Buried Flames (25 page)

“Is Fairfax awake?” Mason asked, glancing over to where Truman was looking at the screen with interest. “Truman?”

“No.” Kellen Truman took a step closer and looked at the crystal clear 1080P video image being fed through to the screen from the VSCR. The camera at the checkpoint at the bottom of the road was 1080P HD that could be switched between constant streaming video and three-second stills. They were watching their uninvited guest and his buddies in real time. Truman’s left hand was sporting a fresh bandage while he appeared a little worse for wear. Mason figured he’d been by his friend’s side since this morning. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

Tank rolled his chair back far enough so that he had a view of the occupants in the room. Everyone outside of the lodge had been buttoned down and the security teams for both shifts were deployed north and south of the lodge’s main perimeter. Fact was that they were no matches one-on-one with the trained operators knocking on their door.

They were in fixed hard point positions with interlocking fields of fire and eighty percent or better cover. They were also without maneuver elements with more advanced training supporting their positions, and the operators infiltrating from above and below would eventually flank them and roll them up with ease. The maneuver elements both north and south would be marked with IR beacons to reduce the chance of blue on blue casualties.

Owen had already loaded up on the proper equipment to take him up toward the natural springs, intending to take Ann with him. Mason noticed that her vivid green eyes were also staring intently at the screen.

“Do you recognize him? Either of you?” Mav asked from his place by the door. He was also outfitted with his M4 equipped with a Leupold Delta Pro red dot scope and a flip to the side 3x magnifier. Each of them were ready to defend this sanctuary that was rightfully Tank’s in every sense of the word. “Now would be the time to tell us anything you might be holding back.”

“There’s a lot of classified information I can’t share and technically I’ve already shared too much,” Truman relayed, looking back over his shoulder to where Ann was still fixated on the screen. “But do you see that woman standing behind those men?”

It wasn’t difficult to distinguish the woman Truman was pointing out, regardless that their visitors were all wearing gasmasks. Her frame was petite and her long hair was pulled into a bun and sticking out of the mesh holding her M50 mask on her head, although it was too difficult to see what the color was considering it was mostly now covered in ash. The jacket she was wearing couldn’t hide her above average sized breasts.

“Who is she?” Tank asked, rolling closer to the screen for a better look. “It doesn’t appear she’s being held against her will.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” Ann declared, stepping forward and pointing to the side of the monitor. “See the tango in the back? His weapon is aimed a little too high for a group who’s saying they are just here to talk.”

“Her name is Paige Olivier.” Truman didn’t seem aware that the tension in the room rose by a hundred degrees. Mason shared knowing looks with his team as he tried to piece together the potential outcome of this impending confrontation. “She works for—”

“The U.S. Geological Survey Headquarters in Reston,” Mason finished for him while wishing there was a way for Tank to reach Berke right about now. He was still making his way to Washington from Texas, but it would be really nice to be able to relay that his ex-lover had just shown up at the lodge’s front door checkpoint. Just what had Paige gotten herself into? “We know
of
her. The question is—how do you?”

Truman didn’t show any surprise at the news that they were acquainted with Paige, but he did pull away from the large desk full of monitors and take a moment to formulate his words. His lack of forthcoming information certainly didn’t give Mason any reason to extend the trust that Tank and Mav obviously had.

“Paige was at one of our debriefings about a site in Virginia we checked on at one point. You could say we worked close together for a time.” Truman waved a hand toward the screen in what appeared to be an unaware gesture about the events taking place. “Your guess is as good as mine as to why the NSA would have brought her here.”

“We’re about to have a confrontation sooner rather than later,” Mav stated, pointing to the monitor on the far right. “Dylan and Jason Wicks will do what is necessary to prevent those tangos from getting too close to the natural springs. They don’t have the training these guys have and it’s only a matter of time before they end up dead.”

“I’ll head out that way now and cover them,” Ann replied before leaving the security office without hesitation.

