Target on the Mountain by Elizabeth Goddard (the chimp paradox .txt) 📕

The building appeared close to collapsing. “Hurry, Alex, the station won’t last much longer!” she called out. Once the captured man dropped down, Rachel kept her weapon pointed at him as he headed over to Liam. Behind her she could hear parts of the station collapsing upon itself.

Alex!

“Keep an eye on him, Liam.” Rachel didn’t wait for his answer. She had to get to Alex. She couldn’t lose him again.

“Alex!” she called out. She couldn’t see anything but fire and smoke coming from the rapidly disintegrating station.

Please, be okay.

“Alex!” She screamed in panic. She watched in horror as the station crumbled to the ground. The heat from the blaze so intense that she was forced to look away. Was he inside? Had she lost him? The pain that thought brought shot through her, leaving a path of destruction like a bullet’s wound.

The smallest of sounds close by had her whirling around. Alex! Singed and bloody, he emerged from the firestorm raging behind him. She ran to him. “You’re hurt.”

He winced as she held him close. “Just a few cuts and scrapes is all. I barely managed to jump out the window before the place went down. Let’s hurry. We can use the fire and smoke as a distraction to get away.”

They went back to where Liam had managed to stand and was keeping a close eye on his prisoner.

“Can you walk?” Rachel asked. She could see he was in a lot of pain.

Liam nodded. “I’ll keep up. Let’s get out of here while we still have a chance.”

Rachel motioned to their prisoner to start walking. “You go first.”

He tossed her an evil look. “You’ll never get away. He has people everywhere up here.”

“Just start walking.” She wasn’t letting him get in her head.

The man headed in the direction she indicated. Liam moved close so that only Rachel and Alex could hear. “He’s right. They have dozens of men out here.”

Alex nodded. “How did you get turned onto these guys, anyway?”

“Through Deacon.” Liam confirmed what they’d suspected. “He’s been deep undercover with someone close to Temple’s crew for a while. That’s how we crossed paths. Temple is the one I’ve been tracking for a while.”

Rachel started to ask her brother where the sarin was hidden. Before she got the question out, they were ambushed by gunfire.

“Take cover,” she yelled, and they ducked behind a small grove of trees barely wide enough to cover them. Their prisoner went running in the direction of the shots while yelling for his buddies not to shoot him.

Rachel peered around the tree. A round of gunshots sounded a little ways from them. Someone screamed. She had no idea what was happening. She turned to Liam. He was slumped against the tree next to her. “Liam!” She could see that he’d reopened his wound and was losing blood again.

Alex hurried to help her. “Liam, are you able to walk?”

Rachel shook her head. “He can’t go anywhere, Alex.”

Liam flinched in pain as she did her best to secure the wound once more.

“No, it’s okay, Rachel. I can keep up. We have to get out of here. We’ll be trapped if we stick around.” Liam words slurred. He barely had the strength to get them out.

Before she could answer, a noise close by sent her whirling toward it. One of the men from earlier had his gun pointed straight at them and was ready to fire. Before she could draw her weapon, a shot rang out. The man’s startled expression was the last thing she saw before he dropped to the ground dead.

Rachel searched in the direction from where the shot had come and saw Michelle standing there with a gun in her hand. Before Rachel could fully comprehend what had happened, Michelle dropped her weapon on the ground.

“I can’t believe she did that,” Rachel murmured to Alex and then said, “Get your hands in the air.”

Michelle obeyed and Alex grabbed her weapon. “You saved our lives,” Alex said in amazement. “Why would you do that?”

But Rachel believed she knew. “You’re the asset who is working with Deacon, aren’t you?” Michelle managed a frightened nod. “You did the right thing. You’re better off with us. Temple will kill you if he discovers you helped us out.”

“Where are the others?” Alex asked, wondering how she’d managed to get away from Temple and his men.

“The two that were here are dead. I shot them. Your prisoner got away. The rest of Temple’s crew will have heard the shots. They’ll be here soon. We need to get out of here before that happens.”

“How do you fit into all this, Michelle?” Rachel asked. She appeared just as confused by what happened as he was. “You had your chance to get away before and you didn’t take it. Why help us now?”

“I couldn’t before. I didn’t trust you...and I was scared of him. He threatened me. But I can’t let him go through with what he has planned. It’s too horrible.”

Rachel’s gaze collided with Alex’s. “Who are you talking about?”

“Peter... Blake Temple,” she amended. “He’s not who he says he is. He’s a monster. Please, you have to stop him.”

“What’s he planning with the sarin gas?” Alex asked.

“How did you know about that?” Michelle looked at Alex in surprise.

“Let’s just say we put two and two together. We know Temple and the rest of his men faked their deaths,” added Rachel.

Michelle looked from one to the other. “Who are you people?”

Alex wondered how much they could trust her. But she had saved their lives. “I’m CIA, just like Deacon. You can trust us.”

Michelle appeared unconvinced. “You’ll understand if I don’t. Temple said he was CIA, too, and he did terrible things. He forced me to work for him.”

Before she could say anything more, another round of shots rang out close by.

“Duck,” Alex yelled, and they slipped back behind their tree coverage.

“That’s him.” Michelle’s eyes grew wide with fear. “He’ll kill me. He’ll kill all