Kristine had the door open. She glanced back with a smirk as the front passenger window whirred down. Barnes pulled out asemiautomatic. Grady dived and rolled to the side on instinct.
“Gun!” That was Skylar.
“Everyone—” His words were drowned out by the volley of gunfire, louder than fireworks on the Fourth of July.
“Go!” Kristine yelled.
The car engine revved, and the tires screeched. It tore away from the curb before she even had the door closed. Grady put two bullets in the back quarter panel while it was still close enough there was no chance he might hit a bystander. When it moved too far away, he read off the license plate aloud so Stringer could hear it.
“Copy that,” came his muffled reply.
Grady climbed to his feet, looking around as he did so. “Skylar?”
Before he even found her, he heard her scream.
Niles had ahold of her arm, dragging her away.
NINETEEN
Skylar sputtered. “Let go of me!”
Niles huffed but let go. “You should be thanking me.”
She shoved him away as Grady ran over. He had gravel on the side of his face. Was he okay?
“You’re bleeding,” Grady said. All his attention was on Niles, his gun pointed at the man.
Where had Niles come from, anyway? And why did it seem like the guy was following them?
“Skylar,” Grady said, his voice a command.
She glanced from Niles to Grady, her head still spinning. Maybe she should sit down. “What?”
“You’re bleeding.”
“I am?” She pulled the zipper of the sweater down and peeled it aside. Warm wetness trailed from the inside of her bicep down to her hand, where it dripped to the ground. She swayed as she stared at the drops.
“Time to catch her.” Niles’s voice sounded far away.
Grady didn’t lower his weapon, though he sidestepped toward her. Close enough her nose bumped into his bicep.
“Whoa.” She sucked in a lungful of the very nice scent of him.
Grady wound his arm around her back. “I gotcha.”
“Yes. You do.”
Niles chuckled. Or was that Grady?
Multiple cars pulled up, and people ran over. “She okay?”
Skylar turned to wave toward Agent Stringer’s voice.
“Her arm is bleeding down my back.”
She pushed off him and looked. Oops. The trickle was still coming. Was that bad? A lot of her blood was going everywhere. Skylar clapped her hand over it. Weren’t they supposed to put pressure on it?
“Here.” Stringer handed her a folded square of material, which she applied to her arm.
“Who carries a handkerchief anymore?”
“It belonged to my grandfather.”
“Oh.” She pulled it off her arm.
“No.” Grady shifted and laid his hand over hers. “Keep it on.” Then he glanced at Stringer. “Arrest this guy.”
They grasped Niles, who said, “I saved her life!”
Grady didn’t answer. Questions filtered through her mind again.
“I see this is the gratitude I’m going to get for saving your life.”
Skylar tipped her head to one side. “You did…” She glanced at Grady. “He pulled me away. I’d have been shot in a much worse place. I’d be dead.”
Grady’s gaze on her softened.
She smiled, liking the look of that emotion on his face. “You’re going to let him go?” She lifted her hand, wanting to trace her fingers across those full lips. Pain shot through her bicep. His arm banded tighter around her.
“Easy.” His eyes still locked with hers, Grady said, “Stringer, any word on when the ambulance will be here?”
“Couple minutes.” She could hear the smile in Stringer’s voice.
Skylar turned. Why wasn’t Grady answering her question about Niles? He shifted, and she felt his fingers over hers again. He shifted the handkerchief and she hissed out a breath. Why did Stringer think this was so funny?
“It’s not bad. A nasty graze that’s going to be uncomfortable, but it could have been a whole lot worse.”
Stringer nodded, his gaze dark. “A lot worse.”
“Worse than Grady’s shoulder?” She lifted her chin, determined not to allow them to sideline her just because of a graze. A bad graze, but still a graze.
Stringer chuckled. “Yes.”
Niles glanced between Stringer and Grady. “One of you guys want to let me go?”
Grady nodded, and the agents let him go.
“You saved my life. That makes twice.” Skylar studied him. “Who are you?”
Niles nodded, as though he approved of her question. “Private security.”
“Pri—”
“Your uncle hired me to watch out for you.”
Skylar pulled her arm from Grady’s. It hurt, but she had to stand up for herself right now. She couldn’t be clinging on to him, even if he was warm. And strong. And steady. And…
She shook her head and focused on Niles. “Private security?”
She couldn’t believe this, but regardless he nodded. “Your uncle keeps tabs on you. He wanted to make sure nothing happened.”
“I was at Secret Service training.”
“We figured you were safe there. It was light duty,” Niles said. “Then you were sent here for the exercise—congratulations on that, by the way—and we realized you’d be much more out in the open.” He gave her a small smile. “Turns out he was right to be concerned.”
Skylar didn’t know whether to scream or hug him. Or call her uncle and do the same—but just the screaming part since hugging him was impossible over the phone.
“I suppose I owe you a thank-you.” Even though her gratitude was totally grudging.
Niles shook his head. “All part of the service.”
Stringer and a couple of the other agents scoffed, but Grady stuck his hand out. “Thank you, Niles.”
