Chapter 65
SPOV
I felt pleased with my performance in Ranger's office and was smiling to myself as I went upstairs to the apartment. I wasn't too sure if it had worked though, that man Calhoun, he made my skin crawl when he was watching me. I just hoped that this plan that Ranger had devised was going to work.
Once in the bedroom I quickly discarded my outfit and pulled on some better underwear before finishing off with black cargos and a cream shirt. My cat boots and socks were by the couch and as I pulled them on, I heard the door open seeing Cal and the man called Nate coming inside. I picked up my cell phone and the knife from Hector and slipped those into a pocket of the cargos and then smiled as Cal held up a vest for me to wear.
"You ready Steph?"
"Yes. Are they still downstairs?"
"Yes, so we need to be quiet going down the stairs"
I knew the cameras weren't operating up here on seven or in the stairwell but knew that the sound of boots wasn't what we needed in case someone heard them. All went well as we came out into the basement, but I was really nervous about going down the ladder into that tunnel.
"I'll go first Steph and light the place up"
Came from Nate as he looked at me. Once he was down and the light from his flashlight could be seen I turned around and climbed down the steps. It wasn't as small as I thought it would be and maybe Les had cleaned away any debris and spiders. I heard Cal behind me as we started to walk, surprised at just how far we were going. Nate had stopped when he came to another set of ladders and told me.
"Stay here while I make sure the coast is clear"
A few minutes later I saw his hand reach down to me, so I started to climb up so glad as I knelt on the floor of a large room. That's when I knew something was wrong, three men seemed to appear from the shadows and ran out toward us. One of them grabbed hold of my wrist while another started to attack Nate. The third man, all I saw was him throwing something down into the tunnel.
I felt the vibration and then the feel of air and dust rushing from the tunnel and instantly knew it had been a grenade. My first thought was for Cal, whether he was hurt or even dead, if he had managed to move away from it quickly enough. My second thought was then for Nate who now had two men punching and kicking him. I tried to free myself from the grip around my arm and had almost made it with an effective knee in the right place. All that got me was being pushed away from him and falling awkwardly across some ruble.
Turning I knew I'd landed badly on my leg but wasn't deterred from getting back onto my feet. That man must have balls of steel because he didn't seem to be in any pain. He just stood there looking at me with a grin across his face. I was waiting for him to come at me again when I felt a sizzle at my neck, shit I had totally forgotten about the man at the tunnel entrance. How had this happened and how did they know, were the thoughts going through my mind as darkness came over me.
I hated waking up when I didn't know where I was. The problem was that it really did happen to me far too often. I felt comfortable and warm so chanced opening my eyes really surprised at what I was seeing.
Yeah, I recognized where I was, the expensive furniture and the colorful rugs. I suppose we had never really known very much about Ehsan, whether to trust him or not. He'd evaded been seen by anyone and all we had was the information that he'd told us, hell, he could be working with Calhoun for all we knew. The fact that I was here had me feeling annoyed, all the plans that we'd made couldn't have prepared us for Ehsan doing this. Then I wondered what else had happened. Did that mean that Calhoun had achieved what he wanted?
Movement caught my attention and I watched as Ehsan walked toward me and placed a coffee on the table.
"You okay?"
Why the hell would he ask me that when he was the one who had brought me here? I slowly sat up, noticing that my vest was laid next to me on the couch and looked around to see if there was anyone else here with us. To be honest I was feeling pretty pissed off with him for lying to us, deceiving us and helping to trap me.
"Where's your buddy Calhoun, or has he given you the job of holding me here or even getting rid of me?"
I had to admit that the surprised expression was good and decided that I wasn't going to fall for it.
"I'm not working with him Steph. He tricked all of us. Those men in the basement were his men"
"Yeah right. So why am I here then?"
"It was the safest place that I could think to bring you"
Why would he lie to me, what did he hope to achieve by that? I just wished that he'd tell me the truth.
"Why not Rangeman?"
"I couldn't get back there, not with the tunnel collapsed"
"Ever heard of a front door?"
