Above Reproach

by Lynn Ames

“Yes?”

  “Are you going to be okay?”

  Vaughn winked. “You bet. But I may not see you guys for a while. I want you to stay away from my house until I tell you it’s okay.” She reached down and gave Michel a quick hug. She really did like this kid. “Now get going.”

  She waited until he’d run around the back of the house toward the beach. Then she took out her cell phone and dialed a number. “Alain? It’s Vaughn. I need you to do something for me, and then I need you to go home right away and stay out of sight until those men leave the island. Please don’t ask me questions, we don’t have time.”

  “Are you sure about this?” Sedona asked. “This isn’t really necessary. When they realize no one is here, they’ll search the place, gather whatever intel they can, and take off.”

  “Maybe that’s the way you work in the NSA, but where I come from, we don’t take any chances.” Vaughn’s fingers worked swiftly and surely as she packed the explosives and carefully molded them to the inside of her desk drawer.

  Sedona was sure, but she had no intention of explaining to Vaughn her connection to Archangel Michael and the fact that she’d already asked for, and received, guidance about the impending attack.

  “This is your home. Why would you be willing to destroy that?”

  “Because she feels violated. This was a haven and once those men cross the threshold, her heretofore separate worlds will collide.”

  Sedona acknowledged Archangel Michael’s answer in her head, but she wanted to know if Vaughn would tell her.

  “Okay. Time to go.” Vaughn affixed the blasting cap into the C-4 and pocketed the key-fob-sized remote control.

  “Guess not,” Sedona mumbled.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  Vaughn took her by the arm and hustled her out the door and around to the side of the house. They found the others waiting by the separate three-car garage. Everyone was there except for Sabastien.

  “He’s not done yet?” Vaughn asked.

  “I am here!” Sabastien hurried up, out of breath. “I am here.” He dragged three large bags behind him.

  “Is it done?” Vaughn asked.

  “Oui. Everything is in place. I just need to get the rest of the equipment.”

  “I’ll help you.” Sedona started to head back into the house.

  “No. I’ll do it,” Peter offered. He and Sabastien took off.

  “Make it quick,” Vaughn called after them. “T minus four minutes. We need to get out of here.” Vaughn faced the rest of the group. “Can you three get all this stuff into the garage and load the 4x4? Here are the keys.” Vaughn tossed the keys to Justine.

  “Where are we going?” Justine asked.

  “You, Lorraine, Peter, and Sedona are going to the airport. Head due east on the beach for about six miles, then turn south. That will take you to a back access road. It’s the long way around, but it’s less conspicuous. Someone will be there to open the gate for you. His name is Jacques. He’s a pilot. The plane is being prepped right now. Go with him.”

  “What about you and Sabastien?” Lorraine asked.

  “We’ve got something we need to do. We’ll catch up to you later.”

  “Nothing doing,” Sedona said.

  “I don’t have time to argue with you.” Vaughn’s eyes flashed.

  “We all stay together.”

  “The Jeep can’t hold all of us, and, in case you’ve forgotten, I’m calling the shots here.”

  “We stand a better chance…” Sedona stopped talking when Justine touched her lightly on the arm and subtly shook her head. “Right.” Sedona slung two bags over her shoulder and used enough force to open the side door to the garage that it slammed against the building, echoing loudly behind her. At the moment, she was too angry to care.

  “You two go around back. Keep the coms open, but maintain silence unless absolutely necessary.”

  “You want anyone alive?”

  “Only long enough to find out what they know. Then we waste them.”

  Vaughn’s left eye twitched and she tightened her grip on the handle of her Glock. The gesture was empty, since she and Sabastien were situated several hundred yards away and down a slight incline behind a craggy rock formation, but it made her feel better. “How many rooms can we see at once with this thing?” She jabbed the laptop monitor with a finger.

