Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
Undisclosed Location
Ramon paced back and forth in the small entryway where they’d left him. The smell of burned coffee came from somewhere. The double doors to a hall—he could see through a small window in each side—were locked, and no one had passed through there that he’d seen.
He turned and paced again, surveying the empty space.
Stagnant air. A glass door to outside—also locked.
An empty corner with no chairs. A reception counter. No computer, nothing in the drawers, and no electronics.
All that was left to do was punch a hole in the walls and see what he could find. Ramon paced back to the reception desk and climbed up. He reached with both hands and shoved a ceiling tile out of the way, expecting… No idea. And the only thing he could do was look up there.
Unless he figured out a way to climb into the ceiling and get out of this desolate entryway so he could start exploring this building. One in a row of early twentieth-century military structures. Maintained well but not updated much. Purposed and repurposed.
“Care to explain what you’re doing?” Hollace stood at the open front doorway, holding the door with his body. Letting cool, fresh air in from outside. Wearing a suit and tie and shined shoes.
Ramon looked at him, still standing on the reception counter. “None of your business.”
They’d taken him on that mission to Norway and brought him here, creating the ruse that they were all going to be killed, but only so the accountant would give them access to his books.
Ramon jumped down, seeing this man he’d have called…well, not a friend. Maybe a colleague. He’d have said he trusted the guy. But now he knew that MSI—Bear and his team—were working for the president.
No way was he going to trust them.
They were doing the bidding of Dominatus. Following someone who was an asset of theirs, reporting to her and taking orders.
There was no excuse for this.
“Care for the tour?” Hollace motioned with his head at the outside, with its blue sky and frosty green grass. The backdrop of mountains.
Ramon didn’t want to stay here, so he said, “Sure.”
He was trying to act nonchalant. He needed a phone or a computer, and then he was going to stock up. Take his chances on those mountains surrounding this secret military base and get back to his life. These weren’t people he was prepared to help.
Hollace backed up as Ramon approached, still holding the door.
Ramon strode outside like he hadn’t just been locked in that lobby for four hours. “So, you guys live here now? What happened to the deep-sea platform?”
They hadn’t heard from MSI in weeks. No surprise, given that none of these guys would have been quick to confess to Kenna that they’d made a deal with the devil.
“Too far out. We still control it, but we needed to be in a more central location.” Hollace led him along the street in the center of the base. “There’s a contingent there, but not many. We have too much to do.”
“This is one of General Schnell’s compounds? His secret bases?” Ramon wasn’t going to explain about Spokane and the run-in he’d had with a look-alike there—some of the most gruesome displays of murder he’d ever seen. All for clientele who wanted to rub elbows while death was on display.
“Places we can fly under the radar are few and far between.” Hollace walked a steady pace, his dress shoes getting dirty.
“Probably helps when you have protection from on high.” Ramon threw it out, just to see what the guy did.
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend?”
“Try again.” Ramon frowned, pushing his body to keep up with the pace. He hadn’t eaten or had water since they landed. The dehydration from flying was making his head swim.
“I didn’t have time to think of a story you’re going to accept. I was busy burying my friend.”
Ramon stopped outside a Quonset hut. Hollace turned to face him.
Ramon said, “If you’re taking orders from Dominatus, you’d have to think twice after they murdered your friend. You went into their territory, but you didn’t have protection?”
Hollace stared at him, not even grief in his expression. “Do you want the tour or not?”
Ramon waved with his hand, and they set off again, into a building with multiple satellite dishes on the roof.
It had been modernized, but the decorator hadn’t figured out how to hide all the wires that now ran along the top of the wall, through a hole in a vent above the door, and into a room filled with computer equipment.
One entire wall was nothing but screens.
The only person in the room was Hazel, the MSI computer tech—their version of Maizie.
She typed on a Bluetooth keyboard she had on a strap around her neck so that it sat in front of her.
While she entered keystrokes, she also wandered around, looking at different displays.
Over to a metal table, probably not meant to hold beverages. Ramon didn’t know what science had been done on these tables over the century since this place had been consigned. She lifted a tall cup and drank from the straw in big gulps.
Ramon swallowed against the thick dryness in his throat. “What do you guys have?”
Hazel turned and smiled. “Ramon!” She came over, set a hand on his arm, and lifted up to her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.
“It was a beautiful ceremony, wasn’t it?
” Her expression faltered. “Maybe you weren’t there.
I don’t remember seeing you actually, now that I think about it.
” She wrinkled her nose. “You might need a shower, bro.”
Ramon shrugged. “Among other things. You have the information that accountant gave us?”
Hazel glanced at Hollace, who nodded slightly. “It’s been a puzzle, that’s for sure. Don’t get me wrong, he gave us so much.” She waved a hand at the screens, as if the rest of them knew what they were looking at. “But it’s all in code. It’ll take time to crack it.”
