“Because I have an alarm set when my front door opens. And I saw his face go in and come out again, and he was pretty panicky.”
Just then, as she said that, Damon’s phone went off with a call from Terk. Damon got up and answered it. “Yes, she’s here, and apparently Mera was also attacked. She’s been shot twice but both minor. She’s staying with a friend. She saw a video of you going into her apartment, but she didn’t reach out because, like Tasha, she didn’t know who the hell was after her. Now I’ll find out where she is, and we’ll collect her too.” He put away his phone, turned, and look back at Tasha.
“I don’t think she wants to be collected,” Tasha noted quietly. “Mera, do you want to be collected?”
“I want to know what’s going on.” Her voice trembled. “And, although neither of my injuries are severe, I don’t really want to be on the run right now. I don’t know how we’ll be protected because we’ve been cut off from all black ops support.”
“Well, that’s because none of us work there anymore,” Tasha said bitterly. “Whoever targeted this attack chose a perfect day. Our last day.”
“They did at that.”
Tasha hesitated as Damon held out his hand. “Look. I’ve got Damon here. He’d like to speak to you.”
“Damon? I thought they were all attacked.”
Damon took the phone from Tasha’s hand. “Mera, I’m sorry. We have all been attacked. Two of our team are in deep comas. Several others are in a half-and-half state. Terk and I, well, Terk is fine. I’m okay, but I’ve lost most of my extrasensory skills.”
At that, Tasha sucked in her breath and reached out a hand.
“So I can tell you the attack was all encompassing. We’re still trying to track down Wilson. Have you spoken to him?”
Mera was weeping on the other end. “I tried to call him, but I’m not getting any answer.”
“Did you contact anybody in the government?”
“I contacted everybody,” she cried out. “And it’s like complete silence.”
“That’s exactly what it is,” he agreed. “It is complete silence on all fronts. We are alone now.”
“Oh my God, what did we do?”
“We didn’t do anything, and what we have to figure out is who’s behind it all.”
“It’s terrifying,” she whispered. “I mean, I didn’t expect to be attacked.”
“None of us did.” Damon’s tone was a little harsh.
Tasha reached out a hand and frowned at him.
He closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, and nodded. “I’m just like everybody else. Terrified of what’s going on. Scared to find out about the rest of the team.”
“I’m staying where I am,” Mera stated firmly. “You can reach me at this number, but I need to heal.”
“Tell me how bad it is.” His order allowed no argument.
Yet Tasha heard the hesitation in her friend’s voice.
“One in the shoulder and one in the thigh. Neither hit bone, only flesh, but I’m not up for running or in any fighting form.”
“How will I know if you’re safe?” he asked. “When I don’t know where you are and I can’t see you?”
“I know that is worrisome, but, right now, I know that I am safe, and that’s got to be enough.”
He hesitated. “I gather you don’t trust me.”
“I don’t know whom to trust,” she replied quietly, “so, for the moment, I’ll just leave it as is.”
“Fine, but please don’t do anything, don’t move, don’t contact any more government bodies. Give us a chance to sort this out, and we’ll get back to you.”
“As long as you do,” she stated, “because, believe me, it feels very much like everybody has forgotten we existed.”
“I know. We’re on it.”
“Good luck,” she replied quietly. “And take care of Tasha.”
“I will, but we also have to find Wilson. If you hear from him, call me.” And, with that, he gave her the new number on his phone and then handed the phone back to Tasha.
“Mera, take care of yourself, please. I’ll go with Damon and see what we can sort out. They’ll need somebody to run equipment.”
“What equipment?” Mera asked. “Everything was shut down. Remember?”
“I know, and the office was cleared out overnight, according to Damon.”
“Overnight? Well, that figures. We’re black ops. Still, you don’t expect to be betrayed like this.”
“No, and you can bet we’ll find out what happened,” Tasha stated. “Please look after yourself though.”
And, with that, Mera hung up.
Chapter 3
Damon looked over at Tasha. “What are you doing over here?” he asked, his hand motioning to the area around them. “Do you own this apartment too?”
She winced. “I didn’t know where else to go, and I was afraid the shooter would come back,” she murmured.
Damon nodded encouragingly.
“So I did something I never thought I would do. I knew this couple were away on a holiday, so I picked the lock and came in.”
“Picked the lock?”
“We do learn a few things in standard basic training.”
He nodded. “Absolutely. I just hadn’t realized you had learned anything important.”
“Believe me. I haven’t done very much with it at all. But I can certainly see the value now.”
He winced. “I’m sorry about that.”
“You really think we’ve all been terminated?”
It was hard to process, yet it fit. Even with what had happened to her. “Yes. The question is whether it was supposed to be all of us or if some of us were expected to survive.”
“I’m thinking that everybody was supposed to be terminated. It’s the only explanation for what happened to Mera and me.”
“I think so too.” He gave an absent nod, his expression far away.
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m worried about Wilson,” he admitted. “He was new to the team.”
“Worried or suspicious?”
He slid her a sideways glance. “Just for clarity, I’ll always be suspicious of everything right now,” he murmured, “until we get to the bottom of this.”
She hesitated and then nodded. “He was new, but I think he was good. He was very good at what he did at least.”
“Yes, and that can be used by other people. Everybody wants to capitalize on skills. And, like you and Mera, he had insider knowledge.”
“I don’t think he would have done anything deliberately to hurt us all.”
“I hope you’re right,” he murmured, as he stood. “You coming?”
“Coming where?” she asked, looking at him. “Are you two organized? Have you a place for me? To live? To work? A secure place …”
He gave her a wolfish grin. “Well, let’s just say that we’ll be fine.”