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  Xander continued looking at Marke and smiled. It felt good to be back on the right side.

  * * *

  Nicks glanced out the safehouse window and saw three SUVs pull up. Armed operatives poured out of the vehicles and quickly surrounded the building.

  “Just for my peace of mind, tell me something,” he said. “Are NSA extraction teams normally armed like they’re invading Fallujah?”

  “Not generally, no,” Adele said. She handed her rifle to Tennyson. “Watch the boys.” Then she joined Nicks at the window.

  “In that case,” Nicks said, “there’s a damn good chance we’re about to get assassinated.”

  Everyone began to panic, except Serena, who quickly and calmly started grabbing her gear, readying for war.

  Becky looked like she was going to throw up. “Oh God. It’s happening, isn’t it? They’re going to start shooting at us, aren’t they?”

  “Let’s go!” Adele said.

  Serena cut Talon and Hawk free. They all had a common enemy now.

  “I thought we were the good guys!” Talon said.

  “No,” Serena said. “The good guys are coming to kill us.”

  “You know me,” Hawk said. “Wind me up and point me in a direction.”

  Serena bent down and yanked open a secret door in the floor that led down into the bowels of the building. The door was flush with the floor, and if you didn’t know what to look for, you wouldn’t know it was there.

  “This shit is getting real, isn’t it?” Becky said. “What do we do?”

  “Be where the bullets aren’t,” Serena said.

  They quickly entered the escape tunnel, and Serena closed the door behind them and locked it from the inside. As they climbed down a metal ladder, she took out the phone Xander had given her in case of emergency. She was pretty sure their current situation qualified. She pressed nine, just as Xander had instructed her to do, and waited for someone to answer.

  * * *

  Marke kept her gun trained on Xander, her hand unwavering.

  “Sadly, the terrorist activated Pandora’s Box one last time before we could stop him,” she said. “You and your entire team were lost in the blast, along with the device itself. If the world thinks Pandora’s Box is gone, then they’ll never know we’re using it to spy on them.”

  “So you’re just another tyrant,” Xander said.

  “No. Patriot.”

  “No,” Xander said, baiting her. “Pathetic.”

  Marke smiled grimly. “Let me educate you on the difference.”

  She fired point blank three times, and Xander dropped.

  9

  “Xander!” Xiang shouted. “Xander Cage!”

  Marke walked up to Xander’s prone body to make sure he was really down for the count. He lay there, unmoving, not breathing.

  “They say it’s the last great adventure, Cage,” she said. “Be sure to send a postcard.” She turned to Donovan. “Clean this shit up. Engines hot, wheels up in two!”

  “Take care of it, boys,” Donovan told his team, and then he followed Marke up the stairs to the Command Center. The NSA operatives busied themselves with preparing for take-off and spread throughout the cargo bay to attend to various tasks.

  When everyone was out of earshot, Xander drew in a gasping breath.

  “Damn, Becky,” he said softly, “that’s some body armor. What a rush, like skinny-dipping at the North Pole.”

  Xander lay only a few feet from where Xiang was cuffed, so while Xiang could see that Xander was unharmed, none of the NSA operatives—most of whom had gone into the bay’s weapons cage—had noticed. Xiang grinned and spoke in a near-whisper. “You really do live for this shit, huh?”

  One of Donovan’s team members was working close by. Xander gave Xiang a wink and then closed his eyes. Xiang got the message.

  “Hey,” Xiang shouted to the operative, “I told you you had no manners.”

  The man turned to look at Xiang, clearly irritated. He walked over to where Xiang was cuffed, flexing his hands, eager to force Xiang to shut his mouth. When he was close enough, Xiang said, “Your mother ever teach you to zip up your pants?”

  The man fell for it. He looked down at his crotch just as Xiang kicked him in the balls. The man’s eyes bugged out, and he fell to the ground. Xander caught the man before he could hit and punched him in the face, rendering him unconscious. Xander lowered him to the floor and began patting his pockets.

  “Come on, get me out of this shit,” Xiang said.

