Absolute Doubt (Fallen Agents of T-FLAC Book 1) Page 30
This was neither the time nor the pace to ream him out, but later, later. She let out the sigh constricting her chest. There'd be no later. Clearly it didn't matter what anyone else said or suggested. Ash wouldn't listen. She refused to watch it play out, which was laughable in a macabre way. He hadn't given her that option, nor, she knew, would he. The self-righteous decision was moot.
That didn't mean she wasn't vibrating with the need to yell at him. River's fingers tightened around the steering wheel as she focused on the road. Move, move, move. Damn it, she couldn't press the pedal any harder to coax out more speed.
“Would you prefer them to be shooting at us right now?” Oliver asked from the back seat, matching Ash’s irritation with his own mild version of sarcasm. "They had rocket launchers and automatic weapons. I'd think you'd be grateful we weren’t all killed the second you showed your face."
River, already stretched like a rubber band with tension, was becoming increasingly more pissed with both men. They were the ones starring in this shit show. She felt like one of the stagehands in a play, unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight. No rehearsal, hell, she hadn't even been given a script.
Being shot at was the least awful thing on the agenda right now. "I'm sure your penises are the same size guys. Lighten up."
"It's illogical to hire a fucking army," Ash said, wondering at the night’s events. “only to have them all disappear at the same time. Their job was to stay and protect the facility. So the fact that they left now is damned suspect.”
River thought so, too. She refrained from adding her two cents as she concentrated on keeping the vehicle on the narrow, rutted jungle road while going flat out in the amber-colored darkness. She shot a glance at the rearview mirror. Nothing behind them except black night. No showy explosion. And she was going too fast to see any animal eyes glowing in her taillights.
She gave herself a mental headshake. When that mountain blew, there'd be no time to observe anything in the rearview mirror. They'd all be toast.
Tick, tick, tick.
Oliver leaned forward, his forearm resting on the back of her seat, pushing into the back of her shoulder. In the rearview mirror, River observed the familiar tightening of her brother's lips even in the sketchy, dim lights from the dash.
Oliver was holding something back. Even as kids, she knew that face meant he wasn’t telling the whole story. His IQ was high genius level, one-sixty-plus. He hated explaining himself to people he considered beneath himself intellectually, including their parents, River, and pretty much everyone else he'd ever met.
His elbow jabbed her shoulder. "Can't you go any faster, for God's sake?"
She was pushing the high-powered car to the max, foot flat on the accelerator, staring unblinkingly at the road, willing more speed. “Not without some divine intervention. Know any saints we could pray to?” She flexed her cramping fingers on the wheel she held too tightly, feeling as though a fire-breathing dragon rode her tail. Tick, tick, tick.
Trees and thick clumps of ferns flashed by in the headlights as she took one of the curves way too fast. The car shook and tipped slightly, threatening to flip. "Franco was holding Oliver. Oliver, tell him."
Asher addressed her brother without taking his eyes off the road. “Dr. Sullivan, are you going to let your sister talk for you? If Xavier called off his pack of rabid Russian watchdogs, why didn’t you leave as well?”
“Apparently it bears repeating. I was a prisoner. I didn't know they were gone until River showed up. Before that, I knew even if I had walked out of there, I would have just been eaten in the jungle.”
"That's not true," River said, just as Ash said, "Why detain you?"
"Believe me, I wanted to leave. He had other ideas. I was working on a new delivery system for E-1x.”
"That so? Something other than the Nut?"
"Look," her brother said, going directly to his I-hate-being-questioned-by-anyone mode. "I worked for four months on formulating the most expedient, least invasive explosive devices to mine emeralds. Then I discovered the natural explosive in a vein in the mine. A natural, plentiful, substance, easy to mine, and in high demand. As soon as I did that, Franco closed down the emerald operation, and marketed E-1x to the highest bidders. Terrorists all over the world." Oliver paused as River pulled a wheelie around another curve.
