Final Stand

by Lisa Phillips

  She turned to the director. “Yes, the CIA. Seriously.” He might as well know. “Which makes it highly suspicious to me that you, who should be looking into a missing corrupt FBI agent of yours, is instead pointing fingers at me in a witch hunt.”

  “You think I’m one of these dirty agents?”

  “Maybe not. Then again, in your own way?” She shrugged. Accusation wasn’t her thing, but he could read between the lines. Langdon wouldn’t get found without her being on the streets. “Putting me in holding won’t get you anything.”

  “Because you were trained to withstand torture?”

  “Is that what the FBI does these days?”

  He sneered. “You aren’t going to trap me.”

  Victoria leaned closer to him and said, “Ditto.”

  He wasn’t going to push her around. There was no way she would allow that to happen.

  Mark shoved the door open and found them almost nose to nose glaring at each other. “Jakeman’s people picked up. Then I got transferred to the NCIS director locally.”

  She turned to him.

  “Jakeman is fine. He’s on a plane back to Washington tonight.” Mark hesitated a second. Long enough she knew something was seriously wrong. “General Hurst is dead.”

  Victoria’s stomach clenched. “How?”

  “Hit and run. He was getting out of his car outside his house, and an SUV ran into his motorcade. They opened fire when it became clear he wasn’t dead. There were six casualties.”

  Victoria slumped into a chair and shut her eyes, but it wasn’t enough. She covered her face with her hands. Still not enough to shut out the images her mind conjured up. General Hurst, his people. His family? Bodies jerked and fell to the ground as the sound of gunshots rang through her mind.

  “We need to find Langdon.”

  Chapter 26

  Bellevue, WA. Sunday 12.16a.m.

  Mark slammed the driver’s door. Probably a little more forceful than was necessary, considering Victoria’s glance as she rounded the hood. They crossed the road together, the purposeful stride of two cops with a possible lead.

  Dakota stood in the open doorway. “Come on, I’ll show you what we’ve got.”

  “How is Josh?”

  “Not much change.” Dakota shrugged. “They’re going to call me if I’m needed.”

  They were all on duty because of this bomb threat—Langdon and his nuke. Dakota should be with her fiancé, but if she was here then there was a reason for it. One she didn’t need to justify to him.

  Mark moved to the side and allowed Victoria to go first. She gave him that glance again. “Thanks.”

  He didn’t say, “You’re welcome.” He figured it was implied. Too much had gone on today. Or yesterday, considering it was now Sunday. He blew out a breath. This had been a long week. A long few months. And in the middle of all that, he’d been shot—a reminder of the toll this whole case had taken on him, making him overtired, especially on the days he had to work through the night. Not to mention the lingering ache in his stomach.

  “You okay?”

  Mark stepped over the threshold to stand by her in the hallway. “I feel old.”

  Her eyes smiled. “You are old, but then so am I.”

  “How’s your stomach?”

  She shrugged. “You?”

  “I’m feeling a pity party coming on, but there’s too much work to do.” And yet, he’d stayed silent in the car. They should have been having this conversation on the drive over. Getting back on that footing of their friendship, the solid foundation they had of knowing each other for so long. Of having gone through some insane experiences together and always having each other’s backs.

  Now she’d been implicated in Langdon’s crimes. Maybe she didn’t care because she knew the truth, and she figured there was no way she’d end up in jail, but he just couldn’t find the same confidence.

  She was out here partly to prove the director wrong because he couldn’t accuse her without proof, and, as yet, had none. The police in Florida had since rescinded the BOLO and pulled her name from their suspect list since Mark sent them that email. He just hoped he didn’t regret sticking up for her.

  Truth was, Victoria was only free because she was under observation. The FBI was going to be close enough to cuff her until this was over, no exceptions. He’d have preferred it was another agent standing that near to her. But if he reassigned it then she would know something was up. He’d have to explain to her that they didn’t trust her.

  She stared long enough at his face he wondered if she was going to speak. “Couldn’t it be a compliment that I helped you get the assistant director job? I knew you could take on that job and help me at the same time.”

  Mark said, “But I didn’t get it on my own merit. I got it because you pushed my name to the forefront.”

  “The director would never have signed off on it if you didn’t have the merit to get the position.” She shrugged. “I’m pretty sure the only person who was surprised you got the job was you.”

  Mark wasn’t sure about that. They didn’t have time to talk about it right now, though. Dakota was waiting for them. “Go ahead.”

  He turned to shut the front door and saw a car pull up down the street. Tines was here on assignment from the director. He resisted the urge to wave to her. He made sure she saw him, though.

  The house was single level with a long hallway to the left, leading to the bedrooms and bathroom. An office had been set up in one, and Talia was at the computer. The dining table was round and covered with mail and papers. A lamp in the corner of the living room was on, the shade ripped.

  “Struggle?” He glanced at Dakota.

  She nodded. “Front door was picked and left open. A chair overturned. The lamp. That kind of thing.”

  Talia stepped into the hall. “You guys need to come see this.”

