Double Vision (14 page)

“What?” Kate asked in the same low whisper.

He swiped at his face. “My nose burns like fire and my eyes are watering so bad I can hardly keep them open.”

“It gets worse deeper in.”

He looked up, then forward. “I see what you mean about the lighting. It’s a perfect fit, all right. I’d bet it’s square center in the narrow spectrum.”

She knew it, of course, but hearing him verify it made her feel more confident of her observations. When it came to GRID or Thomas Kunz, it never hurt to have validation. Actually, validation was essential. So much under their domain seemed real, but wasn’t. “Notice anything else?” She wanted him to specifically mention the salt. He’d noted the burning, but not the salt itself.

“Yes,” he whispered. “I realize we’re dealing with salt water, but it’s not stagnant in here, so that can’t be it—”

“It?” she asked.

“The reason the tang is all wrong.” Perplexed, he frowned. “It’s not typical for salt water. That’s all. Maybe it’s a reaction with something else in here.”

“Tang?”

“You know, the salt tang,” he said. “It doesn’t smell salt water salty. It smells…different.”

Exactly. Kate’s heart thumped hard. “Saline saturation is off the charts. Maybe that’s the difference?”

“Maybe so.”

A bit disappointed he’d let go of it that easily, she walked on, mindful of trip wires, alert to the slightest sounds and movements.

Kate stopped near where she’d been the first time, when she’d killed Parton. “This is about where I was when I ran into trouble.” She looked over at Nathan.

He paused beside her. “They came up from out of the water?”

“Yeah.” Kate nodded, and moved on, edgy, afraid of getting waylaid again.

Minutes later, she stepped down.

Something bumped into her foot.

“Oh, God!” She came to a dead stop. If it was a pressure mine, she’d tripped it.

“What is it?”

“Back up, Nathan. Now.”

“Why?”

“Now!” she whispered harshly.

He moved back.

She waited a few beats, half expecting it to explode, but it didn’t.

“Kate, damn it, answer me!”

“I hit something.” Looking down, she spotted a cylinder. An oxygen tank.

Her stomach pitched and rolled over. “Nathan, tell me this isn’t Douglas’s.” If he’d been trapped this far inside for days and there were fresh gouges in the rocks outside, then GRID operatives had been through here. The odds of his evading them would be astronomical. Surely they had found him.

Nathan bent down and double-checked Kate’s search for wires or any type of explosive device that could’ve been attached to the canister.

“It’s clear,” Kate said.

Taking her at her word, he flashed his low-level light on the tank and saw the markings he’d hoped not to see. “I wish I could tell you it’s not his.” He looked down at her, the dread in his voice reflecting in his eyes. “But I can’t. It’s Douglas’s tank.”

“I’m so sorry.” Bitterness and regret thickened Kate’s voice. She didn’t have to say it. Nathan’s upset proved he already knew it. Their mission to find Douglas had changed.

Odds had increased dramatically that their search and rescue mission had now become a recovery.

Kate moved through the cave, every instinct remaining on high alert. She steeled herself, fully expecting to come up on Douglas’s body at any moment.

Normally focusing all of her energy on the task at hand was easy. But finding Douglas’s tank, fearing it signaled his death, had upset her.

It had more than upset Nathan. He had issued the order: Douglas had been in this cave because Nathan had authorized him to investigate. And, gauging by Nathan’s expression and body language, the responsibility at having done that bore down hard on him. Merciless. Unrelenting. Unforgiving.

“Are you okay?” It was a stupid question. Of course, he wasn’t okay. But she had no idea what to say to make things any better. She couldn’t offer false hope. That would be the worst kind of insult, and Nathan deserved better. “I didn’t mean it like that,” she tried to explain the unexplainable. “You know what I mean.”

Gratitude shone in his eyes and he clasped her upper arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I know, Kate. I’ve been in similar positions many times. You want to help, but never know what to say.”

She nodded.

