32

  Zander walked along the blacktop, the morning sun already promising it was going to be a scorcher. His men stood in front of one of the hangars at the Air National Guard base outside Boise. This was where he had expected to find Austin. It was empty, deserted as far as his men could see. They had searched the hangars and the barracks already and found the post completely abandoned. He would have killed the men in his army had they run like cowards.

  The empty base only proved the point of the NWO. The government had been weak, easily overthrown with the EMP. It was why the NWO had been formed. They needed a strong, controlling force running the world. So much politicking had left the country and several other so-called world powers weak. They’d been hamstrung, and it was time for a superior force to take over. He was a part of that force, and would one day be sitting at the round table with the true leaders of the world.

  First, however, he had to put down Austin Merryman. The man threatened to destroy all of his hard work and the sacrifices he had made. He would find him, kill him, and end the man’s one-man quest to save the world. He’d thought, by now, that the man and his friends might have come after their doctor, but so far that wasn’t the case. Maybe he’d been smart and abandoned her, but if that was the case, it was all the more important that they get her to talk. Austin Merryman would not get away from him again. One way or another, he couldn’t depend on their traitor to bring them to the base.

  “Good morning, sir,” one of the guards greeted him.

  “We’ll see. Is she still alive?” he asked.

  “Yes, sir,” the man replied.

  If she was alive, that meant she hadn’t talked yet, and it was time to turn up the heat. He didn’t like not knowing where Merryman was. Zander felt the stagnant air hitting him as he entered the hangar. He smelled blood and the distinct scent of urine. That made him smile. She’d wet herself.

  Zander stared down at the woman tied to the chair, her ankles tied to the legs of the chair and her hands behind her back. She was completely immobilized and at his mercy. The good Dr. Bastani wasn’t looking so hot. He’d left his men alone with her to extract the information they needed, and she wasn’t talking. The less she talked, however, the harsher the persuasion tactics.

  “You might as well just tell me where he is. I’m going to find him. You can make it easier for me and I in turn will make it easier for you. Wouldn’t you prefer a bullet to the head over this laborious torture?” he asked.

  “I don’t know where he is,” she whispered.

  He stared at her cracked and bleeding lips. Both of her eyes were swollen shut and her left cheek had a nasty gash across it. He knew she had to have several broken ribs after the beating she’d taken with the heavy book his men had tossed to the side.

  “Where were you supposed to meet him?” he growled.

  She tried to open her eyes, her head bobbing backwards as she attempted to look at him. “I wasn’t supposed to be separated from him.”

  “Liar! Merryman would have a contingency plan!”

  Zander looked over at the man standing nearby. He gave a brief nod, indicating it was time to inflict more pain. Zander had been furious when he’d discovered that Merryman still had the USB. His men had scoured the area, and the man had all but vanished—he’d slipped from his grip again, and he was all the madder because it had been his own fault for wanting to make a big statement, and take down the man himself, by himself. He’d made another mistake, and he’d be lucky if it didn’t really cost him. His best bet was getting this woman to talk.

  When his obedient soldier held up a length of two-by-four for Zander’s approval, he nodded again. The man swung the board, connecting with Sarah Bastani’s knees. She screamed in pain, her body jerking as she cried out. Zander couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face. He envisioned Austin in the chair. He wanted to make Austin bleed and scream in pain in retribution for the suffering he had caused him.

  “I don’t know,” Sarah whimpered.

  “Arm,” Zander uttered.

  His man swung the board, connecting with the doctor’s upper arm. More screams erupted from her mouth. The sounds were strangled, her throat clearly raw from the screaming and lack of fluids.

  “No more,” she murmured.

  “This doesn’t stop until you tell me where he is,” Zander said, bending over at the waist to get close to her battered face.

  The woman spat at him, blood and spittle hitting him in the face. His arm swung out, his hand slapping her cheek hard. Her head tilted to the side, hanging low.

