Shadow, p.22
Shadow, page 22
part #6 of Linear Tactical Series
Jenna shook her head. “I don’t know if that will work. He might kill us anyway.”
“Then so be it. We’ll have done what we could.”
She thought Jenna might disagree—and who could blame her? There was no telling exactly what sorts of torture the woman had lived through in the past year.
But finally, she nodded. Lyn squeezed her hand.
They worked as quickly as possible. The only thing Lyn was able to access from this computer terminal was her remote data server. She used every bit of the available bandwidth—one thing she could say for the bad guys was that they didn’t skimp on connection speed—to download everything and anything in her cloud storage over and over again, including every paper she’d cited in her dissertation.
No doubt someone as smart as Garrison would make sure the connection from this terminal was anonymous. There’d be no way to trace her connection back to this facility by something as simple as an IP address. But if someone was already electronically surveilling this location and her accounts— someone who had a significant knowledge of computers— that someone might notice the simultaneous and equal uptick in data usage at both sources. The breadcrumbs were tiny at best, but maybe, just maybe, Kendrick and Heath would find them. Maybe, just maybe, they’d realize she was here.
While everything downloaded on repeat in the background, they worked, huddled together, as Jenna took the formula Lyn had been translating and tweaked it. Making it close enough to seem perfect but far enough from viability that no one would be able to fix the problem easily.
After an hour, Garrison returned. Lyn’s heart began its erratic beat almost immediately. It was fine to talk tough about not giving Garrison what he wanted when he wasn’t around, but it was another thing altogether to do it when torture and broken bones were imminent.
“Ladies, for your sake, I hope you have good news for me.”
Lyn swallowed her fear. “We need more time. You’re asking me to translate something from a language that’s been dead for two millennia. It’s going to take more than a day to finish this.”
She saw Garrison’s sneer and his arm draw back for a strike, but the blow never came. Jenna stepped in front of Lyn, obviously not something Garrison was expecting.
“She’s telling the truth,” Jenna spat out. “If you want her to be able to work quickly and thoroughly, you’ll stop with the violent histrionics. It’s not going to help anybody get what you want.”
“You’re right. Hurting her will not speed up the process. But you, on the other hand, have really outlived your usefulness, haven’t you, Dr. Franklin? You should’ve been able to solve this problem months ago.”
Lyn screamed as Garrison grabbed Jenna by the hair and slammed her face down into the table, once and then again. She grabbed for his arm but he shrugged her off, crashing Jenna’s now-unconscious form into the workstation a third time.
“No!” Lyn dove for them, her only thought to keep Garrison from killing Jenna.
But before she reached them, the power blew, leaving the room in darkness.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
It was all happening in ten minutes. Coordinated strikes at eight different facilities all over the country.
This was either about to be one of the biggest rescue events in the history of law enforcement or a huge waste of time, not to mention the loss of multiple careers. Ronald Zimmerman, Gavin and Lyn’s father, put everything on the line to get these warrants. If this ended up being nothing, Zimmerman was going to owe a lot of people a lot of favors and have nothing to show for it.
Heath had to admit he had some doubts. Especially since he was currently standing in the shadows in front of what looked like a nice house on the outskirts of Reddington City—near Wyoming Commonwealth University—where everything had started for him.
This location had been one of the coordinates inside his head. But it had been deemed a low-priority target, given its size and location—the smallest of all the facilities. The chances of it being used to experiment on unwitting subjects seemed highly unlikely.
But it could possibly hold Lyn. Especially when Kendrick had informed Heath about some weird data patterns emerging from Lyn’s cloud server that matched part of the data trafficking in and out of the facility located here.
They hadn’t been able to trace whoever was accessing Lyn’s data—Kendrick had used a lot of computer-speak that boiled down to the fact that the bad guys weren’t stupid and had covered their tracks well. But what if Lyn had found some other way to get their attention?
Heath wasn’t going to ignore the possibility, no matter how small.
Most of the Linear team were assisting law enforcement at some of the medical facilities about to be raided. Heath had been on his way to one in Salt Lake City but had turned around with Noah when they’d gotten the info from Kendrick.
“We’ve got all sorts of movement on the interior,” Noah spoke into the communication units they were both wearing. “Not heavily guarded, but the way three out of the four people inside are rushing around, I would argue that Garrison and his people know there’s about to be a move against his facilities.”
Heath grimaced. “There were too many people involved for him to not get word of it in some way. We have to let everyone else worry about the other buildings. We’re going to have enough on our hands with this one.”
“Roger that,” Noah said. “We’ve got a guard at the back door, plus the other three I can see are distracted and won’t be a problem.”
“Thermal imaging puts two more people in the basement room. They’re sort of huddled together.”
Again, it might mean nothing. But it might mean everything.
“Let’s hope it’s Lyn,” said Noah. “She has always been stronger than anybody wanted to give her credit for.”
Heath believed that. But he also knew there was a limit to what a person could take. “Plan is the same. We blow the power, tranq the bad guys, and get Lyn out if she’s there.”