“Your teammate, Dean, seems to be handling the situation well,” Tank said, standing from his seat and adjusting the old style tanker holster slung over his shoulder.

“Look,” Mav directed to the screen he’d still been watching. “They aren’t looking to make their way in toward the lodge. They’re ringing the outlying area.”

Mason stood behind while the others filed out, taking the time to study the methodical way the agents were planting their own devices surrounding the large perimeter hemmed in on both sides by the mountains. There was no possible way they could take out this large of an area, especially the mine, without gaining a foothold by attacking up slope or down with a smaller force. Tactically they were placing themselves at a disadvantage, which didn’t make sense considering their training. This was nothing but a ruse to try and confuse them, but why?

“You see it, too?” Owen asked from his position by the door. Mason nodded while he finally decided on the course of action he would take. “You’d think Van was rubbing off on us.”

He shot Owen a sideways look that let him know he thought the same thing. Van was the cautious one while everyone else tended to react quicker. Mason was guilty of that most of the time, but Brenna had stayed behind at the lodge after dinner. He hadn’t come to the decision to allow her into his life to only have that decision revoked by some NSA agent who had a stick up his ass and thought he knew better than a bunch of salty old Marines.

“The only reason they would have to detonate those explosives is to cause a diversion,” Mason said, making his way quickly back down the corridor, past the freight elevator, and toward the second armory.

Mason needed to pick up a weapon that gave him a tactical advantage. He found what he was looking for in the second row of racks along with a spare magazine pouch and a canteen of water. He slung the weapon over his back, pocketed a few extra 1911 magazines and headed back to the main cavern.

Mason’s Springfield M1A .308 with a FLIR RS64 2x16 Thermal Rifle Scope was snug against his back. He and Owen both picked up their gasmasks and situated them over their faces before venturing outside. “They want in here to see if Fairfax survived and was able to relay the information he’d been given.”

It didn’t take Mason or Owen long to reach the checkpoint by traversing across the slope and joining the road halfway down the hill. Mav and Tank were standing back and allowing Truman to have a discussion with their unwelcome guest, although Mav had positioned himself to hear every word that was said. Mason noticed Paige’s gaze was fixated on Tank. She must recognize him from pictures Berke probably had littered around his house and gun range. Berke was the most sentimental of them all, not that any of them would ever say that to his face. He was definitely the peacemaker and his talent sure as hell was needed right about now before these Marines went to war with the United States of America’s National Security Agency.

Mason was able to get close enough to Tank to alert him to what he thought was about to take place. His tank commander’s blue gaze deepened in a fury that he rarely ever showed, with the exception to when an immediate threat was visible that would harm his team…his family. He stepped forward, taking the reins out of Truman’s hands.

“Mr. Taible, I hate to interrupt whatever assignment you think is still negligible during this time of natural disaster, but I have every right to defend my property and those people who have sought safety here.” Tank’s authoritative tone caught the attention of the four members surrounding Paige, as well as their leader who apparently had already introduced himself to Truman’s delegation. “Should you detonate those explosives your people are currently rigging around this area as a diversion to allow you entrance, I warn you now—I will consider it an act of war and I’ll kill you first thing out of the gate.”

Taible showed his hand first by narrowing his eyes in consideration. He’d just come up against a formidable foe and he was finally taking notice. Truman currently was still missing a member of his team, as well as nursing one back to health, which put them at a slight disadvantage. Taible hadn’t counted on anything but an easy elimination, thus hoping to complete his mission quickly.

The thick tension in the air continued to mount. It was moments like this that caused people to become trigger-happy. Owen was gradually making his way around, surveying the four members as well as scanning the area. Dean was maintaining distance in case the shit hit the fan. Mason kept his eyes trained on Taible while maintaining his peripheral view of his team members. He then held three fingers down the side of his cammies.

