Deep Rising (An Outside the Lines Novel) (Entangled Select) (12 page)

“Is someone following us?”

“No. Relieved?”

“Light-headed with it. I, uh, make meaningless chatter when I’m nervous.”

“I noticed.” He pulled a cell phone from the gym bag and zipped it shut again. He dialed the phone. “We’re here,” he said. “Yes, sir. No evidence at this time.” He ended the call. His hand darted so quickly the movement was only a blur. Catching her arm, he turned her palm over.

Suddenly frightened, Lana tried to withdraw from his unrelenting hold.

“Relax,” he whispered. “I won’t hurt you. I wanted to see if your hands were healing.” He caressed her palm. “Those were some pretty nasty burns you got in Guatemala.” He traced the scabs, his fingertips whispering over her skin. “I have orders to follow if you’re involved. Don’t betray me, Lana,” he warned, in a voice so soft and gentle it made her throat burn. “There are a lot of things I might want to do with you, but causing you pain isn’t among them.”

Lana’s eyes widened.

He raised her hand and kissed her palm.

“We need to search the tube now,” he said. Any semblance of compassion or sensitivity vanished as if it had never been.

They marched side by side deeper into the crater, following the narrow trail with its pine fence rail. After a few minutes, the mouth of a cave came into view.

Three men convened outside it.

“Howdy!” Jared wrapped his arm around Lana’s shoulders. “This must be the Thurston Lava Tube. Ain’t that what the brochure said, honey?”

“Uh—yes.”

His fingers tightened on her shoulder. “That means y’all must be the welcoming party!”

One of the gentlemen, a tall, handsome man, laughed. The two men flanking him did not possess the fair man’s height, humor, or good looks.

“I’m afraid we aren’t here to hand out leis or snap photos,” the man said. “We’re geologists with the US Survey, and unfortunately all hiking into the tube has been suspended.”

“The ranger back at the park base didn’t mention anything to us,” Jared replied.

“No? I’m sorry to hear that. We had some falling rocks late last night, and the sensors alerted us at the main office. We’re here to assess the damage. We can’t risk the liability. If the integrity of the tube ceiling is in question, there’s a chance of a cave-in.”

Jared turned to Lana and ruffled her hair. “I’m sorry, darlin’. The Thurston might have to stay on your list another year.”

Lana stared past the men throughout their discourse, hoping to catch a glimpse of something unusual. The cave, the men, the possibility of a cave-in, all seemed plausible.

“Couldn’t we just sneak a peek?” She batted her eyes at the handsome man.

“I don’t think so, miss. We had another group of hikers come by about an hour ago. Two families.”

“Yes,” Jared said. “We passed them in the parking lot.”

“I had to give them the same unfortunate news. It’s a pity they didn’t forewarn you. It could’ve saved you the hike.”

Lana managed a smile. “Getting here is half the fun.”

“That’s right, darlin’.” Jared kept his eyes on the other man. “The park ranger, George Kominos, he’s a pretty good friend of mine. You don’t mind if I head back and check with him. See if I can pull any strings?”

“Go right ahead,” the man told him. “But I doubt it will do much good. They take safety seriously. Insurance issues and all that. Plus dead tourists are real bad PR. Or so I’m told.” He chuckled and the other two men chimed in. “I don’t know Ranger Kominos, but if you come across Ranger O’aki, say hello for me.”

“Of course. And what was your name?” Jared asked.

“John.” He held out his hand. “John Gelonese.”

Jared shook it. “Nice to meet you, John.”

“These are my associates, Nate and Clint.” The men nodded.

Lana stepped in front of Jared. “It’s nice to meet you gentlemen. We’ll let you get back to work. The sooner you check the tube, the sooner we can go exploring it. Right?”

“Absolutely,” John assured her.

With her hands behind her back, she pushed against Jared’s chest. Something was wrong here. Very wrong. In half a beat, he took the hint.

“Y’all have a great day.” He spun with Lana until he shielded her with his body.

The minute they rounded the corner of the trail, Lana hurried away. She didn’t run, and neither did Jared, but they moved as swiftly as they could manage without raising undue suspicion.

When they progressed a quarter of a mile, he paused.

“They aren’t geologists,” Lana told him.

“No shit.”

He pulled a gun from his pants pocket and tucked it in his waistband. Opening his backpack, he extracted another. He flicked the safety, loaded the first chamber and holstered it on his other side. “How’d you make ’em? The watch?”

“What? No. I didn’t look at their wrists.”

