Page 23 of Jonas (Silver Team #4)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Kevin,” Zane called out. Kevin halted midway up the stairs and looked down at Zane.

“Call Myles, tell him if they don’t already have Kent, abort mission.

I want him and Gabe back at the office. Then call Owen, I want Blue ready to spin up in an hour.

You, Cooper, and Layla are in charge of getting their families to the safehouse Kentucky. Coop will drive back separately.”

“And if they have Kent?” Kevin asked.

“Drop him at the safehouse near Dulles. If he chooses to leave, that’s on him. I’m not expending the manpower to give him a babysitter.”

“Copy that.”

“Nebraska, call your parents,” Zane continued issuing orders. “I want both of them in DC.”

“Copy.” Her agreement was much less enthusiastic than Kevin’s.

“Shit,” Kira grumbled, her fingers flying across her keyboard. “Easton, power up the screens.”

Easton wasted no time grabbing the remote off the credenza beside him. All eyes went to Kira but she didn’t look up until she mirrored her laptop to the two big screens on the wall. Both had identical images of a mangled bridge with a cargo ship wedged between the two demolished sections.

“That’s not all,” she muttered.

One of the screens changed to a news broadcast. The red banner across the bottom screen declared there was a power outage in Phoenix, Arizona and fifty thousand people were without power.

“Fuck,” Zane growled and reached for his phone.

“Where is that?” Derrika’s horrified whisper was barely audible.

“East span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge,” Kira announced. “Ten minutes before the crash, the ship’s captain sent out a mayday he’d lost control of his ship. The Grainger .”

“Lost control?” Smith asked.

“I’m working on getting the call. Someone get Garrett. I can’t work both problems at the same time.”

“I’ll call him,” Theo offered.

“East span?” Easton inquired, looking at his phone. “Large ships and cargo are supposed to cross under the west span.”

“The ship just plowed through the bridge,” Derrika whispered again.

She wasn’t wrong. There was no chance that cargo ship would make it under the bridge. The cargo ship had simply run right through it, or attempted to, but got stuck in the falling sections.

“With the mayday call the toll booths closed,” Kira breathed a sigh of relief. “The bridge was clear of cars.”

Well, that was something.

“Thank God.” Derrika matched Kira’s tone.

“It’s currently ninety-seven degrees in Phoenix right now,” Lore announced. “There’s an excessive heat warning. High of one hundred and eleven.”

Jesus fuck .

“Shep!” Zane barked into his phone. “Zane. No time for your phone tag. Call me back as soon as you get this. Red.” Zane disconnected, stabbed a meaty finger at his screen. Moments later, ringing filled the basement.

“Yeah?”

“Linc, call in Red. Wheels up to Phoenix as soon as you can make that happen. Tell Jasmin she’s up, I want all families secured in Tennessee, whichever location she feels can handle the fifty-two-thousand offspring you all have created.

I need Violet on the phone to any of her old spook friends.

Have her poke around, make it look like she’s just a concerned citizen.

Kevin’s calling in Blue, I want them and Gold on standby. Make that happen.”

“You coming with us or staying at The Farm?”

“I’m spinning up with Silver.”

“Fabulous,” Lincoln grunted. “We’re going for messy.”

I would’ve laughed at Linc’s disgruntled comment if tens of thousands of people’s lives weren’t on the line.

“Fuck messy. We’re at Defcon One.”

“Copy.”

Zane tossed his phone on the table and pinned Lore with a scorching stare.

“How sure are you nuclear powerplants are a diversion?”

“I’m sure.”

“Risk your life standing outside the reactor… you that sure?”

“Yes. That sure. The data will show the reactors are nearing meltdown. That data will be faked from the inside. They will never be at risk of overheating. But to be safe, the rods will be dropped, boron will be deployed, and the president and the succession will be evacuated. The bunker in Pennsylvania won’t be an option.

The one in Virginia would still be too close for any potential fallout.

Colorado Springs will be an option—it’s over five hundred miles from the Kemmerer powerplant.

But to get there, POTUS will have to board Air Force One.

Either that plane is coming down or The Springs bunker is compromised.

If President Graham leaves the White House, he’s dead. ”

Defcon One didn’t touch the level of fucked we were.

I didn’t know the president personally. I did know Trent Graham had a reputation for being a hardass—a go-down-with-the-ship, the-buck-stops-with-me, take-no-shit attitude.

