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ELEVEN

Dani paced in the conference room, unable to contain her nerves.

The compound was on fire, and with the complication of dangerous chemicals, the stakes were even higher. Dani heard the status updates through Rio’s radio.

Grizz was prepared to enter a burning camp to stop the fire from spreading to that center building. She closed her eyes and could see the smokestack puffing out white smoke. She knew exactly which building housed the chemicals.

While she wanted to be part of the action, her stomach tightened at the thought of Grizz rushing into a burning building.

Her hero, whether he walked away from her or not.

A knock sounded at the door, and Rio looked up from his computer. “Jamie. I’m so glad you’re here. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

A petite woman entered. Her cargo pants and boots made her look like she belonged in the Alaskan wild with Grizz. The two braids that hung over her shoulders made her look younger than she probably was, but her laptop bag and computer accessories communicated an air of authority.

“Jamie Winters is our tech wizard, and she’s been following the money trail for quite some time on this case.”

Jamie sat at the table and set up a complete workstation with two monitors and a printer. “Dani Barlowe. I’ve watched your newscasts. And I’ve heard how instrumental you were in getting us this intel.”

Dani shot the woman a smile and took a seat across from her. While she knew the value of processing data and tracking the senator down, her mind was fixated on what was happening on Copper Mountain.

On Grizz and the rest of the hotshots.

Why had the radio gone silent?

Rio turned to her. “Look, I know you’re worried about the fire on the mountain, Dani. But I asked Jamie to come in and debrief with you about the senator. We know he got off scot-free the last time he was indicted. We won’t let him walk this time.”

She sat back in her chair, her reporter instincts churning.

“Where did these mercenaries get the money to create an elaborate high-tech secret base in the woods? A project that didn’t catch the attention of local law enforcement or the FBI.

They didn’t spare any expense. An RPG took out a helicopter. ”

“True.” Rio clicked away on his laptop keyboard, then looked up.

“Jamie has been looking into the funding source. I just sent an email to have our forensic accountants look into any significant transfers of money from a key list of high-ranking government officials that we’ve had our eyes on.

Let’s see if this goes any higher than the senator. ”

Jamie turned her screen so Rio could read the information. “I’ve already been looking into Senator Geoff Deville’s accounts. He’s made several transfers that are all ten dollars under the limit that would draw our attention. To an offshore account.”

Dani shook her head. “The senator was cleared of embezzlement. This doesn’t definitively tie him to the funding of the terrorist group in the woods.”

Jamie turned her laptop and made a few clicks.

“Except these charges happened after his indictment. I think the whole thing was a cover-up. Sorry, Dani, but you were used. My hunch is he planted the fake story about the embezzlement, knowing there’d be an investigation.

But he hadn’t embezzled the money, at least not until a few months after he was cleared of all charges.

Your story painted him as the victim, and he used the press to hide what he was really doing. ”

Rio sighed. “If the senator is funding the militant group with stolen money, he’s probably bribing and threatening anyone who might be able to connect him to this. He’s the one who quashed the investigation.”

Dani said, “I’ve always suspected that he bribed that judge. Maybe my story wasn’t that far off base.”

The senator had used her to hide his crimes in plain sight.

The radio crackled and Grizz’s voice rang through. “We’re preparing to breach the building, but sparks have lit the main hut on fire.”

“That’s the place we suspect they’re housing the chemicals.” Dani fidgeted with her hair. Of course Grizz would be leading the charge to run into a burning building.

Everything within her wanted to be part of the action. Headlines began to spin in her mind.

Heroic Hotshots Race into Burning Building to Stop Deadly Chemical Fire. These men and women put their lives on the line to protect and serve the public.

This was the story she needed to share. Once she knew all the hotshots were safe.

She couldn’t sit here any longer. “I need to use the restroom. I’ll be back.”

Dani headed down the hallway and found the bathroom. She splashed cold water on her face.

How could that slimeball Senator Deville somehow fund a terrorist camp in the woods? The same men who’d murdered Josh. The senator had questionable morals, but bankrolling killers? Clearly there was a master plan in the works.

But what was it? Why would the senator dabble in biological weapons? What was his endgame?

Water dripped from a faucet somewhere in the bathroom. Dani froze. Instinct told her she wasn’t alone. Had Jamie followed her?

No, she would have seen the door open.

In the mirror, Dani saw a blur of black. A man in a mask hulked behind her.

She spun around but was too slow. An arm snaked out and grabbed her. A heavy hand clamped over her mouth.

A gloved hand covered by a white cloth.

She tried to bite down, but the grip held tight.

Her scream came out like a squeak.

She kicked and flailed her arms, but his hand shifted to clamp over her mouth and nose.

Air.

Her lungs burned.

His other arm squeezed her diaphragm. Can’t breathe.

“You couldn’t just leave it alone, could you? This is all your doing. But I’ve got plans for you.”

The familiar voice jolted her, and she kicked harder. But the lack of oxygen began to take a toll.

