AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The Goblin King made his appearance as she ran. She nearly sobbed when Emma Holland’s face appeared. “Emma, I need help!” she whisper-screamed.
Emma would help. She and Hope and Felicity—Riley could count on them for anything. Riley didn’t have the bandwidth, or the time, or her laptop, to map out an exit on the run. Her friends in Portland, who worked for one of the top security firms in the world, would help.
But then Emma’s face shrank to half the screen and another one appeared. A man, leaning on his fists, face close to the camera. A very handsome face. Blue-black hair, dark blue eyes. Clean, sharp features.
“Riley, I’m Pierce, a colleague.” Her friends worked at a security company that was the opposite of the Sommers Group. “And I’m in DC. How can I help?”
Riley had to suppress a cry of relief. Hope, Emma and Felicity would do everything possible to help her but they were across the country. And they were smart but not operators. Hope once described the men she worked with as super nice… to them. But dangerous to the bad guys.
The Sommers Group was as bad as they come.
To help, Pierce had to know the situation. It was hard to sum up, while she felt the drumbeat of terror pounding through her. “You know the tensions between us and China?”
He frowned, dark eyebrows meeting over his sharp blade of a nose. “Yeah. Bad news.”
“The worst. But it’s a lie. It’s based on a lie and I have the proof. Chinese soldiers did not attack US scientists. But the people after me don’t want that to come out. They are the Sommers Group and they are the attackers.” She put up a photo, where the Sommers Group logo could be clearly seen on the mercenaries’ sleeves. Dead scientists on the ground, out of control PMCs baying at the sky. Riley could hear Emma and Hope sucking in a breath. “They killed my boss.”
Moisture on her cheeks. She swiped angrily at her face. “And now they are after me.”
Pierce was listening but he was also consulting Hope and Emma. “Okay. I’m about twenty minutes out. Can you hide for twenty minutes? Hope and Emma are going to wipe out the NSO’s security cam system.”
If there were no cams… “Yeah, I think so.”
He cocked his head, listening to someone off screen. “Emma says to go to the sub-basement and hide there. Did you make the changes to your cell?”
Meaning—did she turn her cell into a satphone? That could operate independently of cell towers that had been turned off.
“Yeah.”
“Right. Hold on. We’re mapping out… okay. I’ll send you a text when it’s time to come up. Emma says to come up in Wing A.”
“Can’t,” Riley said sorrowfully. “Some restructuring going on. The access door is closed off.”
“Hmm.” Emma’s voice, the sound of pounding on a keyboard in the background. “Then through the kitchen, down the stairs to the food storage area where you wait, come up on the side entrance. That would be even better because Pierce will be waiting on Lee Road.”
Pierce’s deep voice came over. “I’ll text you when I’m two minutes out, Riley. Just hang in there, keep out of sight. The Sommers Group operators are brutal but smart. Stay out of their way.”
No shit, Sherlock,she wanted to say, but didn’t.Play nice.She had some remarkable people on her side. They were mapping out an escape for her. She couldn’t do it on her own. The snark came from her own terror.
“Do my best. See you on Lee Road.” She waited a second, to make sure her voice didn’t tremble. “Please hurry.”
“You got it. I’m coming for you as fast as I can.”
2
Pierce Jordan shot out of the office, down the stairs, out onto the street. He was in Washington preparing for negotiations for a new DOD contract for ASI, but he was using the offices of Black Inc., a company his company cooperated with often.
One of the Genius Squad of women back in Portland had recently saved Jacob Black’s life and any ASI person was golden in Black’s eyes. The Washington DC Black Inc. branch had strict instructions to help Pierce in any way it could and he had to beat the helpfulness back with a stick.
But now he really needed their help and they came through in spades. He quickly explained what he needed and a few minutes later, a car pulled up. The driver got out, holding open the door. Pierce got in.
It looked like a very normal car, not high-end. The color of dirt, no shiny bits. Nothing to catch the eye. But it was armored, had run-flat tires and could go from zero to 100 in ten seconds.
He nodded to the Black Inc. operator, who said, “We’re getting set up right now. The switch will be in the Garrett Tunnel. The safe house will be in the GPS of the new car and when you arrive, it will be wiped from the GPS record.” He slapped the roof. “Good luck.”
Pierce nodded. The door closed with a bank vaultwhump!And he took off.
There was one goal—to get to the National Surveillance Office in Chantilly as fast as humanly possible. He was following what was happening there over his phone, through the dark web connection Riley established with her friends in Portland. He focused fiercely on driving fast without being pulled over. Any speeding tickets would be absorbed by Black Inc., but would slow him down.
