“Jen, please take a seat, you’re wearing me out with all of your pacing,” said Mitchell.
“You’re as bad as your friends,” responded Jen. “I don’t know how you can all stay so calm.”
“Pacing won’t change a thing.”
Yuri’s stomach growled loudly. “I wonder if they’re going to feed us breakfast before they kill us.”
“Yeah, I could also use a bite to eat,” added Cardinal.
Jen shook her head. “Who can think of food at a time like this?”
“Gord’s always thinking with his stomach,” said Sam.
Mitchell stood and took Jen’s hands in his. “Jen, there’s nothing we can do right now. We have to wait until Nate gets here.”
“Do you really think he’s here?”
“They didn’t set off the alarm for nothing.”
A moment later, they heard footsteps, a brief struggle, and then a loud smack. The unconscious body of a guard fell in front of the cell.