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Z CAME RUNNING DOWN the hallway, her hair a mess. She looked like she had been crying and was out of breath when she arrived. Clark was nowhere to be seen.
“What happened?” I demanded, pulling her down behind me.
“Clark traded herself for me,” Z admitted.
I slammed a fist into the wall. Of all the stupid stunts she could have pulled, that was the worst. I turned around, ready to go after her myself. I wasn’t going to allow her to throw herself at the enemy alone.
“Wait,” Z instructed, grabbing on to my arm. “Ryan’s one of them.”
“I knew it,” I muttered. But instead of wanting to wait, learning the truth about Clark’s ex-fiancé only made me want to go charging to the rescue quicker.
“Hold up,” one of the Dark Sparrow operatives ahead of us said. “We just got word to rendezvous at the hangar.”
“I’m going back for Clark,” I announced.
“Don’t,” Z said, putting her body in my way.
It was a ridiculous move. All I had to do was give her a gentle shove and she would move aside. But it wasn’t about strength as much as it was about reason.
“Clark’s got it under control,” Z told me.
“How?” I demanded.
“If you show up there, things will get ugly,” Z argued. “Let her deal with him.”
I shook my head. Of all the difficulties to throw at me, asking me to sit by while Clark dangled herself over the void was one of the worst. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her. But at the same time, I could see Z’s point. If Clark was alone with Ryan, she could potentially talk her way out of it. With me in the mix, all bets would be off. It would rapidly come to blows between me and Ryan, and Clark just might get caught in the crossfire.
“All right,” I agreed finally.
It helped to know that Clark was every bit as deadly as I was. And she had her head on straight when it came to Ryan. I knew he wasn’t going to be able to convince her of anything, despite the fact that she might play along. And giving her some breathing room to take him down on her own was probably the best solution.
“This way,” the other operative said, waving us in the opposite direction.
I turned back from my absent girlfriend and fell in line, feeling conflicted as I did so. Z crept up in my shadow, instinctively putting herself behind me as we moved. I appreciated that. If she was important enough for Clark to sacrifice herself, then I was obliged to make sure she stayed safe.
Together, the group of us moved east, past the cafeteria and toward the primary elevator. The Dark Sparrow operatives skipped the shaft and opened the next door to the right, revealing a staircase. I should have known that there was an alternate route, but at the time it hadn’t seemed important. Now I was pleased that we wouldn’t be stuck in the same situation Clark and I had found ourselves in earlier. At least with the stairs, we wouldn’t run the risk of plummeting to our death or being crushed by an elevator car.
The leader of our little group kicked open the stairway door and poked his gun inside. I pushed Z up against the wall behind me, making sure she stayed out of the line of fire. I listened closely for any sounds that might be coming up from below or down from above, but there was only silence.
The Dark Sparrow forces eased their way into the stairwell with Z and me close on their heels. We hustled up the stairs to the first subterranean level. This was where the command center was and where Lukas was reported to be.
Sure enough, once we came out of the stairs, another small group of friendly fighters was there. Lukas looked up from where he was crouched near the door. Judging by the amount of bullet holes in the wall beside him, I could see that a serious firefight had just taken place.
As if in answer to my speculation, another hail of ammunition rained down on us, causing everyone to drop to a knee. Lukas waved his gun at the hall behind us, indicating that we should try to escape that way.
“Where’s Clark?” Lukas asked, drawing level with me as the whole group of us retreated.
“She’s downstairs,” I answered, not knowing if that was still the case. She might have been taken somewhere or have escaped deeper into the Dark Sparrow base. For the time being, I had no idea what was happening, and I didn’t like that one bit.
“Is she okay?” Lukas pressed me for information I didn’t have.
“Yes,” I assured him. No matter what, I had to assume that Clark was okay. It was the only way I could continue to function.
That seemed to be enough for Lukas. He obviously had the same level of trust for Clark and her abilities as I did. And his relationship with her allowed for a little bit less emotional baggage than mine. She was a sister and a fellow operative but not someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. I almost envied his detachment as we made our way toward the hangar.
Bullets sang through the air around us. We returned fire, keeping the enemy at bay. There were nearly a dozen of us, hightailing it through the hallways together. Lukas, Z, and I gravitated toward each other. It felt right to surround myself with people I trusted, whether Clark was with us or not.
We burst into the hangar, surprising another squad of troops. Lukas leaned into the door as soon as the last of our people sailed through. He locked it securely, and for a moment, we were able to relax.
