Shadow zero, p.18
SHADOW ZERO, page 18
Sara closed her eyes and took deep breaths until Mischa joined her again. Come on, Maya. Hang in there, please.
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
Zero dropped a terrorist with another burst. “Out!” he called.
Trent spun around and covered Zero while he reloaded. He slammed the next clip into the G38 just in time to fire at the terrorists trying to shoot Trent in the back.
This was his last clip. That probably wasn’t a big problem since the ground was now littered with AK74s that no longer had owners, but it was worth noting that they were still fighting through a sea of the enemy despite having felled over twenty.
“How many did you say were here?” Zero asked.
“A lot,” Trent replied, dropping another terrorist and sending the rest to cover.
They were in a storage closet in a hallway within the building. Twice, they had tried to push out of the room only to be driven back by the sea of bad guys. Zero hoped to thin their numbers enough that they could find a way to an exit, but they just kept coming.
Trent jerked him back into the room just before a bullet splintered the door frame in front of him. “God, Zero, pay attention!” Trent snapped. “There’s a firefight going on!”
Zero felt a stab of embarrassment. They were both fighting well, but it was rapidly becoming clear that Trent was the superior combatant. He dropped two terrorists to every one of Zero’s and that was the third time he’d saved Zero from death by simply being more aware.
A terrorist rushed them, holding a grenade and shouting. Zero pushed his emotions to the side as he shot the man in the abdomen. The man stumbled, but didn’t fall until Trent put a bullet in his head.
“Get down!” the younger man cried.
That time, Zero was way ahead of him. He hit the deck and covered his ears. The blast shook his teeth, and he felt shrapnel pepper his body armor. At least two pieces of shrapnel sliced through his legs, trailing fire through Zero’s nerves. He got to his feet and decided the wounds weren’t immediately debilitating.
They hurt like a bitch, though. His body still ached from his ordeal in the ocean. That wasn’t helping his slowness at all.
“Come on,” Trent said. “This is our chance, let’s move, Zero.”
Zero blinked and realized that the terrorist’s attempt to explode them had instead shredded several of his comrades. They had a chance to move while the enemy was still dazed.
He ran after Trent, checking each side of the hallway. A terrorist staggered in front of Zero, and Zero shot him.
Trent turned around, cursed and fired behind Zero. Zero heard a thud as a man he hadn’t seen fell.
“Shit,” Zero cursed, turning around to cover their rear. “Sorry.”
Trent didn’t dignify that with a response, and Zero didn’t blame him. He should have known to cover the rear. It was basic combat knowledge.
That was one thing Zero hadn’t predicted. His fears had to do with his body being slow, not his mind. After overcoming the hurricane and making his way here, he actually thought he was as sharp as ever.
It hit him like a ton of bricks that if Trent wasn’t here, he would have failed. He would already be dead, and that data core would be in the hands of terrorists.
A pang pierced his heart. Poor Maya. He hadn't been able to rescue her. He was gone while she was being tortured, and God knows what else.
The insidious thought, the one that he couldn't accept, wormed its way to the front of his psyche again. Maya could be dead. She probably was dead. Maybe she was holed up in that office Trent was talking about, but the logical part of Zero's brain doubted it. If he was a terrorist leader, he wouldn't keep Maya alive. The data core was far more valuable than an agent, so even if he didn't know about the CIA's policy to disavow captured agents, he would see no reason to carry even the slight risk that came with imprisoning an agent for ransom. Unless Maya was able to convince the leader of this outfit that she would help them crack into the data core, she was almost certainly gone.
“Zero!”
Zero snapped his attention back to the battle. He fired off three quick bursts, dropping the terrorists shooting at them. He felt a dull ache in his right side and looked down to see a third bullet wound in his right side. Once more, he was lucky that it was only a flesh wound and hadn’t hit any vital organs, but he wouldn’t get many more mulligans like that one.
“What’s wrong with you?” Trent implored. “I know it’s been a while, man, but come on.”
