Zero Day, стр. 22

Chapter 19

That night, the rain fell hard on the old castle, and Kelvin could hear the thunder from the computer room. He was worried that the electricity would go out and that they would be no uninterruptible power supply. Without UPS and a generator, they might have to stop working altogether.

Sure enough, the power fluctuated several times, accompanied by Danika’s screams. Kelvin hadn’t pegged her as one who’d be afraid of the dark, but there she was, huddled in a corner screaming murder.

Kelvin asked for time out from Reuel.

Any delay is a good delay.

It would buy time for his homing beacon to work.

“I’m surprised you don’t have a backup generator,” Kelvin said.

On screen, Reuel looked like he was about to doze off. Kelvin wondered where the other man went, and what his name was. He almost asked, but he didn’t let his curiosity get the better of him. Better stay out of politics.

“If we don’t shut down the computers in this room, one lightning strike might take them all out,” Kelvin warned.

“You’re trying to scare us.” Reuel pointed a finger at the camera.

“I’m just sharing my own experiences. I worked at a place once that had backups, but their entire building wasn’t properly grounded—”

Craaaccckkk!

And the lights went out.

“As I was saying…” Kelvin spoke into the utter darkness, his words pierced by Danika’s screams in concert with thunder strikes that seemed to be right above them or on the ground outside their dungeon.

“There is a God,” Vivek said.

Yona awoke with a start. Sitting in the dark on her bed, she listened to the heavy rain and thunder. There were no windows in her holding pen, and the walls were stone, but the thunder was so loud she felt like it was just on the other side of the wall.

The ceiling light had gone out.

Whether Yona closed or opened her eyes, it made no difference. The room was completely dark. In these times, her hearing sharpened.

Thunder. Rain. Thunder. Rain—

Footsteps outside her door.

Boots.

Heavy boots.

Then an explosion so bright and loud that Yona covered her eyes and ears.

“Yona Epstein?” A man’s voice said.

He had an accent.

Who are they?

She didn’t reply.

“Yona?” Louder this time.

“Yes, yes.” Yona turned her face away from the flashlight.

“Let’s go home!” It was in Hebrew.

“My friends are downstairs,” Yona replied.

“Show the way.” He motioned for someone to give Yona a vest.

By that gesture, Yona knew who they were. They would never say so in public, but these were the people in the world who would come to her rescue anywhere, no matter what. These were the elite of the elites.

“Thank you.”

“You have some explaining to do.” Another voice broke through.

Uh oh. A long-time buddy in the Metsada, Hadassah had partnered with Yona many times. This time, Yona had left her university friend behind. In fact, she had left the entire Mossad behind.

“Deserting us when we need you most.” Hadassah shook her head. “What did you have? A lapse of judgment?”

“Nice to see you too.” Yona buckled up her vest. “A Beretta for me?”

“No. You don’t work for us any more, remember?”

“Bummer.” Yona showed them the stairs. Reluctantly, she let them usher her out of the building.

Rain poured in buckets. Yona could hardly see where she was going. She followed the Mossad agent in front of her, who handed her over to another agent. Never once did they turn her over to anyone who wasn’t Mossad.

The castle was surrounded by military personnel and their armored vehicles. Here and there, Yona spotted local police vehicles with the word Policie emblazoned on the doors and hoods.

Unmarked vehicles of unknown origins filled the rest of the entrance.

Yona stayed a safe distance away, inside a large van to keep out of the rain. No one said anything to her. They knew who she was, and someone motioned for her to sit down in an empty seat, but she preferred to stand.

She monitored the bank of screens they were all looking at. She tried to find one that showed Hadassah and her team.

“Down the hallway,” someone said. “At the end of the hallway… There.”

Their flashlights shone at once in the dark, making shadows here and there. The door was bolted.

“I think it’s six inches thick,” Yona told them.

Someone nodded and relayed the information to Hadassah. They set the charges, and brought the wall down in no time.

A piercing scream pushed through the smoke.

“Danika.” Yona smiled. She was alive. Maybe the rest might be too.

Hadassah’s team brought out Vivek and then Kelvin.

Yona was so relieved to see Kelvin that she had to sit down.

Twenty minutes later, the joint Israel-Czech paramilitary team came out, and the police went in.

Still no sign of Reuel. “Where is Reuel?”

Yona’s question went unanswered. The castle was clear. There were dead guards here and there, but no Reuel.

Hadassah entered the van, all wet. “They knew we breached the compound.”

“How did they escape so quickly?” As soon as Yona asked, she knew the answer. “Underground tunnels, maybe?”

“We’re checking all tunnels. I’ll go see what they find.” Hadassah exited the van to talk to her counterpart about that.

Yona knew they had a big problem on their hands if Reuel escaped.

The tug-of-war between Reuel and Ulysses over the newly resurrected VPN could spell trouble.

“Ideally the two would duke it out and take out each other,” someone in the van said.

Obviously, they had been briefed. “But we don’t live in an ideal world. This world is a mess.”

They said no more to Yona.

Hadassah returned. “No tunnels. They were all sealed up. Reuel probably left in a vehicle.”

“So he knew you were coming.” Yona wondered if anyone intercepted the homing beacon. “May I ask how you knew to come get us here?”

“Kelvin’s homing beacon reached the CIA. They called us because Reuel is our problem.”

“Since when was the CIA ever a hands-off organization?”

Hadassah shrugged. “We got you.”

“Where are the others?” Particularly, Yona wanted to see Kelvin.

“The CIA has them.”

“All three?”

“All three.” Hadassah put