His body burned. From the inside out.
He stretched, groaning, and took stock. They’d beaten the living shit out of him and burned his feet. But outside of that and the bullet wounds, he thought maybe he had only a couple of cracked ribs, not multiple broken bones, as he’d initially believed. He could move, even if it hurt.
And if he could move, he could fight. Given the chance.
The cell door scraped open again, and Dietz strode inside with two of his men. Without a word, they hauled him upright and dragged him from the cell, forcing him to stumble along on blistered feet. He ignored the screaming pain and shut out everything except making note of where they were going.
They stopped outside a big metal structure that looked like a barn, with double-wide doors fit for a semi to drive through. Dietz studied Blaze for a long moment, and just when it seemed he’d speak, two more men appeared, shoving Lan ahead of them.
Blaze’s knees went weak with relief, however temporary. His friend was alive, and for all his cuts and bruises, nothing else mattered right now. Their gazes held, and Lan tried to smile despite his swollen lip.
Dietz got to the point. “It occurred to me that no man should die for a cause without seeing what he’s fighting for. Especially this cause. Gentlemen.” He waved his men on, and they hustled their captives through the door and into the warehouse.
“Oh my God,” Lan breathed.
Blaze could only stare. There before them, on a platform mounted on a flatbed eighteen-wheeler, was the weapon — a bomb.
The thing was a metallic cylinder painted a plain gray and had the American flag proudly displayed on its side. The bomb was as big as a tank on a gasoline truck, and a billion times more deadly.
“You can’t know true power until you stand in its shadow,” Dietz said reverently. “You can’t understand why several nations would stand in line to possess it until you see. Do you get it? This isn’t just a bomb, isn’t just death. This is the annihilation of all living things, bound in a single innocuous container. Mankind, turned on itself like a cannibal. Our government created a monster, and now it must pay.”
Blaze stared at the cylinder, shaken in body and soul. In a twisted way, he did get what Dietz was saying — you reap what you sow. But innocent people didn’t deserve death and destruction.
“You’re bat-shit crazy, you know that?” He swayed on his aching feet, dizzy. He hurt and he’d lost a lot of blood. But if he held on a bit longer, Bastian would send in the troops and clean house. He had faith.
Dietz laughed. “Perhaps. But I’m the crazy bastard with the bomb and the money. Survival of the fittest since the dawn of time.” He flicked a hand at his men. “Tie them up and leave them in here to enjoy the view and think of the day when this baby will be dropped on the East Coast. Not that either of you will be alive to see it.”
The men dragged them over to the truck and tied them to the back, then left them to contemplate their fate.
“It’s weird being tied to this thing, and scary,” Lan said in a tired voice.
“That’s what he’s counting on. The beating and torture was something he tired of fast enough. Dietz prefers mind games, when he plays games at all.”
“Yeah, that’s coming through pretty clear.”
“My team is coming, my friend. Don’t worry.” Of this he was positive.
“Yes, but will they arrive in time?”
That he couldn’t answer. He could only hope he got to see Emma again this side of heaven.
Emma and her team spoke when necessary, voices quiet, pushing through the trees as fast as they dared. Wouldn’t do to stumble across a booby trap or a guard. They hunted a vile monster, deadlier than any poisonous snake to be found here, because their enemy violated the most basic law of nature.
Dietz was a discriminate killer, taking life because it suited his wants and desires. In his mind, this power made him more than other men. The lord of his own sick universe.
But not for much longer.
They reached the walls of the compound just as the fingers of sunset reached across the sky. Pulling her gun, Emma looked to Ozzie for direction. He halted them, and they listened. Watched.
The place was too quiet and still. Guards were posted near the buildings, but it was as if they were all waiting for something.
“What the hell’s going on?” Ozzie asked, more to himself. He waved to team three, gesturing for them to continue. They were getting into position, encircling the compound.
Just then, more men drifted from the building, talking and laughing. They walked over to a grassy area and milled around for — what? A meeting of some sort?
Then two men were dragged from a big warehouse-type building, and she gasped in recognition. Blaze and Lan. Her confusion morphed to understanding when they were brought into the grassy area and forced to their knees amid the jeers of the soldiers around them.
“Ozzie,” she choked.
“Shh. Be ready to move, and pick off the ones closest to Kelly and Hart,” he ordered them.
Her horrified gaze met Nicole’s in understanding. The men they loved were about to be executed.
Blaze hit his knees beside Lan, gut churning in helpless rage. So this is how it ended? Shot like a dog, as if his life meant nothing?
“I’m so sorry, Lan,” he whispered.
“Not your fault,” his new friend said bravely. “They were going to kill me, anyway. At least we’re not dying alone.”
“Yes, there is that.”
He’d always heard that a person’s life flashes before his eyes when he faces death, but he found it to be untrue. His mind was strangely blank of everything except Emma and losing her so soon. Or rather, her losing him. But she was a strong woman, and she’d go on. Perhaps J.C. would come running to soothe her battered heart? He didn’t wish to delve into that too much.
Dietz would pay for everything he’d done. He had to believe that, or he’d give in to despair.
His enemy came to stand beside him, toting an M16 and staring down at him, eyes so devoid of emotion his blood froze. “Have you anything to say?”
“Yeah. Fuck you.” He spat on the bastard’s shoes, and beside him, Lan snorted. Last acts of defiance and all that.
“Heartfelt, but not terribly original. Good-bye, agent.”
Cold steel kissed his temple.
Terror seized Emma’s heart as Dietz strode to the two kneeling men carrying a big automatic weapon. He and Blaze exchanged few words. Blaze spat on Dietz’s boots.
“Get ready to move!” a voice barked into Ozzie’s radio.
“We’re ready!”
Dietz loomed over Blaze.
Lowered the barrel of the weapon to his head.
“Move the helicopters in! Let’s go!”
Emma launched herself from her hiding place with the rest of her team, opening fire. Dietz jerked the rifle away from Blaze and returned a few short bursts of fire before disappearing into the confusion. At the moment,
