The man beside Lacey pulled her from the vehicle first, but Promise jumped out to take up her place beside Lacey immediately. Wade followed behind and silently promised there would be lots of treats for his dog later.
And there would be a later. Wade had every intention of putting an end to this charade tonight. For some reason, some superior up in ranks had deemed seizure as the best method of getting them here. They didn’t know all it would have taken was an invite. Wade was ready to put this whole investigation to bed and would have RSVP’d promptly had he been given the opportunity. Of course, his gun would have been by his side in that scenario. Now he was walking in with nothing but the small knife he’d swiped from his combat jacket on Lacey. It was hardly enough against all the lead aimed at them, but it was something to help free her.
None of the men had any idea he’d taken it while he sat beside her in the SUV. At first he’d thought she knew he was up to something when she’d leaned into him, but at her tiny sigh, he’d seen she was only depending on him. That idea scared him more than this last mile they walked together.
The fool woman had no idea of the pain depending on him would bring to her life. There were whole days he lost during one of his bouts. What if she needed him and he let her down? What if he indirectly hurt her—the one person he would never want to cause pain? By allowing her into his life, it was bound to happen. She’d said she never wanted to get married because it was the people closest to her who could hurt her the most. And she was talking about people who didn’t have PTSD.
No. There could never be anything between them. He wouldn’t do that to her. He would get her out of here tonight and tell her to go live her life. He’d told her that before. He’d said it would be what Jeff would want for her. It was also what he wanted for her. A long, safe and happy life.
The first man in the line opened the side door and held it back for them all to pass through. They entered the open hangar, empty of any planes. Nothing but an eight-foot-long table and some chairs propped open. Two men stood behind the table as they were ushered in.
“Welcome,” the eldest of the two spoke, his voice booming and influential. His tailor-made suit accentuated a strong physique. His bright white hair was the only thing that gave his age away. Wade estimated him to be pushing eighty, but he could pass for seventy. “Take her to the other room,” the man instructed.
Wade took a step to grab Lacey’s arm. “She stays with me.”
“Nothing will happen to her. I just want to talk to you alone first.” The man nodded to the guy who had pilfered Wade’s gun back at the track. The guy gave Wade a smirk as he came up behind Lacey, his gun pointed at her.
Wade held tight to her, conflicted. “She takes the dog, then. I don’t want her without protection.”
The old man gave the nod.
Wade let go of her arm and pushed his dog forward. “Stay with Lacey, Promise. On her side. Don’t leave her.” Wade looked into Lacey’s frightened eyes. “Keep that smart head of yours focused. And be ready to go.”
“Always.” Lacey stepped forward with Promise by her side.
“Agent—” the old man held out his hand to stop the guy herding Lacey “—you can leave the spike with me.”
“Of course, sir. I forgot.” He pulled the capsule from his suit’s side pocket and handed it over.
They exited and the metal door banged closed. The sound jolted Wade’s eyes shut before he straightened up to face the old man. “You said nothing would happen to her. I’m holding you to that.”
*
Their shoes and Promise’s paws tapped against the smooth concrete surface of a long darkened corridor. Lacey passed several doors. Was she being taken to the farthest room away from Wade in case she screamed? She didn’t dare yell with so many guns on him. He would surely be shot trying to get to her. The horrid image pushed her forward, as well as the gun in her rib cage.
The last room went by. The only other door left was illuminated by an exit sign.
“You’re not taking me out of here.” Lacey twisted to go back, but the guy pushed the gun deep just as he had done in the car when she’d attempted to scream.
“You just lost your brother. Don’t you want to know why?”
She hesitated at his words. Of course she wanted to know. But to leave the building to get the answers would be…impulsive. She would put herself right back in the line of fire again. She really would make herself a liability if she walked out that door. She needed to prove to Wade that he was wrong about her.