  “I did not have a lot of time to set up, so only six.” Sabastien manipulated a joystick with his right hand and the view changed. With a few clicks of the mouse with his left hand, the screen split to show views of Vaughn’s office, the living room, the library, the kitchen, her bedroom, and outside her front door.

  “Do we have sound in every location?”

  “Oui.”

  “Good job.”

  “Did you just compliment me?” Sabastien spared Vaughn a sideways glance. His face lit up with almost childlike wonder.

  “Don’t push your luck.” Vaughn frowned. She really did appreciate Sabastien’s many skills, despite her gruff manner with him. She supposed she ought to tell him more often. Wasn’t that part of what drove Sage away? Vaughn’s inability to connect on a deep level with anyone? Her ‘emotional inaccessibility?’ She shook her head to clear it. It wouldn’t do to dwell on something she felt powerless to change. She tuned back in to what Sabastien was saying.

  “But you can only hear sound from a single location at a time.”

  “Okay.” Vaughn pointed to the man who appeared to be in charge. “Stay on this guy in terms of sound.”

  “Walt, Scott. You two go left. Frank and I will go right.” The man giving instructions pointed his gun at the door lock. “Everybody ready?” When he saw assenting nods, he fired, splintering the lock.

  Vaughn growled.

  “I am sorry about the intrusion into your house, Elliott.” Sabastien’s tone was sympathetic.

  Vaughn did not want to think about it now. So instead, she did what she did best—she focused on the job at hand.

  The two teams in the main house methodically swept through the rooms. “All clear here.”

  “Here too.” The lead man tapped his earpiece. “Nick? Anything in the outbuildings?”

  “Negative.”

  “Okay, get in here and we’ll turn this place upside down.”

  The heat rose in Vaughn’s chest and radiated outward as she watched these strangers paw through her things, turn over drawers and use switchblades to slice open upholstery. She struggled to keep her breaths even and her temper under control. This was her sanctuary—the place where she’d come to escape the very world these thugs represented.

  “I do not know how you are watching this. It is breaking my heart and it is not even my home.” Sabastien averted his eyes from the screen.

  “I need to ascertain their proficiency and exactly what it is they’re after.” Vaughn’s finger twitched on the remote. “Can you zoom in on that?” She pointed to the section of the screen that showed her office. “I want to see the kind of files they’re looking for and the level of their computer skills.” She already had determined that their weapons and communications equipment were state-of-the-art. That was consistent with the technological ability to track Sabastien’s satellite reconnaissance at Tuwaitha and confirmed what she already knew—these guys were part of the same outfit.

  Sabastien manipulated the joystick and the image zoomed in on Vaughn’s computer monitor. The two of them watched in silence as one of the underlings sat down and started clicking keys. In less than a minute, he had broken Vaughn’s password.

  “Merde.”

  “I thought you said this system was hacker proof.” She looked accusingly at Sabastien.

  “No system is completely foolproof, although in this case, this man is no fool.”

  “What is he doing now?”

  “Looking for hidden files and keystrokes,” Sabastien said.

  Vaughn waited only a moment longer, until all six men were huddled together in the office. “G
et down,” she said to Sabastien, her voice husky with emotion. When the team leader pulled out his cell phone, she ducked and depressed the red key on the remote.

  The explosion lit up the sky, showering the debris of Vaughn’s life in a wide swath extending outward. When the dust settled she asked, “You okay?”

  “Mon Dieu, Elliott.” He was shaking.

  “Are you hurt?” She looked him over.

  “No.”

  “Okay, then. Let’s get out of here.” She jumped up and pulled him with her. Without a backward glance, she set off at a jog down the path and toward the four-wheeler she had hidden in the underbrush. There would be time later to mourn the loss of her personal paradise. Right now, they needed to regroup and figure out the next steps. One thing was clear—whatever Sedona had stumbled into, she had made some powerful enemies.

