Nadia pressed the side of her briefcase. Within seconds, everywhere she’d placed one of her mini trackers lit up red. Walker’s shadow was illuminated by the tiny pin lights as he followed the trail.
“That’s the stairs,” he said. “You were hanging on to the railings. You were tabbing them.”
“Yeah. Put this earbud on,” she said. He did so as did she. She pressed the side of the briefcase and ordered, “Eight Ball, which target has the highest percentage of having interaction with Dr. Kantor?”
There was the briefest of pause, then a male voice replied in her ear, its snarky tone almost endearing, “From tracking their activities all day, my Baby Sand Crab, there is a 90 percent chance of Dr. Kantor secured in a room in the South wing. Two of the targets have gone there this evening. One had run out and downstairs to join in the fight when lights went out. There’s some good fighting tonight, girlfriend. You missed out on the coolest one between Jed and Jared Westin.”
“That’s my boss. Who are we listening to?” Walker asked. His voice was low and she could see him scouting the passages for enemies.
“Me. I’m Eight Ball, COMCEN’s computer program. And you’re NadNad One’s man, who thought she was NadNad Two. Hope that’s all straightened out, dude. Two women who look so alike are totally an ingenious design.”
“Oh, hush, you crazy machine. Lead the way,” Nadia ordered.
“Follow me. Oh, you can’t. Ha. Ha. Ha. Follow my voice. Up the stairs.”
“Wait, what about my boss? And why am I following the directions of a strange voice?” Walker asked.
Nadia touched his arm. “Eight Ball’s been keeping tabs on all my trackers all day. He keeps everyone informed during an operation. Come on, let’s go up.”
“Jed and Jared are good friends. No problem, man. Boys greeted each other like old buddies. Only small bruises. Turn left. But still, awesome form and technique. Like a good wave, dude, so much control in their movements.”
“What the hell is this Eight Ball talking about?” Walker muttered. “He sounds like your crazy brother.”
“That’s cold, man. Down to the end of the hallway. Left door.”
Eight Ball could be overwhelming. Nadia liked the computer very much. His interface went beyond anything she’d ever worked with. She was glad Walker was taking it all in stride, listening to the GPS commands and walking in the semi-darkness like he’d done this sort of thing dozens of times before. Hmm.
“Just follow him. Eight Ball just needs getting used to. He was answering your question. Jed is one of the commandos at COS and I guess he was having fun with your boss or something.” The reached the target door. “Weapon?”
“Ready.”
“Two inside, but not the targets. Probability of one being Kantor at 90 percent,” Eight Ball told them. “Both targets appear to be sitting down across from each other. Your tabbed targets A and B are running up the stairs, heading your direction.”
Nadia was doing the same thing she had done with their locked door.
“Okay,” she said. “Got that, Walker? The moment they come within certain distance of my ring, their tabs activate and you’ll see the pin lights.”
“Yes, two coming. I don’t need any lights. I’ll cover your six,” he confirmed, “but I need to stay in the shadows. Your Dr. Kantor will recognize you, right? There are two in that room, Diya. Be careful.”
“Yes. Okay, on two. One, two! Activate flashlight, Eight Ball.”
This time the beam was brighter and wider. The door opened easily and Nadia kicked the door wide. Nothing.
She peered inside and saw two figures. She shone the light on the one to her right. He was tied and gagged.
“Dr. Kantor,” she murmured quietly.
At the sound of her greeting, Dr. Kantor started struggling hard, talking into his gag. She quickly looked the other way. The other man was also secured and was gagged. Must be another scientist they’d taken. Behind her, she registered the Russian orders being barked. Walker would take care of them.
She frowned as she headed to help Dr. Kantor. Why were they gagged? Why would they be afraid the scientists talk to each other? She pulled off the tape securing the gag.
“Behind you! Cummings’s one of them!” He panted out.
Nadia jumped to the side at the first words but not fast enough to avoid the attack. The side of a pistol whacked hard into her shoulder blade. She kept her hold on the brief case as she fell, rolling to the left, barely avoiding a leg stomp. Another foot kicked into her sides and she curled in pain.
“I can’t kill you. I need your access to the laptop, so you’re coming with me to the ship, Miss Kincaid,” an American voice said, coldly. “Get up or Dr. Kantor here dies.”
That hurt like the mother. Nadia forced herself to focus on getting to her knees, then slowly standing up.