“It’s a damn shame, but it never gets easier.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe that’s a blessing. What kind of people would we be, if it did?”

“You wouldn’t be the man you are.” She lifted a hand and stroked his jaw. “And the man you are is very special.”

He brushed a kiss to her cheek. “Thank you.”

They moved on, silent now, dragging their feet to avoid splashing and continuing to watch for traps. The water dropped down to chest level and calmed to the rare ripple.

Something felt strange, different, and it pricked at Kate’s instincts. She looked over at Nathan, feeling the need to warn him. About what, she had no idea. But he was already looking at her.

He nodded in silent agreement, that he, too, sensed something amiss, and they kept moving.

Far beyond the portion of the cave Kate had explored, they approached another bend, and Kate sensed the danger growing stronger. She lifted a hand to Nathan, opened her senses and felt someone lurking in the darkness. Motioning, she swept the left wall with her light. Nathan swept the right, as tense and wary as she. Still nothing appeared out of the ordinary, yet dread dragged at her stomach, warning her to retreat. Her heart rate kicked up a notch and she pushed on around the bend.

A man’s voice came out of the darkness. “Don’t move.”

N
athan grabbed Kate’s shoulder, pulling her behind him.

Endearing gesture, but totally unnecessary. “Nathan.”

His gaze fixed on the darkness, he didn’t seem to hear her. “Nathan, I think it’s okay,” she whispered again, a smile tugging at her lips.

He darted her a glance, saw her smile, and looked at her as if she’d lost her mind.

“The voice,” she said. “He sounds like Douglas!”

Shock widened his eyes, then his Adam’s apple bobbed hard and the fear to believe settled on his face. “Douglas?” Nathan whispered loudly. “Is that you?”

“Commander?”

“Yes!”

Douglas moved out of the darkness through a deep shadow and stepped into the beam of Nathan’s light. “It’s me. Don’t move. You’re about to trigger a heat sensor in the warning system. It’ll let them know you’re here.”

Nathan let out a sigh so full of relief it warmed Kate’s chilled body. She felt it down to her toes. Douglas moved closer, walking in the beam of light.

Nathan gave his back a healthy whack, the sound lightly echoing. “Damn, I’m glad you’re not dead.”

“Me, too.” Douglas grinned. “Did you find my tank?”

“Yes,” Kate answered, considering that an odd question.
How did you find me?
That would have been a more typical thing to ask. Him asking about the tank set her teeth on edge. “What happened?”

“High tide. Knocked me right off my feet and into the rocks. I hit my head. I’m fuzzy from there, but I wasn’t knocked out. Anyway, the next thing I knew, I was stuck on a rock ledge over there—” he pointed into the darkness from which he’d come “—with no oxygen tank. I knew it had to be too far to swim out without one, so I waited for Search and Rescue to come get me.” He smiled. “I don’t suppose you have a cold beer or a cheeseburger in that fanny pack.”

That smile had Kate examining him closely. It seemed too cheerful and, well, too rested. “Afraid not.” Suspicion seeped deeper into Kate. Douglas didn’t look dehydrated or half-starved. He didn’t look haggard. If he’d spent the better part of three days in this cave, wouldn’t he look all those things and more? And Douglas had been bringing up the rear, diving with his team. He hadn’t been on the surface swimming, susceptible to the tide and rocks, and he hadn’t been inside the cave exploring, he’d been outside of it, still with the team.

Too many inconsistencies. Too many aspects of his story just didn’t fit the facts. A hollow pit formed in her stomach and fear filled it. And the inevitable question smothered the joy she’d felt on seeing him and replaced it
with doubt. Doubt that carried regret because it would soon sink its hateful talons into Nathan, too.

Was Douglas really Douglas?

She had to know the truth—the sooner the better. “We need to get out of here and get you some food and water.” She sent Nathan a pointed look, silently insisting he go along with her suggestion. “We should get his report now, while it’s fresh in his mind.” And before they ventured any further. “And notify Search and Rescue.”

