Wrong Place (The Wrong Series) (9 page)

“What does your childhood bully have to do with us
infiltrating a place that looks to have very little security?”

“Just hear him out. T
hree heads are better than two,” Zane said.

“Thanks
, Zane. First of all, looks can be deceiving. It stands to reason that wherever Driver is being held is a much higher security area than anything you or I would have seen at our interview. Second of all, just hear the story out. I think it will be helpful.”

Sam nodded
. She knew that she was a little harsh before, but she was only in a rush to make all this right. Agent Driver had been captured as a result of her actions, after all.

“In the se
cond grade, I had this bully who stole my lunch money for a little over a month. From listening to the things he said to others, I learned about all the things that were important to him. A small chow puppy that he had just received was the most important thing in the world to him. The kid only lived about a mile from me, so one day I made the walk to his house. I stole the dog and acted as if the dog was some new stray that I absolutely adored to my parents. At school, I threatened the safety of the dog to my now very agreeable bully. I really wouldn’t have ever hurt the dog, but he didn’t have to know that. I made the kid give me his lunch money for two months, and then I returned his dog. He never bothered me again. The moral of the story is that you should find out what’s the most important thing to this company, and to Mr. Fields specifically, and then make an exchange for your guy on your own terms without ever having to step foot on the grounds.”

“T
he most important thing to Fields would be the flash drive,” Zane said.

“It stands to reason that Fields would also be very important to this
particular branch of the company, considering that he’s the leader of that particular place,” Nathan thought out loud.

“
I’ve got it!” Nathan said with excitement.

“What?” Sam asked.

“We’ll need a flash drive. Pretty much any flash drive will do. Zane, can you make something that looks like explosives and also make a fake trigger for it?” Nathan asked.

“Well
, of course I can. I can do just about anything when it comes to these things,” Zane said confidently.

“Great, so Sam and I will go g
et a basic flash drive. You’ll go get our fake explosives, and then we’ll meet back here. Afterward, we’ll give this supposed solar plant a call and ask to speak to Mr. Fields. We’ll arrange a meeting, but we have to make it clear that we will only meet with him, and we’re willing to trade him the flash drive for Driver. He will likely have many guards with him, or at least I would. That won’t matter, though, because once he sees that one of us has the explosives taped to us and is within blasting distance of him, he’ll comply with anything we want him to do. We then take him and demand Driver. Once we get Driver, we’ll get in the car and leave with Fields. A few miles down the road we can just toss him out with his regular old flash drive.”

“It might work
, but we would need to change vehicles,” Sam said.

“Leave that to me. There’s
a rest area just north of Silver Springs. We’ll ditch the van and change cars there,” Zane said.

It was actually a
really good plan. Sam was shocked that Nathan, a person with no prior training, could come up with a solid plan so quickly. She was staring at him with respect in her eyes for a change.

“I may not be very tough
in a fight, but don’t underestimate this,” Nathan said pointing to his head.

“The only question is which one of you is going to wear the fake explosives?” Nathan asked.

Sam and Zane’s gazes turned toward him as if to simply say, “how about you?” Nathan had wanted to be a part of this, but now he wasn’t so sure. Maybe he had volunteered to do a little too much at this point. Oh well, today couldn’t possibly be any worse than yesterday was, he thought to himself.

Chapter 9

Back at the underground facility, Dan had been kept awake all night long. They placed CD players throughout his cell, and then they put heavy metal music on repeat all night. The music was still on now in what Dan assumed must be the afternoon. It was a classic interrogation technique. If you keep someone awake for long enough, they will grow delusional and break much easier. Dan had only been awake for about thirty-five hours, though. Sure he was tired, but he wasn’t ready to give up any information just yet. As he sat there with his hands and feet tied, the door began to open and in came Jacob with a large black bag. Jacob had been through a lot the night before. First he lost Nathan, then he was thrown from a moving car, and finally, he had to listen to Fields go on and on about how stupid he and Trish were. Today, however, things were looking up for Jacob. Fields had given him the green light to do his worst to Dan.

“Just
don’t kill him,” Fields had told Jacob.

No promises there,
Jacob thought as he laid the bag down at Dan’s feet.

“It’s about time I made good on my promise to y
ou, huh, Dan?”

“What happened to your face?” Dan ask
ed while noticing the obvious cuts and scratches that ran down one side of Jacob’s head.

“Don’t worry about what happened
to my face. Worry about what’s about to happen to you,” Jacob barked at him as he reached down and took a scalpel from the bag.

