Though they were a long way from making the trip to Alaska again, he believed if the weapons were still there, they wouldn’t have much time to retrieve them.
Cole stepped inside the room where it became immediately clear something big had broken. “What’s wrong?” The troubled feeling that had become his constant companion slipped into the pit of his stomach.
“It’s Abby. She and the team have run into trouble. They were approaching the Illinois border, when she noticed an unusual amount of air traffic. Abby landed the chopper. She said they’ll try and wait it out, but I don’t like it.” Garrett Craig, one of James’s intelligence team, had been monitoring Abby’s progress along the way.
“Who do we have in the area that can get them out by vehicle?” Victor asked. “It’s too dangerous to continue in the chopper.”
James brought up a map of the state on his laptop and the team gathered around. “Abby brought the chopper down near the town of Cherokee. That’s not far from Storm Lake.” He blew up the area on the screen before facing Garrett and Jordyn Adams, another member of his team. “Do we have someone vetted in that area that we can trust?”
After setting up Strike Force’s website, James’s intelligence team had accumulated a wealth of supporters throughout the country and beyond. The team organized the supporters by states and were actively vetting them to ensure their true allegiances.
Jordyn scanned her database of supporters. “There’s no one except for a new member who hasn’t been fully checked out yet. He’s a recent supporter who lives in Akron, Iowa.”
Cole’s bad feeling doubled. “What do you know about this man?”
She opened up the file she’d started. “Not much. His name is Michael Hurt. He’s thirty-five, a firefighter, and single.”
Cole shook his head. “It’s too risky. Who else do we have that can reach them?” He didn’t like trusting someone who hadn’t gone through the complete check system that James’s people had developed.
“Closest to the area will be Denver,” Jordyn told him.
Cole turned to Victor. “What do you think?”
“I agree with you. We don’t know this Hurt person well enough to trust our people’s lives to him. Get in touch with our Denver contact and get them on their way. In the meantime, see if you can confirm Hurt, in case we need backup.”
“You got it.” Jordyn reached for her phone and went to work.
“That’s a good eleven hours’ drive. Call Abby and her team and let them know it will be a while before we can extract them.” Cole didn’t like having their people out of reach and exposed.
“I’ll let her know.” James made the call to the woman who was both a nurse and a pilot as well as an important member of Strike Force along with Brookes Zachary and Kevin Juarez. All had been through hell and back at the hands of Collins and his Legion goons. They’d survived countless attacks, and he wasn’t about to let them die like this.
“Abby, I have the rest of the team here with me.” James put the phone on speaker. “What’s going on there? Are you all safe?”
“For now.” Abby’s voice was strained. She was worried with good cause. “We landed in a field and managed to get the chopper hidden from air in some nearby trees, but we’re vulnerable here.” She stopped abruptly.
“Abby, are you still there?” Cole was terrified something had happened.
“I’m here.” Abby lowered her voice. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of the president and his wife, but I’m not so sure those planes weren’t locked in on us. I think they may have found a way past the cloaking software.”
Cole’s blood ran cold. “I sure hope you’re wrong because if they’ve found a way, we won’t be able to travel without the threat of being shot down.”
Abby blew out a breath. “I hope I’m wrong, too, but needless to say, I’m on edge. We need help, Cole, and we need it now.”
Abby had experienced a lot of deadly situations, so the fear in Abby’s voice was troubling.
“We’re working on getting you and the others out of there. Don’t lose hope, Abby. We’ll get you here safely.”
She blew out a breath. “I know you’re doing everything you can. Guess I’m just battle weary and more than a little worried about our current world situation. Has Collins told you anything useful?” she asked as if to take the focus off their critical situation.
“Not really,” Cole admitted reluctantly. “We know where the nukes were being held, but we’re not sure if they’re still there.” He still couldn’t believe the weapons were stashed in Anana Harbor, Alaska, where the team had recently been minutes away from capturing Collins.
“Oh, no,” Abby whispered.
“What’s going on, Abby?”
“I hear something. Vehicles. More than one.”
Everyone in the room gathered round the call. Many joined hands and prayed.
“Someone’s coming. Brookes and I did a cursory search around the area, and it appears the property we landed on isn’t being used to plant anything. There’s an old farmhouse about a quarter of a mile away. We hiked over to it. The place is empty. There’s not another house close—”
“Abby.” A helpless feeling washed over Cole. “Abby, are you there?”
Abby’s breathing was all that could be heard. Then background noises. Car doors slamming.
“Stop right there,” An unidentified male voice yelled. “Put your hands in the air.”
“Run, Abby!” Brookes’s voice. Where were Kevin and the president and his wife?
Indistinguishable noises bled through Abby’s frightened breathing. Cole listened intently. “That’s a chopper.”
Before he had time to fit the fragmented pieces together, a firefight broke out. Close enough for there to be little doubt, Abby and Brookes were in big trouble.
“Abby? What’s going on?” Cole glanced around at the shocked faces of the men and women of his team.
Someone screamed. A man’s voice. Someone had been shot. While he tried to process the distant battle, the phone went dead. “We’ve lost them.” Cole whirled to James. “Can you track her location?”
James had begun the task already. “Her main phone is still at the location. Hang on, I’m going to try and track her backup.”
Like all of the team, Abby carried a backup phone concealed in her boot.
James pointed at the screen. “She’s on the move.”
“I’m pulling up Brookes’ backup.” Garrett typed in the proper command and sat back in his chair. “He’s on the move as well.”
“I’m calling Kevin.” Cole dialed the number of one of the newest members of Strike Force. Kevin Juarez had once been a member of a street gang in Washington, D.C. Then he’d given his life to God and proved to be an invaluable member of the team.
The panic in the younger man’s tone was evident when he answered the call.
“Kevin, what’s going on? We lost Abby and Brookes.”
“We heard vehicles approaching. Abby had stepped away to speak with you. Brookes told me to get the president and First Lady in the air. He was going after Abby. I wanted to go with him, but he told me to protect the president.” Kevin sounded rattled. Cole couldn’t imagine how hair-raising it was to fly the chopper that he’d only had a few lessons in. “I didn’t want to leave him.”