Firestorm: Book III of the Wildfire Saga (44 page)

She picked the lock and opened the cage, then found a t-valve and connected the hoses so the tanks could be used in tandem.
 
She peeled up the leggings on her left leg and removed the sliver of sharpened metal she'd affixed into the hollow behind her ankle bone.
 
She carefully used the tip to pry back the fake nails covering her fingertips.
 

The gelatinous glue on the back of the miniature explosives pulled on her real fingernails, but she ignored the discomfort and removed all ten nails.
 
Holding the little pieces of aluminum-Teflon nano-thermite in her hand, dropped the expedient knife and she examined her real fingernails.
 
They were discolored and sticky from the special glue she'd used, but she would fix that soon enough.
 

Using the glue residue on the back of the nano-thermite slices, she set them up around the propane tanks near the nozzles to cause the maximum damage.
 
Risking a glance out the window one more time, she stepped back and stripped off her front-zip top.
 
She carefully shrugged out of her athletic bra and pulled it over her head, shivering as her exposed flesh met the cold air of the unheated shop.
 

She looked down and peeled back the inside of the right cup, exposing a tiny electrical circuit.
 
Removing this circuit, she affixed it to the side of the first propane tank and connected several micro-filament wires to the nano-thermite pieces.
 
Peeling back the cup from the left side, she pulled out another electrical circuit and touched the miniature buttons with the tip of her knife.
 

The transmitter beeped.
 
She slipped it back into her bra, put the pads where they belonged and pulled the sports bra back overhead.
 
After readjusting herself, she pulled the half-zip top back on and enjoyed the relative warmth it provided.
 
Now decent, she repaired her ponytail and retied her shoes.
 

Take no chances.

She slipped the knife back in its sheath and tucked her suit leg back down to her running shoes.
 
She didn't bother to cover her tracks in the dust as she headed for the door.
 
When the nano-thermite ignited, she expected most of the building would end up in the bay.
 
One more glance out the dirty windows and she slipped out into the cold.
 

Acting as if nothing at all was amiss, she got back in to her running stride within seconds.
 
Before long, she headed out of town and back up the hill to the south, toward the waiting car.

She smiled as she started the engine.
 
She wanted to be there to see the look on his face when he realized 13 was the one who brought him down.
 
13.
 
She'd always hated that name.
 
A simple number, signifying her rank in the organization.
 

It was a brutally effective psychological tool designed to break her spirit.
 
She'd allowed them to do so many things to her body and she'd done so many things to others, both pleasurable and revolting—she knew she could never make amends for the sins she'd committed in the name of Reginald and the Council.
 

Fifteen minutes later, she parked the just down the road from the owner's home.
 
Making sure no one was watching, she slipped away into the trees and began the final leg of her run back to the castle.
 

From this day forward she would no longer be known as 13.
 
Nor that despicable name Reginald insisted on calling her, Svea.
 
She frowned.

Svea—
a designation, not a name.

After today, she would be who she always was—the name her parents gave her, the name of her great-grandmother.
 
A strong woman who'd survived World Wars, famine, and the Spanish Flu…

Danika Hellström ran south toward revenge.
   

C
HAPTER
35

Skye, Scotland.

USS Delaware (SSN-791), off the coast of Uig.

C
OOPER
LOOKED
AT
THE
satellite phone and read the message on the screen.
 
He slapped his hand against the nearest terminal.
 
The hollow sound caused everyone in
Delaware's
command and control room to look up.
 

"Captain, our mission just got the green light."

Delaware's
skipper smiled.
 
"It's about Goddamn time.
 
XO, take us to release depth and prep the ASDS."

"Aye, sir."
 
The XO turned to the driver.
 
"Release depth, make your dive plane 24°…"

"Blast the green light to the Brits," ordered the commander.

"Conn, Comms, aye, sir.
 
Transmitting signal now."

Cooper ignored the messages relayed back and forth across the control room.
 
His mind came to a razor-sharp focus.
 
It was go time.
 
He turned Charlie.
 
"Let's suit up."

Twenty minutes later, Cooper found himself inside the Advanced SEAL Deliver System mini-sub attached to
Delaware's
rear port.
 
The ASDS could hold 16 SEALs, their gear, and two drivers.
 
Cooper regretted he only had three men with him: Jax, Charlie, and Sparky.
 

The empty space behind their gear and weapons tolled heavy on his heart.
 
He told himself one more time he'd have time to grieve for his brothers when the mission was over.

Brenda's dead.
 
But now you'll get the bastard who's responsible.
 
Focus.
 
Mission first.

Cooper sat in the co-pilot's seat and nodded at the officer on loan from
Delaware
.
 
"Ready when you are."

"Here we go," the young ensign replied.
 
He tapped a button on the console in front of him. "
Delaware
, ASDS ready for detach."

