Chapter 76

 

 

0719 hrs.

 

The dart zipped out of Sage’s sling.

Jack closed his eyes.

 

It came from above. A thud, then a gloved hand stretched out an impenetrable steel plate in front of his face.

Nash!

Suited like the rest of the team, Nash drew into form. Sage lunged for him.

Nash stretched his left foot out in front of her. She tripped over his boot slamming her jaw on the concrete and landed with a thud.

Jack found his gun and as she slung her metal whip at them, he fired in her arm.

She fell back.

Jack shot up and stood above her, he reached for the rope and together with Nash they bound her in her own steel. Jack turned to his friend and set a hand on his shoulder. “Great timing, Nash.”

He sneered. “She wasn’t your type anyway.”

A gunshot exploded in Mason’s room.

“Calla’s in there–with her parents,” Jack said.

Nash narrowed his gaze at the door’s lock and turned to the operatives who’d joined them. “Let’s go!”

 

 

 

0721 hrs.

 

“What’s it you want, Mason?” Stan said.

Mason pressed a button that opened a door in the far wall. Dena Laskfell, clearly unwell, lay like a vegetable on a medical bed. He tightened his squeeze on Nicole’s neck. “Your wife here thought she could bolt her in her condition out of an institution in Texas, bring her here, so she can finish what she began years ago.”

From the corner of her eye, Calla caught subtle movement as Nicole snapped the restraints around her hands. “To protect her from you.”

“Liar!”

Nicole slammed the dart out of Mason’s hand.

It trundled to the floor.

Anger welled in Mason’s eyes as he reached for his pistol and discharged a high-speed bullet, zipping toward Calla.

Her eyes widened.

Time decelerated. Calla observed the propelling ammunition head toward her heart.

A breath of a second into her stare, they heard a second gunshot. The second bullet caught the first and the two bullets collided, exploding in front of her.

 

She zipped her head behind her. Nash’s arm remained stretched as his pistol’s precision conquered Mason’s bullet, having caught it mid-air in a fraction of a second. The shavings from the explosion hit her face and she recoiled into Stan, closing her eyes. It was a feat few soldiers could master. Because Nash and Mason were close in height, their guns had been directed at similar levels and in the same line of action. The bullets had clashed at equal speeds.

Nash fired a second shot at Mason’s gun and slammed it out off his hand. It landed meters from Dena Laskfell’s bed. He then fired the restraints that confined Nicole to the bed, releasing her completely.

Nicole pulled up her arms and Calla lurched forward to help her off the table. Mason retreated, and found his machine gun from a nearby table. He flew toward the bed where Dena lay and ripped her limp body from the bed. Dena’s body flopped over his shoulder as he darted through a back door.

 

Moments of pain and uncertainty transformed into a tear, as Nicole stared at Calla.

She gawked back.

Nicole drew her into a hug. “Come with me, Calla. Let’s stop what he started years ago.”

Calla failed to form her words. Was the wait over? Was this the mother who’d left her? Should she feel anything for the woman who deserted them? Calla’s lips trembled as she spoke. “Wh . . . where . . . have you been all these years? Why—”

“Did I leave you . . . and your father?” Nicole surrendered. “To protect you from that moron. Calla, the operatives need a leader, that mantle always fell on the Cress family. Stan refused it and that made you next in line. I didn’t want that for you. And when Mason threatened to kill me when I was pregnant with you, I knew he would take your life the minute he found you. We made sure he didn’t know you were ever born.”

Nicole cupped Calla’s face into her hands. “It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. And when the manuscript resurfaced and Mason found out about you, I knew our one bargaining chip was getting to his mother.”

Calla blinked at her uncomprehendingly, as if staring at an abstract painting. “What do we do now?”

“Get Dena Laskfell. It’s our only ticket to Mason.”

Stan stumbled toward Nicole’s side bug-eyed, as if he’d seen a howling phantom. A wife and partner he’d not seen in thirty years. Calla recoiled, watching as her parents reunited, a sting of emotion piercing at her eyes and threatening a choke.

Nash drew close and set a hand on her arm.

She turned to him and fell into his hold. “Thank you, Nash.”

His eyes shimmered with conviction. “You’re welcome.”

With no time to explain, Nash laid a gentle hand on her cheek and turned to the group as more operatives filtered in. “Mason’s getting away, we need to go. His mother is his hostage and my guess is he knows we won’t harm her. But I’m not so sure if he won’t. We need them alive.”

Nicole raised her eyes to him. “Nash thanks for taking my call for help when I contacted you. Because of you, I identified her accurately among the many women in that prison, plus infiltrated her communication with Mason.”

Nash stepped forward. “Mason’s mother was kept in a Texas psychiatric prison since 1972. She’d been there for years for her crimes against humanity as she couldn’t be confined in an ordinary prison. We don’t know what drove her to the state she’s in.”

Nicole sucked air between her teeth. “That’s why Mason wanted me. His mother and I had a fallout shortly before her arrest. Initially, we were on the same MI6 squad, both sent as moles to China. Then, she wanted the Deveron Manuscript. I knew it was linked to you, so I refused. That’s what started her madness. Calla, I couldn’t let her misuse the manuscript for her own good. That would’ve seriously harmed you.”

Stan rose and removed his headgear, rubbing absently at his arms as Nicole followed his movement. “I can’t believe it’s you.”

“It is, Stan.”

Stan’s eyes revealed pain. “Why?”

“I’m so sorry, I should’ve never left you both,” Nicole said reaching for his arm. Can you forgive me? ”

Stan stood stunned as if he’d been hit by a propelling projectile. “Nicole . . . I—”

Words failed him as he drew his wife into a long embrace before releasing her. “You’re as determined and stunning as the day I last saw you.”

“Then let’s finish this together this time.”

His eyes smiled at her. “Okay.” He turned to the others. “Mason has watched what justice has done to his mother and it’s hit a raw nerve. He’s mirrored his virus to the insanity she suffered. Let’s go!”

Nicole sauntered to a far cabinet and pulled out some resources. She handed Calla a gun.

“I don’t use these,” Calla said catching Nash’s gaze.

Nicole nudged her. “Take it.”

“No.”

“I don’t do guns. I never have.”

Nash’s look told Calla that he was wondering whether this was the best way to meet her mother. They heard the revving on a Jeep.

Stan shot to the door and turned to the operative team waiting at the entrance. “Let’s move!”