"Yes, but his men were watching it"
I looked down at the coffee almost tempted to pick it up but wasn't sure if maybe he'd drugged it. He was obviously watching me carefully because he picked it up and took a mouthful before placing it back in front of me.
"It's not drugged"
"What happened?"
So sue me I was curious at what he would tell me and had a feeling that maybe there was some truth in what he was telling me.
"I kept an eye on the motel for when Calhoun turned up and then once he had the briefcase, I followed him to Rangeman. The case he carried inside wasn't the one that I'd left for him, it was a lot bigger, so I knew he was up to something"
Did that mean that he didn't take a bomb into Rangeman, were we totally wrong about his intentions?
"I saw Ranger leave with Calhoun, but then Calhoun's men were still around. It was as if they were looking for something and they seemed very interested in keeping surveillance around the buildings. When one went into the building next door, I could tell that he'd found something when two more joined him. I decided to find out what they'd found"
"They found me and Nate"
"I know, when I got there, they were carrying you out so I made sure that they wouldn't hurt anyone else"
Oh shit, did that mean that he'd killed them, but what about Nate and Cal?
"Cal, was he still in the tunnel?"
"I don't know what happened to him or the one you call Nate. I needed to get you out of there without anyone seeing us"
And that brought me right back to where we'd started this conversation. I knew I wouldn't be able to get out of this place, it was like a fortress, so maybe I just needed to keep him talking. He might slip up and say something that gave me a clue as to what his intentions were, but why bring me here if his intention was to get rid of me. Had Calhoun said to kidnap me to give him something for Calhoun to bargain with against Ranger?
"Is Ranger okay?"
"Yes, but it seems that Calhoun managed to cause an explosion on the roof"
"With your briefcase?"
"No, hell I the explosive in there was no bigger than a firecracker"
I automatically picked up the mug and started to drink the coffee, it was the same taste as the one he'd provided for me when I was last here. Now though I wasn't sure what Ranger would think and I hated to think that he would be worried about me.
"What now?"
"Ranger should know where you are?"
"How?"
Was he going to call him or send a message, but then wouldn't Ranger be pissed if he thought that Ehsan had double crossed him.
"I left a message in the car parked at the side of the building"
"Not clever if Calhoun's men find it"
I was waiting for some response from Ehsan but it never came, instead he was suddenly on his feet and racing to the one of the doors behind me. Turning to watch him disappear from sight my hand went to my pocket and I pulled my phone out. I looked in dismay at the cracked screen and try as I might the damn thing wouldn't power up. Then I remembered being pushed and falling badly, shit the phone must have got broken then. A feel of my other pocket revealed that I still had the knife that Hector had given to me, though I was pretty damn sure that Ehsan would be able to get it from me.
I decided to see where Ehsan had gone and what had made him suddenly disappear so walked over to the doorway of the room that was still open. I couldn't believe how much electronic stuff was there, obviously computers but also screens that showed various parts of the building and surrounding area. One by one the views from the screens disappeared to be replaced with a grey static. Ehsan was stood in front of a keyboard busy hitting keys.
"What's happened?"
"They're here"
My heart lifted at that, thinking that Ranger and the men had arrived. Maybe Hector had managed to hack into his system.
"Calhoun"
"What?"
Not understanding what he was saying.
"Calhoun has managed to hijack some of my systems. The bastard's on his way up here"
"I thought you said he didn't know about this place?"
Because the idea of Calhoun and his men being here was the last thing that I expected and the last person that I wanted to have to see.
"I didn't think he did. Somehow, he's controlling some of my systems, but I've managed to shut him out of others"
That was good wasn't it? The sight of Ehsan walking over to a large cabinet by the wall and opening it had my eyes go wide. Shit there was a small arsenal of weapons inside. He started to pull out guns and rifles and thrust two guns into my hands.
"You do know how to use them, don't you?"
I could only nod my head, yes, I knew how to use them but had never actually fired them outside of the range at Rangeman. Ranger had tried several guns with me before deciding that it was probably safer for everyone, including me, if I only had the Smith & Wesson revolver. The guns felt heavy in my hands and I knew I couldn't fire one left-handed, so gave one back to Ehsan.
