Code Name: Luminous (15 page)

“Who are you?” Ghost asked.

“What did she say? I can’t hear her,” Nathan
asked.

“Her name’s Star.”

“Lumin’s friend.
Lumin has to be here. I have to find her.” Tony scanned the
ceiling, walls, and floor. He didn’t see any detonators, but he had no doubt
they were there.

“Is the vaccine in that cooler?” Ghost asked.

Star’s eyes blinked closed, and she nodded
then said something.

“I know, sweetheart. Hang in there.”

“What did she say?” Tony asked.

“She said it’s a trap. Bomb is under her chair
and strapped to her back.”

“It’s got to be more than that,” Ed said,
placing a hand where the glass met the rock.

Tony scrubbed his face and shunted the pack
from his back. Mace had remained quiet, his attention on the cooler and nowhere
else. Tony glanced at his watch; eight hours had passed since Nina had been
infected. Mace called the hospital every thirty minutes. The last time Nina was
too sick to speak.

“Hey, we’re going to make it. Nina is strong.
She’s hanging on.”

Mace nodded as if he was in a trance. “I’m
going to get that serum or die trying,” he said.

“Can’t use C4 or the compression could set off
the other IEDs.
Admiral?”
Tony said.

Ghost narrowed his eyes, following the seam
where the glass had been fitted into the rock. “There’s always the good
old-fashioned way.” He tapped the glass with his finger.

Tony checked again.
“Agreed.”
He took the butt end of his weapon, hauled back and hammered the glass. They
stood still, waiting for the proof of a wrong move as the glass shattered. Mace
stepped inside cautiously, but Tony could feel his impatience.

“Wait,” Tony said, searching the floor. He
carefully raised the rug where Star sat. An IED had been planted in front of
Star’s chair.

“Please, get me out of here,” Star begged, and
began to wiggle.

“Ma’am,” Ed laid a hand on her shoulder, and
she turned terrified eyes up to him. “Stop moving, or we’re all dead.”

She swallowed and sat still.

“That’s a girl,” Ed drawled. “I’m going to
step behind you and get this off, all right?”

“You do and I’ll be your sex slave for the
rest of my life,” she said.

Ed chuckled and moved around behind her. “Hmm,
how can I refuse an offer like that?”

Ghost slid onto his back and looked under the
chair. “Thank fucking God,” he said, reaching under the chair.

It must have been a rudimentary bomb. Probably
set up in a hurry. Tony turned his eyes away for a second and when he turned
back, his hand shot out and stopped Mace from opening the lid on the cooler.
“We’re almost there, buddy.
The girl first.”

Mace curled his lips tight and knelt down in
front of her. “Star, do you know if they put explosives in this cooler?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“How do you know there’s serum in there?” Mace
asked, his hand resting on the lid.

“That man, Dafoe, he opened it. I saw a few
glass cylinders.”

“Describe them.” Mace was keeping her engaged
while Ghost and Ed worked on the IEDs.

Star did her best to remember.

“Sounds like serum,” Mace said, as Ed backed
away with a pack loaded with C4 in his hands.

“Be right back,” Ed said taking the IED with
him.

Ghost slid from under the chair. “It’s
defused.”

Tony nodded. “Star, when did Dafoe leave?”

“I don’t know.”
She rung
her hands together.
“Maybe three hours.”

“Was Lumin here?”

“No. Are you that SEAL she always talks
about?”

Tony’s chest tightened. He never should have
let the months pass without picking up the phone and calling Lumin. Star’s
question bore a hole of regret inside him. “I’m an idiot.” He looked at Ghost
uneasily, realizing he’d said it out loud.

Star’s brow tightened. “Dafoe tricked her. He
told her he’d let me go if she came to him. He’s going to kill her. I know it.”

“Do you know where he is?” Tony asked.

Star gave him the directions she’d heard. “I
think he’s in New Mexico.”

“Cooler,” Mace said abruptly.

Tony held his hand out to halt Mace. “Get up
slowly.” Star put a death grip on his fingers, and she stood. The team gave a
barely perceptible sigh when nothing exploded. Ed returned.

“I’ll get her out of here. Miss Star, come
with me.” Ed gave her one of his toothy, wolf grins and her gaze locked on him.
Now that she wasn’t loaded with explosives her brain saw the good-looking man
in front of her.