A strange look crossed Nathan’s face. “Right. That’s appropriate protocol.” He shifted his attention back to Douglas, now cautious. “We’ll share my tank.”

The shift in him was subtle but distinct to Kate. She watched closely to see if Douglas picked up on it. He didn’t. And that had the hollow pit in her stomach expanding. The real Douglas wouldn’t have missed that. He knew Nathan well; the change would have been glaringly obvious to him.

Nathan buried his notice adeptly. He reached into his pack, pulled out a spare hose, attached it to the emergency valve on his tank and then passed the loose end to Douglas. “Try to conserve. We should be okay, but it could get close.”

“I’ll lead the way,” Kate said. “Give me two minutes.”

“I’d feel better if we all stuck together.” Nathan didn’t like Kate’s going ahead of them, but nodded slightly to let her know that he would respect her decision.

Douglas wasn’t as amiable. “We’ll come, too.”

Her deep suspicions, now strengthened to certainty, signaled a warning. She was damn good at her job, and the real Douglas knew that. She outranked him and he’d never question her orders, even if they’d been issued in a conversational tone.

Trust no one.

In her mind, she again heard Colonel Drake’s warning, and listened to it. “You heard what I said. Two minutes.”

Douglas looked ready to object. Nathan interceded with a hand at Douglas’s shoulder. “We’ll wait.”

Given no choice, the man backed down. Nathan paused, the lines in his face deeper than they had been only minutes ago. “Two minutes, Kate. No more.”

They exchanged a look that told her his concerns about Douglas matched her own and his worry about her leaving. “Be right behind me,” she said, then headed out.

Before reaching the entrance, Kate noticed another smaller chamber off the main cave. Ducking inside she quickly noted the sensor. She moved closer for a better look. Embedded in the rock wall, there was nothing high-tech about the sensor, but it was effective. If it picked up on a heat source, it triggered a flashing red light and foghorn. Kate imagined the sound, if not the light, would echo through the entire cave.

Something splashed behind her. The noise was far too loud and distinct to be the seasoned Douglas or Nathan. Kate stiffened, stilled.

“Son of a bitch, get them!”

Gaston? He’d issued the order, but to whom? Were Nathan and Douglas being pursued, or were they pursuing someone else?

Unsure, she sank down until the salty water threatened her nose, then slid deep into the shadows to the darkness and waited, her heart thudding, adrenaline punching through her veins, her mind skittering in a thousand different directions at once.

“Damn it, Douglas, explain this screwup?” Gaston shouted. “He’s supposed to be dead. What happened? And where the hell is Katherine Kane?”

Oh, God, no! No!
Kate’s stomach revolted and her chest went tight. Gaston, a double agent for the CIA who had been inserted undercover inside GRID for a year, who had access to senior levels of top-secret information that Thomas Kunz would—and had—killed to get his grimy hands on, had fallen into the biggest trap carrying the highest risks possible for a covert operative positioned with hostiles long-term.

Gaston was a traitor.

A
battery of fear rammed through Kate’s body; more fear than she thought she could hold. She’d been in tight spots, bad situations with minimal survival odds, but this was worse. A thousand times worse. Her heart pounded, her hands shook. Nathan. They had Nathan.

“I asked once. This is your last chance to answer me. Where is Katherine Kane?”

“Kate is dead, Gaston,” Nathan said sharply. “Your man Douglas here killed her outside the cave.”

Nathan knew for fact Douglas was a double? Or was he so repulsed by Douglas’s turning traitor like Gaston that he just wished it so?

The Douglas with Gaston didn’t deny it.
Why not?

“Do you realize how pissed Kunz is going to be?” Gaston asked, obviously talking to Douglas. “Fifteen months of surgery and intensive training, and you didn’t even make it out of the damn cave before blowing it.”

“I didn’t blow it,” Douglas said. “You just blew it for me, you stupid bastard. You just confirmed Forester’s suspicions.” A scuffle, splashing. The sound of fist hitting flesh. “I could kill you.”