“Breitling,” he mumbled. “What tipped you off?”

“I know John Gelonese. He’s been working on the island for twenty years. He’s half-Hawaiian.”

“Not blond and fair?”

She shook her head. “Not even close.” She bit her lip. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”

“Most likely.”

He pulled two vests from the bag. Both were beige and colored with the computer-enhanced camouflage pattern that had become the new standard since the start of desert warfare.

“Put it over your head, then strap in the sides.”

She complied.

“It’s light,” she said, fingering the breastplate. “I expected body armor to be heavy.”

“It is. This isn’t Kevlar or armor plating. It’s Dragon Skin.”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“It’s too expensive for mass development. This is only a prototype.”

“Can I have a gun?” she asked hopefully.

“Absolutely not.”

Chapter Fifteen

“
Absolutely not
?” Lana repeated in a deadly calm voice.

She was angry, Jared realized. Angry enough to shoot him if he did change his mind and hand her a weapon. Not that he intended to. Flipping his cell phone, he called the emergency number for the Company. He bypassed all the clearance codes with 999, the CIA’s equivalent of 911.

“The cave is compromised. I repeat, the tube is compromised.” A team should’ve greeted them. An American, military-issued team. “No friendlies, sir. Not one.”

Gordon swore. “I’m sending in backup. ETA six minutes. Wait.”

“Negative. Repeat, sir, negative. Proceeding as planned.”

“Damn it, Jared!”

“If they weren’t convinced by our ruse, they could trigger the bomb at any moment. I can’t chance it…”

“Do it. Go.”

He grabbed two other guns and strapped them to his thighs. He tucked one pants leg in, revealing an eight-inch bowie knife. He took a tool kit from the bag and shoved it into his pants at the small of his back. Jared tossed the phone into the bag, and the bag into the woods.

“Let’s go.”

“Wh-what am I supposed to do?”

“Stay out of my way. But stay in sight. If Sergei is there, you’ll get your chance to try to talk him down.” He pulled her along. “If you’re working with him, you’ll get a bullet to the back of the head. Are we clear?”

“Fuck you.”

“No time for that, darlin’. Now move!”

Lana raced along the trail. Before the path opened, Jared jerked her to a halt.

“There are three men outside,” he whispered against her ear.

“I see them.”

“But they aren’t our original imposters, John, Clint, and Nate. Turn around, Svetlana, and close your eyes.”

“W-what are you going to do?”

With wide eyes, she followed his every movement. He pulled a suppressor from another pocket in his pants and screwed it onto the muzzle of the gun. He perceived her horror, her revulsion, but in the scope of his mission it meant nothing. He didn’t have a moment to spare.

“Look away,” he whispered.

She stepped against him then, burying her head against his chest.

Jared’s first instinct urged him to set her aside, but he couldn’t trust her response. Who knew if she would start screaming? With his free hand he pulled her hard against him, pushing her head into the hollow of his arm. Her arms wrapped around his waist and held tight. He leveled his right hand over her shoulder.

His arm jerked three times.

Jared captured her chin in his hand, tilting her face. “Remember why they’re here.”

She nodded, but her breathing was erratic and she wavered on her feet.

“Don’t lose sight of the objective, Lana.” Taking her by the hand, he pulled her to the mouth of the lava tube. “Don’t move.”

He lifted each man and hauled him into the concealment of the trees. Something glinted beneath the brush, about ten yards beyond where he left the terrorists, and he moved quickly to investigate. He shoved aside the palm fronds. Bodies. Seven of them. Strewn across the ground like fallen logs. Two in ghillie suits. This was bad. Really, really bad. The bastards had taken out a SEAL team, snipers and all. Worse, stripped the SEALs of their weapons. He raced back to Lana. That John Gelonese imposter had been sweeter than a pecan pie. The jovial bastard must’ve been gloating. Taking out an entire SEAL unit? The imposter was one seriously dangerous individual.

“Backup is coming. But they might not make it in time. Do you understand? We have to go in. Now.”

She nodded. The color started to return to her face, and with it, he hoped she’d regain some spit and fire as well.

“The shaft goes back two thousand feet,” she said.

“Yeah.” He’d memorized the schematics. “There’s no cover. Stay behind me. Stick to the walls.”

“Okay.”

Weapon drawn, he moved swiftly, stealthily along the darkened tube. Lana followed. Cool air poured out of the cavernous vault in a sharp contrast to the heat outside. The only light flickered from a scattering of LED canopy lights spaced intermittently along the tube and the glaring sunlight at the entrance of the tube.