  They crossed to the doorway and crowded into the tiny office. She sat back at the computer and typed on the screen.

  “Is that his email?”

  “Yep.” She tapped a few more keys. “Got some correspondence here from an internet handle we know is Langdon, or at the very least, a close associate.”

  “Really?” Mark took a step closer to try and read the screen.

  Talia shot him a look over her shoulder. He moved back half a pace length. She said, “Langdon starts out by making friends, like he’s a fan of the guy’s work. Doctor Fredrick responds politely enough, and though he’s tentative, Langdon doesn’t let up. They eventually make a date to meet for coffee so Langdon can ask him about a research project he has going on. That was two days ago.”

  “You’re sure it was Langdon?” It was all usernames and probably the dark web. How could she really know for certain?

  “If she says it was him, then it was him,” Victoria said.

  Mark shifted to look at her. Why did she feel the need to use that tone with him when she was the one who’d lied? She claimed she always told him the truth. Actually, what she’d say was that she was always “truthful” with him. Maybe that wasn’t the same thing.

  Maybe she simply omitted what she figured he didn’t want to know. Or what he wouldn’t like, thereby avoiding the conflict that was inevitable.

  She looked away. “Talia?”

  Yep, there was guilt there. For the first time since the director dropped the bomb that his career had been manipulated by the person he trusted most in the world, he actually felt a tiny bit better.

  If he didn’t find the time soon to talk it through with her, she would probably just wait until he wasn’t mad anymore and then simply go on as though nothing had happened.

  Wouldn’t be the first time she’d used that tactic.

  “I’m looking for a way into Langdon’s server, or his computer. His phone. Whatever he used to send these messages.”

  “Copy that.” Niall strode into the room. “Finally got someone from his office on the phone. He usually works Saturdays but he has his son this weekend, so they
weren’t expecting him to come in.”

  “There’s a child in his life?” Victoria’s voice held the thread of a warning. A threat even.

  Dakota came into view behind her colleague. “There’s no evidence of a child living here.”

  “Maybe he doesn’t stay overnight, just day visits,” Mark suggested. Talia clicked keys in the background, typing faster than he could even think.

  “My next call is to track down the mom.” Niall motioned with his phone. “Make sure everything is copacetic.”

  “Do that.”

  On Victoria’s order, he strode out to the hallway. She blew out a breath, and he saw her share a glance with Dakota. “There better not be a kid involved.”

  Mark said, “Any idea on the timeline of when the scientist was taken?”

  “Near as we can figure,” Dakota said, but not without another glance at Victoria, “He was taken either late last night or early this morning.”

  “Neighbors?”

  “No one heard anything. Based on their comings and goings we were able to narrow it down as much as we could. Assuming it’s accurate, all we really have is a serious guesstimation.” She paused. “Are you guys okay?”

  Like Mark was going to answer that? “Let’s just find Langdon.”

  “We’re fine.”

  He turned to Victoria, incredulous that she would brush off what was happening between them.

  “Methinks Mark doesn’t agree y’all are fine.”

  “Okay then,” Victoria said. “We are too busy to worry about it right now.”

  “Worry about what?” Talia sounded distracted, only turning to them when she reached the end of her question. She glanced at the three of them. “Oh. That.”

  “Except we have no idea what that is.” Dakota waved a hand. “And if I demand to know, I’m the jerk who doesn’t care about the missing man I’ve never met. I just care more about my friends.”

  “As we speak, he could be torturing him,” Victoria pointed out.

  “Lovely.” Mark folded his arms.

  “And his child could be with him.” She faced off with him. “We could be looking for a missing child.”

  Yes, that would be as bad as she insinuated he should think it is. “As if a nuke wasn’t bad enough?”

  “Langdon will want every opportunity to get his nuke up and running. There are no lengths he won’t go to.”

  “And how do you—”

  Niall strode back in. “The kid is with his father. He’s eight years old, has seizures that require medication and they were supposed to get that prescription filled today. Cops are on their way to the mom’s house to meet up with her. She’s understandably upset, so I spoke with her until they arrived.”

  Dakota turned to Talia. “Tell me where to point my gun. We’re getting this kid back before anything happens to him.”

  Niall leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I’m with you.”

  Mark got on his phone while Talia typed, having a conversation with Dakota at the same time. Reading through the bulletins for the day, going back to this morning and then last night. Police cases and updates. Everything local he was privy to, which was a lot. He got to four in the afternoon—just a few hours ago—before he saw something.

  “Take a look at this.” He didn’t show anyone the phone and didn’t move or look up from it. “A pharmacy not too far from here was robbed this afternoon.” He scanned the report. “Someone broke in the back and stole only one thing. A preprepared prescription ready for pickup.” He read the patient’s name.

  “That’s him, the child.” Niall’s face darkened.

  Mark said, “The cops had no reason to believe it wasn’t just random. Someone grabbing meds off the shelf and hoping they got something good. But they were going to call the mom first thing in the morning to make sure it wasn’t related.”

  “It’s related.” Dakota moved to Talia. “What about surveillance?”

  “I’ll see what I can do. I might need my own system to run that kind of search, though.”

