Chapter 116

 

 

Calla darted down the metal corridor. If she didn’t end this now, she and Nash would always be on the run.

Her ears caught a deafening blast. She turned in the direction of the fire. Two gunshots.

Someone had joined them.

She edged into the wall and waited. When she moved into the light, it was then that she saw the weapon.

Alex’s face drew into frame.

Two more forms became visible.

Haven! Lascar!

They menaced toward her with an army of operatives, all suited: ten, maybe twelve.

“You should know better than to come in such a fortress without a protective operative suit,” Lascar said, patting his tech armor. “You’ve laid yourself bare and the sensors in here now have their eyes on the one operative they won’t let out. There was a lot Alex could tell us from her time in the NSA.”

Lascar motioned toward her and his face came within a hair breadth of her face. He smelled of pure masculineness and ran a hand through her hair.

“Get your hands off me,” she said rage pouring through her being.

“My offer still stands.”

“And what offer would that be? Surely you don’t assume I could fall for someone like you?”

“I could give you more than you can ever ask. I can give you your life and get you out of here. If you’re here, I take it he’s not far?”

“You don’t want to find out.”

Lascar turned to a small screen attached to his wrist. Both Nash and Jack’s locations illuminated on the tracking device. “Which man will you give up?”

“Why are you doing this, Lascar? You’re one of us, born and bred to work with us not against us.”

“That’s more than I can hear from you.”

“Lascar. You’re better than you think. Laskfell trained you and tainted everything about you for the wrong reasons. Think with your heart and not with your ego. You may be an operative Lascar, but even you have never been able to leave Nash on the ground defeated. He’s so much more than you are.”

Fury raged in Lascar’s eyes. He raised a hand to strike.

The hand found no momentum as Nash shot before them and clashed it midair. “You’ve never known when to stop, Lascar. You can’t hit a woman and expect her to like you.”

A blow landed in Lascar’s face. He careered back, gripping his chin.

Calla held Nash’s hand and squeezed it. “I’m so glad to see you, soldier.”

Lascar’s operatives surrounded them and pinned their arms behind them. The grip was agony, but seeing Nash’s face took away any further dread.

“Soldier,” she said, oblivious to the aggression around her. “We have a choice to make.”

“Then, let’s make it together.”

With a wink from Nash as cue, She freed her right arm and a quick chop to the neck of the operative behind was all it took. Before the operative on Nash’s side could floor him, the inside of Nash’s stiffened hand caught him just below the jawline. Nash then raised his firearm and aimed for the main light switch.

Darkness made it impossible to move. Calla sensed Nash’s gentle lips by her ear. His whisper reassured her. “Let’s find Jack and get out of here. Rumor has it you can make your way in the dark.”

She grinned, reached for his hand, then shuffled him through the little crowd at the speed of a maneuvering road vehicle.

They were all leaving. Now!

 

 

 

 

Alex glared at Lascar. “Thought you had this under control.”

“Shut it and let’s go!”

He reached for the light feature on his suit and the flooded the space they were in with light.

“Find them,” Lascar screamed at the operative nearest him.

The man jolted back and led the way.

“Vortigern knew about this place when we were being used as bait. Why didn’t he get us out?” Haven called behind them.

“Because he needed to know exactly what the NSA had on us,” Lascar replied. “Now we know. And the missing piece is the Blackhorse list. Why go to auction and sell something we could very well keep for ourselves. We need to work together if we’re to get to the data center before they do.”

We have a chance to grab the list. I believe it wasn’t created by your seller. He just stumbled on it.”

Lascar climbed onto the main CPU landing and called out to an operative who approached with a metallic case. Alex wasn’t sure if she trusted him altogether. She watched as the operative maneuvered the CPU unit with ease and removed a data pod and set it in the metallic case.

“Okay, we have it,” he said.

Haven moved in front of the operative and set a hand on the case. “I’ll take this.” She eased the case with the memory bank out of the operative’s hands. “What about them?”

Lascar spat the words out. “We have what we came for. Let the building do the rest. Let’s go!”

