Deadly Force

by Misty Evans

  Only, Cal knew it hadn’t turned off. She’d gone inside her brain. Sometimes that was equally as scary.

  “Agent Marx,” Harris said. “You want to explain that chicken scratch to us?”

  She didn’t move, didn’t respond.

  “Agent Marx?”

  “Yo,” Mann said. “Earth to Bianca.”

  Bianca had once tried to explain to Cal how her brain worked—as if it were the sun, the nucleus of a solar system—and every memory, idea, and thought were the planets and stars circling around it. When she was in her manic phase, there was so much cranial activity, so many thoughts and ideas zooming around, she had difficulty latching onto only one. “It’s like a meteor storm,” she’d told him.

  When she did grasp a single idea or thought, it consumed her focus. The other ideas and images floating by disappeared. Reality disappeared. She didn’t hear people talking to her, didn’t see what was right in front of her eyes.

  Usually these breaks didn’t last long, but he’d seen her become so fixated on a problem she would forget to eat and wouldn’t sleep for days.

  He sat forward and lowered his voice. “Give her time. This is her process.”

  It unnerved them. He could see it in their eyes. He sympathized. “She’ll come out of it when she has a solution.”

  “How long will that take?” Harris asked.

  He was a straight-forward guy. A little terse, but Cal liked that. You knew where you stood with Cooper Harris, and he seemed to have Bianca’s best interests in mind, valuing her and her idiosyncrasies even though he didn’t understand them.

  He had listened patiently as Cal and Bianca had given him their accounts of what had happened in the past two days, and then he’d immediately been on the phone to the other SCVC taskforce members, assigning them jobs and telling them to get to Sacramento, pronto.

  Harris’s main concern now was what was going down at McConnell Place in Chicago and how they were going to prevent it. The clock was ticking. In less than nineteen hours, the President of the United States would take the stage.

  “I don’t know, but you can’t rush her.”

  Emit poured himself a fresh cup of coffee and gave Maggie some water in a bowl. “Do you believe Tephra, Cal?”

  Believing someone and trusting them were two different things. “Bianca believes him, and the only person who can confirm his allegations is in a coma.”

  Senator Halston had been moved to a private clinic. By the time he’d arrived, he was comatose. His prognosis had gone from bad to worse. Harris’s boss, Victor Dupé, had increased the amount of security but they all suspected it might be too little, too late.

  Mann’s phone dinged. It had been going off constantly with messages from FBI Agent Ronni Punto. He read the message, said, “You’re a wanted man, Reese. The Navy has issued a warrant for your arrest. You’re officially AWOL and you’re wanted on charges for assaulting a senior officer.”

  He should have done more than assault him. “What about Bianca?”

  Mann scrolled through the text. “She’s wanted too. The usual criminal charges…aiding and abetting, harboring a fugitive, and, huh…” He glanced at Harris, then at Cal. “They’re saying she pulled the fire alarm at the hospital. She’s wanted for malicious intent, reckless endangerment, taking an action to falsely report a fire to cause panic…oh, and the fire department is seeking restitution for costs associated with personnel and equipment responding to the scene.”

  “What proof do they have it was Bianca?” Emit asked.

  Mann typed something back, waited for a response. When it came, he frowned at his phone. “They have video footage of her setting off the alarm.”

  Everyone glanced at Bianca. As if she felt their stares on her back, she turned.

  Her eyes were clear as she looked at Harris. “It wasn’t me, but I know who did it.”

  “Who?” he said.

  “Killer Kathy.” She walked to the board and tapped the marker on a scribbled word. “AKA Katy Smirtelny.”

  This was how her brain worked. All the answers were there, like little electrical pulses, throbbing and begging to be put into order. Until she had that one final detail, she couldn’t.

