Page 47 of Shattered Truth (Off The Grid: FBI #15)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Matt met Julia just outside the warehouse parking lot. There were no cars in the lot, but lights were visible from one of the windows.

Julia Harper got out of her car. She was in her fifties, a tall woman with brown hair and eyes that were tense and worried. "Drew Sanderson left fifteen minutes ago. Viktor departed five minutes ago, and two men just drove out of the parking lot."

"Haley?" he demanded.

"Haven't seen her leave. I think she's still in there."

"We're going in," he decided. They were all wearing protective gear, weapons at the ready. "Jason and I will take the front. Andi, you and Nick take the back."

"Be careful," Julia warned. "I can't think why they'd leave her alone, unless they've wired the building. If you try to breach, this could go badly."

"Understood." They needed to be careful, but careful was the last thing he wanted to be. He wanted to rush inside and get to Haley before she was hurt, but Julia was right. The building could be a trap, a way to take out the entire team. "No one goes inside until we check for explosives."

As they entered the parking lot, they split apart. They hadn't taken more than ten steps toward the building when the explosion hit, sending them all flying as debris rained down upon them.

Heart pounding, ears ringing, he stumbled to his feet, horror running through him as he realized the entire warehouse was engulfed in flames. "No," he shouted. "Haley!"

He heard Jason call him back, telling him there could be more explosions to come, but he didn't care. If he could still save her, he had to try.

He ran toward the back of the building, which wasn't as heavily ablaze as the front.

A huge portion of the wall had broken apart, and he plunged into the smoke-filled building.

The heat was intense, and he could barely see three feet in front of him.

The air was thick with smoke and chemical fumes from whatever had been stored in the warehouse.

He looked over his shoulder, shocked to see Jason right behind him.

"I'll go to the right, you take the left," Jason said.

He nodded, moving toward his left. "Haley!" he shouted. "Haley, where are you?" There was no answer. He probably had only minutes before the fire consumed the rest of the warehouse. "Haley," he shouted again in desperation, hearing Jason also yelling her name.

Finally, he heard a weak voice. "Here! I'm here!"

"Keep talking," he yelled, following her voice through a maze of burning debris.

He found her crawling along the floor, hands tied behind her back, her clothes singed, her face streaked with blood and soot.

"I've got you," he said, pulling her to her knees and putting his arms around her so he could finally believe she was all right.

He hugged her tightly, then gave her a hard look. "Are you hurt? Can you walk?"

"I'm okay," she gasped. "We have to get out of here."

He helped her to her feet and shouted for Jason. The smoke was getting thicker, making it difficult to see, but as the air grew cooler, he knew they were close to the door. Then Jason appeared like a beacon in the night, and they made their way into the fresh air.

The fire engines were pulling up at the scene, the captain asking if anyone else was still inside.

Haley shook her head, and Matt ushered her across the parking lot to where their group was waiting.

Andi cut Haley free from her ties, and she gratefully pulled her arms to her sides, then rubbed her fingers together.

"I need to get you to the hospital," he said, seeing small cuts on her forehead and not knowing how much smoke she had inhaled or what else they'd done to her.

"I'm fine," she said, sending him a reassuring look. "We need to stop Drew. It's happening tonight. They're launching the algorithm."

"We don't know where he is," he said heavily.

"I heard Viktor say Branson. I don't know if it's a street or a building, but it's where they were meeting," she added.

He turned to Jason, who was already on the phone, then he looked back at Haley. "I'm going to have someone take you to the hospital while we look for Drew."

"No way. I'm staying with you," she said forcefully.

He couldn’t argue with her because he wasn't sure he could let her out of his sight, either.

"How did you find me?" she asked. "They were going to make me call and tell you where I was.

Then, once you came, they would blow up the building with all of us inside.

I wasn't going to do it. I would never lure you into a trap.

But then something changed. They said you were already here, and they left.

Then the building blew up." She paused. "I was so worried you were already inside. "

"I wasn't. And I'm here because of Julia." He stepped back as Julia came forward.

"You knew where I was, Julia?" Haley asked in bemusement. "How?"