  “Alright, Dr. Bastani. I gave you the chance. You know I’m going to find him. You are prolonging your discomfort. I promise I will kill you as soon as you tell me what I want to know. But I will keep you alive until then, and I will let these men hurt you for days. You will not die. You will not escape. No one is coming to save you. Give him up and you can die peacefully,” he said.

  He wasn’t interested in promising her a bunch of things he had no intention of following through with. She was a smart woman, so he figured a more direct approach was the way to go. Apparently, though, she enjoyed the torture.

  Fine. He was happy to oblige her with more pain and suffering if that’s what she craved. “Take her to the recruiting center,” he said to his men before walking out of the hangar.

  33

  Austin hadn’t slept all night. He couldn’t stop thinking about Nash, knowing Sarah was likely being put through the same torture. There was nothing she knew that the NWO didn’t already know, except for where to find him, but she couldn’t tell him that.

  He knew Zander would be looking for him. They had managed to find their way into an old, long-abandoned shack on what he suspected was the training field for the airbase. It was riddled with bullet holes, indicating that either the Air National Guard or some trespassers had used the shack for target practice.

  He suspected they had taken her onto the base. The problem was, the NWO had claimed it as their own. They had spent the night doing recon, discovering there was a relatively small contingent of men with Zander. After Wendell’s little revelation about him giving up Amanda’s whereabouts, Austin suspected part of his small army had gone after her. She should already be in Cheyenne—at least, he hoped she was. He held the messenger in his hand, unable to keep from turning it on after everything that had happened. He was relieved to see it remained fully charged, and the blank screen stared back at him. Should he send a message? Sarah had warned him that it could be tracked. Sighing, he turned the device off and put it back in his pocket. It would have to wait.

  Ennis came into the shack with Wendell beside him, which was where he’d been glued for the last twelve hours. Austin knew the weasel was afraid of him. He should be, too. Austin was ready to kill him slowly for his betrayal.

  “Ready to move?” he asked, glowering at Wendell.

  “I am,” Ennis replied.

  Austin looked at Wendell, stepping forward and going nose to nose with him. “You screw us over and I will make sure you die. Ennis won’t be able to save you. Zander won’t save you. You. Will. Die.”

  “I swear, I’m not lying. Zander’s in there. I know that’s where he’s taken her,” Wendell said.

  “You won’t get a gun. I don’t trust you not to shoot me in the back,” Austin snapped.

  “How can I help if I don’t have a weapon?” Wendell whined.

  Ennis turned to look at him. “You should have thought about that before you set us up. If you want a gun, I suggest you ask your buddy Zander.”

  Austin grinned, happy to know his brother completely backed him in that regard. Wendell was only alive because he’d told them where to find Zander. The original location for where they’d thought the computer center had been located was inaccurate. It was on the base, in a bunker that was concealed within one of the hangars. Wendell claimed to know which building the center was in, and while Austin wasn’t sure he believed him, Gowen Field was too big for them to search the numerous buildings blindly. He had to trust Wendell, and that made him very uncomfortable.

  “We’re going. Harlen, are you ready for this?” Austin asked the man who had been sitting quietly.

  “I’m ready. I don’t want to leave her in there another minute,” he replied simply.

  “Then let’s go. We’ve got darkness on our side. Wendell, you better not be setting us up,” Austin hissed.

  “I’m not. I know where it is.”

  “What about Sarah? How are we going to find her?” Ennis asked.

  “You’re certain he was going to hole up in the recruiting center?” Austin asked Wendell for the third time.

  “Yes. I was going to meet him there,” he said, somewhat forlornly.

  “Well, it looks like you still will,” Austin said dryly.

  All except Wendell checked their weapons. They had limited ammunition, which meant they had to use stealth. They would never survive a gun battle. Austin refused to lose, however, no matter how the odds might be stacked in Zander’s favor; he refused to give up without putting every ounce of strength he had into succeeding in this mission. He’d had his moment of doubt, and Ennis had reminded him of who he was. Now, what mattered was moving forward.