I wasn’t sure Zane or anyone else would be able to convince him to do something he didn’t want to do.

Especially if there was a nuclear threat to the eastern seaboard.

I could see him staying at the White House, but not if his cabinet was being flown into danger.

“I don’t think you should tell Graham the bunker or the plane could be compromised,” I said. “He won’t stay behind and let his people die. He’ll go with them and take his chances.”

“You want me to lie to POTUS?” Zane grunted.

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” I returned.

“Fuck!” he growled and snatched his phone off the table. “I need to call my wife.” He stood but didn’t leave the room. “I have men in Wyoming. If you’re wrong and that reactor melts down I’ll personally slit your throat. You still sure?”

“Your threat is noted?—”

“Make no mistake, Lore, it’s not a threat. I will hunt you down and kill you.”

“Your promise of murder is noted,” she amended. “And yes, I’m still positive. The Chinese want President Graham, Vice President Masterson, and Speaker Lewiston dead. They want the president pro tempore of the Senate in office.”

“Why do the Chinese want Senator Rutte at the helm?” Smith asked.

“Land deals. The Chinese have been denied large land purchases in Texas and North Dakota. Particularly the acreage they want near Grand Forks Air Force Base. This is the long game, fellas. All this right now, it’s fodder.

I told you it’s icing. It’s going to cost the US money.

There will be panic, there will be civil uprise, there will be loss of jobs and lives.

It will push our first responders. Our government will fight amongst themselves and point fingers at each other because someone should’ve known this could happen.

There will be bullshit hearings taking more valuable time from the House and Senate.

The United States will be thrown into chaos.

Our president and vice president will be assassinated.

Some terrorist group will take credit, leaving the Chinese in the clear and they’ll be happy for it.

All they want is a Chinese sympathizer in office, someone they can control, someone who will pave the way for them to buy more land, especially near our military installations, oil pipelines, water reservoirs, and power generation stations.

They already have plants in all of these companies.

“Delcon isn’t the only data storage center that’s been infiltrated. They’re just the most important to the plan. The one that is hardwired to the Pentagon. All our secrets are housed on those servers.”

“Who in the fuck thought that was a good idea?” Cash seethed.

“Honestly.” Lore shrugged. “That’s a tomorrow problem.”

“It fucks me, but she’s right,” Zane grunted and headed for the stairs but waited for Nebraska’s descent.

“Which part fucks you?” Lore inquired with a smirk. “That I’m right or that we have to wait to figure out who proposed our nation’s top secret intel being stored off-site?”

“Both. My least favorite place to be is backed into a corner?—”

“I thought your least favorite place was to be in the same room with Ivy’s cat,” Kira interjected without looking up from her laptop.

“Mind your business, MiniMe, and get me some actionable intel.”

“Sorry, sorry, continue explaining why you hate being in the naughty corner, but make it quick. You need to call your wife before someone else does and you find yourself out of the corner and into the doghouse.”

“Christ, you’re a pain in the ass.”

“No, I’m a correct pain in the ass who’s about to make your day.”

Everyone’s gaze at the table, including Lore’s, bounced between Zane and Kira.

“What do you have?”

“Go call Ivy first. I’ll have everything ready by the time you get back.”

With Zane’s patented over-exaggerated sigh, he turned to Nebraska. With nothing more than a lift of his brow, he asked if she’d gotten ahold of her parents.

“They’re on their way,” she told him. “Charlie was expecting the call so they’re packed and the jet is fueled. He said he’d text you when they land.”

“Dove—”

Nebraska’s hand came up to stop Zane from speaking.

“I don’t want to hear it. I don’t care both of them are supposed to be retired.

I don’t care that Charlie’s involved or that Pigeon visited Austin Wentworth.

I don’t even care that she tortured the man.

What I care about is once again, it feels like I’m being kept in the dark and that feels like a lie.

Something that both of them promised me they’d never do again.

Yet, here we are, and once again it’s the Charlie and Anna show. ”

Lore twisted in her seat and attempted damage control. “It wasn’t like that, Nebraska. I asked?—”

“Yeah, let’s get to that part. How are you involved in this?”

I could no longer see Lore’s face but I did watch her shoulders slump.

“There was chatter about Chinese sleeper agents being activated in the US and Canada.”

“That’s not new,” Nebraska shot back. “There’s always chatter.”