  “Head to the office if you need to,” Victoria said.

  “The Homeland Security office? It gets logged when we enter or leave. The boss will want to know why I’m there in the middle of the night on a Saturday when he already assumes I sleep with my fiancé, even though we’re not married yet.” Talia made a face that explained clearly how she felt about that.

  “We need to find that child, Talia.”

  Mark decided to be helpful. “I can put a call in, explain you’re working with me on an FBI case. Which is the truth.”

  She glanced at him. “No offense, but you’re not his favorite person right now. The guy doesn’t exactly trust the FBI.”

  Mark pressed his lips together. It would take time. He couldn’t singlehandedly turn the tide of public opinion, least of all do it quickly. “I’ll get it squared away.”

  Talia stood, gathering up her purse and her coat. “I’ll find Langdon. A car. Something.” She strode to the door.

  “Talia?”

  She glanced back at him. Mark said, “Thank you for your help.”

  After she left, Dakota and Niall headed out into the hall. Dakota muttered something about the forecast being frosty. Whatever that comment meant.

  Victoria stared at the empty doorway. “You’ll thank her for her help, but not me?”

  “When have you ever helped me?”

  She opened her mouth.

  He shook his head, realizing the truth in what had been an off-the-cuff comment. “Don’t bother. Seems to me like you’ve been helping yourself to whatever you need for a long time.”

  Chapter 27

  Seattle, WA. Sunday 3.42a.m.

  Victoria gripped the phone as she shoved the bathroom door shut. “Your plane landed all right?”

  “Yes.” Jakeman sounded sleepy. Not surprisingly, as he’d already traveled back to Washington D.C. It was the middle of the night, and he’d finally responded to her texts. “We’re in the car, headed to the safe house.”

  It grated on her that it was even necessary for him to be going to a safe house at all. Let alone in the middle of the night. “I can’t believe Hurst is dead.”

  “It wasn’t stupidity that killed him. He was careful, and he had protection.”

  “I’m still alive, aren’t I? So are you.”

  “For the time being.”

  “You’re planning on being dead soon?” She paced in front of the row of four sinks on the floor of the Homeland Security office where her former team—or most of it—now worked. Yet more stuff that grated on her. Never mind that she’d allowed them to be reassigned. She’d thought she’d gotten all the FBI agents involved, which should have included Langdon. Her job should have been over. Her friends reassigned to their new teams while she moved on.

  All well and good, except…she kind of missed them. Seeing their faces every day. Being their boss. Bear was nice and all, but the conversation was a little one sided.

  Not to mention the fact Mark was seriously ticked at her right now.

  Jakeman sighed. His voice rumbled over the phone line. “Vicki.” It almost sounded like he thought this was funny, when it definitely was not. “If I don’t keel over from a heart attack at my desk, I’ll get popped by some assassin. There’s a slim chance I’ll live to be an old…er man. But I’ll enjoy it if I do, and I’ll even allow you to say, ‘I told you so’.”

  “There’s nothing amusing about this.”

  “It’s three in the morning. Everything is amusing.”

  “Respectfully, I’m going to disagree with you.” She glanced at her own reflection in the mirror and had to wince. She looked seriously disheveled, in need of about three days of sleep…and probably a vacation wouldn’t hurt.

  “Don’t start calling me ‘sir’ now. It doesn’t suit you.”

  Victoria almost laughed. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  “What else is wrong?” He paused. “We’re almost at the house, so make it fast.”


  “I should let you go.”

  “Vicki, spill.”

  “I really don’t like when you call me that. I’m a grown woman and not your child.”

  He made a pfft noise through the phone line. “Who’s going to give you away when you get married? Anyway, you’re changing the subject.”

  Like she could remember what they were talking about when he’d just said something like that? “It’s not going to happen.”

  “What did you do?”

  “So it could only be a nonstarter because of something I did?”

  Jakeman said, “It’s been a non-starter since the beginning. Just tell me what’s changed now. Why have you written the whole thing off?”

  “It’s not me.” She squeezed the bridge of her nose, forcing herself to quit arguing. Defending her actions wasn’t going to change anything. Especially when Mark wouldn’t even hear her. “He knows about the promotion.”

  “Ah.”

  She waited, but he didn’t say anything else. “Did you fall asleep?”

  “I was just wondering why you’re surprised he found out. You knew it would happen, so what will you do now?”

  “I don’t know!” Great. Now she was wailing. It was official, she’d lost it.

  “Does he know about the rest of it?”

  “I don’t think so.” And thank his God for that. It was hard to keep track of so many things. That was how she figured spy work wasn’t for her anymore. Maybe she should get a job as some kind of private security consultant. She could live permanently in her New York apartment, after she changed the name on the deed to her real one.

  “That is all going to come out as well.”

  And things would be more complicated than they already were. She was coming apart at the seams trying to find Langdon before everything fell apart.

  Then she could just…go. Mark would have a perfectly nice life without her. She needed to quit this thing where they were in a holding pattern together, and separately, and set them both free.

  “I have to go, Vicki.”