Ever Hayes - Redemption

He arrived at the base, and four armed and masked men escorted him back to the radio room. “What can I do for you?” Barnes spoke into the handset.

“You have betrayed me,” the cold voice of Commander Boli replied on the other end.

“I haven’t—what are you talking about?”

“The man you send, he has killed one or two hundred of my men, including General Roja.”

“Whoa, wait, Commander. I didn’t send anyone. What man are you talking about? This has nothing to do with me. I have done all you have asked. Every single thing. No one even knows I’m involved.”

“You lie.”

“No, Commander, I swear. I would never jeopardize my wife. You killed my daughter. You think I don’t know you’d kill her too? I promise you, I did nothing but what you’ve told me. Please…”

There was a lengthy pause on the other end. “We shot down one rescue plane and found other. We killed everyone you send. Your information was good there. But you are responsible for this Danny too, no?”

“No.” Governor Barnes was panicking. “I couldn’t say anything to Danny. If Danny knew I was involved, this all would have been over before it started. He never would have gone to meet you. I have risked everything here. I told you when he was coming, so you would be ready. I’ve been monitoring his dog tag the entire time. I told you to stay back and let him come. He couldn’t have blown up your building. Danny’s not even there yet. He’s still miles away from the coordinates.”

“He will never come now. I should kill your wife and the girls now.”

“Commander, please…” Barnes took the opportunity to plead with him. “Listen—please—it was your men who shot down Danny’s plane. If Danny made it to Colorado, he would never have blown up the building that gave him his only chance to save his sister.”

“Maybe so. But how do we find him now? Who else would have blown that building?”

“Commander, I’ll give you Danny’s current coordinates. But I have no idea who could have blown that building. Maybe some of the men from the other planes escaped. I don’t know. You killed a plane full of Captain Baker’s men. Maybe this was his revenge.”

“This was not Captain Baker.”

“How do you know? It could have been.”

“I know.”

“Sir, please, I have done everything you have asked. I have risked my life and betrayed my own country to help you. I just told you where you can find Danny. Please…please, sir…let my wife go.”

“You know I cannot.”

“You promised—”

“No!” Boli screamed back into the radio. “You have not delivered. I do not have the information I need. I have lost over hundreds of men. I promised you I would deliver when you deliver. That was my promise.”

“Commander, there is still plenty of time before the deadline you—”

“No. No more time. I give you three days. I will send men to pick up Danny where you tell me to look but if he is not there you must reach him and get him to turn himself in to me. Three days. I no have information by then, your wife—all the prisoners—they die. Three days.” And then there was an audible click.

“Commander—”

It was too late. He was gone.

Governor Barnes had problems. Real, serious problems. As he left the base and headed back to the governor’s mansion, he racked his brain for anything he could do on this end. He needed to get back to his tablet and message Danny. But what was he supposed to tell him? That the Libyan commander had contacted him out of the blue and asked him to please have Danny turn himself in? Right . Danny would see through that. But if he didn’t message Danny immediately, he was wasting time. He only had three days to save his wife.

What was he supposed to do? He couldn’t ask anyone for help or advice. He couldn’t tell anyone here he had basically sacrificed both rescue planes to save a single person—his wife. Commander Boli had confirmed they had killed all the rescuers—Baker’s entire party—but no one in Hawaii knew that yet. And the governor couldn’t say anything. Apparently no one from Cheyenne Mountain was aware either, or they would have reported it. They hadn’t radioed anything of the kind in. In fact, there’d been no communication from the bunker all week. That would probably change in a matter of days.

On the other hand, the Hexagon was buzzing with news of the Knight’s Peak explosion. That story had spread rapidly across the wires between Colorado Springs and Denver, and they’d intercepted numerous messages being sent to other parts of the country. Qi Jia’s commanders were concerned about an impending attack, even though none was coming that Barnes knew of. Whoever had blown up that building had awakened a sleeping giant. And General Roja’s death would turn Mexico’s focus back on Hawaii. Hawaii’s closest physical threat would be seeking some form of revenge.

As the governor climbed back into the window of his bedroom, he stopped short at the sight of two men in the corner. Twix was sitting in his reading chair, and Trigger was standing beside him.

“Governor.” Twix stood and approached him.

“Jeez… you guys scared the crap out of me.”

“Mind telling us where you’ve been?” Twix stood behind the governor who had turned his back to them. Trigger still hadn’t moved, or made a sound.

The governor didn’t want them to see his face. “I needed some alone time. I went for a walk on the beach. You guys have been on me—”

“Sir, you don’t get alone time.” Twix’s annoyance was evident in his voice. He grabbed the governor’s arm and turned him around.

“Now wait—”

Twix held up his hand, and Barnes stopped talking. “At Danny’s orders, Keena put a tracer in your watch. Nicole told us you had left, and we watched you go to the Kaneohe Bay Marine Base. We didn’t follow you because we didn’t want to jeopardize whatever it was you were there for. But we know you met someone there.”

“What? Don’t you guys know? You can’t trust Nicole. She’s the mole. I thought you knew that—”

“No, sir,” Twix replied. “We know she isn’t the mole. She has done exactly what Danny wanted her to.”

“I think you really want to be careful here.” Trigger finally spoke up.

Panic was evident on the governor’s face. “It’s not what—”

He stopped talking as Twix nodded, almost directly in his face now. “Yes, it is.”

“Guys, you don’t… I can’t.”

“Listen.” Trigger approached them now. “You’ve probably seen a lot of movies and TV shows. You’re not going to jail. We don’t report to anyone but Danny now, and we have no way of reaching him. You telling us what’s going on will not get to anyone else. The FBI—if any of them still exist—won’t trip all over themselves and piss on your plan. We’re not going to shoot you unless you keep treating us like idiots. We need to—”

“They have my wife.” Governor Barnes threw his arms up. “Okay? What do you want me to do? They have my wife.” The room was suddenly silent.

Trigger took two more strides toward the governor. “What have you done?”

Twix cut him off. “Easy.”

“No. What have you done?” Trigger was almost yelling. “Telling secrets is one thing, but—”

The governor was trembling, backing toward the window. “Guys…”

“Trig.” Twix stood between Trigger and the governor. “Give me a minute, will you.” Trigger was shaking his head. “Please, just a minute,” Twix insisted. Trigger glared at Barnes but finally nodded and stepped back.