Breach of Protocol Read online

  The pilot opened the plane’s door and dropped the staircase to the ground. Jana, followed by Cade, then Kyle, disembarked.

  A man exited the black Chevy Suburban and held out FBI credentials.

  “Special Agent Baker,” Jana said as she extended the man a firm handshake. “This is MacKerron and Williams.”

  He looked at them through steely-eyed Ray Bans. “Ramirez, bureau. Right this way. Parkfield is only twenty-five miles from here. I only had a short briefing, so you’ll have to fill me in on the way. Do you want lights and siren or do we need to go in without drawing attention?”

  As the group boarded the vehicle Jana instinctively took the front passenger seat. It was her command and she wanted anyone on-site with them at Parkfield to know it.

  She said, “Just so you know, Ramirez, whatever assignment they pulled you off was more important than this one.”

  “Jana,” Cade said, “would you drop it already? There isn’t a more important assignment anywhere in the bureau right now. Ramirez, is it? We need to keep this low profile. We’ll have at least one HRT group here within two hours. But until then, we’re on our own. We need to get into the town and get somewhere we can surveil the mine shaft without being noticed.”

  As he pulled the vehicle away, Ramirez started to cough.

  “You okay?” Jana said. “You’re not going to keel over on us, are you?”

  Through repeated coughs, Ramirez said, “No, I’m fine. Allergies. As soon as I got reassigned out here, they flared up something awful. In fact, I have to go on filtered air sometimes. I feel like an idiot when I put this thing on, but,” he shrugged, “doctor’s orders.” He affixed a nasal cannula with mask over his nose and mouth. The clear translucent mask had an oxygen tube running to it. His coughing intensified.

  “Man, never seen allergies that bad,” Kyle said. “I wouldn’t have thought allergies would be bad out here in the arid country.”

  Ramirez reached down and turned the handle on what appeared to be a small oxygen container stowed in front of him. It let out a loud hiss.

  “God, Ramirez. That stuff stinks. What the hell are you breathing in anyway?” But by the time Jana completed her sentence, her vision began to blur and her head slumped against the door. Then, everything went black.

  37

  LEVEL C

  Emergency Room, Stanford Hospital, Templeton, California

  The emergency room erupted into organized chaos. “All right everybody, listen up!” Dr. Adele Lindquist yelled to the staff of medical personnel as they scrambled into positions.

  “We are level C, yellow zone. Under advisement from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, we will follow the acute exposure guidelines to the letter. In the remaining thirty seconds we have before the ambulances arrive, here’s a refresher so you don’t screw it up. These are sets of short-term exposure limits for acutely toxic chemicals. Every one of you need to strap on your NIOSH-certified air-purifying respirator right now. No one removes their chemical resistant suit until we give the all clear. That means chemical-resistant gloves, boots, face shield, disposable boot covers, I want it all.”

  “What have we got?” a male doctor with salt-and-pepper hair yelled as he ran into the emergency room. When he saw the biohazard suits, his eyes widened with fear.

  “Inbound at this time, two males, each approximately thirty years of age, one, a hundred and sixty, the other, a hundred and eighty pounds. Both suffering from acute exposure to what we believe to be an aerosolized form of 3-methylfentanyl.”

  A male nurse pulled tightly against rubber gloves and said, “How do we know they’ve been exposed to fentanyl?”

  “We’ve got two ambulance drivers, also down. Both were overcome with the fumes when they arrived on scene. When the fire crew arrived, they donned oxygen masks to extract the victims from the vehicle. Inside was a canister labeled 3-methylfentanyl. It’s pretty clear.” Her volume escalated. “This is not a drill, people. This is the real thing. We’re breaking up into two teams. Each team will handle one victim. The two ambulance drivers that were overcome with fumes have been diverted to Atascadero State Hospital. But the two coming here are far more critical. We don’t know how long they’ve been exposed, nor what dose they received.”

  The faint sound of a pair of sirens began a slow increase in volume as two ambulances neared the emergency-room entrance.