  They walked out of the shack, the darkness thick as they started towards the airfield that stretched out for hundreds of acres, surrounded by industrial businesses. None of them spoke as their ears strained to pick up any sounds suggesting they might have been discovered. Austin was skeptical about Wendell’s information, but he had no other choice but to at least check it out.

  After walking for about fifteen minutes, Austin saw the building where the bunker was supposed to be hidden underground.

  “Over there,” Wendell said, pointing to small, rectangular, one-story building.

  “That’s where you think Sarah is being held?” Ennis asked.

  “Possibly,” Wendell replied, suddenly not willing to commit.

  Austin had to weigh his options. If he went after Sarah first, the NWO would certainly know they were there. It would destroy the element of surprise, and they would never make it to the underground computer center.

  “I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right,” Ennis said quietly.

  “What is he thinking?” Harlen asked.

  “We’re going to the bunker first. We do what we came here to do and then we go after Sarah,” Austin said firmly.

  “What? We can’t! We have to go to the recruiting center first!” Wendell said, his voice panicked.

  Austin stopped walking and moved to stand in front of Wendell, his suspicions reaching higher by the moment. “You seem upset by that. Why?” Austin asked.

  Wendell quickly recovered, shaking his head. “I only meant, they’re probably torturing her. We have to save her.”

  “Austin is right. We can’t reveal our presence. It’s what Sarah would want,” Ennis said.

  “I agree,” Harlen said.

  Only Wendell looked upset by the decision, but they only got one chance and it had to be used for the mission. Austin hated the idea of Sarah suffering at Zander’s hands, but she would have insisted they get to the computers before they tried to rescue her. And she’d have been right.

  “There.” Austin pointed to the huge white structure sitting alongside a runway.

  The door was hard to miss, even in the dark of night, and they ran for it.

  Austin nodded. His heart was pounding; so much was riding on this moment. Harlen reached for the doorknob, testing it to see if it would open. He pulled, and they all exchanged looks of relief. This was the first step.

  They encountered no soldiers as they walked along the wall towards the back of the hangar where Wendell claimed the entry to the underground bunker was carefully concealed.

  Wendell pointed to a table, seemingly randomly placed against the back wall. “That’s it.”

  “How do you know?” Harlen questioned.

  Wendell looked uncomfortable. “Zander told me.”

  Austin didn’t believe they were getting the whole story. “Zander told you the location of the computer center?” he asked skeptically.

  “Yes.”

  Austin spat, and then he shoved the table out of the way, dropping to his knees and feeling along the floor. He found the handle and yanked it open. He knew he should have been quieter, but he was frustrated. He was tired of failing, tired of losing friends. And if Zander had given this information to Wendell, then either this was a trap, or Wendell had really managed to weasel his way into the man’s organization, which almost wasn’t any better considering that they’d considered him one of their own—to a certain extent—all this time.

  “Are we going in?”

  “Wendell is,” Austin said, getting to his feet.

  Wendell gasped. “What?”

  “You’re going in first. If they’re down there waiting for us, I want them to shoot you first,” he said nonchalantly.

  “I don’t have a gun,” he hissed.

  “Nope, you don’t. Good luck,” Austin said, slapping him on the shoulder, almost hoping there was a firing squad waiting for him.

  “It’s dark,” he protested.

  “Go.”

  Wendell grumbled under his breath before throwing a leg over the edge and onto the ladder leading underground. The other three stared into the hole, watching Wendell fade into the darkness below.

  “I don’t see anything!” Wendell shouted, loudly enough to make the rest of them cringe.

  “I’ll go,” Austin said, climbing onto the ladder and praying Wendell wasn’t setting him up.

  He reached the bottom, finding a faint light in a metal shield hung over a door just ahead of them. He realized they were in a small room, probably no bigger than ten by ten. He called up to Ennis and Harlen, letting them know it was clear to come down.

  “What if they’re waiting for us?” Ennis whispered.