"I protested the use." His voice was monotone, mildly annoyed. Which meant he was annoyed big time, and was possibly about to have a meltdown. "He assured me he was selling it to countries who’d benefit from the ability to mine safely and cheaply. I realized almost immediately that was bullshit, and what they were doing was criminal. I wanted no part of it. I tried to leave. Franco put a gun to my head and told me the only way I was leaving was in a body bag. If you'd seen the look in his eyes you would've believed him, too. He’s held me prisoner for two and a half years."
Wow. That was the longest speech she'd ever heard from her brother. Being taciturn with bouts of total silence was Oliver's usual default. River remembered the small waterfall coming up on the right, and adroitly avoided a sheet of water in the road produced from the continual overspray. The tires skittered, spinning out, before regaining traction.
Too bad Oliver’s story was total bullshit. River knew Ash would see through it without her help. Her brother would soon be hanging himself with his lies. River glanced at him in the rearview mirror, trying to warn him to tell the truth. Asher concentrated on the ribbon of road ahead as though he were the one driving.
"Franco scared the shit out of me. He's a psychopath. I just kept my nose down and did my job."
"Do you have access to his customer base? Who has how much? And do you know how to defuse this shit?" He said it as though he damn well expected Oliver to tell him everything. Maybe not now, this very second, but sooner rather than later. River knew her brother well enough to know the other thing Oliver hated: anyone telling him what to do. He had his own way of doing things, and his own timetable.
“And if I do? What happens to me then?”
“Tell the truth. Tell us everything you know, and we’ll protect you from Franco's associates. T-FLAC has an impressive reach.”
"Franco's dead. So how the hell can you protect me from people whose identity you don't know?"
"Rest assured, with or without your help, we'll know their names soon enough, Dr. Sullivan."
River glanced at Oliver’s face in the mirror. His lips were still pinched, corners turned down, his brow furrowed in the tenacious bulldog-look she knew so well. Stubbornness was a Sullivan family character trait. And from what she'd learned about Ash in the last few days, bullheadedness was a character trait he shared, too. He was the alpha dog, and he clearly didn't take kindly to being less than one hundred percent in charge.
"I don't believe you will," Oliver said.
"Come on, Oliver. Try to cooperate a little, will you?"
The road straightened out. Jungle, jungle, shiny eyes now and then. She’d bet Ash wasn't aware that he was digging his fingers into his leg. The fact that he was not fighting physically fit must be incredibly frustrating to him. Dealing with an unpredictable explosive, something he couldn't control, must also piss him off. And Oliver being uncooperative must be exacerbating his pissed-off-ness. They were batting a thousand tonight.
River didn't think Oliver was going to answer. He didn't, of course. Instead, he merely said, "These are not the most optimal circumstances to have this conversation."
"We might not get another chance. Do you know any names? Places? Anything?"
Ash didn’t know her brother was contrary as well as determined. Oliver would say black was white just for the hell of it, then five minutes later, he’d forget he'd had that argument and be puzzled that the other person was annoyed with him. She spared a quick glance at Ash's face, illuminated by the dash lights. His jaw was tight. A muscle jerked in his cheek, and his eyes glittered.
"I know a lot about any number of things. You must be aware that communications in
and out of the valley were jammed. That's because Franco didn't want anyone communicating unless he authorized it. He's always been paranoid that way. He's the only one who had any intercourse with the buyers. He didn't even allow Eliseo or Trinidad to talk to customers."
"If you don’t know who Xavier sold to, Dr. Sullivan, then how did you know he was selling to terrorists?”
Oliver gave Ash silence as an answer.
“When you do start talking, you might want to think about your answers. We have the hard drives from all three computers in the house, but they're highly encrypted. I don't suppose you know the passwords?"
"I do not." Oliver missed the sarcasm. "Once I ascertain that the authorities don't consider me accountable for Franco's actions, and with a lawyer present, I'll be happy to tell you what I know."
"Fuck." Ash braced one hand on the dash, leaned forward to get a better look at something that caught his attention in the night sky, and transferred his gripping hand from his own thigh to hers.
Holy crap he had a strong grip.
