“I’m going as fast as I can, Alex.”
As he was making his way down to the main level, the glass to the front door shattered, splintering into hundreds of pieces as it hit the ground. A smoke grenade followed, quickly filling the room.
Alex took up a position against the wall and waited. Just as Blunt reached the last step, two hostiles emerged from the smoke with their weapons trained forward. Alex hit the first man in the head before blasting the other man with two shots in the chest. They both crumpled.
“Hurry,” Alex said, reaching out her hand to assist Blunt. Once she took hold of him, they turned the corner and disappeared into the panic room.
Satisfied that they were out of harm’s way despite the presence of the enemy combatants just outside, she collapsed against the wall and opened up her computers to resume her work. She reinserted her earbud and adjusted it.
“Alex, Alex. Can you hear me?” Hawk asked.
“Yeah, I’m here,” she said. “We’re dealing with some hostiles here at the headquarters.”
“What’s going on?”
“Apparently, they put a tracker in Laura and found us. We’re safe now, holed up in the panic room. I don’t think they’ll be able to get in here before Blunt calls in a few favors and summons people over here to help us out, but I’ve fallen behind on eliminating some of these possible locations.”
“We’re coming back.”
“No,” she said. “Stay out there. We can handle this. You need to find Young.”
“Is Evana still broadcasting?” Hawk asked.
“I haven’t had a chance to look for a while now. Just give me a few minutes to get everything back up online and working again. I’ll update you then.”
“Okay, but you better not hesitate to call us if you feel like you’re in serious danger. I’ll ditch this assignment for you in a flash.”
“You know I can handle myself. Now, keep looking.”
Hawk said something, but his words became a garbled mess due to static and other interferences. Outside, gunfire erupted. Shots echoed down the hall and included prolonged periods of silence before the firing started up again.
“They’re going to kill us, aren’t they?” Laura asked, eyes wide with terror.
Blunt shook his head resolutely. “You will live, but they’ll definitely kill me. You and Alex can be used to persuade your loved ones, but I’m worthless to their agenda. I’m just a rock in their shoe they’d like to remove sooner rather than later.”
“Maybe they’ll take the people you love,” Laura said.
“I love everyone on this team and my country,” Blunt said. “It keeps my life simple and straightforward, just how I like it.”
A flurry of shots sounded like they were being fired at the entry panel next to the door. Blunt had gone to painstaking lengths to disguise the panel while designing the facility. There weren’t even any seams around the door, but someone had figured it out and was trying to get in.
“Get behind me,” Alex said to Laura, who promptly obeyed.
Blunt sat on a chair right in front of the door, holding his cane loosely. Alex stood, her gun trained on the opening, ready to pump the person full of every bullet in her chamber.
After a few more attempts at the control panel, the lock released and the door slid open.
Smoke poured into the room and Alex steadied her hands as she braced for a shootout.
But before she could fire her weapon, she felt a burning sensation in her neck. Everything around her went dark as she collapsed.
CHAPTER 21
EVANA BAHAR PLODDED ACROSS the room to a table in the corner where she studied a number of items strewn across it. After a moment, she selected a cropping stick and placed it behind her back. President Young watched the entire scene unfold with keen interest as he wondered how she intended to torture him with this new device.
He closed his eyes, squeezing them shut. They were already burning, and he was trying to do whatever he could to avoid another round of pain. While there wasn’t much he could do with his hands tied behind his back, he thought that maybe the tears could keep his eyes clear and free. In the end, it was a good idea that only managed to deliver a couple seconds of relief before the fiery sensation returned.
Her boots clicked against the concrete floor as she walked up to the camera and tapped on it.
“Hello, America,” she said. “Have you had enough of your president’s lies yet? Shouldn’t he pay for what he’s done to this country? Tonight, he tried to shovel a steam pile of garbage onto you—otherwise known as propaganda—and expected you to lap it up. But the truth is so far from what he said tonight that it’s laughable. He’s either severely disconnected from reality or he has no conscience and doesn’t care that he’s lying to you. Frankly, I find both of these options disturbing.”
Young writhed and moaned, twisting and turning against the ropes tethering him to the chair. Despite the futility of the act, he didn’t want the American people’s final image of him to be a spineless leader going down without putting up a fight.
“Just look at him,” Evana said, nodding across the room behind her. “He’s so weak and pathetic. He knows that his judgment day is nigh, and he doesn’t want to face the consequences. But we all must face consequences, even our leaders—especially the leaders who amass power through murdering innocent people.”
Even while gagged, Young growled and shook his head back and forth. There was nothing dignified about his actions, but he wasn’t interested in looking like a politician. He just wanted to be remembered as a fighter.
“Now, what’s funny is the fact that President Young actually does negotiate with terrorists,” she said with a faint grin. “Just a few
