Silver Fire (Guardians) (11 page)

***

“I told you, Maia, to stay away from that motherfucker,” Jack growled into his phone. Derek was driving. Trusting his friend behind the wheel right now was not a good idea.
 
Jack was no less furious than he was forty-five minutes before. Waiting for security clearance was a tense thirty minutes, and his friend was ready to charge into Divergent Research Zone with or without it, but Derek managed to talk him down. Right now Jack was laying it on thickly with Maia, but judging from the conversation he could hear, his red-haired friend was still mouthing off to her husband. Derek was solidly on Jack’s side on this one.
 

“I left you to handle it, didn’t I? And see where that landed you? On—His—Fucking—Lap...No, stay away from Silver Fire, I’m handling it my way...Do not move your ass from AGS... Goddamn it Maia, you listen to me, you do not want to fuck with me right now, sweetheart...Fuck! Do not say it was just a kiss because imagining his lips on you is making my skin boil off...I shall deal with you later...Do not leave AGS HQ or I swear to god, Maia...I’m picking you up after I deal with Connelly. Be—Fucking—There.”

Jack ended the call and threw his phone on the dashboard.
 

“Damn woman...she keeps this up, she’ll find herself shackled to the bed,” Jack muttered.

“I’m surprised you haven’t done that already.”

“Oh, I’ve come close many times.” Jack’s smile was grim. “I’ve been patient with her, but she just does not clue in. She’s supposed to be aware of these things. I think she deliberately ignores the signs to avoid feeling uncomfortable where she works. Who knew her working locally would cause such issues.”

“Viktor keeps an eye on her.”

“Yeah, but she’s my responsibility now.”

Derek debated whether to tell Jack another tidbit. At first he decided against it, but because they were heading for a confrontation, it would be prudent to prepare Jack for information Braden might stupidly blurt out.

Derek exhaled deeply. “Jack, there’s something else you should know, but promise to keep your cool.”

His friend’s eyes narrowed warily. “What?”

“Braden told Maia he was not giving up.”

“Son of a bitch,” Jack growled. “Son of a bitch. Son of a bitch!” The last word exploded from his lips with such force as he hit the dashboard with the palm of his hand. “That’s it. Connelly is dead. Maia is never leaving the apartment again.”
 

Derek knew his friend’s words were rhetorical. At least he hoped they were. For all their sakes.

***

Jerry Stokes set his cup of iced coffee on his desk at the guardhouse of Divergent Research Zone. Here in this isolated stretch of arid land, the air-conditioning was struggling to keep up with the stifling heat of the afternoon sun. There was a steady stream of visitors to the research zone today. There was also an alert from the management office regarding a computer hacking incident. The tech guys were still trying to assess the extent of the breach, so he and his partner were presently on high alert.

An emergency request for a visitor-pass had just filtered through. Normally, it would be denied because of the short notice, but since the MDI men were regular visitors to Silver Fire Research, it was approved with no problem.
 

A beat up panel van turned in from the main road and stopped just fifty feet from the guardhouse. Raising his binoculars, Stokes checked the licensed plate and told his partner to run it through their expected visitor log. It did not register.

“Maybe they took a wrong turn and are trying to figure out where they are?” His partner said. He could be right, they occasionally get cars that erroneously took the research center’s exit. Since the building was just off the I-95 exit, it was easy to give them directions to turn back.

A large commercial truck pulled up behind the van.
 

“This is strange, we have no deliveries this afternoon,” Stokes murmured.

“Yes, we only have—”

The van suddenly revved its engine and screeched forward, barreling toward the guardhouse. Stokes immediately stepped out and opened fire. But the van was suddenly upon him and all he saw was a bright flash, followed by a thunderous roar and intense heat...and then nothing.

CHAPTER SIX

Sophie was showing Polly how the laser isotope separator worked when the rumblings of a massive explosion reached them. Their building vibrated. She saw Thalia racing to the lab, quickly rapping on the window. Sophie nodded that it was fine to enter and with obvious urgency, the female Guardian burst through the automatic sliding doors.

“We need to get you to a safe location!”

“What’s going on?”

“Don’t know yet, Connelly is checking with Divergent Security.”