Zero gritted his teeth, but instead of replying to that, he asked, “How close are we to the office you talked about?”
Trent turned a knob and opened the door. Without looking, he shot the terrorist inside.
“Got it,” Zero said.
He followed Trent into the room. He knew immediately that it had to be the terrorist leader’s office. A genuine Persian rug lay on the floor, and the furniture looked like it had been stolen from the office of the CEO of a large bank. A flag Zero didn’t recognize hung on the wall along with two spears that looked like tourist trap versions of traditional Zulu weapons.
Maya wasn’t there.
Zero’s shoulders slumped as all of the weariness of the past several days fell over him like a weight. He didn’t realize until that moment how much he still hoped to find his daughter alive. Hurt, maybe, but alive.
But she wasn’t here. The voice in his head continued to insist that she could still be alive, but that voice was only a whisper now. She was in trouble, and he wasn’t here to rescue her.
“Zero!”
Zero flinched, realizing that Trent was speaking to him. “Yes. Sorry. Um… what did you say.”
Trent took a deep breath. Zero felt another flash of guilt at the tolerance in the younger man’s voice. “I said the data core’s not here. Maya must have escaped with it.”
At Trent's words, hope flared in Zero's breast again. Of course! Why hadn't he thought of that? Surely, by now, Maya was a far more capable fighter than he was. She might have been taken back here after escaping the first time, but that was probably by design so she could get close to the core.
He grinned and drew his handgun. His rifle was out, but that mattered a lot less now. “Well then. Let’s go find her and get the hell out of this dump.”
Trent returned his grin. “Actually, I think this place is pretty beautiful. But I get your point.”
He opened a door opposite the one they entered through, and Zero followed him outside.
A terrorist ran past them just as they stepped out. He turned his eyes to look at them, but Trent lunged forward, plunging his knife into the man’s throat before he could cry out.
Zero pulled the younger man back into the room just before several more terrorists ran past. He felt a touch of pride at saving Trent’s life the way the younger man had saved his.
That pride faded when he looked toward the tree line.
A dozen or so of the terrorists ran toward the opposite corner of the compound. At that corner, just behind the trees, stood nine men in combat gear. Two of the men held a black box between them about the size of a desktop computer. That had to be the data core.
And in front of those men, standing next to the body of a man the size of a professional wrestler, was Maya.
A lot of things ran through Zero’s mind when he saw her. Maya as a baby, looking up at him with large, solemn eyes. Maya giggling as he and Kate took turns chasing her around their home. Maya staring in wonder at Sara and kissing her tiny little forehead over and over. The girls laughing with him, hugging him, telling him they loved him and that they missed mom too. Maya struggling not to cry as he held her close shortly after rescuing her from traffickers. Maya standing against traitors and terrorists, as she was now, brave and strong.
She’d become a force for good. She’d stayed strong and kept her family together.
Now he was back, and now she was in danger again. Now he was back because she was in danger again. He had left to keep her safe. He was back because she wasn't safe. He'd fought hard to protect his family, only to watch them face extreme danger over and over again. He had left to protect his family, and now his oldest daughter faced extreme danger again. Everything he tried came to nothing. All of his efforts to protect the people he loved ended in failure.
All of these thoughts crossed his mind in a half-second. In the next half-second, he saw Maya throw a sharpened stick at one of the soldiers in front of her. It bounced off of his body armor, and he aimed a rifle at her.
The man who moved next, firing his handgun at the rifleman from a distance of one hundred yards and placing the bullet perfectly through his Adam’s apple wasn’t Zero, agent or otherwise, although it was Zero’s skill that allowed him to make the shot. He wasn’t Kent Steele, although it was Steele’s icy calm that kept him from panic.
The man who was now sprinting toward the terrorists and releasing a primal shout of rage wanted nothing more than to allow his family to have a normal life. That man tried over and over to give them that life, only to watch all of his efforts crumble to dust. That man now felt nothing but hate for all of those who insisted on hurting the people he cared about, all of those who insisted on spiting his desire to protect his family.