"I've been following Drew and some of the others since the attack on Professor Harrington.

I always had a bad feeling about Drew, and it looks like I was right.

I never thought he was as dumb as everyone thought he was.

I would have come in after you, but I thought the FBI would have more manpower.

I didn't want to get you hurt, Haley, by acting impulsively.

That's the last thing I would want. But when the building exploded…

" Her voice drifted away as her face tensed. "I was afraid I'd waited too long."

"I'm okay. And thank you for reaching out to Matt, to the FBI." Haley paused. "But why didn't you tell me you were following Drew?"

"I wasn't sure I'd find anything. I didn't want to raise your hopes and then let you down again. You've been disappointed too many times."

"Got it," Jason said, interrupting their conversation. "Viktor Danilovich owns a shell company, whose building is located at two-ten Branson Street. It's only two miles from here. Derek said it looks like a data center."

"That has to be where they're launching the algorithm," he said. "Let's go."

As Haley got into the backseat, he jumped in beside Jason, while Andi and Nick, as well as Julia, followed behind.

"Derek told me someone started running automated trades through multiple offshore accounts ten minutes ago," Jason said as he raced down the street. "It looks like pre-launch action for the algorithm. Derek will meet us at the site. We may need him to shut everything down."

"Good idea." Matt glanced back at Haley, hoping she was as okay as she'd said she was. "This is almost over," he told her.

"It has to be," she said. "Drew was responsible for Landon's death. He told me everything. He wanted me to know how smart and brilliant he really was and also how evil."

"Drew killed your brother?"

"He drugged him. He and Henry were going to set Landon up with some underage girl and blackmail him, but when they left him alone, he came to, and he stumbled out of the house and fell into the pond." Her voice broke. "Drew might not have pushed Landon into that pond, but he's responsible."

"He might have pushed him in and just didn't want to tell you."

"Either way, we have to get him."

"We will," he said, even more motivated to take Drew down. Haley deserved justice, and so did her brother. He wanted to ask more questions, but they were almost there, and the focus had to be on taking Drew and his team down and stopping the launch of the algorithm.

They went back and forth on comms with Nick, Andi, and Derek, setting their plan of attack, and when they pulled into an office park ten minutes later, the team was ready to go.

Wanting to use the element of surprise, they parked around the corner from the address registered to the shell company. Derek got out of a van when they arrived, wearing safety gear. Matt was somewhat surprised to see him in field agent mode, but he was as well-trained as they were.

"Two guards at the front entrance," Derek said. "No idea how many people are inside."

He turned to Haley, who was still in the car, but with the door open. Julia had parked and was now walking toward them. "You two stay out here," he said. "Julia, I'm counting on you to keep Haley safe."

"I will," Julia promised.

He gave Haley a pointed look. "No matter what you hear, do not follow us inside."

"All right. Be careful, Matt."

He wasn't going to be careful; he was going to take down Drew and his entire operation. But he gave her a nod and then led the team forward. Andi and Nick headed to the back of the building, while he and Jason took the front, with Derek staying a few feet behind them.

He approached the front guard from his blind spot.

The man was focused on the parking lot entrance.

He moved quickly behind him, snaking his arm around the guard's throat, cutting off blood flow to the brain.

The guard struggled for maybe ten seconds before going limp.

Matt lowered him quietly to the pavement.

A moment later, Andi's voice came through his earpiece: "Rear clear. "

He and Jason entered the building, guns drawn.

They met up with Andi and Nick in the hallway, who would clear the first floor while he and Jason moved up the stairs, with Derek following.

He cracked the door open, seeing another guard in the hallway outside a glass-walled data center that was buzzing with activity.

Drew stood next to Henry and Viktor while a young man worked on a computer terminal.

Andi's voice rang through his ear, telling him the first floor was clear, and they were on their way up the stairs.

As Andi, Nick and Derek reached them, he saw another guard had joined the one in the hallway.

They were talking to each other, then one reached for his phone, asking someone to check in.

They would soon realize the security was compromised.

He pushed open the door, gun drawn. "Federal agents, drop your weapons," he shouted.