“Hang on,” Alex said eyeing Lascar’s tracking device. “In here!”

They shuffled into the adjacent room where Calla and Nash had failed to locate an exit. Lascar’s next move was swift. In two strides, he advanced toward them and slammed their hands into think metallic cuffs he drew from his operative suit.

Alex looked on. She’d admired Nash but never knew he’d left the KJ-20 Ops because of Cress. Why give up so much for someone who could only destroy him?

The operatives shoved them back toward the CPU panel and Lascar linked their cuffs to the unit. “You have a little over seven minutes before the room decides your fate. I assume you’ll be staying together.”

The operatives secured them with further steel rings to the rail that held the CPU station. Lascar barked at an operative. “Set the machine’s usage to full capacity.”

If Alex remembered carefully from the files she’d seen, they couldn’t live through this. The heat alone would get them before the electromagnetic field of the machine’s operation would do its work. Within minutes Lascar led Alex, Haven and his operatives out of the building with skill she hadn’t given him credit for.

 

 

 

 

Calla’s eyes burned into Lascar when she realized his intent. The heat was excruciating. Calla had her back against Nash, bound to him with Lascar’s metallic cords.

She could feel warmth coming from his back as she leaned into him. Her eyes were stained with regret. She’d destroyed his life by loving him. By caring for him and wanting him in her life.

They edged back to back until they sat against each other on the floor. With doors closed behind them Lascar and his conspirators had left little room for any air to seep in.

Nash’s fingers crawled on the floor until they found hers. She loved the man she’d worked so hard to keep and as long as they stayed together maybe it would be all right. They remained still in that position. How long? Calla had no idea. There was no way out but she didn’t want to leave. She’d always belonged to Nash. This was where she wanted to be.

“Nash?”

His voice was hoarse from the dry air. “Yeah?”

“Don’t know how we got here.”

The ground under them heated with intensity and she moved her left hip to relieve the skin under her thin pants. “Nash, I’m sorry.”

“Baby, there’s nothing to be sorry about. I would rather it ends with us together than living a lifetime without you. It was always better this way. Us together.”

“I always get myself in the most interesting binds,” she said with an involuntary snicker.

“Calla, when I married you, it was the best day of my life, knowing I’d found the missing part. I took everything that came with that. Your charm, your courage, your love and, most importantly, I made a commitment never to leave you. So here we are.”

Beads of perspiration trailed down her throat. “Nash, I just want to see your face. I want to look at you and tell you that I wanted our child as much as you did and I’m sorry we lost—”

“Shush… you’ve given me everything I’ve ever wanted. You.”

She managed a smile as the wires above them began to melt. The fumes and stench of the burning rubber slowly stole past her nose. “Nash, you can still get out of here, the machine will let you. Please do it for me and find the bastards that took everything from us.”

“No, Cal. I can’t think of any other place I’d rather be.”

“Nash, I don’t know how this ends. I don’t know whether we live to fight another day. Our child was so helpless. How could anyone think they were dangerous? So powerful? Remember when I told you I didn’t want a child? I didn’t mean it, Nash. I wanted your child. I was just afraid it wouldn’t deserve me as a mother. I just didn’t know how…”

She shut her lips shut to imprison the sobs that threatened to burst free. “And when we lost it. I felt I had let you down.”

“Shush…”

“My mother never wanted children and I guess it rubbed off. I’m so sorry, Nash. I’m living proof that all could go wrong.”

“Calla, don’t blame yourself. I don’t. Man, the things you do to me. I would love you even if you took a gun and shot me. Nothing you say could stop me from loving you.”

Nash’s little finger wrapped itself around hers. “We can’t let this defeat us. We’ll fight for that day we won’t have to fight again. Someone has to.”

“What if we can’t, Nash? Look around. I just don’t know how to get us out. If I move, the cuffs send pins up both our wrists.”

“Don’t say that.”

“How do we do it?”

The main unit that held the processing data giant collapsed on the steel missing their feet by inches. The machine was in full self-destruction mode.

“Nash!”

He tugged at his binds, yet they remained chained to the unit floor.

