Chapter Fourteen

The approachto the battery is a long road filled with potholes. The place has seen better days. Then again, so have I. "Heads up," West says over comms. "Alpha Team is coming up on the laser grid now."

"Who the fuck sets up a laser grid out here?" I mutter as I stride toward the rusty gates. "These fuckers go on a spending spree at Recon-R-Us?"

Graham chuckles. Inappropriate humor was not what I was going for.

"Any word from the mystery geek?" Trevor asks. "We're five minutes from the safe zone, but it'd be a hell of a lot easier if we could drop right over the Battery."

"I've tried everything to track them down," Zephyr says. "The phone I hacked into earlier is off, so I've got nothing."

I check my watch. Fuck. It's 18:58, and we're out of time. "I'm heading in. They'll search me. And if they take me underground, even the backup comms unit in my boot won't do me any good. I'm depending on you. All of you. Get to Wren. She's your first priority. Your only priority."

I'm almost a mile from my team. My family. About to willingly give up control of everything.

"We'll get her out," West says in my ear. "But then we're coming for you, Dax, and Rip too. So don't do anything stupid like get yourself killed. Keep them talking and stay alive."

"Roger that." I slide my Glock from its holster and dangle it by the barrel. Two steps through the gates, I trip the first laser sight. On purpose since I'm not supposed to know it's there.

"Ramin!" I shout as I approach the abandoned gun turret. The mount is still there, rusty metal bolts half worn away.

"Drop your weapons," a man says through some sort of loudspeaker. "All of them."

The pistol is first. Once I kick it away, I remove my knife from the sheath strapped to my thigh. It hits the concrete with a clatter. "That's it."

"Earbud too. I do not believe for even a minute you left them all in Seattle. But they will be too slow to save you now."

I dig the comms unit out of my ear and toss it behind me.

"On your knees. Ankles crossed. Hands behind your head."

"I'll do anything you want, asshole. After I see my wife. You gave me your word you'd take her to the hospital." I turn in a circle, scanning for any sign of Ramin and his men. Four doors in the structure to my left are all open, but it's too dark beyond them to see anything.

"I will bring you to her. Once you are secured."

Fuck. I don't have a choice. She could be anywhere. In any of the bunkers spread out over a square mile.

I sink down to my knees and lace my fingers together at the back of my neck. Seconds later, footsteps approach. A rough hand grabs my arm and twists it, hard.

The urge to kill him is strong enough my legs twitch, but I let him tighten a zip tie around my wrists.

"Get up," he says. "Slowly."

I can sense him backing away, and once he's out of my reach, I rise and turn to face him.

Jalal is barely five-foot-seven. He points an AK-47 at my head, while Ramin stands in one of the open doorways twenty feet away. "This way, McCabe," Ramin says.

It's been at least five minutes since I walked through the gates. If the mystery hacker doesn't shut down the power soon, West better take matters into his own hands.

Ramin steps out of the shadows long enough for me to duck through the doorway and find two other men with AKs waiting for me. "Follow them. If you make trouble, my brother will shoot you."

"No introductions? Let's see. Up front there is Malik. Then Wadid." Jalal slams the barrel of his rifle into my lower back. "Did I get it wrong?"

"Their names do not matter," Ramin says. "Move. Your wife's contractions are five minutes apart now. I kept my word. Hadi has stayed with her. He will bring her to the hospital after you say your goodbyes."

I could break the zip ties easily. Probably kill two of them in seconds. But then I wouldn't find Wren. So I hunch my shoulders and keep my head bowed as I follow them through a maze of dim passageways, down a long set of crumbling steps, and deep into the center of the structure.

Old lights run along the ceiling, some flickering, others burned out completely. Jalal grabs my arm and shoves me so my back is against the wall next to a set of blast doors. A shiny chain with a heavy padlock runs through the rusty handles.

Ramin pulls out his phone. "Bring McCabe's wife to me."

I count the seconds. Five. Ten. Thirty. It's a full minute before I hear her voice down another passageway.

"Where are you taking me? Where's Ryker?"

"We are almost there," a man says. His voice is gentle, thank God. She has to be terrified.

"Ry!" She rushes over to me and winds her arms around my waist, sobbing. "Please don't do this. I can't lose you. We can't lose you."

"And I can't lose you. Or the baby. As soon as you get to the hospital, call West. He'll make sure you're safe."

"No! I don't need West. I need you!" She holds me even tighter, her body shaking against me.

I press a kiss to the top of her head. "You have to listen to me, little bird. Tell our firefly I love her. That her whole family loves her. Dax's family, Rip's family, everyone back in Boston too. They all love her."

Wren peers up at me, and it takes every ounce of my control not to snap the zip ties and wrap my arms around her. But I think she understands. That our family is here. Firefly has always been our code word. It was the only thing I could think of to reassure her.

Hadi wraps his hand around her arm and glances at his watch. "We must go now. Before it is too late."

"I love you, Wren," I shout as he drags her away from me. She's still sobbing when they disappear into one of the dark passageways.

"No! Too…close," she cries, and the last thing I hear is her wail.

Ramin motions to Jalal, who pulls out a set of keys. "And now, McCabe, it is time to reunite you with the rest of your team. I hope you have thought about your last words. You are about to need them."

Where is that goddamn diversion? Without it, will West and the others be able to get to Wren? Or me?

Ramin turns to Wadid and Malik. "Check the camera. Make sure our guests are…where we left them."

Malik pulls out his phone and taps the screen a few times. "Yes, Ramin. They have not moved since the last time I checked on them."

I crane my neck to catch a glimpse of the feed. Dax and Rip are bound to wooden chairs, ten feet apart, their heads bowed.

Jalal tosses the padlock to the side. The links of the chain clink one by one until the man has it wrapped around his fist, ready to use as a weapon. There are too many goddamned guns. Too many men.

The barrel of a pistol presses to the back of my head. "You will take three steps into the bunker and get on your knees facing your men," Ramin says. "So you can watch them die."

I let my shoulders fall forward. Looking broken isn't hard. Not when the lights are still on and death is close enough to touch.

Jalal pulls on the door. The old hinges protest with a high-pitched scream. My gaze lands on a small pile of broken wood where I expected Rip to be, and I grin until we're all plunged into darkness.