“Top, permission to staybehind.”
“Negative. I need you on the monitors. If it shows back up you’ll recognize thesignature.”
“Top, I feel it. There’s something outthere.”
They didn’t normally talk about their feelings, hell most of them didn’t have any, not that it bothered Diggs or anyone else. Feelings were a hazard in their line of duty. But the niggling sensation at the back of his neck was a feeling – it was an instinct that couldn’t beignored.
“Turn in. Now.” Reaper’s harsh voice gave no room forargument.
Orelse.
The unspoken words fell as heavy as a block of concrete between them—Reaper held the reins. He’d been the one man on their team that Diggs had confessed his darkest secret. Top knew his failure. He never held it against him, but Diggs held it againsthimself.
As far as Diggs knew, no one else on the team knew he’d been in the room when Quantum and Dawson had been given the last lethal injections while hooked up to electrodes and wires. Diggs had lay on the floor, incapacitated but not unconscious. He watched the blood trickle from Dawson’s mouth and nose as his body convulsed on that metal table in the Project Mayhem research lab. Rainier and Dr. Winters, the original lead researcher who’d been just as fucked up as the general, had watched in rapt fascination as Dawson drew his last breath, studying his every heartbeat until it stoppedcompletely.
Ifonly…
Diggs descended the tree and dropped to the ground, landing silently and then took off at a fast sprint, his feet barely making contact as he ran, frustration lending him speed. They’d moved like deadly ghosts before their enhancements, but now they could practically float over the ground. And while his speed wasn’t anything he excelled at compared to the rest of the team, it was still above average compared to ordinarystandards.
Diggs met up with Juarez a minute later, both of them under the shelter of the trees. The mansion was over an acre away, an acre of flat exposed turf. That journey could be hazardous if someone was watching, so they had installed a trapdoor in the woods that led down into the small basement underneath themansion.
“Maybe it was a bird or something?” Juarez offered as Diggs triggered the locking mechanism on the 2-inch-thick steel doors that were covered in dirt and sticks and leaves to resemble the ground above them. The doors opened to reveal a ladder leading straight down into the darknessbelow.
“It wasn’t,” Diggs responded in a flat tone. “I know it wasn’t.” When he’d seen the alert on the radar, he’d been eager for some action. Why couldn’t Reaper understandthat?
“Do you really think Rainier could’ve found us so soon? We took out his entire guard when we destroyed his lab. He’d have had to rebuild from the ground up.” Juarez began to descend the ladder, blackness swallowing up his face until hedisappeared.
Diggs climbed down right above him, closing and locking the trapdoors overhead. “I didn’t say anything aboutRainier.”
“But that’s what you’rethinking.”
Of course, that’s what he was thinking. That’s what they should all be thinking. It was why he spent hours poring over the monitors, utilizing the months of training he’d undergone within forces recon in electronic warfare and cyber security, watching for any blip on the screen indicating Rainier had found them. “We have no idea what kind of ties he’s used to build wealth and connections over his career, legal or otherwise. We have to operate as though he’s fully functional and still has the manpower to run hisnetwork.”
The air grew cold, damp, and musty with raw dirt and the moisture contained within. The hallway wasn’t lit leading back to the mansion, but no one on Team Mayhem needed it to be. One of the best bonuses that had come from the serum was enhanced vision that allowed them to see in the dark without night vision goggles. It was an advantage a normal soldier wouldn’t have had, and one that Diggs had looked forward to using on terrorists. It was an opportunity he hadn’t yet had a chance totest.
“How would he know where to start looking? His lab was halfway around the world. We have no ties to this area. No family or friends,” Juarezsaid.
“The security cameras in the parking garage in D.C. could’ve gotten Hicks’ face.” Hicks had been sent on a mission to rescue Dr. Averton’s sister, Whitney, when they’d been attacked in the parking garage at herwork.
Juarez banged the wall with his closed fist. “But wouldn’t that mean Rainier had to be monitoring the security cameras on that exact parkinggarage?”
“No, they were wireless cameras which means all of the footage was transmitted over a wireless network. Any computer geek with half a brain could have tapped into the feed, and the general could’ve flagged each of our photos so that any match anywhere would alerthim.”
And the chance that he had, was above probable. Dr. Averton had been kidnapped right out from under Rainier’s nose, so he would’ve had every aspect of her life tagged, including tracking hersister.
“I’d say there’s about an 80 percent probability that Hicks was flagged on their system. Doesn’t mean they know where he lives, but we have to operate on the premise they’ve been using the vicinity of the garage as a starting point.” And with the general’s assets he could quickly narrow that field down to likelylocations.
They’d been careful not to leave any other clues anywhere else, but a trained guy could find the things that others couldn’t. One careless mistake and they’d have to give up their fortress and go on the run.Again.
“But don’t you have the skills to know if he’s detected any of us?” Juarezasked.
“Only if he puts out a bolo war national security alert, neither of which you can use and seize while on the run from CIA, NSA, theFBI—”
“—and the local sheriff.” Juarez nodded in understanding. “But it doesn’t mean he can’t see what they see,right?”
“Exactly. If he installed a shadow program to monitor their databases, it might take some work but eventually he’d have access to all their files andintel.”
And Team Mayhem would be screwed. Not that he could blame Hicks if he had been caught by the security cameras in D.C.; the man deserved some happiness in his life. After the childhood he’d had and the royal screwing by their commander, Whitney Averton was just the fresh kick in the ass he’d needed to put a smile on his face. And although Diggs had initially flirted and teased with her, all just to torment Hicks, he wasn’t attracted to her in that way. But he did feel a little bit like the big brother watching out for the little sister he’d neverhad.