“Aren’t you
even going to ask me a question first?”

“No.
I’m more of an actions first and questions later kind of guy.”

Just then the door swung open and Fields walked in.

“Stop what you’re doing right now,” Fields said.

“What
? I haven’t even gotten started yet,” Jacob said.

“We need
to move this man.”

“Mov
e him? Move him where?”

“We’re
going to participate in an exchange of sorts,” Fields said with a grin.

Fields wasn’t actually planning on handing Dan over
, but he knew he would need him to come along just in case something went wrong and they needed someone as leverage. By the end of the night, Fields expected to not only have Dan, but also to have Samantha Fisher, Nathan Grey, and most importantly, his data back.

* * * * *

Nathan and Sam had found their way to a large electronics store and picked out a simple flash drive, but there was one thing they just couldn’t agree on.

“Why do you want to get a digital camera?” Sam asked.

“Well, if we’re making a trip to Georgia later, I just thought that it might be fun to take some pictures.”

“You know
that this is coming out of the government’s money, right? I’m not getting you a camera.”

“F
ine, I guess I’ll just have to get it myself.

“Whatever,”
Sam whispered.

A
s the two of them walked to the checkout counter and started to pay, an issue arose.

“I’m sorry ma
’am, but your card has been declined,” the woman behind the counter said. Sam knew that she had gone rogue on this one, but it hadn’t fully sunk in until now. What she had done was truly career suicide, and there was no going back now. The CIA had officially cut her off.

“We
’re together. Try mine, if you don’t mind,” Nathan said as he stepped up to the counter and handed the woman his card.

“
Okay, sir, will this be all?” The woman asked.

“
No. I have this, too,” he said as he pushed the camera forward.

“Thanks
,” Sam said after they paid and were walking out the door.

“No problem.”

As they made their way back to the van and began the drive back to meet Zane, Nathan started to wonder something.

“So the government
just ran out of money? That doesn’t seem very likely, although in today’s time, I suppose it would be understandable,” Nathan said.

“Well you see
, I’ve been cut off.”

“Cut off? I thought
you were investigating all of this for the CIA?”

“I wa
s, but then the mission got canceled, and I just couldn’t let it go, so I went through with it. I’m actually pretty screwed right now. I have no money and no official job,” Sam said as if she was just realizing these facts as she said them.

“Since you have no money
, I’m guessing that there’s no chance of us getting a better car than this van, huh?” Nathan asked while trying to deflect an obviously bad situation with humor.

“That’
s the least of our worries. I don’t even know how we’re going to get to Atlanta.”

“Look
, I can’t go back home, and you can’t go back to your job until this mess is all cleared up, so I’ll get us to Atlanta. Then we’ll get you what you need to make this right. After that, maybe everything can get back to normal for both of us,” Nathan said.

Natha
n sighed. He had said that maybe things could get back to normal, as if normal was what he wanted. His life was normally full of nothing. There was no danger or excitement. No sadness, but at the same time, no happiness. In a strange way, even though he was a little scared of what may happen to him if he got too wrapped up in everything that was going on, he preferred the odd situation that had fallen into his lap over his normal life.

“I can’t ask you to do that,
” Sam said.

“You’re not asking
me to do anything. I’m just doing it, and besides, I’ve been meaning to go see my friend in Atlanta anyway.”

“
Thanks . . . again,” Sam said as they pulled up to the hotel.

When they were all together
, back in the hotel room, Zane began putting the fake explosives under Nathans shirt.

“You’ll have to wear a jacket or it will be obvio
us to everyone and their mother that something is under your shirt,” Zane said.

As Zane was getting Nathan ready
, Sam made the call to speak with Mr. Fields.

“Hello
,” Sam heard a familiar voice say. That familiar voice was Margaret, the secretary whom she had previously met.

“Yes
, I need to speak with Mr. Fields.”

“Hold for one moment
, please.”

After a few minutes
of waiting, Mr. Fields came on the line.

“Hello
,” Fields said.

“This is Samantha Fisher
, and I have something that you want, and you have someone I want.”

Fields
nearly had to pick up his jaw from the floor. The very person whom he had been looking for was about to fall right into his lap, or so he thought.

“Well
, what do you think we should do about that, Ms. Fisher?”

“You will meet me at
the public library at five, and we’ll make an exchange there. I want Driver for the flash drive,” Sam said and then hung up the phone.

By this time
, Zane had gotten Nathan ready.

