Zero Hour (NUMA Files 11)

“What happened to you out there?” Gregorovich asked. “I thought you were going to get the shot off.”

“Didn’t count on their wingman coming up behind me,” Joe replied. “What about you?”

“They sideswiped me and knocked me off the sled.”

“How’d they get so close?”

Gregorovich hesitated. “I may have doubled back to look for you. An obvious tactical mistake.”

So Gregorovich hadn’t been hit by the stun gun, but he’d been felled anyway, trying to help Joe.

“We all make them,” Joe said, looking at the bodies thrown in a heap on the floor. “You notice something about these men?”

Gregorovich nodded. “They’re one short,” he said. “The board hasn’t been totally cleared just yet.”

“Kurt won’t give up,” Joe insisted. “If he’s alive, he won’t leave us here to die. If there’s any way to get help or get us out, he’ll find it.”

Gregorovich shook his head, but it was disbelief in the situation, not disagreement. “One piece left,” he muttered dejectedly. “One kni

ght trying to save all the pawns. Hard for me to fathom that I’m one of them now.”

Joe smiled through his busted lip. “Welcome to our side.”

FORTY

Hayley shuffled along through the half-lit tunnels of Thero’s underground nest. The man named Janko had given her a chance to clean up, and given her a change of clothes, before bringing her deeper into the lair.

She moved slowly, filled with trepidation and half wishing she was back with Joe and Gregorovich in the dungeonlike interrogation room. Something about being all alone made this fate seem worse.

“Be strong,” she whispered to herself. “Whatever comes, face it bravely.”

Janko arrived at an open room filled with an eight-pack of electrical generators. The squat, cylindrical-shaped devices were the size of industrial washing machines. They were arranged in two rows, and Hayley was marched between them to a door on the far side.

Janko pressed an intercom button beside the door. “I have the woman,” he said into the microphone.

“Bring her in,” a harsh voice replied.

Janko typed a code into the lock, and an electronic click was heard. He opened the door and ushered Hayley inside. She steeled herself for whatever lay ahead and stepped over the threshold.

This room looked different than the rest of the cave. The walls were finished in a high-gloss white plastic. Computers, control panels, and monitors were placed in various locations. Recessed lighting gave it a warmer look.

“Welcome to Master Control,” the man in the mask said to her.

The voice was distorted by the man’s damaged vocal cords, but she was fairly certain who was speaking.

“Max?” she asked. “Is that really you?”

The man stared at her for a moment and then looked at Janko. “Leave us.”

“She could be dangerous,” Janko replied.

“Not to me,” Thero replied.

Janko exhaled sharply and then stepped out of the room.

As the door closed, Thero stepped closer to her. He held out a hand. She saw that it was burned and scarred.

“It’s been so long,” Thero said. “We’ve been so lonely.”