RISE

by R. D. Brady

  Martin had zoomed in to the background to get a closer look at Joseph because there were so few pictures of him available. But when he zoomed out, he got the complete shot: the meeting of JFK and Wernher von Braun. The shot was taken at Cape Canaveral in Florida, on November 16, 1963. The most famous shot from the meeting was of JFK and von Braun looking to the sky, one arm of each raised next to a model rocket as they discussed the U.S.’s potential in space.

  But this shot was taken as the men walked. The easy camaraderie between the two was evident in the photo. In fact, they’d gotten along so well, JFK invited Braun and his wife to the White House for dinner. It was scheduled for November 25, 1963, three days after JFK was assassinated.

  But Martin wasn’t interested in the famous men in the picture. He was interested in the man who had chosen to stay on the sidelines of America’s space program. In this shot, Joseph was on the side and behind von Braun. Martin narrowed his eyes. There was a great deal of mystery surrounding Tilda’s husband—too much mystery. Martin had been unable to find any information on him. He didn’t even know the man’s country of birth. And now that Tilda was back on the scene, Martin knew he needed to take a closer look at her significant other.

  Stacy knocked at the door, interrupting his line of thought. He swallowed down his annoyance and waved her in. The woman never sent a text when she could talk. If she weren’t so qualified in every other way, he’d fire her for that alone.

  Or kill her.

  “What is it?” he growled.

  “We had a hit on Norah Tidwell’s cell phone.”

  Surprise flashed through Martin. He thought she was smarter than that. “She used it?”

  “No. But she received a call from Sandra Gillibrand. We’ve traced it to Montana. She called from a place called Hogansfield.”

  “How long until you can have a team on site?”

  “Two hours.”

  Martin glanced at his watch. “Good. Let me know when they have them.”

  Martin spent the next hour reviewing information he had on both Matilda and Joseph Watson. But then when the hour was up, he reached for his phone. He dialed the number, waiting impatiently for the call to be answered. Finally, a rough voice came across the line. “What?”

  “This is Drummond. I have some information for Tatiana.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Hogansfield, Montana

  There was a small rush at the diner at lunchtime. Sandra had never worked the lunch shift, and she was happy to see the influx of customers. Evan, the owner, explained that a lot of the long-haul truckers liked to stop through. This was one of the only diners on the way to Hardin.

  Sandra flitted from table to table, refilling coffee cups, taking orders, enjoying the familiarity of the routine. It didn’t matter where you went, waitressing was waitressing. Some of the stress that had been weighing her down fell away as she filled orders and lost herself in small talk.

  Luke sat at a small table in the kitchen, reading a book. Every time she went to the kitchen window to pick up an order or put one in, she glanced in at him. He looked fine. Evan had taken a liking to him and hadn’t minded allowing him to stay nearby when Sandra worked.

  Luke reached down and picked up a French fry from the plate next to him. He ate it without removing his eyes from the book. Then he took a sip from the chocolate shake next to him, his eyes still glued to the pages in front of him. The book was a Minecraft novel. Evan had explained that someone had left it at the diner months ago. It’d been sitting underneath the counter in the lost and found since then, along with a few other books. Evan had told Luke to grab whatever books he wanted.

  Sandra knew that Evan wanted to ask about Luke. Why he wasn’t in school and what was going on with him. But she was thankful he didn’t. He just quietly made him some food and let him have his space.

  Evan called through the kitchen pass-through. “Orders up.”

  Sandra wound her way through the tables and slipped behind the counter. She grabbed the four plates, carefully balancing them on both hands, and then made her way back toward the group sitting in the corner. After handing out their orders, she went back and refilled coffee mugs around the diner. Replacing the coffeepot on the burner, she set up the next one to brew.

  Evan caught her eye through the pass-through. “Why don’t you go take five minutes? It’s been a pretty busy lunch.”

  “You sure?”

  Evan nodded. “I’ll take care of anybody that stops in. Just go get yourself a drink or something.”