Stephen ran into the lab and asked Thalia the same question, but the Guardian did not say anything and ushered Sophie to her office.

“Guerrero, have you secured Dr. Leroux?” Braden asked through comms.

“Yes! Have you found out—”

“Truck bomb. We have unknown number of hostiles trucking it in right now. They are blasting their way through the Divergent security guards and appear to be heading straight for us.”

Thalia cursed under her breath. “What do you want me to do?”

“Take everyone to the rear exit, get into the Explorer and get out of here.”

“How about you?”

“I’ll try to head them off.”

“Agent Connelly—”

“Now, Guerrero!”

“Copy that.”

Guerrero grabbed Sophie’s arm and looked over to Polly, Jan and Stephen. “Is there anyone else?

“No,” Sophie said.

“Come on.”

“We have a bunker,” Sophie blurted out.

A hesitant look passed over Thalia’s face before she shook head. “No. We stick to the plan and get out of here.”

“But the lab—”

Stephen took hold of Sophie and said, “Baby. Sweetie, the lab can be rebuilt. But if they get you, it’s over.”

Sophie pressed her lips into a grim line. She nodded and followed Thalia out of the office.

***

Derek’s phone buzzed.

“Lockwood.”

“Derek.” It was Sophie. Something in her voice turned his blood to ice. She sounded out of breath and high strung. There was panic chatter going on around her.

“Angel, what’s wrong?” He sat up. His foot hit the gas, and his eyes started scanning for a path to weave quickly through the traffic. He saw the exit about two miles up and some smoke in the distance. His gut clenched. Jack’s phone buzzed. Deja vu.

“There was a truck bomb.”

“A what!” Derek shouted into the phone as he vaguely heard Jack curse beside him. His friend must be getting the same news from whomever was on the other line.

“We’re trying to get out from the rear. Oh my god!”

The sound of rapid gun fire, shouting and screaming cracked over the phone. The last thing Derek heard was what sounded like Guerrero yelling for everyone to fall back and everything went muffled, like the phone had fallen to the floor.
 

“Sophie! Fuck!” Derek shouted as he honked his horn to get cars to move out of the way.

His eyes shot to Jack, who was arguing with someone on the phone. “The hell we’re turning back, Maia. You think Derek would abandon Sophie to those assholes?”

“Hell, no!” Derek growled.

“We’re going in,” Jack said firmly and hung up on his wife.

“The police have been alerted, the SWAT team is on its way. Maia is taking some Guardians with her and heading to Silver Fire.”

Derek contemplated what Jack said. “Neither the SWAT nor the Guardians will make it in time.”

“I know.”

“What do we have in the back?”

“This SUV isn’t fully equipped, but we have flak jackets and pistols.”

“Shit. We’re going up against assault rifles.”

“The odds never stopped us before,” Jack stated grimly.

“Damn straight.”

***

“Fall back!” Thalia ordered as a line of armed men rounded the corner before them. She could hear Braden’s voice shouting through comms as well. Stephen and Sophie were gripping each other’s hand tightly and started running back to the lab. Polly and Jan were a few steps ahead of them.
 

The assailants fired as Thalia crouched behind a wall and shot back at them to hold them off. All that was between them was a short expanse of hallway and they were outnumbered in terms of weapons and manpower. Gunfire erupted on the opposite side of the hallway. Polly was crying and screaming while Jan was trying to calm her down. Sophie’s two assistants stumbled back into the lab while she glanced back at Thalia, not wanting to leave the Guardian by herself.

“Sophie.” Stephen pulled at her arm.

“Thalia,” Sophie whispered and then gasped in horror when Thalia jerked spasmodically and sprawled to the ground on her back.

“No!” Sophie screamed as she tried to help the Guardian.

“Damn it, Sophie, you can’t help her,” Stephen choked. Blood was pooling from the back of Thalia’s head.
 

Before she could reply, she felt a steel-like band clamp around her waist as she was hauled into the lab.
 

“Stay here,” Braden ordered as he deposited her behind a row of aluminum tables. The attackers had rounded the second corner but retreated when they saw the other Guardian. Braden crouched just inside the sliding door to watch both ends of the hallway. One man stuck out his AK-47 and without aiming, just sprayed the hallway with bullets. Some scuffed the lab windows, which were bulletproof to a certain extent, and some riddled the floor with holes.

