Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
Big Tag pulled a knife and quickly sawed through the zip ties.
“We have to get through that door. Devi’s back there, and I think she might have a gun.” He moved to the nearest downed soldier and pulled the key card off him. “Shit. Huisman started a timer for the bomb. It’s going to explode and kill everyone in here who isn’t protected.”
“We don’t know we’re protected.” Cooper ran up, holding an extra semi and offering it to his brother. “The intel Parker gave us said there were significant changes to the anthrax they took from Dare’s father’s lab. Huisman has been experimenting. I know we don’t care about the soldiers, but there are workers from town in here. Cleaners and cooks. They don’t know what goes on here.”
Tristan stood at the table with the bomb. He had his greatest weapon with him. While Tris was deadly with a gun, he was a hacking god. He pulled his laptop from the pack on his back. “I can already tell you it’s on a timer. It’s set for forty-five minutes, which I suppose is what Huisman thought it would take to get out of here and find the right spot over Kathmandu. This is complex. I might need Lou.”
Big Tag touched his ear. “TJ, are you in position?”
Zach wasn’t waiting. They could handle the bomb. He needed to get to Devi. His girl was out there, and she was fighting. He had to give her the best chance for survival, and that meant having every security asshole in the place chasing him instead of her.
He slapped the key card to the door and started to push through.
Tried to push through.
“Damn it. He’s shut the key cards down,” Zach shouted back. “I can’t get out of here, and Devi can’t get in. She’s got to know we would have to enter the facility from the landing bays. She’ll be making her way here.”
Unless all that chaos wasn’t about Devi and his mom escaping. Unless all that gunfire had already taken her out.
He couldn’t think like that. He threw his shoulder against the doors, trying to force them open.
“Hey.” Cooper was suddenly beside him. “You can’t let the panic take over. She needs you calm. She needs the soldier right now.”
“Comms are down.” Big Tag’s face was set in harsh lines.
“I can get the doors open. Everything but the inner rooms Huisman uses are on the same system. It’s not complex,” Tris explained. He moved to the doors and had the key card reader open in seconds. He plugged his laptop in.
“I think you should be working on the bomb,” Big Tag said. “Even a simple system will take time.”
Tristan hissed. “Damn it. I have to unlock them one by one. And I’m getting some kind of code. Huisman enacted a protocol. I think he might have a fail-safe in place.”
“I assure you Lou is working on it. I don’t have to talk to them to know that Lou won’t let us down,” Big Tag reassured them. “Tris, get this one open and then you’re on the bomb. I’m going in with Zach. Cooper…”
Cooper nodded. “I’m going to fly it out and have Tristan disarm it in the air. We can’t let it detonate here. It’s almost certain to get down to the village below. I’ll find a spot to minimize the chance of avalanche.”
His brother was going to fly the bomb out? They were at the upmost range of the helo. “You can’t risk it. You just got married. I know I’m not the pilot you are…”
“Eww. Don’t do that.” Kala frowned his way. “No gross self-sacrificing stuff. And he did get married, which is why I’m going with him. So is Tris. He’s good under pressure.”
The doors clicked, proving her point.
Tristan unplugged his laptop. “You’re on your own. Hopefully Lou’s figured it out. It’s simple but death by a thousand cuts since I’m pretty sure she’ll have to open the doors one by one. They’ll be worried about getting Kenzie to Parker first. Be careful. If we don’t die, we’ll come back and pick you up.”
Big Tag looked his daughter’s way. “Take care of them, baby girl.”
“Always,” she promised. “Also, you should know Kenz is planning on telling Ben everything, so we’ll probably be happy if we blow up. We won’t have to do the family bonding crap with him. I bet he’s a chatty motherfucker.” She looked at her husband. “Let’s do this. Where you die, I die and all that, babe.”
“I’m not going to let us die.” Cooper held a hand up. “Go get your girl. I’ll be back when Tristan shuts this bomb down, but I’m not risking doing it here. We don’t know if Huisman can’t override.”
Another volley of gunfire forced his attention back to the job at hand. “Coop…”