“We’re not going to pick it up,” Tony warned.

“I’ll open it,” Mace said. “Get out of here.”

“Buddy, I’m staying here,” Tony said, gripping
his shoulder.

Mace shook his head. “Nina is dying. If this
isn’t the serum, then I want to meet her in heaven when she gets there. Go find
Lumin.” Mace raised his gaze to meet him.

They’d been in a lot of tight places, near
misses, but over the last eleven years no moment seemed to touch this one. “Why
would he leave this here for us?” Tony had to ask.

“Because there was the chance we’d focus on it
and Star, instead of the IED under the rug.”

“Star?”
Tony shouted before she got too far away. “Did you see any wires
when he opened up the cooler?” She clutched Ed’s arm and shook her head. Tony
turned just as Mace opened the lid, and he shut his eyes not believing that it
could be this easy. He felt the air move and realized it wasn’t a compression
blast, but Mace running past him.

He heard Ghost order into the
comm
set, “Alpha Air One, Petty Officer Mace Callahan en
route, take him to USAMRIID, push it to the max.”

“Copy that, Admiral,” the pilot radioed back.

Mace ran like the wind, a fistful of vials in
his hand. “He’ll make it,” Tony said to Ghost and Nathan.

Ghost gave him a look he wasn’t sure how to
read. Was there doubt? “Let’s go find Dafoe and Lumin.”

They hurried back to the remaining helicopter.
Cobbs waited for them. “I’ve radioed in this position. CDC is en route. We’re
leaving five men to clear this building.”

Tony relayed the coordinates to the pilot and
found a place on the floor. The chopper lifted into the air and he gazed into
the horizon. Was she dead already? Was she infected? He touched his pocket
where he’d taken one of the vials for himself. Every mile brought him closer to
her, but he was afraid of what he’d find. His memories slid back to the lake.
She floated in the water, unashamed, innocent and sensually beautiful as his
hand hovered beneath her body. Right now, her existence floated just beyond his
touch. Soft skin, perfect, rounded breasts, slender legs twined around his
hips, all lingered to remind him of his light.

He’d never felt closer to a woman in his life.
He didn’t want her memory to fade like all the faces of the women he’d taken to
bed. Casual, no-strings sex had fed his need, but there was nothing casual
about Lumin. Her life was tied to his, and he wanted a permanent knot.

He hadn’t realized it at the time, but he’d
erected a barricade against her back at the factory. He didn’t blame her for
Nina’s misfortune. Lumin had sensed the emotional wall he threw up, but it was
to protect
himself
. Caring about someone hurt. It hurt
when she left his protection and the base. It hurt every single second she was
out of his reach. It hurt to see her in Ed’s arms, and it hurt to hear her say
she believed he loved Nina.

“You’ve done a good job leading the team,”
Ghost said, just loud enough to rise above the sound of the blades and the
wind. “Once we have this mission in the bag and saved the world, I’m submitting
your paperwork to officer training.”

He didn’t lift his gaze from the horizon, and
heard Lumin’s voice in his mind. “Lumin thinks that too. She’s going to be a
lawyer. I used to hate those guys, but she wants to help people who don’t have
the funds to help themselves.”

“Can’t see her being cutthroat,” Ghost said.

“She’s not, but she’s wicked smart.” He
paused.
“And beautiful and sexy, although she hasn’t got a
clue.
Her innocence is hotter than anything I’ve…” A thickness collected
in his throat. He glared at the roof of the chopper to stop himself from
imagining her any other way than laughing and balancing on a slim pole
suspended in the air under the moonlight. “She trusted me. I had a whole line
of reasons why I shouldn’t drag her into a life with a SEAL, but the truth is I
freaked out. Dafoe has her.
My fault.”

Ghost rested his forearms on his bent legs.
“We don’t give the women we love enough credit. We’re so used to saving the
day, we forget they saved us. We’ll find her before Dafoe does.”

“When did you know for sure you loved Snow
White?” he asked.

Ghost see-sawed his hand slowly
across his jaw.
“There were a few first times,
not just one. The first time she looked at me. The moment I feared I couldn’t
have her. The first time I left her for deployment. Every time she had a close
call and I almost lost her. And now—every time I come home at the end of the
day and see her there waiting for me with our son in her arms. I’ve thanked God
a million times over for sparing her life and mine.”

