Defense Breach

by Lisa Phillips

  “Come on.”

  She swallowed and started down the ramped walkway. It’s going to be fine. This guy didn’t need to know she had a teensy little problem with small, dark spaces. It wasn’t like she’d have a panic attack. They’d never have approved her training as a Secret Service agent if she did. It was nothing but a garden-variety phobia.

  One that was not on her file.

  Skylar fisted her hands, racking her brain for what she could do. She was being held at gunpoint. But not led to her death—she hoped—just back into the White House.

  For what?

  Grady was there, doing his job. Maybe they were going to see Grady after all—but likely not for any good reason. Maybe they had him, and now her, and soon they were both going to die and the two of them would be implicated as thieves.

  Each footfall of the agent’s boots echoed down the tunnel. The sound made her shiver, even though she wasn’t all that cold. She wanted Grady to be here with her now. So they could take care of this together. And not just because Grady had a gun and she didn’t.

  Skylar needed to figure a way out of this that didn’t involve her being on the receiving end of another gunshot. One that would probably kill her this time, rather than grazing her leg. She’d taken off the protective vest and changed into an agent’s gym clothes. She had no weapons, not even any unconventional ones. Still, there had to be some part of her training that could kick in and give her some indication of what to do.

  She’d joined the army right out of high school, and Earl—her ex-husband—had been the sergeant in her squad. It’d been a bad idea from the start, but he’d managed to hide his extracurricular hookups from nearly everyone—her included. Thus the memory of her military life had been colored by the failure of her marriage. It was hard to think about that time without also thinking about her bad choices.

  Part of being a Secret Service agent was proving she was over it. That she wasn’t the inadequate woman she used to be—at least, that was how she’d felt. And yet here she was with those feelings all rushing through her again. Insufficient. Naive, because she’d so thoroughly fallen for Earl’s charms. Why couldn’t she let the past go?

  Now her entire career with the Secret Service was going to be colored by this. There was nothing stronger than the men and women who protected the president. The first time she’d seen an agent on a sightseeing trip, she’d realized that was who she wanted to be.

  Would she even make it to graduation from training?

  Getting there was everything she thought she wanted. But the niggling feeling remained. When she had everything she wanted, would it be all she’d imagined? For good or bad—and, boy, had she learned that one the hard way—she was going to live life on her terms.

  Which meant she’d die on her terms as well.

  He shoved her forward. “The door is just up here.”

  Skylar picked up her pace, since getting inside the White House meant she’d be where other people were. Lord, please let one of the agents see us. The last thing she wanted was to die alone. “Why are you taking me back in?”

  “You ruined it all. Guess you’ll just have to be the one who fixes things.”

  He said nothing more, she opened her mouth to ask another question, then thought better of the idea. Was he going to kill her, as Wilson had wanted? Frustration made her speak again before she could think. “I won’t tell anyone I saw you. I don’t even know who you are. I’ll forget all about this, and Wilson is the one who will be fingered for attempted theft.”

  He didn’t respond to that. Was he deciding if she was worth keeping alive, or would he really murder her in the White House?

  Then she reached the end of the tunnel—and a ladder.

  “Climb up, and flip the latch at the top. Do it quietly because if there’s someone on the other side, they could hear.”

  Like that was going to happen. She wanted to make as much noise as possible if it meant someone hearing.

  To keep from thinking about ways he would retaliate, she said, “Aren’t the Secret Service watching this tunnel on surveillance?” They’d turned it back on since she and Grady were taken from the White House.

  “Of course.” He said it like she was some kind of imbecile. “They’ll know it’s been opened.”

  But would they know Skylar had been coerced at gunpoint back inside? He’d had to keep his identity secret through this whole situation. Maybe that was why he wore a ball cap now, to try to hide his face from the cameras.