“How did they infiltrate the base?” I demanded, taking a deep breath.
Lukas shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“Where are the leaders of the CIA and MI6?” I asked.
“Already evacuated,” Lukas answered. “We got them out at the first sign of trouble.”
“Well at least you’ve got your priorities,” I said sarcastically.
Lukas narrowed his eyes. His look told me that he wasn’t interested in arguing. I clamped my jaw shut, appreciating the tight spot we were in and the need to get on the same page. But I couldn’t help worrying about Clark.
“Everyone in the chopper,” Lukas announced, motioning toward a helicopter that was prepping for takeoff.
There were massive bay doors open to the sky, allowing all kinds of vehicles to evacuate the base. I half expected to see bombers swooping in on us or light combat aircraft capable of killing us all where we stood. But whatever New Dawn had planned didn’t involve heavy artillery. They were obviously counting on their ground troops to do the job, allowing us an easy exit now that we were topside.
“Get in,” I instructed Z.
She gave me a worried glance before heading over to the chopper. Climbing inside, she waved at me. I was torn. I couldn’t abandon Clark to the enemy, but what other choice did I have? Was it really worth going back to the second floor myself? I had no idea where she was, and I could lose my way quickly if I attempted to go it alone.
“Lukas!” I shouted, jogging over to where he stood, directing the flow of troops to different evacuation vehicles.
“Get in the chopper!” he told me.
“I can’t leave Clark!” I announced.
Lukas stepped between me and the door, as if sensing that I needed a little more encouragement to follow orders. “She’ll be all right.”
“It was Ryan,” I shared. “He’s the one that brought them here.”
Lukas nodded. “I should have known.”
“There was something screwy about him,” I agreed, “but the CIA had his back. You couldn’t have seen this happening.”
“No,” Lukas agreed, “but I should have taken precautions. Just allowing anyone in here was a big mistake.”
“We can talk about that later,” I suggested. “Right now, I’m going after my girlfriend.”
“You’ll only make things worse for her,” Lukas replied, putting a hand on my shoulder. “I have the tracker.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out a specimen jar. Inside were two miniature computer chips, one apparently from Clark and the other likely from Lukas himself.
“Ryan thinks it’s still in her,” I gasped, realizing the mistake that our arch enemy had just made.
I wasn’t sure if that would help or hurt Clark’s cause, but it certainly removed some of the objective threat. At least Ryan wouldn’t be able to deliver the digital key to Ashcroft. If that was, in fact, his plan.
After a moment, I discarded the idea of going after Clark. It took all my strength to turn my back on her when everything in my soul was screaming at me to find her. But I had to admit that I would probably be a greater liability than a help if I did circle back.
Hauling myself up into the copter, I helped Lukas up after me. The bird took off into the air, climbing until the base was just a speck beneath us. The driver pitched it forward, skimming the mountains until we reached a hidden runway.
The copter settled back down on the ground, and Lukas directed us to an airplane. I watched a second helicopter arrive, and the Dark Sparrow operatives inside hustled to a different jet.
“Where are they going?” I demanded. I was through operating in the dark. Whatever the plan was, I wanted in.
“They’re going after New Dawn,” Lukas said. “We’re going to a safehouse.”
I shook my head, unwilling to escape while the war was raging. Whether I was able to rescue Clark or not, I didn’t like the idea of saving myself first. Lukas grabbed my arm, pulling me toward the first aircraft.
“We’re going to attack,” he assured me. “We just have to reconvene.”
“I want to go in with the first wave,” I said, resisting his pressure.
“You need to debrief the team,” Lukas insisted.
I clamped my jaw shut. The further I got from Clark, the less sure I was of my decision to abandon her. We boarded the planes, against my better judgment. The quicker I could land and get the formalities out of the way, the better.
We were on our way back to Oslo, where the final battle would begin. I just had to hope that Clark would be able to extract herself from the base. It seemed likely that we would reconnect wherever Ashcroft had hidden himself. Since they still thought she held the key, that was the most likely place to find her.
Sitting down in a passenger seat, I strapped myself in. Luckily, the plane was cutting edge, and we reached our destination before much time elapsed. I found myself amped up, ready to charge into action by the time we touched down. It was now or never, and I was determined to see it through to the end. Clark and I were going to get past this and retire to our tropical island together. All I had to do was find her, and we would live happily ever after.