That man’s name was Reid Lawson. And he was coming for his daughter.
Time snapped back to normal speed as Reid fired his gun at both the new enemies ahead and the nearby terrorists who turned around from their rush toward the others to address the storm approaching them at full sprint. Each bullet found a home as Reid called upon Kent Steele’s intelligence and Agent Zero’s training to weave out of sight lines, avoid return fire, and kill enemy after enemy.
By the time his clip ran out, the enemy ahead had abandoned their attempt to shoot him and were now fleeing up the slope with the data core. Maya started after them, apparently not caring that she had no more weapons, not even sticks.
That’s my girl.
A bullet—not Reid’s—dropped a terrorist who intended to sacrifice his life by stabbing Reid to death. Reid turned to Trent, who waved him forward. “Go! Get Maya! I’ll handle them!”
As though to prove his ability to do just that, Trent fired behind him, killing a terrorist approaching from the rear, then followed through with the movement, spinning and kicking a terrorist in front of him to the ground while shooting another.
Reid turned back toward Maya to see her engaged in combat with four of the surviving enemy. The other two were continuing their flight up the slope with the data core.
Reid snarled and launched toward the men. He had never been much of a sprinter—Maria was the speed demon of the group—but these men were aiming guns at his daughter.
They had no chance. Reid drew his knife, and when Maya’s heroics finally proved unable to keep all four terrorists from shooting at her, he threw it from a distance of ten yards. It buried itself in the neck of the man who aimed his rifle at Maya with enough force to knock him to the ground.
The others turned toward Reid, but they were too late. Reid jammed the index and middle finger of his left hand into one of the men, bursting his eye. The man cried out and lifted his hand to his head. Reid kicked him into the farther of the two remaining men, causing both to fall to the ground and the second man’s shot to sail harmlessly up into the canopy.
The third man cursed and dove to the ground, firing at Reid as he went. Reid kicked his barrel up, sending his shots harmlessly overhead as well. He brought his boot heel down hard onto the man’s throat, feeling the crunch as his windpipe was crushed.
The man’s eyes popped open, and Reid put him out of his misery by stomping again. He convulsed, his eyes rolling into the back of his head, but Reid didn’t have time to watch him die.
The last remaining man shoved his stricken friend off of him and raised his gun. Reid ducked under the barrel and came forward, shooting both hands up through the surprised terrorist’s arms. He placed one hand on the crown of the head and the other underneath the chin and twisted sharply. The man’s head spun almost entirely upside down as his neck broke.
The half-blind man shouted in rage, and Reid grabbed the man he’d just killed by his body armor and held the body in front of him as the terrorist fired his rifle. He rushed forward, using the man as a shield, then dropped him onto the half-blind man’s good side.
The man shrieked and fired toward his blind side, assuming Reid would go there. He didn’t. He jumped over the terrorist’s good side, shoving the rifle to the ground and pulling a knife from the dead man’s belt.
Reid assumed the final survivor screamed before he plunged the enemy’s knife into his good eye, but the roar of a vehicle engine drowned out the noise. He got to his feet and turned to his daughter.
Maya was looking toward the slope. “Damn it! How the fuck did they get a vehicle here?”
“Language,” Reid said instinctively.
Maya snapped her eyes toward him. She frowned. Then she gasped. She took two steps backward. Her mouth worked for several seconds before she could manage to breathe, “Dad?”
Reid smiled at her, tears welling in his eyes, a lump forming in his throat. “Hey, Maya.”
Maya stepped forward, lifting a trembling hand to his cheek.
“It’s been a long time,” he said.
She stared at him in utter shock. Then her lips pulled back in a snarl. Reid had just enough time to frown in confusion before she drew her hand back and slapped him hard across the face.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Maya’s hand stung from the force of the slap. Her father’s head snapped to the side, and he staggered backward, eyes popping open in shock.
