Danielle opened the Internet window and started typing. With the satellite connection, the Internet stayed on.
Goose finished binding, blindfolding, and gagging the two CIA agents. Then he took the removable hard drive from his LCE and hooked it into the computer system. A pull-down menu floated to the top of the screen and revealed that the computer had found the new hardware.
“You have to love the new plug-and-play stuff,” Danielle said.
Goose didn’t say anything as he watched her work.
Muckraker:>R U THERE?
The reply came almost immediately.
Mystic:>HERE. I’D ALMOST GIVEN UP ON YOU. THOUGHT MAYBE THE GREMLINS GOT YOU.
Muckraker:>WORKING OUT OF THE GREMLINS’ DUNGEON, SO WE HAVE TO WORK FAST.
Mystic:>NO JOKE?
Muckraker:>SERIOUSLY. I’LL TELL YOU MORE LATER. IF I GET OUT OF HERE. I NEED THE FILE.
Mystic:>I’M GETTING A STRONG PING ON YOU. ONLY TAKE A FEW MINUTES. I’M SENDING.
Another pull-down window appeared on the screen, asking where the file was to be delivered. Danielle pointed to the icon for the removable hard drive. Then a blue line popped up and showed the progress of the download.
Goose breathed shallowly, keeping the mind-numbing fear at the back of his skull. He was exposed and vulnerable, and he knew it. Even if he got Danielle and himself out of the CIA safe house alive, which he had every intention of doing, Remington would know he had been there and want to know why. Danielle could step away from those questions, but Goose couldn’t. And he wasn’t prepared to answer those questions yet.
The blue bar finally crept across the screen and read 100 percent.
Mystic:>YOU’RE DONE.
Muckraker:>THANKS.
Mystic:>IF YOU LIVE, LET ME KNOW HOW IT TURNS OUT. OR MAYBE I’LL READ ABOUT IT ON THE NET.
Goose let out a tense breath as he disconnected the portable hard drive and put it back in his LCE, making sure the protective foam was in place. He took Danielle’s elbow. “Let’s go.”
Danielle worked the trackball, opening file folders all across the screen. “Wait. Maybe Cody and his team have more information in here. It’ll only take a second—”
“We’re done,” Goose said. He released her elbow and picked up the computer tower. The screen went blank as the connections pulled free.
“Taking the computer?” Danielle asked.
“No.” Goose didn’t want any trace evidence left on the computer’s hard drive of who had been there and what they had done. He stepped out onto the patio, leaned over the side, and dropped the computer into the half-filled Dumpster below.
Hurrying down the steps, favoring his bad knee, Goose took an AN-M14 TH3 grenade from his LCE, pulled the ring, then popped the spoon. He tossed the grenade into the Dumpster, then turned, caught Danielle’s arm, and shoved her toward the other end of the alley.
“Run,” he growled.
“Was that a bomb?”
“Grenade,” Goose replied, and the liquid whoosh of the explosion filled the alley. A wave of heat washed over him and he ducked instinctively. When he glanced back, light belled out over the Dumpster and the metal sides were already turning to molten slag. There was no way anything of the computer would remain that could be used to find out what they had done.
“That wasn’t a grenade,” Danielle said, peering back at the fiercely bright destruction. The rain hissed as it touched the cherry red Dumpster.
“Yeah. It was. Thermite grenade,” Goose said. “Burns up to five thousand degrees and capable of destroying any equipment it’s placed on. That’s what they were designed for. Pretty amazing. You can pop those things underwater and they’ll burn for forty seconds.” He looked at Danielle. “We need to go. Even in this rain, this will draw someone’s attention.”
Danielle nodded, then turned and followed him back into the shadows. “What do we do now?” she asked.
“We look over the material,” Goose said. “See what we have. Then we make a plan.”
She trotted, catching up to him to walk at his side. She hunkered her shoulders against the rain and thrust her hands into her jacket pockets. “We’re still talking about the CIA here.”
“Cody’s group,” Goose said, wanting to cut down the odds they stood against as much as he could.
“And Nicolae Carpathia and his organization, which seems to be spread around the world.”
Goose hesitated. “There’s more going on than what you think, Danielle. There’s more at stake than you realize.”
Danielle glanced at him. “So now you’re going to go all mysterious on me?”
Goose shook his head. “I’m just not the guy to explain it to you.”
“Then who is?”
“Corporal Baker.”
A look of surprise filled her face. “Corporal Baker as in Baker’s Church Corporal Baker?”
“Yes.” Goose let out a breath. “He needs to be in on this with us.”
“This is my story.”
“Baker isn’t a reporter, ma’am. And I think, after you talk with Baker, that you’re going to see that you’ve got a bigger story than you thought you had.”
“Bigger than Nicolae Carpathia’s not being the golden boy everybody thinks he is?”
Goose looked at her. “Ma’am, you have no idea how bad Nicolae Carpathia can be.” His headset beeped for attention. He stepped into an alleyway as a jeep filled with Rangers on patrol rumbled down the street. The headlights flashed across the street and narrowly missed him as he pulled Danielle out of sight. “Phoenix Leader.”
“Phoenix Leader, this is Dispatch.”
“Go, Dispatch.”
“You’ve been instructed to return to base, Phoenix Leader.”
The announcement sent a cold chill through Goose. He had to wonder if Remington had already somehow found out about the assault on the CIA safe house.
“Affirmative, Dispatch. Phoenix Leader is en route.” Goose took the portable hard drive from his LCE, still wrapped in its protective sleeve, and handed it to Danielle. “Take this and find out what’s on it. Get with Baker and tell him I told you to bring it to him. Tell him I want him to tell you everything we figured out.”
Danielle took the drive. “What have you guys figured out?”
Goose shook his head and looked back down the street where the jeep had pulled in at the flaming Dumpster.
“There’s no time, ma’am. I’ve got
