Chapter 31

A topless woman with short, dark hair hung from the spot Duncan had weeks prior. Her head dipped low, her chin resting on her neck. She had six lines of scars on her back and three circular ones that were old cigarette burns. He knew these scars as if they were his own.

His Nickie. His wife.

Was she alive? Darting so that both eyes could see, he squinted through the dusty window. Stepping into view was a face he would know forever with or without his eidetic memory. Jun Zheng. Nickie adjusted her toes along the concrete. He knew what she was doing. She used her toes to try and stop herself from swinging in circles as well as lifting a portion of her weight from her shoulders and wrists. She was alive.

"Duncan. Son. Where are the others?" Nathan whispered as he looked through the window and saw what Duncan saw.

"Find them," Duncan said to him. He knew there was no entrance on this side of the building, but he checked the walls anyway. Nathan took off on the balls of his feet as Zheng strolled along side her, one foot and then the other. Running his fingers around the outside of the window frame, Duncan shook the metal every few inches.

He lifted the audio bug to his mouth and announced, "Breach, breach, breach. They've got her. He's got her. I repeat Nickie has been taken."

With little warning, Zheng pulled his arm back and swiped. The end of a bull rope struck her perfect back, leaving a raw trail of pink that turned into a thin line of bright red before his eyes. Her body didn't react to the pain.

Tucking his fist inside the arm of his jacket, he reared back and shoved it through the glass. He had the shards cleared and was up and through the window in seconds. The bull rope still dangled from Zheng's hands, but he'd had time during the breaking of the glass to pick up a long knife and hold it to her throat.

"Good day, Mr. Reed. I do not care for interruptions with my savage."

Nickie's head bobbed.

"The place is surrounded, Zheng," Duncan said as he tiptoed closer.

Zheng tossed his hair back and laughed. "It was hard enough to hear these threats on U.S. soil, but here? Do you see who I have with me?" He tightened his grip around her. "Your attempts have been futile all along. We regroup. There are always more children." His laughter was short-lived.

The explosion shook the ground. Duncan had affixed two explosive devices to this building alone and the others reverberated throughout the compound. Zheng swayed and darted his gaze from one side of the building to the other. Duncan lunged and jumped into a kick to the side of Zheng's face. He flew backward to the ground, his head hitting the hard dirt with a thud. The knife fell beside him.

Duncan's upper lip curled as he stomped to him and picked up the blade. He spun and used it to cut her free. Her limp body against him, her arms dangling over his shoulders. Gripping her waist, he was careful not to touch her fresh wound. Her right arm slid and bobbed next to her limp body. "I am here," he whispered in her ear.

Silence ensued between occasional remnants of pops. The rain had started. It drizzled over the small village now encompassed with fires.

Chaos erupted outside. Deep voices. Some yelled orders. Some just yelled.

"There is little time," he said and guided her arms into the sleeves of his jacket. "The EMP ignites in less than fifteen."

It was like she woke from a dream. Her arms snaked around his neck. She shook like she was cold, clinging to his head and neck. Tears drenched the shoulder where she dug her face.

Her head shook back and forth, and she mumbled into his shoulder. "George Kruger. Dale Parker. The blood."

Had Zheng drugged her?

"The belt. The carbon monoxide. My body."

Her arms squeezed him like he wore the only parachute as they jumped from a burning plane.

"They all kill."

There was no time. The bomb. They had to get the children out. "I am here for you. Do you know where Gloria and Gil are?" he crooned.

She dug her forehead into his shoulder, slowly moving her head back and forth. He took her by the shoulders. "My love is without condition. You are my detective. My Nickie. My wife."

The chaos continued around them. Zheng stirred.

"Where is your mother?" Duncan realized too late the double meaning behind this question. He didn't have a chance to explain. Nickie placed her hands on his cheeks.

Her wince changed to clarity, and her eyes grew large. "Duncan. I know where they are. All of them."

Zheng bolted upright. Crouched like an animal ready to spring, he blinked as he looked at Duncan and then to Nickie. "Ahh!" he yelled and sprang. Duncan stepped in front of Nickie, taking the full force of the blow. He and Zheng tumbled to the floor. "We have but moments before the entire compound is down. Go!" Duncan yelled to her as he wrapped his legs around Zheng's torso and squeezed.

Zheng lifted his clasped hands above his head and thrust them into Duncan's ribs. The air left his lungs. He coughed but staggered to his feet as Zheng kicked the side of his head. His vision went dark long enough for a fist to come up beneath his chin, knocking his teeth together.

Shaking his head clear, he spotted Zheng marching to the exit. Duncan scooped up the blade and roared, "No!" as he ran. He tackled him and straddled his back. Pulling him by his neck, he shoved the blade beneath Zheng's chin. "One move and you're gone. How does it feel?"

