by Rachel Dylan
He placed his hand on her shoulder. “Izzy, whatever happened to you, you’re safe now. And I have your back no matter what. Whatever it is, I’m here to listen.”
She believed Jay was telling the truth. There was no doubt in her mind that he was trustworthy. Although that didn’t make what she was about to say any easier. “There’s no good way to say this.”
A frown spread across his face. “I’m used to difficult. It’s best just to get it out there. If you want to, that is.”
And she did. As she looked into his kind eyes—he reminded her so much of her father—she knew he would be there for her once she revealed her darkest secret. “When I was at Arlington PD, I was assaulted by one of the senior officers.”
Jay’s eyes widened, but he didn’t say anything.
Izzy sighed. “It could’ve been even worse if I hadn’t been successful in fighting him off.” She paused. “I know it seems unbelievable.”
Jay’s eyes narrowed. “Izzy, I believe you. Don’t ever doubt that.”
His affirmation was just what she needed to be able to continue. “I was an idiot. He told me he wanted to talk about my career, that he had some ways he thought I could improve as an officer. I was naïve and met with him alone in his office late after hours. He said that was the only time he could meet.” As the words came out, the memories gripped her in fear. But she knew she didn’t have anything to fear from Jay. He was an honorable man, unlike the heinous man who’d attacked her. “The next thing I knew, he was putting his hands all over me. At first I was in shock, but then as things escalated, he became more violent and aggressive. My survival instincts must have kicked in, because I fought him like crazy with everything I had. I was scared to death at what I thought he was going to do to me. Thankfully, I got away. But I knew after that night that I could never stay at Arlington PD.”
Jay looked her in the eyes. “Izzy, don’t for a minute ever blame yourself for this. It is not your fault at all. It’s the monster who did this to you. He’s the one in the wrong. You were completely innocent.”
“I appreciate you saying that,” she responded softly.
“It’s the truth, and don’t ever doubt it. Did you report him?”
Ashamed, Izzy shook her head. “No. I know I should’ve, but I felt so insecure and afraid. I thought no one would believe me. He was a highly respected sergeant, and I was a nobody. And it looked so bad. Why did I go to his office so late? I wanted to try to protect my reputation. I see now that was a cowardly thing to do, and I’ve been carrying around that baggage.” Her voice cracked, but she fought to keep it together.
“What’s his name?” Jay asked.
Fear shot through her. “You can’t do anything about it. If I’m not willing to testify, then nothing will ever happen to him.”
Jay shook his head. “That’s not entirely true. Please, Izzy. The name.”
She didn’t even know if she could say his name. Speaking it made it seem even more real. “Sergeant Henry Tybee.”
“The man we met at Arlington PD.” Jay blew out a breath. “I’m so sorry you had to face him. If I’d known anything about this, there’s no way I would’ve let you within a hundred feet of that sorry excuse for a man.” Jay jotted down the name on the back of one of his business cards and put it back in his pocket.
Gratitude and relief swelled within her, lightening the fear and shame. “Jay, I can’t thank you enough for having my back. After this case is over, I’d really like to stay in touch. I hope you take this in the most positive way possible, but there aren’t a lot of men like you out there. Especially someone who would mentor a young woman like me and do it with such integrity.” Jay’s moral compass was undeniable. She was coming to realize that his faith probably had a lot to do with that. On that front, she was still a work in progress.
“Izzy, I’m so sorry that man hurt you, but I wouldn’t be a very good friend if I didn’t tell you that there are still good men out there. Men who will fight to protect you and never do you harm. You have to search harder to find them, but they are out there. I can assure you of that.”
Those words made her smile. “A lot harder.”
The door opened, and they rose to greet the colonel. His cool blue eyes actually went to Izzy first and then to Jay.
“Agent Graves, Agent Cole, I would say it’s good to see you again, but I figure this is far from a social visit. Please sit down.”
They took their seats, and Jay started in. “You’re right, Colonel. Thanks for meeting with us again on such short notice.”
“What is it I can do for you two?” The colonel sat up straight in his seat, shoulders back.
“Colonel, sir, we’ve been able to unearth more information since the last time we visited, and we need to run some things by you.”
So far Jay was being mild mannered and deferential. She wondered how long that would last.
“Proceed,” Hayden said.
Jay pushed onward. “We have evidence that Wexford was working at Whitfield Security International along with the two other men who were killed—as you’ll remember, one of whom was a SEAL. Did you know anything about that employment?”
The colonel’s expression didn’t change. “Absolutely not.”
“Are you sure?” Izzy took a chance by asking and waited for the fallout.
Hayden’s eyes zeroed in on her. “Agent Cole, I would have never approved one of my Rangers working for WSI. That’s just not how we operate around here. It is completely out of the question. End of story.”
“So, Colonel, if Wexford had come to you seeking permission, you would’ve denied him?” Jay asked.
“You bet I would.” The colonel’s voice got louder with each word. “We’re the US Army. We’re not a for-profit company. WSI does some good work, and they serve an important purpose, but it is far different from the mission of the Army.”