“No, I won’t go.” She tried to lock her legs. The gun jammed into her back. Lacey scrunched and cried in pain at the third time this guy had shoved her ribs tonight. She knew the drill. One push meant “I’m right behind you.” Two meant “move it.” This third push meant she’d been warned.
Lacey angled a last look at the end of the hall, knowing she didn’t dare shout to Wade, but she might never see him again.
He’d said be ready to go, and that was all she could do. With each step closer to the door, she called on God for help. Father God, You are my guide. You go before me to pave my way. I can walk in faith knowing that I don’t walk alone, even when we don’t know what’s behind the next door. I can go where You lead me knowing You have plans for me. Greater plans than I or Wade could ever create. Plans to bring me hope and a future, to bring hope and a future to both of us, and never to harm us. Protect us both, Lord Jesus. And I pray Your plans bring Wade and I back together. I have his dog, and…and he has my heart.
Lacey didn’t know how it had happened. She’d always guarded her heart from anyone who might hurt her, and Wade was the one person who would hurt her. He admitted it daily.
But wasn’t that keeping it real as she asked? Her whole reason of rejecting marriage was the veil that covered that truth. Wade never put on the blinders, and he never pretended.
“Let me go back.” Lacey halted and whipped around. “I have to go back! I have to tell him I love him.”
The next second, her head was smashed up against the concrete wall. Pain exploded through her whole body, and the air in her lungs whooshed out. She fell to her knees, grabbing her head.
“The only place you’re going is out that door.” The guy hit the bar on the door and dragged Lacey out through it. Promise barked just as a loud plane approached overhead. The door slammed shut behind them as Lacey was thrown to the asphalt.
She lifted her head to find a black Lexus Sport parked by the door blocking her path. It took less than a second to remember this car from earlier in her travels.
She was blocked by Clay’s car.
The guy behind her came around and opened the rear door. Clay sat quietly in the backseat.
Lacey’s aching head rebelled against what this looked like.
Clay couldn’t be the one who’d killed Wade’s family. Or Jeffrey.
Wade loved this man like a father.
“Clay? What’s going on? Why are you here?”
He frowned in the overhead light of the cabin. “You should have gone home, Lacey.”
“No, Wade needs us. He needs you! He’s inside and needs help!”
“That’s all I ever meant to do. Help those kids.”
“Well, come on. We need to rescue him right now. There are people who want to kill him in there.”
A tear fell down the man’s cheek, but he didn’t budge one muscle. Lacey crawled as another plane grew closer and louder. “Come on, Clay!”
That was when she saw his hands and feet were tied.
“Get in the car, Lacey.”
Lacey shrunk back, right into the knees of her guard. Only, it wasn’t her guard, because her guard was in front of her, holding the car door.
Lacey turned to look up and found Clay’s friend from earlier tonight, once again towering over her.
Senator Teigen said, “Clay was right. You should have gone home. Your brother didn’t heed the warning, either.”
Lacey heard Promise growl from deep in her t
hroat.
“Take care of the dog,” Teigen said to her guard. The gunman lifted his gun and took aim.
Lacey scrambled for Promise, but the senator pulled her up by the waist. Her feet kicked out in front of her. “Run, Promise! Run away! Go!” Lacey yelled at the top of her lungs. The gunshot cut through the night, but only for a split second before the roar of the airplane’s engine passing overhead swallowed the sound completely.
Promise ran away as she was told to do.
Lacey sagged back in relief. Wade would have his dog back.
Teigen dug his hands into the front pockets of Wade’s combat coat. He removed some candy wrappers and papers and some red fabric. She remembered it was the sling she’d used on Christmas Eve, Clay’s handkerchief. She hadn’t even known it was in there. He shoved it all back in her pocket with lethal force. “Where is it? Where’s the capsule?” He looked at her gunman. “I thought you messaged me that she found it.”
Her gunman didn’t look so frightening now. Instead, he seemed to cower. “Senator Teigen, I was bringing it to you, but Ackerman made me leave it in the hangar. I couldn’t alert them to anything, so I had to follow orders.”