“Taible, it’s too bad you and I didn’t get better acquainted back in Montana,” Mason inserted loudly into the stillness of the night. The area was lit up from the two spotlights Tank and Mav had probably set up from the beginning, so it was relatively easy to watch the man’s expression through his mask. He didn’t give much away. “It would have been nice to have a valid reason as to why you and your men were willing to kill Fairfax in cold blood. He wasn’t very forthcoming either, which didn’t earn him any points. I don’t like having to defend myself without knowing the intention behind the attack. I would have thought you’d have crawled back into whatever hole you came out of when you found his body at the edge of town.”

Mason was taking quite a gamble, which would have sent Van’s blood pressure rising had he been here. There was a damn good chance Taible or one of his team members had followed close enough behind to know for sure that Fairfax had been brought to the lodge. On the other hand, it seemed more than likely they held back from following too closely due to the rogue group of bandits rambling about down near Rat’s old abandoned mine. Taible couldn’t have been sure where they were headed. He would have staked out the first group to discount them as a threat.

“We scoured the area,” Taible said clearly through his dust mask, slowly unfastening a radio from the front pocket of his jacket and holding it firmly in his left hand. “Fairfax’s body was nowhere to be found.”

“You and I both know you didn’t search the entirety of Lost Summit,” Mason added on for insurance purposes. He kept his pose relaxed and ensured his gaze never wavered from Taible’s. “You have roughly eight to ten tangos out in those woods right now, being very careful not to catch the attention of those gatherers south of town—which is where gunfire was exchanged. Fairfax was already half in the bag due to his previous injury. It made him an easy target. Let’s just say he didn’t fare so well when the shit hit the fan.”

“And you expect me to believe you and your woman friend came away unscathed?” Taible inquired, his staid demeanor not changing. Mason’s version of events did have the others shifting with unease. Where had Taible gotten these men? They definitely weren’t NSA, but they undeniably had some type of training…especially those setting up the explosives. “That’s quite the story.”

“He has nothing to gain by lying,” Truman said, calling attention once more to himself. That was fine by Mason. He’d laid the groundwork, so now it was time for Truman to diffuse the situation and send these blackhats on their way. “You and I both know what this is about. You can keep moving on knowing my team and I are out. Copper isn’t even in the States, as far as I know, and Fairfax is dead. There’s no need for me to continue on with a mission I only have half the intelligence for.”

“Tell the members of your team to dismantle the explosives they’ve already planted, leave this area, and we’ll consider this discussion ended,” Mav stated bluntly, not batting an eyelash when Paige tried to step forward and one of the men stopped her. Mason knew they’d have to do something about her, especially if she was being held against her will. This temporary standoff wasn’t the time though. “Should you not do what I’ve suggested, you’re going to discover just how prepared we are to take on the small team you’ve brought with you.”

Taible appeared to weigh his odds and then finally lifted the portable radio to the front of his mask. The one thing that had most likely been holding him back was not knowing if Fairfax had shared any information regarding the location of those rations and the codes to unlock the entrance. It wasn’t something he could let slide, but he recognized a losing battle when confronted with one.

“Black Crow Tribe, disengage, return to IP. I repeat, pull up stakes and return to initial point for extraction.” Taible then returned the two-way radio to its rightful place and then gave the hand signal for those team members with him to move out. “Truman, I have no choice but to keep an overwatch here to ensure the validity of what you’re telling me. If you venture too far from home, I will know.”

“Understood,” Truman conceded with more acquiescence than Mason felt comfortable with. Mason found it hard to believe Truman would allow the NSA to dictate how things would operate for this point on. “Then you won’t have a problem if Paige stays here with us. After all, she means nothing to you at this point.”

And that was the reason Truman was giving concessions. Mason had to hand it to him that it was a good trade, especially since everyone here would agree that Paige had just become the team’s number one priority.

According to Berke, Paige Olivier had given him a heads up that the eruption was definitely going to take place hours before it did so…providing Berke and the team with more prior knowledge than the general public. It hadn’t been all that long after their call that the President had gone on national television to inform the citizens of the United States exactly what was coming their way.