Chapter Sixteen
She was gone.
They were both gone, but Devi…his Devi was in the hands of a fucking madman, and he hadn’t been here to protect her.
Zach stood in the living room surrounded by his team, but he had never felt more alone.
Because this was his fault. He had brought her with him for selfish reasons.
“I have a private aircraft leaving twenty minutes after the attack.”
Lou was on her laptop.
“I believe they’re going to Nepal, which vibes with the intel the Canadians gave us. Are you sure we shouldn’t be at the hospital?”
The question was directed at Kala. Who probably should be at the hospital.
When they’d returned to base, they’d found it eerily quiet. The door had been kicked in, and for a moment he thought Devi had made it to the safe room. Big Tag knew the room was in use, and they all believed their people were in there.
“I’m fine. Lucifer’s pretty good at stitching people up,”
Kala replied, her eyes on her own laptop.
Then the door had opened and only Kala and Lucy had emerged.
“It wasn’t as bad as I thought at first.”
Lucy stood beside Tristan, who was also working the web to find information.
“There was so much blood I thought the bullet was lodged in her, but it was more like a heavy grazing of her left side. I think they had orders to not kill her. I know the dude I shot was pissed he couldn’t get his hands on her.”
“Which is precisely why you should have left me and taken Devi into the safe room,”
Kala said through gritted teeth.
Lucy’s eyes narrowed.
“We had a sniper situation. I couldn’t get her across the living room without exposing her to gunfire, and she basically begged me to save your lousy ass. Which I am regretting right now.”
Cooper sat beside his wife.
“I am eternally grateful, Lucy.”
Kala frowned his way.
Cooper shook his head.
“Devi knew you wouldn’t last another round with Huisman. Those drugs of his are primed to kill you this time.”
“Well, now he’ll use them on Devi,”
Kala announced.
“We don’t know that.”
Big Tag paced, waiting for word that the plane was ready.
“He was torturing you for very specific reasons, the chief one being you’re my daughter.”
“I think it was more than that.”
Zach found the will to speak. He’d done nothing these last few weeks but sit around and think about Emmanuel Huisman.
“Huisman is a red pill misogynist of the highest order. He genuinely believes women are good for breeding and serving men and nothing more. Kala challenges his world view. He treated Carys differently, from what I’ve been told.”
“Well, he was about to cut her fingers off with a straight cutter,”
Tristan said, every word tight.
“But I do get what you’re saying. He’s fascinated by Kala. He wants to break her.”
“I’ll break his dick the next time I see him and then we’ll see how toxic his masculinity really is,”
Kala vowed.
“Eve agrees.”
Big Tag continued to move like he couldn’t stand to be still.
“I talked to her a few minutes ago. She’s built a profile on him. I think she would say Zach is right on the money. His only real interest in Devi is going to be in controlling Shannon.”
“I should have let them take me.”
It was killing him. Those moments in the train station could cost him everything and all because he followed his instincts and fought when he should have conceded.
“And then they would have still tried to take Kala and they would have simply shot Devi.”
Big Tag moved in front of him, putting his hands on Zach’s shoulders.
“I know where you are, son. I’ve been there far too often, and I can tell you that trying to run different scenarios that might have changed things will do nothing to help her. Throw your guilt out. I need you to be the soldier you are. The operative I trained you to be.”
“See, I was thinking he’s taking this pretty well,”
Tris pointed out.
TJ finally looked up from his phone. Zach was almost certain he was texting back and forth with his parents.
“He looks calm, but underneath he’s losing his shit. Like I am.”
At least one person got him. It was good that it was Devi’s brother, though TJ had to blame him, too.
“Ben thinks he’s ready to move.”
Kenzie had asked to bring the Canadians in, but Big Tag wanted time to assess the situation. She was staring down at her phone.
“Ben and Tim are on their way to Nepal. Maybe I should go with them.”
Big Tag sent his daughter a stare that could have peeled paint.
“Fine,”
she said and sat back down.
“But it wasn’t about Ben. I think we need to get there as soon as possible and figure out how to save my cousin.”
“We’re lucky we’re not in custody,”
Big Tag announced.
“Drake is losing his shit because we’re not supposed to be here, and now we’re in the middle of the biggest terrorist attack in Europe in this century.”
Twelve dead. Countless injured. Billions in property destruction, and Huisman was just getting started. There was something more. Something he hadn’t told them yet. The team knew Huisman had been in his and Cooper’s ears, but they hadn’t told them everything.
“Huisman claims Ben is a double.”
Zach forced himself to say the words.
“When he was talking to me before he blew the station all to hell, he pointed out that none of this was possible without Ben’s help. He claims they’re still friends, and Ben has been with him all along.”
Kenzie waved him off.
“Huisman lies. Ben has done nothing to hurt us. He’s risking his job to work with us right now.”