  A detail like the alias of Killer Kathy. “Her real name is Kasia Wronski. She was born in Poland of Russian-Polish parents. She is one of a set of triplets, all girls. The three of them grew up to be nurses. Between them, we estimate they are responsible for at least ninety deaths throughout Poland, Russia, and the Ukraine while they worked at multiple nursing homes, a hospital, and two orphanages. One sister died five years ago of stomach cancer, the second sister was caught by officials in the act of giving a nursing home resident on overdose of muscle relaxants. Kasia, or Killer Kathy as she became known, escaped Poland and offered her skills to any country who would pay her to kill people.”

  “What does that have to do with Reese’s mission, Senator Halston, and an assassination attempt on the president?” asked Cooper.

  By the look on his face he was tired. They all were. But he was also losing patience with her.

  “Everything,” Bianca answered. Her brain shifted into fourth gear again. “Remember how I told you earlier about when Thomas and Ronni were investigating her brother at the farm? I was checking satellite footage and listening for any phone conversations originating from there. I accidently picked up a conversation between a very high-powered official with top government clearances”—my real boss—“about an operation leak. He was talking about Cal’s mission to take out Otto Grimes.”

  Thomas slouched in his chair, using the chair across from him to prop up his feet. “And you think Halston leaked that info to Killer Kathy. I get it, but why would he do that?”

  “He didn’t know who she was. I’ve seen her picture a dozen times, but I didn’t recognize her in person today at the hospital. She’s had facial work done and has gained twenty pounds at least. Even if the senator was familiar with her Most Wanted rap sheet and picture, he couldn’t have known it was her.

  “The point is, before I joined the taskforce, I’d been tracking her. I knew she was in Southern California and that she was after a specific target, but I didn’t know what. I also knew Senator Halston had been seeing a woman. A woman whose identity he wanted to keep secret.”

  “And out of all the women in Southern Cali you decided it must be her?” Cooper asked.

  Bianca bit the inside of her lip. This was the thing about people who didn’t understand how her brain worked. And unfortunately, she couldn’t always explain it. “It was a valid hypothesis based on her previous targets and the fact Halston is on the Senate Intelligence Committee.”

  “Wouldn’t Halston have done a thorough background check on anyone he got close to?”

  “That’s why the senator and Kasia popped up on my radar before I was sent here. He asked his assistant to do a check on one Kathleen Wilmont, which she did, running her through the CIA, FBI, and Interpol. That search pinged my boss’s, radar. He had me look into it. Her identity held up, but the one fault Killer Kathy has is her ego. She always uses some variation of her first name. Just like Katy Smirtelny. Kathleen, Kathy, Katy…all variations of her given name. Also, Smirtelny is a play on the polish word smiertelny.” Bianca wrote the word in block letters on the white board. “It’s an adjective meaning death.”

  Emit grinned. “You know Polish? How many languages is that, now, Bianca? Eight? Nine?”

  There was a difference between recognizing a foreign word and its meaning and being fluent in a language. “As an analyst, I’ve seen the word a few times in communications between terrorists.”

  She took a drink of water, purposely slowing herself down. She had to take this group of men from point A to point B to point C. Not vomit information on them the way it was blitzing her brain. “The identity Senator Halston was given was a backstop identity. One I was familiar with. I’ve seen that type of backstop in records of operations that our country has participated in since 9/11
. Every analyst who builds a backstop identity leaves a signature. Something that ninety-nine percent of people would never notice. But I do.”

  Cal sat forwarded. “What are you saying, B?”

  He’d been quiet—too quiet—the whole ride back and now during this discussion. He was keeping something to himself, she just didn’t know what. She feared it had something to do with her and their relationship. Or that he was blaming himself for letting her out of his sight, and not capturing his senior chief who’d tried to kill her.

  She looked at his stubbled jaw and the dark shadows under his eyes. As soon as she could get him alone, she’d find out what was bothering him. For now, there was nothing she could do but answer his question. “I know who created Kasia’s Kathleen Wilmont identity.”

  “Who?” Cooper demanded.

  “A former CIA analyst who’s now in the White House.”

  All four men’s faces blanched as understanding dawned. Cooper looked positively grim. “You’re not saying…”

  “I am.”

  Emit raised his brows. “Vice President Haley Banner?”