  The agent took her flashlight. Skylar climbed the ladder, her limbs shaky. She glanced back and saw the agent standing back, his gun aimed at her. At the top was a latched door no bigger than a foot and a half squared. If someone were on the other side, she wasn’t going to be able to crawl through without him shooting her in the back before she could alert them to the fact that she’d kinda been kidnapped.

  She pushed the door up, like the opening to an attic. Only this entrance went into the White House.

  “Slowly. It’ll hit the inside of a cupboard.”

  Skylar did as instructed, a knot in her stomach. The agent switched off his flashlight, then hers. On the other side of the door were two walls, a ceiling and the backside of a cupboard door. There were even holes in the walls where a shelf could be hung.

  A slit of light shone around the edge of the door, which had been locked from the inside.

  Skylar went up two more rungs on the ladder so she’d be able to reach the latch of the cupboard and then stopped. Listened. If bullets started flying, all the caution in the world wouldn’t help.

  Skylar unlatched the cupboard and crawled out…into the ground-floor Library.

  “Good.”

  Skylar flinched. Wilson stood in the corner of the room with two guys. More hostiles she hadn’t known about? The agent climbed out as well, and then there were two guns pointed at her. Two more were stowed but easily reachable. She would be dead if she tried to run or call for help.

  The agent shoved her forward and asked Wilson, “Where are you at?”

  “Still trying to locate the clock,” Wilson said. “We’d be done if she hadn’t jumped the timeline by eavesdropping. We’re scrambling, but we’ll get it done.”

  The agents were all rounding up hostiles, and the exercise was supposed to be over. What on earth was happening that they were able to move freely around the building still?

  She’d thought Wilson was the one in charge. The Secret Service agent seemed to be calling the shots here. Did they have some kind of agreement, or was this all on the agent? Just a payday and some hired thieves to make it happen? They had to be insane. And worse, things were messy now that their plan had been ruined. That would only send them scrambling to finish what they’d come here to do.

  And it made them twice as dangerous.

  “Go. Find it.”

  Wilson and the two HVAC guys with him—more hostiles she’d seen at the briefing as well—checked the hallway and then left.

  Skylar faced the agent and raised her chin. “What are you going to do with me?”

  He sneered, showing a flash of white teeth between his lips for a second. “This.” He kept his aim on her, then lifted his radio. “Command, I have Skylar Austin in the Library. Looks like she’s helping the thieves steal the clock everyone’s talking about.”

  *

  Grady heard the radio call when it came in. He was two floors above the Library, in the residence, searching for hostiles so far unaccounted for.

  He glanced at Stringer, who looked about as confused as Grady.

  Stringer said, “I thought you left her at Command.”

  Grady pulled out his cell phone so he could keep this conversation off the radio channel. “Let’s head down there.” He dialed as they headed for the stairs and descended. The intern picked up. “Skylar was with you. Why did I just hear a radio call that she’s in the White House?”

  “She’s one of the thieves,” the kid said. “And she’s gone back to steal the cl
ock. She must have run out of the bus while my back was turned.” The words rushed out, the kid clearly exasperated.

  Grady wanted to argue. He wanted to tell the intern he was wrong. No way was Skylar part of the thieves’ group. But had he misread her? She’d seemed so innocent. They’d been chased, and then nearly drowned in the van. Had it all been nothing but misdirection, playing a part until she could show her true colors? Grady didn’t want to doubt the kernel of trust in her he’d established so far today, but reality could prove him completely wrong.

  Grady hung up and headed to the Library with Stringer. When they got there, Agent Barnes had Skylar’s arm in his tight grip. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, and he thought he might’ve seen the sheen of tears in her eyes. Then she blinked, and there was nothing but anger.

  Between Grady standing with Stringer and Agent Barnes holding Skylar were two agents. One was his team’s lead agent, and the other was another of the agents who’d been tied up in the East Room. These two didn’t know an agent was suspected of working with the thieves.

  Was Barnes the one who’d chosen to betray them all?

  The man kept to himself, and Grady couldn’t say he knew Barnes all that well. He was married, but Grady didn’t even know if he had kids.