"One's enough, I can't shoot with my left hand"
"Hide in the bedroom, he's nearly here"
I grabbed hold of my vest from the couch before I felt his hands on my shoulders and he steered me from the room, I was unceremonially pushed through a door into a bedroom. Probably the same one that I had been in when I was here before. I hated the idea of hiding and not knowing what the hell was going on, so I opened the door a crack to give me a view of the room beyond.
Ehsan was sat on the couch, to all intents and purposes relaxing but I could see the tension in the muscles of his neck and jaw. He was so like Ranger in those respects, ready to pounce like a big dangerous cat. I heard movement and looked beyond Ehsan to see Calhoun walk into the room. There were two heavily armed men with him, stood on either side as though they were his bodyguards. Seeing Calhoun again made me wonder exactly what position he held especially as he always seemed to be wearing a suit. Was he still part of the army but didn't need to wear the uniform? Stupid thoughts that really had no significance to the predicament that we seemed to be in.
Ehsan was looking at Calhoun and I was sure if I could see his face then he'd be wearing a blank face, but the tone of his voice left no doubt that he was annoyed.
"I don't appreciate you breaking into here. What do you want? I did as you asked of me"
"All part of my plan Ethan. Now where's that woman?"
"What plan would that be Edward?"
Uh oh, they were playing word games by using first names, but at least Ehsan hadn't immediately given me up.
"You're slipping, Elizabeth told me she thought you were getting soft"
"Soft. What the hell did she know about me?"
"Your reluctance to hurt that woman, though that has turned out better for me. Then I started to reevaluate some of the recent jobs you've done. You were trying to be clever weren't you, never taking out the women and just shutting down a group by killing the leaders"
"You got what you wanted, the terrorists were stopped"
"They should have been wiped off the face of the planet"
Calhoun was getting annoyed as Ehsan tried to explain himself and why he'd done what he had.
"They were just kids, that country needs to rebuild, and it won't happen by just killing people that you think should be dead"
Calhoun went quiet for a minute and I had the funny felling that Ehsan had just helped him to make his mind up about what he was going to do next. It gave me pause for thought as well and my whole perception of Ehsan changed. He was trying to change to become a better person but obviously Calhoun didn't like that.
"Our contract is terminated"
I could just imagine the look that Ehsan gave Calhoun when he said that and thought that maybe that was what Ehsan wanted as an outcome. The problem would be how Calhoun planned to terminate the contract. Was that why Calhoun had wanted Ranger, that he had this notion that Ranger would replace Ehsan?
"I left the briefcase you gave to me at Rangeman. When Homeland find it, they'll find your prints all over it. The same devise as the bomb in New York and they'll know it was you that dropped the bomb on the rooftop at Rangeman. It'll be a shame that you stupidly blew your own property up, an accident maybe?"
Oh shit, Calhoun was going to try and frame Ehsan as a terrorist, one of the things he needed if he was going to be allowed to continue his black op work in the middle east.
"That won't happen. I don't keep any supplies here"
The look on Calhoun's face said that he knew better, that he had a way of ensuring that happened.
"The explosive device that you gave me, it's being placed as we speak to do maximum damage"
"I don't think so"
The smile on Calhoun's face was the look of a madman and I had a horrible feeling that he knew something else about that devise.
"I thought as much, so I made sure we had one that had the same components as in the one in New York"
It got so quiet that I was almost began to think they'd left the room and was surprised that Ehsan wasn't asking more about the explosion.
"How did you get in here?"
"Elizabeth was a very clever woman. She dropped a tracker in your car. I've known for months about this place. All I needed to do was find a hacker who could get into your systems. It's amazing how smart some of these young kids are"
I watched as Ehsan sat back in the couch his body language almost showing defeat at what had been said. Surely, he wouldn't give up that easily would he? Calhoun was whispering something to the two men beside him and I cringed away from the door when I realized they were heading my way. I suppose I could hide, under the bed or lock myself in the bathroom, but knowing the place was going to go up in smoke that didn't appeal to me very much. Instead I took a deep breath and walked from the room, surprising Calhoun when he realized that it was me.
