Chapter Thirty Four

Twenty minutes until midnight, we arrived at the factory. Clouds glided in and cast a shadow over the area. It was dead silent except for the occasional cricket and our quiet panting.

"Did you get it?" Tremont inquired. 

"Of course," Noah confirmed, holding up a small hard drive. "No problem at all. Everything was just as Fran described." 

Rose's gaze burned into me. "What did you say to get Dorothy all worked up?" 

I glanced at Noah. "Nothing. She practically accused me of planning to run away so I told her what I thought. Why?" 

"She was blabbering about how you were going to fail and maybe we needed to scrub the entire operation." 

"Is she aware of the guards at the University?"

"Guards?" 

"Yes, posted all over the campus." 

Tight-lipped, Rose turned to Tremont. "Care to explain?" 

"Maybe my contact..." 

"Is a double agent?" 

"No. He's inside right now." 

Rose pointed at Noah and me. "Go inside with Tremont and Jefferson. Ari and I are lookouts." 

I scanned the area but did not see Ari anywhere. 

"That is not essential," Tremont grumbled. 

Rose huffed. "If you don't agree, we'll leave with the data. I believe your standing orders were to cooperate with us. Besides me, they are the only two with muscle enhancements." 

Tremont nodded skeptically as Rose handed out short range comm earpieces from a shiny metallic box. 

"This will keep us in touch. It is a microphone and speaker." 

We marched down the hill to the factory. Tremont rapped on the door four times. A thundering click resounded. Noah and I moved in first. I could make out the silhouettes of crates and barrels in the faint light. A stench of beer and wine filled the air. Tremont and Jefferson followed us in. My feet splashed and wetness soaked into my shoes. 

"Great, now my shoes are going to smell like this," Noah complained. 

"The control room is on the right. Looks like my associate already started destroying the existing product," Tremont explained. 

As we approached, a figure stood in the control room doorway. My heart dropped when the man turned into the light. 

"That is your associate?" 

"Yeah. Do you know him?" Tremont asked. 

"Yes, I know Ben." 

Noah passed Jefferson the drive as Tremont brushed past Ben into the office. Ben stared at me, his face pale. 

"You're dead. You're dead," he muttered. "It is my fault." 

I walked closer. "Ben, I'm not dead." 

Noah placed a hand on my shoulder. "I think that he thinks you're a ghost." 

"Ben, I'm not dead. They lied to you."

Ben walked onto the factory floor. "I did what they asked. I helped them. You were not supposed to die. Now you have come to haunt me." He turned back and shouted, "You're dead and it is all my fault!" 

Before anyone could say anything else, he plucked a handgun from behind his back, pushed it in his mouth, and pulled the trigger. 

A scream echoed through the building. My hands covered my mouth. I realized I was the one that screamed. My feet locked in position. Tremont ran out of the control room. 

"What happened?" he challenged. 

"He killed himself," Noah retorted. "Do you understand now what your actions have accomplished?" 

Tremont remained with his mouth agape. 

Rose came through the earpiece. "What happened? Was there a gunshot?" 

Noah answered her. "Tremont's contact committed suicide. We're all OK, proceeding with the plan." 

"Roger that," Rose acknowledged. 

Noah snapped his fingers in Tremont's face. "Snap out of it, there is work to do." Then he shook my shoulder. "Let's go verify the entire inventory is destroyed. I will start at the back and make my way here. You start here and we'll meet in the middle." 

I nodded and walked slowly past Ben's body. A murky haze spread from his body. My brain grew numb. Why did that happen? Ben never struck me as someone to commit suicide. Why would he get mixed up in the factory business anyway? 

Noah squeezed my shoulder. "Hey, do not blame yourself." 

"Yeah," I said in a shaky voice. It was all I could manage to say. I tried to focus on checking the barrels. 

"Progress report," Rose said over the radio, ten minutes later. 

"I need another ten to fifteen minutes," Jefferson stated. 

"So far all the barrels have been opened up and are spilling onto the floor," Noah said. 

"I'm seeing the same thing," I replied. 

Throughout the next ten minutes, Jefferson and Tremont argued about the system controls. Jefferson told him to shut up because he was the expert, not Tremont. I snickered and then we heard Rose again. 

"A car is approaching the factory." 

"That's my other contact," Tremont said. "He was going to come make sure everything goes smooth." 

"What? Who?" Rose demanded. 

"It was a need to know basis," Tremont answered. "Now you know." 

I had not met up with Noah yet, but I turned back to see what was going on. Tremont was right outside the control room. My blood pressure spiked when the other man approached. I hid behind some crates and peeked around. 

"Are you kidding me? That is your other contact?" I whispered. 

"What's wrong?" Rose asked. 

"Brent Williams, the SIS captain who works directly for Charles Payne." 

Tremont grunted. "It's fine." 

Brent walked over to Ben's body. "Who are you talking to?"

"Just my other members," Tremont declared. 

"Well, too bad about this guy," Brent said. 

Tremont kicked Ben's body. "Turned out to be a total failure after all." 

