Chapter 37
Nate rested his head against the metal door and cast his eyes upward.
Sophie had finally fallen into a light sleep and he was taking the moment to gather his thoughts.
He contemplated everything he knew about Sonia thus far. He was missing something. He could hear old Jimmy in his head telling him that he was missing the obvious, that he was thinking too big. The keys to unlocking the whole thing were right in his grasp and he was missing it. It was crazy-making.
Nate rolled his head left and right against the door in his frustration with himself and the situation. Then the dim light above his head caught his attention.
Wait a minute…keys.
He rolled his head deliberately against the door again and heard the tell-tale catch of the electronically controlled bolt. It sounded different from the manual latch- it was heavier, firmer. But it was also easier to open, if you had the right tools.
Keys weren't necessary.
Nate smiled to himself. Sometimes Jimmy's criminal history was a real Godsend. His father was a veritable 'How-To' encyclopedia on criminal mischief.
Nate stood up excitedly and looked at the door's lock.
Yes! He could almost jump up and click his heels.
The keyhole opened to the inside of the cell too. He could open it from the inside.
He looked down at Sophie and was almost tempted to let her sleep a few seconds longer but he needed her help with his plan.
He stooped to gently nudge her out awake. She roused easily but with a slight start.
"Wha…" she mumbled but Nate's eager face stalled her question.
"Do you have a hairpin?" He asked, his eyes twinkling.
Sophie woke up fully, in an instant, "I know that face. You have a plan."
She stood up and reached into her hair. As a rule, regardless of her hair style she always kept a hairpin tucked for emergencies. A grifter must-have or fashion 'do', she could no longer remember.
She plucked the pin from her hair just as Nate reached up to unscrew the bulb from its socket.
Sophie watched everything Nate did with rapt attention, a hard task as his removal of the bulb severely diminished their light. If she was curious she didn't give it away in the least. She trusted him explicitly.
He took off his shirt and wrapped the bulb within it. Then he swung the small sack at the wall and heard the muffled shatter of the bulb's glass.
He laid the shirt on the ground and fished among the chards for the bulb's screw cap. Then he extended his palm to Sophie for the hairpin.
He straightened the pin and curled one end around the filament of the bulb, leaving the other end to jut straight out of the screw cap. He then picked up the contraption, holding the screw cap with his shirt.
He looked into the dark depths of Sophie's eyes, wanting desperately for his plan to work. Sophie smiled at him, silently reassuring him that she had faith. He smiled back; always finding the encouragement he needed in her eyes.
Nate angled the rigged device toward the electric sensor within the lock and when he felt it stop he wiggled it to trigger a reaction.
He didn't have to wait for very long. The current found its conductor, routed through the filament wires and went right back into the sensor- tricking the lock into thinking it received a signal to open.
The lock opened with a heavy click and Nate and Sophie looked at each other in hopeful disbelief.
Was it really that easy?
Nate motioned to Sophie to stand behind him before he slowly opened the door and peeked out into the dimly lit hallway.
There was no one there; nothing to hamper their escape. Another quick scan told Nate there were no cameras. It was almost too much to ask for. Then he rationalized that Sonia would not have reason to be so cautious when they were locked away.
With an uneasy hope they left the cell and stepped lightly and quickly toward the opening at the end of the hallway.
"…Interpol. You don't think they know where I am? There is a Queen's army bearing down on this place as we speak…"
Nate and Sophie halted in their tracks at the bellowing they heard from behind one of the cells toward the end of the hallway. Nate would recognize that British accent anywhere.
"Sterling?" he called softly as he stepped to the door.
"Let him rot," Sophie shouted with uncharacteristic venom. Her sole focus was finding Joshua, not helping the man who put them all in that situation.
"Nate? …How'd you get out" Sterling started then thought better of his line of questioning, "oh wait, obviously with your pedigree jail break tutorials come right after potty training doesn't it?"
"You know Sterling, I was going to open this thing if for no other reason than to knock your smug head in but I think I have better things to do," Nate replied as he reached for Sophie's hand to continue walking.
"Nate, wait. I have information," Sterling bargained.
Both Nate and Sophie stopped and Nate turned back to Sterling's cell.
"What information do you have, James?" Nate asked impatiently.
"Open the door, Nathan," Sterling replied.
"I think I'll take my chances with our host. I've been burned by you once already this evening," Nate called but he didn't move.
"I know you're still standing there, you know. Dammit…I know it would only be a matter of time before she found all of you. I just bided my time until she did then I figured if I bagged the lot, I can get into her good graces, get the information I needed from her, and still save your sorry lives."
Nate looked at Sophie, who anxiously looked at the exit before exhaling a quick breath. She didn't care if Sterling was freed or not she just wanted to find the little boy.
"…she was going to kill you Nate, before I shot you with the tranquillizer. You know too much, you were getting too close to the answers."
Those were the magic words. Sterling purchased his freedom with the one carrot Nate couldn't leave on the dangle.
