Chapter 49
FORTY-NINE
Adam kicked the door in and entered, gun first.
Steph right behind him, wearing an oversized T-shirt they’d pulled off a guy on the way to the deck.
Montrose had a napkin tucked in his shirt collar. He was sitting at the far end of a conference table, a plate of what looked like chicken, rice, and broccoli in front of him, knife and fork in his hands.
“It’s over.” Adam leveled the gun at his head.
Montrose lifted one hand. “Before you act too hastily, you should check the closet. I brought along an insurance policy. One I thought you might like.” Interestingly, he looked at Steph right then.
She eased over to the right a couple of steps, controlling that side of the room with its low ceiling and 1950s-style “captain’s mess” vibe. “An insurance policy?”
Adam said, “I’m guessing the closet will blow up in my face.”
Montrose smiled. “Explosives aren’t really my thing.”
“Yeah, I know. You’d rather play mind games.
Which is exactly what this is.” Adam moved around the table, everything in him—every nerve ending—wanting to override his brain and force his finger to squeeze the trigger of the gun in his hand.
But how would that get anyone justice? Montrose would be dead, and no one would know the truth.
Families would never get real closure.
The people who’d covered up what Montrose did, and who he was, wouldn’t face justice for their part in destroying lives.
“What’s it they say?” Adam didn’t give the guy a chance to answer his rhetorical question. “Right. You’re under arrest.”
“This is my favorite part.” Steph sounded amused, but then she was also pointing a gun at Montrose.
The colonel sat back in his chair. “I’m sure you’d rather spray my brain matter over the wall behind me. Put an end to my reign of terror.”
“You’re no better than a serial killer,” Steph said. “You think you’re above the law, and it doesn’t apply to you. It’s a psychosis that makes you believe you can do anything to anyone with no consequences.”
“I’m sure there are a number of people at the CIA with the same…condition.” Montrose looked at her.
Adam nearly shot him right then. “You’re the one going to jail. Forever.”
“Or to a CIA black site where they’ll study you like the insect you are.”
Montrose sneered. “I’ll be their star consultant before you know it. The CIA will be after all my methods. For example. The present I have for you in the closet.” He pointed his fork at the metal cabinet across the room.
“Stand up.” Adam went to stand behind his back.
“Hands on your head. Move slowly. Keep all your limbs where I can see them.” He needed a way to tie up Montrose.
If he used the guy’s belt, he could disrobe Montrose and subject him to the same humiliation they were all supposed to have felt seeing each other mostly undressed.
All part of the torment.
But today, with his team here, Adam just hadn’t felt the same terror he had before. He could’ve succumbed and given up hope that he would get free. Could’ve allowed his mind to be swallowed up by the fear of what happened before happening again.
Instead, he’d drawn strength from the others and their presence in his life—and on this ship.
“I said, ‘Stand up.’” Adam backed up a step.
The metal cabinet rattled.
Montrose looked at it, still sitting in his chair.
Adam looked at Steph. She lifted her brows and reached for the handle. “Hopefully, it’s not an angry raccoon, or something like that.” She flipped the latch, and the doors swung open.
An emaciated male tumbled out, his hands and feet bound. A gag over his mouth. T-shirt and shorts on. Bruises and abrasions on his body.
“Dad!” Steph fell to the floor beside him.
Montrose whipped his elbow back at Adam. The chair clipped Adam in the knees, and Montrose was on him.
They wrestled for the gun. Montrose’s breath washed in his face, and those memories weren’t so easy to push away.
The times Montrose had carved lines in his skin and subjected him to psychological warfare.
Keeping him awake for days and making him watch images over and over.
Breaking small bones in his hands and feet.
Montrose shouldered him against the wall. Adam wasn’t going to let go of the gun. He held tight to it, repeating the mantra over and over in his mind.
Steph cried out, “Adam!”
Montrose sneered. “He was a good subject, but not as good as you.”
Adam twisted the gun around, lifting it to aim up at the ceiling. Getting it in position.
