Chapter 26

"We have to get above ground and establish a connection," Cole said, violently hauling Thorne to his feet. "Move!"

I grabbed the silver briefcase by its heavy handle. It felt incredibly dense, as if it contained solid lead. I supported Celeste with my other arm, half-carrying her toward the concrete stairwell.

We practically ran up the stairs, leaving the incapacitated mercenaries groaning on the floor behind us. When we breached the heavy steel doors and stumbled back out into the freezing rain, the clearing was still shrouded in pitch blackness. Cole’s EMP had done its job flawlessly.

"Hannah, try the sat-phone now," Cole barked, shoving Thorne into the backseat of our SUV.

Hannah stood in the pouring rain, holding a bulky satellite phone toward the sky. "Searching for a signal... come on, come on..." she muttered frantically.

"Thirty-eight minutes," Thorne noted from the backseat, his voice dripping with condescension. "You won't make it back to Boston in time. The strike team is heavily armed. Miguel and Rosa don't stand a chance against professionals."

"Got it!" Hannah yelled, pressing the phone to her ear. "Ringing!"

"Miguel, it's Hannah," she screamed over the sound of the storm. "You have a hostile strike team inbound to the recovery center! You need to evacuate Evelyn and Rosa immediately!"

There was a tense pause as Hannah listened to the response. Her face fell.

"What's wrong?" I demanded.

"They can't evacuate," Hannah said, turning to me with wide, terrified eyes. "Miguel says there are already black SUVs blocking both ends of the street. They are setting up a perimeter. The house is completely surrounded."

I looked at Thorne through the rain-streaked window of the SUV. He offered a slight, triumphant nod.

"They have orders to breach and execute in thirty-five minutes unless I give the abort code," Thorne said smoothly. "The terms remain the same. The briefcase for your mother's life."

Cole gripped his pistol tightly, his knuckles turning white. He wanted to shoot Thorne right there in the mud, but we both knew it would condemn everyone in the Georgian house.

"We can't negotiate with him," Cole said to me quietly. "If he gets the Apex Key, Northstar goes fully operational. He’ll control the grid. He'll kill your family anyway to tie up loose ends."

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"I know," I said, staring at the silver briefcase in my hand. I remembered Celeste's words. The person who needed it would already know the cipher.

"Hannah," I said urgently. "Can you patch my phone through the sat-link? I need to talk to my mother."