Exit plan, p.24
Exit Plan, page 24
“Anyway, long story short, it didn’t quite turn out.” Grey pauses and Logan steals his thunder.
“Let’s just say I never knew macaroni and cheese could be that color.” Logan finishes and both women try to contain their laughter.
“And what’s worse is, you all told me I got my nickname because the greyhound is the fastest dog in the world. I ate that bull up for months before I found out. Now I like the name and that’s just not right.” Grey retorts, drawing sympathy from the ladies.
As the whispered giggles die down, Dana jumps in. “It was Jessa’s idea. I miss cooking and baking. I always did the cooking for the two of us,” Dana shares, then glances quickly to Jessa.
“She does. And she is a great cook. She could be one of those amazing chefs from TV if, you know, we weren’t running from… everyone.” Jessa smiles to herself and looks at me to gauge how inappropriate her comment might be. I smile, and Logan surprisingly jumps in.
“I can see how that would be a problem and I think you mean Top Chef.” He smiles at both of the women and reaches across the table for a bun, breaking the tension as everyone relaxes.
Jessa smiles warmly and continues, “Anyway, dinner will be delicious, but my favorite is Dana’s baking. She made a chocolate cake with the most delicious chocolate icing.”
“Are you telling me, we have the ingredients to make that. Like here, in this kitchen?” Grey asks in absolute shock and Logan shakes his head and laughs.
“You don’t need much. You have enough here for a lot of things. It’s actually a chocolate ganache. I’m thinking of making cupcakes next time.” Dana beams back at her friend, then looks around the table. “What are you waiting for?”
Grey and Grizz take a quick glance at each other and dig in, leaving their formalities at the door. Looking at the clock on the wall, they only have 10 minutes before Waldo and Hunter come walking through those doors.
As cutlery clinks against plates, the conversation falls off as everyone begins to eat. Looking up from Jessa to Dana, then around the table, I notice a stark difference between the levels of politeness.
Sipping their soup quietly, they share a smile as they watch the guys shovel their meals into their mouths with nothing more than grunts and deep breaths, so as not to pass out from lack of oxygen while chewing.
The sound of Logan clearing his throat alerts everyone to our collective lack of manners and the men still, then sit up straighter in their seats.
“You boys still have time to be courteous.” Then, shifting his attention to the ladies, Logan continues, “Dana, Jessa, this is delicious. Thank you.”
The women share a smile as the rest of us echo his thanks and the clanking of utensils against plates evens out as our dinner becomes a bit more formal than it was before.
“How did you get your code name, Jack? Was there an incident in Arizona?” Dana asks and Grizz and Grey look at me with smiles growing across their faces.
“That’s a story for another—” I start but Logan’s bark of a laugh surprises me.
“Now that’s an interesting story. It had nothing to do with the state we were in. It was more the state of mind Jack was in.” Logan has both girls’ attention as our team continues to eat as they listen to his story. “We were executing our final play on a mission. It was a drug ring operating in a little town outside of Chicago. It wasn’t your average bust though. These guys were into the heaviest of drugs and had started to experiment with cutting some hardcore agents in and they were responsible for spreading those drugs among the wealthier kids at parties and a few kids ended up dead and others are still in the hospital with brain issues. We had secured the area, or so we thought…” Logan glances at me hard. It was my job to secure the room I was packing up but I missed a hidden closet. “... when Jack opens a door to a little cabinet and out jumps a scrawny kid and blows a powder into Jack’s face to try to buy some time to get away. Long story short, it was a hallucinogenic. The rest of us were all standing outside, securing the drugs and packing up the trucks and Jack jumps out a window, naked and starts running around the area flapping his arms and yelling ‘It’s so hot in here… I’m a Phoenix... I’m rising from the ashes.... I’m a Phoenix… why is it so fucking hot?’.” Logan ends his story abruptly, waiting for the reaction and both Jessa and Dana are sitting still with their mouths open in disbelief.
Slowly, Jessa meets my gaze and both of them let out a laugh I’m sure they tried hard to contain. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t laugh.” Jessa takes a deep breath as she speaks and Dana wipes a tear from her eye. “You could have been seriously hurt. You jumped out a window?” She asks.
“He was on the first floor of a one-story building. The only thing he hurt was his ego when we showed him the video we took of him after.” Logan answers for me and now Grey and Grizz are chuckling along too.
“Wait. There’s video of this?” Dana’s eyes are wide and she sounds a little too excited to witness the most embarrassing moment of my career.
“Another time. So, tell me more about these cupcakes. When will you be making those?” I cut in and Logan sits smugly back in his seat, grabbing a glass of water and taking a drink and I can clearly tell, the fucker has amused himself.
“Oh. I just meant that I’ll modify them and add them to my list.” She opens her mouth to continue but then looks over at Jessa and pauses.
Our eyes follow Dana’s to Jessa as she finishes her soup and smiles then shrugs as though the glance wasn’t important.
“It’s okay, Dee.” She starts looking around the table. “I said you could tell them anything you knew.”
