by CJ Lyons
“Give me that,” Billy told her, snatching the weapon. Damn, he sounded like his father, barking commands.
Eve laughed in his face. Oh, she was so Rose. “I’m going to find Rose. You can’t stop me.”
“Try me.” The staring match would have gone into sudden-death overtime if Chase hadn’t intervened.
“Eve. I know this has all been a shock—”
“She’s alive. I can’t leave her out there, all alone, not if Grigor has her—”
“I know,” Chase said, touching the girl’s arm.
Billy’s gut clenched as Eve finally broke down and tumbled, sobbing, into Chase’s awkward one-handed embrace. Echoes of his own heartbreak swirled around the room. Billy wished he knew what to say to her, but Chase seemed to be doing fine on his own. KC was a good influence; a few months ago, the sight of a sobbing girl would have sent the Marine into a headlong flight in the opposite direction.
“I have to go,” Eve was saying. “I can’t lose her—not again.”
Chase raised his gaze to meet Billy’s with a question as he patted Eve’s head like she was a child. She was—a child who had barely grown to know her mother only to have her torn away. Just as Rose had been torn away from Billy.
He glanced once more at the photo of Rose as a teenager. The boy with her—could he be Eve’s father? Where was he when his daughter needed him? Where was he when Rose needed him?
The letter next to his heart grew heavy. No way in hell he was letting this kid head into Lord knew what kind of trouble alone. He’d lock her up, maximum security, if he had to. At least until Eve came to her senses. Which, if she was half as stubborn as Rose, wouldn’t be until either Rose was brought back safely—or her body was.
Billy blew out his breath and took a step to join Chase and Eve. “Don’t worry,” he said, his hand lifting to stroke Eve’s arm. “I’ll go. I’ll bring her home. One way or the other.” Then he said the two words he never, ever used. “I promise.”
Eve sniffed and looked up, her gaze like a laser etching his soul. And so very much like her mother’s. “Thank you.”
To his surprise, she held her hand out, as if an old-fashioned handshake would ensure Rose’s safe return. Billy took it. Gripped it hard, then let go, surprised by the warmth that flooded through him.
Chase was looking through the treasure trove of passports. “One thing I’ll say for Rose, she thought three moves ahead.”
“Thinks,” Eve corrected firmly, taking the passports from him.
Billy’s phone rang, giving him an excuse to turn away. Looking at Eve, hearing her voice that sounded so much like Rose’s…before Rose met Grigor, Rose as he'd first met her…any distraction was welcome. “Price.”
“Did you know what she was planning?” Susan Payne’s voice lashed at him. “Did you know how unstable Prospero was when you sent her there? Because no amount of perjury is going to save her this time.”
Billy moved as far away from Chase and Eve as he could. Chase took the hint and subtly directed Eve to the corner where the photos were, asking her about them.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Billy demanded. He was getting damn tired of Rose and his team being accused of murder and treason without the chance to defend themselves.
“Rose Prospero. Who supposedly went to Savannah looking for Grigor.” Susan enunciated every syllable as if talking to a two-year-old. “Only Grigor’s dead.”
Chapter 21
“Grigor’s dead?” Billy repeated.
“Yesterday. In Razgravia. Never left the country, never came here, was never near any damn purported bio lab in Georgia. Rose made it all up, an excuse for her to carry out her vendetta or whatever the hell she had planned.”
Billy didn’t waste energy on even a flinch at Susan’s accusation. It was wrong. She was wrong. Rose would never… “How did we not know about Grigor yesterday?”
“His people covered it up until they had his predecessor in place, according to State. CIA is reporting a bit of a tussle between his prime minister and the defense minister. Looks like the military won out. But that’s beside the point. Obviously, Rose’s contacts in Razgravia told her about Grigor’s death. She knew he was dead before we did. With Grigor and the Preacher dead and my committee questioning the existence of STR, Rose needed to concoct a bigger, ongoing threat that would force us to dismiss the charges against her and support STR’s continued operations. Hence, the stunt yesterday on the Mall.”