“I’ll be ready on your mark.”
“Roger that.”
Heath moved into position. This was another operation that really should be more than a two-man job. The same had been true when he and Dorian had moved in to get Ray out of a bad situation a few months ago.
But you didn’t always have the ideal situation. You had to work within the parameters you were given. Heath had the skills to adapt and respond on the fly, to make changes as needed to stay ahead of his enemy.
His training at Project Crypt had taught him that. And he was about to use it against them.
But it still should’ve been more than a two-person op.
“I’m in position, Phoenix,” Heath said, using Noah’s codename. From here on out that’s all they would use. Not that there would be much talking.
“Roger that. I’m a go.”
“Three. Two. Go.”
The sun was creeping up, and they didn’t have the cover of darkness, but they didn’t need it. Heath shattered the front window, then entered through the side door he’d already disabled the alarm on. By the time the thugs inside came running to see what was happening at the window, he’d already flanked them and was able to tranquilize them immediately.
When he heard a thump behind him, he spun, waiting for the sound of gunfire, but it was another tango Noah had neutralized.
“Thanks,” Heath nodded to the other man.
Noah nodded back, and they both moved silently through the rest of the house, taking out one other guard on their journey toward the basement.
Some sort of emergency generator had turned on down here, providing dim lighting on the stairs. Why was it so quiet? There had been two prominent heat signatures in this area less than five minutes ago. Had they somehow gotten out?
They paused near the bottom step. They couldn’t simply walk out into the open basement and what might be an ambush. Under normal circumstances, they’d throw down a sound grenade or smoke canister.
But with Lyn’s heart, they didn’t want to take the chance.
Their best option was the set of metal balls Noah had in his hands. Tossing them would only buy them a couple of seconds of distraction from anyone waiting for them around the corner of the stairwell.
But a couple of seconds was all they needed to get away from the stairs.
Heath nodded, giving Noah the go-ahead.
Noah let the balls fly around the edge of the last step, and as they clanked on the floor, both men dove out and away.
At the same time, a woman’s mumbled voice yelled, “Watch out!”
Heath landed hard to the right, rolling and coming back up on one knee. The warning had let him know where the danger was.
But the danger wasn’t to him.
Adil Garrison held a gun to Lyn’s head, hand over her mouth, muzzle against her cheek.
It was like his apartment all over again.
“Both of you put your guns down, or Ms. Norris will get a bullet to the head.”
Heath lowered the tranq gun to his side but didn’t put it all the way on the ground. Her face was way too pale, the corner of her mouth blue. Heath didn’t know what he was going to do, but he needed to do it fast. She didn’t look like she was going to last long.
Garrison pressed the gun harder against her temple. “Guns on the floor, now. It’s so nice to finally meet you in person, Shadow. Holloman did a good job hiding your identity from me. He always mentioned insurance, but I had no idea it was a person who held the information I need. That it was possible to trap so much detailed information inside one brain.”
Heath lowered his weapon and saw Noah doing the same out of the corner of his eye. They didn’t have any other choice, not with Lyn so close to collapsing.
“It’s me you want, Garrison. Like you said, I’m the one with all the info in my head.” Heath took the slightest step closer.
“It’s only after Holloman died we realized it was a person at all who had the data. Saunders recognized you from Rome that night I sent him to buy the microchip. But it took us a while to figure out who you were since Holloman deliberately misled me. Protected you.”
It all was making so much sense now. But that didn’t matter. All that mattered was helping Lyn. “You’re too late to stop your facilities from going down, Garrison, but with me you can start again. I’ll stay here with you. All you have to do is let Lyn and Noah walk out of here.”
“Oh, I don’t think so. I broke my other toy, so I’m going to like playing with Lyn here very much.”
Heath forced himself not to dive for Garrison as he brought his face closer to Lyn’s, running his nose up her cheek. She flinched, pulling at his hand like she couldn’t get enough air.
“Stay away from her, asshole, I’m warning you.” He couldn’t stop the step he took toward them.
“Better be careful, Shadow. Seems as though I’m taking your girl’s breath away.”
The sound of Lyn’s labored breathing behind Garrison’s hand filled the room.
“Heath,” Noah whispered.
“Fine. Fine. You can have both of us, just let me help her now.”
Garrison grinned. “Oh, I’m going to enjoy this. All of it. If you’re going to destroy all my work, I’m happy to return the damage.”
Too late Heath realized Garrison may be willing to let him help Lyn, but he wasn’t going to do it while there were still two people who could come at him from different angles. Almost in slow motion he saw Garrison turn and raise his gun at Noah.
But something struck Garrison from behind as he fired.
Heath heard Noah grunt as the bullet struck him, but he didn’t allow that to stop him from throwing himself forward at Garrison. This was the only chance he was going to get.
He dove for Garrison’s arm with the gun, also trying to catch Lyn as she collapsed to the ground. He was twisted the wrong way and knew this was it—Garrison was going to get the gun up again, and Heath wouldn’t be able to stop him. All he could do was try to protect Lyn from the bullet he knew was coming.