“Okay.” With a little wiggle in her seat, she begins. “I’ve been making a long list of items I want to sell in my bakery when Zane releases us. I can’t decide if I want to have a coffee shop that serves baked desserts, or a bakery that serves coffee though—” She tries to continue with her grand plans but Logan already has some questions about her revelation.
“What do you mean by when Zane releases you? I thought you were working with him willingly.”
Dana looks over to Jessa, who offers another shrug for her to continue and she does. “Oh, we are. But when our work is done and there is no longer a threat to us, Zane set up nest eggs for some of the people that work under him. We’ll get a notification on our phones with everything we need to start over. New names, bankroll, properties, and IDs. It’s our cue to disappear if it ever pops up.”
“Interesting.” Logan looks to Jessa who merely smiles. Then shifting his attention back, he continues, and I notice Grizz has started paying extra attention as well. “And you are going to run a bakery?”
“I’d like to. Hopefully somewhere remote with no internet access. I could bake all day in peace.”
“And what about you, Jessa? What would you like to do with your payout and new identity?” My question flows a little too eagerly and she looks between me and Logan.
“I don’t know.” Then looking at her friend, she finishes. “We just always said that I would sell off what I got and meet up with Dana. It would be nice to not be… hunted.”
Logan goes quiet beside me and, for once, I can’t tell what he’s thinking.
My mind is blank, too.
“Time’s up boys.” Waldo speaks as he walks into the dining room, followed by Hunter. Grizz and Grey both stand to move to the table with the cake.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but can we grab a piece to go?” Grizz looks at Dana and she shifts her hair over her face to cover her shy smile.
“Yeah. Sure. I’ll cut you each a piece.” She stands and turns to the men in the doorway. “There are plates on the counter, just help yourselves.”
Grabbing plates and cutlery, Hunter and Waldo take the newly vacant seats at the table and begin serving themselves.
As Dana returns to finish her dinner, Logan drops his fork onto his cleared plate beside me and reaches for his water.
“We should discuss a couple of things.” Both ladies look up from the meal hesitantly and Logan continues. “Just housekeeping items. We’re short on manpower until late tomorrow morning at the earliest, so some of our normal routines need to change.”
He nods in my direction, looking for backup and I step in. “What he’s trying to say is, we won’t be able to always have one man on you, but you will be locked in your room asleep for most of the night. Grizz and Grey are out on duty until early morning then Hunter and Waldo will relieve them. We need them sleeping when they aren’t on duty. Logan and I will be working with Link across both their shifts as well and we have some tactical simulations we’re running tonight with our teams in the field.”
Then, sharing my attention between both of the women, I continue. “Jessa and Dana, we’d like both of you to sleep in Dana’s room tonight. We… I would feel better if I knew you were together, safe.”
I attempt to add my personal plea on to the end of my speech and Jessa smiles at me.
I won’t be able to watch Jessa, and the four men left on base with us haven’t been cleared yet, so I don’t want anyone making contact with her in the night while I’m busy.
“That’s fine, Jack.” Jessa smiles and nods at Dana. “We appreciate you... all... thinking about our safety.” At Jessa’s words, I sense Logan relaxing beside me and I realize that Hunter and Waldo are close to finishing their meals and we’re ready for dessert.
“Great. Thanks for your understanding. Now, let’s see what’s so great about this dessert.” Logan stands to clear his plate and Jessa stops him.
“I’ll take that for you.” Then looking around the table directly at each person sitting, she continues. “I’ll clear all your plates and Dana will help serve the cake.”
Then reaching out to grab Hunter’s first, she continues around the table as the cake is set in the middle. The strong scent of cocoa fills my nose and I’m momentarily distracted by the icing on the dessert in front of me. As my piece is served, I look up to see Jessa heading into the kitchen with our plates stacked in her hands.
Deciding to join her to help, I slide my seat back to stand, but Hunter catches my attention. “Excuse my manners, but holy shit this is amazing. Boss, you need to try this cake. Who made this?” He asks me.
Looking back at my piece, then around to see satisfied sighs and smiles, I decide to sit back down and finish my plate, answering his question. “This was all Dana.”
“Delicious, ma’am.” Waldo speaks for the first time since entering the room and everyone murmurs their agreement.
Thoughts of assisting Jessa in the kitchen fade away with my first bite into the pure chocolate delight and Hunter is right; it is amazing.
Before I clear my plate, Jessa is back out and sitting down to eat her dessert. “I just put on some decaf and water’s boiling if anyone wants tea. I know you guys need to sleep tonight.”
34
Jessa
Moving through the halls at five o’clock in the morning is more sobering than any other time I’ve walked down them, though I think my feelings of foreboding have more to do with the situation than the time.
Scenarios and outcomes race through my mind as I make my way to the comms room with butterflies angrily fluttering around in my stomach, grating against my nerves.
According to the paper Hunter slipped me as I cleared the plates last night, the only ones awake on base now are Hunter and Waldo. Jack and Logan finished running their tests with Link and their away team an hour ago and they are taking advantage of the downtime to sleep before morning.
I took a chance that Link’s attention would be elsewhere and the cameras would not be closely monitored with everything else going on. I also know that Link runs system reports and diagnostics at five because it’s their most quiet time. Security goes down around the same time to clear its data and reboot so the cameras will be off for the next 15 minutes. This will make it easy to gain access to a computer that’s already running and not actively guarded.
