Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
Ramon came back to awareness slowly, like pushing up through deep water to breach the surface.
He scrubbed both hands down his face, realizing quickly that he wasn’t in a hotel bed.
It wasn’t like he had an actual home, per se.
So, waking up in an odd location wasn’t unusual.
Normally, it wasn’t on a couch. Or in a small room that had been decorated to look like a bland hotel room that should have been renovated ten years ago.
Ramon pushed up onto one elbow, blinking while his eyes adjusted. The door was dark green and looked like a heavy fire door but with a small window in it, crisscrossed with wire. Like the door to a holding cell.
“He’s awake.” Bruce pushed his chair back from the table and left his plate and mug behind, ambling over. “How are you feeling, bud?”
Amara sat opposite Bruce, making Ramon think of someone playing a card game. But she was eating now.
“What’s going on?”
“Take it slow. You were pretty exhausted.”
Ramon pushed himself all the way up and leaned back against the couch. Someone had removed his shoes, and there was a sharp prick on the inside of his elbow. Looked like he’d been stuck with a needle. “What did—”
“Right.” Bruce settled in the armchair to his right. “That was us, I’m afraid. You were pretty dehydrated from whatever you’ve been up to. It was the easiest way to make sure you got enough fluids.”
“You have medical supplies in here?”
Bruce said, “We asked for them when you didn’t wake up. Hollace got us what we needed.”
“But he didn’t let you leave.” Because they were being held captive here.
“That’s the deal, bud.”
Ramon shook his head.
“What’s going on outside this base?” Bruce asked.
It wasn’t a good sign if Bruce didn’t know. Amara was usually pretty in charge, or at least the one in the know. Right now, she seemed almost…sad. Subdued. Nothing like her usual self.
Ramon explained about the janitor, the town in Norway, and the guy they’d brought back.
Amara said, “So he’s here.”
Bruce didn’t respond to that.
Ramon had to find a way to get out of this room. He needed to steal a satellite phone from someone on the base and call Kenna. Let her know… What? He barely understood what was happening, and none of it was good.
He managed to get up.
“There’s a bathroom through there.” Bruce pointed to the corner on the left side, farthest from the door. “And coffee in the pot.”
“What time is it?” Ramon reached up and stretched, trying to work the kinks out of his back. How long had he been asleep?
“Just after eight in the morning.”
Ramon shook his head. He took care of pressing business first but went to the front door after, when he really wanted coffee. He wanted to get out of here more than that.
There was no handle on this side, just a metal plate that had been screwed into the door frame.
He pushed on the door, then checked all the drawers in the little kitchenette for something he could use as a screwdriver. “Where are the knives?” He needed the flat edge of a butter knife, at least.
“No knives.”
When he turned to Bruce, the guy was casually taking a sip of his coffee. Ramon said, “So you’ve resigned yourself to sitting here doing nothing?”
“Tried to get out.” Another sip. “I got all the way to an office while Amara created an elaborate distraction. The phone had no dial tone, and the computer wasn’t connected to the internet.
They took great pains to explain to us what a “closed system” means and how there’s no way to contact the outside world. ”
“Bear had a sat phone.” Ramon poured himself some java.
“You won’t see him. Just a couple of the others.” Amara wore slacks and flat shoes with a plain knit sweater. No makeup.
Maybe that was the difference in her. She seemed more…natural. Like the woman she was underneath, when the bravado had been stripped away.
“We need to contact Kenna and let her know what’s happening.” He leaned back against the kitchenette counter. “I’m not sitting here doing nothing.”
Bruce glanced at Amara, his jaw hard. “There’s nothing you can do—”
“If you call me ‘bud’ one more time, I’m going to throw this mug at you,” Ramon warned. “I don’t think you just turned yourselves over to them. Maybe you should tell me how the two of you got here.”
Then, he was going to persuade them that if all three of them worked together, they would have a greater chance of getting out of here.
Or two of them could create enough distraction for the third to escape.
He’d still rather take his chances on the mountain, battling the temperature and the terrain, than sit here feeling as if he was useless.
Amara glanced at Bruce, then set her fork down. “There’s more food keeping warm in the oven. I just made an easy breakfast casserole.”
“Right, because that’s such a normal thing to do in captivity.”
“We all have to eat. A hearty meal will give you better energy.” Amara leaned back on her seat. “Do you want to sit?”
Ramon found he couldn’t argue, but it still felt like he was being led into a trap.
Amara gathered Bruce’s dirty dishes and put them in the sink, then she brought down a plate from the cupboard above the coffeepot. She lifted the small dish out of the oven.
“That smells good.”
Amara handed him a spatula. “It isn’t a trick.”
She sat back down, while he served himself a portion and poured more coffee. He sat across from her. “How did you get here?” He paused, his fork almost to his mouth. “Wait. How long have the two of you been here?”