“He’s being a reckless asshole because he knows damn well he’s going to need a key card and code to even approach the facility,”
her father said. He looked Zach’s way and gave him a slight shake of his head, which Zach took to mean they weren’t talking about this now. Not while Kenz was here. Tag directed his attention to Lou.
“Lou, you have the schematics, right?”
Lou nodded.
“I thought I would do a presentation on the plane where I have you all as a captive audience. But yes, this facility Ben claims is actually a front for Huisman is Disrupt Asia’s climate base. It’s supposed to house a bunch of scientists and climate professionals who are studying the Himalayas for signs of climate change. It’s built into the side of a mountain, and from what I can tell it used to be a Chinese secret base. Disrupt bought it years ago, so who knows what changes Huisman’s made. The security system runs on key cards and codes. I’m surprised he’s not using biometrics.”
“Tech can be difficult in an environment like that. Also, he would have to bring people in to set it all up, and not dayworkers. He would need specialists,”
Tristan explained.
“From what I can tell they only recently started to use this place. At least Huisman’s visits began roughly a year ago.”
Henry walked in the room, sliding his phone into his pocket. He walked slowly, having taken a knife to his side. Luckily he’d deflected it, and Big Tag had stitched him up.
“I’ve talked to the director. What happened at the station today has sent shockwaves through the Agency.”
“I’ll bet it did. Well, at least they can’t deny who Huisman is anymore.”
Big Tag finally stopped moving, leaning against the bar. He ran a hand over his head.
“I bet your talk went as well as mine.”
“He’s pissed that Lucy’s cover is blown, and I don’t think he’s buying what Drake’s selling,”
Henry admitted.
“But the good news is now this team is considered the subject-matter experts, and you’re kind of unassailable since no one else has clocked as much time on Huisman as you. You’ve got the go to get to Kathmandu. They have an agent on the ground who’s going to run logistics for you.”
Tag nodded.
“We need to find a way to access the inner base and get the intel to Parker. At least those were my orders.”
Could they trust Parker.
“How much does Parker know about what went down today?”
“Parker is being told an American team will meet him there, but he knows nothing else,”
Henry replied.
“But you should understand we’re working with the Canadians on this. We’ve agreed to provide backup and share intel. The important stuff.”
“He doesn’t know they have Devi and my mom?”
Zach asked. The world felt like it was running in slow motion.
“No, and it’s going to stay that way because no matter what my daughter says, we have to look into the allegations,”
Big Tag announced.
“The Canadians’ mission concerns Huisman and ensuring he can’t do whatever it is he plans on doing. Our mission is to support theirs. On the surface.”
“Our real mission is getting our people back,”
Kala surmised.
“Then why are we working with him at all?”
Kenzie’s lips flattened into a stubborn line.
“Because we keep our friends close,”
her father said.
“and our enemies closer. Kenz, you’re going to be in charge of working with the operative on the ground. We’ll fly into Kathmandu, get what we need, and hopefully meet the Canadians in a day or two. I’m going to hope bombmaking takes some time.”
Time was the one thing they didn’t have. He didn’t like Big Tag’s timeline. Not one bit.
“All I care about is getting Devi and my mom out of there.”
Zach wanted to be on a plane now. He glanced over at Lucy, who was excellent at putting together logistics at a moment’s notice. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d helped him out.
Cooper stood and pointed a finger his way.
“You are not ditching us and making a run for the facility. Lucy, if you help him, I’ll find a way to make your life hell.”
Lucy’s head shook.
“Well, you already did by bringing your psycho wife here and ruining years of undercover work. No. I will be going home with my parents and licking my wounds. I can’t help anymore. I have to figure out what I can do and hope I don’t get fired.”
“She’s been ordered back to Langley, and so have I.”
Henry’s expression was grim.
“We’re taking a flight back tonight. My wife… Well, she’s pretty emotional right now since she’s worried she somehow screwed up.”
“I’ll talk to her, Dad.”
Lucy crossed her arms over her chest, a defensive position.
“None of this is her fault.”
“No. It’s not.”
Henry held a hand out to Tag.
“I’m sorry it’s gone this way. If you need me, I’ll tell Langley to go to hell.”
Tag’s head shook.
“We need to go in fast and tight. Kenzie will handle the Canadians. Lou will work tech. Tash, you need to find us a base of operations close to that mountain. Zach and Cooper’s only job is to get our people out. Tris and I will find the anthrax and ensure Huisman can’t use it against anyone. Henry, we’ll talk when we get back. I’ll handle things through Drake for now.”
Kala held up a hand.
“Uhm, hello. Still here.”
“Still shot,”
Tag countered.
“I should send you back with Henry.”
“Please don’t,”
Henry said.
“I’m not going anywhere but to Nepal.”
Kala stood, and if her side was bothering her she didn’t show it.