Montrose’s eyes widened.
Adam squeezed the trigger.
The bullet entered the colonel’s throat, just under his chin, traveled through his brain, and exited the top of his head. He stiffened, then fell to the floor.
Adam stared at the room, breathing hard. “That wasn’t the plan.”
“No one is going to complain that he’s dead. You had every right to shoot him.” Steph sat back on her heels. “We can discuss the complexities of the justice system later. After we spit on his grave. Right now, I need your help.”
Adam went to her with Montrose’s knife and cut her father’s bonds, releasing his hands and feet. “He’s alive?”
She touched a hand to her father’s chest. “He might not be for long. He needs a hospital.”
“Stay with him. Keep the gun with you.” Adam raced through an interior door and found stairs. He made his way up three levels and found the bridge, almost directly above where he’d been. Jay stood at the helm.
Adam said, “What’s the situation?”
“I keep sending a mayday,” Jay said, “but so far no one has responded.”
“Anyone on this boat who can make it go where we want it to go?” Adam had no idea what direction they’d been traveling for the past few hours while they’d been down in the hold.
“We can either pilot it ourselves, or we can wait for rescue.”
Adam looked out the window, but all he saw in every direction was open ocean. “Anyone on the ship have a phone that doesn’t belong to Earthnet?”
Jay lifted a handset and squeezed the sides. “Ladies and gentlemen of The Good Ship Lollipop…” His voice echoed in the room, coming from speakers in the hall—and presumably all through the ship. “If anyone has a cell phone or a working—”
“The sat phone!” Adam spun around. “We need our gear. My phone was in there.”
“Permission to come on the bridge?” Noah stepped through the door.
“Call me Captain.” Jay smirked. “You have the phone?”
Noah lifted Adam’s backpack. “Right here. And if anyone is captain, it’s me.”
“Get in line. I’m captain. You can be an admiral.” Adam set his pistol on the nearest flat surface and powered up the sat phone. “Where’s Marina?” He looked at Jay. “And Dan?”
“Ash is with Dan,” Jay said.
Noah told him, “Marina and I found Steph, so she’s with her.”
The phone screen blinked on, and Adam waited as it searched for a signal. “Come on, come on.”
Bingo.
He called the last number he’d dialed and put it on Speaker. Listened to it ring for far too long.
Finally, the call connected.
Ice answered, “This better be a guy named Angus Dubkowsky and not some bad guy who stole your phone.”
Adam smirked. “If you quit talking long enough to let me get a word in, I’ll tell you who it is.”
Noah said, “Both of you, listen up.”
Ice interrupted him before he could even start. “Actually, what I have to say is better than anything you guys need to say. Because I’m currently aboard a battleship that belongs to the Pacific Fleet, and we’re using the phone signal to triangulate your position.”
Adam nearly collapsed. “That’s good news, bro.”
“I’d like to say, ‘Thank the CIA,’ but I wanna take the credit.” Ice said. “I’ve got your back, buddy. I’ve always got your back.”
“Sounds like you have some stuff to tell us,” Noah said. “When we’re all together.”
Adam said, “This debrief is gonna last all weekend.”
Just thinking about all the things they had to tell each other made him want to curl up on the floor. “Montrose is dead. Steph’s father is alive, and downstairs. Everyone on the team is alive. We need medics, Ice. But we’re good.”
“That means we live to fight another day.” Noah nodded.
Adam figured Earthnet didn’t have a clue what was headed their way.
“We’ll heal,” Noah continued. “And we’ll get back to work.”
“Yeah, we will.” Jay nodded.
Ice said, “The bridge staff on this battleship are very impressed. Division Zero’s reputation is going to proceed us from now on. People will learn who we are.”
“I like the sound of that.”
Noah put his hand on Adam’s shoulder. “So do I.”
“Location acquired,” Ice said. “We’ll be there. The XO says an hour, so sit tight and keep everyone alive. Ice, out.”
The call ended.