Tony smiled to himself. “You really have it
bad, Admiral.”

“You got that right, Petty Officer Bale. She’s
like a drug to me, and I will never kick the addiction.”

“I think I’m addicted to Lumin. I saw her the
first time crossing the lobby of the Grand Palms casino. She stood out as if
there was a beam of light shining down on her, so I wouldn’t miss her, but
there was no way I could miss her. But I keep asking, ‘Why her?’”

“You want my honest opinion?”

“Hell yeah,” he said turning to face his
mentor.

“Soul mate.”

“You believe in that stuff?” Tony asked, surprised
to hear the most dangerous, but grounded guy he’d ever known give that answer.

“I do now. Besides, I love pissing Kayla off.
She’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen when she’s mad at me.”

Tony grinned and bowed his head. “Sir, that’s
a little twisted.”

Captain Cobbs’ silver eyes settled on him.
“You’re both rookies. Try pissing off the same woman for over twenty years.”

“How did you know, Captain?” Tony asked.

Cobbs spared a wicked smile. “Did you sleep on
your back or wrapped around her?”

The heat on his cheeks intensified.
“Umm, well, wrapped around her.”

“What does she take in her coffee?”

Tony chuckled. “
One milk
and one sugar.”

“What doesn’t she like?”

Tony turned a sideways smile at Ghost.
“Alcohol and meat.”

“And most importantly, can you remember the
face of one woman you screwed before her.”

Tony chuckled again. “I was just thinking
about that. I can’t.”

“Then—Mr. Bale—you have found Mrs. Bale.”
Cobbs’ grin split his face and he looked off into the distance.

Had he? Or would God take her away from him
after teasing him with perfect? “It’s a risk,” he said absentmindedly.

“Because you know if she’s taken from you,
you’ll lie down and die just to be with her.” Ghost gave him a fatherly smile.

He nodded.
“Yeah.”

“She’s Mrs. Bale, all right.”

Chapter Eleven

Each mile that separated her from Tony made
the weight of sadness and regret heavier on Lumin’s heart. She wasn’t part of
Tony’s family of SEALs. She wasn’t seasoned or knowledgeable like Nina or
Kayla. A square peg in a round hole, she didn’t fit in Tony’s world.

She had to make amends and help find the
antiserum that would heal Nina. Three hours passed as she drove eastward on
Highway 40 following Dafoe’s instructions. After the fourth hour, she was
driving under the blistering sun and took Highway 491 toward Farmington. After
thirty minutes she slowed, looking for the sign he’d told her to watch for. He
said a gravel road with one rock pyre approximately five feet high marked the
turnoff. She came to a skidding stop when she passed it. The horizon was bare
of structures. The cell phone Nathan had given her rang for the fiftieth time.
She knew who it was. There were several texts, and she quickly spun through
them until she reached the last two messages.

Stop, Lumin. Please stop. Don’t go to him.

Are you trying to break my heart?

She quickly tapped out a message and sent it.

I won’t let Nina die. Trust me.

Tony had figured it out and like any good
SEAL,
he’d do anything to keep her safe. The phone rang,
then
it rang again, and again. What the hell was the matter
with him?

“What?” she said, answering it because he was
waking up the
desert.

“Wherever you are, turn the vehicle around and
drive back to me,” he said harshly.

She’d dumped the GPS tracking unit on the
highway in case they tried to follow her. Her location was a secret, and she’d
keep it that way. “I don’t want Nina to die. She means a lot to you. I brought
this to your doorstep.”

“Lumin, you’ll get yourself killed. I’m
coming, just pull over. Wait for me.”

“No. If you come, my friend Star is dead.”

“We found Star. She’s safe. Mace has the
vaccine and he’s on his way to Nina.”

She closed her eyes in relief. “Good.”

“Where are you?”

“Almost there and I’m going to keep going.”

“What?” he shouted. “Like hell you are. He’s a
terrorist, Lumin. He won’t let you live.”

She swallowed heavily, grinding the gear into
first and the jeep jerked into motion with a little gas. “He said if you or the
other SEALs showed up he’d release the virus, but if I go I can stall him.”

“He’s lying. These guys don’t stop until we
stop them.”

“Then I have to hurry.”

“God damn it, Lumin.” Tony was seriously
pissed.

“I’m going to help you. I know you don’t think
I can, but I’m going to try.”