Excruciating pain shot through her wrists as she tugged at the cuffs.

“Calla? Nash?”

The voice was distant.

Shuffling by the far door.

A boot rammed into it three times before it dented at the hinges. Jack kicked his way through steel and metal and blasted any remaining door constraint with his pistol.

“Calla? Nash? I’ve been trying to find you but the signal in here is hopeless. His eyes dropped to their hands. “That doesn’t look good.”

“If we move our hands, these bands will explode,” Calla said. They’re on a sensor programmed by none other than—”

“Perhaps I can—”

“Jack, only one of us will make it out,” Calla said. “You still have time. This place will let you out, but not me.”

His eyes bulged, “Stop it, Calla. Please speak like the girl I know.”

Jack examined the burning control panel. “The building is about to blow. We need to get out. There must be something I can do.”

“Jack, I’m not sure if there’s anything.” Her eyes met his. “Jack, maybe not his time.”

Jack tapped his tablet to life and rose to manipulate the CPU panel. The effort failed. Jack rammed down an angry fist on the panel. He tapped some more, his eagerness growing stronger.

“Jack, you need to get out while you can,” Calla said. “You need to save yourself while you still can. Don’t wait for us. Get out. Go find the genes of my baby. Find the people who took them. Don’t let them breed anything or I’ll come back to haunt you. One of us must survive. Go!”

Nash leaned into Calla’s back echoing her urgency. “Jack, find the bastards. I don’t think Lascar or those frustrated twins are onto it. Their seller commissioned the attack on Calla.”

Jack wasn’t listening. “It’s jammed.”

“Then you get out now,” Nash roared.

The top frame of the beams that held the CPU dropped, smashing on the floor.

Calla yelped. Each time she moved the cuffs they stung her with tiny programmed needles on the interior. She had to stay still.

Jack’s face painted a rawness of horror. “Listen, I’ve seen you wiggle out of any situation. Come on.”

“If I move my arm, the detonator in the cuffs goes off. Then none of us leaves.” Calla drew in a sharp breath her voice taking effort to articulate her words. “Jack, I need you to go. Nash and I’ll have each other. We won’t be alone. But you can finish everything we’ve all worked for, build tech so much more superior to the operatives. You can do it. I believe in you, Jack.”

A rebellious tear welled in his right eye. “I won’t do it.”

A beam from the ceiling crashed between them missing Jack’s head by inches. His tablet dropped by Nash’s fingers and switched on. Scorching debris made its way from the ceiling, hailing down its anger.

 

 

 

 

Nash’s finger grazed the edge of Jack’s tablet. He reached with three fingers along the heating floor and gripped its side.

“Jack, angle the tablet toward me.”

Jack did as instructed.

Nash used his index finger to type a code into the operating system of the tablet. The pain was torture as it shot through his wrists.

“Jack, you and Calla can get out of here, but we need to hurry. I can show you a way. We’re on the top floor and I’ll program an escape down the shoot. There’s a secret shoot in every NSA building that withholds against fires. We planted them there so that agents, if need be, could use them. The buildings don’t have fire escapes, they have fire body shoots.”

“Then we all go,” Jack said.

“I watched this building for two years,” Nash said. “But it wasn’t until two days ago that I figured it was guarding the list. You guys need to get out. I’ll open a shoot by activating Code 17. Let’s hope they used the same strategy with this building.”

“What is Code 17.”

“An SOS escape code for NSA buildings. Jack, I have to hold the code alive while you two get out. It’s a distress code that can be programmed in any NSA building main frame reserved for KJ-20 Ops. I’m going to use it for you two to get out.”

“Won’t it be overridden by Alex. She was in the special ops too, wasn’t she? She must have thought of that,” Jack said.

“She was a grade lower and not privy to all this information,” Nash said.

The heat torched the machines and wires around them.

Nash gave Jack an intense glare, pain visible in his eyes. One of them had to go. Nash encouraged Jack with his eyes. But he had to tell them now at the moment of his greatest agony.

“One more thing,” Nash said. “I regret creating that list of near future technologies and I can tell you for a fact when I did, it was to secure our country’s future. I now know that that was the biggest mistake of my life.”