  “Thanks.”

  Sandra’s legs felt tired as soon as the idea of getting off them for a few minutes entered her mind. She hurried back into the kitchen, poured herself a water, and squeezed some lemon into it as she went to go sit next to Luke. She pulled up a chair and snatched a fry from his plate, resting her feet on the trestle underneath the table. Luke didn’t look up from his book.

  That was all right. Sandra didn’t need the conversation. And she was used to just listening to him breathe. Sometimes that was all she needed. She took a deep breath and took a drink while munching on the fry.

  She’d been keeping track of her tips throughout the morning and lunch. Today would be a good day. They might even be able to afford a motel room tonight.

  She wasn’t sure whether or not she should spend the money on it, because she really needed to figure something out with the car. But she was beginning to think that maybe she needed to get rid of the car and just start over from scratch. She’d probably get some money from the junkyard for parts at least. And maybe she could get an old beater that would get them from A to B.

  Because they needed to get on the road again soon. Staying in one spot was a guarantee that they would get caught. She just needed a couple more days to get a little bit more money together, and then maybe she could do something.

  She hadn’t heard back from Norah, but she’d left her phone in the car this morning. She’d been so tired that she’d woken up only just before she needed to report to the diner. Then she’d had to wake Luke from a deep sleep and get him moving. The phone must have slipped from her pocket when she’d been sleeping.

  But making that phone call had helped. She decided if Norah hadn’t gotten back to her by the time they got back to the car, she’d contact one of her old Army buddies. Have him wire her some money. Sean was about to ship out again, which meant he’d be out of the reach of the D.E.A.D. And she was desperate and needed to do something. She’d contact him tomorrow, and hopefully they’d be on the road again within a few days. She decided she was going to try and sneak them into Canada. The U.S. government was the problem right now, so Canada seemed like it would be a better bet.

  She wasn’t sure exactly how she was going to manage to get over the Canadian border, but she had to think that it wouldn’t be as tough as the Mexican border. After all, she’d never really heard a lot about people sneaking into Canada, and Canadians were nice people, right?

  Sandra polished off another three fries, downed the rest of her water, and then took a quick stop in the ladies’ room. Splashing some water on her face, she tried to ignore her reflection in the mirror. The woman staring back at her looked tired. She looked like Sandra’s mom.

  And Sandra really didn’t want to see her.

  Leaving the bathroom, she grabbed her apron off the hook by the back. She tied it around her waist as she stepped through the kitchen doors and back into the dining room.

  “Heads up. Looks like we got a big group coming in. They must be on their way to the Army base.” Evan nudged his chin toward the parking lot as he arranged a plate.

  Sandra’s head jolted up, her gaze locking on the four dark SUVs parked at the end of the parking lot. Oh God, no.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The bed was shaking. Norah rolled onto her side, trying to figure out why. Her eyes blinked open, and she struggled to make sense of the scene in front of her. She sat up, but there was a pressure holding her back around her waist. S
he blinked, trying to clear her eyes, her head feeling fuzzy. She was in a plane. A private plane, or at least it was what she thought a private plane looked like. She’d never actually been in one.

  The bed she was on was actually a long cream-colored leather couch. Across from her was another leather couch. Four executive chairs were arranged behind her, another set on the aisle across from them. One was reclined all the way down, Greg sprawled in it, one hand flung over the side, his mouth open.

  She pushed up the window shade. Fluffy white clouds and bright blue sky greeted her.

  A soft snore reached her from one of the other executive chairs. She quickly unbuckled herself and on wobbly legs made her way to the chair. Iggy lay curled up, a seatbelt across him and a blanket tucked around him. She knelt down, running a hand over his head. “Hey there, little buddy.”

  Iggy’s eyes slowly opened, a small tired smile crossing his face. “Ig,” he sighed softly as he reached for her.

  With a smile, Norah undid his seatbelt and cuddled him to her, pulling up the blanket to wrap it around him. As soon as he was snuggled tight, he fell back asleep.

