Finding North (24 page)

The satellite information
hadn’t changed. It looked as if a single human being was sitting or
lying inside a barnlike structure placed over what had been the
missile silo. The radar confirmed that something was below the
structure, but the heat scans seemed to indicate that, outside of
the single individual, no one was there.

Raz relayed his
information to the team via their earbud communicators.

“
On location,” Joseph
said.

“
Visual,” Matthew
said.

One at a time, the rest of
the team reported in.

“
No activity,” Joseph
said.

“
There’s a low radio
frequency,” Zack said. “Emanating from building.”

“
Hutchins?” Matthew
asked.

“
We’re assessing at this
moment,” Vince said.

“
Team two, you are a go,”
Joseph said.

Raz started the sedan, and
they drove toward Ellenburg.

“
Checking satellite air
defense,” Sergeant Dusty said from Plattsburg International
Airport. They had left him behind, where he could have better
access to the Internet and military resources. He would be able to
run interference for them if they got into trouble.

“
Hutchins?” Matthew asked.
“You have ten minutes until the Fey gets here.”

“
Yes, sir,” Vince
said.

Alex and Raz sped down the
dark, two-lane highways through the lush farmland. They passed
large farmhouses surrounded by enormous trees.

“
In receipt of satellite
air defense,” Vince said.

They joined the larger
highway and started through Ellenburg Depot. They had just passed
the Blue Haven Campground when Vince said, “That’s an
affirmative.”

Vince thought the low
radio frequency was a trigger to an explosive charge of some
kind.

“
Abort?” Raz asked. He
turned right on Bull Run Road and started toward the missile
site.

They could hear Vince,
Matthew, and Joseph talking in the background. Raz turned onto the
short dirt road with the appropriate name of Missile Silo
Road.

“
Completing mission unless
otherwise advised,” Alex said.

“
Affirmative,” Joseph
said.

“
We have you on visual,”
Joseph said.

“
Your target is moving,”
Sergeant Dusty said. “Back and forth, in a straight line. Possibly
pacing.”

“
Roger that,” Raz
said.

Raz slowed and parked the
car in the open space created by the demolition of the
missile-control area. An abandoned tanker truck sat on the edge of
the open space. The cab had lost its tires a decade or more before,
and the tanker trailer was on its side. Alex knew that Joseph and
Matthew were supposed to be behind the truck. She glanced over to
see if she could see them. She couldn’t.

A few other roofless
buildings were melting into the landscape. The only building that
was still standing was a large, hand-hewn barn. According the
property records found by the industrious PJ, the building had been
built sometime in the 1800s. It had been on the property when the
Air Force came in. The engineers didn’t have the heart to take it
down, so they left it.

Raz came around the car
and let her out. Under the bright full moon, she threw her arms
around his neck. He lowered his head. They held each other long
enough for anyone on the property to respond. When nothing
happened, Raz stepped back and took her hand. They walked toward
the barn.

“
Gorgeous,” Alex
said.

“
It was built in the
1800s,” Raz said.

“
By the Amish?” Alex
asked.

“
Built by hand,” Raz said.
“I don’t think anyone’s sure who exactly built it. Isn’t it
fabulous?”

They stopped a few feet
from the barn to appreciate its beauty. Raz put his arm around her
shoulders. He leaned in and kissed her cheek. She
grinned.

“
How did you find it?”
Alex asked.

“
You were talking
about . . .” Raz leaned in as if to finish his
statement. She gave him a promising look. “I’m always up
for . . . you.”

Alex giggled.

“
What do you say?” Raz
asked.

Alex ran to the barn and
tried the door.

“
Go away,” a man yelled
from the other side. “They’ve set a bomb. They wired it into the
security system. There’s no way out.”

“
It’s locked,” Alex
said.

Raz came right behind her.
To anyone looking, it would look like they had started their
romantic tryst. His larger body covered Alex checking the door for
laser security. There were laser beams at their feet and mid-body.
There was no way to open the door without setting off the
alarm.

“
Laser beam three inches
off ground and three feet,” Raz said.

“
Josh? Is that you?” the
man’s voice asked. “They can see you. You have to go.”

“
I won’t leave you,” Raz
said.

“
They’ve poisoned me,” Dex
said. “I’ll be dead soon either way. They’ve set the silo to blow.
They can see you.”

“
Fey Team, we’ve made
contact,” Alex said. “Target states he’s been poisoned.”

“
Copy that,” Joseph said
in their ears.

“
Do we know with what?”
Colin asked in their ears.

“
Dex, what did they poison
you with?” Raz asked.

“
Ricin pellet under the
skin,” Dex said. “We had them here. They knew it. Even knew where
they were. Shot me when I wouldn’t let them in.”

“
Ricin,” Alex said so that
Colin and MJ could hear.

“
Copy that,” Margaret said
in their ears.

“
Move away from the barn,”
Vince said in their ears.

Alex spun in
place.

“
I forgot,” Alex said to
Raz.

She ran back to the car.
Raz walked halfway back to the car to see what she was doing. She
pulled a picnic basket from the trunk of the car.

“
What’s that?” Raz
laughed.

“
Picnic!” Alex grinned at
Raz. “And a surprise!”

He smiled back. He took
the basket, and they ran back to the barn.

“
Fey Team, on my mark,”
Alex said.

Raz set the picnic basket
on the ground. Alex bent over and pulled out a champagne bottle. He
popped the cork. She bent over again.

“
Move away from the door,”
Raz yelled to Dex.

“
Now!” Alex said. She
pulled a shotgun from the picnic basket.

“
Are you away from the
door?” Raz asked.

“
Yes,” Dex
said.