As I enter the final hallway to the comms room, my body begins to vibrate in anxious anticipation.
I had half of one day to organize this.
My final move.
All of my information came in at once last night when Hunter slipped me his note on his plate as I cleared the table and I had minutes to forge my plan and put my pieces into motion. Planning and execution of ops has always been a process of weighing risk and reward, but this was different. I pulled out a pen and a piece of paper and quickly scrawled out some instructions for Hunter. I told him to unlock Dana’s door just before he starts his shift at three in the morning and I would meet him outside of their communications area at five.
I only have one shot, then this game turns into a whole new one and I’m not prepared for any other version to play out. It has to end like this.
Footsteps fall in behind me as panic rises and forces my heart into my throat. Glancing over my shoulder, Hunter follows me silently down the hall, raising one finger to his lips to keep the noise down.
Opening the first set of doors to the communication area, Hunter walks across to the observation window, looking into the comms area where I’ll be sitting. Dropping a duffel bag on the counter in front of the window, he unzips it then steps back and turns to me.
“Everything you asked for is in there.”
Opening the bag, I grab my phone, turn it on and unlock it. Swiping through my screens, all of my apps are still in place and I slide the phone into my front pocket, then continue digging in the bag.
Dana’s phone is the next item I pull out. Turning it on, I punch in her lock code to check that it is also still intact and it is. I place her phone down on the shelf beside the bag. I only hope she finds it and she’s able to make it out of here with everything on it.
Taking a deep breath, everything from now on will fall as it may.
Digging around in the bag, I find the two laptops I requested. Glancing up, Hunter is watching me uneasily.
“Where’s Waldo? Aren’t you two supposed to be on duty now?” I ask, trying to distract him and he turns all business.
“I asked him to double-check the fence along the south side 40 minutes ago. It’s the furthest side. He should be far away for another 5 minutes or so. Is that enough time to get secure?”
“Yes. I only need about five minutes in there.” Grabbing the bag with the laptops, I move around Hunter and into the comms area to set up. “Do whatever you need to do out there. I’ll be locking us in this room in three minutes. That will send off the first alarm. They should be here within 10 minutes.” I move to the main table and pull out the two laptops. Hunter wastes no time in stepping into the comms room and stands back against the wall to let me finish my work.
Opening the first computer, I allow it time to boot up. This is the one I’ll use to take over the servers on base. Once I grant myself access, I’ll override Link’s authorities, lock us in, and take control of all of their systems and programs.
As the first screen comes to life and boots up, I open the second laptop. I’ll use this one to connect to Maxwell and run the communications, which reminds me… “Is Maxwell standing by?”
“Yes. I told him to be ready at five and we would come online a little after that. Here is his number and information.” Stepping toward me, he places a folded piece of paper beside me on the table and I open then slide it under the corner of the laptop as I shift to remove my phone and access the screen, placing it off to the side of my work area.
The first laptop finishes its startup as the security screen pops up and I enter the login information that is taped to the corner of the screen. The computer pauses for one long moment to verify the information, then my heart both leaps and sinks simultaneously.
I’m in.
35
Jack
“Wake up, Jack. We’ve been breached.” I instinctively jolt out of bed and grab my clothes as I move across the dark room toward the voice yelling through the door.
I feel like my head just hit the pillow minutes ago and confusion sets in. We knew we were sitting ducks. We’re low on manpower and only Hunter and Waldo are on the grounds. A breach could happen at almost any point around our perimeter.
Nearing the front door, I glimpse at the clock on the shelf.
5:08 AM
As I open the door, Logan is already turning to run and I fall in on his six and catch up to be briefed. Grizz and Grey join up with Logan in the middle of the compound and there are no pleasantries.
“Grey, get a vehicle supplied and ready to go in case we need it, then take the bike and circle the perimeter. Eyes open for Hunter and Waldo. Base comms are down and no one is checking in. If you come across them, send them to the control center.” Nodding, Grey runs past me toward the garage and I turn my attention back to my team, trying to piece together our situation.
“Grizz, get Dana. Bring her to the comms room now.” Grizz is already spinning on his heels and running toward the girls’ room as Logan yells out to him. “I don’t have time for her shit. Get her there.”
Then, without looking me in the eyes, he continues running in the direction of our control center.
“What’s going on? Why Dana and not Jessa?” My heart rate is higher than it should be and I feel dread hit me at the thought of what his response will be.
“Our servers have been infiltrated. Link was able to get a short message out before all communications were cut. We’ve got headsets to an old communication system I need to get to. Both Hunter and Waldo are MIA. Our computers and all systems are shutting down. Jack, I need you to prepare yourself.”
Jessa.
My thoughts run wild and I feel lightheaded as we hit the main building. Moving down the hall, I notice our camera lights are out. Our security system is offline.
Logan stops outside the control center, removes his gun from its holster and opens the door. Inside the first room is quiet, and I can already see the lock on the inner room of the comms center is on. Someone’s made it through and locked themselves inside.
