Atlas (The Atlas Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

terrorists thought that a rescue mission would be impossible once in the air. Either way, something just felt off to Kala.
    She eyed Jack in front of her. He looked extra nervous as well. It wasn’t like Jack to show any kind of emotion in an operation, but he looked downright petrified as he motioned the team forward into the galley. Seeing him like that made Kala even more wigged out. Something was definitely wrong about this whole thing.
    Kala tucked her second gun inside her vest. She felt like she needed a free hand.
    Jack stood in front of the closed galley door leading to the next room. He whispered, “The next room is Medical and then the President’s office. Intel says he’s being held in the latter. We’ll go in fast. Head shots only. We don’t want to hit a window and lose cabin pressure.”
    Which meant no random firing. This wasn’t a problem for Kala, but Lali had a bit of a trigger-finger problem. And now that the plane was flying directly over the country’s capital, they couldn’t let it go down.
    Kala noticed that Jack was sweating. For any other person, this wouldn’t be an issue, but Jack never sweated. Kala knew it was probably because this mission was way bigger than anything they’d ever done before, but instinct told her there was more to it than that. Jack was scared, and it had nothing to do with terrorists.
    Jack slowly cracked open the galley door and Kala could see through the opening that there were at least five men in Medical. All with guns.
    To everyone’s surprise, Jack swung the door open wide announcing their presence to the bad guys.
    But that was just it.
    The men in Medical were Secret Service.
    Their guns were up and pointed at the team, but upon recognizing their uniforms’ military insignia, they lowered their weapons.
    The door to the President’s office was shut.
    Kala and the others filed into the galley to confer with the Secret Service men. Kala had counted correctly, there were five of them. Wardrobe was typical of government bodyguards: black suits and ties. The five of them had obviously been preparing to siege the next room, loading guns and conferring in a small huddle.
    When Jack and his team joined them, their leader spoke up, “I’m agent Ford. I’m assuming you’re Turner’s squad?” Ford directed his statement at Jack.
    Jack nodded, “Jack Norbin. What are we looking at here?”
    “The situation is delicate…” Ford paused, looking like he was unsure of how to continue.
    “Delicate how?” Kala asked when Jack hadn’t.
    It was as if Jack already knew what was happening and Kala and the rest of team were the only ones in the dark. It still struck her as odd that he wasn’t confiding in them. They were such a tight-knit group and to have their leader acting so aloof made Kala ill at ease.
    “There are no terrorists on this plane,” Ford stated carefully.
    Huh ?
    Kala didn’t think she’d heard him correctly. “A hoax?”
    “This is the worst crank call ever,” Derek grumbled to himself.
    Ford shook his head in the negative. A look passed between him and his men.
    Something was very wrong.
    And Derek was growing impatient. “Are we all going to stand around here like we’re at the water cooler or something? Or are we going to save the President?”
    Kala felt the same way. A bunch of elite military and Secret Service huddled like they were about to play flag football. Everyone’s side arms out and ready to shoot. And more importantly, Kala was ready to shoot.
    “That’s just it,” Agent Ford glanced at Derek, “The President is the threat.”
    Kala and her team stared blankly at the Secret Service agent.
    “Excuse me?” Lali asked. Normally, the girl kept her mouth shut, but claiming that the President himself was the actual threat was preposterous.
    Ford wiped sweat off his brow and explained. “The President has five bars of C-4 strapped to his chest hooked up to a bomb with a remote trigger that only he holds.” Ford was