Samantha pulled off her sweatshirt and tied it around her waist. Keeping up a steady jogging pace along Fisherman’s Walk at six that morning, she scanned other joggers looking out for a face: Lawrence Hackett.
Come on, Lawrence. I know you jog here, show yourself. Samantha thought as she looked out over the water. Glassy. Nice when it’s like this. Soon it’ll be choppy when the city wakes and the water traffic begins. She inhaled the cold morning air. I love these tree-lined promenades; just beautiful. Stopping to stretch and rub her knee, which played up in the colder weather, Samantha heard a voice behind.
“Are you alright?”
She turned to find Lawrence Hackett jogging on the spot in front of her.
Too easy, job half done!
Adam Forster used Mitch’s key to enter the hotel room. He found Samantha doing sit ups. She filled him in on her encounter.
“Can’t believe it was that easy,” Samantha exclaimed.
“I can,” Adam shook his head. “As soon as he saw your tan and heard the accent, he knew you needed a tour guide. Men, they’re all the same.”
Samantha laughed.
“Can you borrow a dress for me from your wife, girlfriend or mistress?” she asked, stretching her leg along the counter as she warmed down.
“I’m short on all three,” he said, his eyes taking in the long legs. “You’re going to have to go shopping.”
“Really?” Samantha smiled. “The things I do in the name of duty.”
Mitch adjusted his watch as he crossed another time zone. He could still feel the remnants of the sleeping tablets and the effects of sleeping on-and-off during the flight to Miami.
I am now so out of whack that it’ll take me a month to sleep normally again, he thought.
He followed the crew and a handful of passengers out of the plane at the Homestead Air Reserve Base in Miami, bracing as the cold air hit him. He looked at the note from John with his instructions, and looked around for a second military plane. He saw it in the distance and increased his pace, grabbing his phone to make a quick call while walking. John answered on the first ring despite the hour.
“Mitch!”
“Sorry, John, I know it’s early, but I guessed you’d be up.”
“I am. Where are you?”
“Just landed in Miami, about to board the next leg. Any news?” Mitch asked.
“I’ve spoken with Nick, Daniel controlled the call. I confirmed what time I was arriving, pretending to be you of course.”
“OK, thanks.”
“Call me when you get to Vegas.”
Mitch hung up and boarded the plane.
Only five hours now to Vegas. Hang in there, Ellie and Nick.
At Broad Arrow, Nick and Ellen waited. They were given some water and left again in the pitch black.
“Is it day or night?” Ellen asked.
“Impossible to say,” Nick answered.
“Where are you, Mitch?”
“Hang in there, Ellie, he’ll come.”
Five hours later, adjusting his watch again, this time to eight a.m. local time, Mitch stumbled from the plane at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas. Thanking the crew for the lift and pulling his jacket around him, Mitch pulled out his phone to call John for the arrangements to Broad Arrow.
“John, me again,” he announced.
“You’ve landed?”
“Yep.”
“How are you feeling?”
“OK.”
“You sound terrible. Are you up for this?”
Mitch heard the concern in John’s voice.
“I’m fine,” he cleared his throat and started walking faster, waking his body up. “So, how do I get to Broad Arrow?”
“OK, there is a chopper waiting for you somewhere there,” John informed him.
Mitch looked around. “Got it, thanks, John.”
“We’ve got five men on the perimeter. They’re waiting for your orders. Good luck and call me as soon as you can.”
Mitch checked his watch; it was just after four in the afternoon in London. He dialed Samantha.
Nick felt Ellen waking.
“It’s OK, Ellie,” he said before she had a chance to panic. “I’m here.”
“Oh, my God,” she took shallow breaths. “Are we going to get out of here? It’s so dark I feel like I’ve been buried alive.”
“Of course we’re going to get out of here. Our guys are outside now,” Nick said.
“Nick, I can’t stand it …” he heard her breathing quicken.
“I think we should start moving,” Nick suggested.
“What? You’re kidding?” Her words came in bursts. “It’s pitch black … we could fall down a mine shaft … or anything.”
“It’s just tunnels. If we head up …”
“How do we know if we are heading up?”
“Because you’re going to reach into my vest and get the penlight.”
Ellen stopped. “Yes, good idea. Can’t we find something to cut the ties with?”
“That’ll take too long. Let’s move first, hide, and cut later. Stay where you are, I’ll come closer to you,” Nick said. He stood in the dark, swaying. “It’s hard to stay balanced in blackness. OK, I’m going to drop to my knees and try and align my chest with your hands.” He started to move to his knees. “Now, my vest should be at the same level as your hands; if you turn slightly, you should be able to feel it.”
He felt her tracing the inside of his vest and pulling out a thin object.
“Got it.” Nothing happened.
“Shit! I think that’s a pen.”
“OK,” Nick coached her. “Try again.”
He felt her work her way along the vest with her fingers. She pulled out another pen-like shape and the light came on.
They both gave a small cry. Ellen smiled at him with relief.
“Nice to see you, Ellie. How you doing?”
“OK,” she smiled. “Glad we’re at least here together.”
“You should be,” he teased. “It’s not every girl I take on dates down dark mines, you know.”
Ellen laughed. “Next time, can we just go out to dinner?”
“Nah, everyone does that.”