“So, you’re just going to let Dafoe take you
from me.”

“I’m not yours, Tony. I’m sitting in a pile of
throw-
aways
with the rest of the women in your life.
I can live with that, but I screwed up coming to you, and I can do something to
fix it. I can help.”

“I don’t want you to help. Stop, damn it.”
Lumin knew for certain Tony was seriously pissed. “If you’d stop running away
from me, I could concentrate on my job instead of you.”

“It’s mind over matter. I don’t mind and I
don’t matter, Tony. In the greater scheme of things, neither of us
do
. You told me I have skills. I plan to use them.”

“Balancing on a beam a hundred feet in the air
is dangerous. Lumin, you’re walking into a terrorist cell. It’s suicide.”

“It’s me who owes you one now.”

Tony roared at her, “If you fall, there is no
one to catch you. There is no tomorrow for us.”

His words hit her square in the heart. “There
never was.”

“That’s not true.”

“Try to get here as quick as you can, I’ll do
my best. Good-bye, Tony.”

She hung up and concentrated on the road. It
was groomed, but she hit enough potholes to jar her teeth. A shiver ran up her
spine. A big bug landed on her chest and she screeched, swatting at it, giving
her even more shivers. She remembered the first time she’d put her hand through
the strap, and they hoisted her high into the air. She’d been scared then too,
but it hadn’t stopped her. Fear was life’s warning bell to pay attention. She
squinted, seeing dust rise in the distance and it was travelling toward her.
Showtime.

* * * *

Lumin lay in the desert after abandoning the Jeep
and waiting for the oncoming vehicle to pass by. Two men got out. They searched
the jeep and the surrounding area, but they didn’t find her. She would go to
Dafoe, but she wanted to arrive unannounced. Once the men had gone, she began
to walk. She couldn’t see any buildings ahead. Time needed to stop. Anxious,
she put it into a jog. After a mile or more, she finally saw a structure
growing out of the sand. Soaked from fear and the hot sun, she stopped to think
and catch her breath. Would he have exterior cameras? Maybe he knew she was
there already.

He probably didn’t expect someone to cross the
desert on foot. She hunched and watched. Crossing herself, she kept low and ran
around the side of the building. The large home with steep roofs and a
wrap-around porch appeared out of place in the middle of the desert. Peering
around the corner into a window, she saw three men sitting at a dining room
table. Sullen expressions and slumped in their seats, they looked bored. She
ducked down and waddled toward the back end of the home on her haunches. There
were less windows and it looked like an enormous garage. Keeping herself tight
to the wall, she stole a look and exhaled with relief. She’d found the lab. Two
men in white coats worked at a counter, peering into microscopes and moving
about with a deliberate pace.

Her cell rang, and she fumbled to answer it,
her heart pounding in her chest. Her gaze skittered to either side, but no one
appeared. “Stop calling me,” she hissed.

“Lumin, bloody hell, woman.
Where are you?” She heard movement around the corner and her
blood chilled. She had to go up or be caught. With a running jump and the help
of a planter box, she gripped the edge of the roof and pulled herself up
quickly. Just as two men rounded the corner, she threw her legs over the side
and lay flat.

“Nothing.
You’re hearing things,” one man said to the other. “I need a
coffee. I’m heading inside.”

The other man remained quiet, but she heard
their footsteps round the house and
enter
a door. She
lifted the phone to her ear. “You almost got me caught,” she hissed.

“Where are you?”

“On the roof.
I found the lab,” she whispered.

“I swear to God, woman, if you die so will I.
You like your coffee with milk and sugar.”

“What are you talking about, Tony?”

“It means I want you to believe me when I say
you’re important to me. I know I acted like an ass at the factory, but there’s
a reason.” A yip of a coyote in the distance broke the silence. “Lumin, did you
hear me?”

“Yes.”

“Do you believe me?”

“No, now stop phoning me.”

“Don’t move,” a voice commanded from behind
her.

She closed her eyes. A man hung out the second
story window with a weapon pointed at her. Her hand was only an inch away from
the gutter and she nudged the cell into it. “I’m here to talk to Dafoe,” she
said.

“Crawl toward me.”

She did as he asked. When she reached the
window, a hand grasped the back of her shirt and he yanked her inside. She’d
been pulled into a spacious bedroom with a king bed and honey-colored wood
floors. The door opened and a tall man of Middle Eastern descent walked in.

