Megan had to deal with the violent death of her mother and now a father who was criminally insane. Dani’s heart went out to her in shared grief. In her case, it was her father who had been murdered and her mother who was mentally unbalanced. She resisted the urge to hug Megan and focused on their immediate survival.
“You said we had to get out of here.” She touched Megan’s chin, forcing her head up to meet her eyes. “Where are we, and how do we escape?”
“We’re in a missile silo outside of Tucson,” she said. “We’re on the third level down, and there’s only one exit.” She pointed at the ceiling. “We have to go up, but Dad will find ways to stop us.”
A missile silo made total sense. She had wondered why there was only a door on the surface with no building around it. Now that she understood where they were, she appreciated their predicament on a whole new level, and she was all too familiar with the many ways Nemesis had of stopping them from leaving.
An overriding question remained. “Does your father know people who . . .” She hesitated, not sure how to phrase the question so Megan would understand. “People who would be willing to commit crimes for him?”
She had not referred to hired killers, mercenaries, or thugs. Whatever Nemesis had done, he was still her father, and she did not want to risk alienating the only person who knew the complex.
“I don’t think so,” Megan said, clearly hedging. “Then again, he’s been acting strange for a while.”
Aware Nemesis was likely listening in on their conversation, she got to the point. “I heard what sounded like a group of men storming the facility. I’m an FBI agent. They could be here to rescue us, or it could be a crew hired by your father to hunt us down.”
Megan’s pale hand flew to her mouth. “We’ve got to hide until we know who’s in here.”
“Is there a place we can go where the cameras can’t see us?”
“Let me think.” Megan looked up at the ceiling, then stilled, nose wrinkling. “Do you smell smoke?”
Dani had noticed the pungent fumes at the same instant. “I do.”
Her heart sank. She hoped like hell the odor was not coming from above, because if a fire had broken out in a vertical structure with only one exit and they were trapped below it, there was no way out.
CHAPTER 62
Dani considered the possibilities. Had the men she had heard on the other side of the door deployed smoke canisters to flush her out, or was there an actual fire in the silo? The answer could mean the difference between life and death.
She looked at Megan. “There are boxes for fire extinguishers in the facility. I’ve seen some of them, but they were all empty.”
“Wouldn’t make a difference if they were there,” Megan said. “If this place is burning, we have a major problem.”
Judging by the color draining from Megan’s face, Dani knew she wouldn’t like the answer, but asked the question anyway. “What’s that?”
“The silo has seven levels. There’s a huge diesel fuel tank on the fifth level down. If it ignites, we’ll get blown sky-high.”
Yep. She definitely did not like the answer. “Why is there a fuel tank in here?”
Megan gestured around. “To generate power. This silo was built to be off the grid.”
Made sense. Back in the Cold War days, the military couldn’t afford to have its main defense taken out if the electrical grid went down.
“I thought diesel wasn’t as flammable as gasoline,” she said to Megan, thinking back to her experience with military convoys.
“That’s true until the diesel fuel is heated,” she said. “Once it reaches a flash point, it’ll give off heated fumes that will ignite on contact with flames.” When Dani stared at her, she added, “My father taught me safety measures.”
“Safety measures,” Dani repeated, thinking fast. “Is there a fireproof room in the silo? Someplace where workers could have gone if things went wrong?”
“No,” Megan said without any trace of doubt. “And it already feels hot.”
Dani felt it, too, but hadn’t said anything, not wanting to alarm Megan. She had to keep her calm and mine her for useful information. “I’m feeling the heat from above us. Is there a way to send for help?”
Megan was already shaking her head before Dani finished. “If the fire is above us, we’re screwed.” She began to shake. “And if the electrical system catches, it’ll spread through the whole complex . . . except the control center. That’s walled off with a fireproof door.”
“Can we get to the control room?”
“The access tube is above us. We’re stuck down here. Totally cut off.” Her voice rose in panic. “Some of the wiring in this place is original. My dad incorporated it with the new stuff.”
