Crossfire (Book 1) (The Omega Group) (16 page)

Once he finished his recon, Steve joined the others against
the wall. “Look, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think our best bet
is to use the doors below us. It’s still dark enough out here so, with the
lights on inside, they won’t be able to see out the windows. The stage will
provide some cover once we’re inside, but we’re going to need a distraction for
those guards before we can move Meghan.”

“Leave that one to me, Teletubby,” said Blackjack. “Give me
five minutes to set it up, then be ready.”

Steve nodded and said, “All right then. Go do your thing
Blackjack. We’ll get Meghan and meet you back at the car. Be ready to give us
some cover if it comes to it. And, Blackjack? Don’t get caught.”

A quick wink and Jack “Blackjack” Lane was standing on the
railing getting a boost from Lincoln the rest of the way to the roof. He pulled
himself over the edge and was gone.

Now Steve, Lincoln, and Grainger needed to get on the ground
a dozen feet below them. Hanging from the railing wasn’t an option as they
would be easily seen against the windows. So they donned their gloves, grabbed
the braided wire they’d used as a zip line, climbed hand over hand until they
were six feet away, and dropped quietly to the manicured lawn below.

With their backs to the rear wall of the house, they waited
for Blackjack’s diversion. It came two minutes later.

A quick series of small explosions rocked the front of the
house, sending the guards running from the game room. Wasting no time, Steve
ran to the double doors and grabbed the handles. Locked.

Grainger pulled a baton from his belt and smashed the glass
in the door, reaching inside to disengage the lock. Thirty seconds later they
were at Meghan’s side, cutting the rope around her wrists and pulling her back
toward the door.

The relief on her face when Grainger grabbed her hand was
quickly replaced with a look of terror as Grainger was violently torn from her
grasp and hurled to the floor a few feet away. Before Steve could react, both
he and Lincoln were jerked up in the air and splayed against the far wall,
unable to move.

“So nice of you to join me, Grainger,” Daedric said, his
voice dripping with pride. “For a while there I worried you wouldn’t come. And
I see you brought some new friends with you. How very thoughtful.”

Daedric walked slowly to where Grainger was pushing himself
up off the floor. Steve gained a whole new respect for Grainger as he watched
him stare down his former boss, the demi-god. “Let my wife and friends go. You’ve
got me. I’ll submit to whatever punishment you deem fitting. Make an example
out of me however you want to.”

Daedric broke out in a fit of laughter that held little
humor. “How quaintly simpleminded of you. No, Grainger. Your request, selfless
as it might be, is denied. You see, this whole thing was a trap for you. I
wanted to make sure you had a front row seat to your wife’s demise before I
made an example out of you. But now, thanks to you, I have something else I
want even more.”

Steve watched as Daedric turned an almost gleeful gaze
toward him.

“Steve Colson, I presume.”

Mirissa sat in a corner of the hangar watching as everyone
made themselves useful. Everyone except for her.

Her mother was busy with Commander Pierce poring over some documents
that Julian had sent. The Omega Group preternaturals were all on their phones
presumably gathering their forces for whatever was being planned around the
world. The remaining SEAL team members were readying weapons and commandeering
vehicles. Even Greco had a job. He was working with the SEALs.

Traitor,
she thought.

No, Mirissa wasn’t angry that Greco had a job to do. She was
angry because she didn’t. For the last year of her life the safety of the
people in Jacksonville had been her responsibility. At least that was what
she’d thought. Even though it turned out that there were others, like her
mother, who were keeping people safe, she hadn’t known about them. Mirissa had
spent every one of the last 365 days feeling responsible for everyone. And, if
she was honest with herself, she’d liked that responsibility. It made her feel
useful, important even. For the first time in her life she’d been more than
just a spoiled kid.

Now, as she watched the others working to solve a worldwide
problem, she felt like the kid she’d been before putting that ring on her
finger. Here, in this hangar, no one needed, or wanted, her help.