“Have a seat, Miss Edenridge,” he said.

The security man motioned with the gun for her
to follow his instructions. She sat down on the couch.

“You can leave,” he said to the security
guard.

The man wore suit pants and a comfortable
dress shirt. He poured a glass of water from the mini bar and handed it to her.

“Thank you.”

“I’m Callum Dafoe,” he said, sitting down
across from her.

Lumin saw a painting on the wall and she
stared at it.

“That’s my wife and son,” he said, watching
her.

“I’m sorry they’re dead,” she said. There was
no point concealing she knew what happened to them. “
Azeel
told me.”

“Sorry won’t bring them back.”

She shook her head. “Neither will killing
millions of people. I understand your grief, Mr. Dafoe, but I don’t understand
your wrath.”

“You wouldn’t unless you’ve lost someone.”

She looked into her glass for a moment,
then
drank it all. “I’d grieve. If someone I knew was killed
by a drunk driver I’d be angry, but I wouldn’t want to kill everyone who drives
a car.”

Callum Dafoe settled an inquiring look on her.
“I am not a holy man like many in my homeland. I don’t care about a
never-ending war over grains of sand and inches of earth. Justice for my wife’s
death is within my power, and I will see it done,” he said calmly.

She didn’t have to find the serum anymore, but
maybe Dafoe would give away the Americans who helped him.

“You told me Star was here. I want to see
her.” She knew full well Star was already safe, but she had to pretend she knew
nothing.

“No, I said I would release Star if you came
to me. Where is Dr. Bjornson?”

“You have the airborne virus. What more do you
need?”

“The airborne virus dies off. We created a
second virus. A stronger one that could mutate after thirty-six hours, but
Bjornson escaped and he has the only antiserum.” Dafoe rose to his feet. “Make
no mistake. I will release it, whether it means I have to die as well, but I’d
prefer not to. Where is he?”

“Why can’t your American partners who helped
you get the Plague in the first place find him?”

Dafoe’s sharp gaze drilled into her.
“Carmichael shared a lot with you, didn’t he? Obviously the poison we gave him
didn’t work fast enough.”

“Why would the Americans who helped you want
to kill millions of people?”

“Why else, Miss. Edenridge?
General Caufield is greedy. He sits at the President’s elbow and
he wants the President’s position. Without money he can’t accomplish that, but
he has plenty of it now, and he can aspire to be what he wants.”

At a knock on the door, Dafoe said, “Enter.”

One of the scientists she’d seen downstairs in
the lab came in.

“Tell me where Bjornson is, Miss Edenridge, or
the next twelve hours of your life will be agonizing.”

Tony wasn’t going to make it in time. “You’re
going to kill me either way,” she said, staring at the syringe the scientist
held in his hand.

“While you succumb to the virus you will have
time to change your mind. Your life depends on you telling me where Bjornson
is.” Dafoe leaned over to within a breath of her. “I’m betting as death
approaches, you will.” He swiftly walked toward the door. “Inject her.”

Dafoe opened the door and two of his security
detail walked in. They held her steady while the scientist stabbed her. She
watched the syringe empty as the virus was set free inside her. She didn’t
deserve this; no one deserved this.

The guard grabbed her arm and pulled her to
her feet. “Where are we going?”

“You’re going to do us a favor and infect a
lot of people. We’re taking you home,” Dafoe said.

“What? No!” She fought but they restrained her,
yanked her downstairs and pushed her into a vehicle.

The guard gave her a dark, determined look in
the mirror as they drove away from Dafoe’s compound. “While we release the next
test in three cities, the CDC will be chasing their tails trying to stop it. By
the time we reach Las Vegas, you will be sick and very infectious. We will
deposit you in the heart of the tourists. Everyone within five yards of you
will become infected,
then
they will scramble for
their planes taking it with them and depositing it all over the world. Anyone
who comes near you will die.”

* * * *

Date: 07.26.2014

Time: 0000UTC 1600hrs PST

Mission: Code Name Luminous

“Good luck, man,” the pilot said when Mace
jumped from the
helo
before the skids hit the ground.
He ran like hell was behind him. Twelve hours had passed since Nina had been
injected.

“Where is she?” he shouted as he skidded to a
stop at the reception desk. “Nina Callahan, my wife, where is she? I have the
antiserum.”