  “When was the last time you heard from them?” The woman pinched the bridge of her nose as she sifted through the documents on her lap. The limousine hit a pothole, forcing her to lunge forward to stop the cascade of paper onto the floor. She glared at the driver in the rearview mirror.

  “Three hours?” she screamed into her Bluetooth. She listened for a moment. “Absolutely not! If we send another team in there, we risk compounding this disaster. How many extraction points and times have they missed?” She closed her eyes at the answer. “Do we have any eyes on the ground? Any way to get a visual without using traceable technology or sticking out like a sore thumb?” She frowned. “Don’t start flashing a lot of money around, but find some local whose wife needs an expensive surgery or something. Let me know what you find out.”

  She clicked off the Bluetooth and laid her head back against the seat. This was not good. Not good at all. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Capitol come into view and gathered up her papers. She would have to deal with it later.

  “Alain, Michel,” Vaughn called as she knocked on the door of the modest bungalow.

  Michel peeked through the wooden blinds, his big eyes blinking at her.

  “It’s okay. Let me in.” Vaughn had instructed Sabastien to stay out of sight. There was no point making this any more complicated than it already was.

  The door cracked open and Vaughn stepped inside. “Where’s your father?”

  “I am here, Miss Vaughn.” Alain came into the room, wiping his hands on a rag. “I came home straight away, as you suggested once I secured the chartered plane for you.”

  “Were you able to keep it off the books?”

  “Yes, Miss Vaughn. There will be no record of the flight or the passengers.”

  “Thanks, Alain. You did good.” She could see the questions in his eyes but knew that Alain would not press her for information that she was not willing to give. Still, she would have to tell him something. Even if six nefarious men hadn’t shown up at the airport looking for directions to her place, and even if the fireball from the explosion hadn’t been visible in the sky for miles around, the hole in the ground where her house had stood was undeniable proof that something was amiss.

  “Miss Vaughn?” It was Michel who broke the awkward silence.

  “Yes?”

  “Are you a good guy or a bad guy?”

  Vaughn rocked back on her heels as though she’d been slapped.

  “Michel,” Alain warned.

  Vaughn held up a hand. “It’s okay.” She crouched in front of the boy. “Why do you ask?”

  “On TV, I saw this movie with Jason Bourne. I think he was a good guy, but everybody thought he was a bad guy and they were all trying to kill him.”

  “I see.” Vaughn pretended to consider the matter. “In that case, I guess I’ve got a lot in common with your friend Jason.”

  “So… You’re a good guy then but people don’t know it?”

  Vaughn cupped Michel’s chin in her hand and stood up. “Something like that. But this isn’t a movie, young man, and I need you to do something for me.”

  His eyes got wide. “Anything.”

  “I need you to keep this our secret. No one can know anything about this, okay?”

  He straightened up as tall as he could. “You can count on me, Miss Vaughn.” He made a motion as if to zip his lips as she released his chin.

  “Go on now, Michel. You’ve bothered Miss Vaughn enough.”

  The boy reluctantly headed down the hall toward his room, but stopped halfway there. “Miss Vaughn?”

  “Yes?”

  “Will I ever see you again?”

  Tears sprang unexpectedly to Vaughn’s eyes and she hurriedly blinked them away. “I don’t know, Michel. I hope so.”

  He ran back to her and threw his skinny little arms around her waist. Without thought, she returned the gesture. It was Alain who pried Michel’s arms loose and shooed him away.

  “I’m sorry about that.”

  “He’s just a boy,” Vaughn said. “And his question was fair.” She looked Alain in the eye. “Those men will never threaten or bother anyone on the island again. If anybody asks, there was a gas leak in the stove, but it would be best if the constable didn’t open a full investigation.” She waited for this to sink in. “Do you understand me?”

  “I do.” His eyes were solemn and sad. “Where will you go now?”

  “I don’t know. I have some things I have to do.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a slip of paper with a phone number on it. “This is for you. If you ever need me, call this number.”