Niles shook with him, then turned to her. “Expect to have a shadow until you return to training.”
Skylar blew out a breath. She didn’t have time to argue more, since the ambulance pulled up at the curb. While they cleaned the wound and put some cold antiseptic goop on it, Grady chatted with Stringer by the door of the ambulance.
Her father and uncle really thought she couldn’t handle life? That she needed this level of protection? The last couple of days hadn’t been anything like normal. Half of it, she hadn’t even seen Niles. He had saved their lives, but the fact that her uncle and father both didn’t think she would be okay on her own stung. Of course, it stung. Them being overprotective was one thing, but it was like they didn’t trust her.
Stringer said, “I had a couple of agents question Daniel some more, since we know he’s connected to the curator. He spilled everything. A few months ago he had an attack of conscience, got saved and realized he had to mend his ways. But he’d already made the last of his fakes, so he sent the music box back to the White House anonymously. Like it was yet another gift given to the president.”
Grady shot him a look.
Stringer shrugged. “Kristine never exposed him, even though it became clear he was out of their little arrangement. Daniel said if she had exposed him, he’d have accepted the consequences as God’s will. She never did.”
“And then this happens,” Grady said. “Wilson is set up to take the fall for stealing the clock, right? Barnes gets away with Kristine. Daniel is in custody.”
Stringer nodded. “Makes you wonder if this wasn’t one big plan to get back at Wilson and leave Daniel swinging in the wind while the two of them make their getaway.”
Skylar couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Daniel didn’t act like a humble man trying to make amends.”
“Said he was sorry about backsliding and dragging you into it,” Stringer answered. “He asked for a minister to come see him so he can get back on the right track.”
“Anything else?” Grady asked.
Stringer nodded. “Family sentimentality aside, Daniel said that clock was worth millions. It’s a unique English/German design, which is only significant because it was constructed late in 1938, only about a year before World War II started. It was very controversial, given the times. No one wanted to touch something that represented cooperation between those two countries—there was too much resentment.”
Grady glanced between the two of them, his gaze landing on the EMT taping a bandage over the wound on her arm. It still stung, but if they tried to sideline her she was going to kick up a serious fuss.
To keep the conversation going, she said, “So they made a ton of money. The curator, the Smithsonian employee and the Secret Service agent? Plus Wilson, though they wanted him out of the arrangement enough to have him try to steal a fake so he’d get arrested.” It was a guess, but there was a chance she was right. “Or am I missing something?”
“It’s all looking like that’s what happened. Daniel got out, so Kristine and Barnes came up with a plan to force Wilson out as well so they could get away just the two of them.” Grady nodded, his look speaking plainly that he was proud of her deduction.
Stringer said, “Intelligence turned up money transactions between the three of them. And they all have offshore accounts with the same amounts of money in.”
“So they are a team. Or they were.” Skylar thanked the EMT, then climbed out of the ambulance.
There was no way she was going to the hospital again with things coming to a head. All this was actually getting interesting. Though, maybe that was because this part was about solving the mystery and not about running from danger.
Barnes and the curator were together and in the wind.
“Which begs the question,” she said aloud, even as she thought it over, “where are they going to go?” She wanted to fold her arms, but settled for holding her injured one up. “An airport, a train. A boat somewhere. Or just off the grid, and they stay in the US…”
Grady said, “We have to consider all the options with something like this.”
Maybe it was just the tiredness in his tone, but she didn’t like it. “You don’t have to placate me. I was only trying to help brainstorm.” She started to walk away.
*
Stringer pointed at Skylar’s back and mouthed, Go after her. Grady wanted to pummel his friend, but that would take time. He didn’t need help. And he didn’t need pushing toward Skylar. His heart was doing that job fine all by itself.
Grady reached for her arm, realized it was the one with the injury and jogged instead to get in front of her. “Where are you going?”
She lifted her gaze and halted. Shrugged.
Grady moved close to her, not within kissing range, but not much farther away either. “Skylar.”
“Yes?”
“Those were good ideas.” He could see on her face it was going to take some convincing to get her to believe him. Grady touched the sides of her neck gently, his thumb tracing her jaw line. “We all pull our weight, and I want that from you as well. It’s what you’ve done so far.” He let go for a second to motion behind him at the rest of the team. “And you have to know I wouldn’t have gotten through everything if it wasn’t for you being with me.”
“I made things worse.”
“I don’t recall that.”
Skylar rolled her eyes. “Maybe that’s because you see what you want to see.”
“You think I’m a dreamer.”
She was silent for a moment, then said, “Yes. Actually, I do.”
Grady scoffed.
“Your fiancée left you, and you went into, like…relationship hibernation. All so you wouldn’t get hurt.”
He wanted to retreat, but he didn’t. Grady forced himself to see this through, even if it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “Is that bad?”
She smiled. “Not from where I’m standing. That is, if you’re willing to emerge for something that could be good.”
“I already know it could be.”
“I do, too.”
Were they really talking about what he thought they were talking about? “Skylar?”
She smiled. “Thank you for looking out for me, Grady.”
