Off the Grid (A Gerrit O'Rourke Novel) (47 page)

G
errit heard a blast at their level. One of the doorways breached.

Willy.

“Alena, sounds like they blasted their way to where we left Willy. Keep Joe covered. I’ll check to see who’s coming our way.”

He dashed through the front until he came to the door separating him from where they left Willy. Reaching the doorway, his back pressed against the cinderblock wall to the left of the door, he reached down and quietly turned the knob with one hand. He slowly pulled on the door, opening it just a crack to allow him to see into the next room.

A man yelled across the room. “Gerrit. Hold your fire and stand down. Beck and Jack sent us to save your butt.”

Relief swept through him as he opened the door wider. “Show yourselves.”

A man in camouflage gear rose from behind one of the consoles and walked toward him. “The place is secure. All hostile fire has been dealt with. What’s your status?”

“Main target dead. One friendly in need of medical help. Half dozen of Kane’s technicians are cuffed and cornered in this room.” He pointed with his chin.

“Don’t shoot!” Willy shouted, rising from behind a computer console, hands held high.

“And that,” Gerrit said, “is our computer genius. Whatever you do, don’t shoot him.”

Gerrit propped the door open. He returned to where Joe still sat in the chair. His uncle seemed weak, badly shaken.

“How you feeling, Joe?” Gerrit’s chest tightened as concern broke through his resolve. How much pain and injury had Kane inflicted on his uncle? Anger gripped him like a steel vise.

Joe grimaced, his face even whiter under the harsh glare of a fluorescent bulb. “I’m breathing, Gerrit. That’s a whole lot better than what I thought might happen.”

Patting his uncle’s shoulder, Gerrit looked at Alena, standing next to them. “You’ve got some explaining to do.”

She gave him a hard look, then shouldered her rifle, abruptly turning away without saying anything.

He started to follow, but Joe tugged on his sleeve. “Gerrit, wait. Hear me out. I heard what that creep said.”

“Is it true?” Gerrit asked, trying to mask his anger, staring down at his uncle. Only his hands shook. “Is my father’s blood on her hands?”

Footsteps could be heard drawing near. Several men approached with a stretcher. “These guys are going to check you out and then move you to the chopper.”

Grasping Gerrit’s wrist, Joe clung to him for a moment. “You have to hear the whole story, son. We all make mistakes. Alena has changed. Just give me a chance to explain.”

A medic appeared and began a cursory check of Joe’s medical condition.

“We’ll talk later. Just let these guys take care of you and I’ll see you topside.”

Joe tried to push them away. “I’m just fine. I don’t need to—”

“Do me a favor, Joe. Let them check you out and get you upstairs. You’ve been through a lot.” Gerrit backed away, allowing the men to cluster around Joe as they began to care for him. Seeing that his uncle’s needs were taken care of, he turned and retraced his steps through the building.

A few minutes later, he reached the front doorway and walked outside. Willy joined him. “Jack and Beck arrived at Sea-Tac and will chopper over as quick as they can. They asked for you to stay put.”

Alena stood on the helipad, staring out beyond the cliffs to the sea below. She seemed alone in the midst of all the activity. As he looked at her, Gerrit could not shake Kane’s last words. A few minutes later, she walked toward the cliff’s edge, never looking his way.

He heard men grunting behind him and turned to see two men carrying Joe on a stretcher. As they passed, Joe yelled out, “Put me down for a moment. I need to talk to my nephew.”

The man in the lead looked at Gerrit for direction. “Just give us a minute. Then he’s all yours.”

Joe tried to sit up as they laid the stretcher on the ground. Gerrit squatted and held him down. “Just relax. Let these guys do all the work.”

His uncle gave him an exasperated look but lay back, looking up. “We don’t have time to go into all the details, Gerrit, but you need to know that you can trust Alena. That everyone—including me—makes mistakes. She has more than made up for her past sins.”

“And the death of my father and mother,” he said, raising his voice. “Has she made up for that?”

Joe tried to raise himself again. “That’s what I am trying to tell you. Kane recruited her many years ago. She didn’t know what he and the others were all about. She thought they represented the U.S. at the time.”

“So he used her to kill my folks? Your brother?”

“Hear me out. At first, she thought your father was a threat. That Kane—through his government contacts—had been sanctioned to neutralize that threat.”

“Neutralize the threat? Give me a break. Dad was never—”

“I know that. And later, so did Alena.”

“What do you mean
later
? After my parents were killed?”

Joe shook his head vigorously. “That’s what I’m trying to get through your thick head. She came over to our side before your parents died. But by then, it was too late.”

Gerrit said nothing, waiting for his uncle to continue. One of the choppers lifted off and began heading toward Seattle.

Alena had moved closer to the cliffs, standing on the ridge looking down. Joe saw her standing in the distance and pointed toward her. “She was sent in by Kane to get close to Thomas. To find out where your father might be vulnerable so a second team could come in and take him out if need be.”

“So she spied on them? Betrayed Mom and Dad?”

“Would you put a cork in it for a minute and let me finish?” Frustration tightened his uncle’s features. “She got to know Thomas and your mom. They even invited her over for dinner. That’s where she first saw your photo and heard stories about you.”

Gerrit clenched his jaw, remembering the peace his parents’ home always seemed to bring when he visited. When he and dad weren’t arguing.

“She came to learn that your dad was not a threat to anyone, and that what Kane and the others were doing was actually a threat to our country. She warned your father about the danger, and he contacted me. Right after that, Kane’s men took me to that high-rise and had me do a midair dance.”

“So how did my father get lured into the garage? Why didn’t he have a security detail on him?”

“There was security. But he slipped away from the detail to be with your mother. He wanted to have a private dinner alone with his wife. It was a stupid mistake and it cost them their lives.”