“By ignoring mine?”
Lacey could only figure the guy in charge inside was this Ackerman they were talking about. Was this some sort of battle between Teigen and Ackerman? A race to see who would confiscate the capsule first?
Just great. Both her and Wade were stuck in the middle of two evil geniuses.
“But I got you the laptop you wanted, sir. It’s hidden at the track,” the gunman said. “Isn’t that what you really wanted?”
“Yes. I’ll let Ackerman have the capsule. I was supposed to release the film years ago and play the shocked friend, but this will work, too.” Teigen looked into the car at Clay. “I tried to make sure you took the fall last time, even had your picture taken in the act of spying on Meredith for me—a lot of good it did when the film was taken by the kid. Your deaths won’t be deemed an accident like the others had. This time they’ll know it was you. When the film is developed and your car is found with you at the wheel and Miss Phillips in back, they’ll think murder/suicide. It will look as if you couldn’t go on living knowing what you did.” Teigen reached into his pocket and withdrew a wet-looking rag, looking straight at Lacey. “And neither of you will be alive to tell otherwise.”
Three thoughts ran through Lacey’s mind as she saw the rag coming her way. The first thought was Teigen just might take the cup for most evil. The second thought was she had a cloth of her own in her pocket that might leave a trail. Her third thought as Teigen’s rag hit her face and turned her mind fuzzy was if she would be fast enough to get hers out.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Cut to the chase. Do you plan to kill us?” Wade stared down his nose at the old man.
The guy offered a chair, but Wade refused. “I can promise you, you have no reason to fear for your life. In fact, I’m the reason you’re alive when your friend Jeff Phillips isn’t.”
“Then, tell your men to put their guns away,” Wade said, calling his bluff.
“Okay. At ease, gentlemen.”
Weapons clacked as all the men followed orders and put them away with no fuss.
The old man signaled Wade’s closed fist. “Now you can put your knife away.”
Wade wasn’t surprised. These men were quite skilled. Slowly, he revealed the switchblade hidden in his palm, then placed it into his front jeans pocket. He scanned each face before landing his attention back on the old man. “Who are you?”
“My name is Michael Ackerman, but you would know me better as Gary Shelton.”
Wade squinted. “Shelton. My mother’s maiden name was Shelton. Gary Shelton was my grandfather.”
“Yes. Your mother was my daughter.”
Wade studied the man’s face at the turn of these events. Twenty-eight years changed a man’s appearance, and this guy didn’t bring back any memories to vouch for him. Wade ground his teeth as he made his decision to run with it or not.
He chose not.
“My grandfather died of a heart attack when I was eight. Are you sure you weren’t her espionage handler?”
“Interesting. Why do you think your mother was a spy?”
Wade swallowed hard. He drifted his attention to the capsule on the table. Ackerman stepped forward and opened the container to pour out its contents on the table.
A single roll of film.
Wade wasn’t any closer to knowing its contents. It was old. There was a chance the film wouldn’t even develop correctly. He might never know what information the capsule contained.
“You found this capsule as a child, correct?” Ackerman asked.
Wade wondered how he knew, but answered, “Affirmative. When I gave it to my mother, she said not to tell anyone about it. That tells me she knew what she was looking at. Add in her fake-identity documents I found when I was eighteen, and what am I supposed to think about her? Oh, and I should add, my father probably thought the same thing. He filed for divorce over it.”
“There wasn’t going to be a divorce. It had been called off.”
“How do you know these things?”
“Because I made a promise to your father. I told him I would stay away from my daughter and never involve her in my life again if he called it off.”
“So you were her handler.”
