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He was going to sit back and watch the show. One woman didn’t matter.
Friday. Task Force Headquarters, Fairfax, VA.
Samuel had always enjoyed going to work. His life was his job. He took pride in that. But today as the old grain depot came into view, he was relieved. And so damn glad. His eyelids were doing their best to stick to his eyeballs. He had a cramp in his left shoulder for no reason that made it hard to breathe. But most of all? He’d finally be able to tell himself that Jessica was safe. He’d gotten her somewhere he knew she’d be looked after by people they could trust.
There was always the chance that they had another mole. It was hard to believe that Nadine and the two people she’d killed were the only ones given how sophisticated their enemy was. To that extent, they’d made a lot of changes, not the least of which was their location.
After their headquarters had been destroyed in the wake of Nadine’s betrayal, Zora had moved the Task Force here. On the outside, it was an old grain depot. The tracks had long-since been overgrown rendering the place useless. Its weather-worn exterior was both a defensive structure but also camouflage. The insides were a completely different story.
He didn’t know how long the NSA or whoever was behind this place had been developing it, but inside and under the old grain depot was a state-of-the-art command center like something out of a Cold War-era movie.
“Where are we?” Jessica asked, her tone weary.
“Safe.”
He turned away from the grain depot and wound through the sleepy town on the outskirts of DC. He turned into the parking garage of an office building and slowly let the Jeep descend into darkness, winding his way lower and lower until they reached the very bottom.
Jessica sat up and peered around them. “What is this place?”
He kept circling until the tunnel came into view.
“Samuel?”
“This is our headquarters.”
That perked her up. “Seriously?”
“It should go without saying but, you never saw this place, okay?”
She had her nose pressed to the window, though all there was to see was concrete and a tunnel of darkness broken every twenty or so yards by lights.
“This place looks like a horror movie set,” Jessica muttered.
“Good news for you then, the Black characters usually die first.”
She whipped around scowling. “Don’t say that. It is too soon for death jokes, Samuel. Not. Fucking. Funny.”
Her reaction caught him off-guard. He held out his right hand, and she took it immediately. They’d done this from time to time while driving, but this was the first time reaching for her felt natural. As if he’d been holding onto her his whole life.
“I was just trying to lighten the mood,” he said.
“Yeah, well, I’m feeling very sensitive today. Try that joke again tomorrow and I might laugh.” She screwed up her mouth and squinted. “Though if you think about it, if we were in a horror movie I’m so much more likely to be the first one dead. You know how to use a gun and defend yourself. I… Yeah, no. I’d be the first one dead.”
He smothered his chuckle. Of course, Jessica would take his words seriously and rationalize through the scenario. She might be sunshine and light and laughter, but her mind was razor-sharp.
The very idea of losing her, even in a fictional sense, didn’t sit well with him.
Samuel grimaced and squeezed her hand. “Yeah, I see what you mean. Too soon for that joke.”
“How long does this go on for?” she asked.
“Three miles.” He shook his head. “I don’t know how they pulled this off without anyone finding out about it.”
“Right? How much did they pay the construction crew to not say anything?” She curled one leg under her and cradled his hand against her thigh. “It’s almost midnight. Is anyone going to be here?”
“Security will, for sure. Other than that, I don’t know. It’s not unusual for people to work night shifts depending on what they’re working on. Given that the Aegis team is in Europe, chances are high that support staff is on-site should they need assistance.”
“Wow. Anyone I know work here?”
