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“Right this way, gentlemen.”
“We’re trying to find our tech guy now. It’s a fucking sub, he couldn’t go far. We’ve been losing tracking, communications, and now critical abilities for our engines for the last week. He kept blaming it on G.R.I.P., but I knew better.”
“Did you reach out to command?” asked Luke.
“You know that I did, Luke. When I had comms, that is. They kept saying there was nothing wrong, but we weren’t getting anywhere.”
“Were you out here on mission?” asked Cam. He looked at Cam and Luke, then back at the others.
“You know we all have clearance at least as high as yours,” smirked Abe.
“The Russians have been pulling their bullshit. Sending ships close to Alaskan waters and shores, weather balloons that look suspiciously like spy balloons, strange Russian visitors going in and out of customs. A week ago, they caught a Russian trying to get on Bangor Trident base. Said he was a fisherman and banged his head, got lost. That’s a long fucking way from home. Admiral Garvin wanted us out here and keeping watch.”
“Admiral Garvin?” asked Luke. The other man nodded, knowing immediately that something was drastically wrong.
“Do you think they’re trying to get to the sub?” asked Abe.
“I think they’re trying to figure out the new stealth equipment you placed on the sub, along with the new whisper-firing technologies. I could fire on anything from right here, and they wouldn’t know it was coming from me. It’s genius.”
The men all nodded, smiling at one another. They knew their team was the best.
“Wait. How did you find me?” asked Peters.
“Every piece of equipment we put on a ship has a tracking element to it. Your tech guy, or whoever it was, is tossing the pieces overboard. He’s literally leaving a trail for us to follow. Once we had that, we were able to use our own satellites and find where you were.”
“Damn impressive,” he smiled, nodding at him.
They heard shuffling in the passageway, and Fitch, AJ, Patrick, Christopher, and Gator moved toward the door. The lieutenant, along with two other men, were trying to wrangle a smaller man down the hall. They knew he was the man they were looking for.
Patrick and Gator stepped into the passageway, moving toward the man. Gator settled his hand at his trapezoid, squeezing with a twist. The man immediately stopped squirming, gasping for air.
“You want to live, you little shit? Then stop fighting.” He blinked, and Gator gripped his arm, shoving him into the mess.
“Freeman?” frowned the captain. “He was my former head of tech support platform. He asked for another assignment. What happened to Wainwright?”
“If you asked for another assignment, why in the hell are you on this sub?” asked Cam.
“I have to be.” He stopped, staring at all the men, then down at his feet.
“You’d better keep talking, little man,” frowned Gator.
“They have my sister and brother. They’re just kids. Both were attending college, and Wolford got to them with the help of Garvin.”
“Garvin? Admiral Garvin?” asked Peters. The other man nodded.
“Please, if I don’t find what they want, they’ll kill them.”
“What do they want?” asked Luke.
“I was supposed to find everything that was imprinted with the G.R.I.P. label and take photos of it. Everything. One by one, I had to throw them in the sea, hopefully leaving the sub vulnerable enough that the Russians could move in on it. But it’s better than I thought. Even removing a few things doesn’t stop her completely, and the photos weren’t providing them with enough information. I tried to tell him that it wasn’t as if I could just walk off the sub with a carton of discarded parts. You’ve got something on them that sends out an alarm if they’re moved too far away from where they were installed.”
“That’s right, you idiot,” growled Christopher. “We’re the best, and this ship is the best because of us. Who is Garvin working with?”
“I’m not sure,” he said, shaking his head. “Seriously. I don’t know. Once a week, he meets with some guy in D.C. at this little bar in Foggy Bottom. He’s usually in sweatpants and a hoodie. You wouldn’t know who he was at first glance. I wasn’t supposed to see him there, but I did, and that’s what got me into this situation.
“He told me if I didn’t help him with a mission of national security, I’d die. Told him I didn’t care about me, and that I wouldn’t help him. That’s when he took my sister and brother. I have to help them, please.”
“We’ll find them,” said Luke. “But you’re not getting off that easy. You’re going to help us get Garvin and the Russian that he’s working with. What do you know about Wolford and Quetzalcoatl?”