“No. Your mother was not a spy, but I was CIA and her father. With that comes a life of assumed identities for her protection only. Not because she was involved in any counterintelligence. I believed I could have the family and the career without them overlapping. I was wrong. My wife was found by my Russian enemies and killed first. I still held on to the hope Meredith would be safe on her mountain, but when she was found and killed, I realized I had to end the identity of Gary Shelton forever. I couldn’t let my grandchildren be used against me, too. Like I said, I’m the reason you’re alive, but only because you thought I was dead. It was best this way.”
Best this way?
Wade’s words turned on him suddenly felt cheap. Was this how Roni felt when he said he couldn’t come home?
Wade looked at the man who claimed to be his grandfather. “Twenty-eight years is a long time to play dead. Why not stay dead? Why bring me here to uncover everything you thought was best for us? Although, I really don’t see how leaving two orphaned children alone is best or even safe.”
“You were never alone. You had your uncle, and believe it or not, you still had me watching over you.” Michael sent a wave toward the door Lacey and Promise had walked through. “That dog you have is one of the best. I made sure of it. She’s trained to know a hundred commands more than the others in her group. You haven’t even broken the surface with her yet. Wait until you see everything she can do, even sniff out danger and protect you from any harm.”
“You arranged for me to have her?”
“I made sure you were on the top of the list.” Michael took the chair he offered to Wade before. “I’ve read your reports. First, know that I’m very proud of you and all you’ve done for our country. But as proud as you’ve made me, there were times while I read through the files that I wept. I know the horrors you’ve lived through and saw, beginning with that car crash. It changed you. It took away your innocence. It created in you the inability to be still. When I learned you enlisted at eighteen, I wasn’t surprised. Nor was I surprised every time you reenlisted. The army way of life allowed you to use your heedful state of mind and feel useful.”
Wade nodded once. There was no reason to lie, especially if Wade wanted this guy to know he blamed him for his state of mind. “So my family and I were run off the road because someone found out we were your kin and they wanted to hurt you?”
Michael blinked. “When my Meredith called me to tell me someone was using the track for espionage, I knew she’d been located by my enemies. It had to be them using the track to spy on her to find something on me. She knew it, too. She was b
orn into the CIA. She grew up with assumed identities and knowing all about dead drops and spikes and when to recognize danger. I told her to pack her family up and leave immediately for a safe house.”
“We never made it off the street,” Wade reminded him.
The cavernous hangar fell into heavy silence. After a heavy sigh, Ackerman asked, “How well do you know Lacey Phillips? Are you sure you can trust her? That she isn’t out for her own gain?”
“She’s innocent in all of this.”
“She found the capsule. She knew where Meredith hid it when even I didn’t.”
“Lacey’s brother figured it out, and was killed for it. She was only trying to finish what he started.”
“And what was that?”
Wade bit down hard, but knew the truth when he saw it. “To bring some peace to my life.”
After a few pensive seconds, Michael looked back at the table and picked up the film. “Then, we better figure out what’s on this roll. Someone wanted it enough to kill for it. If you say we can trust her, I’ll have her brought back in.”
“I would trust her with my life.”
“That’s good enough for me.” Michael gave the word to the men to retrieve Lacey and passed the film to one of his men with the directions to get it developed ASAP.
Wade breathed deep knowing Lacey would be back by his side in a few seconds.
Only a few seconds ticked into minutes. Doors could be heard slamming behind the metal door.
“I don’t like this.” Wade rushed for the entrance to the hall, but just as he made it to the door, it swung wide. A blanched serviceman stood on the other side.
“She’s gone. Nobody’s in there. I found these outside.” He held up a red handkerchief and some candy wrappers. He also produced a business card. “The card belongs to Senator Teigen.”
Wade reached for the fabric and card, his chest tightening at the sight of the cloth. “The handkerchief is my uncle’s. It was in the pocket of my combat jacket she was wearing. The card must have been, too. The senator must have given it to her earlier tonight when they met. He was going to help her investigate her brother’s death.”
Love Inspired Suspense December 2015, Box Set 2 of 2 Page 50