“What are you getting at?” Dani asked.
Megan’s pallid cheeks were suddenly suffused with a flush creeping up her neck. “Shooting the wires caused a short,” she said, breathing hard.
Despite the growing heat, Dani’s insides froze. “If you’ve been locked inside a closet for days, how would you know the wiring was shot?”
Megan stared back at her, making no response.
Dani took a step toward her. “Only Nemesis would know that.”
Megan spun and darted back inside the storage closet, pulling the door shut behind her.
Dani grasped the broken knob and yanked the door open again. She rushed inside to find the cramped room empty and dark except for the light from the corridor. Dani groped along the wall until she found a latch. She tugged it, and a panel slid open, revealing hidden stairs.
She barreled down two flights, coming out in another corridor, unsure where she was. Whoever the woman who called herself Megan Brinkley really was, and whatever she had to do with this, Dani had to find her.
CHAPTER 63
Wu turned away from the video feed where he had watched the exchange between the two women. “If Megan Brinkley was watching Vega, she had to be in the control room,” he said to Flint. “Not locked inside a closet.”
“Then Megan is involved,” Flint said. “But is she helping her father, or is she responsible for the whole thing?”
Wu wanted to throw something but kept his anger in check. If Megan Brinkley had been behind it all, had they just killed an innocent man? Worse, how was Vega going to survive?
“Who the hell is this Nemesis Vega was talking about?” Flint asked.
Wu offered the only explanation that occurred to him. “Must be something that was edited out of the feed from the game.” He would figure out that detail later. “Contact Patel and Johnson,” he said to Flint. “I want everything they can find on Megan Brinkley, Nemesis, and putting out a fire in a missile silo.” Another thought occurred to him. “And see if you can get a secure link to the JTTF.”
Flint pulled his phone out, and Wu shifted his gaze to Benton. “What’s the status on the fire department?”
“Still fifteen minutes out,” Benton said.
Every red light on the second floor was glowing, and new ones were blinking to life on the level below. Fortunately Vega had chased Megan down two levels and was now on the fifth level underground. She was safe for the time being, but that wouldn’t last long.
“The fire department won’t make it in time,” Benton said. “And even if they were here now, they might not go in because of the diesel tank.”
Wu had checked. The schematic revealed Megan had been telling the truth. There was a large tank filled with diesel fuel on the fifth level down, where Vega was right now.
“I’m not going to give up on her,” he said.
“Neither will I,” Benton said. “I still want to go down after her.”
Wu regarded him for a long moment. “Maybe the sensors are damaged. Take a small team and check the tube leading to the silo. Keep your com link on.”
Benton signaled three operators, who followed him to the door opposite the one they had used to come into the control room. They had already determined the door was unlocked. As soon as Benton opened it, a wave of heat flowed into the control room.
The sensors had not malfunctioned.
Benton and his contingent went into the tube. Wu was about to call them back when Flint tapped his shoulder.
“Patel established a secure link on the laptop he gave you,” Flint said. “I brought everyone up to speed, and they’re already working on the problem.”
The problem.
Such a mundane way to describe their current nightmare. A few minutes ago, he had been convinced they had neutralized the imminent threat and were on the verge of rescuing Vega. Instead, he may have overseen the death of an innocent man, and one of his agents was about to die. If that weren’t bad enough, a contingent from the HRT was about to sacrifice themselves trying to do the impossible. Finally, if he handled this wrong, everyone involved would end up blown to bits.
Unless his last-ditch plan worked.
He booted up the laptop and accessed the link. “We’re running out of time,” he said as soon as Patel’s face appeared on the screen.
“Understood,” Patel said. “How can I help?”
“If I connect this laptop to the control panel, can you hack in?”
Wu waited for what seemed like an eternity while Patel considered his idea.
“Is there a port?” he finally said.
“There are three,” Wu said. “And I have a connector cable.”