He studied her, trying to figure out when all this had happened. Between chasing suspects and taking cover from fire. And yet, he wondered how he could have missed it until now.
“Are you going to kiss me, or what?”
Ten feet away, Stringer laughed. Grady thought he heard one of the agents say, “Kiss her!” but he couldn’t be sure.
Grady wasn’t one to turn down the offer of a lifetime, so he leaned in. But he kept it short. Just a quick, soft press of his lips against hers before he leaned back. “Considering your idea, I think we should go to the curator’s house. I don’t want you by yourself until Barnes and Kristine are brought in.”
He sighed to himself. That was super romantic. Come with me so you don’t die. Grady wanted to kick himself but couldn’t figure out how to do that without it looking bizarre. He settled for saying, “I want you with me, Skylar. Where I can keep you safe.”
Her eyes narrowed, a gleam there. Was she wondering how long that would hold true? Maybe forever, if she would have him. Skylar didn’t need anyone giving her half-baked promises. Not after the marriage she’d had. Grady figured that—with God’s help—he could be the right man to make her a promise that would last forever.
“Okay.”
Grady figured that was the best he would get, given so much had been left unsaid. Now wasn’t the time for forever discussions, though. Not when the danger was still real. Barnes and Kristine were still out there.
He held out his hand. She put hers in it, and they walked back over to where Stringer was pretending he hadn’t listened to everything they’d said.
Stringer rocked back on his heels. “All good?”
Grady shook his head, while Skylar said, “We’re fine, thank you.”
Her tone made Stringer laugh, and he said, “Ready to head back to the curator’s house?”
“Yep.” Skylar nodded.
Grady said, “We have a BOLO out on the car. Either that’ll turn up a lead we can follow, or we’ll find something at the house that can tell us where they’re going.”
“Either way, we’ll be there?” Skylar asked.
Stringer nodded. “Now you’re getting it.” He turned and headed for his SUV.
Grady and Skylar headed for one of the other vehicles. He opened the driver’s door and said over the hood, “When we’re done we should take a night tour bus. I can show you the sights, if you want.”
She nodded, though it was tentative. “If not tonight, then tomorrow.”
It was a getting late in the afternoon. Had he really only met her yesterday morning? “Tomorrow. For sure.”
She smiled. “Okay.”
They climbed in and set off.
He wanted dinner as well, if she agreed. And another one of those kisses. He’d like to explore that as well. Whatever she wanted. Because while he was looking for forever, Skylar would be headed back to training. When she was done, she would be assigned somewhere. Their lives would be difficult to mesh, even if they managed to sustain a long-distance relationship.
But those issues were for later.
Stringer drove them to the curator’s house. There was no way Barnes or Kristine would come back here. They’d know Secret Service would be watching the place. Grady didn’t expect to find too much. Besides the fact that Kristine had hidden a huge secret long enough no one even suspected her as a party to this, the place was nearly immaculate. One of those electronic vacuum robots even worked its way along the baseboards in the dining room.
The BOLO would catch them trying to flee the country, or local law enforcement somewhere would spot the car. Barnes and Kristine would be found. It was only a matter of time. But would they come without a fuss?
“Look at this.” Skylar picked up a paper on the curator’s home desk. “It’s a recei
pt for a chartered aircraft.”
Grady walked over and scanned the page. “From three months ago.”
“They could be falling back on old plans. Using a known entity as a way of escape, maybe.”
“I’ll call it in to Intelligence. See what they can dig up.”
Ten minutes later he had the answer he needed.
Grady motioned Stringer and Skylar back over to him. “They’re at a small airport just outside of Richmond. They’re trying to flee.”
TWENTY
Grady took the turn for the airport, their SUV right behind Stringer’s. In total, there would be six Secret Service vehicles, filled with agents on hand to stop Barnes and Kristine from fleeing the country. They’d used false names—the same names listed on the paper Skylar had found—and filed a flight plan.
They were going to Aruba.
Grady hit the brakes, and they parked in a huddle of three vehicles behind a hangar, in a support-staff parking lot. The rest of the vehicles peeled off, so those agents could approach from different angles to stop the targets from escaping another way.
It was a small, private airfield. Not huge like Ronald Reagan, which was close to the heart of DC. Thankfully that meant there was little human or air traffic this late in the evening. None of them wanted anyone innocent to get hurt.
The plan had been laid out en route, with Secret Service Intelligence coordinating the attack on a conference call. Skylar had never heard anything like it and had been in awe as they laid out the general location, possible exits, choke points, or ways the targets could fight back. She’d also heard surveillance information they’d gathered, which confirmed one woman and one man. Barnes had a pilot’s license so they didn’t need a third person to fly them.
The game plan was simple enough, and the time it had taken them to formulate it impressive. They were treating Skylar like she was one of them, with Agent Ramirez even putting her right in the heart of it. Of course, that included the most protection, since there would be agents all around her.
Skylar took a second and prayed for everyone’s safety and that they would capture these two who had caused so much havoc. In just two days, she’d gone from being so determined to prove herself as capable that she couldn’t see anything else, to willing to let go a little in the moments before a coming operation to offer up a prayer.
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