Crossfire (Book 1) (The Omega Group) (14 page)

“They’re right behind us. Orano, can you block the tunnel?”
Beck was still holding her shield in place as she spoke.

“Not a problem. Stand back.” Orano stepped behind the
boulders that shielded them from the house and, picking the largest one, hit it
with several energy blasts until it toppled over, right on the tunnel’s
entrance.

“Now what?” Steve asked. “It’s not going to take them long
to figure out where we’ve gone.”

“I’ve got that one covered.” Jackie pointed down the beach
at an approaching Chinook helicopter. “I called Director Finley as soon as the
shooting started. Our ride is right on time.” Jackie smiled.

Two minutes later, they were onboard the enormous twin rotor
helicopter, being covered by a machine gun at the shoulder window.

“Thanks for the ride, boys.” Myrine gave the pilot and crew
chiefs a nod.

“Glad we could be of service, ma’am. You’ve got friends in
some very high places. Or low places, depending on your perspective.”

The age-old animosity between the military and the CIA
succeeded in breaking the tension caused by the firefight, and the inside of
the Chinook erupted in laughter.

Twenty minutes later, the helicopter landed at Mayport Naval
Station where Myrine’s husband spent so much of his time when he was stateside.
As she walked into the hangar beside him, she found herself bombarded with
memories of the men her husband had called family for so many years.

The smell in the hanger, a mixture of fuel, stale sandwiches
and sweat, hadn’t changed a bit. Nor had the drab gray walls with matching
furniture. Still, she couldn’t help but smile at the look of joy in her
husband’s eyes as he relived his own memories.

“Hey, Teletubby! You active again?”

Steve cringed at the southern drawl of his old friend and
mentor as he used a nickname that he thankfully hadn’t heard in years. Ignoring
the smirks and raised eyebrows of his companions, Steve turned and shook hands
with Commander Samuel “Hawkeye” Pierce. “It’s good to see you, Commander.”

“You, too, Teletubby. When we were called up to a give an
assist to another agency, I had no idea you’d be involved. Things are looking
up already.”

Steve turned to the rest of the team and made the
introductions. “Everyone, this is Commander Samuel Pierce, or Hawkeye. He’s one
of the toughest SEALs you’ll ever meet and has saved my ass more times than I
can count.” One by one, Steve introduced the group to his former commander,
leaving the best to last.

“Commander, you remember my wife, Myrine, and daughter,
Mirissa, don’t you?”

“Well, I’ll be damned. It’s good to see you, Myrine.” The
commander leaned in for a hug and whispered in her ear, “You’re going to have
to explain all of this to me over a drink sometime.” He turned. “And this young
lady must be Mirissa. The last time I saw you, you were knee-high to a
grasshopper. You know you’re the reason your daddy got that nickname, right?”

Mirissa couldn’t help but smile at the man. “No, sir. How’d
I do that?”

“Well, your daddy came in for a training exercise one day
with a little extra bonus on his uniform. I guess he’d given you a hug before
he left your house that morning and you’d slapped one of your favorite stickers
onto his back. Poor guy wore it the whole day before someone finally took pity
on him and told him about it. He’s been Teletubby ever since.”

“At least my nickname’s original.” Steve said, laughing.
“Yours was borrowed from an old TV show just because of your last name.”

“Fine, we can argue the merits of our nicknames later. Now,
we’ve got some business to attend to. So, tell me. What are we up against?”

Myrine understood the assumption Steve’s old commander had
made by addressing that question to him but appreciated it when her husband
stood aside and motioned to her. “This is Myrine’s show, Hawkeye. I’m just
along for the ride.”

“All right then, ma’am. Get me up to speed.”

“What has Director Finley told you so far?” Myrine asked the
commander, feeling nervous about her role as Omega Group’s leader for the first
time that she could remember.

“Just that we’ve got one whopper of a bad guy trying to tear
the world apart and my team is supposed to give you whatever assistance you
require. No questions asked. Our clearance has been moved to the highest level
for the duration of this mission.”

“And how much do you know about my team?”

A smile lit up the commander’s face. “If you’re asking if I
know about your special skills, I do.”

“All right, then. Get your team together. I need to make a
call and then we’ll get to work.” Myrine pulled out her cell phone and called
Safe House Alpha. Julian answered on the first ring.

“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been trying to reach
you.”

