Chapter 22
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Siren’s burner phone rang with Diana’s number as she drove down a deserted Ohio highway in the darkness. Reed was asleep in the passenger seat.
She answered. “What’s happening?”
“Two men in expensive suits came to my office today.” Diana’s voice was tight. “They asked about financial research I’d done. They didn’t mention anything directly, but it’s safe to assume they know what I’ve been working on since Simon’s death.”
“What did you tell them?” Siren asked.
“Nothing. I said I do forensic accounting for divorce cases.” Diana’s breath was shaky.
“Did they threaten you?”
Reed stirred beside her.
“Not directly. But the message was clear. Something must have tripped a wire.”
“You need to take cover,” Siren said.
“I’m leaving Omaha tonight. I have a place no one knows about.”
“We have enough evidence to take them all down,” Siren said, one hand on the wheel.
“I’ll go dark until this is over.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. I’ve been waiting twelve years for someone to actually do something with what I built. Just finish it. For Simon. For all of us.”
“I will.”
“Be careful, Siren. If they found me, they might be watching you too.”
The line went dead. Reed was watching her from the passenger seat. “What was that about?”
“They found Diana.” Her hands tightened on the wheel. “She’s going dark until we end this.”
Siren drove through the night, pushing east through Pennsylvania. She needed to get to Kate before Vanguard caught up.
But at 2 AM, her tank was getting too low to continue. She needed gas. She stopped in a two-pump station on a county road with a hand painted sign advertising live bait and lottery tickets. There were no other cars in sight.
Siren scanned the area. There were empty fields in every direction. A few houses down the highway. She pumped the gas, and when the pump clicked off, she hung up the nozzle.
That’s when the black SUV closed in on them fast from the south. A truck came from the other direction, blocking their exit.
Two men emerged from the SUV, and a third climbed from the truck. They moved purposefully toward the van. Reed came out of the station with a liter of soda and a package of beef jerky.
“Get behind me,” she said, drawing her weapon.
They were cut off. There was nowhere to run. One of the operatives from the SUV came in fast. She ducked beside the van and fired twice. Her second shot caught him in the shoulder. He grunted but kept coming. He must have been wearing body armor.
She adjusted, aiming for the legs. He dove behind the SUV and returned fire. The bullet punched through the air; inches from her head. She dragged Reed around the other side of the van.
“Stay down,” she hissed.
The second operative from the SUV was circling wide, trying to flank them while the first kept them pinned.
The operative from the truck held back, waiting for a clear shot. She popped up, firing at the flanking operative, missed, and ducked back down. Return fire chipped the van’s side panel near her face.
“Reed, when I move, you run into the woods behind the station.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“That was an order. Not a request.”
The operative she’d hit was advancing again. Blood coated his sleeve, but his arm was still functional. She put two rounds in his chest. The body armor absorbed most of it, but the impact staggered him.
The flanking operative was almost to their position.
“Reed, run!”
She pivoted and shot at the flanking operative. Reed didn’t run. He shifted. A massive grizzly appeared where the nerdy engineer had just been standing. The operatives froze for a split second. That was all it took.
Reed hit the operative flanking them like a freight train.
His massive claws tore through the body armor like paper.
The operative screamed and the sound was cut off abruptly.
Siren used the distraction as cover. The operative she’d wounded was still distracted by the bear.
She aimed and put a bullet through his skull.
The third operative near the truck pulled out a rifle and aimed it at Reed. Siren closed in, Glock held at the ready. Seconds before she was in range for a shot, the rifle fired. She aimed for his head, shot, the bullet cracking through his skull like a melon.
He fell as she whirled toward Reed. The bullet had pierced his flank. Blood gushed, spreading on the concrete. She ran to him as his body contracted, reshaping and becoming human again.
Reed fell to the ground, naked and covered in blood. A bullet wound slashed across his side.
“Reed,” she screamed, pressing her hand to the gushing wound.
“I’m okay.” His voice was rough. “I’m okay.”
The bullet had grazed him. It wasn’t so deep that it hit an artery, but he was bleeding freely.
“We need to get out of here,” she said, ripping off her sweater to press to his side.
The gas station attendant screamed at them from the doorway. Siren pulled Reed up from the ground, pressing the sweater to his wound, and helped him into the passenger seat of the van.
As she was rushing to the driver’s side, she noticed a phone falling out of a fallen operative’s pocket. She crouched, grabbing the phone before jumping into the van.
She drove off the road to get past the SUV and gunned it down the highway.