The scratchy voice of
Delaware's
commander replied "
Roger that, ASDS, airlock is secured and flooded.
 
You're clear for detach
."

"ASDS detaching…
now
."
 

Cooper threw the glowing switch and a loud
bang-bang-bang
echoed through the mini-sub as the latch points on the docking ring below their feet unhooked from the mating surface on
Delaware
.
 
For a split second, he felt a nauseating rocking back and forth as the mini-sub caught the ocean current outside Uig Harbor.
 

He powered up the sub's electric batteries.
 
The display screen in front of him showed a diminutive radar field.
 
The ensign threw a switch on his side of the cockpit and another screen powered up, displaying pictures from the cameras mounted flush with the outer surface.
 
They saw nothing but a murky blackness.

"Looking good," Cooper noted, watching the channel map that directed them into the harbor.
 
One of the display screens changed from a black murkiness to a gray-green.
 
Bits of organic matter floated across the camera's view like dust motes.
 
In the distance, dark shapes moved—a school of fish.

"ASDS has good separation," announced the ensign.
 
"See you at the rendezvous point,
Delaware
."

"Godspeed."
 

Through the thin hull of the ASDS, Cooper heard
Delaware's
massive props spool up as the
Virginia
-class submarine slipped into deeper water.

Cooper rolled his neck inside his dive suit.
 
"Okay, let's do this."
 
He adjusted the throttle and a slight tug of gravity accompanied their forward movement.
 

"Nice and steady…" muttered the ensign.

They took almost a half hour to navigate up through Uig Harbor and around some unexpected mines.
 
Cooper had nearly jumped out of his wetsuit when he saw the first one appear on the screen.

"Mine!
 
12 o'clock—Jesus, it's big."

"I see it," the ensign had replied, cool as ice.
 

At first he thought they might be relics from World War II, when the British attempted to keep German U-boats away from the home front.
 
But as they approached the first one, it'd been clear the electronic circuitry on the outside was modern in design.
 
There was only one person in Scotland who'd desire that much security—it had to be Reginald.

"What's going on up there?" called out Charlie's voice from the cabin.

"Looks like our boy Reginald left us a few surprises out here.
 
Guess he doesn't want anyone snooping around his backyard…"

Cooper and his ensign counterpart maneuvered the mini-sub through the strong ocean currents around the mines, carefully avoiding their electromagnetic sensors.
 
The mines were top shelf tech, no doubt about it.
 

If he can deploy mines without the Brits knowing…
Cooper warned himself again to be prepared for anything Reginald might throw his way.
 

"Approaching target zone," announced the ensign.
 
"Twenty yards."

"Dropping speed," said Cooper.
 
"Rigging for station-keeping."
 
He threw a series of switches on the panel next to him.  Exterior panels slid back, powered by electric motors whirring away.
 
The hum filled the cockpit and forced them to speak louder.

"Ten yards," called out the ensign, keeping a close eye on the radar screen.
 
The video cameras brightened considerably.
 
"Comin' into some shallow water."

"I got a good signal on the camera," replied Cooper.
 
The water had shifted from the murky blackness of their drop-off point to a light blue.
 
Bits and specks floated through the water as a large school of small fish darted in front of the mini-sub.
 
Submerged boulders appeared out of the depths and Cooper watched the light reflect in a myriad pattern from the setting sun above.

"Five yards," called out the ensign.
 
"Station keeping activated."

"Let's prep for egress," ordered Cooper.
 
He shut down his terminals and unstrapped from the co-pilot's seat.

"Roger that," replied Jax.

"Target reached," announced the ensign.
 
After a few seconds, he killed the throttle and immediately the current tried to pull them back out to sea.
 
The water thrusters at the bow and stern did their job though, and after a few more seconds the mini-sub swayed, but held steady.
 

"Okay, we're parked."

"Thanks for the ride," Cooper said, flashing the thumbs up through the open airlock hatch at the rear of the crew cabin.
 

"Good luck, sir," replied the ensign.

Cooper sealed the hatch and flooded the airlock.
 
After a series of pops announced the outer hatch had opened, they coasted out of the sub and into the harbor.
 

He waited until the other SEALs exited the ASDS, then passed up gear and weapons.
 
"Let's go," he said, his voice muffled by the rebreather mask that encompassed his face.
 
He adjusted his oxygen flow and followed
 
the others toward shore.
 

Charlie took the lead, followed by Jax and Sparky.
 
Cooper took one last look at the mini-sub floating a few feet below them.
 
"We're clear, ASDS," he announced.

"Copy that."
 
The mini-sub's prop spun up, and it backed away, disappearing into the darkness.

Cooper glanced out into the dark depths of the unknown.
 
Delaware
was out there somewhere, waiting like a mother duck for the ASDS to return safely.
 
He turned and followed his men to shore.

It was time to go hunting.

C
HAPTER
36