“Do you have any idea what he could’ve been doing for them?” Jay asked.
“Wexford was a highly skilled Ranger. He could do just about anything he put his mind to.”
“Let me lay this out for you, Colonel, and get your thoughts.” Jay leaned in. “We’ve learned that the Navy SEAL went to WSI looking for work and then specifically recommended Wexford and the civilian to be hired as well. What does that sound like to you?”
Hayden looked down for a moment before resuming eye contact. “It doesn’t sound like anything good.”
Izzy had to ask. “And if anyone in the Army had told them to seek out such a job, you would’ve known about it?”
Blotches of red crept up the colonel’s neck. “Of course I would have. No one would blatantly ignore the chain of command like that.”
Izzy wondered how Hayden could be so sure of that fact. On a hunch, she continued. “What if the direction had come from the civilian side at the DoD?” She’d gotten an update from Lexi last night that they were following a lead there, so why not throw out a flyer?
“I still think I would have been consulted, but I can’t guarantee it once you get outside the direct Army chain of command.” His face continued to redden. “And I can guarantee that I would not take kindly to that type of blatant circumvention of authority.”
“Then we’ll be asking for your assistance to help us try to figure out what these men were up to, because whatever it was, it most likely got them killed,” Jay said flatly.
“What can I do?” the colonel asked.
“Honestly, we’re open to hearing your theories. What do you think they could’ve been doing? And whatever it was, would it have been enough for the orders to come from WSI? There has to be a reason these three men were murdered.”
“What about the suspect you had in custody?”
Jay looked at Izzy, so she responded. “Tobias Kappen is dead. They are still looking into his death because although it appears to be a suicide, we all suspect foul play.”
Jay picked up the thread. “So as you can imagine, that has only raised more red flags for our inves
tigation. Kappen had an alibi for Wexford’s murder, but that was only because we were able to show that base records had been hacked—initially they showed that Kappen was off base during the murder, but that definitely wasn’t the case.”
“Let me get this straight. You believe someone set this other SEAL up to take the fall, and then killed him but made it look like a suicide?”
Jay crossed his arms. “I know it sounds farfetched, but the facts are leading us in that direction.”
“And what is WSI saying?” the colonel asked.
“Not a lot. NCIS and the FBI have interrogated the CEO and VP. They are being somewhat cooperative so far. The VP is the one who claimed WSI didn’t recruit these men.”
Hayden rubbed his chin. “Something doesn’t add up.”
Izzy tried to stay calm. “Our thoughts exactly.”
“If there is something more sinister going on here, I doubt my phone calls are going to get any confessions out of anyone. But I’ll do my part and see what I can find out. I assume you’ll be making WSI tell you what our guys were working on?”
“Yes, sir,” Jay answered. “They threw up some initial security clearance roadblocks, but here is the list we do have. It’s not very detailed, but it’s something.” He slid a piece of paper across the table.
The colonel didn’t immediately respond, taking a minute to read the list. “I’ll look into this. I’ll also circle back up with the SEAL’s CO and see if the two of us can put our heads together and come up with anything.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Whatever you need. At first I thought this might just be an awful coincidence, but after hearing everything you’ve told me, this sounds rotten to the core. And it happened on my watch to one of my men. That’s unacceptable, and I’m here to provide the full support of the Army in this investigation.”
After they spent the afternoon reinterviewing other Rangers on base, Izzy and Jay boarded the plane home.
Izzy felt a wave of fatigue come over her. “I feel like this afternoon was a waste of time. Nobody had anything new.”
“But at least we’ve covered our bases.”
“Who is pulling the strings here? Do you think it’s Mink and WSI?”
“Hopefully Marco and Bailey are closer to finding that out.”
Bailey sat in the NCIS break room, eating a chocolate donut she didn’t need while Marco was in NCIS Director Mercer’s office, briefing her on the case.
“Agent Ryan?”
Bailey looked up to see a tall blond man in a dark suit standing in front of her.
“Yes, that’s me.”
He stretched out his hand. “I’m Julian Mayfield from the DoD. I work with Alex Gomez’s team.”
Ah, this was the part of the case that Lexi had been working on tirelessly. “Nice to meet you.”
“There have been some late-breaking developments related to your investigation. I was told to come pick you up and take you to a classified briefing at the Pentagon.”
Finally they were getting somewhere, but she didn’t say that out loud. She didn’t want to seem ungrateful. This guy was just the messenger. “That’s great. We just need to wait for Agent Agostini to finish briefing the director.”
Julian shook his head. “I just checked with the director’s office, and he’s going to be a while longer. My boss doesn’t want to delay the briefing. We’re starting to get pressure from all sides on this and need to stop the bleeding ASAP before this thing gets completely out of control.”
“I understand that.” A surge of energy went through her at the thought that someone at the Pentagon might be able to tell them what was going on. Maybe this nightmare was about to be over. She gathered her things and followed Julian out of the room.
They walked down the long hallway, and then Julian turned to the left.