  Xander found the operative’s keys, removed them from his pocket, and held them tight in his hand so they wouldn’t jingle. He rose to his feet and motioned for Xiang to be quiet so he wouldn’t alert the other men working in the hold. So far they hadn’t noticed what had happened to their teammate, but Xander knew that wouldn’t last long. He went to Xiang, hoping the NSA monkeys all carried a generic handcuff key. They did. Xander found it and freed Xiang. He then took out his phone and made a quiet call as he felt the Globemaster begin to roll down the runway.

  * * *

  Serena and the others managed to escape the safehouse through the secret tunnel, emerging in the multilevel electrical substation next door. The facility appeared empty, but that was no surprise. Generally substations were supervised and controlled remotely. A perfect place for an escape tunnel to lead to, she thought. No one around to see you emerge from a hidden tunnel.

  They peered through one of the windows on this level and saw the NSA operatives. The team was evidently unaware of the tunnel because they continued to guard the safehouse.

  “What do we do now?” Nicks said. “We don’t have a ride, and if we try to leave on foot, those guys’ll spot us for sure and start shooting.”

  Serena was trying to think of a plan where the NSA operatives finally got wise to what had happened. Maybe one of the assassins had seen them looking through the window, or maybe they’d finally remembered that safehouses were equipped with escape routes. Whatever the reason, the operatives regrouped and started coming toward the substation.

  “Get away from the windows!” Serena warned.

  Everyone drew back just as the NSA operatives began firing. Bullets shattered windows, sending glass shards flying.

  Before any of them could return fire, Serena’s phone rang, and she answered it.

  “Yeah?”

  “Serena, you there?” It was Xander.

  “We’re a little busy right now.”

  “Marke’s got Pandora’s Box and you’re all loose ends,” he said. “She’s gonna drop a satellite right on top of you.”

  Serena quickly relayed the news to the rest of the team.

  “Not if I jam the signal!” Becky said. She’d brought a duffle bag filled with goodies from her lab back on the Globemaster, and she removed a device that looked like a cell phone with external wiring and something that looked like a tuning fork protruding from the top. She pressed a button and the device activated with a soft humming sound.

  “Becky’s gonna jam the signal,” Serena told Xander.

  “What’s the device’s range?” he asked.

  Serena relayed the question to Becky.

  “Straight up?” Becky said. “Fifty thousand feet.” Serena gave Xander the information.

  “Okay, then I’ll keep the plane low,” he said. He disconnected and Serena put the phone away.

  The assassins were keeping the pressure up, continuing to fire through the windows. The bullets kept the team pinned down on one side of the level, but so far none of them had been injured.

  “I need a power source to make this work,” Becky said.

  Serena pointed to the other side of the level. “There’s a generator of some sort over there, isn’t there?”

  Becky glanced at where Serena pointed.

  “Then go!”

  Becky’s eyes widened. “Me? Over there? By myself?

  “Go!” Serena repeated. “Now!”

  Becky swallowed, working up her courage. �
�Okay, okay, okay, I’m going!”

  But before Becky could make her move, a wall exploded as an SUV slammed into it from the other side. The vehicle struck with such force that it broke through the wall and roared into the substation. The SUV came to a screeching halt and NSA operatives opened the doors, hopped out, firing.

  “Cover me!” Becky shouted. She grabbed her duffle bag and started running toward the generator.

  Serena and the others opened fire on the assassins while Becky reached the generator and started working on patching the signal jammer into it. The NSA operatives likely had no idea what Marke was planning or else they would’ve gotten the fuck out of here long before now.

  Come on, Becky, she thought, work fast!

  * * *

  Once Xiang was free, he and Xander quickly worked out a plan. Xander would head up to the Command Center to deal with Marke and Donovan, while Xiang would take out the operatives and soldiers working in the cargo bay’s weapons cage. Xander gave Xiang a fist bump, then he headed for the stairs as Xiang moved silently forward. Xander wished he could stick around and watch Xiang kick everyone’s asses. The fight would be epic!

