Rogue (Book 2) (The Omega Group) (15 page)

Two hours wasn’t much time, but the team made the most of
it. Jackie put Carter’s shoulder back in its socket and wrapped it as best she could
after he refused to wear a makeshift sling. Although they needed to work out a
plan of attack, the general’s home was obviously under surveillance, so they
kept their conversation to a minimum until they were back in the cars. As soon
as they were on their way, they began to devise their strategy.

Carter listened to the ideas from each of the team members,
nodding his agreement when appropriate and adding suggestions when warranted.
He knew their abilities would give them the upper hand, but the potential for
loss of innocent lives was just too great. “What do we do with the super
soldiers? If they’re being controlled, they’re as innocent as any bystander.”

“I know,” Myrine answered. “We just need to hold them off
long enough for Julian to crack their system and shut down their chips.”

Their computer genius’s voice crackled over the sat phone
speaker. “I’m writing a program right now that will give me access to their
network. You guys will need to load it onto one of their internal computers
when you get inside. Once I’m in, I’ll go to work.”

“How long do you think it’ll take you to shut them down?”
Myrine asked.

“I’m not sure. It depends on what I find. It could be five
minutes or twenty-five.”

Carter played out all the possible scenarios in his head but
kept coming up short. “There’s no way we’ll have that kind of time. The general
won’t be giving us a nice long tour tonight. He’ll have a plan for us and won’t
waste any time getting to it. He knows about Mirissa’s telekinesis and my
shape-shifting abilities, at the very least. Whatever he’s got up his sleeve to
remove us as threats will be the first thing on his to-do list.”

Myrine continued his thought. “We’re going to have to start
our assault before he has the chance to do anything.”

“Which brings us back to my original question. What do we do
with the super soldiers?”

 There was a moment of silence while the team worked
through the dilemma. Then Han spoke up. “What if we recruited some help to use
as a distraction?”

“You mean the Havasupai?”

“And the Yavapai. They’ve both lost tribe members to this
guy. They’ve got just as much invested in this as we do. Maybe more. The
general said he has twenty-six soldiers in his MDS program. If we want them out
of harm’s way, we’re going to need help.”

Carter knew his friend was right, but that didn’t make it
any easier. “All right. Let’s get them to the hotel and see if we can convince
them to work together.”

That proved even more difficult than Carter expected.

The same tribal representatives—minus Bill Soyala—that came
to the conference room two days prior arrived at Myrine and Steve’s suite with
only a little more than an hour left until the general’s deadline. Carter
relayed the events of the past days, explaining who the real culprit behind the
kidnappings was and their current situation.

Although their fragile truce had survived the unexpected
news of Bill’s treachery, they were a long way from trusting each other. The
ingrained hatred between the two tribes was still close to the surface and
didn’t allow for any real negotiations.

Chief Istaqa of the Yavapai tribe was unmoved by the Omega
Group’s plea for help. “We have suffered enough already. I will not risk the
lives of any more of my men.”

“We have all suffered,” Carter’s father replied. “That
doesn’t mean we should simply stand by while others fight our battles for us.
This general has taken men from both our tribes. Would you do nothing to help
them?”

“They are already lost to us, Chief Mockta. I see no reason
to lose more,” Istaqa said.

Carter could feel his cheeks redden as the anger surged
inside him. Even if those men were already lost, which he didn’t believe, what
about Gina? She was a member of their tribe. Didn’t her kidnapping warrant
their involvement? He was just about to say as much when a calming hand set
upon his shoulder. Bidzil always seemed to know when Carter was about to react
badly.

But the hand didn’t belong to Bidzil. Instead, Dyami stood
beside him and addressed his tribe. “Chief, whether those men are lost or not
doesn’t matter. We must help with this. We have spent too many years feeling
sorry for ourselves and blaming the Havasupai for our problems. The truth is,
we
are the ones responsible for our situation, not them, or anyone else.” Dyami
looked at Carter and then at Chief Mockta. “I may be the most guilty of all
Yavapai in this, and for that, I am truly sorry. I cannot undo the things I
have done, but I will do whatever I can to make amends. I owe that much, and
more, to Gina. No matter what decision is made here today, I will stand with
you against the general.”