“Wait. You think Rose arranged for those kids to be placed in danger?” Susan was clearly delusional if she seriously thought Rose or anyone on the Team could do that. Of course, she was a politician. Maybe it wasn’t delusional, just the question of finding a handy scapegoat.
Which left Rose dead center in the committee’s sights. The perfect target—and unable to defend herself.
“The only question is: Did Rose act alone?” Susan continued. “I want KC at Justice within the hour, ready to give us some answers.”
“KC’s already there.”
“As if you didn’t know. She never showed. I’m sure you have her squirreled away somewhere. It’s not going to work, not this time—”
Billy’s gut clenched as if preparing for a punch. He lowered his voice so Chase couldn’t hear. “Susan, are you telling me you don’t know where KC is?”
She never slowed her verbal rampage. “I’m through, Billy. You’re not playing me for the fool anymore. Your team is disbanded. Immediately. All operations to cease, all of your people are to report to your headquarters and wait there to be debriefed.”
Another voice could be heard in the background. Her assistant telling her it was time to leave for Norfolk and that the president wanted a word in private with her before the commissioning ceremony at four. Right. He’d forgotten all about the new destroyer being launched today. One of the events he was supposed to escort Susan to. Guess that wasn’t going to happen.
“Susan—”
“Don’t even try. I’ve risked my career supporting you and your team. Now I have to protect what little I can salvage. The Special Threats Response Team is finished. You are ordered to report to your headquarters. Immediately. The FBI and Homeland Security will be securing the building.”
Her voice crackled with anger. But was it real? Or was she giving Billy one last warning instead of an order?
Didn’t matter. He knew what needed to be done. Follow Rose. Spooky how she worried that one day it would come to this. But somehow, it felt like she was still there with him, guiding him.
“Yes, ma’am. I understand.” He hung up the phone and turned to Chase. “Change of plans.”
“What’s going on?”
The brilliant colors and textures of Rose’s home distracted Billy for a moment. He inhaled and swore he could smell her right behind him. Could she still be alive? The glimmer of hope was a wedge between logic and desire. He shook himself. He had to focus on the Team. Even if it meant abandoning Rose. Again.
She would want it that way. Besides, he wasn’t abandoning her, not really, not this time.
He was saving her team. And her daughter. “Eve,” he called to the girl, “pack anything you need. We’re leaving, and there’s a good chance the next people here won’t be friendlies.”
To his surprise, she didn’t argue but immediately went to work.
He turned to Chase. “I’m instigating the Heartworm Protocol.”
“Shit. Billy—” Chase wobbled on his crutch, glancing over his shoulder at Eve, then back at Billy. “You’re shutting everything down? Why?”
“Otherwise, we’ll all be in jail facing treason charges.” He explained about Grigor. “The feds think Rose blew up that warehouse in Savannah and that she had help. They’ll be coming after all of us.” Billy raised his phone—one final call before he destroyed it. “Teresa. It’s Price. Implement Heartworm. Immediately.”
He hung up, removed the battery. He’d forward his number to a disposable burner phone as soon as they got
out of here. Chase pulled out his cell—he was already using a burner, one of KC’s precautions when she moved him and Jay to their safe house.
“If they’re after Rose, they’ll be after KC.”
Shit. How the hell was he going to tell Chase that KC was missing? Broken leg or not, there was no way he’d be able to hold the Marine back from searching for her.
“I’ll get her. You take Eve and your brother to the safe house.” Thank God for Rose’s paranoia. Her Heartworm Protocol divided the Team into smaller cells, each with an undocumented safe house no one outside of their cell knew about. Once Teresa sent the signal, they’d all be scrambling, going to ground. Unable to help fix this mess, but at least they’d be safe.
“What if Rose is alive?” Chase asked. “If she makes it home, she’ll be walking into a trap.”
Billy ignored the question. There was no answer. This was what Rose wanted, the way it had to be. If she was alive, following her lead was her best hope.
If she was alive, maybe there was still hope for the two of them.