I clenched my fists. How dare he use Ben and kick him like a piece of trash.

Brent bent down the snatched the pistol from the floor. "I have to say, I don't think you can stop them. Not that you haven't put forth a valiant effort." 

Brent's words mulled in my mind. Was he there to stop it? Whose side was he on? 

With a cutting motion, Tremont waved his arms. "No, it is over tonight."

"They aren't happy that you betrayed them." 

Brent was going to stop Tremont. My feet were rooted in place. He lifted the gun and fired. I covered my mouth as a shower of blood and tissue rained on the surrounding area. Tremont's body fell to the ground. Brent made his way to the control room. 

Jefferson rushed out. A squeal escaped his lips when his eyes fell on Tremont crumpled in a heap. 

Brent moved the handgun to his left hand. "You do not understand how long I have been waiting for this."

I pounced. With his eyes bugging out of his head, Jefferson tripped over his own feet and slammed onto the floor. As Brent pointed the gun at the traumatized Jefferson, I shoved Brent and he lost his balance. Before he regained his composure, I pulled down on his right arm. In one swift movement, I grabbed his wrist, jumped up, and wrapped my legs around his arm. I pulled back and twisted, hyperextending his elbow. 

"Go, Jefferson!" I yelled. 

Brent shrieked in agony and pummeled my thigh with rabbit punches. A gunshot reverberated. My right knee exploded and nothing but the pain persisted. Blood splattered on my face. Dizziness filled my head and I let go. When I hit the floor, the wind knocked out of me. The earpiece fell out. A shadow fell over my face. Brent's knee pressed into my chest and left hand surrounded around my throat. 

I grasped Brent's hand, trying to pull up on his fingers. Even with my enhancements, I struggled. I gasped for air. White spots danced in front of my eyes. 

"Brent... please," I pleaded. "Don't do this." 

His head moved back and light from the office flooded my face. His grip relaxed and I inhaled sharply. In the low light, the rage in his eyes faded. 

"No," he murmured. "What are you doing here?" He scrambled backward, staring at his empty hands until he teetered back into the barrels, which crashed down onto his head. 

I rolled over and put my hand to my throat. My ears were ringing. There was more discombobulated shouting. 

Out of nowhere, Ari was next to me. He ripped off his belt and used it as a tourniquet. 

He helped me to sit up. "Are you OK?" 

My voice was a harsh whisper. "You came in for me?" 

"Of course, I did. As soon as you said it was Williams, I knew there would be trouble." 

The fallen barrels shifted. Brent crawled out, reaching for the gun with trembling hands. Suddenly, Noah's boot was on top of it. 

"I remember you and you won't kill me." Brent sat up, holding his broken arm. "This whole territory will be under their control." 

Noah scooped up the pistol and aimed at Brent's head. "Well, you're wrong about that. Too bad you won't be around." 

"No, don't shoot him," I interjected in between coughs. 

They all turned their heads to me. 

Noah's mouth slackened. "He tried to kill you." 

"Someone has to explain what happened here," I said. 

Brent's empty stare went right back to his hands. His body drooped toward the floor. 

"Are you sure?" Ari squeaked with utter disbelief. 

I nodded. Noah whacked Brent in the back of the head with the handgun. His body slumped all the way down. Jefferson popped out of the office. "I'm done. It is ready." 

"Rose, Williams is unconscious. Lily's been shot,” Noah stated.   After a few moments, he said, “We better hurry. Dogs are coming out of the woods. Rose is bringing the truck to the door.”

Ari hoisted up me under my shoulders and legs. 

"You don't need to carry me," I said. 

"You can't put any pressure on that knee," Ari responded. 

Jefferson and Noah picked up Tremont's body. 

Ari set me in the back seat of Tremont's antique Hummer. The barking grew closer. Ari unexpectedly disappeared from the door. Out the window, a dog shook his pant leg back and forth. Ari latched onto the SUV with one hand and tried to kick the dog. Two more dogs were close. Rose hurried around the truck and snapped her whip at the dog's head, sending it off yelping. 

The whip cracked again, followed by more yapping. "Hurry up, Noah!" 

Noah and Jefferson scooted out of the door. Rose opened the back of the truck and they positioned Tremont's body inside before climbing in. Noah pulled out his own pistol and fired at the closing pack. Rose shut the tailgate and raced to the driver's door. After a loud snarl and she cried out in distress. The dog was much bigger than the others. Noah leaned out the window and shot twice. Finally, she clambered into the truck and we headed back to the village. 

I looked over the back seat at Tremont.

Jefferson placed a hand over his heart. "You saved my life. Thank you." 

"But I didn't save him." 

Ari wrapped an arm around me reassuringly. "You did what you could."

But I didn't feel any better. I stared out the windshield from the back seat. If I had moved sooner, Tremont might have been alive. Every bump in the road sent waves of pain shooting through my leg. I let myself slip further into Ari's arms, holding my stomach to prevent myself from retching.  My eyes closed and I thought of nothing but my failure to act.