Bruce shook his head. “At least a month, maybe a little longer.”
“And no one noticed? Surely Kenna, or any of them, would have realized you weren’t answering your phones. I didn’t hear anything about you being in trouble.” Kenna would be here herself, mounting a rescue. Maybe. If she wasn’t pregnant, anyway. “Zeyla doesn’t know you’re in trouble?”
Amara said, “It’s better if they don’t come. They’d be interfering and tying up everyone here in dealing with them, when there’s important work to be done.”
“Go back to the beginning and explain.” Ramon shoved a full fork into his mouth.
“We were tracking down a package being moved through Dominatus transport routes,” Amara said.
“They use their own system for shipping.
Smuggling, really. We had no idea what it was, but we knew it was big based on the personnel they had guarding the routes and the vehicle they were using.
Important and sizeable, at least. When we caught up to the truck and started to pursue it, we were able to stick a tracker on the vehicle.
“Of course, they quickly found that. But we got a general direction and worked out that it was coming this way.”
Ramon said, “I barely have a clue where here is.”
“Middle of nowhere, Wyoming,” Bruce interjected.
Amara continued, “When we got close, the roads were single-lane. The truck slowed, and it became harder to follow them without being spotted. We hung back, scoured the area, and realized it was all a top secret US government facility. But the guys in Humvees following the truck were people we knew.”
“MSI team members.”
Amara nodded. “We realized they must have come on board with Dominatus, but we figured it was against their will. Our mission switched to attempting to liberate them from the people forcing them to do what they were told.”
“But it turned out, they weren’t being coerced. They were here voluntarily.” Ramon shook his head. “That’s what I can’t wrap my head around.”
“You don’t need to,” Bruce said. “All you need to know is that they have a plan, and it’s a decent one.”
Ramon turned to him. “You can’t be serious. You bought in?”
“Not much we can do about it from in here. They’re going to do what they’re going to do.” Bruce shrugged, sitting forward on the chair and planting his elbows on his knees. “This is bigger than what we want.”
“We need to get word out.”
Amara said, “For what purpose? There’s nothing we can do to stop it, and Kenna should be kept safe from having to deal with it.”
“You think she’s doing nothing, resting in the RV? She sent me to find out what they’re doing because she’s been worried that they’re out of contact. Now I find out that MSI is working for Dominatus? This is unbelievable.”
“Is it?”
“We’re supposed to fight all of them.” He tossed his fork on the plate, and it clattered against the stoneware. “They’ve made the wrong choice signing up to help. You can’t possibly think this isn’t a huge problem.”
“We’re in a fight, but not against MSI,” Amara said. “This is a fight for the soul of Dominatus.”
Bruce picked up the thread of the conversation. “One that Kenna doesn’t need to be involved in.”
Ramon glanced between them. He pushed his chair back and got up to pace.
“You have to know I respect the two of you. The way you’ve been fighting this for years, trying to do the right thing.
I understand the need to atone for what you’ve done in the past and make things right.
You know I get that. Probably more than anyone.
But you made the wrong choice. This isn’t how we stop them, and that’s the only way this is going to end.
” He shook his head. “Please tell me this is a plan to tear them apart from the inside. Something.”
Amara said, “They need a new leader. We’re going to make sure it’s someone we can at least control, even if it isn’t someone we trust. A person that is going to take the whole organization in a new direction.”
“If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em? That’s your whole plan?”
“I don’t need to join them,” Amara said. “I’ve been part of Dominatus this whole time.”
“Fighting against them from the inside!”
She didn’t speak right away. “You weren’t far off the mark in talking about redemption. We do all have things we wish we could wash away or at least make up for.”
“So you sit around here as punishment. Letting someone else take care of the problem?”
“There’s only so much we can do if they won’t let us out. Clearly, we can’t put up much of a fight as captives.”
If he’d been in here for weeks, Ramon might actually feel the same way. But right now, he wanted to start a fight with someone that would end in him escaping.
“We’re biding our time,” Bruce said.
“Until you get an opportunity? That means one of them has to slip up and give you a window to strike. A breach of security.” These guys were better than that. As far as Ramon had seen, anyway. “You have no idea what’s going on out there. Do you even know what their plan is?”
“They’re waiting as well. At least, now that you brought back the accountant.”
Ramon turned to face Amara. “You know who Lief Holmberg is?”
She nodded. “I used to be married to him, so, yes.” After a second, she added, “It didn’t last long.”
Bruce waved a hand, dismissing her comment.
“The point is that he’s a moderate. That’s why they kept him as their financial officer for so long. He’s unflinchingly honest.”
“Okay, so?” Ramon let a little of his frustration bleed through in his tone.
Amara sighed. “He’s going to be the new head of Dominatus. It’s the best-case scenario. Once the wedding is completed, he’ll be installed as the leader.”
“Wedding?” Ramon shook his head. “Who is he marrying?”