“Maybe you should reach out to Maizie,” Ramon suggested as casually as he could. “Collaborate and see if you can figure it out.”
Hollace shifted his weight. “Let’s go, Ramon. We can continue our tour.”
Hazel looked almost sad.
“Nice to see you.” Ramon was surprised Hollace didn’t grab his arm and drag him out.
In the hall, he forgot to temper his frustration.
“What is your problem?” Ramon didn’t bother holding back his irritation.
“You could get all this done faster if you ask for help, but you’ve got Hazel in there carrying the weight of all this on her shoulders.
If you reached out to Banbury Investigations and let them help you, I wouldn’t have had to dig up your team and force myself in. ”
“You think you found us?”
Ramon frowned. “You can’t expect me to believe you let me in.”
Hollace said, “I don’t have to prove it to you.”
“You should tell Kenna what you’re doing.” Ramon wasn’t going to back down from that.
“You might think she can do anything, and she might be your boss, but she doesn’t need to be a part of this.”
“Why?”
“Because the whole point of it is to keep her out!” Hollace’s face reddened with anger. “I just buried a guy I’ve known for decades. You think I’m going to bring in a pregnant woman and put her life in danger? Watch her get cut down? No one here is going to bring her into anything.”
“And that prohibits you from passing on information. Or status updates? You’re working with the enemy!” And Ramon had just ruled out any shot he had at sneaking around to find a phone or computer. They knew the second he had access to either, he would contact Kenna as fast as he could.
Let her know they were working with the president.
“Things are happening,” Hollace said. “You have no idea what is going on.”
“Then I guess I’m the one who needs a status update.” Ramon folded his arms. “Because you obviously have something going on.”
“You think we need help? Or you wanna keep criticizing what we do here?” Hollace clearly didn’t like that.
Ramon wasn’t used to people criticizing his behavior. Usually, they just labeled him a murderer and went on with their lives. Why did he even care what these guys thought? “You were supposed to be good guys. Now you made a deal with the wrong side. I just want to understand why.”
“Things are far more complicated than you know. Kenna has work to do, and no one wants to see her hurt.” Hollace sighed.
“The goal is to fix this situation once and for all. To get the right person in charge of Dominatus. We all thought that Kenna could take them down, but who’s going to ask a pregnant woman to fight that battle? ”
“What right person?” He’d been under the impression, from Kenna herself, that a woman couldn’t be in charge of Dominatus. So that ruled out the president, thanks to evil organization misogyny. Who was left? “The accountant?”
That whole situation had been beyond weird.
They hadn’t fought anyone. They’d been caught in a couple of traps and lost a man. But in the end, their target had effectively turned himself over to them.
“I don’t have to explain anything to you.” Hollace’s expression had hardened. “Now keep walking.”
Ramon shook his head. He didn’t need to win this guy over, and he probably couldn’t convince him to say more than he should. It wasn’t like he could torture the guy, persuade him, or hand over a bribe.
His thoughts spun, and he slammed against the wall.
“Careful.” Hollace grabbed his arm and dragged Ramon outside. Across gravel to another door on the far side. “Let’s get you somewhere you can lie down. Get a drink of water. All that. Sound good.”
“I’m not an invalid.” His head hadn’t cleared, though. He felt like he was swimming in his own mind. Trying to surface.
Dehydration. Exhaustion. Hopefully, nothing worse than that.
The hallway tunneled in front of him, as if it was a hundred feet long. Hollace led him past rooms. Doorways with tiny windows. Beside one was a TV screen that made Ramon stop.
He had to…
Thoughts wouldn’t come together in his mind.
The screen showed a living room, a mother holding a toddler. Bouncing him on her lap. A young teen girl lay on the other couch. Stretched out watching TV.
Hollace tugged on his arm again, and Ramon stumbled forward. “Come on.” He touched a button on a key panel, and a buzzer sounded.
Hollace pulled the door open and shoved Ramon inside, the air stuffy like that lobby he’d been shut in. He stumbled and almost went down, but he managed to catch himself and straightened. The room swam around him, everything rotating.
Expecting a prison cell, or something like it, he was surprised to find the room furnished like a hotel suite with a kitchenette to his right. A brown-haired older woman sat at the table, dealing out a deck of cards. An older man got up from the couch, setting aside his book and standing. “Ramon?”
The door clanged shut behind him, the sound echoing through his head and birthing a dull ache in his skull.
Ramon reached up and touched his forehead, trying to focus and push the headache away. “What?”
His mouth couldn’t form the words. Exhaustion reached up and swallowed him into the oblivion.
They rushed over, and Ramon stared up at Amara and Bruce. Why was he on the floor?
He didn’t have a chance to ask before everything went black.