Ever Hayes - Redemption

Storm shelter. “But—”

“We stay here. If I’ve learned anything about your brother by now, it’s that he will find us. We stay here.”

We stayed put.

I admit I was a little confused. I was certain the paratroopers were searching for us, that they’d seen us driving toward the mountains and been sent to capture or kill us. And then there was that gunfight in the valley that had nothing to do with us. So now I was wondering if Baker and his men had already rescued the people in Cheyenne Mountain, come out the back exit, and started that firefight. But even that didn’t make sense because the bunker’s back tunnel had been sealed off for security reasons several years ago. The tunnel wasn’t on the map Baker had, and the airfield he’d intended to land at wasn’t anywhere near here. It wouldn’t have surprised me in the least if he’d gotten lazy or greedy and changed his plans, landing closer—too close—to Cheyenne Mountain. But that gunfight had sounded awfully one-sided—more one hundred to one than one hundred to fifty. That left Hayley, Lazzo, and Baker’s daughter. The gunfight had come to an abrupt end, and there had been no more shots after Blake’s last sniper kill. So either the soldiers had gotten what they’d wanted, or their targets had escaped. We didn’t hang around to find out.

I didn’t want to overthink it, because where my mind was now, I couldn’t imagine their targets had escaped. The soldiers hadn’t been in any urgent pursuit after the last shot had been fired down in the valley. There hadn’t been torches, flashlights, or dogs cutting through the forest below us—not in either direction—east or west. If they were searching for someone, it would have been visible to us up on the ridgeline. That train of thought was disturbing. I was hopeful the targets hadn’t been Hayley and Lazzo, but it was all that made sense. I considered going down to investigate, but I also knew we had between six and seven miles to go to reach the coordinates before daylight.

We maintained our elevated approach along the ridgeline for the next few hours and found a secure perch over the designated meeting place about a half hour before dawn. We were there when the trucks arrived and the helicopter flew in. I watched through the rifle’s scope as a man who looked like General Roja ducked out of the helicopter. I thought you were dead. How did that grenade not kill him at Lake Powell? The general marched into the building, followed by a majority of the troops. A short while later, most of the troops came back out and took up patrols around the perimeter of the plateau. We saw a few patrols heading our direction and figured they’d been ordered to take a high position. Sixteen men. Manageable .

I told Blake and Keena to keep an eye on them as I continued to watch the compound on the plateau. I saw four men go down the hillside to the west, and then about twenty minutes later a single man came back up. None of the four who had gone down the hill wore backpacks, but this man had a pack slung over his shoulder. What the heck?

“What?” Blake was looking at me.

I must have said that last part out loud . “Not sure yet.” I watched the man talk to a couple of troops at the corner of the building and then disappear around the back. “There’s this guy…”

“This guy? Could you be a little more—”

“I don’t know. Hang on.” Only a few minutes passed before he came back into view—this time without the pack. He shook hands with the soldiers at the corner of the building and headed back down the hill. Where is he going? He disappeared down the side. No sooner had I dismissed it as nothing, than an explosion disintegrated the large building, leaving a mess of burning wood and twisted metal and a decent-sized crater. Holy shit! A landslide of boulders rained down from the mountain, crushing everything in their path and crashing through the debris. There was no way anyone in that building had survived. If that was General Roja who had entered, he was certainly dead now.

Suddenly the dots connected in my head. “Damn it.”

“What?” Blake turned to look at me. “What the heck was that? Who blew it up?”

The soldiers who had been climbing the hillside had turned back and were running toward the destroyed building. More soldiers were pouring out of the forest from every direction to see what had happened and likely intending to help. But there was no one to help. Anyone within a hundred yards of that building was dead. “There was a soldier with a backpack.”

“Okay…” Blake clearly didn’t know where I was going with that. “Was that the guy ?”

I nodded. “He came out of the forest with the backpack, by himself, and walked around the building. Then he came back into view—without the pack—and disappeared down the hill into that far corner of the forest. I think that pack had the bomb in it. The bomber is still alive.”

“Danny, you think that one guy blew the whole place up?”

“Sure, Keena. Why not?”

“But why?”

“To send a message would be my guess.”

“What message and to who?” Keena asked.

“Maybe stay away?” I shrugged. “Maybe the message was for me—for us.”

“You’re kidding?” Blake was as doubtful as Keena.

“No.” I turned to both of them. “Think about it. That had to have been Lazzo. I don’t know why he did it yet, but he had to be telling us to stay away.”

“You said the guy just walked around the building? No one saw him?” Keena asked.

“Actually… he stopped and talked to two guys at the southwest end of the building.”

“And they didn’t recognize him? But wouldn’t they know what Lazzo looks like? Wouldn’t that be like surrendering yourself?”

Blake was right. Yes, they would know what Lazzo looks like. That can’t have been Lazzo. I don’t get it. “Good point… of course they would. So if that wasn’t Lazzo, who was it? And why blow up the building?” I asked myself as much as them. Before either could suggest anything, I continued. “Unless someone in Qi Jia was trying to get rid of the general.” That was a new thought. “Maybe Roja knew too much or maybe he was competition. There’s really only one way to find out.”

“No, Danny. It’s not a good idea,” Blake was shaking his head. “It’s a hot mess down there.”

“What’s he thinking?” Keena asked, though Blake had kind of given it away already.

We have to follow that guy . “Let’s go.” I didn’t answer her question.

“Dang it, Danny,” I heard Blake mumble. I smiled. Objection noted .

Blake and Keena were on my heels as I cut down the hill. The enemy was distracted now. They had no idea what had hit them. The patrol that had gone down into the corner before the explosion—the same corner where the bomber had just disappeared—those guys had never come back up. I had a feeling we’d find them down there—dead—and another feeling there’d be tracks I could follow to whoever this bomber was.

Word of the Knights Peak explosion spread quickly. Commander Boli was informed immediately in Denver, and he wasted no time in reaching out to his contacts at the former Marine base in Hawaii. Governor Barnes was summoned to the base. He knew Trigger and Twix were under strict orders not to leave his side, so he had to sneak out. They couldn’t know where he was going or why he was going there.