“Slow down. But be ready to punch it.”
What the hell had he seen? River couldn’t see further than the edge of the damn headlights in front of her. Her heart ricocheted in her chest. No one back there had taken potshots at them, so far, although she anticipated the high-pitched screech of a bullet hitting the car at any moment. She had no intention of slowing or stopping until they got somewhere safe. It took all of her concentration not to flip the car.
"Faster, faster, faster. For God sake, River!” Oliver's voice was tight with tension. “Can't you make this thing go any faster?"
"No," she told him tersely. "I can't." She couldn't afford to spare Ash a glance as the jungle on either side of the winding road flashed by in the high beams. Her foot pressed flat on the accelerator, which, in her Tesla, would've been too fast for her to handle on this narrow, curvy road with its steep grade, potholes and pockets of water. In the truck, though, flooring it meant she could just hit ninety, and that was jarring every bone she possessed.
"River," Ash said urgently, his fingers digging painfully into the muscle of her thigh. "Stop the car."
She wished everyone would make up their damned freaking minds. "Now?"
"Yeah. Chopper's going to land on the road ahead. Angle so that you can go around it if you need to."
"What chopp--?" A familiar whop-whop-whop pulsed against her eardrums. "Oh, God." Had Franco's people come back to finish her off in another helicopter? She was concentrating so hard, she'd been oblivious. Now that she did hear the familiar noise approaching, fear sliced like a hot knife through her barely-maintained façade of calm. Her palms grew instantly slick on the steering wheel. Remembering the bloodbath at the hacienda, she couldn't breathe.
Instead of braking, she crushed the pedal as hard as she could, flooring it. Not that it did a damn bit of good. "Why aren’t you shooting?"
"Stop for fucksake. It’s my men. The good guys."
“Well, it’s damn nice of them to decide to come back for you. About freaking high time!” When Ash said the helicopter was going to land up ahead, he meant now. Slamming her foot on the brake, River hoped she could stop in time. The rear end fishtailed.
The same huge military-style helicopter with dull camouflage paint that she'd seen on Oliver's monitor landed lightly in the center of the road. The whirling rotors decapitated small trees and shrubs. Leaves and branches flew in a rain of debris. With annoyed cawing and flapping of wings, a flock of parrots catapulted into the night sky.
Heart pounding, River managed to bring the vehicle to a jarring stop a few yards shy of the helicopter.
"Impressive." Ash popped his door. "Move it."
Armed men dressed in black spilled from the open door of the helicopter and ran to the car.
"She took a defensive driving class for some weird reason known only to River," Oliver stated matter-of-factly.
"I had a psychic premonition that I'd be on the run on a mountain jungle road in South America," River shot back. The engine pinged and popped when she turned off the truck. She glanced at Ash. His face was bone white and sweat made rivulets of dark mud down his cheeks. "Stay where you are. I'll come around to help you."
He held up a hand. "I'm good."
Right. His men were racing toward them. He wouldn't want them to see him as anything other than their leader. River opened her door and got out, while a couple of men went to Ash.
"Ram!" Recognizing him, she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. Like Ash, Ram's body was rock hard and unyielding. She'd been sure he'd died outside the hacienda and she was relieved to see him. He was still covered with dried blood. "I'm so happy to see you," she shouted. "Are you all right?"
He signaled okay with his fingers, then tucked her under his arm and, bending low to avoid the spinning blades, hustled her between car and the helicopter. He hoisted her up to another man inside, as her hair whipped violently around her face. Climbing in after her, Ram helped her get situated on a bench seat opposite the open door.
"Eighteen minutes," Ash yelled as he clambered inside. "Get us the fuck airborne!"
Twenty
They started their ascent. Branches and leaves thrashed in the rotor’s high winds, just beyond the door. River's eyes watered. "Isn't anyone going to close the door?"
"No door," Ram told her. Was he purposely blocking her line of sight to Ash? He and Oliver, having gotten in, were at the far end of the large open space. She motioned him to move aside, but Ram shook his head.
"He's in a shitload of pain, ma'am. He won't want you seeing him like that."
