Page 90 of Surge

Now. So she couldn’t get LD3s full of chems off this train by herself. She needed to know what was in the boxcar. She patted Surge’s chest and stood, looked around the dark interior. With her head on a swivel, she shone her SAT phone flashlight around and walked the car with Surge at her side, snuffling all over the place, especially at containers marked “Good Job Dog Treats.”

She grinned. “Not yours, buddy. C’mon.”

They finished the tour of the car in about two minutes. No hits. She returned to the six Sachaai LD3s and slid back to the floor, and Surge rested his chin on her leg.

Wait. What was that black lump on the floor by the container in the corner?

She got up and walked over. “Surge, check it.”

He sniffed at it, then looked up at her. If he were a person, he would’ve shrugged.

“Let’s see what it is, then.” She drew closer. Oh. It was a black rock. Hand-sized. Hefty. Her mouth twitched.

If they’d been here with her, Garrett and Zim would have been doing one thing—checking their weapons. At least one of the three Sachaai would return to check on the LD3s, for sure. If there weren’t even more Sachaai aboard.

She picked up the black rock. It wasn’t an official weapon at all.

At least it was weapon-like. She grinned.Thank You, God.

This was apparently Plan D.

* * *

BETWEEN MEJAYAN AND SURABAYA, INDONESIA

“You out of your mind?” Garrett growled. In his mind’s eye he saw Delaney and her fearless, swingy ponytail, the way she tilted her head at him . . . flying into a million pieces. “No way. We aren’t bombing a seven-point-three-billion-dollar bullet train.”

Caldwell held his gaze.

There was something in Caldwell’s gaze that silenced Garrett, though he wasn’t sure what it was.

“You have to trust me,” Caldwell continued. “We’ll just hit the engine. Precision. That will knock only the front of the train off the rails. Rogue will be fine.”

Garrett couldn’t believe the spook was that dumb. But one thing kept ringing in his head—well, two. First, the most obvious, that Rogue would be killed. But second, he’d never trusted anyone. Trusting Dad had taught him that painful lesson. And maybe his anger at Caldwell and his misplaced irritation with Delaney had a core base: also Dad.

God probably wanted him to work on that. He would. After this mission.

His breath stuck in his throat, knowing that if he didn’t resolve this and didn’t make it back alive . . . Wasn’t there something in the Bible about if you withheld your forgiveness, God would withhold His?

Like he needed anything else bad in his life right now.

So. Deal with it. Anger and rage had been his tack in life.

Truth sizzled through his veins. His anger toward Dad came from his anger toward God for all He’d “let” Dad do to Garrett. Let their family go through.

Yet . . . he saw now how God had put teachers, friends in his life. The SEALs. This team. Delaney. Wow. Yeah. God had always been building his life.I’m so sorry. I really do trust You. I really do.His gaze focused back on the spook. He didn’t have to agree with Caldwell’s idea, but he could deal with it in a legit manner. “One, that is a seven-point-three-billion-dollar mistake, because if we bomb it while it’s going at a high rate of speed, that whole thing will fly off the tracks. With Rogue and Surge in it. They won’t survive.” He shook his head. “So that’s out. Besides, I don’t have that in my bank account to pay back. Do you?”

Caldwell nodded. “Point taken. Guess you want to punch me again.”

Actually . . . no. Strange. But that familiar rage that drove his life . . . it wasn’t there. What was there, however, was a keen awareness. Forget not hitting him. Forget control.This man was wrong, all wrong.When they got to the ground . . .

He took a deep breath. “Explain the logic behind what you want to do.”

Caldwell gave Garrett a tight smile. “One: Surabaya has over three million people. We need to stop the thing before it’s near the station and people get hurt. Two: it’s just the three of us right now, so if there are more Sachaai at the station, we won’t have a prayer of stopping them.”

Garrett’s mood went grim. He looked out of the bird. Nobody wanted innocents dying. Hang it all if Caldwell wasn’t right again—it was smart to destroy the chems before Sachaai could grab them. But there was another option. “We slow it down.”

“How?” Caldwell demanded.

---