Another thought came to Gerrit as he listened. “Does Alena know who triggered the bomb. Who actually killed my parents?”

Joe shook his head. “She was feeding information to Kane until she came to know and care for your folks. She cut off all communication with Kane and began her own preparations to live off the grid. Once she heard of the bombing, she hunted me down and helped me disappear. That’s when I contacted Travis, and he put me in contact with Beck Malloy.”

Gerrit’s shoulders sagged. His search for the actual killer would still continue. Sure, Kane called the shots, but Gerrit wanted to get his hands on the person who literally built and detonated the bomb. He wanted to find that person and put a bullet in his worthless brain. With Kane dead, he might never find out the truth. Or who, higher up, might have been involved.

He motioned to the medical team. “Can you guys get my uncle on the chopper? Need to have him checked out at a hospital.” Joe started to protest, but Gerrit waved him off. “I’ll come to visit you as soon as Beck and the colonel get here. Just relax and let these people take care of you.”

Resigned, Joe leaned back. “Talk to Alena, Gerrit. Let her tell you her side of the story.”

Before answering, Gerrit glanced toward the cliffs and saw her still standing on the edge, peering into the night. “I promise. Now, just let these guys take care of you.”

Joe seemed satisfied. “Okay guys, let’s get this over with.” They scooped him up and made their way to the second chopper.

Washington, D.C.

S
tuart leaned back in his banker’s chair, the red leather creaking under his weight. He glanced at the clock; it was now three hours after midnight. Still no word from Kane. Other reports came in about a firefight at the lab in Washington. Outcome unknown.

He fingered the phone for a moment before dialing his contact in Seattle. The phone rang three times before he heard someone pick up on the other end.

A man’s voice, tense and alert, answered. “Yeah?”

“This is Stuart.” He waited for a moment to let the name sink in. “Kane’s associate.”

“Yes, sir. What can I do for you?”

“Do you have any word on how our friend is doing?”

“Kane?”

“Exactly.”

“I’ve been monitoring radio transmissions and sent a text message a while ago. Got nothing. Now I’m copying that federal authorities have been alerted. FBI. ICE. Secret Service, and CIA. I think our friend and his people may have…fallen.”

Stuart thought for a moment before speaking. “I need you to sit tight. Take no chances. I may have you pick up where Kane failed. Are you up for the job?”

Stuart could almost hear the greed in the man’s voice. “You bet, sir. I will have to close things down here first. I assume you want me to relocate to your area.”

“Yes. As soon as possible. We need to start assessing the damage and moving forward on our other projects.”

“Give me a week.”

“Two days.” Stuart hung up.

He sat back in his chair, waiting; he knew another call would be coming in at any moment. He grimaced as his phone vibrated on the desk. He picked it up and saw
The White House
identified on its face.

Stuart listened to the caller speak, then cleared his throat. “Project Megiddo has been launched, but the main facility has been compromised.”

The caller rattled on as Stuart patiently waited for the man to stop speaking. “No. We need to regroup and push on. This is just a temporary setback. We are taking all necessary steps to sanitize the situation.”

Again, the caller launched into a tirade Stuart knew he had to endure. “Yes, sir. I promise you, there will be no blowback. I have already taken steps to make sure this never happens again. Even if they try to live off the grid.”

He quietly hung up and stared out into the night.

The war has just begun
.

Gerrit watched the second helicopter lift off, carrying his uncle to the nearest hospital in Seattle that handled medevacs. Beck and Jack should be here soon.

As darkness swallowed up the helicopter, his gaze caught a figure standing on the edge of the cliff.

Alena.

He took a deep breath and walked toward her. She stood with her back to him. He drew near. “Hey, they just airlifted Joe out of here kicking and complaining. I think he’ll be all right.”

She didn’t say anything, nor did she move.

“I think we put a real dent in Kane’s operation—or whoever’s pulling his chain.”

“There will always be someone else trying to kill us.” Alena’s words seemed laced with bitterness and tiredness.

“Then we just keep on fighting. We can’t give up.”

She finally turned toward him, grief and regret filling her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Gerrit.”

He shrugged. “Joe gave me a quick rundown on what happened. That you tried to save my dad.”

She ran a hand through her hair, sadness seeming to be pressing down on her. “I tried to think back on all the information I gave Kane about your dad. Before I came to know your folks. It haunts me that that information might have been used to kill them.”

“How did you get mixed up with Kane?”

Alena faced the water again. “It is a long story, Gerrit. And not a very pretty one.”

“I need to know, Alena. I need to know if we’re going to continue to work together.”

She looked back, inquisitive. “You would still work with me? After…”

He let her words wing their way into the night, thinking about what her question implied. “All I know is that you tried to save my father. That you turned away from Kane once you learned the truth about him. I need to know about Kane and his group. To help me put everything in perspective.”

Alena looked at him for a moment, then turned to gaze at the water once again. “Kane found me in Russia. I was much younger, and my boyfriend—if you want to call him that—used me in his gang activities. Used me to get information. To help the gang set up scores. And he taught me how to fight. How to use weapons and to create false identifications. How to exist in a society in which violence and power were the only commodities others respected.”

“How did Kane find you?”

She turned toward Gerrit. “His group—whoever he was working for—would use my boyfriend’s connections to get information and access to Russian organized-crime leaders. My
boyfriend
used me in these operations, and I caught Kane’s eye about the same time my boyfriend was killed.”

“I think he had plans for me way back then. Got me out of the gangs by arranging a visa for me and my folks to move to Israel. Once there, I was recruited into the Israeli army at Kane’s direction. Spent a few years learning how to fight, and then an opportunity came up to work intelligence. Again, I think Richard pulled the ropes.”