"Miss Plum. Nice of you to make it easy to find you. I have to say I preferred the attire you were wearing earlier"
"You a dirty old man as well as a murdering scumbag Calhoun?"
I couldn't help saying that and well, it was true. He didn't like it but had the sense not to say anything.
"Bring her with us as an added incentive for Manoso"
Oh no, that was not going to happen. Ranger had always said that he was afraid that I'd be hurt because of him. I wouldn't let anyone use me to get to Ranger because then he was sure to put distance between us again. As I felt someone get hold of my arm I pulled away and using all of those skills that Bobby had taught me fisted my hand and swung a heavy punch at the face of one of the men. It had two effects, he fell over, much to my amazement, but it also galvanized Ehsan into action. He was lightning fast as he tackled the other man but to be fair the other man wasn't too bad at defending himself. As those two battled it out I turned back to the man on the floor who was thinking it would be a good idea to get up. My boot hitting his head, several times soon put a stop to that.
It was the sound of gunfire that had me ducking down to the floor and I watched in horror as Ehsan slowly sank down, blood oozing between his fingers from his chest. I was so distracted I never realized that Calhoun had moved closer to me but as well as a gun in his left hand he also held a knife in the other. My gun had dropped from my hand to the floor but before I could reach out to try and get a hold of it, I felt myself being lifted by my hair. I twisted and turned trying to free myself but the feel of a blade against my cheek had me going still.
"Better. Now, you and I are going to leave"
Survival took over, but not how you would think. Staying alive might just give me a chance to fight back and escape at a later time. For now, I moved in front of Calhoun as he virtually lifted me up onto my toes by my hair. He'd moved the knife from my face but it was now pushing against my back. My only hope would be if he released my hair and the idea that the vest might give some sort of protection. The elevator was open at the end of the hallway and that seemed to be the only way out of here. I was dragged into the elevator and left facing the doors with the edge of the knife now firmly at my back while Calhoun's other hand kept his grip on my hair. With me facing the doors Calhoun told me what to do.
"Pull the outer doors down and then the inner one across"
Once done I wasn't sure what or who was controlling the elevator, but I felt the shudder from the floor before it began its slow descent. Calhoun let go of my hair and must have stepped back from me allowing me to think what I could do. Not a lot when we were both stuck inside the caged enclosure. My hand tightened around the only weapon that I had and that's when I heard it, the unmistakable sound of an explosion and the rocking of the elevator as it tilted sideways. I laughed at the irony of the situation and turned to see that Calhoun was looking around with a panicked look on his face.
"Looks like your own bomb is going to kill you Calhoun"
The elevator started to shudder, and I was sure we were moving down, probably faster than it was designed to do. Stones and masonry were falling down on top of it, some small pieces managing to rain down on our heads. The panicked look from Calhoun turned to rage, and as he changed the grip on his knife, he moved toward me, his arm poised above his head as though to bring it down onto me.
"Everything has been ruined because of you. If I die, then I want to know that I got rid of you first"
As he plunged the knife down, I did as Hector had shown me, used my left arm to block his. It might have worked and maybe it did but suddenly the elevator dropped, and huge parts of the building hit the roof of the elevator with such force that it gave way under the weight. Calhoun fell forward with me underneath him.
The silence was almost deafening as I looked up beyond Calhoun. He was laid over my chest but seemed awfully still. I used my body to try and turn to get him off me and that's when I saw all of the blood between us. I stopped and tried to decide if it was me that was hurt. Okay my shoulder winced a bit but not enough for all of the blood that was on me.
I couldn't understand it and started to really panic now. I was pinned underneath him with the rocks around and over us. I tried to push him off me but it was only as I twisted my body from under him that I managed to move him to the side. I stared across at his face seeing the lifeless eyes looking back at me and was convinced that he was really dead. It was as I pushed him away from me I saw how that had happened.
Sticking out of his chest in the center of all that blood was the handle of the knife that Hector had given to me. As Calhoun had fallen onto me, I must have clenched the handle tightly, enough that the blade was released. With Calhoun's weight and some of the stones from above he'd literally fallen onto the blade. I couldn't remove it from him, the sight of him shocked me. I'd killed him, up close and taken his life. Wasn't that what he was going to do to me?