A short vibration in her pocket brought Mirissa out of her
self-pity party. She grabbed her phone and saw that she’d received a text from
her father. At least someone wanted her, she thought. It had been almost two
hours since he’d left with the others to rescue Grainger’s wife and Mirissa
realized that she was really looking forward to his return.

The text had a photo of her dad, Grainger, and the two SEALs
standing side by side with their hands behind their back. There was a woman
standing next to Grainger that Mirissa assumed was his wife. At first she
thought he was sending her photographic proof that their mission was a success,
but as it dawned on her that no one in the picture was smiling, and all of them
had their hands behind their back, an uneasy feeling came over her.

Another vibration and a short message appeared on her
screen.

I have them. Come alone or they die—badly.

Mirissa’s head was spinning and her unusually slow heart
rate almost doubled. She’d tried so hard to keep her father out of danger this
past year, but now she’d unwittingly put him right in it. Daedric was after
her, and her father was caught in the crossfire.

A quick glance around the hangar told her that no one there
knew anything about what was going on at Daedric’s house. They were all still
engrossed in their work, completely oblivious to the text, and its
implications.

Mirissa had two options. First, she could tell her mother
what Daedric had done, let her rally the troops for an all-out rescue mission,
and risk Daedric making good on his promise. Or, she could follow his
instructions, go alone, and risk adding herself to his list of victims.

Mirissa knew, judging by the decisions made today, that her
opinions meant little to her mother. She hadn’t even been allowed to fight back
at the safe house and was given nothing to do here at the hangar. Myrine
treated her like a child that needed to be protected, instead of the Amazon
warrior she was. If Mirissa told her mother about the text, she would surely be
relegated to taking a back seat and watching events unfold—most likely from
behind one of Beck’s force fields.

No, Mirissa thought. She had to do this alone. The second
Daedric saw anyone other than her, he would kill her father and the rest of his
team.

Mirissa couldn’t let that happen. Although she tended not to
tell him enough, she loved her father more than anything in this world. He had
given up everything after her mother left and focused his entire life on making
Mirissa feel loved and safe. She’d never forgive herself if something happened
to him because of her.

She would meet Daedric on his terms, and she would prevail.
After all, she was the one destined to beat him.

Walking over to the table where the SEALs and Greco were
prepping weapons, Mirissa casually asked where the bathroom was. With barely a
glance in her direction, the one they called Hammerhead pointed over his
shoulder to a door near the back of the hangar.

Once inside the bathroom, she turned the faucet on to cover
any sound of her exit, opened the small window, and crawled through to the
tarmac outside. The SEALs had done their job well, lining up several vehicles,
just as Myrine had asked.

Walking calmly and with purpose so as to not raise
suspicion, Mirissa reached the closest vehicle—a drab, beige-colored Humvee
with small metal doors and a cloth top—and got behind the wheel. In keeping
with their well-known efficiency, the SEALs had been kind enough to leave the
keys on the sun visor. Saying a quick prayer that no one would come running,
she started the engine and drove away.

Mirissa hadn’t been on this base since the field trip her
eighth grade class had taken. Although finding the exit would be relatively
easy given the layout of the roads, getting through it could prove difficult.
She was driving a military vehicle, but with no uniform, she would stand out as
most definitely not military. Hopefully, she thought, the guards would be
paying more attention to the cars entering the base than they would those
leaving it.

As the exit came into view up ahead, Mirissa found herself
getting nervous. She hadn’t really made a solid plan after deciding to go after
her father. She’d just gotten up and left, assuming that she’d figure it out as
she went. But if she were stopped at the exit, she’d have no chance of saving
her father. The guards would eventually figure out where she belonged, escort
her back to the hangar, and her mother would take over.

No, she had to get through.

