Firestorm: Book III of the Wildfire Saga (60 page)

Cooper turned back to Reginald, who'd brought himself up to his elbows and spat a glob of blood on the stone floor.
 
He squinted up through one half-closed eye and snarled at Cooper.
 
"So this is how it ends, eh?
 
You plan to drag me in like—"

Cooper stared down at Reginald.
 
"You killed her."
 
He dropped the knife at his feet, the blade rattling against the floor.
 
It sounded loud to him, as if the fire, the battle outside, the explosions—none of it made any noise anymore.
 
His heart pounded away in his chest as his knife clattered against the stone floor.
 
He only saw Reginald's face, aristocratic, bloodied, guilty.

"Brenda's dead…because of you," Cooper whispered.

"A lot of people are dead because of me," laughed Reginald.
 
He spat a tooth out and gingerly fingered the gap in his mouth.
 
"I don't—"

"What're you doing?" asked 13 as she stepped up next to Cooper.
 
"
Kill
him!"
 
She picked up the knife and held it out to Cooper.

He placed his hand on her chest and pushed.
 
She staggered back and he ignored her sputtering protest.
 
His eyes still locked on Reginald's, Cooper clenched his fists, making his knuckles crack.
 
"Dr. Brenda Alston.
 
Major, United States Army."

Realization dawned in Reginald's expression along with a new smile, made more menacing by the blood smeared across his aquiline face.
 
"Oh, so
that's
what's got your knickers in a twist.
 
She was the one who cracked Boatner's code…so, she was your wife, then?"
 
Reginald studied Cooper's face for a second.
 
"No, not yet…girlfriend then—I can see it in your face.
 
How quaint."

Cooper's hand moved to his thigh.

"I take it you'll beat me into a bloody pulp now?"
 

Cooper unstrapped his sidearm.
 
His hand felt the cold grip as he pulled the Sig P226 free of its holster.

"Cooper!" warned Charlie.

Reginald's eyes followed the movement as Cooper drew his weapon.
 
"You know, I never found out if she lived or died.
 
My operatives told me they shot her—she put up a feeble resistance to stop—"

Cooper took a knee and smashed the pistol against Reginald's head, directly over the goose egg.
 
Reginald howled and rolled over onto his stomach.
 
Cooper ignored the pain that screamed from his right leg.
 
Dropping to his knee had severed whatever remaining sutures were holding his leg together.
 
He felt the muscle tear under his wetsuit.
 

Reginald cursed and dry heaved as he struggled to his side.
 
Behind him, Cooper heard Charlie yelling at him to stop.
 
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Lady Brunner had gone still as she watched.
 
13 took a hesitant step closer.

"Finish him," she whispered.

"Oh no," coughed Reginald.
 
"I'm far too valuable to his masters.
 
He'll be the good dog and drag me in.
 
Perhaps not unscathed," he said, gingerly touching the bloody welt on his head.
 
"But I can see it in your eyes—you won't kill me."
 
He laughed.
 
"Your woman put up a better fight than you did.
 
She at least took out one of my operatives."

Cooper's fist clenched the gun aimed straight at Reginald's forehead.
 
The end of his barrel wavered only half an inch from the blood-slick skin.

Brenda's dead.
 
Because of you.
 
Conflicting emotions roared through Cooper's mind.
 
The rage he felt upon learning of Brenda's death, the loss, the emptiness, the sorrow, it all swirled around.
 
He remembered Brenda's smile then—her green eyes flashing in the light.

"Go ahead," wheezed Reginald.
 
"Do it."
 
He craned his neck up and pressed his forehead against the tip of Cooper's pistol.
 
"What's the matter?
 
Don't have the stones?" he taunted.
 
"I wouldn't have any problem pulling the trigger, you weakling," he snarled.

Cooper felt his finger tighten on the trigger.
 
Just another ounce of pressure and the trigger would engage and put a hole through Reginald's brain.
 
God, he wanted that.
 

Cooper's body tensed, and every fiber in his arm strained to pull the trigger.
 
His hand felt like a block of steel.
 
He could not squeeze the trigger, no matter how much he wanted to.

"Don't do it!
 
This isn't it you!
 
Cooper!
 
We need him alive!"
 
screamed Charlie.
 
Cooper could tell by the sounds Charlie made that he was throwing himself against the rubble pile to break through and stop him from making a mistake.
 
"Don't do it!" he yelled again.

"You can't, can you?" asked Reginald.
 
He smiled and relaxed, falling away from the pistol.

Cooper tried to move back and got tangled in his own feet before falling on his ass, the gun still aimed at Reginald's face.
 
His
heart threatened to tear itself through his chest.
 

Why can't I do this?

The blood roared in his ears, thoughts and images of Brenda flashed across his mind.
 
The rage that burned inside screamed to just squeeze the goddamn trigger—to open a cavern in Reginald's head.

Do it.
 
Do it…

Reginald laughed again.
 
"I hear a helicopter.
 
Is that my ride?"

Do it!

Cooper clenched his teeth, eyes squinting through sweat and blood.

"Don't do it!" called out Charlie.
 
He was almost through the rubble pile.
 
It was now or never.

Cooper saw Brenda, the way he'd seen her when they were last together.
 
The soft light of the computers in the abandoned lab cast a blue glow across her skin.
 
She looked up at him and smiled.
 
It was not just a happy smile, it was a smile of love.

I can't do this.
 
She wouldn't want it.

Cooper closed his eyes and lowered the pistol, defeated.
 
Reginald laughed.

