Page 45 of Pressure Point (Lantern Beach Blackout: Detonation #2)

CHAPTER

FORTY-FIVE

Atlas pinned Noreen to the wall of the equipment shelter.

Her gun skittered across the water-slicked desk beside her.

Around them, the sounds of combat echoed as his team subdued the remaining Sigma operatives.

Atlas kept his focus on the woman who’d once broken his heart, the one who’d orchestrated so much death and destruction.

“It’s over, Noreen.” Atlas scowled at the woman below him. He no longer felt anything toward her—not even regret. “Your weather weapon is about to be destroyed, your operation is blown.”

Noreen laughed, blood trickling from her split lip. “You have no idea what you’ve interfered with. This program has backing at the highest levels of government. I’ll be extracted, the charges will be dropped, and Quinn will disappear into a black site where her knowledge can be properly utilized.”

Rage built in Atlas’s chest at Noreen’s casual arrogance. But movement in his peripheral vision made him turn toward where Quinn had fallen.

Jake grabbed Noreen and jerked her arms behind her back as he secured her.

Atlas rushed to Quinn.

She sat up slowly, one hand pressed to her temple where the projectile monitor had struck her. But something in her posture had changed.

The uncertain vulnerability that had characterized her since they’d met was gone, replaced by a confident authority that seemed to radiate from her entire being.

“Quinn?” Atlas called out, noting the transformation immediately. “Are you okay?”

Quinn looked up at him, and Atlas saw the sharp intelligence of someone who knew exactly who they were and what they were capable of.

“I remember,” she said. “Everything.”

Before Atlas could ask exactly what that meant, Maverick’s voice cut through the aftermath of combat. “We’ve got a problem! The demolition charges aren’t responding!”

Atlas glanced where Maverick monitored the explosive devices Quinn had armed to destroy the weather modification equipment. Water was now mid-calf deep around them, and the island was rapidly becoming uninhabitable.

“What’s wrong?” Atlas demanded.

“The charges are armed, but the detonation sequence isn’t initiating.” Maverick’s fingers flew across the tablet’s interface.

Atlas’s stomach dropped.

They’d risked everything to reach the island. They’d fought Sigma operatives and captured Noreen. But if they couldn’t destroy the weather modification equipment, all of it would be meaningless.

“Can you override it?” Jake rushed.

Maverick grimaced. “I’m trying but?—”

His words were cut off as another surge of floodwater swept through the shelter, carrying debris and making their footing even more treacherous.

They were trapped on a flooding island with a traitor who seemed confident she’d still win despite being captured.

Atlas looked at Quinn and saw her studying Maverick’s tablet with intense concentration.

“Quinn.” He hoped her recovered memories might hold the key to their survival. “Do you know something we don’t?”

But even as he asked the question, Atlas wasn’t sure they had enough time left to find out.

Quinn rushed to the computer, her newly recovered memories providing context for what she needed to do.

“Sigma set up their own safety protocols on the equipment—including a detonation system. It must be under the shelter where we can’t see it.”

“You know how to activate it?” Atlas asked.

“I think so.”

The demolition charges were armed but locked in a security protocol.

“It’s a cascade failsafe.” Her voice sounded tight with frustration. “Designed to prevent accidental destruction of expensive equipment. The charges won’t detonate unless specific meteorological conditions are met.”

“What conditions?” Atlas asked, water now approaching knee-deep around them.

Quinn’s mind raced through the technical specifications she now remembered with perfect clarity.

“Clear atmospheric pressure, wind speeds below tropical storm strength, no active enhancement protocols running.” She looked up at him with growing despair.

“Conditions that don’t exist in the middle of a hurricane. ”

Maverick gestured toward his tablet, showing the real-time weather data. “Even with the artificial enhancement shut down, Hurricane Delilah is still a Category 2 storm. The atmospheric conditions won’t be stable enough to allow detonation for hours.”

The weight of failure crushed down on Quinn. They’d stopped this particular weapon test, but the equipment would survive.

Sigma could rebuild their program, target other communities, and perfect their weather modification technology until it became an unstoppable tool of mass destruction.

“Our boat,” Jake called from the shelter’s entrance, his voice grim. “It’s gone. Washed away in the storm surge. So are the rest of the boats.”

Quinn closed her eyes. The tactical situation was becoming impossible.

They were trapped on a flooding island with no way to destroy Sigma’s equipment and no means of extraction.

Then something on Maverick’s tablet caught her attention.

“Wait.” She leaned closer to study the atmospheric data. “Look at the pressure readings.”

Atlas moved to her shoulder, following her gaze to the scrolling numbers that meant nothing to his tactical training. “What am I looking at?”

Hope began to build in Quinn’s chest as she recognized patterns in the data.

“The rapid shutdown of the weather modification systems created an atmospheric vacuum effect. The storm’s trying to equalize pressure differentials, but the process is creating .

. .” She paused, hardly daring to believe what she was seeing.

“Creating what?” Jake pressed.

Quinn’s fingers flew across the tablet, pulling up wind speed measurements and barometric pressure readings. The numbers were changing rapidly, stabilizing in ways that shouldn’t have been possible in the middle of a hurricane.

“A pressure equilibrium zone,” Quinn breathed, understanding flooding through her. “The shutdown created a temporary area of atmospheric stability right around the island. We’re in the eye of an artificial calm.”

Atlas stared at her. “What does that mean?”

Quinn looked up at him, seeing hope reflected in his green eyes as he began to understand the implications.

“It means the failsafe conditions are being met.” Excitement grew in her voice. “The demolition charges should activate automatically as soon as the atmospheric readings stabilize within acceptable parameters.”

As if summoned by her words, Maverick’s tablet began flashing with new alerts. Warning messages appeared across the screen as the demolition system registered changing atmospheric conditions.

“Pressure’s stabilizing,” Maverick reported, his voice tight with anticipation. “Wind speeds dropping below threshold. Electromagnetic interference clearing.”

Quinn held her breath as the final conditions aligned.

Then the tablet screen flashed green.

“Charges armed and ready for detonation,” Maverick announced. “We have sixty seconds to reach minimum safe distance.”

Quinn looked at the flooded shelter. Remembered that their boat was gone.

They’d found a way to destroy Sigma’s weather weapon.

But they might not survive to see their victory.

Still, as she thought about the thousands of lives they’d saved and the future weather attacks they’d prevented, Quinn realized she could live with that trade.

Or die with it, if necessary.