 

 

 

 

Calla’s body stiffened behind Nash.

“You created the list? The information on future technologies and world’s deepest government secrets?” she said.

He could hear the hoarseness of her voice.

“I’ve been trying to find a way to tell you both. It was a mission I got before I met either of you. I’m sorry. I can’t tell you everything. We’ve no time, but hear this.”

He was speaking to both, but the person he wanted to understand his words was Calla. “I never meant to harm you, or us. All this happened before I met you and if I could change things now I’d go back and change them.”

He heard her whimper.

“The one thing I can do is get you out of this mess I started. Then get the list and destroy it,” Nash said.

He tapped a code into the tablet linking it to the security systems of the building. They felt a gust of air swoop into the room as the shoot released its panels in the south wall. A draft of oxygen fanned the flame that had charred the circuit boards.

Nash’s back agonized as it fought a crank. “You’ll make it with Jack. Find Reiner, he was the third person in this ops program with us. He’s like a brother to me. Let him help you. He’s the only one you should trust.”

He shifted uncomfortably, the heat beginning to seep through his combat pants. “You’re going to get out of here. You’re going to make sure technology, history and the operatives in this world can exist together.”

He heard the choking in her voice. “Nash, I can’t leave you. It’s me and you against the world. That’s the vow I made when I married you, damn it! I’m staying with you. If you haven’t noticed we are physically stuck together, as we should be.”

“In all of sixteen seconds, your restraints are going to be released. Calla, I don’t know how to tell you this but I got to know a lot about the operatives.”

Urgency manifested in his voice. “Stan filled me in on all their tricks. You have abilities that you haven’t pulled into. Intuitions. You can command things with your mind and you’re going to will the restraints to open.”

Her eyes registered terror. “You’re mad!”

“No, Cal. Channel your thoughts and use your mental and physical strength. You’re going to channel your thoughts and translate them into a command to move the metal with the chip Jack connected to your nerve ending. That chip is a brain-machine interface. It can measure the activity of neurons to draw out a signal generated by your thought. You can do it. You can break them. You have the strength of the Cress genes living in you. That’s why you’re so dangerous to many people.”

Jack nodded. “He’s right. Your thoughts can process a command for movement. It’s not so different from a mechanical prosthesis, a computer pointer or remote control, just tons more powerful.”

He could feel her begin to shake her head.

“Do it now, Cal. I too can haunt you in the afterlife. Now hurry!”

Calla gathered all the strength coming in her veins crawling up her hands. The heat around her gave her strength until she saw the restraints fall off her hands in her mind. Her chip buzzed with agonizing strain in her head as it picked up activity from the cuffs. The strength of generations of operative genes moved in her blood and the restraints began to move.

Nash’s voice encouraged her. Soon, she felt strength draw into her fingers and into her arms. Nash growled with pain as he bore the scorching sting of needles that pierced into his skin as she tore open the restraints on her side. Each time she wedged the restraints apart, the tighter they gripped Nash. Tears flooded down her face as she broke through the last resistance of metal.

Nash’s pain was unbearable and he passed out.

 

 

 

 

With her hands free, Calla began tearing further at Nash’s restraints. In his unconsciousness, it made it all the harder. The fire in the room, was now a full-blown blaze that neared them.

She nudged him and he roused gently. “Go.”

Uncontrollable tears streamed down her face. “Nash. Nash…?”

He could barely speak yet continued tapping the last code on the tablet. “You’ve got to go. I created a deadly list and you can stop what I started, baby. We won’t make it together, now go.” He gave Jack an encouraging glimpse from exhausted eyes. “Jack you’re my best friend. And I know you love her. Then love her for me. At least one of us. Take my wife and get out of here.”

In one sudden movement he kneed Calla into Jack’s arms and she fell back. Jack dragged her toward the shoot kicking and shrieking.

“Nash!”

She blinked away tears and smoke. Her last sight of Nash was him behind a large boulder of rubble that dropped between them and flung her and Jack down several floors. It dropped them several feet past flames and nauseous gasses. The well of the building swallowed them.