  “We fight,” Austin replied. “Wendell, open the door.”

  They all drew their weapons, expecting a fight. Wendell actually whimpered as he pulled open the wide door. Austin blinked, his eyes adjusting to the light.

  “Drop your weapons and put your hands up!” a shout from somewhere inside the room echoed around them.

  “I’m unarmed!” Wendell screamed.

  Austin didn’t hesitate. He wasn’t going to give them the jump. His eyes adjusted and he saw an outline of a figure. He dropped to the ground and aimed for where he guessed the head would be just before he pulled the trigger. He heard a sharp intake of breath and then a thump.

  Wendell screamed and dropped to his hands and knees, crawling backward. Austin advanced with Ennis on his left and Harlen on his right. A shot rang out then, making his ears ring. He trusted Harlen and Ennis with his life. Another soldier had been hiding behind some boxes, but the fallen soldier had knocked them askew and given Ennis a shot—he took the soldier out before he could decide who to shoot, that indecision costing him his life.

  “Clear on this side,” Ennis reported.

  “I’m clear!” Harlen called out.

  “Where are the computers?” Austin asked, not expecting an actual answer.

  He scanned the area, realizing belatedly that they weren’t in a computer room at all. It was a storeroom. The three of them picked up the dead soldiers’ weapons before moving to the shelves, where they found ammunition, grenades, and even several grenade launchers.

  “Those guys weren’t guarding the room,” Austin muttered. “They were probably down here picking up ammo and heard us coming.”

  “Maybe so, but this is exactly what we need,” Ennis breathed as he reached out a hand and gently caressed one of the launchers. “This is a forty millimeter, M203 grenade launcher. I’ve had my eye on one of these for a long time,” he said reverently.

  Austin barely glanced at him as he filled his pockets with ammunition. “We need the computers. We’re running out of time!”

  Harlen was carefully putting grenades into his pants pockets. Austin rugged the tactical vest off of one of the fallen soldiers and put it on his own body, ignoring the blood. Ennis followed suit even as Harlan dug one from a box. With that, each of them began stocking up in seriousness, gathering ammo, grenades, and anything they could carry which might be used against the NWO. And, as they finished, Austin realized Wendell had vanished.

  “That little weasel!” Austin hissed.

  “I’m sorry. I should have trusted your instincts. He knew this wasn’t the right place,” Ennis muttered.

  “Let’s go. We need to check the other hangar. He might have been right about it being in a hangar. Maybe he got the wrong one,” Austin said, not really believing it.

  They scrambled up the ladder and through the hanger, heading out into the early morning light streaming through a cloudy sky. In the distance, he could see another hangar. They jogged towards it, getting within a hundred feet of it before men poured out of the building, all of them armed and fanning out in front of the hangar, effectively guarding it. Austin darted behind an abandoned Jeep that sat among other vehicles, his brother and Harlen close behind him.

  “I guess we know where the real computer center is,” Harlen mumbled.

  “Got that grenade launcher?” Austin asked his brother.

  Ennis grinned, looking a little too happy to be killing people, but Austin understood. This was the NWO they were fighting, and the weapon was an exciting toy for him. Harlen and Austin kept watch over the vehicle, waiting to see if the soldiers would make a move, but the NWO soldiers seemed content to wait for the fight to come to them. Hidden out of sight, Ennis dropped to his knees and quickly loaded the grenade launcher before getting to one knee, holding the weapon, and aiming over the Jeep’s hood. Ennis and Harlen separated, aiming the semi-automatic rifles they had lifted from the soldiers in the bunker.

  “Now!” Ennis shouted.

  There was a crack, and a second later, several soldiers dropped when one of the powerful rounds exploded. Ennis turned, aimed, and fired again. He shot off several rounds, effectively stunning the army, none of whom had expected grenades or automatic weapons. Austin and Harlen jogged forward, spraying the area with two and three-round bursts from the automatic rifles.

 

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