“He’d have been perfectly placed.”
Everyone was silent for a moment, then Pax said, “If that’s the case, I wonder if he did this of his own free will, or was he coerced?”
“It doesn’t matter one way or the other,” Matt said. “They’re all still dead.”
Silence once more.
After a little while, Ash said, “Olivia must be pretty damn important to them.”
Matt frowned. “Maybe a few years ago, but I wouldn’t have thought now. Whatever skills she had, they would have surely replaced them by this point.”
“Could be a personal connection. Someone in the Project who just found out she was alive?”
“That would make more sense.”
“Or,” Ash said, having another thought, “what if she was just a byproduct? And the real goal was to disrupt your organization.”
“Then they would have struck here.”
“Has Murphy ever been here?”
“Yeah, but like most of the people we bring in, he doesn’t know where
“You should probably still get ready, because chances are they’ll figure it out.”
“That’s already being taken care of.” Matt glanced at him. “I’m afraid I need your answer now.”
Ash’s mind had been so absorbed with the events of the evening, it took him a few seconds to realize that Matt was talking about Bluebird. “You should have Pax lead the team. He did a pretty damn good job at the Bluff.”
“Pax will be going, but he won’t be leading. He’ll be there to help and advise, but mainly to be my eyes and report back. I can’t have you burdened with dealing with me, too. Once you go, you’re the authority. I won’t contradict any of your orders. I’ll have too much down here to deal with.”
“You’re assuming we won’t be successful, aren’t you?” Ash asked.
Matt said nothing for several seconds, then nodded. “Yes.”
The rest of the ride was in silence. When Matt pulled up in front of the Lodge and killed the engine, no one made a move to get out.
“You’re asking me to leave my kids,” Ash finally said. “To quite possibly sacrifice my life for something you think is not going to work anyway. Why in the hell should I do that?”
Matt looked at him. “Because if you
It was as if Matt had been echoing his own thoughts.
“Well?” Matt asked.
Ash sat down on the edge of his daughter’s bed, and gave her a shake. “Josie, I need to talk to you.”
She groaned softly and turned on her side, her back to him.
“Josie, come on. Wake up.”
He put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back around. She twisted against the mattress, then her eyelids parted.
“Dad?”
“Hi, sweetie. We need to talk.”
“What time is it?”
“Nearly four.”
She looked at the window, then back at him. “In the morning?”
“Yeah.”
Looking completely confused, she asked, “What do you want to talk about?”
He patted her on the leg and stood up. “Get dressed. I’ll wait for you in the hall.”
Once she joined him, he took her down to the kitchen where Bobbie had some hot chocolate waiting. The house was eerily quiet, in part due to the hour, but also because, as Matt had told him, most of the resistance personnel had shipped out not long after the destruction of the Bluff was discovered, so as not to be caught in any action that might have happened at the Ranch. Those remaining would be moving into the Bunker in the next few days, where they would remain, acting as communications hub, until it had all played out.
It took Ash an hour to fully explain everything to his daughter. He left nothing out, and answered all her questions as honestly and directly as possible.
She took it surprisingly well, but telling her the world might end in the next few weeks wasn’t the hardest part.
He took a sip of his now lukewarm cocoa. “There’s a chance we might be able to stop it. It’s not a good chance, but we have to try.”
“What is it?” she asked warily.
“We think we know where the Project’s headquarters are located. If we can get to those in charge before anything happens, we might be able to stop it.”
“Where?”
She was talking around the real question she wanted to ask, and he knew it.
“About three thousand miles north of here.”
She contorted her face. “You mean the North Pole?”
He couldn’t help but let out a quick laugh. “No, not that far, but close. On one of the islands in northern Canada.”
“Oh.” She stared down at her mug, lost in thought.
He waited patiently for a minute, then two. Finally he said, “They want me to go.”
“I know,” she whispered. “When?”
“As soon as possible, but it will probably take a few days to get everything together.”
She stared at her hot chocolate again.
“I won’t go if you don’t want me to,” he said.
Quiet again, then, “I don’t want you to.”
“Okay. Then I won’t.” He raised his mug to his lips.
“But, Dad?”
He moved the cup away an inch. “Yeah?”
“You have to go.”
“No, sweetie. I don’t have to. I told you, if you said no I wouldn’t go, so I won’t.”
“No. That’s not what I mean. I don’t want you to go, but I know you
She chewed on her bottom lip, trying not to cry.
He looked her, his chest tightening. “Sweetie, I
Eyes full of tears, she said, “You have to, Dad. You’re the one who can make it happen. You found Brandon and me. You saved us. Now you need to save everyone else.”
As she started to cry, he moved around the table and knelt beside her, wrapping his arms around her. In that moment, she reminded him of his late wife more than ever, nearly bringing him to tears, too.
“You have to go, Dad,” she whispered in his ear between sobs. “You have to.”
14
I.D. MINUS 9 DAYS
MUMBAI, INDIA
Sanjay could not believe his luck. Not only had he been given a job the day he’d finally accompanied Ayush to the Pishon Chem offices, but after he took the test they gave him, he’d been given the position of supervisor,