“No! No.” The rag muted her voice. The bitter taste of a chemical sealed her fate. Dani choked. The bathroom walls began to spin, and she lost feeling in her arms and legs.

With her last ounce of energy, she prayed. Not for herself.

But for Grizz.

The only way out of this mess for both of them was for God to perform a rescue mission.

* * *

Grizz knew they were out of time. Now that those embers had landed on the roof of the chemical plant, they had to move fast.

Get in. Stop the fire from spreading. Hightail it out of there. But without knowing what these men were up to in the compound, the dangers were unknown.

The hotshots headed into the compound and joined the smokejumpers at the edge of the camp. The thick smoke blinded Grizz, but he pressed forward, seeing only a few inches ahead of him with each step. He knew his team was marching directly behind him.

Grizz tapped his radio. “Sanchez, Kane, and I are going to check out the main door of the building to see what we’re dealing with. Everyone else keep fighting the fires in the surrounding buildings. Watch the roof. We see a few hot spots.”

The place was too quiet, and Grizz’s stomach clenched. What were they walking into? One spark could ignite the chemicals and blast a crater in the side of the mountain. And with the winds this season, the last thing they needed was an explosion to rain toxic chemicals across the region.

He stopped at the steel door, an obvious sign of nefarious activity. Who put a thick, steel-reinforced door on a Quonset hut? Unless they were trying to keep people out.

Kane dropped his hose and hacked the handle and lock with his Pulaski. No luck. So he drove his axe through the metal siding in an attempt to create an opening for them to enter.

“Sanchez? Where are you?” Grizz looked around, but the smoke engulfed him like a curtain he couldn’t see through.

“I’m right behind you.”

Kane hammered until he formed an opening in the side of the building. Fire sizzled from the roof, and Grizz took an extinguisher off his back and plastered the area with foam.

He stuck his head through the wall to make sure there wasn’t some gunman waiting for them in an ambush. The camp had been quiet, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

Black smoke hung in the air, but the fire hadn’t made its way inside. Yet. “Let’s go.”

Grizz moved a few feet into the structure. Rows of laboratory tables created aisles throughout the main area. One wall held empty bins.

Grizz pointed. “This is where they kept the weapons stash. I saw it in the recording.”

“At your ten o’clock, Grizz.” He turned to see what Sanchez indicated through the haze and took a few steps closer. Three white vats were arranged side by side against an interior wall, filled with liquid. Labels with a skull and crossbones warned them of the chemical cocktail behind the drums.

More tables held test tubes and lab equipment. This looked like a science experiment gone wrong.

Kane sprayed his hose at the ceiling, where the flames had melted a hole in the metal.

“Look out!” Grizz dove for Sanchez, knocking them both to the ground.

A blazing beam crashed to the ground—the very spot where they’d just been standing. Flames swirled around the roof of the building.

“Let’s get that fire out,” Grizz yelled into the radio. “It’s getting dangerously close to the vat of chemicals against the north wall.”

Water from the fire hoses rained down from the ceiling. Within a few seconds, the fire had dissipated into a hissing vapor.

“Good job, team.” Grizz picked himself up off the dirt floor and extended his hand to Sanchez. “It looks like the fire is out inside. Keep watching the roof for more hot spots. We’ve got a lot of chemicals in here.”

“Whoa.” Kane’s exclamation shot ice through Grizz’s veins. “I found a body. Shot through the temple. Female in a lab coat.”

Grizz heard Sanchez’s gasp through the comms—probably thinking how that could have been her father. But who knew where they’d taken him now? Sanchez’s search was starting from scratch.

Saxon began tearing through the walls of the building from the outside. Shouts came from outside as reinforcements arrived.

These men must have had several scientists working for them. But what were they making? He turned around the room in a circle, trying to figure out the endgame. Why all of the equipment and chemicals unless you were building something big?

There. In the back corner of the Quonset hut stood a metal rack. Grizz moved in for a closer inspection, and Kane followed.

“What is this?” Kane looked at Grizz, the concern evident on his soot-covered face.

“They look like canisters.” Grizz studied the rows of containers. “Could this be their finished product? There’s space for five.”

“Yeah, but two are missing.” Kane pointed at the two indentations where a canister would fit. But no canister.

“It’s time to let the professionals figure that out,” Grizz said. “Now that we know the fire is contained, we should get out of here. I don’t like this place one bit.”

The FBI would now secure the compound and examine the contents of the secret lab.

Kane, Sanchez, and Grizz headed out of the building through the hole Saxon had created.

The radio squawked.

“Grizz, is she there?” Rio’s voice seemed strained.

Grizz looked around and responded. “Sanchez?”

“No. Dani. She headed for the restroom and never returned. I’ve been looking everywhere for her. I thought maybe she headed up the mountain.”

Grizz’s mind went numb. The radio fell out of his hand and hit the dirt. His legs wouldn’t cooperate. He had to remind himself to breathe.

Dani was missing. And he’d never gotten to apologize for not trusting her. For walking away when she’d needed him most.