  “Get your patient to the wash station. Put them in a standing position and cut the clothes away, then start an aggressive wash with the soap-and-water solution before you transfer them to the gurney. Brush the toxins off the skin. Make sure you move from the head to the toe. Fentanyl is a potent opioid, approximately one hundred times more potent than morphine. Check for signs of respiratory depression, low oxygen saturations, pinpoint pupils with subsequent bradycardia and hypotension. There may be some chest wall rigidity. Spasms are common. Hypoxia, acidosis, check the heart for bradycardia, shock. Expect a slowing in gastric hypomotility characterized by hypoactive bowel sounds when auscultating the abdomen. Treatment regimen is as follows. First, get those airways clear! Mechanical ventilation as needed. We’ll start Narcan, 0.4 milligrams, but ramp it up to two milligrams immediately if you’re not seeing a response.”

  The ambulance bay doors burst open and two teams dressed in hazmat suits pushed gurneys through. Special Agent Kyle MacKarren lay on one and Cade Williams on the other. Both men were unconscious.

  “Move, people, move!” the doctor yelled.

  38

  HEAT SIGNATURE

  NSA Command Center

  “Uncle Bill!” Knuckles yelled. “They found them!”

  “My God. Are they all right? Where are they?”

  They were found halfway between the airport and the town of Parkfield. Both are unconscious. They’re being transported to the emergency room now.”

  “What you mean, both of them?”

  “That’s just it, sir. They found Agent MacKerron and Cade, but they haven’t found Jana yet.”

  Uncle Bill gripped each side of his head. “Jana is missing? What the hell happened? We lose contact with them for eight hours, and now you’re telling me Jana is missing?”

  “Yes, sir. I just reverified it with Special Agent Philip Murphy, leader of hostage-rescue team two. They were on-site at Parkfield. They’ve been scouring the hills for hours. It was the Monterey County Sheriff’s Department helicopter that found them. It picked up a heat signature using thermal-imaging equipment on board. Kyle and Cade were found inside a vehicle that had been parked in an old shed up in the hillsides. It’s a miracle they were located. Agent Murphy is on-site at the shed now, but he can’t get too close to the vehicle. The whole scene is a hazmat disaster. Some kind of toxin must’ve been used to knock them unconscious.”

  Bill stared at the boy. “They were rendered unconscious? Jana, my God. Jana. She’s been kidnapped.” Bill began to pace the floor, entranced in his own thoughts. “This is my fault . . . oh God, this is my fault. I could have pulled her off the active list . . . I could have . . . eight hours, eight hours. For all we know, she was abducted and has been removed from the area. She could be anywhere by now. And . . . what if they are . . .,” his volume descended to a whisper, “hurting her? I’ll never forgive myself.” He drew in a deep breath and blew it out, then arched his chest and scanned the room. “People, we’re going to find Agent Baker. Drop everything you’re doing. Use your override codes to retask the nearest available satellites to sweep the area.”

  “Uncle Bill?” Knuckles said. “Drop everything we’re doing? I know this is Jana we’re talking about. I love her too. But our first priority has to stay tracking the nuclear weapon.”

  “I know that, son. But it’s my belief that tracking Agent Jana Baker will lead us right to the bomb. You’re going to have my job one day, son, and you will be welcome to it.” Bill put his hands on his hips. “Damn, times like this I really miss Stevie Latent. Get on the horn to the FBI. We need all the h
ostage-rescue team operators they can send. And tell them not to bother trying to keep a low profile. I want that countryside swarming with Kevlar.”

  39

  GROTESQUE

  State Route 14, Crystal Springs, Nevada, approximately 493 miles west of Parkfield, California

  As Jana regained consciousness, she found herself in a world of pain. Everything burned, her throat, lungs, eyes, and much of her skin. Drawing in air was painful. Her chest felt like it was made out of wood. Her vision blurred and she felt a pain in her left hand as if she was being jabbed by something sharp. As she tried to recoil against it, she found her hands cuffed behind her back.

  Rafael laughed. “Starting to wake up, I see. That’s more than I can say for your two friends. I doubt they will ever wake up again. You have me to thank, you know. I pulled you out of that vehicle as soon as you were unconscious. You didn’t get exposed to a fraction of what your friends did.”

