Night Shadow (21 page)

sun beat down from a cloudless blue sky, and the heat shimmered in

waves on the street. A light breeze ruffled the treetops, but nothing else

moved.

Someone honked their horn. It almost sounded like a bullhorn in a

vacuum, it was so still.

Alex’s voice rumbled again. “We’re going in. Stay together at all times. On

my coordinates, and my three. One—Shit. Open channel.”

“Intel intercepted a 000 text message call, forwarded to the local PD by a

Telstra Operator.” El icott’s businesslike voice sounded directly in Lexi’s

ear. “Tangos are holding children at the Kilgetty P—”

“We’re outside,” Alex informed her quietly.

“How—Never mind.” The Control’s voice evened out the slighted blip of

surprise. “The text message was transmitted by Davi Wislin, a thirteen-

year-old student inside the building, and being held in the gymnasium

with the rest of the hostages. According to school records, three hundred

and eight students attended school today. Thirty-four teachers and

assorted staff. They’ve never taken children hostage before this. But these

are
definitely
our bar-coded tangos.”

“Demands?” Alex asked.

Didn’t matter, of course. Because no matter what the demands, they

didn’t really seem to want what they asked for. And like their Control, Lexi

wanted to know just how Alex had known to come to an out-of-the-way

suburban school, instead of concentrating on the Sydney Opera House.

She wasn’t a big believer in coincidence. And this was a stretch by any

definition.

Dammit, Alex. What the hel are you up to?

“Eighty-seven jihadists are to be freed from the Lithgow maximum-

security Correctional Centre, SuperMax wing. Eleven hours fifty-one

minutes is our deadline.”

“They won’t wait that long.”

“No,” El icott told Alex, her voice crisp. “They won’t.”

“Are the jihadists even there?” Daklin wanted to know.

“Not anymore,” El icott assured them. “How many people do you need to

clear col ateral?”

“Couple dozen smooth talkers. Make it fast,” Alex snarled. The line went

dead. He gave the team a few terse instructions, then started the

countdown to shimmer inside the building.

Alex didn’t know what the hel was going on, but he felt like Superman on

steroids. All his senses were preternaturally sharp. He’d felt it to some

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extent outside, but the second they’d shimmered into the school building

itself, his powers felt supersized. His vision alone was unbelievable.

Walking down the wide corridors flanked by blue-painted lockers, he

clearly saw a trail of ants three hundred feet away. Saw the ants
and
their

antennae. Saw their
mandibles,
for Christ’s sake. And he heard . . . he

would have heard Lexi’s breath as she walked beside him anyway, but

now he could hear her bones and muscles shift as she walked. He heard

Daklin and the others’ hearts, beating at different rates. Heard his own

steady beat, and the sibilant rush of his blood through his veins.

One minute he was walking with the others down the hall, the next he was

inside the crowded gymnasium. The gymnasium did a slow spin on its

axis, and Alex staggered to regain his equilibrium.

Just as he’d seen the street and the bus, he was right in the middle of the

action. There, but not.

This time, despite the vertigo, and a disconcerting multiple viewpoint that

made it hard to adjust his focus, he managed to use the tetrabyte image-

capture implant to transmit images to HQ. He might not be able to bring

everything clearly into focus, but the image-capture system was three

hundred times faster than the human eye. The tangos, dressed in black,

held their weapons in their left hands. Same guys. Same uniforms, same

weapons, same damned bar codes on the left wrists.

School personnel stood in front of the kids, forming a human barricade.

Not that it was going to do them a damned bit of good.

The col ective roar caused by the
thump-thump-thump
of hundreds of

rapid heartbeats echoed in Alex’s ears, almost deafening him. The fear

coming off the hostages was palpable, and he felt the tangos feeding off

that negative energy.

As if he were inside their heads, Alex knew without a shadow of doubt that

they had no intention of kil ing anyone. Not today. Today they were going

to unleash the lethal coronavirus LZ17. Then let the hostages walk away.

No one would be aware that they’d been infected as they rapidly carried

the deadly, highly contagious virus out into their community. Impossible

to detect, it would be seven hours before anyone presented with the

horrific symptoms and it would be too late to treat. Seven hours or less

could mean several thousand deaths, multiplied with several more

thousands that each of those people infected as children went to sports

practice, families went out to dinner, bus drivers went to other schools

and picked up more children in their infected buses, parents went to work

or got on airplanes.

Literally within twenty-four hours, the entire continent, hell, possibly

several, would be infected.

He touched his comm link. “Report,” he said barely above a whisper. But

he knew no one on his team would answer. He was talking to dead air.

Twelve

Alex was no longer walking with them. How Lexi knew, since they were all

invisible, she wasn’t sure. She just did. That Alex-dar thing again, she

supposed. Dammit, where had he gone? Why had he gone? And why the

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Night Shadow

hel hadn’t he notified the rest of the team that he was taking a little

freaking side trip?

Section five on Operation Protocol, subsection C on International

Unfriendly Ops, paragraph four on Reporting Protocol clearly stated that

team leaders were responsible to make their location known to team

members at all times for reporting and organization of strategy during the

execution of an operation.

If this wasn’t a blatant breach of T-FLAC code, then she was a damn

wizard.

Did the others know that he’d split? Torn, Lexi was painful y aware that if

they
didn’t,
and
she
didn’t report it, she was an accessory after the fact.