  Bianca nodded. “It matches with what Rory told me. She’s manipulated this whole thing. The senator may not have actually leaked anything about Cal’s mission. Kasia knew the details from Vice President Banner, but Banner needed to throw suspicion elsewhere and she needed Kasia to get close to the senator so they could poison him at the right moment in order to force Tephra to go through with her plan.”

  Emit received a text, the chime of his phone interrupting her. He read it and looked up at Cooper. “Your people are here, Agent Harris.”

  “Good.” Cooper stood as the door opened and Ronni, Bobby, and Nelson came into the room.

  Ronni rushed to Bianca and grabbed her in a bear hug. Maggie jumped up, wagging and sniffing at the newcomers. “I’m so glad you’re alive,” Ronni said.

  Bianca couldn’t move. She fought her natural reflex to wiggle out of the embrace, forced herself to pat Ronni on the back. It was an awkward pat, but a pat nonetheless. “What are you doing here?”

  “You’re part of the taskforce. Where else would I be?” She broke the hug but kept her hands on Bianca’s arms. Another form of affection that normally made Bianca uncomfortable with anyone but Cal. Somehow it didn’t bother her with Ronni. “And from what Cooper’s told us, sounds like you can use all the help you can get. Why didn’t you tell us what was going on when this all started?”

  Bianca glanced around. All these people. She hadn’t wanted to draw anyone in, and yet here they all were, trying to help her and Cal. “I didn’t know who was after me or why. I was afraid if I involved you, I would be putting your lives in danger as well.”

  Ronni’s eyes were sad. “My God, Bianca, you’re such a strong person.”

  Strong? She’d been called cold, calculating, and independent, but never strong. “I was simply being logical.”

  Cooper introduced everyone and brought Ronni, Bobby and Nelson up to date, using Bianca’s white board to show the timeline and the connections between the players. “Any update on Tephra’s or Lugmeyer’s whereabouts?” he asked Bobby.

  The man shook his head. “They’ve both disappeared.”

  “But we know where they’re going,” Cal said. Maggie had situated herself next to his feet again.

  Ronni sat forward and nodded. “We need to alert the president.”

  Thomas brought her a cup of coffee and sat by her side. “We have to warn him about Vice President Banner and her plans.”

  Bianca wished it were that easy. “Banner will deny it, and who will President Norman believe? A disgraced NSA agent and her estranged husband, who are both fugitives? Or his running mate, the Vice President of the United States who’s campaigned diligently for him and whom he needs to take the states of Texas and Ohio to carry his reelection?”

  “But she’s threatening his life,” Nelson said. Like Cal, the stubble on his face suggested he was a day or two past his last shave. “If nothing else, we should alert the Secret Service.”

  Cooper had pulled his chair away from the table during this debate as if needing distance to think. Elbows on his knees, he stared at the floor, rotating a pen in his hands. “A call can be made to alert the Service to a potential threat, but Bianca’s right. Banner and Lugmeyer have already laid the groundwork for discrediting her and Reese and we don’t have an ounce of proof that any of this is true. Our witness, Tephra, and our possible assassin, Lugmeyer, are both in the wind.”

  Bianca felt numb. “And President Norman is closer to Haley Banner than he is the First Lady.”

  All eyes shifted to look at her.

  “Are you saying…?” Thomas let the question hang.

  “Yes.” She paced to her white board once more, wondering why she felt terrible giving up a secret on a woman who wanted her and Cal dead.

  Haley Banner was a hard person not to like. She was a friendly, tireless mother of two who brought democrats and republicans together on bills for equal pay and education reform as easily as she won over foreign dignitaries. Another reason it would be difficult to build any kind of case against her without solid testimony or proof of her actions. “She has all her bases covered.”

  The room fell silent and Bianca felt like a two-ton elephant were on her shoulders. Analyze! This is what you do!

  There had to be a way to stop Banner and save President Norman.

