Wednesday
Zoe walked off the plane at the Albuquerque airport. Clouds cascaded over the rugged Sandia Mountain range. Picturesque, but a lie. No matter the mirage shimmering before it, nothing was going to soften the one-billion-year-old rock formation that housed GTA headquarters.
Or degrade the complex security system the agency had.
Wit and skill were the tools that would kill her uncle this morning.
Military trucks from Kirtland Air Force Base passed her as she drove onto Interstate 25 from the rental car center. She had a meeting with Easton in two hours to hand over the prototype and Xavier’s thumb drive. Her uncle also thought she was bringing Leah with her.
Zoe cleared security at Kirtland Air Force Base and proceeded through GTA’s connecting tunnel. She parked in the employee lot and checked her phone. No texts or call from her lady today.
She texted Isabel: At HQ. Are you ok? Miss you. Isabel must’ve gotten pulled into a work crisis.
Zoe then texted Autumn: Arrived.
As she walked through GTA’s revolving door, she took a deep breath. She hadn’t believed it could get any worse—but it had. In a shocking development, Easton had been appointed president of the UN Security Council two days ago.
Terrifying. More minds for him to destroy, more people for him to torture.
But if there was any good news in this scenario, according to both Shane and Autumn, there’d been no time for Dr. Frankenstein to conduct any more experiments. With Xavier dead and the stolen materials retrieved, he’d focused his attention on Security Council business.
She’d find out soon enough if that was true. Along with Autumn, Shane played a crucial part in the plan. Would he follow through, or had Easton gotten to him?
After a short wait in the employee security line, she passed through the metal detector and retina scan.
Through security, she texted Autumn.
Squeezing onto a crowded elevator, she exited on the second floor Executive Level and headed to the bathroom. Going into the farthest stall, she lifted the cover of the sanitary napkin disposal container and removed a paper bag containing a Nano Beretta. Not hers, but a duplicate. Autumn had come through.
Zoe secured the gun in her calf holster and inspected her pants’ leg. No bulges. Her loose-fitting beige pantsuit did its job concealing the weapon.
She returned the smiles of her colleagues as she headed to Easton’s office. A second after she knocked on his door, the light turned green and she stepped in. The first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, the Pastoral, “Awakening of Cheerful Feelings on Arriving in the Country” greeted her. The happy music seemed to dance from the speakers.
Easton sat behind his desk. No dark circles ringed his alert eyes, and in a light gray suit and rose-white checkered tie, he looked refreshed.
Her heart stopped. Shane sat on the couch. Shouldn’t he be in the control room preparing to disable the power? Was he under Easton’s control?
No new bruises or scratches were visible on his face. With his legs stretched out and in a black suit and black shirt and tie, he appeared to be the normal Shane.
He looked back at her, expressionless.
Her uncle rose and held out his arms as he walked toward her. “Zoe! My girl. Great work,” he said with a beaming smile.
They embraced, and for a brief excruciating moment the same warm comforting wave washed through her that she’d felt as a child, from his hugs.
But her broken heart cried, “No! You can’t love him!” and every muscle in her body tensed, screaming, Don’t be a fool. He’s a terrorist seeking power, not the hero. That great man no longer exists.
Easton gazed at her with a frown, his facial tic jerking. “Everything okay?”
She tipped her head toward Shane, indicating her surprise that he’d hug her in front of someone.
His charming smile returned and he gestured for her to sit. Back at his desk, he turned the music off. “Shane understands our relationship.”
Zoe raised her brows as she sat. Whatever that meant.
Easton held out his hand.
She opened her purse and removed the prototype and the fake drive, dropping them into his palm.
He smiled at her again and placed them in his top desk drawer. Sitting back, he made a church steeple with his fingers. “Where’s Leah?”
“Downstairs in the daycare center,” she lied. “It’s time for her to begin her transition from isolation into being around other children.”
Easton nodded and then the fluorescent ceiling lights shut off.
Darkness.
Silence. The endless humming, and constant glow from the countless GTA security devices, had halted.
Her night-vision contacts activated.
Shane had completed his task to blind the Eyes. He’d managed to do it remotely somehow.
In the night-vision green, Zoe saw Easton push a button on his desktop and jump up. He shouted, “You’re the traitors.”
He raced toward the Eye of Providence drawing on the far wall.
Zoe reached down for her gun and as she rose, the wall slid open and Easton ran through it.
A door?
She didn’t know about it.
More shocking secrets by the minute.
Shane rushed to her with a Glock in his hand.
“Did you know about this secret door?” she asked him as they ran through the door.
“No.”
Then they were both clueless as to where they were going.
Shane must have on night-vision contacts too, as he moved without hesitation.
They were in a long corridor. Zoe figured it ran parallel to the executive wing’s public hallway. That would explain how her uncle moved to and from his mind-control laboratory without detection.
Easton slowed down and Zoe raised her gun, but he opened a door and disappeared inside, locking it.
Shane blasted the door lock with his gun and kicked it open.
Zoe ran in and her blood went cold.
Isabel sat in a metal chair, locked in by wide bands. A tall stand with electrodes stood next to her.