Zheng jerked and garbled something incoherent, but Duncan's arm wrapped tighter around his neck. If he just held on a little tighter. Jun Zheng. "You touched her. Hurt her." A little longer. "Left scars on my wife."

Standing, he let him drop facedown and stood over him. Zheng lay limp with nothing moving except his lungs. With fires and turmoil ensuing outside of the building, Duncan strolled to the table with the weapons, set down the knife and considered. Bloody blades, knives, a mallet, a handful of zip ties and a machete.

He walked back to Zheng, who coughed in the dirt. "Be glad I didn't choose the machete, you worthless scum," he said and tied his hands behind his back.

* * *

As drizzle sprayed her face, Nickie stood with her knees locked, feet spread. Chaos buzzed around her. She was the queen in the center of the beehive. Only these bees worked for another queen.

A Mercedes stood running idle at the edge of the compound. From inside, Ivanna barked orders through the open window. Nickie did not search for that mother. Duncan had known this. Unconditional love. No matter what she did or who she was. He was her everything.

She scanned through the small fires that seemed to be everywhere. There. In the dark, in the rain. A rusted metal door that led underground. Take them to the cellar with the others, the pit boss had said. Fear in the eyes of men who didn't understand made Nickie invisible. She walked tall through the mud. Through hell.

A chain and padlock covered the door over the ground that held crying children captive. She heard her mother's voice. Her true mother. Nickie closed her eyes. Gloria lived. Her familiar soothing voice crooned to the children who were with her. She had used the voice with teenage Nickie during spells of flashbacks and panic attacks. Her mother who loved her. Unconditionally.

She found tools. They were crude and filthy, but they weren't electric and didn't contain any wiring. Digging the crowbar into the pin at the hinge of the door, she pounded. The rust was too much. Below turned into silence. At least they were safe. The EMP would explode and they would live.

A hand rested on her shoulder. She reached to take it and flip the body attached, but the man was quick. He pulled his arm away. Ice blue eyes smiled beneath a head of salt and pepper hair. "Nathan," she said and smiled back at him.

He took the tools from her and released the hinge, then another and another until the door was free.

Covering her fingers with the ends of Duncan's coat, she and Nathan inched it from the cover of the cellar. Fingers appeared from beneath. They wrapped around the side of the metal and heaved. Heaved until she saw the face belonging to the fingers.

"Brother," she said.

"Sister," Gil answered and nodded behind the tears on his cheeks. "You came."

"Always."

"There are children down here. Help us."

"Not yet." She hesitated, convincing herself to have faith that Duncan knew exactly when and where to be when the bomb went off. She held out a hand to Nathan. "Come," she said. "This is his expertise. The war. He knows how to be safe."

Nathan shook his head as the tips of their fingers parted. "He is my son. I cannot leave him. Stay with the children." He smiled, spun on his feet and ran.

"Nickie," Gil said as children started crying again. She crawled in with them and looked around at the underground village. Gloria sat on the ground with children circling her. Her smile was warm. Nickie closed her eyes and inhaled. The area extended all around her like a dark city of mud.

"Bomb shelter," Gil said.

"Irony. Get away from the door."

His chin jerked toward her, then to the children. "Get away from the door," he yelled.

* * *

Leaving Zheng half-conscious on the ground, Duncan stepped out into the drizzle. It whipped around his face and hair, but did little to put out the fires. A trio of men, soaked with the rain and soot, walked around the burning rusted truck. Two explosives had been affixed to that vehicle. Vengeance was sweet.

He stepped backward into the shed and almost stepped where Zheng's body lay. Glancing down, he considered giving him a sound kick. He was gone. Zheng. He checked the area and spotted Zheng's backside where his hands remained tied, ducking into the shed that held the better vehicles. Duncan lifted a corner of his mouth. "Good luck with a working vehicle, Zheng," he said and eyed the window in the back.

Crawling through the way he came wasn't necessary. He waited for the trio to pass, then dipped his head out the opening once again. With the fires to the east, he marched around the west side of the building. The backpack with the cell phones and watches still lay, untouched, in the spot he'd dropped it.

A loud crack sounded behind him. It was followed by a heavy thump. He rotated on his feet and found Nathan straddling a man in black, placing a hard right hook to the side of his head. Blinking several times, he looked to his uncle, his father. "That's the second time you've done that for me today."

Nathan lifted from the perp, then huddled close to the building with Duncan. They had but a few moments before the electromagnetic pulse. "I took care of Jun Zheng," he said to Nathan. "Nickie is free and went to find Gloria and Gil. She thought she knew where they're located. All of them, she said, although I have no idea what that means."

"I do. Let's go to her."

"We are out of time," Duncan said.