Kate moved, bent on seizing the opportunity to intervene and free Nathan, but the splashing stopped.

“Instead, explain why you killed Katherine Kane. You know Sandross wanted to talk to her. Kunz specifically ordered her not to be killed until after Sandross talked to her.”

Listening to Gaston talk about her murder so blandly made her queasy. At least now she knew what Kunz had in mind. Torture à la Marcus Sandross and then murder.

Odd. Kunz really had it in for S.A.S.S. and for Kate specifically, since she’d blown up his Iranian compound. So if he loves to torture and he hates her, would he pass up the opportunity to torture her himself and give the pleasure over to his second, Marcus Sandross?

Only if he wasn’t here.

Kunz must have used the time with the mines to bug out. Definitely leaving the dying to his minions. The coward. Yet Kate was happy she wouldn’t have to face his torture, too.

“I can’t believe you,” Douglas’s double said. “You ruined me—totally ruined me—and then act like it’s nothing. Do you realize what you’ve done to me? When I walk back inside Sandross is going to take one look at Forester and blow my frigging head off.”

Disappointed that the distraction she needed from the scuffle was over, Kate sank back into the shadow to the darkness and swallowed hard. Douglas had been sidetracked by his exposure. That could be why he hadn’t denied killing her, but more than likely, he didn’t dispute Nathan’s rendition of her whereabouts to try to save his own ass. Kunz and Sandross would be more ticked about
her escaping than about Douglas’s exposure. And, she remembered Kunz telling Moss not to kill her unless he had no choice, Douglas need only say that he had no choice. Since she was dead, he brought Forester for Sandross to interrogate.

Damn. It sounded too good. It would work. If Nathan cooperated by keeping his mouth shut. But to resolve all their problems, they only had to kill her and Nathan. A “killed him first” and then “she gave me no choice” would do it.

The simplicity of it terrified Kate.

“Just shut up and let me think.” Gaston was afraid. Kate heard it in his voice. “Okay. Okay. Kane’s dead and we’ve got Forester. We can pull this out.” Then he said to Douglas. “She pulled a knife on you. You took her out, kept Forester alive for questioning. Keep your mouth shut about exposure and we’re on point. You open it and Mr. Kunz has no further use for you. Mr. Sandross will kill you just for the fun of it.”

“And I have you to thank for that.”

“Done is done, man,” Gaston said. “What do you want?”

“What the hell difference does it make now?” Douglas shouted. “Just radio in the frigging report and let’s get out of here. Caves give me the creeps.”

Nathan interceded. “I want to make a deal.”

Deal? What kind of deal could Nathan possibly be making with these jerks?

“Talk fast.”

“Okay, Gaston, here it is,” Nathan said. “You tell me where my Douglas is, and I won’t tell Kunz or Sandross that Douglas’s double has been exposed.”

“What’s to keep me from just shooting your ass right here? You’re supposed to be dead, anyway.”

“Nothing. But I’m inside the cave. Don’t you think Kunz might want to know who else knows about the compound? Obviously someone has alternate plans for me or I would already be dead.”

“Take the deal,” Douglas said.

Détente between Nathan and Douglas’s double. Nathan wouldn’t expose Douglas’s double to Sandross and Douglas’s double wouldn’t reveal Kate wasn’t dead. As deals went, it wasn’t bad. Mutually assured destruction was on the line.

“And neither of you so much as mentions my name on any of this. It was all done before I got here,” Gaston said. “Otherwise, Mr. Sandross gets the whole story from me.”

The whole story included the fact that Kate wasn’t dead. Gaston suspected it, but Nathan knew it and so did Douglas’s double. So bottom line, Nathan had traded Kate’s life for Douglas’s double’s life.

“So where is my Douglas?” Nathan asked.

“He’s in the compound,” the double answered.

“In this cave, right?”

“Yeah. You’ll be seeing it soon enough.” The double then told Gaston, “Call it in.”

