Page 52 of The Ghost

“I’ll take that room, you take this one,” she suggested, pointing out two doors on opposite sides of the hall.

I heard gunshots somewhere in the distance, but there wasn’t anyone directly within our scope. I agreed with a nod, throwing my shoulder against the door. It buckled after two tries, revealing what looked like a science classroom. There were standing lab stations and beakers on every desk. A bank of windows faced out toward the cliffs, but there was no stairwell.

I turned away, jogging across the hall to see what Clark had found. It was a closet full of cleaning supplies. I wondered if Ashcroft was continuing his school. Was he still rescuing orphans and delinquents, training them to work for him at New Dawn? The layout of the compound seemed to support that theory. If it was true, then I suspected that Ashcroft was even crazier than we’d first imagined. What he was doing in terms of destroying the world was bad enough, but to be raising the future generation within his walls, that was something extra.

I didn’t have time to share my conclusions with Clark, nor did it matter. As long as we put a stop to Ashcroft’s plan, we could worry about future New Dawn soldiers at a later point. There might be kids who would need deprogramming, but that wasn’t our first priority.

Clark joined me back in the hallway, chewing her bottom lip in frustration. “There has to be a way to the roof,” she said.

“What if he didn’t go to the roof?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “He might have a way out down below. Maybe there’s a door that opens onto the beach.”

“We would still need an elevator or a staircase,” I replied.

“Hang on,” she said. “There was something in that first room they took me to.”

“What room?” I wondered.

“The one where I...” She trailed off, and though I couldn’t confirm it, I thought that there might have been some reason she didn’t want to return.

She didn’t bother to elaborate but hurried away toward the sounds of gunfire. I held my weapon at the ready, following her lead. We hustled past one intersection after another, working our way deeper into the building. I kept my eyes out for anything that looked like a staircase or an elevator but didn’t see one. Of course, there had to be something, since I knew for a fact that the building had more than one floor. But without any intel on the layout of the fortress, we were scrambling around in the dark trying to find them.

Clark burst into a room with an open door. I didn’t know what to expect, but I could see why she was reluctant as soon as I entered. There on the floor, in front of a wall of windows, was the body of her ex-fiancé.

I had to suppress a cheer that raced through my mind, seeing the man dead. I didn’t like or trust him. Knowing he could never hurt Clark again was worth the agony in her eyes. I only wished I could have been the one to shoot him, rather than her. And judging from the amount of blood surrounding the corpse, the fight had been worse than a simple shooting incident.

On the right wall, a set of folding doors led to an elevator. Clark kicked a chair, cursing herself for missing it.

“It was here all along,” she said. “I was just so focused on Ryan...”

“Take it easy,” I instructed. “You can’t expect yourself to be perfect.”

“This is just a lack of situational awareness,” she snapped, pushing the button to summon it.

“Hey.” I grabbed her. Since we were alone in the room with the dead body, I thought it was safe to let my guard down for a minute. I pulled her close, wrapping her up in my arms to quiet her thundering heart. “You’re human. We all make mistakes.”

The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open. There was no one inside, but that didn’t mean it was safe. Clark took a step, scouring the ceiling before waving me in. We rode up together, waiting for the top floor to be announced.

I wasn’t sure that we would find Ashcroft there, but Clark seemed so certain. At least we were on our way somewhere. If we couldn’t find him above, we could try down below. Clark was our best shot at recovering Ashcroft before he escaped, and I knew that better than anyone.

I texted Lukas to let him know our situation. He didn’t respond, but I knew he had his hands full coordinating the attack. Hopefully he wasn’t pinned down and could respond when we did manage to find his foster father. I prayed that it wouldn’t be too late. If what Clark said about a duplicate trigger was true, then the future of the world hung in the balance.

The elevator doors opened onto the roof, and there in the hazy sunshine was Ashcroft. He stood at the edge of the building, looking out over the sea. I had a crazy thought that he was about to jump. Maybe it was the way he was standing or the ponderous look on his face. Wouldn’t that be a simple way to end this whole charade? If Ashcroft jumped to his death and saved us the trouble, I might rethink some of the harsh feelings I had for him. But of course, he didn’t jump.

“Clark,” he said, turning to face us.

“Don’t move,” she instructed, pointing her weapon at him.

I took a step back, giving her a silent indication that I was going to stay out of the fight. He was her foster father, and I wasn’t going to interfere. If she asked for my help, I would gladly give it, but I had a feeling she wanted to handle things herself.

She didn’t react but moved forward, holding Ashcroft at bay. “I can’t let you leave.”

He looked to the sky, indicating that there might have been a helicopter enroute. But I knew that Dark Sparrow had the place surrounded. The odds were in our favor, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if Ashcroft’s escape vehicle was delayed.

“I always considered you my daughter,” Ashcroft said, a creepy smile on his face.

“Fathers don’t raise their children to be assassins,” Clark countered. “They don’t make kids dig pits in the backyard or force us to infiltrate other people’s houses.”