Page 40 of Ground Zero (Lantern Beach Blackout: Detonation #3)
M averick watched Jake disappear from the bookstore.
He waited another thirty seconds, then headed for the back exit.
He paused and peered outside.
The pier looked normal with no sign of the ambush he’d expected.
Maybe he’d been wrong. Maybe?—
His phone suddenly buzzed with an incoming text.
The signal had apparently been restored.
His pulse jumped when he saw Sheridan’s name on the screen.
They found you. Run.
Four words. No explanation. No details.
But Maverick didn’t need them.
He pushed through the bookstore’s back door just as voices shouted outside.
Maverick sprinted toward the pier’s parking lot, his mind racing.
A burst of gunfire chewed up the wooden planks behind him. He vaulted over a railing, dropping eight feet to the beach below. His ankle protested but held as he hit the sand running.
Whoever these shooters were, they weren’t trying to arrest him.
They were trying to kill him.
He zigzagged between the pier’s support pillars, using them as cover.
Screaming came from the pier above.
More shots rang out, sending splinters of weathered wood spinning through the air.
The screaming transitioned into crying, panic, chaos.
A figure in tactical gear appeared ahead, weapon raised.
Maverick dove left, rolling behind a cluster of rocks as bullets sparked off the stones. He could shoot back, but he was outnumbered. There was no use.
He was pinned between shooters with nowhere to go but the ocean.
The ocean. Seventy-degree Atlantic water in street clothes.
But it was better than being riddled with bullets.
Maverick broke from his cover, sprinting for the waves as gunfire erupted behind him. He dove into the surf just as rounds stitched the sand where he’d been standing.
The cold hit like a physical blow, stealing his breath. But he kept swimming, diving deep, letting the murky water hide him from the shooters in the distance.
When his lungs screamed for air, he surfaced just long enough to grab a breath before diving again. But before going under he heard muffled shouts from the beach. He saw dark shapes moving along the waterline.
They thought they had him trapped. Ocean on one side, shooters on the other.
But Maverick had grown up in the water. Had spent years surfing. He knew currents, sandbars, and hidden paths through the waves.
If he could make it to the rock jetty five hundred yards north, he might have a chance.
Maybe.
The conference room erupted in chaos as someone’s radio crackled to life with reports of gunfire at the pier.
Sheridan’s heart hammered as she heard the words “target in the water.”
Her warning had gotten through, but barely in time.
“What’s happening out there?” Cook roared into his phone. “I said take him alive if possible!”
“Sir, those aren’t our teams,” an agent reported, looking up from his laptop. “Our units are still three minutes out.”
The blood drained from Cook’s face. “Then who’s shooting?”
Sheridan knew. Sigma. They’d beaten the FBI to Maverick, and they weren’t interested in arrests.
She stepped forward, knowing she was about to take a massive risk. “Sir, what can I do?”
Cook spun toward her, his face flushed with anger. “What can you do? I left you on Lantern Beach to find information, Agent Mendez. I’m not sure you did anything.”
His words hit like a slap. The dismissal, the contempt, the suggestion that she’d failed—it all burned. But there wasn’t time for wounded pride.
“Sir, I did find something.” She kept her voice steady despite the chaos around them. “There’s going to be an attack on Naval Station Norfolk. Tomorrow. During the British submarine arrival.”
Cook stared at her. “What?”
“The cyberattacks were just the beginning. Someone’s planning a physical assault on the submarine pens. They have inside access, legitimate credentials.” She pulled out her phone, showing him the partial files she’d managed to save. “The attack is imminent, sir. Tomorrow morning, most likely.”
His gaze slid from her phone to her face. “How do you know this?”
“I’ve been investigating, just like I told you.” She glanced at William, who watched intently from across the room. “Sir, we need to alert Norfolk now. Every second we waste?—”
“You’re telling me there’s a terrorist attack planned for tomorrow, and you’re just now mentioning it?” His voice rose.
She swallowed hard before saying, “I needed to be sure.”
Cook’s jaw clenched. But Sheridan saw him processing, prioritizing.
“Let me see,” he barked.
She handed him her phone, and he scrolled the files there.
Sheridan waited, practically holding her breath in anticipation of his reaction.
Would he believe her? Would he take this seriously?
Finally, he looked up. “Thompson, Martinez! Get Naval Station Norfolk on the line. Full security alert. Nobody gets near those submarines.”
Relief washed through her.
He was acting on this intel.
Cook turned back to Sheridan. “What else?”
“The traitor is here, sir. I believe one of our colleagues as well as someone at Blackout, has been feeding information to Sigma.”
His eyes narrowed. “Who?”
She kept her chin up as she said, “I’m still determining that, sir. But I believe Adams is innocent and being set up.”
More radio chatter filled the room. “We’ve lost visual on the suspect.”
Sheridan’s knees nearly buckled with relief.
Maverick was still alive. Still free.
But for how long? And with Norfolk’s attack imminent, would any of them survive the next few hours?
She looked at the clock on the wall. Time was running out for everyone.
“Sir . . .” She prayed she was making the right choice. “I need to get to Norfolk. If the attack is happening there, that’s where I should be.”
What she really needed was freedom so she could find Maverick first. But going to Norfolk would give her that opportunity.
Cook studied her for a long moment. Behind him, she saw Ty and Colton exchanging glances, William typing furiously on his laptop, and Morrison watching everything with those calculating eyes.
“Go,” Cook said finally. “But Mendez? If you’re wrong about this, it’s your career.”
If she was wrong, Sheridan’s career would be the least of her problems.