I wasn’t the type to wait on a man to save me, but now apparently two women were going to have to go in search of the man. I just knew that he would do everything he could to help me, and I was going to do the same for him. That’s how relationships work.
She shot me a look. “You told Land to meet us here, and he hasn’t shown up yet, right?”
I was shocked. Apparently, I was much too easy to read. My face had apparently given away all the thoughts I was feeling. I would have to step up my game somewhat if I was going to make it through this case. “That’s right. I texted him in my pocket when I was walking down the stairs.”
She laughed. “You’re good. No wonder he likes you. You need some work on hiding what you think, but I didn’t even see you text him.”
I gave her a small grin. Even though I knew that it had only been a provocative statement, I still really didn’t like the fact that she had told me that she was Land’s wife. Its only purpose had been to upset, which it had for a short time. “So what’s the plan?” I asked, thinking that an experienced operative would have a well-detailed plan of attack.
“I’m going to wing it. The plan depends on how many people are involved and how close they are to pulling it off.”
I was underwhelmed. I would have created a series of plans, depending on how many people were involved. I like making order out of chaos, and the idea of winging it really didn’t appeal to me.
I was still worried about Land. He still hadn’t shown up, and I began to suspect that something was seriously wrong. Had the people responsible for the planned attack on the ambassador kidnapped him? Perhaps they had harmed him in some way. I knew from experience that he wouldn’t have just ignored a serious text from me without a good reason. I knew that I had reason to worry, even if I didn’t know what the reason was at the moment.
Carona sighed. “Don’t worry so much about Land. If I know anything from my years of experience working with him, Land always follows his own plan. He’ll meet up with us at some point, but you just never know what that point will be. Trust me on this. He’ll be fine.”
I nodded, though I didn’t quite believe her. We waited. I checked my phone and found no return message, but the time for the ambassador’s speech was getting close. “Hadn’t we better do something?” I asked. “Shouldn’t they be here by now?”
Carona checked her own phone and nodded. “They should be in the building by now, so we need to get moving. We’ll need to check to see how many people are involved and then I can get some help here.”
We crept back up the flights of stairs to the fourth floor, where I’d found the empty space that could be used to see Government Square, our truck, and the podium for the speeches. She had some sort of key on her that allowed her to open the door. She motioned that I should go first and she would follow behind me.
I pushed the door open and looked at the space. No one was there. I started to turn to look at Carona, but I felt a crack on the back of my head and my last memories were of hitting the ground.
When I awoke, I was in a sitting position, trussed to a pole in the middle of the open space. I cursed under my breath as I opened my eyes. I had been duped.
“Welcome back. You’ll be awake in time to watch me get rid of this ambassador,” Carona said. Sometime when I’d been out, she’d brought in a series of weapons and other devices that I didn’t recognize.
I turned my head to look at something, and felt ill. I threw up, trying not to get any on me and failing miserably. I was extremely unhappy with the idea that they would find my body covered in my own vomit. It wasn’t the way a hero should go out.
“If you’re looking for Land, you can forget it,” she said. “This device here is a signal scrambler. Your text never went through to Land. He doesn’t know where you are, and he’s merrily working away at the food truck. I can see him from here.”
I had to trust what she said, since I doubted that she would let me up from this position to see.
“I might even do him in after I shoot the ambassador, just for old times’ sake,” she added.
I took a deep breath. For some reason, the fact that I was in this situation didn’t bother me as much as the fact that Land could be picked off by a sniper. I wondered what that said about me. Was I overconfident in my own abilities, or did I just not want to see him killed for the sake of my own curiosity?
I started to look for a way out of this. The ropes, from what I could feel, were not tied too well. I wasn’t sure if it was the cheap rope that had been used or a lack of ability at secure knot tying, but if I was given a few minutes, I could likely have them loosened. However, that would require Carona to leave the room. I wasn’t sure how that would work. The space was open, without walls, so if she just moved a few feet away, it did me no good.
I looked around at what I could use if I were to get free. I could easily turn off the signal scrambler, which would allow communications with Land again. I tried to look at the weapons she’d brought with her. All of the weapons were guns. No bombs and no knives. I could operate most weapons, so that was a point in my favor too. I wasn’t sure how I would stop a woman with multiple guns, but I knew what she had. The best I might hope for was to disable the rifle she hoped to use on the ambassador. I wasn’t sure if she would still shoot me if her main goal had been thwarted. It would depend on whether or not she valued completing her ultimate goal more than just some short-term vengeance.
Apparently my silence made her nervous, because she started talking to me again. “What? You don’t like the idea of me shooting Land? I should have done that years ago when I had the chance.”
“Why?” I asked, wondering if I could distract her enough from her goal to make her miss or mistime the event.
“You’re engaged to him, and you ask me why I’d like to shoot him? Come on. The man doesn’t talk, rarely shares what he’s thinking and is always doing things without telling you what’s up. It was hell working with him.”
I, for one, sincerely hoped that Land was doing all of that at the moment. He had to notice that I hadn’t come back from what should have been a few minute trip. He had to recognize that I hadn’t responded to anything he’d likely messaged me. I hadn’t picked up the phone if he’d tried to call. With any luck, he’d have called Detective Danvers and reported what had happened. Even after the scolding Danvers would deliver, the police would have likely become involved with this as well.