  * * *

  “I thought Xander Cage was supposed to be this incredible badass,” Donovan said as he passed by her on his way to the cockpit, carrying a metal box. “Three bullets, that’s all it takes?”

  Marke ignored him, and Donovan continued to the cockpit. She was trying to get a signal on Pandora’s Box, and she was having trouble. Frustrated, she went over to a tech working on a console. “Are you getting this interference?”

  Before the tech could answer, Xander came crashing through the door. The tech stood up—whether to attack Xander or make a run for it, Xander didn’t know—and he grabbed the man and slammed him into the console. Sparks flew from the damaged equipment, and when Xander let go of the man, he slid to the floor, unconscious. Marke had lunged backward when Xander took out the tech, and she bumped into another console, hitting it hard enough to make her lose her grip on Pandora’s Box. The device fell to the floor and skittered away.

  Xander started forward, intending to grab the device, but Donovan stepped out of the cockpit He’d put on the Exo-Gloves, and he activated them now. He gave Xander a wolfish grin.

  Exo-Gloves humming with power, Donovan charged toward Xander, eyes shining with bloodlust.

  Xander ran toward him, diving into a slide and using his arm to flip Donavan. He hit the ground hard.

  Slamming his fists, Donovan threw Xander a furious look.

  “You shouldn’t have done that.”

  * * *

  More NSA operatives entered the substation, coming through the hole in the wall made by the SUV and adding their bullets to those of their associates. Now that they were being attacked on two fronts, the team had no choice but to split up and seek cover. Nicks went with Tennyson, Talon with Hawk, and Serena and Adele joined Becky at the generator.

  Becky was working feverishly to integrate the signal jammer into the machine and link her laptop to the device, using various tools from her duffle bag. But the work was proceeding slowly.

  “Becky needs more time!” Serena called out.

  Several assassins came their way, and Serena and Adele held them off as Becky hunkered down and kept working, bullets ripping all around her. The woman kept making little bleating sounds, almost like a frightened goat, but regardless of how terrified she was to be in the middle of her first firefight, she never stopped working. Serena was impressed by the woman’s hidden reserve of strength. We’ll make a badass out of you yet, she thought, and kept firing.

  Adele, using a handgun instead of her rifle, mowed down two operatives heading for the generator as Serena shot a man approaching from a different angle. There was a catwalk around the next level up, and Serena saw an agent standing there, aiming right for her. She spun left and shot him and as he fell to his death, she spun back around and took out two more shooters on the upper level to her right.

  * * *

  Nicks and Tennyson crouched in a corridor entrance, one on either side, using the corners of the walls for cover. A half-dozen dead agents lay on the floor not far from where they were. Nicks thought he saw one move, and he tried to fire his 9mm at the guy, but it clicked empty. The man remained still, and Nicks decided it had only been his imagination.

  “Tennyson, I need a mag!” he called out.

  “For God’s sake!” Tennyson reached into his pocket, grabbed hold of a clip, and tossed it to Nicks. The man reloaded, whirled around, and shot an NSA agent who was about to fire on Tennyson from the other end of the corridor. The agent went down, and Nicks drew in a shaky breath.

  “Too much firepower against us!” he said.

  Tennyson grew quiet, and he looked out at the dead operatives. Nicks saw where he was looking: at an ammo bag slung over the shoulder of one of the corpses.

  Tennyson turned to Nicks and grinned. He threw his gun down, took out his mouth guard, and put it in.

  “I’ve got a plan!”

  Nicks realized with horror what his friend was about to do. “No!” he shouted, but it was too late. Tennyson ran out of the corridor and headed for the ammo bag. Agents on the upper-level catwalk began firing at him, and just as Tennyson reached the bag, a bullet struck his right leg, and he fell forward. Nicks didn’t think. He charged out into the open, firing up at the men on the catwalk. He made it to Tennyson, grabbed hold of the man’s wrist, and dragged him back toward the corridor, firing at their enemies all the way while they fired back. Bullets whizzed past him, but he gave them no thought. All he cared about was getting Tennyson to safety.