As Trece, White Boy, Troy,
and Royce ran to the barn, Alex fired in a circle in the door. Each
shot blasted a hole through the wood. By the time she’d completed
the circle, the team was there. She and Raz stepped
aside.

Trece kicked in the wooden
circle. Careful not to hit the laser beams, Royce helped Troy into
the barn. Royce followed Troy with Trece’s help. It took Troy a
moment before he convinced Dex to lie down. He and Royce carried
Dex to the hole. Trece and White Boy took Dex’s shoulders while
Troy and Royce held his feet.

“
Go, go, go,” Vince said.
“They have activated . . .”

Chapter
Eighteen

Raz grabbed her hand, and
they sped across the parking lot to the tanker trailer. Trece threw
Dex over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

“
Ten,
nine, . . .” Vince counted down.

They made it to the edge
of the tanker truck.

“
We’ve been able to block
the signal,” Sergeant Dusty said. “I repeat, radio signal is
blocked.”

Alex and Raz made it to
the other side of the tanker truck. They slid into the drainage
ditch, where the rest of the team was waiting. White Boy jumped
into the ditch, followed by Trece and Dex. Colin and MJ grabbed Dex
from Trece and began assessing his condition.

“
Five, four, three,
two . . .” Vince continued the count.
“One.”

They held their breath and
braced against the explosion. Nothing happened. Trece let out a
hoot, and they laughed. MJ numbed the area where the pellet had
entered Dex’s chest, and Colin worked to clean the site.

“
Well done!” Alex said as
she stood up. “We need to . . .”

The barn exploded, sending
tiny shards of wood and debris. Alex fell forward. Raz grabbed her
and pulled her into the ditch. Colin began operating on Dex. Vince
and Leena moved in front of them to cover them.

The tanker truck slid
toward and hit a concrete gutter left from the missile silo. The
tanker wobbled as if it were going to roll onto them. Trece jumped
up to push the tanker into place. White Boy, Royce, and Joseph
joined in. The air filled with dust, dirt, and the sound of tiny
shards of wood hitting the metal tanker truck. All the while, Colin
continued to work on Dex.

There was a secondary
explosion, and the men lost their momentum on the tanker truck.
They jumped back into the ditch. The Fey Team scattered. MJ dragged
Dex down the trench, and Colin followed. The tanker truck rolled
over the ditch and down a small embankment. Alex and Raz’s rental
car tumbled end to end until it landed roof down in the next field.
The barn caught fire in the second explosion. A siren wailed from
deep in the earth and was met by the sound of a fire truck’s siren
coming in their direction from Ellenburg.

“
What was in the silo?”
Alex yelled to Dex.

“
Nothing,” Dex
said.

“
Nothing?” Alex
yelled.

“
I removed everything,”
Dex said. “I don’t know what the fuck my father was thinking, but I
don’t have time to come up here and . . . play with
my daddy’s toys. I have a job to do.”

“
Yes, you do,” Alex
smiled. “Any idea what they were looking for?”

“
Some book,” Dex said. “I
felt like I should know the author’s name,
but . . .”

Dex shrugged.

“
The
Gadfly
?” Alex asked. “E. L.
Voynich?”

“
If ‘E’ stands for
‘Edith,’ then that’s it,” Dex said. “But Dad didn’t keep any books.
He hoarded every other fucking thing. No books.”

“
Did you tell them that?”
Alex asked.

“
Not a chance,” Dex said.
“I wasn’t about to give them reason to kill me
outright.”

“
Thanks,” Alex
said.

“
Roll call!” Joseph
yelled.

“
You need to cover up!”
Matthew yelled.

As the team yelled their
names, they pulled on their balaclavas and scarves. The entire team
had made it through the blast alive and unharmed. Joseph dropped a
small duffle bag at Alex’s feet. She and Raz quickly changed into
their military fatigues with scarves and balaclavas to cover their
faces.

“
Got the pellet!” Colin
yelled. “Hot damn!”

The Fey Team cheered. MJ
sedated Dex. They set up a small oxygen tank and an IV to help
flush the ricin out of his system. His only chance of surviving the
ricin was to endure its effects. They could only support his life.
The Volunteer Fire Departments from Ellenburg and Ellenburg Depot
arrived.

Covered by the night and
the fire, the Fey Team slipped off through the field. Because Dex
was better off with them, Colin, MJ, Raz, and Royce carried Dex
through the field. They had just reached their transportation truck
when the barn exploded again. The heat of the explosion lit the
foot-high corn stalks in a neighboring field. They turned to watch
the volunteer fire crew fight the fire.

Alex climbed onto the
truck to get a better view.

“
Sir?” MJ pointed. “They
have injuries.”

“
The fire’s already
spreading beyond this field,” Joseph said.

“
They just planted the
fields,” Margaret said. “The farmers will lose their crop this
year.”

“
I must register my
concern,” Matthew said. “We are a military team, and this is a
civilian concern.”

“
Why are you registering
this concern?” Alex asked.

“
It’s my job,” Matthew
said.

“
Thank you, Captain,” Alex
nodded. “We’re here. We may as well help fight this
fire.”

“
Fey Team,” Matthew said.
“Mount up. We’re taking the truck.”

“
Jakker?” Joseph said via
the feed. “Bring transport and water. This could take out the
entire county.”

“
Let’s do this thing,”
Matthew said.

They piled into the truck
and drove to the site. Still wearing their balaclavas, they joined
the volunteer firemen in fighting the fire. The Fey Team grabbed
extra gear from the fire crews and went to work. Thick black smoke
and steam covered the entire lot, making visual command impossible.
Matthew and Joseph worked with the crew chiefs to place the Fey
Team where they were most needed. They shouted ordered into their
ear bud communicators.