“I’ll stay in the background, but I’m not going home. My cousin is out there, and my team needs me.”
They started arguing, but Zach couldn’t take it anymore. He stood and walked back toward the bedroom where it was apparent Devi had tried to get away. There were tiny pieces of safety glass all over the bed they’d shared. Proof of how low he’d brought her. She should be home and safe. She should be applying for the internships she wanted or working on her business. She should not be trying to survive being kidnapped by a fucking terrorist.
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop.”
Zach turned and Cooper stood there, his mouth a flat line.
“I’m thinking I got my fiancée killed.”
“She’s alive. I know she’s alive, and we’re going to save her.”
Cooper walked in, avoiding the glass by the bed.
“From what I can piece together, she saved Kala and likely Lucy, too.”
“Devi shouldn’t have to save anyone. I should have been here. I shouldn’t have left her.”
The guilt was starting to eat him alive. He felt so fucking numb, and he knew it was a way to delay the pain, but it was coming for him.
“Devi would always save whoever she could. Don’t make her less than she is. And if I’m reading Huisman right, Devi was likely taken to force Shannon to do Huisman’s bidding. I think he was trying to take either you or me. I had to fight off a guy.”
“You mean you killed him.”
Cooper shrugged.
“It was him or me. He had a syringe. Lou will run it through one of her many instruments and come up with what was in there, but I think we all know it was a sedative. It’s how Huisman works. He didn’t get either of us, so Devi will have to do. I suspect he always meant to try to get Kala back, and Devi was an insurance plan. We can’t blow the place up if Devi and your mom are there.”
That was an excellent point. He needed Devi alive.
“He’ll hurt her.”
Every possible scenario was going through his brain at this point.
“Not if Shannon complies. Do you think she will?”
He hoped she would, to a point.
“I think this is my mother’s worst nightmare. I don’t know. I don’t know if she’ll shut down. She’s capable of anything. The truth of the matter is I don’t know her. I know the facts about her life, but she’s been in and out of mine for so long that I don’t know if she’ll build a bomb to save the woman I love. I only know I put her in this position.”
“You didn’t,”
Cooper insisted.
“Look, man, I know how you feel. I know what it means to do something and have the consequences be so over the fucking top you can’t imagine it. I didn’t mean for anything to happen and yet it did, and I was a fifteen-year-old kid.”
He knew something of what his brother was talking about. He and Kala had a fight when they were teens and it ended with her being kidnapped so her cousin would have to walk into a trap. They’d been estranged for a long time after.
Was Devi out there wishing she’d never met him? Wishing he hadn’t walked into her life and wrecked it?
What was she going through? What was his father putting her through on that plane? Would he dump her body at the end of this like she didn’t matter? Like she wasn’t the whole world?
“Zach, you have to calm down. You need to be clearheaded throughout this.”
Cooper studied him for a moment.
“Maybe we should rethink our plans. I know it’s hard for me to think straight when Kala’s in danger.”
“You are not leaving me behind.”
“Technically, you’re not part of the team right now. You’re AWOL. Have you thought about that?”
Cooper asked.
“You could be arrested at the end of this. I don’t think Big Tag has worked his magic yet.”
“He doesn’t give a fuck.”
TJ stood in the doorway, his face pale as he looked at the window.
“Zach doesn’t care about anything but getting Devi back.”
TJ should be pissed at him, too.
“Man, I’m so sorry.”
TJ shook his head as though he was shaking off some thought. He walked into the room and gave Zach a big bear hug.
“I know. I am, too. One of us should have stayed, but this is the job, man. She should have been safe with Kala and Lucy. Huisman threw us a curve ball, and now we have to do everything we can to deal with the problem. So you’re going to take a deep breath and we’re going to do the job. There is no failure here. There is only one purpose, and we will achieve it. No matter who we have to get through.”
“I know the Agency is probably going to make a big deal out of ensuring this op is as quiet as possible, and that means keeping the body count down, but everyone in that facility knows what’s happening,”
Cooper said.
“From what I can tell they fired the real scientists a year ago. This place isn’t about climate change. It’s a bioweapons factory.”
“So we take them all out and then it’ll be real fucking quiet,” TJ vowed.
Funny, goofy TJ could turn on his soldier self when he wanted to.
“But Zach, you have to consider the fact that they’ll want you to come in,”
Cooper pointed out.
“If you go in…”
He might never come out, but he was having some faith.
“If I go in and I don’t come back out, you have to promise me you’ll take care of Devi. I have to do this because I need to clear my name if we’re going to have any chance at the life she deserves. But if it goes wrong…”
“Then we’ll have a job to do,”
TJ said, putting a fist out.
“And we’ll get it done, brother.”
Cooper’s fist joined TJ’s.
His brothers. Somehow he’d found this amazing family. He pressed his hand to theirs.
He wouldn’t let them down.