Page 54 of The Ghost

It didn’t take us long to find a set of double doors. They were bolted, and there was a biometric keypad to the left. I almost shot it, but Clark put a hand on my shoulder. I moved aside to let her work, watching with chagrin as she pulled a thumb out of her pocket. Pressing it to the keypad, she opened the door.

“Ryan?” I asked.

She didn’t answer, but that was all the confirmation I needed. I didn’t want to imagine her cutting a finger off the man she had once been in love with. I suppose it helped that he’d turned out to be such a colossal jerk.

“Would you cut my thumb off if I died?” I asked, unable to resist the temptation to tease her even though we were in the worst possible situation.

“In a heartbeat,” she answered, blowing me a kiss.

I caught it and held it to my chest. But a moment later, we heard gunfire from the beach. We put on our game faces and hustled out to join the fight. There were only a few feet between us and the sand. Getting out from under the cliff, we could see two companies of soldiers taking cover, exchanging fire across the breach.

I spotted the Dark Sparrow insignias to our right, tugging Clark in that direction. We had a direct line of sight to the New Dawn troops and took a few out as we ran past. Ducking behind a moored rowboat, we popped up to exchange fire.

Chapter 24

Theo

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I GOT WORD FROM LUKAS that he was out of the building. We weren’t coalescing on the beach, so he must have found a different exit. I glanced back up at the fortress and had a sobering thought.

“Are you sure this is the only detonator?” I asked Clark, pointing at her pocket.

“No,” she gulped. “This was the one he showed me.”

“What about all the computers in there?” I pondered. “Maybe someone could recreate the destruction sequence.”

“Where is the key that was in my shoulder?” she demanded.

“I don’t know,” I responded. “We need to get them all together and destroy them.”

“Where is Lukas?” Clark wanted to know.

“He must have escaped some other way,” I said. “I need to go back and find him.”

“No!” she shouted, grabbing me by the lapels. “Stay with me.”

“I don’t want to leave,” I argued. “But one of us has to make sure that Ashcroft’s dreams die with him.”

“Then we’ll both go,” she decided, crouching in anticipating of running back into the base.

“No,” I objected, holding her down. “Get away. Get back to the Dark Sparrow safehouse. I’ll meet you there.”

“Dammit, Theo,” Clark spat. “We just found each other and now you want to split up again? What happened to our master plan?”

“You mean retiring on a beach somewhere?” I asked, kissing her fiercely. “I fully intend to be there.”

“What do I say to Lukas if he manages to get here without you?” she demanded.

“Tell him not to wait,” I said.

“I could kill you,” she swore, wiping tears from her eyes.

“The only way we can be sure that New Dawn will never rise again is to destroy the base,” I said. “Give me the detonator.”

“What about getting to Z and having her dismantle it?” Clark asked, desperate to find a different solution.

“We have a chance to end this right now,” I told her. “Please.”