  Jana’s vision began to clear, but everything looked hazy around the edges. She tried to speak but couldn’t.

  “That was another injection of Narcan I just gave you. That is your third. Exposure to toxic levels of fentanyl are often fatal, Miss Baker. Narcan has to be administered multiple times to counteract the effects.”

  Rafael started the engine of the white van and pulled into the inky darkness of the rural highway.

  Jana muscled herself into a more upright, seated position, then looked out the side window. She found it tinted so darkly, she could see nothing. This time as she tried to speak, a few sounds emerged, although nothing distinguishable.

  “Oh, Miss Baker. Do not try to speak. You Americans always have too much to say. And after a second nuclear device detonates on this land of yours, many more of you will be silenced. But none of that is of interest to me. I work at the pleasure of those who employ my services. I am good at what I do, yes. But what I do, I do for the money. It is as simple as that.”

  He glanced at Jana and his eyes ran across her body, drinking in the feminine shape.

  “I have been given specific instructions with you, Miss Baker. As I’m sure you have surmised, my employer is your dear friend, Waseem Jarrah. He knows me well enough to know I have specific tastes in women. His eyes again ran across her body.

  Jana leaned away from him, against the passenger door. But even small movement proved difficult. To Jana, her body felt as if she were almost paralyzed.

  “And lucky for you, he forbade me from violating you just yet. Although now that I sit next to you, I regret accepting that condition. Many of the women in my past have not been so lucky.”

  Rafael leaned toward Jana and placed his hand inside her button-down shirt. She tried to pull away but couldn’t. Her breathing accelerated and her anger exploded, but there was nothing she could do as his hand found its way underneath her bra. The grotesque act stopped as quickly as it had started.

  “Very nice. There will be time for that later though. Once Jarrah is finished with you, you are mine.”

  Jana’s consciousness began to fade and her head slumped against the passenger-door window with a heavy thud.

  40

  MAGMA

  Critical Care Unit, Stanford Hospital, Templeton, California

  “Try not to talk, man,” Kyle said as he leaned over Cade’s hospital bed. “There’s a breathing tube inserted in your throat. Don’t worry, they’re going to take it out in a minute. They say you’re going to be fine. They say we’re both going to be fine. But no one is telling me anything. I just woke up about thirty minutes ago myself. I don’t know about you, but I feel like a freight train ran over me. Everything hurts.”

  Cade squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again, trying to focus on the room.

  “We’re in a hospital. I don’t remember anything either. And no, I have no idea how we got here.”

  Dr. Lindquist walked in. “Good, you’re awake. Let’s get that tube out of your throat, shall we?”

  She walked to the other side of the bed and tightened the band holding her long brunette hair in a ponytail. “Now, Mr. Williams, on the count of three I’m going to remove the tube. When I say three I want you to cough, and cough loudly, okay?”

  As the tube was extricated from Cade’s throat, he coughed until nearly gagging.

  “Try not to talk right away,” Dr. Lindquist said. “Give it a minute.” She looked at the two men. “But now that I have the two of you together, let me tell you what’s going on. You’ve been exposed to a chemical called 3-methylfentanyl.”

  Kyle’s voice sounded like a parched desert. “3-methyl-what? How did we get exposed to some chemical? Everything is so hazy in my memory.”

  “That’s not for me to determine,” she said. “However it happened, this kind of exposure is incredibly rare, and often times, fatal. Some derivative of this same chemical was used by Russian special forces during the Moscow theater hostage crisis back in 2002. One hundred and thirty people died due to the exposure, and lack of medical treatment to revive them. It’s one of the most potent sedation agents in the world. The two of you are lucky to be alive.”

  Cade’s eyes stared, half-open, as he looked at the doctor. “The two of us?” he whispered. “What do you mean, the two of us? Where’s Jana? Where’s Agent Baker?” He turned to Kyle. “Kyle, don’t tell me she’s dead.”

  “Cade, I keep asking the same question. Nobody is talking.”

  From out in the hallway a slight altercation erupted.

  “Well, I need to get in there!” a man yelled.