  With Iggy carefully ensconced into her arms, she headed for the front of the plane. Holding Iggy with one hand, she opened the door to the cockpit.

  Adam glanced back at her from the controls. “Good. You’re awake.”

  “Barely. Greg’s still asleep.”

  Norah slunk into the copilot’s chair, careful not to touch the array of instruments in front of her. Her stomach dipped a little bit at the view out of the cockpit window. She wasn’t necessarily afraid of heights. She just wasn’t a huge fan of them. Images of her accidentally hitting a lever and them plunging to the earth filled her mind. She hugged Iggy a little tighter to make sure no stray arms or legs caught on anything.

  Adam’s head was turned toward her, waiting.

  “Funny thing about being asleep. I don’t actually remember going to sleep on a plane.”

  “I moved you and Greg while you were sleeping.”

  “And Iggy?”

  Adam gave a small smile as he shook his head, turning his attention back to the instruments. He fiddled with one and then adjusted another. “He wasn’t asleep. He became agitated. I was afraid he would alert too many people to our departure, so I brought him too.”

  “Wait, you didn’t tell anybody we were leaving?”

  Adam shrugged. “It seemed wiser to wait until we returned.”

  Norah smiled. Apparently Adam wasn’t entirely a “follow the rules” kind of guy after all.

  The cockpit door opened. Greg stumbled in. He slumped into the jump seat, his head in his hands. “I think my head gained an extra ten pounds.”

  Greg gave Iggy, who had popped his head over Norah’s shoulder, a little wave.

  Iggy waved back. “Ig.”

  “You said it, buddy. Anything new on Sandra or Luke?” Greg asked.

  Adam nodded. “Penny called about twenty minutes ago. She said that Sandra called your old cell phone. She patched through the message.”

  Adam hit a button on the console. The click of a recording started through the plane’s speakers. “Um, Agent Tidwell, this is Sandra, Sandra Gillibrand.”

  The nerves in Sandra’s voice were obvious. Her speech was hesitant with deep pauses. And Norah could hear the faint tremor underneath. Norah pictured her scanning her surroundings, looking over her shoulder as she spoke. Her chest tightened in response.

  “Um, you came to our home after those things attacked my son. Three days ago, a group of SUVs came to my home. They were looking for me and Luke. We got away and have been on the run ever since.”

  Sandra’s deep breath was audible over the plane speakers. Her voice broke. “I don’t know what to do. I have Luke with me, and … I’m scared. I don’t know if I can trust you. I don’t know if you’re working with the people that came to our home. But we’re in trouble, and we could really use some help.”

  Sandra blew out a breath. Norah could picture her trying to get control of her emotions. “I don’t know if you’re still even using this phone. But if you are, I really need you to call me back. And I really need you to be one of the good guys.”

  The message ended.

  Traces of Sandra’s fear and desperation were a tangible thing in the cockpit. Norah knew that Luke had some form of autism. It wasn’t as extreme as Penny’s, but it would still make going on the run extremely difficult. The fact that Sandra had managed to keep them out of Martin’s grip until this point was pretty impressive. But she also sounded like she was reaching the end of her rope. She knew what resources D.E.A.D. would bring to bear against a target.

  “We have to assume that D.E.A.D. has also heard this recording,” Norah said.

  Adam nodded. “It came from Montana. We’re going to land in a small airport outside of the town where that call was made, called Hogansfield. We’ll be there in an hour.”

  Greg leaned his head back, his eyes closed. “Awesome. Small-town America. Iggy, get ready for some seriously boring scenery.”

  Norah knew Greg was right, but she couldn’t be quite so cavalier about it. An hour was a lifetime when you were on the run. Especially now that Sandra had made contact. And if the D.E.A.D. were closer than they were, they would reach Sandra first.

  She leaned forward in her chair, scanning the horizon, as if somehow by leaning forward, she could make the plane go faster. She pictured Luke with his messy brown hair and those big eyes. Sammy had saved him once, but she didn’t think they could count on him saving them again.