Kate held her breath. If Gaston did it, Nathan had given her the greatest gift that in her present situation she could be given. Dead women don’t attack. GRID wouldn’t expect her to enter the compound. She’d have the advantage of surprise.

Dead, she stood the best chance of rescuing Nathan and the real Douglas alive.

“Mr. Kunz?”

“Is unavailable. It’s Sandross. Go ahead, Gaston.”

“We’ve got a floater outside the gate, sir. Female. Bringing one in upright. Male. He was inside. Interrogation on compound status with the enemy is suggested, sir.”

“Is this tangent of the mission secure?”

“Yes, sir,” Gaston said. “It’s secure.”

Could Sandross hear the tremor in Gaston’s voice? It came through loud and clear to Kate, but Sandross was on the other end of a radio transmission. If he did hear it, he’d likely blame it on the equipment.

“Retrieve the floater and bring in the upright,” Sandross said.

Gaston replied, “Yes, sir.” His relief was as obvious as the tremor.

Now Kate could move. Now she could take out Douglas’s double and Gaston and rescue Nathan. She retrieved her dart gun and loaded it with a poison-tipped dart, then moved out. She’d have to get around the bend to get off a decent shot.

Just before she was to make the turn, heavy splashing echoed through the cave. She stopped, pulled back, hugging the rock, and then peeked around the edge of the rocks.

Six lantern lights came through the cave, stopping when the men reached Nathan, Gaston and Douglas’s double. Frustration set in. Eight-to-one odds sucked, and Gaston was holding Nathan’s weapon. He had a knife, unless they’d gotten that, too, but a knife against a gun still gave her lousy odds. Especially factoring in that the real Douglas was still inside.

“Good timing, men,” Gaston said. “Moss, you and Carson retrieve Kane’s body. It’s somewhere outside the cave. We’ll meet you back at the compound.” Gaston pushed at Nathan’s shoulder. “Let’s move it.”

They started moving toward her. Kate dropped back into the darkness. Douglas wouldn’t dare to so much as glance her way; it’d mean his death. She could follow them
in, but the way their luck was running, Marcus Sandross would be waiting for Nathan’s arrival. That meant his guards would be with him. Better to wait for the two men retrieving her body to return. That would up her odds a little.

Seeing Nathan surrounded by GRID operatives and traitors had her heart in her throat, launching a battle with her brain. Maybe she should take them out now.
Damn it, why hadn’t she carried a sound suppressor for her gun?

“It’s going to be interesting,” Nathan said. “To see what’s going on down here.”

A cue to her not to do it, to be patient, let them pass and later follow. How had he known her head and heart would be at odds? Would his have been?

Gaston harrumphed. “Don’t get your hopes up, Forester. You won’t be seeing much of anything down here.”

“Probably not,” Nathan said, deliberately sounding defeated. “Probably not.”

He knew Kate would come after him.

Clearly he also believed they’d both end up dead.

A shudder rippled through Kate, warning her he well might be right.

Kate stayed hidden in the shadows, her back to the rock wall. It’d been more than two hours since Nathan had left surrounded by GRID members and traitors, and during each minute of that time she had imagined a thousand things—all fodder for nightmares—that could be happening to him. Unfortunately, every damn one of them was a real possibility, considering what was known about Kunz’s brutal tactics and Sandross’s violent tendencies.

In the distance she finally heard the awaited sound of
men moving through the water, coming closer. Minutes later, two of them made the bend and came into full view.

The one on the left had to be Carson. Lean and muscular, he outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds. Any hand-to-hand combat with him would have to be short, fast and lethal. Otherwise he’d clean her clock. The second man on the right was Moss: big and beefy and, unfortunately, hard to kill.

Having inflicted a gut wound that should have killed him but had failed to even knock him out of commission, she’d be an idiot to engage in hand-to-hand combat with him again. Avoiding that, she raised her dart gun, took aim, and was about to squeeze the trigger when Moss spoke through his lip mike.