  A nurse replied, “Listen here. I don’t know what your mother taught you, but this is the intensive care unit and we don’t care who you are.”

  “Good lord. A man spends the better part of his adult life getting shot at in the line of duty and he can’t even get in to see one of his agents. Do you know how high my top-secret security clearance runs? Well, it’s pretty high. Not that it will cut any slack around here.”

  Kyle put a hand behind himself to close the flaps on his hospital gown, then shuffled into the hall. Even in the tension of their situation, Kyle had to laugh at what he saw next.

  “Ouch!” Commander Murphy said. “That hurts!” He turned to Kyle. “Did you see that? She pinched my ear! Dang, lady. That’s just mean.”

  The nurse smiled at him. “Well that’s what you get when you try to break the rules. Didn’t your mother ever teach you that?”

  Kyle said, “He’s okay, ma’am. Don’t pay him any mind.”

  “My mama taught me plenty.”

  Agent Murphy walked into Cade’s room with Kyle. “Man, she’s mean.” He looked back out in the hallway and found the nurse still smirking at him. “I’m not sure I’m mad at her, or if I like her. MacKerron, you feeling better? Damn, son, we thought we lost you. You too, Mr. Williams. Glad to see both of you alive and well.”

  “Sir,” Kyle said. “What’s going on? Where’s Agent Baker?”

  “That’s the problem, son. We don’t know. After your plane touched down, you three were out of contact for over eight hours. The only thing we knew was that the pilot said you disembarked the plane and got in a black Chevy Suburban. After that, it was like you were on the dark side of the moon. What’s the last thing you remember?”

  “We were picked up by a man identifying himself as a special agent, bureau. His name was Ramirez. Flashed his credentials. We didn’t think anything of it. Just figured he’d been assigned to assist us on-site here. The rest gets a little hazy.”

  Cade sat up on his elbows and began to speak in a voice that sounded like he had pebbles in his throat.

  “The guy started coughing as we were driving away, but I think it was all an act. Said something about his allergies flaring up. He put a mask on his face with an oxygen tube and started to breathe through it. That’s when I heard a loud hissing sound. I assume that’s when he released the knockout gas into the vehicle. Everything went black. Next thing I knew, I woke up here. But we’re wasting time. We’ve got to find her.�
�

  “Sit tight, son. Don’t try to get up. We’ve got one hundred seventy-five assets scouring the hillsides. I’ve got six helicopters and twelve canine units. I’ve got over three hundred civilian volunteers who have been hiking a grid pattern for the last four hours. But so far, we haven’t found a thing.”

  Dr. Lindquist said, “Mr. Williams, I’m going to add another dose of Narcan to your IV unit. This should be your last one. You’ll feel better shortly. But you need to sit back and rest.”

  “There’s no way I’m staying here,” Cade said as he began to push himself upright. “I’ve got to find her.”

  Dr. Lindquist grabbed him by the shoulders. “You’re not leaving this hospital today. Doctor’s orders. Just let them do their work. They’ll find her.”

  But Cade and Kyle knew neither one could relax with Jana missing.

  Kyle said, “They’ve really found nothing? How about witnesses?”

  “Nothing. This is remote California hill country. We haven’t found a single witness who could give us anything of value.”

  “He could’ve had another car stashed somewhere,” Cade said. “He could have driven her out of the area by now.” His voice skipped as his throat tightened. “We weren’t found for eight hours, you said? And I’ve been unconscious for how long? Another eight? My God, they could be anywhere by now. We’ve got to find her!”

  Cade again began to sit upright but Kyle held him back.

  “Hold on, man. Even if we were both able to walk out of this place, we don’t have any idea where we’d go.”

  Agent Murphy said, “Believe me, Mr. Williams, we’ve been on it. Every law enforcement department and agency in the region has been put on full alert. But at this point, we have nothing. We’ll take your description of this Ramirez subject and put out an APB. I’ve got a secure uplink to NSA getting set up in here. In fact, I think I can hear my agents being scolded by that nurse. Ah, doctor, would you come out there with me to calm her down? We’ve got business to attend to.”