  “We need to get there faster.”

  Adam didn’t say anything, but Norah could feel the slightest change in the plane. She nodded and flicked another glance at him. “Weapons?”

  He nudged his head toward the back of the cockpit, where a large black trunk sat. “In there.”

  Norah stood up. Greg cracked an eye open. Norah handed him Iggy.

  “Come on, little buddy. Let’s go close our eyes for another few minutes.” Greg disappeared into the cabin with him.

  Norah knelt in front of the trunk. Flipping it open, she smiled. Adam had come prepared. She pulled out a P90. It was a strange-looking weapon. It looked like something from some sci-fi movie with its short barrel and almost rectangular appearance. There was a thumb-hole grip, giving it the feel of holding a pistol with the power of a machine gun.

  Strange looking though it may be, it was favored by the Secret Service, along with military and police services across the globe. Its magazine held twenty 28mm rounds, and the casings discharged down instead of up, where they could block a shooter’s view. Plus, they had a speed of 900 rounds per minute, and the whole thing weighed less than seven pounds.

  Norah smiled. This will do. This will do nicely.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Hogansfield, Montana

  For a few precious seconds, Sandra was frozen in place. She didn’t know what to do. Should she run? She immediately discounted the idea. She could not outrun those cars. And right now, she didn’t have a car. Her car was around the back of the junkyard. She hadn’t wanted to waste the gas.

  She slipped back into the kitchen, her mind racing. How had they found her? And then the realization hit her. Norah had told them. Which means I told them.

  Sandra kicked herself up one side of her brain and down the other. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why did she think she could trust the agent?

  She thrust those thoughts out of her head. She didn’t have time for them.

  “Sandra?” Evan looked at her, concern on his face.

  “Uh, my stomach is feeling off. I just need a minute.” She hurried toward the bathroom, not waiting for Evan’s response. She slipped into his office and grabbed his keys off his desk.

  She turned around and nearly screamed. Luke stood in the doorway. “They’re here.”

  Sandra nodded, having to keep herself from grabbing his arm and pulling him toward the door. “Yes, they are. We need to go.” She grabbed her
bag off the hook by the back door. Slowly, she pushed the door open and peered out. There was no one out back.

  “We need to go fast.”

  Luke slipped his hand into Sandra’s. Sandra looked back at him in surprise, but he was staring at the door. Sandra squeezed his hand gently, then opened the door and slipped out, pulling Luke with her and hurrying over to Evan’s old brown Ford Explorer. She opened the driver’s door using the key. She was afraid if she used the key fob, it would draw attention. She pushed Luke forward. He scrambled into the driver’s seat and over into the passenger seat.

  Sandra scrambled after him, saying a quick prayer. “Luke, put on your seatbelt and duck down.”

  Pulling on her own seatbelt, Sandra put the key into the ignition. The engine flared to life just as a figure covered head to toe in black combat gear appeared around the side of the diner. The man let out a yell. Sandra threw the car into reverse and stomped on the accelerator.

  The man started running after them. And then he opened fire. Sandra reversed out of the parking lot and down the street. She yanked the steering wheel to the left, her stomach shifting with the force, and two wheels came up. She held her breath, praying the car didn’t roll. For a few tense seconds, she was convinced it would. But the car slammed back down with a bone-rattling jolt. She put the car into drive and punched down on the accelerator again.

  The back windshield exploded. Glass flew through the interior of the car. Luke cried out.

  Sandra gripped the steering wheel and pushed the accelerator down as far as it would go, flying down the road. She darted a glance to the rearview mirror. Three men in combat gear stood watching her disappear.

  And behind them, three SUVs screeched onto the road and gave chase.

  Sandra ducked her head down, her mind racing, trying to figure out where they could go. But Montana was all open ground and few roads. She wasn’t going to be able to lose them in Evan’s old Ford.