“I think we should get the other penlight,” Ellen suggested. “We won’t turn it on until we need it, but let’s be prepared.”
“OK,” Nick said, “but that means I’m delving into your vest; if I touch anything I shouldn’t …”
“I’ll kill you later.”
“Fair deal. At least we can see this time.” He found the penlight easily and pushed it into the back pocket of his jeans.
“There is one more thing,” Nick said. “Can you reach into my top pocket and grab my cigarettes?”
“You’re not going to smoke in here?”
“No,” he rolled his eyes, “I’m going to leave a trail, like breadcrumbs. Grab the box from my shirt pocket and hang on to them. I’ll turn around and grab them from you.”
“Won’t Daniel notice?”
“I’m not going to leave them every few feet. He won’t notice, but Mitch will,” Nick assured her.
She found the cigarettes. Nick turned and she pushed them into his back pocket, near his tied hands. Leaning over, he took the penlight from Ellen’s hands in between his teeth.
“Let’s go,” he mumbled, leading the way. “Stay close.”
“Don’t lose me.”
“I won’t.”
Nick could just reach the cigarettes and breaking one in thirds, he dropped pieces along the way.
As he spoke to Samantha on the phone, Mitch walked across the tarmac to the waiting chopper.
“Three hundred pounds!” Mitch exclaimed. “Sam, that’s over five hundred dollars.”
“Do you want me to look the part or not?” she whined. “It’s not like there’s a lot of choice, and the shops here are expensive. Anyway, that includes shoes.”
“Oh, good. That makes me feel much better. Couldn’t Adam get you a dress from his harem?”
“Apparently not. Men! I swear you wouldn’t care if I showed up in a paper bag.”
“I think you would look great in a paper bag and it would be a lot cheaper, not to mention recyclable. That’s a whack of my budget just gone out the window.”
“I can take it back.”
“Forget it; give me the bill when I get back.”
“Thanks, Dad,” she teased.
“Don’t push it. Now, tonight, make sure Adam’s watching your back the whole time while you’re with Lawrence.”
“Already organized.”
“And let Lawrence pay, for chrissake! Don’t be a feminist for once – remember I’m on a budget and he’s loaded,” Mitch ordered.
“Yes, sir!”
“What are you doing now?”
“We’re working through the material. We think there are still agents in four countries. And we’re going to listen to all the tapes we’ve recorded from the rooms.”
“OK. Now listen, Sam, I don’t know when I’m going to get out of this one, so if you need more help, John can take care of it. Are we on speaker phone?”
“No.”
“Good, be careful with Adam. He’s obviously skilled but he’s a bit edgy.”
“Did he tell you something?”
“Nothing much, he’s fine. Just don’t test him.”
Mitch arrived at the chopper.
“I’ve got to go. Are you going to be alright?”
“Mitch, don’t worry. Everything that could go wrong, probably already has. We’ll be fine.”
“How reassuring, thanks. Good job getting the date,” Mitch gave the pilot a nod as he climbed on board.
“And Mitch …” he heard Samantha’s serious tone.
“Yeah?”
“Please, please be careful,” she begged, “and call me as soon as all three of you are clear.”
“Sure. Speak to you soon.”
Mitch hung up and muttered, “Five hundred dollars on a dress.”
He felt the pilot looking at him.
“Girl trouble, buddy?”
“She just spent five hundred dollars on a dress and pair of shoes!”
“That’s nothing. My girl can spend that on the shoes alone.”
Mitch took a deep breath. Right, focus, he told himself. I’ve got twenty minutes to get fired up and be ready to take on Daniel and his on-the-ground team. Got to think this through.
“Man, what does it take to get some action around here?” Colby muttered, as he lay flat on his stomach, gun loaded and ready. Twenty-four hours stuffing around … these clowns in camouflage camping outside the gate must be waiting on instructions. No one’s moved for hours. He turned at the sound of a chopper coming and watched it land some distance from the site.
Some fresh blood. Must be a change of shift, he thought. He counted four men in the chopper. Four in, four out? Here’s my chance, if I can get a clean shot of them as they swap shifts, I’ll be a happy man.
Rising, he aimed at one of the camouflaged men alighting from the chopper. He pulled the trigger and waited as the soldier fell to the ground at the sound of gunfire. The others followed, snaking along on their bellies.
Well trained, he thought, watching them split apart and cover the perimeters. The chopper rose leaving all eight on site.
Colby saw movement in his peripheral vision. He fired another round – then came the intense pain.
God! I’ve been hit. He pulled his shirt up, off the burning skin on his chest. Collapsing, gasping on the ground, he choked as the blood pooled in his throat.
Daniel watched from inside the office. He saw Colby fall into the grass, a spurt of blood rising on impact of the bullet. He watched as Westwood came out fighting from near the tunnel and surrendered, raising his arms in the air, when he saw eight men around the perimeters.
“These are supposed to be Lawrence’s best men? Bloody hopeless!” he muttered.
Daniel moved out of sight, inside the building. He spotted an armed solider near the gate, edging his way closer toward the administration building.
“Don’t come any closer,” Daniel yelled, bluffing. “The mine’s wired, I have the detonator here. You’ve got no chance of finding anyone alive if you try anything, I’ll blow it up. So back off! I’m not negotiating until you produce the pilot.”
Daniel waited. It was quiet inside and out. Nobody moved.