I started to cough slightly and was aware of dust falling around me but a look around and I wasn't where I expected to be, the elevator had fallen lower than the ground floor and was now sat at the base of the shaft. I needed a weapon because I was sure there would be some of Calhoun's men waiting outside for me. I found Calhoun's gun and with it in my pocket instead of his, started to climb up the cage toward the top. I was surprised at how much debris had collected on the caged roof but by pulling some of the wire down enough it made enough space for me to look up and through.
Climbing out wasn't that easy, yes some of the rubble that had fallen gave me something to stand on. The wire that the cage was made from was strong and sharp where it had broken but I knew that I had to get out. Pulling myself through a ragged hole didn't go without tears to my clothes and even to some parts of my skin. Once on top of the cage I carefully balanced to peek over the edge of the shaft. There was dust wafting around in the air and places where rubble was still falling from the walls and roof down onto the floor.
Ahead of me I could see the opening into the building and spied three men stood with their backs to the wall. It almost seemed as though they were afraid to go through and out into the land beyond. Looking to my right I was surprised to see the back of someone sat on an old crate, hunched over as though busy, with a hood pulled over their head. Next to him looking over his shoulder was one of Calhoun's men and for some reason he had the end of his gun pointed toward the back of the one sat down. I waited, wanting to know what they were up to when the figure sitting down looked up toward the man.
"I'm trying, but it aint working. There's another program running that's constantly changing"
"Look kid, you get that system blocked. We can't get out of here until that security system is shut down"
I was interested in knowing what was still working to stop the men from leaving. As the man with the gun walked away and headed toward the opening, I very carefully jumped so that my elbows were over the edge of the shaft and then looking around again pulled myself up until I was laid on my stomach. I was curious about what was going on so carefully getting to my feet I moved toward the seated person, putting them between me and the men, though once there I was pleased that we weren't quite in the line of sight of the men at the opening. I was surprised as the face of what seemed a young kid turned to look at me and noticed a laptop on his knee. As he looked at me, I was half worried that he'd start shouting out for help instead his eyes travelled down from my head to my knees.
"Shit lady, are you okay?"
I knew I probably looked a mess, worse than I actually was and hoped that this kid would be sympathetic toward me.
"What's going on?"
I asked, hoping he knew the danger of being here.
"They need to get the system outside closed down"
"What does that system do?"
"The whole area is covered with infrared beams. Break the beam and boom"
"Can't they just step over the beams?"
"Probably, but there's guns somewhere firing at them"
"From outside the fencing?"
I asked that with the hope that maybe Ranger and the guys were here and were trying to take out the bad guys.
"Nah. It looks like the firing is coming from some remote guns set up high in the walls"
"What's your name?"
That threw him, and I was pleased to see him smile as he answered me and he pushed the hood down from over his head. That was then I realized my mistake. It wasn't a boy looking back at me it was a young woman whose face was covered in dust and whose hair was covered in a dark brown hat.
"Foxy, but you can call me Ava"
"Ava. Those men, the ones telling you what to do, they are really bad men"
"Yeah, I know now. This woman, she was the one who got me involved. She was nice to me and got me all sorts of cool toys. Then this man got involved and he was just plain mean"
"So why are you doing this?"
"I don't want to get shot"
I could understand that and could see that she was scared but somehow I needed to get her on my side.
"Ava. I know someone will be here soon to help. How about you just turn that off and go hide somewhere"
I knew I was asking a lot, that she had no idea who I was but I really hoped she might consider doing what I'd suggested. At least she was looking at me and not still typing away on her computer.
"What are you going to do?"
"Good question. I'm going to try and get us out of here"
I wasn't too sure just how I would do that but somehow I needed to get Ava out of here and help Ranger if he was out there somewhere.
"Maybe you need some help to do that"
I looked back at her surprised at what she'd said, I mean her helping me seemed a little too easy.
"Like what?"
Because I wasn't too sure if I could trust her and neither would I let her put herself at risk.
