“Even if we could get one back into Europe …” he said.
“We’ll do the usual—dye everybody’s hair, change their clothes. Get them some camouflage, so that the Chinese won’t pick them out immediately. Help us gain a few hours. And see if we can get them somewhere safe.”
At that, the chat spit out information, and the route that came up made Diesel laugh. “That’s the same destroyer I came in on,” he said. “And we’ll rendezvous with a sub, and go the last several hundred miles that way.”
“Perfect,” Jerricho said. “Although it’ll be very close confines for the women.”
“But there should be a good medical center on the destroyer. Maybe we can get Marge looked at.”
“Good point,” he said. “But, if they find something critical, she’ll need faster medical care than a slow-winding journey.”
“Then we’ll leave her with the destroyer, and they can take her on and off as they need to.”
“That should make her happy.”
“We also have to understand that the Russians and the Chinese may not stop looking for Eva or Marge or their next replacements, just because we’ve left,” Diesel said.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, I’d like to blow up the lab,” he said bluntly.
Jerricho looked at him and then nodded. “I wanted to do it on our way out, but we had extra baggage with us.”
“Which is why I was thinking this morning.” He checked his watch and said, “As in, I would suggest six hours.”
“Do we have enough C-4?”
“Only if we’re smart with it,” he said.
And, with that, they brought out the blueprints again on the building, where the labs existed. It took them an hour to work out a route and another hour to work out the logistics of how to maximize the ability to take down the entire building. As they sorted through their gear and stacked up and packed what they needed, Jerricho asked, “Did you consider other people could be in the building?”
Diesel nodded. “I did. If it’s part of the lab, employees, that’s one thing, or even guards,” he said. “I just don’t want there to be more scientists.”
“What about clearing the building first?”
“We could. Smoke in the HVAC system?”
“That’ll just knock them all out, still inside. We could do a prep bomb first, send out a warning, and, if anybody wants to run out, they can,” he said.
He stopped, looked over at Jerricho, and said, “Wait, hang on. We should get some heatsink alerts from the satellites to let us know who and what’s there.”
“I don’t know about through the satellite,” he said, “but we should find out just what heat is inside the building now.”
Diesel walked back to his laptop and started rapping out orders, looking for information on occupants within the building.
Shane came back with Give us a minute. A few moments later he texted, The building’s reading empty.
He looked at Jerricho and said, “As far as I’m concerned, that means we need to go now, before they start refilling it.”
“Taking the building down doesn’t mean they won’t just take over another building for their purposes,” Jerricho reminded him.
“Maybe, but it also lets them know that people know what they’re doing and won’t stand for it.”
“Symbolic?”
“If symbolic works, I’ll take it,” he said.
With that, they packed up and prepped to leave. As they checked and synched their watches, Diesel heard a voice behind them, turning to see Eva, standing in her bedroom doorway. “Hey,” he said. “Couldn’t sleep?”
She frowned as she looked at the gear they had on and their duffle bags near them. “You’re leaving?”
“Yes, but not for long,” he said. “We’ll make sure the lab can’t be used anymore.”
Her eyes lit with understanding. She smiled and said, “Thank you for that. I wanted to destroy it but …” And then she stopped, shook her head. “It still won’t stop the system.”
“No, but it does send a message that they will be found out and stopped, if they do it again.”
“I don’t think they’ll care,” she murmured.
“Maybe not,” he said. “Are you against us doing this?”
“No, of course not,” she said. “I’m definitely for it.”
“Good,” he said. “Stay inside. We’ll lock the doors, and, with any luck, we’ll be back in less than an hour.”
“And you’re not expecting anybody to come?” She looked nervously at the front doorway and around the apartment.
He shook his head. “No. Throw the bolts, stay locked inside, go back to bed.”
She took a long slow deep breath and said, “I guess that’s the thing. Nobody knows we’re here, do they?”
He shook his head. “No, you’re free and clear here.”
“Okay, good then.” As she headed back to bed, she stopped, looked at him, and said, “You’ll be safe, right?”
He looked at her and smiled. “We’ll be fine,” he said. “And so will you.”
She beamed a smile, walked over, gave Diesel a great big hug, and said, “Thank you.” She walked to Jerricho, gave him a hug, and said, “And, please, both of you come back. I can’t imagine what we would do if you didn’t.” And she turned and walked back to the bedroom.
As they walked out and locked up behind them, Jerricho said, “I see she goes to you first.”
“I was closer,” he said in a noncommittal voice. No way he would let Jerricho know that he had thought the same thing.
“Ha!” he said, “This is good. This is really good.”
“No, it’s not,” he said.
“Absolutely it is. I heard all about the pairings going on with the Mavericks.” He said, “I figure, by the time it’s my turn, maybe there’ll be a partner out there for me.”
At that, Diesel turned and looked at him in surprise. “You want a partner?”
“Hell yeah,” he said. “Been alone for a while. I had started a new relationship not long ago, but then I was called out on another mission and just realized how impossible it is. But all the Mavericks seem to be making it work.”
“And I’m not exactly sure how that is either,” he said, “because, when I was the second
