Some of the holes were large enough to expose wires and microchips. Hopefully they could still communicate with Vega and get her out.
Wu looked up at six rows of monitors that filled the far wall in front of him. He spotted the room where Vega and Toro had confronted the cobra and realized that each row corresponded to a level of the main structure, the bottom row being the lowest level. The video system was orderly, so the rest would be as well.
All he had to do was find the correct controls, and he would be able to unlock the door leading outside this room so Benton and his team could find her. Before that, however, he had to locate Vega and let her know they were coming to avoid the friendly-fire situation he had been concerned about since the moment they had arrived at the silo.
He caught movement on the third level, which was one level down from where the tube connected the silo to the control room.
Relief flowed through him. “There she is.”
Benton and Flint gathered behind him.
“She’s locked and loaded,” Benton said. “She’s kept all the guns she recovered from those other assholes in the game.” He paused. “I didn’t know you could stuff that many weapons into a pair of tactical boots.”
“What’s she doing?” Flint said.
Vega had reached the end of a corridor and was turning the handle on a door that was apparently locked. She stepped back and seemed to say something.
“I’ll try to locate the intercom,” Wu said, glancing at the controls again. “We can tell her we’re here and ask her what’s going on.”
He found a tab with an image of an old-fashioned radio microphone and turned the dial up.
“—back from the door,” Vega was saying. “If I can’t break the knob, I’ll shoot the lock.”
Wu exchanged glances with Benton. “Someone else is trapped inside the silo,” he said, then pressed the button below the dial. “Agent Vega, this is SAC Wu. Can you hear me?”
Vega continued to study the doorknob.
He pressed another button. “Agent Vega?”
She turned the pistol around in her hand, gripping the barrel.
He pressed every button in the cluster below the microphone image and repeated the announcement.
She pulled her arm back and brought the gun’s grip down on the knob.
“She can’t hear us,” Flint said. “But at least we can hear her.”
Another smash with the butt of the gun broke the knob completely off the door. Vega opened it and bent down.
“It’s okay,” she said in a gentle tone. “I’ve got you.”
Vega stood, then slowly backed up as she guided a frightened young woman out from what looked like a storage closet.
The woman appeared to be in her twenties, with long brown hair in a ponytail. Her mouth was gagged with a blue bandanna tied around her head. Her slender wrists were zip-tied together in front of her.
“Who the hell is that?” Flint said, echoing Wu’s thoughts.
Wu took in her green T-shirt and blue jeans. “She’s not wearing a spandex suit like Vega’s,” he said. “So she wasn’t involved in the virtual game.”
“Is it okay if I take this off of you?” Vega asked her.
Wu recognized the technique. Vega was handling her as a victim, asking permission before physical contact to give the young woman a sense of autonomy back.
At her nod of assent, Vega reached behind her head and grasped the knot, then slid the bandanna off. “Who are you?” she asked her.
“M-Megan Brinkley,” the woman said, her voice raspy as if she hadn’t spoken in a while. “We’ve got to get out of here. My father built this place, and he’s insane. He’s had me locked in this closet for days.”
“Let’s see if I can get that zip tie off you,” Vega said, reaching down to pull the butterfly knife from her boot. She opened it with a flick of her wrist and moved Megan’s hands into position. “Be very still.”
A flashing light pulled Wu’s gaze from the monitor. He looked at the panel to see a pulsating red light below the image of a flame.
“There’s a fire on the second level of the silo,” Benton said, pointing at a three-dimensional schematic of the entire complex.
Wu stood and walked over to get a closer look. Glowing red dots had flicked on, beginning near the entrance to the connecting tube. Every few seconds, another dot lit up.
“The whole second level is catching fire,” Flint said. “Is there a fire-suppression system?”
Wu raced back to the panel but saw nothing that looked promising. “Call the fire department,” he said to Benton. “And what kind of equipment does your team have handy?”
“We’ve got extinguishers with foam,” he said. “Gizmo’s already making contact with the nearest FD, but they’re not close. I’ll get one of my operators up to the surface to grab the extinguishers.” He cut his eyes back to the schematic. “The way that’s spreading, I don’t think handheld fire extinguishers are going to help.”
Wu fought back a wave of panic. “Maybe we can seal the doors and prevent the flames from spreading to other levels.”
“Try that one,” Flint said, pointing at an array of buttons with rectangles and circles above them. “I’m guessing the rectangles are doors and the circles are hatches.”
Wu used the blade of his hand to press all the buttons at once.
Nothing happened.
Flint reached out and mashed the next row of buttons.
Still nothing.
“I believe I’ve identified the source of the problem,” Benton said, lifting a cluster of wires from the back of the panel. Several of them were blackened and shredded by rounds from the tactical team. “We need to get down there before the fire gets worse.”
Wu pointed at the screen. “It started just outside the connecting tube leading to the silo,” he said to Benton. “The room on the other side is completely engulfed. Your team can’t make it to the hatch leading to the lower level without getting barbecued.”
He deliberately mentioned Benton’s team, making it clear that he would be sacrificing those under his supervision in a futile act of desperation if he commanded them to go in. As a supervisor himself, he understood the responsibility of ordering others into danger and knew the team leader would not send his men to their deaths for no reason.
“Then we’re screwed,” Benton said in a strained voice. “I cannot accept that we just have to stand by and watch her die.”
Wu cursed. Vega and an innocent civilian had no idea they were trapped beneath a growing wall of fire. The only way out was now blocked, and he had no way of telling them what their situation was. After everything she had been through, everything she had survived, she had no way out. Brinkley was dead, but his building might still kill her.
CHAPTER 61
Dani flicked a surreptitious glance at Megan Brinkley before deftly sliding the knife’s sharp blade underneath the zip tie.
After Toro told her about the botched kidnapping for ransom, Dani had assumed Oscar Brinkley was Nemesis. Megan appeared to be in her midtwenties, putting her at the right age to be his daughter.
“Thank you,” Megan said, rubbing her wrists after the thick plastic tie fell to the floor. “For rescuing me too.” She looked her up and down. “Why are you wearing one of my father’s VR projection suits?”
Dani looked down at herself. She had become so used to the formfitting garment she’d forgotten about it. “Long story. Right now I have some questions for you. You said your father owns this place. Where is he now?”
Megan shook her head. “No idea. He locked me in there, and I haven’t seen him for a long time . . . I think it’s been days.”
Was her father watching them now?
She settled for a more basic question. “Your father is Oscar Brinkley?”
Megan’s wide blue eyes brimmed with tears. “Yes.”
While the response explained the high-tech capabilities behind the game, it also left Dani with more questions. Why would a tech billionaire force people into a deadly showdown? Sensing Megan had limited knowledge, she kept her questions pertinent to her.
“Why did your father take you prisoner?”
“I’ve worked with him over the years,” Megan said. “I’m good at computer-generated imaging, so he pays me to enhance his VR. A few months ago, he told me he was close to nabbing a contract for virtual military training. Said he wanted my help to make it more realistic.” She looked down. “He’s, um . . . got some issues. I thought he had everything under control, but I think he got off his meds.”
Dani felt her brows go up. “Medication for what?”
“You must have seen the news stories about the kidnapping.” When Dani nodded, Megan’s voice dropped to a whisper. “When I got back, he wasn’t the same. Kinda paranoid. We both went to see shrinks.” She shook her head. “Looking back on it, I think he finally snapped a couple of months ago.”