Down to the Wire (21 page)

The door opened, and David escorted Erin in. Jonathan took her and pushed her down into the chair at the head of the table.

Along the back wall I stood beside Wirenut, silently observing. Immediately, I recalled my arrest months ago before the Specialists had recruited me. How roughly the cops had treated me. How frightened I’d been. Erin must be petrified right now. The only difference was that she deserved it.

Disgust and anger rolled through me at that thought. How could she have done it?
Why
would she have done it? No amount of money,
no
amount, was worth it. We were family. Didn’t she care? I would never,
never
, intentionally harm anyone at this ranch.

TL took the seat to her right. “You
know
why you’re here. Don’t even
think
about playing games with me.” He leveled lethal eyes on her. “What is your connection with Octavias Zorba?”

Silence. Erin didn’t blink. Twitch. Speak. Nothing.

A minute passed as she kept her expressionless gaze on TL.

He switched his focus beyond her shoulder to Jonathan and gave a barely discernible nod.

Jonathan placed his finger on the back of her neck, and she screamed.

Every muscle in my body contracted at the painful wail. She’s a traitor, I reminded myself, concentrating on keeping my face reactionless.

He stepped away, and Erin slumped forward.

“Sit up,” TL snapped.

Pulling her shoulders back, she tossed her dark hair, like she’d just finished blowing it dry or something. A smirk replaced her expressionless face.

I watched her, unable to wrap my brain completely around her new facade. This was an Erin I’d never seen. She seemed…demented.

TL propped his hands on the table, appearing unfazed by her dramatics. “What is your connection with Octavias Zorba?”

Silence. Again. Other than her smirk, she made no response.

TL shot from his chair, grabbed her hair, and pulled her head back.

I caught my breath. I’d never seen him get violent with one of us. If Erin’s momentary shock held any indication, neither had she.

He stuck his hard face an inch from hers. “Zorba’s dead. You’re not going to get whatever it is he promised you.”

She sneered. “How do you know I haven’t already got it?”

“You’re a fool to admit it if you did. You’re an even bigger fool if you think I believe it. Zorba wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t pay up until a job was done.” TL leaned a fraction closer. “What you don’t seem to comprehend is that his
pay up
wouldn’t be what you’re expecting. He’d think nothing of slicing his sword through your pretty little body.”

I cringed at the mention of the sword. More than anything I wanted to turn to Wirenut and make sure he was okay. But I kept myself still, wishing any gory flashbacks from his brain.

Erin swallowed, and TL tracked the movement with his eyes. “Scared? Good. What’d you think? You wouldn’t get caught? Zorba’d rescue you? You wouldn’t go to prison? You wouldn’t die?”

“You can’t harm me,” she snipped.

With a humorless chuckle, TL released her and stepped back. “Erin, you’re not new to this. You know my powers. I can make you disappear. Forever.”

She glanced over her shoulder at David. I couldn’t see her face, but he held her glance with a flat stare. It was all part of a facade, knowing how to put your emotions aside in a tense situation. TL was the master of it. I knew David’s expressions, though, and saw the hurt and confusion deep in his eyes.

What was he thinking? I mean, here sat one of his teammates, a former girlfriend at that. A girl he’d trained with and lived with for years, and she’d crossed to the other side.

It’d be like Wirenut or Parrot, Bruiser, Mystic, or even Beaker
going bad. I’d be crushed. Betrayed. Confused. And I’d known them for only a few months. David and Erin had known each other a lot longer.

TL folded his arms across his chest. “We know you sent an anonymous e-mail to the press about the Ghost. We know hundreds of reporters contacted you offering money for Wirenut’s true identity. We know you started a bidding war. We know Zorba heard of this and devised his plan to flush out Wirenut. We know Zorba contacted you while we were over in Rissala. We know he offered you two million dollars to hide the neurotoxin on the ranch.”

TL cocked his head. “Would you like to know how we know all this?”

Erin lifted her brows.

“Because you’re STUPID!”

Everyone but Jonathan jerked at TL’s sudden temper. I’d
never
heard him yell like this.

He clamped his hand around her neck. “Every one of your e-mails left a pellucid image. GiGi found them all.” He got right in Erin’s face. “You disgust me. I can’t believe I even
considered
you for the Specialists.”

I would die if TL ever said something like that to me.

He squeezed her neck. “Where’s the toxin?”

She shook her head.

TL applied more pressure. “Where’s the toxin?”

Erin gasped.

He squeezed harder. “Where’s the toxin?”

Red splotches crept up her cheeks and across her forehead.

Still standing along the back wall, I concentrated on keeping my body and face stoic. As if none of this fazed me. Inside, though, my heart raced, nearly deafening me with its uncontrollable banging.

How far would TL take things? And…did I really want to watch? It’d been different with Zorba and in Ushbania with Romanov Schalmosky. I really hadn’t cared about their welfare. They were horrible, horrible men.

This, though? I
knew
Erin. Even if she
was
bad now. It’d be like Bruiser sitting there being strangled by TL. I’d find it extremely hard just to stand here and watch.

TL knows what he’s doing, I reminded myself.
You have to trust his tactics.
He knows
Erin. He knows what will work. Thousands of lives are at stake.

His bicep contracted. Veins popped on his hand and forearm. Erin’s eyes glazed over with an eerie, unfocused gaze.

He’s squeezing the life out of her.