  When they made it into the corridor, Nicks dragged Tennyson close to the wall, and then checked to make sure he hadn’t been hit anywhere else. It looked like he was okay, all things considered. Tennyson had managed to grab hold of the ammo bag, and he clutched it to his chest, his face scrunched up in pain.

  “From now on, I plan, you execute,” Nicks said. “Got that?”

  Tennyson’s only reply was, “Ow!”

  “Let’s get out of here.” Nicks helped his friend to stand, and he supported him as they made their way toward the opposite end of the corridor.

  * * *

  Adele ran out of ammo as a trio of agents closed in on her. She threw down the useless weapon and looked at the two men.

  “Really? I thought we were friends.”

  Before either could react, she ducked around a corner and drew her hunting knife. No way in hell was she going to go down without a fight.

  “Leave it to these assholes to bring guns to a knife fight,” she said softly to herself.

  As the first operative rounded the corner, Adele rammed the blade into his neck and yanked it free. The man cried out as his blood sprayed the wall, and she grabbed hold of his arm and tossed him aside. He fell to the floor, where she knew he’d bleed out within seconds. The next two agents had heard their companion’s cry, and they came around the corridor, guns up and ready to fire. No way was she going to be able to take them both on armed with just a blade, so she turned and began running in the opposite direction, keeping her head down to avoid having it shot off.

  She heard a gun blast, and she thought that was it, that her part in this battle was over. She wasn’t sad. She’d lived life her way, and she had no complaints. Her only regret was that she wasn’t going to be able to help Xander see this mission through to the end. I hope Serena takes good care of you, big guy.

  But when she looked up, she saw Serena standing in the corridor in front of her, holding the Glock that she’d given her. Adele realized then that the shot she’d heard had come from ahead of her, not behind. Serena had just shot one of the men chasing her! Realizing that she was in the way of Serena’s next shot, she hit the ground and slid forward, and Serena fired again, taking down the last agent.

  As Adele got to her feet, Serena ran to the dead agent, and disarmed him. He had two pistols—one in his hand, one in a holster—and she t
ook both. Adele sheathed her knife, and when she joined Serena, the woman tried to give the Glock back to her, but Adele took one of the agent’s weapons instead.

  Serena smiled at her. “Everyone needs backup, right?”

  Adele returned the smile. “Guess so.”

  Before the two women could say anything else, more agents entered the corridor, coming from both directions now. Adele and Serena started firing, each in opposite directions, weaving and spinning to avoid being shot, performing an elaborate dance of gunfire and bloodshed as they took down one agent after another. And still more came.

  Adele saw another pistol tucked in the back of Serena’s pants, and she grabbed hold of it. Now both women had two guns each, and they pressed their backs together, pointed their weapons at both ends of the corridor, and unleashed a hailstorm of bullets upon the oncoming agents. They fired until all four weapons were empty, and then they lowered their arms. Dead agents filled both sides of the corridor, and there were no more in sight.

  Adele allowed herself to think that maybe it was over. Until, of course, a whole new set of the assholes came running toward them from one end of the corridor. Without any ammo, the women had no choice. They turned in the opposite direction and hauled ass out of there.

  * * *

  Becky finally managed to get the signal jammer hooked up to the generator, and she’d connected her laptop to the device. As near as she could tell, everything was functioning perfectly: the generator was generating, the jammer was jamming, and the computer was computing. Of course, she’d need to do a few tests before she knew for certain that—

  She heard the scuff of a boot, and she turned to see one of the NSA agents staggering toward her. The man carried a submachine gun, and at first she thought he was going to kill her, but his chest was riddled with bullet holes and blood ran from the corner of his mouth. She saw that he’d left a long blood trail behind him as she’d walked, and she realized that he’d been walking aimlessly after having been severely wounded. He probably wasn’t even aware of her presence.

  But then the man made a strangled noise in his throat, blood gushed from his mouth, his eyes rolled white, and he collapsed to the floor, dead. He lost his grip on his weapon when he fell, and Becky—freaked the hell out to see someone die right in front of her—snatched up the submachine gun and moved away from the generator, looking for cover.