There were only two cars ahead of her waiting to exit, and
it looked like the guards were focused on the line of about a half dozen
vehicles waiting to get on base. The first vehicle on her side drove off
without incident. When the second advanced, the driver rolled his window down
and called to one of the guards. The smile on the guard’s face as he walked
over told her that it was just a social greeting, but Mirissa couldn’t afford
to have him that close to her as she drove out.

Centering herself with a deep breath, she focused on a small
pile of leaves and other debris on the far side of the base entrance. A moment
later the debris was swirling in the air like a slow-moving mini tornado. The
guards caught in the whirlwind were swiping their hands in front of their
faces, trying to escape the leaves and twigs that had suddenly surrounded them.
The occupants of the waiting vehicles were quickly rolling up their windows to
keep the mess from getting inside.

The guard in front of her, hearing the commotion from the
other side, hastily waved goodbye to his friend and trotted away to see what
was happening.

As Mirissa drove out, she could see the confused faces of
the people still at the entrance in her rearview mirror. The debris had settled
to the ground and, with the exception of a few leaves and twigs embedded in
their hair and uniforms, the guards were back on task as though nothing unusual
had happened.

 With a small grin on her face, Mirissa drove toward
Ortega. The ease with which she’d gotten off base undetected bolstered her
confidence, but she wasn’t foolish enough to think her good fortune would
continue. She was about to meet the infamous Daedric face-to-face, and the
lives of five people, including her father, were in her hands. Her grin
immediately disappeared.

“We may have a problem.” Julian rarely cut to the chase like
that, so when he bypassed the usual pleasantries on this call, Myrine knew
something had him worried.

“What have you found?”

“I’ve had two of our team watching the airport for Daedric’s
plane. It just landed and a group of eight people disembarked, one woman and
seven men, but Daedric wasn’t one of them.”

“So,” Myrine said. “Daedric stayed in Atlanta?”

“Maybe,” Julian said. “But maybe not. Private planes aren’t
required to have passenger manifests, so we can’t be sure that Daedric was ever
on that plane in the first place. We assumed he was because he’s never used his
jet for anything other than his personal transport. This time might be
different. He might have just sent his pilots to pick these guys up and bring
them here.”

Myrine fell silent for a moment. “You’re saying that Daedric
may have never left Jacksonville at all. That he could have been at his house
this entire time.”

“There’s no way of knowing. All we know for sure is that he
wasn’t on his plane when it landed a few minutes ago. Other than that, we’re
just guessing.”

Myrine let the repercussions of this new information sink in.
She had just allowed four men, including her husband, to mount a rescue
operation at Daedric’s residence. If he was there… She couldn’t even finish the
thought. “Do we know who those eight passengers are?”

“Not yet. I’m running facial recognition now, but it will
take some time.”

“Thanks, Julian. Keep me posted on anything you find. We
still need to know what Daedric’s next move is.”

“Actually, I might have something on that soon.” Julian’s
demeanor perked up as the conversation moved away from the bad news. “I found
another anomaly in his portfolio from several years ago. It was just a tiny
thread, but the more I pull at it, the more I’m convinced it has something to
do with his endgame. Have you ever heard of Sera Maison?”

Myrine thought for a moment that the name sounded familiar,
just the tiniest inkling in the back of her brain, but she couldn’t place it.
“No. Who is she?”

“Well, she has been a busy little beaver over the past six
years. She started a company in Colorado, called SeraTech, and has designed and
built dozens of different pieces of equipment used in oil drilling and
processing. Every major oil company in the world uses her stuff. She’s really
quite brilliant.”

Myrine could hear the admiration in Julian’s voice, and,
with a brain like his, there weren’t many people out there that he admired. “So
what does Sera Maison have to do with Daedric?”

“Well, nothing now, but the money used to start her company
six years ago came from one of his offshore accounts. That was the thread.
Another interesting thing is that SeraTech has been basically idle for the last
year or so. They haven’t introduced any new technology at all and made no press
releases about current or upcoming projects. It’s like they just stopped
working.”