“We should go soon,
” Sam said to them.

“Just one second. Let’s go over the plan one more time,” Zane said.

After a short time, they were done with their last run-through of the plan. Everyone was in sync, and they left the building. Hopefully, I’ll still be alive after this, Nathan thought as he got into the back seat of the minivan.

As the three of them pulled up to the publ
ic library, they saw Fields and five other men.

“Okay
, just follow my lead,” Sam said while looking back at Nathan.

Sam and Nathan exited the van
and began to approach the six men. When they were within a few feet of each other, Sam and Nathan stopped.

“Where is Driver?” Sam asked.

“You have made a major tactical error, Ms. Fisher. He’s here, as I promised, but what’s going to stop me from taking the two of you, the flash drive, and keeping my current prisoner for myself?” Fields asked.

“This,” Nathan said as he opened his jacket up.

Well, that certainly is an equalizer, Fields thought.

“See
, the way that I look at it is that you’re going to give me Driver, and then we’re going to take you with us, Fields. Of course, we’ll let you out of the car somewhere down the road with the flash drive, if we don’t feel like we’re being followed,” Sam said.

“Why w
ould you still give us the flash drive?”

“This thing h
as been more trouble than it’s worth, and the people I work for don’t even want it anymore, so why
wouldn’t
I give it to you is the better question.”

“Get Mr. Driver from our car and escort him to theirs
,” Field commanded to the men behind him.

Two of the soldiers then did exactly what he had commanded.

“You have to know that I’m not going to get in that car with you.”

“
You don’t have a choice. You’re our only leverage in this situation, and if you don’t get into the car, everyone here is going to die,” Sam said.

“Oh, please! D
o you actually expect us to believe that you would kill yourselves right here and now?”

“
I would gladly blow us all to hell before I would let you leave here. Please, test me on this,” Nathan said.

Sam was extremely surprised at what Nathan had just said. Her first impression of Nathan was that he wasn’t very capable
, but recently, he had come up with a good plan, and now he was showing that he could bluff very effectively. In fact, Sam, a highly trained agent, would even believe he was willing to blow everyone, including himself, up if she were in Fields’ shoes.

“Very well
, but I have to say that this is a big surprise, Mr. Grey. I actually thought you were a normal guy, but then again, I suppose your resume should have been a red flag. No one who’s as well qualified as you are works at a solar panel plant,” Fields said.

Fields then began to walk with the two of them back to the van. As they were all getting into
the van, Sam turned back toward Field’s men.

“
I just want to make this very clear. The moment we suspect someone is following us, he will die,” Sam said.

She
shut the door, and Zane started the car. The plan is actually working, Nathan thought in amazement.

*
* * * *

Jacob and Trish were si
tting in an inconspicuous car in the library parking lot watching everything as it unfolded. It looked like an exchange had happened, but there was only one problem. Fields had been taken.

“What
’s going on?” Jacob asked in confusion.

“I don’
t know, but I’m going to follow them,” Trish said.

Trish was now driving because after the accident the day before
, she didn’t really trust Jacob to drive. The two of them followed the minivan through the small town and then to the interstate, while making sure to always keep a safe distance so they wouldn’t get noticed. Eventually, Jacob was unable to contain himself.

“Why are we hanging back so far
? We should be more aggressive like they were with us last night.”

“Do y
ou want me to ram a car with Mr. Fields in it? Haven’t you even considered the fact that they were able to take him without a fight? They probably have explosives or something of that nature in their vehicle. Do you still want me to be aggressive?”

“
I guess not, but I don’t know how you got all of that information from this situation.”

“It’s called common sense
, and for all we know, they may kill him if we get too close,” Trish said as she noticed something strange.

The van in the distance wa
s slowing down. It got slower and slower. Then it happened. The side door opened up on the van, and Fields was thrown from the vehicle.

“Oh my God,
” Trish said as she neared the spot where Fields had been thrown out.

Once they arrived at the spot
, Trish pulled over to the side of the road, and they both jumped out of the car and ran to Fields. He was badly hurt; that much was obvious. He had lost consciousness, and his leg was turned in a way that a human leg wasn’t supposed to turn.

“Call an ambul
ance,” Trish barked to Jacob. Jacob swiftly complied.

*
* * * *

A couple of minutes before,
Nathan and the others had made it to the interstate, and Dan was looking very weak.

“
Hey, you don’t look so good. Are you okay?” Nathan asked.

“No
t really. I’m beyond hungry,” Dan said.