  Her mind went into hurricane mode again and she drew a circle around McConnell Place. “Lugmeyer will be in Chicago along with the president and V.P., but he’ll stay off the radar. The only way to grab him is at the dinner before Tephra’s presentation. He’ll need a good vantage point to take his shot and then a clear exit path. Odds are Banner will bring out Tephra after the president’s remarks and before dinner.”

  “What about Killer Kathy, Katy, Kasia…” Ronni said. “Whatever her name is. Will she be at McConnell Place?”

  “No. She’ll be here, trying to locate Halston, and staying close to him once she does. Even if Tephra follows the script, the vice president will probably have Kasia take out Halston once the president is dead. The senator knows too much and can figure out the rest.”

  Cooper, still staring at the floor, tapped the pen against his open palm. “Bobby, send all of this information about Kasia to Dupé and have him get it to the senator’s security team.”

  Thomas glanced at Cooper. “So we’re going to Chicago?”

  Bobby, typing on his laptop, looked up. “I can call in some favors and score us tickets.”

  Cooper rose and stared at the white board, his gaze steering clear of Bianca’s. “Not all of us, the taskforce will go in alone. Bianca and Reese will stay here with Petit and his team. Their mugs will be on all the no-fly lists, and if the V.P.’s as smart as we think she is, she’ll have the FBI and Secret Service on the lookout for both of them. The FBI will be running everyone through facial recognition as they enter the dinner. No way will our fugitives get into McConnell Place without being arrested.”

  He was right, but irritation burned in Bianca’s chest. “We can use Emit’s private jet to fly to Chicago, and facial rec or not, Cal can get the two of us in.”

  All eyes landed on her. Cal’s were the most surprised.

  It didn’t seem all that difficult to grasp. “He’s a Navy SEAL. He could get us into the White House unnoticed if necessary.”

  “Bianca…” Cal started.

  She cut him off, pointing a finger at herself. “My job is to protect the President of the United States.” She pointed at him. “Yours is to protect its people. I’m not sitting here with the monks and protecting my own hide while the president’s in danger. And if Banner gets in office, you and I are both dead.”

  Leaning on the back of a chair, she switched her attention to Cooper. “You and the team can’t go in legitimately either. Lugmeyer will have alerted Banner that you may know what’s going down, especially if Dupé alerts anyone with the Secret Service or his coh
orts with the FBI. But Cal and I can sneak in. No one knows Justin Lugmeyer as well as Cal. He knows how the man thinks, knows his MO.”

  Cal made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat. Bianca ignored him. “I’ve studied Rory Tephra, and now that I’ve met him in person, I understand what motivates him and how dedicated he is to his country. Cal can shut down Lugmeyer and I’ll find Tephra before they bring him out. We’ll come up with a plan to expose the truth about Haley Banner.”

  Cooper finally met her eyes. “It’s too dangerous, Bianca. I can’t let you do that.”

  Frustration made her want to shut down. She’d never been a good team player.

  But she wasn’t about to let her emotions—those irrational, worthless things—cloud her judgment.

  Taking a deep breath, she reached for logic, which never let her down, and took a different approach. “I strongly suggest the team go in under false identities in case Lugmeyer has in fact alerted Vice President Banner that you may know more than is good for you. Then you’ll be present to back up me and Cal.”

  Cooper nodded at her. “Good idea, except for the part about you and Reese sneaking in.” He cocked his chin at Bobby. “Can you make that happen? False IDs that will stand up to intense scrutiny from the FBI?”

  Bobby looked offended. “Is my name Bobby Dyer?”

  Thomas snorted and Ronni smiled.

  Bianca tried on a smile too. Time to be a team player. “You’ll need to analyze the layout of the building, any sites an assassin could hide, all the entrances and exits, and do a thorough check on all the people attending the dinner.”

  Bobby reared back slightly. “That will take hours, possibly days of prep work.”

  Bingo. Bianca turned her big, baby blues on Cooper. “Or you could let me help. With my memory and analytical skills, I could have it done in no time, improving your odds of a successful outcome by 96.2 percent. But that means, I’ll have to come with you. And if I’m going, so is Cal.”

  A tense silence fell over the group. Everyone shifted their attention to Cooper.