“We ran into a little trouble at the safe house. What have
you got for me?”

“Well,” Julian started, “it’s been slow going without the
Cray at the office, but I think I might have pieced together Daedric’s plan.”

Myrine waited for him to continue.

“Do you remember those losing investments that Daedric made?
Well, someone went through a hell of a lot of trouble to wipe all traces of
those companies off the Internet, but that someone wasn’t good enough to hide
them from me.”

Myrine tried to be patient while Julian paused for dramatic
effect, but she didn’t have time for this today. She needed this information
yesterday. “Julian, we’re on a very tight schedule. I know you’re a genius but
I really need you to tell me what you found.”

Sounding a little contrite, Julian continued. “Sorry. Every
one of those companies had some sort of breakthrough with sustainable green
energy. Some of them were minor, but some of them were huge. Like, save the
planet huge. As soon as they succeeded, Daedric would sweep them up, tank the
research, and the scientists involved would either disappear completely or die
a sudden death—car accidents, heart attacks, suicides, you name it. Then all
records of the discovery were wiped clean, like it never existed in the first
place.”

Myrine tried to digest this new information, and as she did
a shiver ran up her spine.

“Now,” Julian continued, “when you add that information to
what we already knew about his investment portfolio, it paints a pretty clear
picture.”

“Yes, it does.” Myrine’s mouth had gone dry. The
implications of this new information were devastating no matter how you looked
at them. “Where is Daedric now?”

Julian tapped a few keys on his computer and said, “His
private jet left for Atlanta late last night, but according to his flight plan,
he’s due back in Jacksonville at 9:30 this morning.”

“Thanks, Julian. Keep looking for more information. Anything
might help.”

“You got it, boss.” Then the line went dead.

When Myrine turned around, she found her team, along with
Commander Pierce’s, staring at her. This was why she never played poker, she
thought.

With everyone seated in the staging area, Myrine brought the
SEAL team up to speed on what they knew about Daedric, his investment portfolio
mostly. Then she updated everyone with the information she’d just received from
her computer expert.

“Like it or not, every nation in the world is completely
reliant on oil. Daedric has made sure of that. If he wanted to cripple us,
taking out the oil supply would be an easy way for him to do that.”

Hammerhead, one of the younger SEAL team members, spoke up.
“But, why would he do that? Wouldn’t it hurt him just as badly as it would
everyone else?”

“In theory, yes,” Steve said. “But he went to a lot of
trouble to stop the world from getting other energy sources and he wouldn’t
have done that without an endgame in mind. I’m not saying I understand it, but
I think it’s a safe bet that he’s got one.”

“But if his portfolio is heavily invested in oil, he’ll lose
everything if he messes with the supply.” Lincoln, a former teammate of Steve’s
that got his nickname from his unfortunate resemblance to the former president,
chimed in.

“I don’t think this is about money anymore.” Myrine was
still trying to put all the pieces in place. “It may have been at one time, but
now it’s about much more than that. Daedric believes he should be ruling the
world. I think he would gladly sacrifice his portfolio if it meant reaching his
greater goal.”

Commander Pierce spoke up for the first time since her phone
call with Julian. “This is all speculation. We’ve got no hard proof of any of
this. Even if you’re right, and I’m not saying you are, what would our plan of
attack be? We don’t know if, when, what or where he’ll strike.”

The room went quiet as everyone pondered their complete lack
of answers to those questions. From the back of the hangar, the slamming of a
door announced the entrance of a young sailor with a look of terror on his
face.

“Sir, you need to turn on CNN. Something’s happened.”

The world was rocked today as a series of explosions tore
through Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, Canada, Iraq, the UAE, Venezuela,
Mexico, and right here at home in what could be the largest, coordinated
terrorist attack in history.

The targets appear to have been the oil wells and
production facilities in each of the affected countries.

Estimates are now just coming in, but the casualties
caused by these attacks could be in the thousands, and that number is only a
fraction of what it will be if, in fact, the oil production in these countries
has been destroyed.

Experts agree that these ten countries, the United States
included, are the top ten oil-producing countries in the world, accounting for
more than sixty-five percent of the world’s oil production. That is a
production level of over 53 million barrels per day. More than all other
oil-producing countries combined.