Carter’s father walked over and shook Dyami’s hand. “Thank
you.” When he looked to Istaqa, his face took on a sympathetic expression. “I
understand how you feel right now,
Chief
. I, too, am
on unfamiliar ground. These last few days have shown me how my stubborn, narrow
views have hurt both my family and my tribe. Now I have the chance to make
things right, and so do you.” He held his hand out to the Yavapai chief and
waited. “Will you join us?”

Istaqa looked to his tribe, and was greeted with nodding
heads and mumbles of agreement. He grabbed Chief Mockta’s hand and shook it.
“We’re with you.”

Myrine filled them all in on the strategy to keep the super
soldiers distracted long enough for Julian to do his thing. She didn’t hide the
dangers involved, and gave them each the opportunity to bow out gracefully, but
they didn’t. When they left to gather their men, she returned to her team and
ironed out the rest of their plan.

Julian was sending a helicopter from Flagstaff to pick them
up so they wouldn’t have to waste any of their precious time hiking to the
entrance of the research facility. Steve would pilot the chopper from the hotel
so as to not put any more innocent people at risk.

Once at the facility, Han would surreptitiously place a
small explosive in the frame of the heavy metal door to the entrance, in the
same way he’d planted the listening devices. Mirissa would use her powers to
break the locking mechanism of the elevator doors under the cover of noise
created by the team. She’d then send the boxcar back to the top of the shaft to
await the arrival of the Havasupai and Yavapai men.

They loaded the program Julian emailed to them on a thumb
drive and gave it to Mirissa. They didn’t know where or when she’d have the
opportunity to plug it in, but when the time came, they’d do what was necessary
to make it happen.

From there, it would be a matter of getting to Gina and Kell
and planting another explosive. If all went well, they’d be in and out of the
facility in thirty minutes, with the kidnap victims in hand, and General
Persaud in custody.

When the time came to leave, Myrine addressed the team.
“This is it. We’ve done everything we can to shift the odds in our favor, but
this is still going to be risky. We don’t know what we don’t know, so be ready
for anything. Are you all straight on your roles?” She looked at each person in
turn until she got an affirmative answer. “Okay, let’s go meet the general.”

The helicopter pilot was right on time and, although he
wasn’t too happy about leaving his chopper in the care of strangers, the thick
envelope of cash they handed over seemed to assuage his misgivings. A quick
systems check by Steve, and they were on their way.

They didn’t expect the general to allow them to bring
weapons into his facility, but on the off chance that they were able to slip
some through, they spent the short flight time loading up. Their plan, however,
only counted on them keeping the Amazon rings that Myrine, Mirissa, Asteria,
and Greco wore.

When they reached the landing area, they were greeted by a
group of six armed soldiers who escorted them to the camouflaged entrance.
“Don’t try anything or your friends die.”

“Well, aren’t you friendly,” Carter mumbled under his
breath.

One of the men entered the code to open the metal door, and
everyone filed into the small space. Han, who wasn’t walking fast enough to
please their welcoming committee, was shoved roughly from behind. He almost
fell through the doorway but was able to catch himself on the metal frame
before doing a face-plant. “Really? That’s how it’s going to be?” Han sent a
warning glare to the man and then stepped forward, slowly. He never was one to
follow orders.

Before entering the code to open the elevator doors, the
guards encircled them with rifles raised. “Please remove your weapons. All of
them.”

They’d known this was coming, so they didn’t bother to
argue. Instead, they handed over all of their visible weapons and a few of the
hidden ones for good measure. The soldiers weren’t so easily fooled. Four of
them frisked the Omega Group team members while the other two kept watch. The
rest of their weapons were quickly confiscated.

When the elevator doors opened, they shuffled in. Mirissa
was the last to enter and had difficulty fitting into the already full boxcar.
When the doors slid closed, they hit her feet and immediately reopened. The
soldier closest to her grabbed her arm and jerked her back out of the way.

“Hey!” Steve yelled as he pushed forward and grabbed the
man’s shirt. He was immediately rammed against the wall, a loud crash echoing
off the metal, and warned to stay put. By the time they reached the underground
cavern, hostilities were flaring.

The general, who stood ramrod straight with his hands
clasped behind his back, looked more amused than sinister as he strode toward
them. “Let me make this simple for you. If you come quietly and give me what I
want, your lovely friends will go free. If you fight me in any way, well, I’m
sure you can guess the rest.”

Myrine stepped forward. “And what is it, exactly, that you
want?”

“The same thing I’ve always wanted, Ms. Colson. To keep this
country safe from all threats, both foreign and domestic.”