"I’ve been with him for the last few days. I want him next to me. Can you make that happen?"
Her hands shook so badly, she kept dropping the latch for her seatbelt. Ram gave her a small smile as he helped her secure the buckle. "Looks like you didn’t have to ask. He’s headed your way."
Ash, balancing on his feet as nimbly as a tightrope walker in the open space between them, looked at the big watch on his wrist, then spoke into a lip mic. Or maybe he was talking to himself, "Seventeen minutes. We need a minimum fifty miles between us and that blast. A hundred would be better."
The helicopter lifted above the swaying treetops and up into the star bright sky. The only lights inside where those on the instrument panel, which cast an eerie green glow on the pilot's face.
Sitting behind the pilot, flanked by two men dressed all in black as the others were, her brother looked around nervously. He said something to the man to his left, and the guy responded. It was impossible for River to hear anything other than the rotors and the wind.
Ash spoke into his mic, apparently to the man her brother had just spoken to. "Repeat." He paused to listen. "Supersonic over-pressurization shock wave? Yeah. No shit. Tell Dr. Sullivan to tell us something we don’t know. Strap yourselves in, ladies. Haul ass." Within a few seconds, Ash flopped onto the bench seat beside her, his legs extended. She touched his hand to get his attention, then, leaving her hand resting lightly over his, she mouthed, "Where are we going?"
"Abad."
He didn't need to add, if we make it out of the blast zone.
He slipped his hand free of hers to rub his jaw. He looked pale, drawn, exhausted. She felt the loss of physical contact as if he'd slapped her. Her chest aching, she swallowed a murmur of disappointment. "Assuming we make it.”
“Positive outcome’s unlikely.” His grim tone matched the faces in the helicopter. Everyone looked tense. They all knew what was about to happen. In her case, River figured ignorance was bliss. “I’m not spending the last eighteen minutes—-"
“Seventeen now.”
“Fine. Keep counting. My last few minutes will not be spent, Ash Daklin, thinking that I’m going to die. I’m going to assume we’ll live." She could only imagine the ramifications of what a supersonic over-pressurization shock wave actually meant. From Ash's tight expression, it wasn’t good. "Once we get to Abad, what then?"
Ah. So he couldn't wait to get rid of the inconvenient luggage that was her. "And you?"
He shrugged. “Wherever work takes me.”
"How long until we get to Abad?"
"Thirty-five minutes or so, depending on the blast and the tailwind."
Or until they blew up.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
She glanced over at her brother. His pale hair waved around his head, his boney hands knitted in his lap. His glasses had a crack across one lens, and he tapped his foot. Oblivious to his surroundings, Oliver usually tapped his left foot while attempting to figure out equations. Knowing Oliver, he was mentally figuring out, to the second, when the blast would hit the helicopter.
He was family, but he wasn't an easy person to love. Her parents had given her the task to always take care of him, keep him from harm. They couldn't possibly have anticipated this bizarre turn of events. She turned to look at Ash. "And Oliver?"
"He’ll go to T-FLAC Headquarters in Montana for debriefing. He knows Xavier's business inside and out.” His eyes glinted in the semi-darkness, and a muscle clenched in his jaw. “He's got valuable intel for us. With Xavier dead, he's one of the few people who can tell us what we need to know about manufacturing details and Xavier's customer base."
The whop-whop-whop-whop of the whirling rotors beat loudly against her eardrums. Strands of her hair stung her cheeks as the wind whipped through the open door.
Reaching up, Ash snagged a pair of headsets off the wall over their heads, and handed her one. When River slipped them on, the sound of the rotors disappeared, and all she heard was her own rapid heartbeat pulsing in her ears.
Leaning over her, he cinched the belt more tightly across her lap. Her lips accidentally brushed his ear. She tasted mud and didn't care. He froze for a second before straightening and reaching up for a couple of facemasks. Taking the one he offered to her, River put it on as he did the same. Over the edge of his mask, Ash's pale eyes looked otherworldly in his mud-smeared face.