  If Barnes was a traitor, this was a bold move. Discredit Skylar in the event she accused him of wrongdoing. She would have no credibility.

  His team lead said, “I’ll take her to Command, Barnes. You should get back to helping Alvarez round up hostiles.”

  Barnes didn’t move. “She’s a wily one. She’ll say anything to convince you she’s innocent, and believe me she’s convincing. Nearly had me fooled. Don’t listen to one word comes out of her mouth.”

  “Noted.” The team lead secured Skylar’s hands behind her back.

  That was when she noticed him in the room.

  Her mouth opened, but the tug on her arms caused a strangled cry to come out. Grady moved to go to her. Stringer shifted and whispered, “Don’t.”

  He halted.

  Skylar’s eyes flashed with betrayal. Grady couldn’t help her. Not when she could very well turn out to be part of this whole attempted theft. It would damage his reputation. But it was still hard to believe a Secret Service agent capable of betrayal. And for a clock? It had to be more.

  There were plenty of other things in the world that could be stolen much more easily if a person wanted a quick buck. He hadn’t dwelled on it overmuch but figured this was true. This was probably the most secure house in the world.

  Grady said, “I’ll go with you.” His team leader didn’t need help, but Grady wasn’t about to let the thieves hurt her any more than they already had. It was probably an irrational fear that she’d get hurt, especially when she could be one of them.

  Stringer shot him a look. Grady ignored it and said, “Barnes should come, too. We’ll need a statement on exactly what he saw Skylar doing.”

  “He dragged me in here,” she said. “I wasn’t doing anything.”

  He wanted to tell her he believed her. That he knew she was being framed. But he couldn’t because he didn’t know for sure. Wilson nearly had both of them killed, but who knew what the truth of the matter was?

  The team leader frowned at her. “Your part in this remains to be seen, Ms. Austin. We don’t like thieves, especially not ones who thought they could be Secret Service agents.”

  Barnes smirked. “She’ll say anything to claim her innocence. Just like I told you.”

  Grady caught the curl of his lips and shot the man a frown. “You and I need to have a conversation.”

  Barnes lifted both eyebrows, cocky like always. “Too bad I don’t have time. Not when there are hostiles to round up. Like I rounded up her.” He pointed at Skylar, a jab of his finger in the air.

  Grady wanted to slap cuffs on the man but couldn’t. He had no evidence except Skylar’s word that the man had forced her back into the White House. Just a sour feeling in his stomach. He put stock in intuition. Always had. Too bad it didn’t provide evidence. Just a hunch, nothing more.

  Had Barnes actually committed a crime—beyond being suspected of colluding with thieves? It wasn’t much to go on. He wished he’d seen the man’s face when he’d been speaking to Wilson in the entrance hall. All he’d seen was two people conversing. It might mean nothing or everything.

  If what Skylar had said was true, and he had taken her from the bus, then he’d done it evading detection by the cameras. As one of their agents, Barnes knew where they all were. He’d brought her back into the White House to frame her. To take suspicion off himself and any accusations that might fly in his direction.

  Nothing but a…

  “Distraction.”

  “What?” Stringer turned to him.

  “We need to find Wilson. Now.” Grady turned to the team leader. “I’m going to find that Wilson guy. Can you wait on taking Skylar back to Command? I want to go with her.”

  “How about you do your job and I’ll do mine, Agent Farrow.”

  He’d stepped over the line. “Yes, sir.” Then to Stringer he said, “Let’s go.”

  As much as he wanted the guy to hold off, the team lead would make sure Skylar got back to Command safely. Barnes would have to go along with it, or he’d be exposing the fact that he was a traitor.

  They raced out and cleared all the rooms on this floor, then headed for the stairs. “Up or down?”

  Stringer radioed Command for a status report on rounding up the hostiles and thieves. “Only places that haven’t been cleared and secured are the second-floor bedrooms. They’re working through those now.”

  “Let’s go.”