 

 

 

The sky darkened. Alex turned back to observe the C.U.R.I.O.X. building. Lascar had left ahead in the first Jeeps with some of their small army of men. The horizon glowed with fire from the blaze of the building.

“Hey!” Haven called.

Alex didn’t want to discuss it.”Go, I’ll be behind you.”

Haven stepped in the Jeep and accelerated into the desert. Not only had Alex and her sister ended up pawns for the same government determined to make a mockery of their abilities, they’d also been pitted against that government’s best weapon. Nash Shields.

It should’ve brought satisfaction. But, somehow, Lascar’s eagerness was what worried her. They had what they needed, the list, and they could sell it themselves. She could pay off her debt now. The seller, who only went by the name of Talon, would leave her alone. She needed the Ellipse. She needed it back.

Nash never had desperation in his being. But in Budapest, she’d seen something in his eyes that scared him. Nash never got scared. Ever. He’d never asked for anything, until then. The list his Ellipse card had given them access to meant a lot to him. Why?

She stopped the open roof Jeep and whirled around. A line of fire grew between them and the complex they’d just left.

Cress.

Cress was still with him in that building. The thought that she was the woman Nash had left the K-J20 Ops for revolted her. She dipped into the driver seat of the open four-wheel-drive and squinted.

Two dark figures formed behind the wall of fire.

 

 

 

 

“Not so fast!”

The voice was hoarse, but familiar.

Alex gripped the wheel. “How did you get out?”

“I wouldn’t worry about that. Now, hand over the data pod and whatever you have there,” Calla said.

Alex set her hand on the case in the front seat.

“Is that the list?” Calla said with an insistent eye on at the data center pod in the front seat.

“I’ll let you keep guessing,” Alex said.

“I won’t let you get away with what you did to him,” Calla said and leaped to the hood of the car and delivered a blow to Alex’s temple. Alex retaliated with a fierce grip on Calla’s mane and pulled her off.

Calla delivered a second blow that dazed Alex. The impact of the struggle threw them both into the sand and she kneed the operative off her aching body. Tears of anger tormented Calla at the power she’d let Alex have over her and Nash. Perhaps if she retrieved the controls they’d used against the building, she could still get Nash out. Everything in her wanted to go back. Jack reached down with a hand and pulled her to her feet.

“We may still be able to get him out, Jack,” she said.

Jack drew her into his arms. “Calla, I’m so sorry. We can’t. I lost him too.”

Her grief was in her chest and her senses. “Have we failed him, Jack?”

“No, Cal. We now need to do as he asked. We take control of the list.”

Just then Alex came to and moaned on the sand. It was then they saw the device. A detonator in Alex’s grasp. Her eyes communicated one thing as Alex’s thumb pushed down the button with a venom Calla had never seen in anyone.

“You can’t have him!”

Their eyes turned toward the building they’d just escaped. A thundering explosion ripped the air sending them back in a blast that launched them upward several feet in its wake.

Calla stared at the flames and the aftermath of the explosion. The ploy hadn’t only ripped all hope of getting to Nash, it had exploded her heart. What she’d hoped was only temporary was now a reality. Nash was gone and they’d also stolen her last piece of him. Fury flew through her veins ven as every muscle in her body screamed with fatigue and anguish.

Calla gripped her shoulders and dropped her to her knees. She’d lost the will to fight as Alex started the engine of the Jeep and squealed the vehicle’s tires leaving them in a fog of dust.

 

 

 

 

Jack sank to his knees as the flames roared across the horizon.

Calla would trade all her abilities, her operative genes to have Nash back. Wat use was it having all these abilities if she’d lost everything she loved? Nash’s dream for them had become her purpose. She’d rarely admitted it to him, but Nash was the only thing in her life she’d never been willing to trade.

He was now gone.

Jack helped her to her feet. “Reiner’s sending a car. I gave him our location.”

Jack’s voice was barely audible as Calla digested pain like a meal of nails. She backed into his left shoulder, felt nothing as her eyes trundled in her sockets and she welcomed blackness.