Jared inched along. The light behind them dimmed, casting shadows along the tunnel.

One shadow danced, looming, moving directly toward them.

He dove to the ground, taking Lana with him. A slew of bullets ricocheted overhead, eclipsing her screams. Dragging her alongside him, he rolled atop her and returned fire.

Five inky figures at the mouth of the tube screamed in Russian, reassuring Jared they were enemies rather than reinforcements from Uncle Sam. In the confusion, he could feel Lana wriggling beneath him.

The weight of his body crushed her, could even suffocate her, but Jared didn’t dare move. He squeezed off another two rounds and watched two men fall. He fired again at the center man, and he thought he managed to clip him because the Russian howled and grabbed his arm.

Jared seized advantage of the lull. He leaped to his feet and ripped Lana to hers. They hurried along the tube, away from one threat, directly toward another.

Jared scanned the walls for a crevasse, any space to shield her from the storm. Damn tunnel was bored clean. He perceived a small alcove, little more than an oblique dent in the smooth, cylindrical tunnel, and he shoved Lana inside. She slammed into the wall.

“Stay here!”

“I can help.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

Without waiting for her reply, Jared sprinted the length of the tube. In a matter of seconds, three men surged from the cave’s depths. Jared steadied his hand, tightened his finger on the trigger, and braced for the recoil.

Bullets slammed directly into his chest, knocking him to his knees. But he didn’t stop shooting. When the gunfire lulled, he gasped and probed for punctures. Glancing down, he expected to see blood gushing forth from his lungs. One smoldering lead slug fell from his vest.

Jared staggered to his feet and surveyed the damage. He approached the first fallen man. No resemblance to the trio. He examined the other two, failing to recognize them. Not good.

Drawing to the end of the tunnel, he glimpsed four men huddling around a crate. Thank God, only four. From the way this mission had commenced, he expected to encounter an army. Dead men littered a corner of the area too. So at least the SEALs had done some damage.

He didn’t shout. He didn’t offer the men any warning. Hell, they’d heard the gunfire, had sent men to kill him, if they stood openly exposed, it was with ill intentions. He held his breath and fired. The initial blast sent them scurrying for cover behind the crate.

When they returned fire, Jared launched himself against the wall. Lying on his stomach, he inched forward along the floor toward a cropping of igneous rocks and sprawled flat against them. Bullets whined overhead and ricocheted. The remaining Russians unleashed their entire arsenal in his direction. Shards of volcanic rock tore off the boulder, peppering the air around him. A fragment pierced his arm.

“Stop!” Jared hollered. “Don’t do this!”

If the men heard or understood, they didn’t comply. Bullets continued to pound overhead.

Jared laid down a bevy of automatic fire until he emptied the mag. Then he dropped the assault rifle, jerked the two Berettas from his holsters and with a weapon in each hand, he charged the remaining Russians. He managed to gun down two men before something slammed into him.

One breath and he realized it was Svetlana.

A bullet tore past his head, close enough to shave his skin. It came from behind.

He pivoted, ducked, and shot the assailant between the eyes. The guard dropped to his knees, falling face forward.

“Lana, move!” he shouted, as they sank to the ground. But she didn’t, and she obstructed his view, making it virtually impossible to mark the positions of the men surrounding the bomb. He fired off a few rounds in their general direction, knowing it would be a lucky shot at best.

He needed to get up. The bomb could detonate at any moment.

“Lana, move!”

She groaned and slumped against him.

Son of a bitch, she must be hurt.

“Cease-fire!” a man yelled.

Wrapping his arm around her waist, Jared awkwardly dragged Lana to the rock pile. He didn’t care who called for the cease-fire or why, he only appreciated the opportunity to drag Lana to safety. The crude outcropping of uneven rocks wouldn’t protect them both. It barely covered Lana.

He pushed the hair from her face and noted the confusion in her eyes.

“It’s all right,” he whispered. “I’ve got you.”

“You’re safe.”

“Svetlana,” a man called, as if on cue.

“I recognize his voice, Jared. It’s my brother. Let me go.”

“No.” He held her down, pressing his hand against the wound on her arm. “You’re shot.”

“I’m fine,” she assured him.

Not if the blood trickling down her arm posed any indication. “You’re losing blood.”

She shook her head. “I can do this Jared. Trust me…please.”

He fought to hold her back, but she pushed free with surprising strength. As she lurched from the sanctuary of the rocks calling Sergei’s name, she dropped an automatic weapon. Seizing the gun, Jared recognized its design. It belonged to one of the dead guards, and by the make, it had likely been a SEAL’s before that.