“You bastard,” she breathed. Then a shout. “You bastard!”
Her dad rubbed his cheek. “Yeah, I’ve been getting that a lot lately.”
“You… bastard!”
He stepped toward her, his hands open. “Maya.”
She shoved him hard, sending him to his backside in the mud. “Fuck you!”
She kicked at him, and he parried the blow. She didn’t try the kick again, but she repeated her sentiment. “Fuck you! You asshole! You piece of shit! Where the hell were you?”
“I can explain.”
If she had been asked to name three words he could have said that were worse than the ones he chose, she would have been unable to do so. “Explain? Explain? How the fuck are you going to explain two years, Dad? We thought you were dead! We thought…”
Her lips trembled as she recalled her conversation with that doctor, Dillard or Dillmore or whatever his name was. For a while, she hoped her dad was alive, but when he didn’t show up for months and made no attempt to contact them, she no longer allowed herself to hope, stifling the feeling whenever it dared to intrude on her life.
“I’m sorry, Maya.”
“Yeah, you are,” she said through a noise that was halfway between a laugh and a sob. “Yes, you are. You are the sorriest piece of shit I’ve ever had the misfortune of knowing.”
She met his eyes and saw tears welling in them. She was very displeased to feel tears welling in her own eyes. “Two years, Dad. Why?”
“I wanted you to be safe,” he said. “I thought that if I wasn’t around, you and your sisters would finally be safe.”
He didn't meet her face when he said that, though. The coward.
“Bullshit. You just wanted—”
A branch snapped behind her, and she spun around. Trent burst through the trees, and when he saw her, his face lit up in a grin. “Maya.”
His smile faded when he saw her expression. And that was another thing her dad had ruined. Damn it, she couldn’t even have a heartfelt reunion with her boyfriend because her bastard father had appeared out of nowhere.
“Okay,” Trent said, looking between Maya and her dad, who was still on his ass like some damned bum. “I can see you two have a lot to work through. Let’s maybe try to figure out how to get the data core back first.”
Maya blinked, suddenly remembering that they were in a firefight. “Shit. What’s going on below in the compound?”
“Well… I think we might have gotten them all.”
She stared at him incredulously. “All of them? There were over a hundred terrorists down there!”
Trent shrugged and smiled. “Well, I had Zero with me.” Her eyes narrowed, and he cleared his throat and said, “I think we probably killed between thirty and forty. As soon as they saw Bakari was dead, the rest started running away. I figured we had more important things to do than chase them.”
“We do,” Zero said, getting to his feet. “I’ve been talking to Alan. I’ll call—”
Maya whirled on him. “Alan knows you’re alive?”
“He didn’t know for sure until after you were captured,” Zero replied. “He got your distress signal and sent me a message.”
“How did he know how to contact you?”
“Guys, later,” Trent said more firmly.
Maya turned her glare to him, but damn it, he was right. God, she hated this.
Her dad was alive? What the hell? Why hadn’t he told her? Why hadn’t he come home? Why had he come here now? Just to rescue her? Why not just never leave in the first place?
“Alan, it’s Zero. I’ve linked up with Maya and Trent, but someone took the data core.” He glanced at one of the bodies. “They look Korean. I’m assuming North.”
He paused to listen to whatever Alan had to say. Maya took advantage of the opportunity to rip the radio out of his hand. Zero flinched, looking for a moment like he was going to take the radio back, but in the end, he thought better of it.
“Alan?” Maya said. “Hey, it’s me. Agent Specter.”
“Hey, Maya. I was just telling your dad—”
“Yeah, I know. And you both can go screw each other in hell, but Talon has reminded me that we have more important things to worry about right now. Since I’m in charge of this op, you can tell me any information you have on the North Koreans.”
Alan, at least, was smart enough not to test her any further. “I’ve been working with Todd and Penny to get a handle on the situation. It looks like the North Koreans have a plane at an abandoned airstrip on the Kenyan border about five miles north of you.”