“Seriously?” Han scowled. “You’re pulling the patriot card?
Exactly how much of your mind have you already lost?”

A brief look of anger flashed across the general’s face.
“Patriotism is not a card to be pulled. We don’t protect our country only when
it’s convenient to do so.”

Myrine brought his focus back to her. “You still haven’t
answered my question, General. What do you want with
us
?”

Persaud seemed to calm slightly. “I need your gifts. My
soldiers need them.”

Carter glanced behind him to see Mirissa turn away from the
elevator shaft and casually wipe sweat from her brow. “Can we get this show on
the road? We’re here, just like you asked. Now, bring us to our friends. You
won’t get anything from us until they’re safely back home.”

Persaud smiled. “I’m afraid that isn’t how this is going to
go. I’ve seen what you people are capable of, so your friends will remain in my
custody until we’re finished here. They will be unharmed, assuming you
cooperate. It will only take a few days.”

“How do you expect to keep us here for a few days without
anyone noticing? Director Finley will—”

“I’ve known your Director for many years. In fact, I
consider him a friend. One of the reasons I’ve always liked him is that he
knows his place. You see, he’s a bureaucrat, but he doesn’t pretend he’s
anything more. He leaves the heavy lifting to the men and women under his
command because they’re the ones trained for it. He won’t involve himself in
this. Instead, he’ll wait patiently for you to report, which, of course, you’ll
do very soon. As I said, you’ll only be here a few days.”

“You think you can find a way to synthesize our gifts and
transfer them to your soldiers in only a few days?”

“Of course not. We’ve had the shape-shifters here for months
and we’re just now beginning to scratch the surface of what makes them possible.
No, you’ll be here for a few days so that we can convince you to return as
needed. I have no doubt this project will take many months.”

Carter understood that when the general said
convince
he really meant
use mind control.
He glanced at his watch. “I want to
see Gina and Kell before we go any further.”

The general motioned to the golf carts. “Of course.”

********

Mirissa spent the long
ride fidgeting with the thumb drive in her pocket. So far, everything had gone
as planned, but there were still too many variables. Her next, and perhaps most
important, task was to eliminate some of those variables.

When the carts came to a
stop, the team herded into a large room full of desks and computers. She could
imagine the place brimming with scientists throughout the day, but at that time
of night it was abandoned. Mirissa wandered a few steps forward, scanning the
desks for a computer monitor showing a screensaver. Most were dark, which
didn’t necessarily mean the computer itself was turned off, but she had to be
sure.

One monitor, at the end
of the first row, displayed the standard colored pipes, growing and moving,
filling the
screen
and then disappearing, just to
begin again.

Mirissa took a deep
breath. She needed to use both her telekinesis and her heightened vision at the
same time—something she’d never done before. She pulled the thumb drive out of
her pocket and held it low. When she opened her hand, it rose up and floated
down the aisle, finding a resting place on the floor by the computer’s hard drive.
Now for the hard part.

Mirissa called upon her
heightened senses until her vision expanded to a point where she could clearly
see every fiber in the carpet around the drive. She found her target, a USB
port at the top of the tower, and raised the thumb drive off the floor.

Immediately, her vision
returned to normal. The computer hard drive was once again just a nondescript
black box sitting on the floor. She could hear the others peppering the general
with questions in an attempt to give her the time she needed, but it wouldn’t
last much longer.

She raised the thumb
drive off the floor to about where she remembered the port being, then
sharpened her vision. As soon as she did, the drive fell back to the carpet.
She tried again and again, with the same result.

A warm hand wrapped
around hers and squeezed. She glanced back and saw Greco standing next to her.
He gave a slight nod of his head and laced his fingers through hers.

Another deep breath and
she raised the thumb drive. Her ring began tingling on her finger at the same
time Greco’s did in her other hand. Slowly, she brought the computer into
focus, holding the drive in place. A small smile crept up on her as she drove
the thumb drive in place.

“What are you doing?” One
of the soldiers marched toward them.

Mirissa’s ring began to
grow, bringing out its blade to protect her.

“She’s just a little
nervous. Give her a break,” Greco said as he placed himself in front of
Mirissa, blocking the soldier’s view.

“
It’s
okay, Greco. I’m fine.” Mirissa brought her ring back to standby mode. “Let’s
get this over with.”

It’s up to you now,
Julian.