Chapter 15
Three hours after Marta’s abduction, Crusher heard from Hank Patterson. The plane he’d sent would arrive at the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport in four hours, flying in from Bozeman, Montana.
The team, tired of waiting in the hotel conference room, drove to the executive airport and waited the remaining hours there. The plane landed and parked outside the FBO. Crusher, Phantom, Draco and Marsh remained in the FBO until they knew when and where they were headed.
Phantom had pizza delivered to fill the time and their bellies. Crusher ate out of self-preservation, knowing his body needed to be fueled and rested if he had to fight his way in to free Marta..
Ten hours after Marta had disappeared, Crusher was ready to climb the walls or, better yet, punch the walls. Doing nothing was killing him. They were chasing a maybe. If they were wrong, they’d have to look in different directions. How much longer could that take?
Crusher didn’t want to think about it. Marta had to be okay. They had to find her on their first try, and they had to get her out of whatever situation she was in—alive.
Later that evening, Crusher’s cell phone chirped with an incoming call from Swede.
Crusher switched the call to speaker to allow the others to listen in. “Tell me you found her.”
“We think we have,” Swede said. “I have Hank and Royce on the call as well. Check the video I just sent in your text. It’s from one of the structures at Helvetica BioSolutions main facility. The timing corresponds with a flight from Miami to Zurich on a private plane.”
Crusher brought up the video, counting the seconds until it materialized.
The digital video surveillance cameras on the side of one of the corporation’s structures displayed a van arriving at a loading dock.
It stopped short of the loading ramp. A man, dressed in tactical gear, got out and opened the side panel.
A woman exploded out of the van and ran. Before she could get very far, the man who’d opened the door lunged out and caught her. Long auburn curls flew as he pulled her close, trapping her arms at her sides.
Crusher’s teeth clenched. “That’s Marta—Dr. Hale.”
“We think so, as well,” Swede said.
“I had Swede dig deeper into Helvetic BioSolutions,” Hank said.
“I went six layers deep,” Swede said. “Luxembourg shells, a Cayman holding entity, nominee directors. It’s like pulling threads out of a blanket.”
“I also touched base with a back-channel contact in the NSA,” Hank added. “He’s to get back with me as soon as he can. For now, for your team, I’ve tasked a pilot to prep the plane for a trans-Atlantic flight. You’re going to Zurich.”
“Does that mean all four of us?” Devon Marsh asked. “Including me, Devon Marsh?”
“This is Royce,” Crusher’s boss jumped in. “It’s up to my guys. I’m leaning toward trusting you, Devon, but my team has to feel confident letting you tag along, or you stay in Miami.”
Marsh’s gaze shot to Crusher. “Well?”
Crusher still wanted to punch the man in the throat. “Daughter or no daughter, you shouldn’t have handed Marta into the hands of a psychopath whose project has already killed so many innocent people.”
Marsh’s lips tightened, but he nodded. “I understand. But if they’ve taken Dr. Hale to Zurich, they might have taken Cate there as well. Whether or not you take me with you, I’ll be on my way to Zurich, one way or another.”
Draco stepped forward. “His daughter’s life is at stake as well as Dr. Hale’s. I say we take him.”
“What if he does something stupid that puts us all in danger along with Dr. Hale?” Crusher asked.
Marsh held up his hands. “I couldn’t tell you anything before without risking my daughter’s life.
Since they dumped me out of the van, they have to assume you all know now.
” He drew in a breath. “There’s a good chance they’ve already killed my daughter.
She’s of no use to them, now that they have Dr. Hale.
” He shook his head and stepped backward.
“If you don’t take me and you end up finding Dr. Hale, I beg you to look for Cate, as well. ”
“Let him come. He’s always been there for us in the past,” Phantom said. “Threatening a loved one makes a man do things he doesn’t necessarily want to.”
Like Crusher wanting to smash Marsh’s face. At the same time, he got it. Cate was his kid. Marsh would do anything for her. Finally, Crusher nodded. “We’ll take him with us.” His gaze narrowed at Marsh. “Turn against us, and you won’t live to see your daughter ever again.”
Marsh nodded. “Understood.”
“One other thing,” Hank said, “I have some of my International team located in Zurich. I’ve sent them out to recon the facility. At least three members of the team are boots on the ground. They’ll have some intel for you when you arrive.”
“Good. We’ll need all the help we can get,” Crusher said.
After the call ended, the pilot let them know the plane was ready. They boarded, the pilot taxied to the end of the runway and soon they were on their way to Europe.