"I
knew
it!
 
Looks like she was the better man!"
 
Reginald laughed before clutching his side in pain.

Cooper didn't care.
 
Charlie would be through the wall in seconds
 
and take custody of the prisoners.
 
Reginald would be hauled off to a CIA rendition facility somewhere and never see the light of day again.
 
He would be interrogated—possibly tortured—and pumped for every ounce of information he had.
 

The Council was finished.
 
A heavy weight lifted off his shoulders as he finally released the rage.
 
Somewhere, he knew Brenda smiled at him.

In a blur of movement, 13 stepped forward and crouched down next to Cooper in a swirl of blue silk, snatching the pistol out of his hand.

"What—?" he began.

She stood and took one step toward Reginald then paused, the pistol pointed at the floor.

"I knew I could count on you Svea," Reginald said, sitting up.
 
"Now be a good girl and turn around."

She did.
 

"Put a bullet through this git's head so we can get out of here," Reginald said, staring at her back.

Cooper watched 13’s face and waited.
 
He had traveled halfway across the globe, hunting the man who had caused Brenda's death.
 
He was injured and lost track of the number of people he'd killed to get here.
 
He'd faced his moment of truth and hadn't been able to kill someone outside of his orders, no matter how much the bastard deserved it.
 
He knew Brenda would be proud that he hadn't killed an unarmed civilian in cold blood, but he also knew it would take him a while to be okay with himself.
 

Most of his Team had been killed in the pursuit of the madman who sat bleeding before him.
 
All he'd had to do was pull the trigger and win justice for them all, yet he couldn't do it.
 
He'd failed.
 
He'd failed Brenda, his country, his Team.

He looked up at 13, standing before him, still holding the pistol.
 
Cooper didn't care if she shot him—it was over.
 
Charlie would bust through the wall behind him any second and the EVAC team would arrive, loaded with British commandos.
 
It didn't matter anymore.
 

13 examined the pistol, then turned back to face Reginald.
 
"My name is Danika."
 
Her finger slid onto the trigger, but it still pointed at the floor.

"What?"
 
Reginald laughed.
 
"You my dear, are
Svea
."
 
Reginald tried to get up, but paused when 13 pressed the gun to his head.
 
"Enough of your theatrics.
 
Give me the gun."

“My.
 
Name.
 
Is.
 
Danika
.”

"No!" roared Charlie.
 
Cooper heard his XO struggle against the rock pile.
 
"Coop, you gotta stop her!"

"Your friend needn't worry," Reginald said calmly, eyes on Cooper.
 
"Svea here won't shoot me—she's been part of my team since she was a teenager.
 
Haven't you dear?"

"My name is Danika Hellström,” 13 said, still staring down at Reginald.
 
“My father's name was Tomas Hellström.
 
My sister…"

"Coop, he might know about California!" cried Charlie.
 
"He could tell us about the Koreans—"

Cooper heard Charlie, but couldn't take his eyes off 13.
 
The gun was still pointed at Reginald’s head.

"That was a long time ago, Svea,” Reginald soothed.
 
“You were a different person then—you belong to me now.”

"My—”

"Your name is
Svea!
" yelled Reginald.

"My name is Danika," she said in a cold, toneless voice.
 
She pushed the tip of the barrel into the skin on his forehead, forcing his head back.

Reginald’s eyes bulged and the cords in his neck stood out as he screamed, "You are who I tell you to be, you filthy little—"

The gunshot rang out and Cooper watched in slow motion as Reginald's body collapsed to the floor in a spray of blood and gristle.
 
The smooth, unblemished skin of his face was ruined by a perfect circle of charred skin in the middle of his forehead.
 

"No!" yelled Charlie.

Embers and sparks drifted down through the swirling smoke like a soft, growing snowfall.
 
Reginald's sightless eyes stared up, his sneer framed in his own blood.

13 helped Cooper to his feet as his knee threatened to collapse.
 
"I don't…" he began.

She flashed a tired smile at him.
 
"
You
were the better man."
 
She looked deep into Cooper's eyes and nodded.
 
"She'd be proud."

"God
damn
it!" roared Charlie as he raced up and pointed his rifle at Reginald's body.
 
"Why the fuck did you let her do that?"
 
He turned and swung the weapon at 13.
 
"Drop the gun!" he roared.
 
The pistol clattered to the ground but she didn’t raise her hands.
 
She held her chin up and stared back at Charlie.

Cooper hobbled in front of Charlie's rifle, placing a hand on the barrel in forcing it down.
 
"Stand down, sailor."

"What?"
 

Cooper kept his grip on Charlie's rifle and turned his head to face 13.
 
"Go.
 
This is your only chance."

"Why are you doing this?" she asked.
 
"You don't owe me anything."

"For her."

Danika Hellström stared at him for a few long seconds, then nodded and disappeared through the smoke without another word.
 

Cooper turned back to Charlie.
 
"You didn't see anything—didn't make it in time."

"What?
 
I—"

 
"
I'm
taking the heat for this.
 
You get me?"

Emotions surged across Charlie's face as he tried to gain control.
 
His eyes flicked from 13's receding form to Cooper to Reginald's body and the growing pool of dark blood that spread out around the back of his head.

"Why?" he whispered, the tension released from his body at last.
 
He lowered the rifle and stood there, waiting for an answer.

"Because I'm done."
 
Cooper looked up at the hole in the ceiling and watched the fire as it tickled the roof at the far end of the building.
 
"This whole place is going to come down soon.
 
We need to go."