“We’ll prepare a BOLO for Toro but won’t release it until we have to,” Wu said, coming to a decision. “He’ll be classified as a person of interest who may have information about yesterday’s murder.”
“I see where you’re going,” Flint said. “We make it look like we only want to talk to him about how the toxin was sourced and smuggled in from South America, not that we like him for the hit.”
Hargrave frowned. “You’re gambling that the Colonel will be upset but won’t see a need to eliminate Toro.”
“Precisely,” Wu said.
Hargrave’s frown deepened. “You’re also betting Toro and Vega will be together, so finding him will lead us to her.”
“That’s another problem,” Wu admitted. “The longer those two are out of contact, the more I’m beginning to think Toro may have rejoined his group and gone to ground.”
“Meaning he got rid of Vega,” Flint said, voicing Wu’s worst fear.
“We could swear out a murder warrant for him for Nathan Costner’s death,” Hargrave said. “That way, we could freeze his assets, put him on a no-fly list, and monitor his communications. Hell, you’ve already put surveillance on his known associates and his listed residences right now.”
Wu shook his head. “I’ve reviewed the op. He was supposed to take her to the meeting, and we were going to get pictures and identify everyone involved in the group so we could start the investigation. Then she would be off to a training exercise. We had GPS trackers on both of them. The plan was simple.” He dragged a hand through his thick black hair. “What the hell went wrong?”
“OPR will conduct a thorough investigation to find the answer to that question,” Hargrave said. “And your role in the communications breakdown that led to the loss of contact.”
A fine time to tell him the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility was going to open up a case on him. The higher-ups were looking for a scapegoat in the event things went badly, and they’d apparently found him.
“You’re still in charge of the investigation,” Hargrave went on. “There’s no time to assign a new SAC and get them up to speed. Right now we need to get our agent and our asset back in one piece.”
He didn’t trust himself to respond, so he held his tongue. The only positive thing he could say about Hargrave was that he would always stab you in the chest rather than the back.
CHAPTER 32
Dani helped Toro roll Chopper’s body over. The man’s deadweight made the maneuver awkward.
“At least there’s no IED on him,” she muttered.
Toro gave a last shove, and Chopper’s limp form flopped over. “What are you talking about?”
“On one of my deployments, sometimes bodies were left behind . . . with hidden surprises for whoever might touch them. Learned to leave them alone.”
His expression was sardonic. “You’ve had an interesting career, soldier.”
They had already searched Chopper’s upper body; now they checked his legs and feet for any other weapons or useful supplies.
“Most of it I can’t talk about,” she said, gently squeezing the tops of his boots to determine whether anything was hidden inside. Experience had taught her never to plunge her hand inside anyone’s clothing without feeling the outside first. People hid razor blades, needles, and other nasties in strange places.
“Lookee here,” Toro said, holding up a folded scrap of paper he had tugged from the boot on Chopper’s other foot.
She watched as he unfolded it and laid it down flat. Two of its edges were torn.
Toro tilted his head and peered down. “It’s part of a diagram.”
“It’s a schematic of where we are.” She pointed. “That looks like the corridor where I came from.”
“How can you tell?” Toro said. “All these damn rooms and hallways look alike.”
“Not if you pay close attention,” she said, sliding a finger across the sheet. “I passed that box on the wall on the way here. It was made to hold a fire extinguisher, but the box was empty. I’m sure it’s that one, because it was six feet from that door.”
“Okay, so if we turn it this way, we can see where we are,” Toro said. “And it looks like we’re on the bottom floor of a seven-level structure.”
“When we went down the stairs after we first got here, I couldn’t tell how many floors there were,” she said. “This place is a lot bigger than I thought.”
“Where do you think the exit is?”
“We’re underground, so that means the exit has to be on the highest level,” she said.
“And we have to go up to get to it,” Toro said. “Through multiple levels full of people trying to kill us and whatever surprises Nemesis has planned for us.”
As if on cue, the room went dark. Their only source of light was a rectangular shaft from the corridor outside.
“Looks like we’re done in here,” Toro said.
“We’ve gotten everything we can from this room,” she said. “Now we’re supposed to leave.”
She could see Toro silhouetted in the light from the hallway, folding the piece of paper they’d found on Chopper before bending to stuff it into the top of his boot. The nylon spandex suit offered few other options.
“Stay behind me,” she said to him. “Watch how I move and do the same.”
She had neither the time nor the inclination to teach him advanced tactical skills, but she would show him enough of the basics to keep both of them alive.
As soon as they made their way into the corridor, the lights to the left shut off, leaving them only one way forward. Toro’s curses behind her echoed her own feelings. After turning another corner, the lights all around them went out, with a sole beam of illumination coming from above.
She tilted her head back. “There’s a round hatch in the ceiling.”
“And a ladder on the wall,” Toro said. “We’re obviously supposed to climb up.”
Before she could stop him, Toro reached out and grabbed the closest rung.
An image of the man who had grabbed the bars in his cell came to her. “That could have been electrified.”
“Nemesis is directing us to go up,” he said. “Why would he fry us when we’re doing what he wants?”
He climbed to the top of the ladder without waiting for an answer. The circular latch moved easily when he pulled it, and he pushed the metal hatch open. She followed him to the brightly lit room above, which was empty. Toro had been right. Their captor wanted them on the next level.
She resented being shepherded from one place to the next and made a silent promise to find a way to turn the tables on their captor. She was not a sheep and refused to be treated as one, but she’d bide her time and take action when it would do the most good.
This was something she’d learned at Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape training in the Army. The SERE program had taught her how to respond when being held as a POW in a combat situation. Strategies differed depending on specific circumstances, but hers was to lull Nemesis into a false sense of security and act defeated, then rain holy hell down on him at the first opportunity. Because there would be only one.
Questions assailed her in a rapid-fire barrage. How could she communicate her plans to Toro when they were under constant surveillance? She assumed none of the men trapped inside the game with her were the type to cooperate. What were the rest of them planning? If they all managed to put aside their personal objectives long enough to band together, what would their captor do?
There was only one logical answer. Nemesis had spent a great deal of time and money creating this scenario and would not permit them to change the rules of the game. He would start picking them off one by one until they fell in line.
CHAPTER 33
Dani reached out to clutch Toro’s arm, bringing him to an abrupt halt.
He lifted a questioning brow. “What’s up?”
“Thought I heard something in that room ahead,” she whispered.
He lowered his voice. “More than one person?”
“I couldn’t tell if it was a person, but it was some kind of movement.”
They flattened themselves against the wall and edged closer to the open hatch. Dani missed working with trained law enforcement and military personnel. Under those circumstances, she would have given a silent signal, and her partner would have known to buttonhole their way in, with her taking point.
She caught Toro’s eye and gestured to him, then toward the doorway. Next she jerked a thumb at herself and then pointed toward the lower portion of the entrance. Finally she made a hooking motion with her hand.
He considered the silent communication for a moment, then nodded. She could only hope he’d understood. They couldn’t risk a whispered exchange now that they were this close to the open hatch.
She held up three fingers. When he gave her a quick nod, she lowered one, then the next, then the third.
They both rushed inside. He hooked around to his right while she went low and to her left. It took only a second to see no one else was inside.
But the room wasn’t empty.
“What the hell is that?” Toro said.
She had also noticed a quilted blue blanket draped over a box sitting on a stand in the center of the room.