“Command Center.”

“Go ahead, Moss,” a man said.

“We’re inbound.”

“We, who?”

“Carson and me, sir.”

Sandross, Kate thought. Sounded like him and Moss had called him “sir.” He had done the same thing during their first encounter.

“You’re clear.”

Remembering the heat sensor, Kate lowered the gun. Rather than return it to its holster, she held on to it. It would save her seven seconds of reaction time. She couldn’t kill either of them without the remaining one sounding the alarm to Sandross. She’d have to follow them into the compound proper and hope that Sandross assumed the heat sensor was picking up warmth from her corpse. Sandross hadn’t asked if they’d located her body, and Moss hadn’t volunteered the information.

Moss and Carson passed by. She gave them a little lead,
as if they were pulling her body by a rope, and then followed, submerged just beneath the surface.

Minutes later, the men entered a well-lit, open area. Kate hesitated, knowing she was taking a huge risk either way—if she went into the light or if she hung back in the shadows. Certain she could inflict more damage before being caught from hiding in the shadows, she slid into the darkness and examined the vicinity to get her bearings. In case of battle, she needed to know her options.

Several steps led out of the water to a flat, concrete deck about forty feet long and twenty feet wide. Along the left wall, metal spikes had been driven into the rock wall. Dozens of wet suits and diving gear hung from them. To the right, down the wall, a line of twenty or more oxygen tanks rested in cradles formed by a metal rack that had been bolted into place. A long plastic sign hanging above them read Full Tanks Only.

Carson and Moss stood on the deck, stripping off their wet suits. Carson hung his on a peg, near the others. Moss was slower, but finally moved and hung his, too.

Nervous, Gaston appeared at the door to the right of the oxygen tanks. “Well, where’s the body?”

Carson answered. “Tide must’ve taken her out. We didn’t find a thing.”

“You’re not serious.”

“Yeah, I am.” Carson shrugged. “If she’s there, she’s been swept out into the open gulf already.”

“Damn it.” Gaston turned and started to walk down what appeared to be a major exit point.

Beyond the exit, all Kate could see were doors. Looked like a typical wide hallway.

Gaston paced and cursed, then finally spoke to Carson and Moss. “Well, we can’t put it off. Let’s go report it.”

“I hope Mr. Sandross is in a good mood.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Moss told Carson. “Would you be in a good mood if you were told this?”

“No,” Carson admitted. “Just wishing, man. Sandross doesn’t have good moods, anyway.”

Gaston sighed. “All I can say is, she’d better be dead or Sandross will rip out our throats.”

They were afraid of him. Clearly, all three of them were terrified of telling Sandross they’d failed.

Kate rubbed at her nose. It was already raw and she swore it had to be about to bleed from the strong salt smell. The scent had been potent where she’d waited for Moss and Carson to return, but near the deck, it was stronger still. Salt water is salt water and it filled the place. So why did the salt smell so much stronger here than in the tunnel of the cave? Overwhelmingly potent and strong.

The question ran rampant through her mind and caused an avalanche of others. Was the real Thomas Kunz in this compound? Did he have a double inserted here? Gaston appeared to have turned traitor, but appearances could be deceptive. Had he changed sides or was he a loyal CIA operative? She just couldn’t be sure. Were there any hostages here? Where were Nathan and the real Douglas? What was happening to them?

And toppling onto all those questions came yet another. One that had her shaking down to the soles of her feet.

Was she savvy enough to figure all this out?

All those old fears of not being good enough rose up in her like a phoenix from ash and she silently cursed, silently swore she’d give her left boob right now for a tactical team to assist her.

But none came. As always, she was on her own.

She scanned the walls for cameras or other signs of
monitors or alarms, and saw none. Kunz and Sandross had to feel substantially secure here or they’d never agree to be in the same compound at the same time. It was customary to keep the head honcho and his second-in-command apart for security reasons, to ensure the organization’s ability to continue ongoing efforts in case one of them was killed.