I tried to swallow, but my throat had swelled with dryness. Dragging my eyes off TL and Erin, I focused behind them on David.

With a stiff jaw and clenched fists, he stared unblinking at a spot above my head. Clearly, this bothered him as much as me.

“Okay,” she wheezed.

David’s eyes snapped down to her and so did mine.

“I won’t stop next time.” TL eased the pressure. “What do you have to say?”

Erin gagged. “I…c-can’t…breathe.”

“I don’t care.” He retightened his grip. “What do you have to say?”

She gurgled. “To-xin…buried…”

After she choked out the coordinates, TL released her. “Get her out of my sight.”

Erin grabbed her neck, wheezing for air.

Wrenching her out of the chair, Jonathan led her from the room.

What’s going to happen to her?
I wanted to ask, but I kept quiet, waiting for TL’s instructions.

He checked his watch. “Let’s go.”

Standing in the southwest
corner of the ranch’s property, I stared at the coordinates Erin had given: 122.04.70 north, 38.18.70 west. A patch of moonlit grass.

TL flipped on a flashlight. “There’s no evidence the dirt has been disturbed.”

David tucked his hands in his jacket. “You think Erin lied? That nothing’s buried here?”

“What about injection?” Wirenut squatted down. “A small toxin vial could be inserted, leaving the area virtually untouched.”

“Let’s X-ray.” TL pressed the talk button on his two-way radio. “Chapling, cue satellite. You’ve got the coordinates. Let’s see what’s below us.”

“Satellite cued,” Chapling answered through the radio.

Opening my mini-laptop, I watched the dark screen. Seconds later a black-and-white picture flicked into view. “Upload complete.”

The guys moved in around me to see. David, TL, Wirenut, and I appeared as phantom images. I had a weird urge to wave, just to see myself move.

Rows of piping and wiring tunneled the earth beneath us, everything the ranch needed for security.

“There it is.” Wirenut pointed over my shoulder at the screen.

Slipping on my glasses, I leaned in. Sure enough, a tube of liquid lay about a foot beneath us. Scary to think that small amount could infect and kill everyone here at the ranch. As well as the city of San Belden and beyond.

“Huh.” Wirenut tapped the screen. “See those two wires? One coming out the top of the vial and the other the bottom.”

I nodded.

“Those are hematosis detectors.”

Hematosis detectors?

“They’re still under development. No one’s actually used them yet.”

“Um, not to be ignorant here, but what are hematosis detectors?” I seemed to be the only one who
didn’t
know.

“Hematosis detectors,” TL explained, “are a security measure, programmed to unlock with certain blood, certain DNA. They
can be used on anything: explosives, government documents, safety deposit boxes.”

I propped my glasses on top of my head. “According to Zorba’s documents both Katarina and Wirenut have to be present to disarm the toxin. So obviously we’re going to need both their blood.” It all made sense now.

Wirenut moved away. “Couple of issues we’re looking at here. Number one: hematosis detectors are
still under development
, meaning they’ve never been documented successful. Basically, we’re doing a trial here. There’s no proof they’ll work. Number two: these detectors are rigged to read a certain number of drops.”

“Five.” The number popped into my head and out my mouth.

Everyone looked at me.

“Zorba’s theme has been five.” I closed the laptop. “How much you wanna bet it’s five here, too? Five drops of blood.”
Oooh, I’m good.

Wirenut smoothed his fingers down his goatee. “Okay, so going with that, there’re two detectors. Each has to get the same number of drops. Five of me, five of Katarina.”

Sounds easy enough.

He blew out a quick breath. “Only problem is—”

Why does there always have to be a problem?

“My blood and Katarina’s have to hit the detectors in sync. Neither of us can be off by one tiny millisecond. The documents said thirteen hundred hours. That means the first drops have to
touch at that exact second and then every five seconds, staying with the theme, after that.”

“B-but what if something goes wrong? What if I’m not right about the number five? What if the vial’s timer chip isn’t calibrated to our clocks? What if your blood doesn’t drop in sync? An-and you said this thing’s still under development. What if it shorts out?”
Do they not see all this?

TL flipped off the flashlight. “Then we all die.”

Hours later, katarina’s
helicopter from the airport crossed over the ranch’s border. Squinting against the whirling dust and grass, I held my hair back and checked my watch. 12:30 P.M.

Only thirty minutes until the toxin releases.

The helicopter touched down on a cleared area behind the house. The passenger door opened, and Katarina jumped down. Gripping her leather jacket together, she ran toward TL, David, Wirenut, and me.

“Hello,” she yelled over the loud whipping.

I gave her a welcoming hug.

It surprised her, and for a second she didn’t return the gesture. “Thank you,” she mumbled, squeezing me quick.

Behind her, the copter lifted off.

“Hey.” Wirenut smiled a little.

She smiled back. “Hey.”

TL and Katarina exchanged handshakes, and he introduced David.

TL pointed to his truck. “Our protective gear is in the back. Get it on, and let’s move out.”

We all zipped into thick white suits with clear facial hoods and put on gloves. We hopped in the back of the truck and barreled over the ranch’s property to the southwest corner. As we bounced along, Wirenut briefed Katarina on the hematosis detectors.

TL pulled to a stop, and we all piled out.

“Get your laptop, GiGi.” TL pressed his two-way radio. “Chapling, give us our X-ray.”