  They headed for the stairs, beyond which was the curator’s office. Why was the door open? Grady didn’t have time to check. Not when they had Wilson and his friends probably cornered upstairs. There were a limited number of ways they could escape from up there, though it was possible. What it required was extensive knowledge of White House secrets.

  There were secrets.

  And then there were Top Secret secrets.

  How much did Wilson know?

  Barnes could have told the man everything. Grady didn’t want him to be a traitor, but it was possible. He could have been the man Grady saw talking to Wilson.

  And he also had to admit it was just as possible Skylar might be one of the thieves as well. That she’d deceived him.

  The report of gunfire could be heard, but he couldn’t pinpoint the origin. Somewhere in the White House, one of the Secret Service agents was fighting back. Those involved in the exercise who weren’t hostiles or agents were employees who had volunteered. Grady prayed nothing bad had happened to any of them. For their sake—or the sake of the White House and the agency. Reputations were earned over time, but they could be lost in a single moment. He didn’t want anyone hurt.

  What was far more likely was that Barnes had maneuvered the situation so the Secret Service’s attention was divided between Skylar and Wilson.

  Grady hit the second floor at a run.

  Gunshots echoed through the hallway.

  Answering fire.

  He reached the bedroom door and saw two of his team facing Wilson and another man. Another HVAC guy Grady hadn’t seen yet. How many of them were there? Both agents went down.

  “Drop your guns!”

  Clock or no clock, these men had shot Secret Service agents. He didn’t care about a theft right now—just these men who had his back every day.

  And Grady had theirs.

  “I said—”

  One fired. Stringer squeezed off a round.

  Grady was already falling.

  NINE

  They made their way down the hall, Skylar at the center of the huddle of three agents. The one who had told Grady he wasn’t going to wait for him; she guessed he was the guy in charge. The other agent was along for the ride, but seemed astute enough to keep an eye on Barnes—the traitor.

  She wanted to plead her case.
To tell them she was innocent. She’d scream it from the roof of the White House if it made them believe her. Being falsely accused was the scariest thing she’d ever endured. Even worse than the possibility of dying in a volley of bullets. She could end up in jail, and Barnes—not to mention Wilson and anyone else involved—would get away. Free and clear, with all the blame placed on Skylar.

  The team-leader agent halted. He thumbed his radio. “Copy that.” Then turned to them. “Shots fired upstairs. Agents down.”

  “Grady.” His name was a whisper. What about his friend Stringer? Were they hurt?

  “Let’s go,” the other agent said to Barnes. “We need everyone’s help.”

  Barnes’s deadpan face didn’t betray one bit of his true motives. “I could take Austin to Command.”

  Her stomach knotted. “There’s no time to lose, right? You have my word I won’t do anything but what you tell me.”

  She wanted to lift both hands. To placate the team leader, like empty palms would make her seem more innocent, but her hands were tied tight behind her back.

  Thankfully the team lead didn’t make her go with Barnes. He said, “Let’s go.”

  The agent held her elbow as they raced up the stairs, the man in charge leading the way. Skylar took a second to thank God they didn’t have the time to argue with her when their teammates could be hurt.

  At the top, she glanced back to where Barnes should have been.

  She gasped. “He’s gone.”

  His eyebrow lifted and he shot her a look. “You wanna be the one to go look for him?”

  “No,” she told the agent. “I want to know if Grady is okay.”

  “Me, too. So let’s go.”

  “Barnes is a traitor. He can’t disappear.” She decided to go for it. “He hauled me back in the White House at gunpoint, and Grady and I think he might be working with the thieves.”

  Would he believe her?

  To her surprise, the agent got on his radio and called for Agent Barnes to be detained if he was seen. And added that no one was to let him leave the grounds of the White House.

  “Thank you.”

  Then he told Command that Barnes could just be the mole for the exercise, and nothing more. Skylar gritted her teeth, but there was no time to argue. He probably had to cover all his bases.