His heart ached as he thought the words. It would probably ache for a long, long time. But he couldn’t think of Rose right now, of what might have been. He had men and women to protect. And he was running out of time.
<><><>
Of course, it wasn’t as easy as Chase taking Rose’s daughter and Jay to a safe house while Billy picked up KC. Just like nothing had been easy, not since Chase busted his leg last week. Not even getting dressed or taking a leak—try doing that on crutches.
Jettisoning one of the crutches had helped Chase’s mobility, plus it freed his shooting hand, but made for more jostling of his leg and more pain. Pain that faded into the distance now that he had something to do: protect Eve and Jay.
Eve, he couldn’t help but smile every time he looked at her. Not that she looked like Rose, other than their hair being the same color, although Eve’s was straight where Rose’s was curly. No, it wasn’t their looks. It was their attitude. Something they both had plenty of.
She’d been cool in a crisis, led them to Rose’s storage locker below the building where they found plenty of supplies for a rainy day: weapons, ammo, provisions. The six-by-eight closet was a doomsday prepper’s dream.
Rose also kept two vehicles in the garage: a silver Taurus that looked like any government unmarked and the nondescript delivery van that they loaded the gear into and Billy now drove, watching their back for any surveillance as Eve drove the Jeep.
They’d decided on using one of Rose’s safe houses—actually Eve had insisted, refused to join them unless they agreed, but given that Rose did off-the-grid better than anyone, who would say no?
No one, except his stubborn jerk-off little brother. Chase would have told Jay exactly that, but not with Eve right there beside him as he spoke on the phone. “Jay, I told you. Grab your stuff, don’t say anything to anyone, and get out of there.”
“But Teresa said she’d take me to get some breakfast. I have to tell her where I’m going. That’s just rude not to.”
“Teresa has her hands full right now. And she doesn’t need or want to know where you’re going.” How to explain that the more Teresa knew, the longer and harder she’d be questioned if watching over Jay delayed her own bug-out? Kid knew what he and KC did, should be smart enough to read between the lines.
“Sure, she does. She’s been asking me all about school—”
“Yes, I know. T’s a saint, a freakin’ Mother Teresa.” He hadn’t meant the pun, but it kinda worked. “Listen. In a few minutes there are going to be about a dozen men in black vans pulling up and taking over the building. Anyone still inside is going to be having a very, very bad day—maybe even a week or month, vacationing inside a government facility.”
“So I need to warn Teresa?”
“No. You need to haul ass out of there so Teresa isn’t stuck taking care of you. Let her do her job, hear me?”
“Uh, yeah, okay,” Jay said sullenly. Finally. “Where should I go? You have the car.”
“You’re just going to have to walk.” He gave Jay directions to a McDonald’s nearby.
“Fast food? At least Teresa was going to take me out to a real restaurant.” Jay gave out a nervous chuckle, and Chase realized he was trying to make a joke. Kid had fallen into the rabbit hole these past few days and wasn’t used to operating on the edge of adrenaline like Chase and Billy were.
“It’s better than prison food,” he told Jay, trying to make light of the situation. “Should take you less than ten minutes. Stay on the line with me. Are you out the door yet?”
A pause. “Yeah, just passed through the security check.”
“Anyone following you? Paying extra attention?”
Another pause. “No. I don’t think so. There’s no one on the street.”
Chase relaxed a little. “Okay, I’ve got to go. You keep talking to Eve.”
“Who’s Eve?”
“A friend. You’ll like her. She goes to Georgetown, too.” He passed the phone to Eve while he grabbed another burner phone from the stash they’d picked up at Rose’s place. “Billy? Jay’s on board. He’s clear of the building, heading over to the rendezvous now.”
“Good.”
“Any luck finding KC? She with the FBI or where?” Chase couldn’t explain it, probably all this bug-out shit, but he felt like he needed to see KC. Now. Needed his hand on hers, to hear her voice again, see her determined smile. Plus, they needed the extra pair of hands and eyes. Not to mention a complete set of legs. Boy, had he picked a lousy time to fall out of a crashing helicopter.