From pacing the hotel floor to being confined for the next eight hours in the small jet, Crusher was reaching his limit of inaction.
He hoped the team on the ground in Zurich would quickly find a way inside the complex.
He wasn’t sure what Teuling had in mind for Marta, but if she didn’t get to a lab and find a way to stop Vasquez from releasing the killer virus, they might all die anyway.
With nothing else to do but think, Crusher went into pre-battle mode he’d practiced while in Delta Force and forced himself to rest his body. He stretched out in one of the chairs as best he could and closed his eyes.
As much as he tried to clear his mind and focus on sleep, he couldn’t stop thinking about Marta, kicking himself for not following his gut.
He’d known something wasn’t right, yet he’d let her walk away, having done his job.
He’d delivered the asset. Only, she was more than just an asset to be delivered.
His resolve strengthened. He’d told her that if she didn’t like where she was, he’d come get her. Having been kidnapped by a maniac, she’d sure as hell want to leave. He’d find her and bring her home.
Home? The thought struck him. He didn’t know where home was for her. There were so many things he didn’t know about her that he wanted to know now. He wanted time with her to discover more about the woman.
The rumble of the engine ultimately dragged his eyelids downward. As he drifted into sleep, Priya’s words in their last phone conversation echoed in his mind.
Love is a powerful motivator.
“Damn right, it is,” he murmured as if responding to Priya over the phone.
For the first time in his life, he was in love.
Sleep took him before his thoughts could shock him back awake. Instead, he dreamed.
Marta leaned over a microscope, her auburn hair pulled back in a messy bun, a little girl tugging at her shirt, while a toddler boy raced past. Both children had flaming auburn hair like Marta.
She lifted her chin and met his gaze, a smile curling her lips.
When she spoke, she said, “Together, we can save the world.”
God, he loved her intelligence, optimism and absolute certainty. He gathered her in his arms and kissed her deeply. This was home.
Hours later, the pilot announced over the intercom that they were coming in for a landing at a small airport on the outskirts of Zurich.
Immediately awake, Crusher sat up and checked his seatbelt. Once on the ground, he and his team would finally move into action.
As the jet taxied to a stop, a black van pulled up beside the plane. A man and a woman stepped out and met them at the bottom of the steps.
Crusher was first on the ground.
“You must be Jack Bailey,” the man said. “I’m Ace Hammerson, head of Brotherhood Protectors International. Hank sent me to greet you and take you back to our headquarters.”
“I’d rather go straight to Helvetic BioSolution’s facility,” Crusher said as he took Hammerson’s hand. “And they call me Crusher.”
“We’ll get there soon enough, and you can call me Hammer.” Hammerson’s lips twitched.
The beautiful, black-haired woman touched Hammer’s arm and rolled her green eyes. “Oh, please...don’t say it.”
Hammer grinned. “Between the two of us, we’ll nail the bastards.”
“You couldn’t resist, could you?” The woman held out her hand. “I’m Jaz, Ace’s wife.”
“She’s not just my wife.” Hammer’s chest puffed out. “She’s a former member of the Israeli Sayeret Matkal and part of our team here in Zurich.”
“Nice to meet you, ma’am,” Crusher said and meant it. Though he’d trained with male Sayeret Matkal, he’d never met a female Israeli special operations soldier.
Her grip was firm, the muscles in her arm tight and toned.
Hammer shook hands with the rest of the men coming off the plane. “Now, if you’ll follow me, we need to brief you on what we’ve found and come up with a plan.”
After they loaded into the van, Hammer drove them into Zurich and parked in an underground parking garage. He led them to an elevator with a biometric reader and stared into the scanner. The door opened, and they all entered and were whisked up to the third floor of the building.
They stepped out into a large open space with modern furniture and a large black conference table, with an array of monitors mounted on the wall at one end.
Four men and a woman rose from their seats at the conference table.
“I’ll let you introduce yourselves,” Hammer said to Crusher and his team.
They each gave their names and waited for Hammer to introduce the rest of his team.
“We’re a mix of nationalities here,” Hammer said. He nodded to a tall man with dark red hair and hazel eyes. “Fearghas Gordon, former UK SAS from Scotland.”
Fearghas nodded once. “Good to meet the lot of ye.”
The woman beside Fearghas lifted a hand. “Catya Romanov.”
Hammer added, “Catya was SVR—Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki. She worked as a double agent for Russia and MI-6. You could say she was disillusioned with both and joined us for the good.”
Catya snorted softly. “That’s an understatement.”