He crept around the rock, covering Lana. If one of the Russians so much as sneezed, he’d shoot. He prayed she’d be able to diffuse the situation.

But in his heart, he knew it wouldn’t happen.

…

“Why?” Lana rasped. Blood tickled her forearm, dripping off her fingertips. The tiny droplets met with the dirt of the tunnel floor, congealing into reddish-black dots. She switched to Russian, “Brother, why would you do this?”

He sighed, smiling with her father’s eyes.

“Americans must be stopped, Lana. They killed my family.”

“Sergei,
war
killed your family. Not these people.”

“You’re wrong!” he shouted.

Lana cringed. His eyes shone blank, unseeing. The man who had been her older brother vanished before her eyes.

“You Americans killed my life. American greed knows no bounds and it must end!”

“Sergei, no, please. We are your family now. Papa and I and our younger brother, Paul.”

“You were a child who amused me when I longed for my own. Now you are a woman who gave me the key to cleansing humanity. Don’t you see? It must be this way.”

Lana watched him raise his gun and level it.

“Don’t do it!” Jared screamed.

She heard his voice, so strong and clear and perfect in the deafening silence of the cave. She smiled then, because she knew she would die, but somehow it didn’t matter because Jared was here, and he wouldn’t let Sergei hurt anyone else again.

“You may save her or kill me,” Sergei yelled. “But you will not have time for both.”

Lana turned away from her brother, refusing to let her last moments be suffused with such blind hate. She met Jared’s eyes. They were absolutely beautiful.

Shots rang out.

…

Jared watched her collapse, heard her head fall back with a
thud.

With a wild roar, he surged forward, holding his finger on the automatic trigger, spraying a slew of bullets at Sergei and the remaining men. Taking cover, the Russians scampered toward the shelter of the electrical boxes at the rear of the tube.

Jared fired at the bunker, showering it with bullets. The insane Russian and his remaining comrades darted away from him, tearing up the stairwell and out of the tunnel. The John Gelonese imposter screamed and fired at one of his own men. He shouted in Russian, but the men continued to retreat. The crazed man blasted the stairwell before Sergei grabbed hold of his arm.
So much for them killing themselves
. Jared lined up his next shot and squeezed the trigger. One man crashed into the wall before tumbling down the stairs. Another screamed.

“Matteo!” Sergei shouted. “No!”

Sergei grabbed the Russian and the two clambered toward the stairwell.

Jared glanced back at Lana. Was it a trick of the light or did she move? He raced to her side. “Lana?”

She smiled.

He crushed her to his chest and kissed her forehead. “They’re gone now, darlin’. They can’t harm you.”

Her face went white. “My chest…hurts.”

She’d taken a slug to the center of her sternum. The Dragon Skin saved her life, halting the projectile from reaching her flesh, but the impact packed enough punch to knock a grown man flat, much less someone with Lana’s slight frame.

“We’ll have matching bruises,” he promised her. “I’m more concerned with your arm.”

“I’m…innocent…told you so.”

“Yeah, you did.”

He peeled away her shirt to inspect her arm. The bullet had pierced an artery. Blood pooled, spurting in time with her beating heart.

“Shit,” he muttered.

“The bomb, Jared.”

“I have to stop the bleeding!”

“It goes off…both dead anyway.”

Ripping off his belt, he wrapped it around her arm. He drew the leather through the hook and placed the loose end in her mouth. “Tug on this as hard as you can.” He slapped her free hand over her biceps. “Press down.”

“The bomb…”

Jared raced to the crate and tossed aside the wooden top.

Compact, computer-operated, with a digital timer and manual trigger. Oh, yes, this was a major explosive device! It was a friggin’ miracle the sporadic gunfire hadn’t set it off already.

The palm-size remote detonator rested atop the housing. Amid the hail of gunfire, the Russians must have dropped it or neglected to retrieve it when they made their escape.

Lord, for these small favors I am infinitely grateful.

Six minutes remained on the clock.

Lana wouldn’t last two without his assistance. Where the hell were the SEAL teams? Backup should have been here by now!

Analyzing what he needed to do in order to deactivate the bomb, Jared gauged it would take him four minutes to complete the task, leaving him a minute and change to see to Lana. He rushed back to her side, ripped off the Velcro fastenings and vest, and tore off her shirt completely. Pulling the black pouch from the small of his back, he tossed the package on the ground.