“Still working on it.” Billy’s tone was clipped. Right. He was juggling making calls, driving, and watching their backs.
A few minutes later, they reached the McDonald’s. Eve honked the horn, and Jay ran out, carrying a large bag of food.
“Hope you brought enough to share,” Chase said as he jumped into the backseat.
“Yep. Eve said you guys hadn’t eaten. It wiped me out, though.” Jay stuck his hand out between the front seats. “Got any cash?”
Least of their worries, thanks to Rose. “First, give me your cell phone.”
“Sure. Why?”
Chase took the cell, stripped the battery and SIM card then tossed the body out the window, followed by the battery. The SIM card he snapped in two.
“Hey!” Jay protested. “What the hell?”
“Basic operational security,” Eve answered. “They can track your phone, even if you turn it off.”
“They? Who the hell is they?” Jay said. “First, KC hijacks me—despite my having exams—but I go along to help take care of Chase. Then, we’re in the middle of a shootout last night, but I don’t say anything. I just do what I’m told. And now, you threaten me with prison. It’s about damn time that someone tells me who the hell is after us!”
Kid had a point. Chase just wished he had answers. “By now we’re probably on every law enforcement watch list.”
“Because of what happened in Georgia. They think Rose and all of us are involved, right?”
“Yeah. But they’re wrong. What happened in Georgia was a set-up.”
“But the good guys are still after us. And who are the bad guys? The ones who set us up?”
“That would be the traitor who’s been feeding info to the Preacher’s people and Grigor,” Eve replied. Chase was surprised to see a thin-lipped grimace twist her mouth. Realized that despite her being twenty-four hours late in getting in on the game, she was already way ahead of Jay. “But we’re going to find them. And find Rose.”
Chase wasn’t sure if he liked the determination and passion that cut through her voice. It reminded him of himself at nineteen—a grunt in the Marines, deployed and facing enemy fire for the first time. By nineteen, he’d already killed more than once, but wasn’t old enough to appreciate the wisdom that came with surviving. That came later, much later.
Eve and Jay were the same age, but Eve had definitely learned a lot fr
om Rose during their year together. Maybe too much.
He glanced at Jay, now relaxed and chomping on a hamburger. Maybe there was something to be said about being young and naïve.
Then Jay frowned, staring at Eve. “You’re the girl Rose met yesterday at Georgetown.”
Chase startled, hand falling to his weapon. Eve merely nodded. “She came to say good-bye. Told me to get out of DC, go into hiding. Said she had a feeling something bad was coming. Even gave me a fake passport.”
“But you stayed,” Jay said. “You didn’t run.” He glared at Chase as if Chase was responsible for the mess they were all in. “You didn’t hide.”
“I figured no one knew where I was or who I was, so what was the point? And if something happened to Rose, I wanted Price to find me—she always said I could trust him if I needed help.” A tiny sigh escaped her lips. “Besides, I only found Rose less than a year ago, felt like we were just starting to get to know each other. I wasn’t giving that up. Not without a fight.”
<><><>
“He broke you,” the man with the knife said in satisfaction. He traced Rose’s scars with the point of his blade. “And then what did Grigor do?”
Rose looked away, both to gather strength and because he expected her to. “Are you taking me to Grigor now? Is that where we’re going?”
He laughed again, shaking his head. “No. Grigor is dead. We used part of the money he gave us to pay an assassin to slip him a dose of aconitum in his wine.”
Aconitum. Deadly poison, looked like a heart attack. Too easy of an end for a monster like Grigor. She blinked, her heart steadying, beating without pain or fear. Grigor dead.
Which left only these bozos and the rest of the Preacher’s people to deal with.
That she could handle.
“Grigor’s dead?” She allowed a trace of hope to enter her voice, knowing he would want to dash it immediately.
“That’s right, Rose. We killed Grigor.” He straddled her, his face inches away from hers, knife pressed against her cheek, the point just below her eye. “If we can do that to a powerful man like him, a man working with us, a man who shared many of our goals and beliefs, think what we’re going to do to the woman who destroyed our father and killed our brothers.”