A high-ranking official from the International Energy
Agency spoke to us under the promise of anonymity. This is what he had to say:

“This could be a catastrophic event, affecting every last
person on earth. If the oil production from these ten countries is truly
stopped for any reason, our lives as we know them are over. Our society is
completely and utterly dependent on oil and I don’t even want to imagine what
the state of our union, and that of the rest of the world, will become.”

Chilling words to be sure.

Our in-house terrorism expert, Max Blunt, is in the
studio with his thoughts on these heinous attacks. Max?

“None of this makes any sense, Julia. So far, no group
has claimed responsibility for the attacks and that does not surprise me at
all. Regardless of your personal religious or moral beliefs, every terrorist
group on record has always had some sort of goal in mind—even if we find that
goal appalling. These attacks do nothing to help any group we know of attain
its goals. Quite the opposite, in fact. There just doesn’t seem to be any
benefit for any group to destroy the world’s oil production.”

Stay with us here at CNN as we bring you all the details
of these horrendous attacks. I’m Julia Saxon and we’ll be right back.

Myrine, Commander Pierce, and everyone else in the room
stared slack-jawed, at the television. If those reports were correct, the
damage to society would be incalculable. The initial loss of life at the
explosion sites would be a drop in the bucket compared to what would happen in
the months and years to come. The entire country – the world - would be in a
state of emergency for the foreseeable future.

“I assume you believe this is Daedric’s doing?” asked
Pierce.

Still in shock from the news, Myrine simply nodded her head.

Commander pierce continued, “Then my earlier questions have
been answered. We know when, we know what, and we know where he struck. The
only question left is, what are we going to do?”

Shaking off her initial shock, Myrine focused on what she
could control. They were too late to prevent Daedric from initiating these
attacks, but maybe they could still stop him from using the aftermath to ascend
to whatever “throne” he thought he deserved.

Maybe.

“All right,” Myrine began. “We have a lot of work to do and
very little time to do it in. Here,” she grabbed a box of mobile phones from
the table. “These phones will replace the ones we lost at the safe house.
They’re already programmed with your phone numbers, so make sure you grab the
right one. Jackie, call Julian. We need to know what Daedric’s next move is.
These attacks hurt him just as much, if not more, than the rest of us, so this
can’t be his endgame. There has to be something more. Ken, get me everything
you can on Daedric’s recent and scheduled travel plans. I need to know where
he’s been and where he’s going, as well as whom he’s been meeting and talking
with. The rest of my team, get in touch with your brethren again. These attacks
are spread all over the world and we’re going to need an army to cover
everything. Commander Pierce, please have your team ready themselves. We’ll
need all forms of transportation ready at a moment’s notice and all the weapons
we can carry.”

“Yes, ma’am. Where are we headed?”

“As soon as I know, you’ll know.”

Myrine paused for a moment to clear her mind. “Daedric made
his move and it was a devastating one, but the fight isn’t over. It’s up to us
to put an end to this. He may have won the first round, but we’re going to make
sure that’s the only win he gets.”

Grainger stepped forward and spoke for the first time since
entering the hangar. “What about my wife? By now they’ve realized I’m MIA,
which means they know I helped you. She doesn’t have much time.”

Myrine could see the fear in Grainger’s eyes and understood
how he felt. She would feel the same way if it were Steve or Mirissa that was
in danger. But right now, she needed all of her resources focused on the
worldwide problem, not the life of one woman. “Bill, I know I gave you my word,
but with everything that’s happened…” she let her voice trail off, unable to
bring herself to say the words.

Steve moved to stand beside Grainger and rested his hand on
his shoulder. “Let me help him. I’m not part of your team so you won’t miss my
help, and we owe it to him to at least try.”

Myrine knew her husband was right, but that didn’t make it
any easier. She couldn’t ensure his safety if he wasn’t with her.

Commander Pierce interrupted. “Take Blackjack and Lincoln
with you. You guys worked together for a long time, and I doubt there’s much on
God’s green earth that you couldn’t handle.”

Steve nodded his thanks to his former commander, then looked
at his wife expectantly.

“All right,” she said. “Grainger, do you know where she’s
being held?”

A look of resignation fell over his face. “Yeah. She’s in
the worst possible place. Daedric’s house.”

“Here’s what I want you to do,” Myrine said. “You’ve only
got a few hours before Daedric gets back from Atlanta. Get in, get Meghan, and
get out. I want you long gone before his plane touches down.”