"If you're lying to me or leading me on some goose chase, Sterling…" Nate's words were loaded and Sterling could feel the certainty of the threat within.
"I get it; tar, feathers, hot oil, a guillotine. Just open the damned door," Sterling exhaled exasperatedly.
Nate ran to the end of the hallway and found the cells' emergency release he knew would be there.
With a loud buzz the cells open and Sterling emerged from his cell adjusting his sleeves.
"Well, if they didn't know you'd escaped, they know n…" The last words of Sterling's sentence rolled back into his mouth as Sophie's slap snapped his mouth closed and his head to the right.
"I always knew you were a cold bastard, but to do this to that little boy…" hot tears filled Sophie's eyes.
Sterling caressed his sore cheek, aware that even his trademark indignant anger wouldn't turn the tide in his favor. "Look," he began softly, "I know this looks bad but she was coming anyway. I thought I could buy some time, get some information, everybody wins."
He reached his hand out toward Sophie, "You and I have never really been the best of friends but I would never willingly let any harm come to a child. You have to know that."
Sophie wouldn't take his hand but she knew his contrition was sincere. She nodded her acknowledgement.
"Okay, James," Nate focused on Sterling, "Spill it. What do you know?"
Sterling exhaled heavily, "well, we were half right. She has studied your little team and your fates are entwined but we overstated her network. This woman is far more selective in who she lets in on her plans than we initially thought. She's not so much a Hydra, than she is a Chess master. No one knows the whole picture but her."
"Where is she now?" Nate questioned.
"…and where's Joshua?" Sophie added.
"I don't know but I need to get to a phone, then perhaps I can answer all of your questions." Sterling told the pair.
"There's an exit at the end of the hallway. There's got to be more to this box that this hallway." Nate indicated at the opening at the far end.
The three made their way quickly and when Nate peeked into the stairwell, all was quiet.
He signaled for the others to follow and he quietly made his way up the staircase to the first floor. Another look into the first floor hallway and Nate grew more wary.
"Do you notice anything strange?" he asked his companions.
"Just that it's mighty quiet." Sterling answered as they walked down the first floor hallway.
"Where is everyone?" Sophie whispered although there was no one there to hear them.
"I don't know, but I have a feeling they're not coming back," Nate said as he walked into a space he suspected was used as an office but had since been cleaned out.
There was nothing there but discarded furniture and a few useless pieces of paper.
"This is beyond strange," Sterling added as he found the hanging phone lines but no phone.
"Nate," Sophie called him softly, "where is he?"
Her anxiety over the little boy's whereabouts had reached its peak. Nate could see the anguish on her face. Regardless of how he felt about the revelation of the boy's parentage, he was also concerned about his safety.
"We'll find him, Sophie," Nate promised as he reached up to caress her face.
"I found something," Sterling called to the others and they both rushed over to see a small timer mounted on the wall; thin blue, red, and black wires trailing out of its end.
Sophie swallowed a rush of saliva that instantly filled her mouth, "Is that what I think it is?"
"If you think it's the reason no one else is here, you'd be right," Sterling called out as he backed away from the large red numbers rapidly counting down from 5 minutes.
"Joshua," Sophie's horror-struck face drained of color.
"Eliot," Nate thought out loud.
"There's no time. GET OUT!" Sterling snapped them to attention.
Nate grabbed Sophie's hand and pulled her out of the cleared space and down the hallway with Sterling hot on their heels.
They ran down the staircase and out the first exit they met, which took them to another hallway.
Sophie stopped and pulled her hand out and away from Nate's. Tears were flowing in earnest, then.
"I can't…what if he's here? I can't leave him here." She was nearly hysterical.
"Sophie," Nate held her upper arms firmly but gently, "he's not here. I promise. It doesn't fit. She can leverage him. Sonia is nothing if not calculating."
A quick, soft sob escaped her chest and she turned back toward the hallway they'd just run.
"…if we stay here, we will die. He will lose us again." Nate knew it was a cheap shot but something he couldn't explain told him the little boy wasn't there. Something also told him Sophie was running on empty and her emotions were too raw to see that they needed to escape.
It worked. She nodded then ran toward a waiting Sterling, who was hovering in the doorway of the exit that took them to the vacant parking lot.
They ran full out and as far away from the site as they could before turning to view the small, non-descript building surrounded by a large paved plot of land in the middle of nowhere.
One minute passed, then two and the building remained intact; teasing them as they caught their breaths.
"What the h….." Sterling began but the blowback shut him right up.
The side of the building that faced them burst forth violently. The fireball that followed it blinding in its yellow-red-orange brilliance. The explosions were massive and created a sound wave that threw the three of them backward several feet.
Nate's ears were ringing and the sting of several small cuts tore at his face and chest but other than that he was alive. And as he looked over to Sophie and saw that she was dazed but otherwise healthy and safe, he realized that a very important development had just happened. Sonia now believed he was dead. She wouldn't see him coming.
It was the first time since he'd met Sonia that he felt he finally had the upper hand.