They were in the laboratory.
Holding a gun to Isabel’s head, Easton glared at Zoe. “I felt you stiffen at my touch.” His voice shook with anger.
He looked to Shane. “I saw you typing on your phone just before the power went out.”
Zoe raised her gun and blinked back the tears in her eyes. No-no! I can’t care about him.
Easton turned red as he watched Zoe raise her Beretta. “Go ahead and shoot me, betrayers! I’ll shoot Isabel!”
Tears flowed down Isabel’s face, but she didn’t move or speak.
Zoe said, “You’re the betrayer. I trusted you. I endured the beatings at Woodbury because you said it’d make me strong—but now I see all you are is a torturer.”
He spit out saliva as he said, “You ungrateful—”
Without turning her head, Zoe gave Isabel a quick look.
Isabel shouted, “I know you’ve been electroshocking me. I know I’ve been in this chair before!” Stretching her neck, she swung her head and headbutted Easton’s gun, knocking his hand to the side.
Zoe’s finger pressed the trigger.
I had no choice.
He forced me to.
Easton sprang to the side as she fired, but her shot reached him, hitting his chest.
The loud bang reverberated in the room.
He staggered toward Isabel.
Bang!
Shane fired at Easton too.
Bang!
Another shot—but not from her or Shane.
It came from Easton.
Isabel’s head fell forward. Blood appeared in the front of her blouse.
“NO!” Zoe screamed and blasted Easton over and over again. Bullets smashed through his skull, and writhing, he fell facedown.
Her ears ringing from Shane’s weapon discharge, Zoe ran to the keypad hanging on the side of the chair and pressed “power off.” The bands retracted and she caught Isabel as she fell forward.
Isabel’s eyes were closed, but she was breathing. Cradling Isabel in her lap, Zoe screamed at Shane, “Get a medical team now!”
But Shane was already on the phone barking orders.
Her tears wetting Isabel’s cheek, Zoe ripped off her jacket and pressed it down on Isabel’s chest wound. “Don’t leave me, my love. I need you.”
Blood seeped onto Isabel’s sleeves, the red growing wider, darker.
So much blood.
Shane grasped Zoe’s shoulders. “Help is coming.”
Shrugging out of his hold, Zoe leaned down closer to Isabel. “I love you.”
Isabel’s eyes opened and with trembling lips, she said in a weak whisper, “I love you too.” Her head rolled to the side and her eyelids lowered.
“No, no, stay with me, Isabel,” Zoe moaned, bowing her head.
Autumn rushed in, followed by two security guards and two medics with stretchers.
Shane said to one guard, “Stay outside. Don’t let anyone in but the FBI or local police.” The guard left, shutting the door. The remaining guard stationed himself next to the door.
The medics split, one heading for Easton and the other going to Isabel.
Autumn put her arm around Zoe’s shoulder and they watched the medic tend to Isabel. “Is she going to be okay?” Zoe said to the medic.
“Ma’am, we’ll do everything we can.”
“Sir, he’s dead,” stated the medic kneeling by Easton.
Shane nodded. The medic covered Easton with a sheet from the stretcher and went over to assist in lifting Isabel onto the other stretcher.
Zoe grabbed Isabel’s hand and walked with the medics as they wheeled Isabel toward the door.
“Zoe, you need to stay and give a statement to law enforcement,” Shane said.
“No, I’m going with them.”
With a gentle pull, Autumn unclasped Zoe’s hand and said, “It’s okay. I’ll stay with Isabel. Call me when you’re done.”
Zoe kissed Isabel’s forehead. “See you shortly, my love. Be strong for me.” Holding Isabel’s hand, Autumn left with the medics.
The door closed and Zoe swung to face Shane. She crossed her arms. “I hope they come soon because I’m not staying long. I need to be with Isabel.”
Ignoring her, Shane crossed the room to Easton’s body. He stared down at the sheeted corpse. Glancing at the guard, he said, “Please, I’d like a moment.”
The guard nodded and left. Zoe had recognized the security guards. They’d been at the agency a long time and knew that Shane and Easton had been close.
As the door closed, Shane faced Zoe, his eyes dark with pain and his mouth tight with anger. “I was tortured by him. I deserved the first shot after what he did to me. That’s why I was in the office when you came. You should’ve realized that, but no, everything’s about you, isn’t it? You had to be the one to kill him, didn’t you? You couldn’t let me take the first shot, could you? You have to be the hero.”
He spread his arms wide. “The Great Wildcat struck again.”
His gaze turned cold and he went to the door, opening it. He gestured for the guard to return. His phone rang and he walked to the corner, answering it.
Zoe stared at his back and shame filled her. He was right. She’d been selfish denying him the closure he needed. But he of all the people should understand who and what the Wildcat was—the alpha killer. The hunt and kill belonged to her.
Several FBI agents entered, and Shane let her talk to them first so she could go to Isabel.
Zoe hurried to the elevator. Leah was safe and free. She should be rejoicing. But instead, a terrible darkness enshrouded her.
If Isabel died, the light would, too.