  “Okay.”

  “If anyone comes around asking questions about who lived in my house—”

  “I will tell them I don’t have any idea, as will everyone else on the island.”

  “You’re a good man, Alain. And you’re raising a fine boy. Keep him out of trouble.”

  “I will certainly try.”

  Vaughn clapped him on the arm, letting her fingers linger for a fraction of a second. He and Michel were the closest thing she’d ever had to a family. As with the house, she would process all of these losses later. In the middle of battle, there is no time to grieve.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Sedona sat in the last seat in the back of the plane, apart from the rest of the group, her arms folded tightly across her chest. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this angry. The problem was, she wasn’t sure why she was so steamed or what to do about it. She leaned her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes.

  “You’re pissed because you’re worried about the dame.”

  “Dame? Really, Dom?” she asked the question in her head. “What are you, some 1950s gumshoe? What ‘dame’?”

  “The Elliott dame.”

  “That’s ridiculous. Vaughn is a big girl. She can take care of herself.”

  “You got that right. But I think you’re a little sweet on her and so you’re worried. It’s kinda cute.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “So you say. I guess we’ll see. Lemme know when you figure it out.”

  Sedona opened her eyes and watched out the window as a puffy, white cloud drifted by. As she usually did after a chat with one of her guides, she weighed and measured the truth of the information. Could Dom really be right? Was she attracted to Vaughn?

  Certainly Vaughn was an attractive woman, but Sedona met many good-looking women. None of them were Rachel and none of them ever would be. That, alone, was enough to negate any romantic consideration. The familiar wave of pain clutched at Sedona’s heart. It hit her with such force that it nearly knocked the wind out of her. She sucked in a deep breath through her nose and slowly let it out through her mouth.

  Archangel Azrael, please, heal my heart. Please, bring me comfort and relief from this grief. I have a job to do right now. I need to be able to focus completely on that. Please take the pain away so I can concentrate on the tasks at hand.

  “Are you okay?”

  Sedona started. Justine was standing over her. “I’m fine.” She said it perfunctorily and more sharply than she intend
ed.

  “Mind if I sit down?” Justine gestured to the empty aisle seat.

  “Not at all.”

  The silence lasted less than a minute. “I know you weren’t happy with the way things went back at the house.”

  Sedona shrugged. “It’s Vaughn’s op. She can run it any way she wants.”

  Justine nodded slowly. “I’ve known Vaughn a long time. She’s been through a lot. Heck, we’ve been through a lot together.”

  Sedona turned to directly face Justine. Had she and Vaughn been an item? Were they still? How could she have missed that?

  “It’s not like that,” Justine said, as if she could see the questions in Sedona’s mind. “Vaughn and I were professional colleagues. We were also personal friends.”

  “Were?”

  “Are, I guess. But I haven’t seen Vaughn in a while. No one has. After the last op, she pretty much disappeared. She didn’t want to be found.”

  Sedona considered how much she should ask. She wanted to know everything, but she wasn’t sure that would be Vaughn’s desire. “Did the op go badly?”

  Justine chewed her lower lip. “Yes and no. It’s complicated.”

  “You don’t have to tell me.”

  “The main objectives were achieved. A major international plot was foiled, a kidnap victim was rescued, and some very bad operators got put away for a long time.”

  “But?” Sedona asked quietly.

  “But the price was high. Vaughn lost a good friend in the process, and she very nearly lost her own life.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Me too.”

  It felt to Sedona as if Justine wanted to say more, but was unsure whether it was appropriate.

  “Anyway, this is just by way of explaining to you that Vaughn has mixed feelings about accepting this assignment. I don’t think she ever intended to get back in the game. If the president himself hadn’t asked, I don’t think she would have.”

  “I see. So, in some measure, it’s my fault she’s not enjoying a Mai Tai on her back deck overlooking the ocean right now.”

  “I didn’t mean it that way,” Justine said.