Sophie refused to give in to their desperate situation, her gaze taking in Polly and Jan huddled in a corner while Stephen paced nervously around the lab. They were her responsibility, and she was not going down without a fight. Her mind made up, she ran toward the heavy storage unit in the corner. Digging into her white coat for her keys, she pulled out the middle drawer and lifted out two spheres the size of an orange. Depositing the spheres on a work table, she pulled out the bottom drawer and lifted a block that was labeled ‘C-4’.

“Sophie, what are you doing?” Stephen asked in alarm.

“IED, Stephen,” Sophie replied tersely, not looking up from the gathering of materials before her.

“Oh my god, baby—” Stephen whispered, not saying anything else because he knew this was it. Help was not coming in time, and the bad guys were winning.

Sophie opened the sphere by twisting its halves in opposite directions and molded the clay-like material inside. The spherical blasting cap was one of her recent inventions and was activated by an electronic trigger. Melted zefinium was built into a layer of the sphere to deliver the shockwave and extreme heat necessary to activate the plastic explosive. Snapping the device close, she pressed a button on the front to synchronize the frequency with her handheld detonator.

“Here goes nothing,” Sophie murmured as she pocketed one explosive sphere and made her way to the front of the lab carrying another.
 
Just then, Braden fell against the sliding door, his face contorting in agony. He had been shot through the leg.

“Fuck!” he cursed, then his pain turned to fury when he saw Sophie approaching him. “Stay the hell back!”
 

They heard a rush of footsteps when another bullet struck Braden in the shoulder causing him to finally collapse on his ass. “Sophie, stay back,” he groaned.

Frames of movement degenerated into slow motion. The scene felt surreal. Sophie stepped over Braden’s fallen form while ignoring Stephen’s scream of horror, which was muffled by the roaring in her ears. She threw the explosive sphere, her action stunning the approaching gunmen whose eyes shifted from her to the volley that was sailing toward them.
 

Sophie hit the detonator.

***

The truck bomb had decimated the guardhouse and barrier gate as cars and pedestrians started streaming out from Divergent Research Zone in all directions. Derek managed to squeeze their SUV through the entrance before the exodus overwhelmed it.

“There’s been an attack!” someone shouted at them. “Get away!”

The dissonance of gunfire was coming from the building that housed Silver Fire Research.

“Hold on, Angel,” Derek muttered as he maneuvered the SUV along the corner, stopping short of the firefight taking place before them. One of the Divergent Guards, who was hunkered down behind a vehicle, recognized them.

“Damn it, McCord, get out of here!”

“We are not leaving,” Jack stated resolutely as he and Derek exited the car and met behind the vehicle. Derek pulled off his tie and rolled up his sleeves before slipping on the flak jacket. He proceeded to stuff his pockets with loaded magazines. Finally, he tucked one semi-automatic pistol behind his slacks, taking another to use. He stared at his leather Oxfords and sighed—not exactly tactical-friendly footwear.

Crouch-walking toward the security guards behind the vehicles, they requested a status update.

“We’ve got a couple of shooters at the entrance to Silver Fire Research holding us at bay, and we’ve already lost a couple of our guards,” Beckley, the head of Divergent Security, told them. “We are not prepared for an assault like this.”

“So what’s the plan?” Derek asked abruptly.

“The plan is to wait for the SWAT to arrive,” Beckley said.

Derek stared at Jack. They understood each other.
 
Jack would cover; Derek would go in.

“That’ll be too late for Dr. Leroux,” Derek replied. “I’m going in. Try and help Jack lay cover, and I’d appreciate it if I don’t get hit by friendly fire.”

“Are you insane? I’m not letting you go in there!” Beckley sputtered.

“Try and stop me,” Derek shot back as he sprinted along the side of the building. He had already determined the position of the shooters. There were two of them. He knew Jack was also aware of their location.

A few steps before he hit the wall, a bullet struck within an inch of his foot. Immediately, a shot was fired behind him;
 
Jack had taken out that shooter. Derek slammed against the wall. He signaled
 
Jack for updated shooter information, but his friend shook his head.