"I'm gonna go sit over there, out of the way and reinstate control back to the angel"
I was almost sure that she was talking about Ehsan but how did I tell her that I thought he might be dead. I'd seen him being shot and then heard and felt the effects of an explosion. I wasn't confident that doing what she was suggesting would help us.
"Ava, I'm not sure that the angel is still alive"
"Yes he is, that's why I can't hack in, he keeps changing the algorithms"
"You go do that then and I'll try to keep those men away from you"
That Ehsan could still be alive gave me an added incentive to somehow help to get rid of these men, how I hadn't a clue. No doubt some opportunity would materialize, it usual did with me. I kept my eyes on the men as Ava started to stand up then had an idea.
"Ava, can I have your hat?"
"Sure. It covers up my curls so should do the same for you"
I smiled when she took har hat off and revealed a riot of black curly hair, though I wasn't so sure the black was natural. I waited until Ava was hidden behind the wall next to where the elevator was and looked around again. No one seemed to be taking any notice of Ava, so I sat down mimicking how she'd been sat before.
I wasn't expecting the sound of gunfire so close to me and ended up with my head between my hands on my knees. Shit it sounded as though the gun had been fired from behind me. Of course, that attracted the attention of the men and soon one of them was running my way. He seemed genuinely concerned as he approached, though if it was for me or the computer, I wasn't sure.
"Are you alright, are you hurt?"
As I turned his eyes just stared at the blood stain on my blouse and I knew I was in with a chance here. I bent over slightly, my arms pulled tight over my stomach and moaned.
"Shit. You need to lay down, you're bleeding badly"
As his arms came around me, as though to help me to lay down there was a resounding thud and he just toppled over. Stood there with a large metal pipe in her hands was Ava. I pulled her down next to me and looked over to the remaining men. Okay one down and three to go.
"Did you get it done?"
I asked, hoping that I'd been right to trust her.
"Yeah, I've unlocked everything so the angel should have control"
I was curious why she'd been so keen to do that when five minutes ago she was determined to take out his systems.
"Why did you do it?"
"I didn't want to do it in the first place but now I know we have a chance of maybe getting out of here and I know he'll help if he can"
Okay, maybe that made sense to her and was glad to have her on my side. I wasn't too sure the same trick would work a second time so taking his rifle that he'd put down on the floor I found another gun in a holster on his shoulder which Ava just took out of my hands. We dragged the man to the shaft and toppled him over the edge. I was almost cringing at the sound that it made but Ava was pulling on my sleeve and pointing to an old wooden bench that was laid on its side. Once there I peered around the edge of the table to see where the men were and nearly jumped when Ava started to scream.
"Help, help me. He's hurting me"
I stared at her as she winked at me and then scooted around the side of the bench and heard the sound of footsteps getting closer. Could this work a second time? I lay on my side so that the blood could be seen on my shirt but placed my arm over my face. Hell, I hoped this man wasn't that observant about what Ava had been wearing, her cream T-shirt looking nothing like my sweater.
"Oh shit"
Was what I heard as I felt someone breathing close to me. I had to focus really hard not to move, even when something touched my neck. I was impatient to know what the hell Ava was doing and why she hadn't knocked him out already.
"Are you gonna get up?"
I opened my eyes and moved my arm to see the man laid on the floor next to me. Looking over to Ava she was squatted down over him with stun gun in her hand.
"Where the hell did you get that from?"
"The last guy we dumped"
"Okay, it'll wear off fast, so we need to tie him up"
We used his belt, his shoe laces and the cuffs in the back of his trousers before we moved him against the bench out of sight. Two down, two to go.
"Ava, I don't want to push our luck by doing that again"
"I'll take the one on the right you take the other one"
I'm sure my mouth dropped open as Ava picked up the rifle that was now on the floor.
"You think, you mean"
"Hell yeah. Let's lock 'em and load 'em, and then get the hell out of here"
Could I do that? I looked around the bench at the two remaining men. They were stood either side of the opening with their rifles aimed out of the door, sounds coming to us as they were firing off shots. I turned to Ava as an idea came to me and started to whisper to her. It seemed that she was actually quite keen on my plan.