“Wait, Julian, the exit is this way.” She pointed down toward her right.
“Oh, there’s another exit this way. The service exit. Haven’t you used it before?” he asked.
“No. I’ve only gone in and out the main way.” She was pretty set in her routine.
“This is quicker. I promise. That’s where I’m parked, so we’d have to walk around the entire building if we went out the main door.”
Not wanting to argue, she followed him, anxious to hear what the DoD had to say for itself in this mess. She wondered if Gomez was going to explain his involvement and how it was all linked to WSI.
They rounded the corner, and she noticed that Julian had started to sweat. It wasn’t that warm inside. She took another look at him, and a warning bell sounded in her head.
“Who did you say you worked for again?” she asked.
“Alex Gomez.”
When his blue eyes made contact with hers, she knew he was lying about something. About what, she didn’t know, but it was enough to make her want to stop and talk this out.
But before she could do anything else, he drew his weapon and pointed it at her.
“You’re not going to shoot me in NCIS HQ.” She said the words with more confidence than she felt.
“I don’t want to shoot you, but I will.” He pulled her in front of him and pressed the gun into her back while at the same time dislodging her weapon from her side and taking it.
“If you’re not going to kill me, then what do you want with me?” She stumbled a step forward, purposely trying to move as slowly as possible.
“I need information from you.”
She looked over her shoulder. “Then you’ll have to kill me, because I’ll never talk.”
Julian squeezed her shoulder and leaned down. “That’s not my call.”
His breath in her ear sent a chill down her back. “Who do you really work for? Is it Cullen Mink? Someone else at WSI? Someone in the Pentagon?”
As Julian took a right and started down another long hallway, two people entered the hall from the other end.
“Don’t even think about it,” Julian whispered.
Bailey feared for her life, but she was more worried that if she spoke up, Julian would kill the two unsuspecting people walking toward them. So she let them pass without saying a word.
“Good girl,” Julian said.
She wanted to punch his lights out, but she couldn’t let her anger overtake her. There had to be a way out of this. They were still inside NCIS HQ, but pretty soon they’d be taking this service exit that she’d never even seen.
Bailey believed that someone had to be monitoring that area, especially if it was where NCIS took deliveries. She should have insisted on waiting for Marco, but she’d been so anxious for a break in the case that she’d just assumed this guy was legit. He’d gotten into NCIS, which meant he had credentials—whether they were his or stolen remained to be seen.
“When we get to the exit, we’re both going to flash our credentials to whoever is working the area. If you don’t, you die along with them. And I’ve read your file, Agent Ryan. You’re not the type to put others in harm’s way.”
“Who are you?” She looked back at him.
“We’ll have more time to get acquainted once we get out of here. Then you can tell us all your secrets.”
Why did he think she had some special insight? The look he gave her sickened her. She had to do something. “How did you get into NCIS? How did you get credentials?”
He flashed her a sinister smile. “It isn’t that hard to steal from someone if you know what you’re doing. And once you’re inside, if you act with authority, people will just tell you what you want to know. It worked out well that you were alone. Even better than expected. If I’d had to take both of you with me, I would have, but this is much cleaner.”
She didn’t like the sound of any of that. This man had carefully planned this.
When they reached the service exit, Julian opened it, and she walked a few steps. She saw the loading dock where a few people were working. It was clear that Julian—or whoever he was—didn’t think she would make a move. That gave he
r the upper hand because he’d be caught off guard.
Lord, I really have no great plan here. Please protect all of these innocent people from harm and give me the strength to get through this.
Taking a deep breath, she spun around. “Gun!” she yelled as loudly as she could.
She slammed the heel of her hand into Julian’s nose and heard a crunch. She’d probably broken it. It was a move she’d practiced a thousand times, but she’d never done it with as much force as at that precise moment.
Someone in the loading dock had pressed the alarm, because it started to blare, indicating a security breach. She could tell there was bustling around her, but everyone was confused about where the threat was coming from.
Julian lunged toward her, and she sidestepped him. Unfortunately, he had her side arm.
A man came running out of the building, distracting her, and Julian lunged again. She tried to grapple with him, but he was too strong and was able to regain a tight hold on her. He pressed his weapon against her head.
“Everyone back up, or I will kill her,” Julian barked.
She had to buy time. “Come on, Julian. This isn’t going to end well. Just let me go so we can talk.”
“I will shoot her!” He ignored her words but tightened his grip.
Lord, help me. How was she going to get out of this alive?
CHAPTER
TWENTY
Marco had just finished briefing the director and was on his way to find Bailey when the security alarm sounded. The blaring noise gave him an instant headache.
He wasn’t sure what was going on, but it had been a few months since the alarm had sounded, and that had been a drill. He didn’t think this was a drill, or as a supervisor, he would have been notified.
After the brief wave of annoyance passed, his mind immediately went to worst-case scenarios. Marco ran down the hall and almost mowed over another agent.
“Sanchez, do you know what’s happening?”
Sanchez nodded. “Yeah, there’s word of a hostage situation at the loading dock.”