Myrine thought for a moment before speaking. “But if they’re
out of business, how can they be tied to Daedric’s endgame?”

“That’s just it! They aren’t out of business. As far as I
can tell, all of their employees are still working full time, at least they’re
still cashing paychecks from SeraTech. It’s just that whatever they’re working
on has been kept secret for over a year.”

Myrine had grown accustomed over the years to not
understanding some of what Julian said. It was the price she paid for having a
certified genius on her team. “Is that so unusual? Don’t all research and
development firms keep their stuff secret until they introduce the finished
product?”

“Kind of, yes. But this is different. Corporate espionage is
huge. One company wants something that another company has, so they hire spies
to find and steal it. To combat this, companies keep the details of any new
technology locked up tighter than Fort Knox. The overall project, though,
always gets made public. Stock prices go way up every time a tech company tells
the world it’s about to come out with something amazing. They always give out
the big picture and hide the details. SeraTech, however, hasn’t told anyone
anything.”

“So what you’re saying is Ms. Maison is working on something
so big that she’s willing to let her company fall into obscurity to make it
happen. Any idea what it is?”

“Not yet,” said Julian. “But I’m working on it.”

“All right. Keep looking.” Myrine ended the call, filed that
latest piece of information away, and refocused on the immediate problem. Using
her speed dial, she tried Steve’s number. There was no answer. Although it
could simply mean that he was still operational and unable to answer, Myrine
couldn’t help the knot that was forming in her gut. Walking over to the table
where the SEALs were working, she pulled Commander Pierce aside. “Commander,
have you had any contact with Lincoln or Blackjack?”

“Not as of yet. Why?”

“I just got word that Daedric wasn’t on his jet. He may have
never left Jacksonville.”

“Which means our boys just walked into some serious
trouble.” Myrine saw the look of worry cross his face, but it was almost
immediately replaced by one of determination. “Let’s get everyone together. We
need a plan.”

One loud whistle from their commander, and the SEAL team was
front and center. Myrine’s team, not accustomed to the military way of life,
was a little slower to respond.

Myrine looked around the room, turned to Greco, and asked,
“Where’s Mirissa?”

The look of confusion on Greco’s face told her everything
she needed to know. “Damn it! Why would she wander off? Phoenix, can you check
the area for her?”

It only took a moment for Phoenix to connect to a bird
outside. “She’s not here.”

Myrine grabbed her phone again and speed dialed Julian.
“Julian. I need you to pull up Mirissa’s phone. She’s gone missing.”

A few taps on the keyboard and Julian had his answer. “Right
now she’s travelling north on Roosevelt Boulevard. Looks like she’s heading for
Ortega.”

The knot that had been forming in Myrine’s gut got instantly
tighter. “Check her phone records.”

 A few more taps and Julian said, “Oh crap. She got a
text. I’m forwarding what she received to your phone. You should have it now.”

Myrine glanced at the photo of her husband, Grainger, the
two SEALs and Grainger’s wife. Then she read the message below. Her head
started to spin and she felt as though she’d just been sucker punched. She
handed her phone to Pierce and motioned for everyone else to take a look.

Commander Pierce, opting to give Myrine a few moments to
pull herself together, addressed the group. “All right everyone, it looks like
we’ve found our battlefield. Pick up your weapons of choice from the table and
suit up. Remember, we’re heading to a residential neighborhood, so guns are for
backup only. The last thing we need is local law enforcement called in on us.
My men will load up the vehicles and get them ready. Omega people, you do
whatever it is you do. Myrine and I will put together a plan.”

As the group headed over to the table, Commander Pierce put his
hands on Myrine’s shoulders. “We’ll get them back. I promise.”

Myrine’s eyes glistened as a dozen scenarios played out in
her mind, each more horrifying than the last. Meeting Pierce’s eyes and putting
strength she didn’t feel into her voice, she said, “Yes, we will.”