But then a computer keyboard appeared out of nowhere and crashed into Garrison’s head, cracking his skull with a sickening sound, and sending the gun flying across the room. A small woman, face almost completely covered in blood, collapsed beside them, keyboard still in her hands.
“I’m not your toy, you son of a bitch.”
Heath looked at the carnage around him. He didn’t give a shit about Garrison, so he kicked the man out of the way, then grabbed Lyn to him. She was still making that frantic breathing sound and now had one hand clutched to her heart.
“Here, Almost. Take your pills.” He pressed two into her mouth and watched as she swallowed.
And what about Noah? Garrison had gotten that shot off. “Phoenix?”
Noah didn’t respond.
The woman who had attacked Garrison was also passed out. She was covered in so much blood, it was difficult to tell how badly she was injured.
Heath needed to get an ambulance here right away, but he wasn’t sure he could keep everybody alive until one arrived.
A heavy thumping from the stairs drew his attention. Heath set Lyn down and dove for Garrison’s gun. Damn it. He wasn’t going to make it in time again, and he was fairly certain there were no more keyboards left to come flying at the enemy.
One of Garrison’s henchmen tumbled to the bottom of the stairs headfirst.
And unconscious.
With an arrow sticking out of his back.
Ray.
A moment later, she peeked out from around the stairwell with her crossbow pointed right at them.
“It’s Heath, Wraith. It’s us. I think the room is secure now.”
Ray’s hand shook as she lowered the crossbow. In the ten years he’d known her, he’d never seen that, but after what she’d been through in the past year, it was completely understandable.
She gave him a brief nod. “This one was sneaking down. Arrow was a tranquilizer. I’m not a killer. But this is my fight. Our fight.”
“Thank you, Grace. You saved our lives. And hopefully, the fight is done now.”
She didn’t even correct him for calling her by her given name, the name she had no longer felt worthy of. Maybe she was starting to forgive herself.
“Can you check on Noah? He’s been shot.” He pulled Lyn closer. She was looking a little better after her pills but was still gasping for breath, her lips blue. “Lyn’s got a serious heart condition, and blood’s pouring out of damn near everywhere on this woman over here. I’ve got to get an ambulance on the way.”
She moved to Noah. “I’ve got a pulse here. I’m applying pressure to the wound.”
Heath dialed 911. He gave the operator the address and explained that there were three people hurt. He didn’t want to give too many details, especially about a gunshot wound, which would draw the cops along with the paramedics.
The police could definitely not get their hands on Ray. The consequences would be disastrous. She had to know that, but she was still here.
He brushed the hair off Lyn’s face. She was becoming more listless, more pale. “Hey, Almost, you hear me? You hang in there. No way you’re getting rid of me this easily.”
“Va-vaga . . .”
Wait. Vagal? Wasn’t that what Annie had been talking about earlier? “Your vagal maneuvers for your heart? Is that what you’re talking about?”
She nodded.
“Is there something I can do?”
She nodded again.
Obviously, Lyn wasn’t going to be able to give him instructions. He grabbed the phone again and called Annie.
He barely saw the doctor’s face on the video call before he started explaining.
“Annie. I’ve got Lyn, but she’s in real bad shape. Her mouth is blue, and she was trying to say something about those vagal things you and I were talking about. But I can’t understand what I should do.”
“If she’s that bad off, you need to get her to a hospital right away.”
“The ambulance is coming. I’m far from help. If I take her myself, I’m not sure she’ll survive the drive.”
“Okay, then she’s right. You don’t happen to have a defibrillator lying around anywhere?”
“Jesus. No. Do we need one?”
“Honestly, it would work best in this situation. But we have other options.”
God, he hoped this didn’t involve cutting Lyn open like some sort of tracheotomy. “Please don’t tell me I need a knife.”
“No, it’s pressure points. You’re going to do something called a carotid sinus massage. It will help slow her heart rate and allow the heart to pump more effectively. But you are going to be careful not to press too hard. That will reduce the flow of oxygen to her brain.”
That sounded very, very bad. This was all bad.
“I don’t want to make it worse, Annie.”
But it was Lyn who reached up and put his hand on the side of her neck.
“Trust. You.” Her voice was weak, but her eyes were steady. He could feel her pulse fluttering wildly under his fingertips.
“Tell me what to do, Annie.”
“Touch her throat where her Adam’s apple would be if she were a man, then run your fingers to the right about halfway back.” He did it. “Yes, there. Now tilt her head the other way. Good. Circular motions on that pressure point.”
Heath did it, but it didn’t seem to be making any difference in what was happening to Lyn.
“You’re going to have to put more pressure, Heath,” Annie told him. “Like that pulse is a flame and you’ve got to put it out with your fingers before it spreads and burns everything down with it.”
Meaning was clear: get this under control before it became deadly.
Heath put the phone down so he could hold the other side of Lyn’s head and put more pressure on the carotid sinus. “C’mon, Almost. I need that heart of yours. Mine isn’t going to make it without yours next to it.”