She hated being a snitch.
Hated
hated it. But the main reason she’d been

assigned to his team in the first place was to watch him. Not easy when

he was not only invisible, but AWOL as wel .

She’d just been so happy, finally, to be on a field op. The idea of reporting

his behavior hadn’t bothered her in the least when she’d first been

assigned. Okay, it had only bothered her a
little.
Now, it bothered her a

great deal. She liked him as a person. She admired him as an operative.

And God help her, she’d fallen more than halfway in love with the man

without even realizing it.

She tried to reason with herself; he’d probably had a valid reason for

taking a detour. But . . .

A team
leader
? Disappearing without notifying his team? It just wasn’t

done.

Damn you, Alex, where the hel are you?
How long did she dare wait

before alerting the others to his absence? A few minutes at most.

Silence echoed ominously in the hallway as the team, minus one, walked

rapidly and quietly toward the double doors of the gymnasium straight

ahead. The hallways smel ed of sweat socks, chalk dust and bubblegum. It

smel ed, Lexi thought, like every school she’d attended over the years.

Nice to know even halfway around the world, things hadn’t changed much.

And on this team, like all of those schools, she was the new girl. Slightly

out of sync with the rest of her peers. Just like now. Reporting Alex, when

he might have a valid reason for leaving them, wouldn’t endear her to the

other members of the team.

I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to do my job. Yeah? Wel then I

shouldn’t have had sex, no matter how spectacular, with the man I’m

spying on, now should I?

Had Alex gone on to reconnoiter with the intention of reporting back? Had

something gone wrong, preventing him from communicating?

The possibility bought him a two-minute reprieve.

Come on. Come on. Come on!

His instructions were clear. She and Daklin were to secure the perimeter,

covering the others. He, Lu, and Kiersted would shimmer the hostages

outside in batches of fifty, starting unobtrusively from the back. If these

tangos were indeed like the ones in Taipei, London, and Russia, then one

shot and they’d turn to dust. Creepy, but expedient.

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Night Shadow

Lexi’s fingers tightened on the butt of her weapon. The SIG P220 Carry

Elite was her backup weapon, but it came a close second to her Glock.

She would’ve liked
seeing
the damn thing as wel as feeling it. Invisibility

hadn’t been taught in any of her damned classes. Stealth, yes.

Furtiveness, absolutely. Hell,
sneakiness
was practically a requirement.

But while being cool,
invisibility
felt a little like cheating to her.

Had two minutes passed?

Hard to read a freaking
invisible
watch.

There was another set of double doors to the right, and twenty feet up

ahead. When they reached those doors, she was going to alert the team

that Alex wasn’t with them.

Seventeen.

Fourteen.

Alex, get your butt back here!

Elev—

Fucking hel . Lexi?
Alex’s voice sounded inside her head.

She touched the comm link. “Where are you?”

“Who are you talking to?” Kiersted asked quietly in her ear.

“Al—” Had she imagined hearing Alex’s voice? It had sounded so clear.

“Just muttering to myself. Sorry.” It was almost as if . . .

She took a deep breath and thought hard.
Alex?

Lexi?!

Are you in my head?
she asked incredulously, her footsteps slowing.

Apparently so. Have Kiersted teleport. Me. Your coordinates. ASAP!

For the first nanosecond Lexi was just relieved to hear the sound of his

voice, even inside her head. Then she heard the tone. Not good. He was

alive. And he was reporting in. But he sounded—
shaken.
Very un-Alex-

like.

“Kiersted. Teleport Alex to our coordinates ASAP.”

“Not until he sa—”

“Now!”

Several seconds passed with the open connection a sibilant sound in her

ear. “No can do.” Kiersted told her. Or told Alex. Was it possible the

others had known he wasn’t with them? Some sort of wizard nonverbal

communication? No one seemed surprised that Alex needed to be

teleported to their location.

Except her.

Wait a minute . . . No can do? Lexi’s heart went into overdrive, and her

steps slowed.
What? What? What?
What was
that
about? Kiersted couldn’t

bring Alex from wherever he was to where the rest of the team was? Why

the hel not?

“Lu?” This time Alex’s voice was in her ear, not in her head. He sounded

calm. But almost too calm. Yet underlying that composure ran a thread

of—God.
What
? Fear? Horror? Adrenaline surged through her system. She

wanted Kiersted and Lu to hurry the hel up and get Alex back into the

brightly lit hal way where she could see and touch him and assure herself

that he was okay.

“Working on it, boss.”

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Night Shadow

“If this doesn’t fly, contact HQ,” Alex told him tersely. “Whatever works.

Do it
now,
God damn i—”

And he was back with them. His reentry right beside her, while invisible,

wasn’t exactly textbook perfect or silent. But Lexi shot out her free hand,

wrapping her fingers around whatever part she could reach. It happened

to be his rock-hard forearm. Even though she couldn’t see him, he felt

warm and solid, and
there.

She squeezed her eyes shut, stunned to feel moisture on her lashes. How

foolishly girly of her. Thank God she was invisible.

“In here.” Alex pushed open the double door, which led into a cafeteria.

Chairs had been placed upside down on tables, and a strong smel of

disinfectant and pizza lingered in the air. “Keep up your shields, but we

need face time.”

They all materialized. It was extremely surreal. Lexi took a step away

from Alex even though she wanted to curl around his body like an exotic

dancer around her pole. She wanted to wrap him around her and cover

herself in his heat. She wanted to run her hands over his body to make

sure he was all right.