I was only a few hundred yards from Land in distance, but it felt like miles. She wasn’t making things any better by bringing up his faults. I mentally reviewed some of our better times and remembered why exactly I was marrying this man tomorrow.
“That seems a bit extreme,” I replied. “He’s better than he used to be.”
“He could only go up,” she said with exasperation, and she left the room.
I waited until I couldn’t hear her at all. I loosened the rope and slid them off my wrists. I walked on tiptoe to the weapons that lay on the floor. I took and hid the ammo for the rifle. There weren’t many hiding places in that open space, but there were holes in the wallboard where outlets and other electrical work would be. I stuffed the ammo down into one of the holes. My plan wasn’t ideal, but my hope was that it would slow them down while they tried to find the ammo.
Next, I took a weapon for myself. I wanted to be prepared for whatever was to come. I wasn’t sure about my own survival, but I wasn’t going to go down alone.
The gun was loaded, and I slid it down the back of my pants. I tried the cellphone again, but I couldn’t send a message, which likely meant that the scrambler was still on.
I looked around the various devices lying on the ground. There was one device that appeared to be about the size of a box of cigarettes and entirely black. I fumbled with it until the lights went off on it.
I checked my phone to see if the problem was fixed, and the bars now rose to full power. However, before I could fix the volume, it rang. Loudly. In a room with no curtai
ns—which meant that the echo sounded like a full symphony in progress. I answered the phone and slid it into my pocket. I wanted the other end to hear what was going on, even if I didn’t feel like I could speak at the moment.
I heard footsteps coming again, and I sprinted to the nearest doorway. I had to get off this floor before they found me.
I pushed open the door to the stairwell and stopped short. Lenora was standing there with a gun drawn.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you,” I said, hoping that the sound carried to the phone.
“I gathered that much,” she responded, not putting down the gun.
Apparently my wish to have Danvers single for Sabine was going to come true because Lenora was the mole in the police department. Police, like food truck operators, brought their work home and talked about it. All she had to do was listen to him talk about his cases. She’d even come with us to look for Land.
I was mad, thinking about her silence regarding Land’s disappearance. She’d obviously known that he was alive and likely known that he was in the trunk of the car, but she’d said nothing. Lenora had been content to let me worry all night. The emotions from that night came back to me, and where I’d been scared before, now I was mad.
“I think Detective Danvers is downstairs waiting for us,” I said with a smile. “Why don’t we go meet him?”
She laughed. “That’s not going to happen. We’re going back to where you were before, except this time we’re going to tie you nice and tight.” She motioned me with her weapon, and I started walking.
As far as I knew the scrambler was still off, so that meant Land could hear what I was saying. I hadn’t seen any other signs of Carona, and I wondered what had become of her. Shouldn’t she be preparing for the assassination?
Lenora motioned me to sit down by the pole again. “Why are you doing this? I can understand Carona’s desire to participate in something like this, but you’re just a woman from Capital City. So what gives?”
She barked out an ugly laugh that made me worry about what was to come. “It’s all an act. I’m from the same country as the man who is going to die today. He’s been a part of a regime that has committed atrocities against the people, and now he’s coming to Capital City like a hero. It makes me sick.”
I swallowed hard. The woman’s voice had an edge that I hadn’t heard in our previous meetings. She was contemptuous. I had a feeling deep in the pit of my stomach that this wasn’t going to end well.
She checked her phone to see the time. Thankfully she was so focused on the timetable that she failed to notice that the phone was usable again. She stuffed it back into a pocket and went to the rifle. Within seconds she was back. “What the hell did you do with the shells?”
She raised her weapon and struck me across the face. I winced, feeling the sharp pain across my temple. That would definitely leave a bruise for the wedding. She stopped for a second to allow me time to speak, but I said nothing. I could see her eyes scanning the room, looking for a hiding place, but there were few to be found.
She raised her weapon again, holding it up in the air and getting ready to bring it down on my head again. This time it looked like it might do real damage. I pulled out the gun from my waistband and trained it on her. She stopped the gun in midair, but then started laughing. “Oh please, Nancy Drew. You’re not going to shoot me. You don’t have it in you.”
The gun trembled slightly in my hands, but I was resolute. Besides, Nancy Drew was a role model, never to be used as a pejorative in my book.
She took a step closer and raised the gun again. I pulled the trigger, and she went down, but not before splattering her blood over everything, including me.
Before I could even check for a pulse, the room was full of police officers and SWAT team members. I dropped the gun and lay down on the floor as I’d seen in so many police dramas. No one approached me at first. All eyes were on the woman whom I’d shot.
However, I could hear someone from the team say that nothing could be done about her. I hadn’t really thought about killing her, but I felt okay with the idea since it had been a matter of self-defense.
I saw a pair of obviously designer loafers stop in front of me, and I knew this could be no one other than Jax Danvers standing above me. “You can get up, Maeve. Care to tell us what happened?”
I told the story as succinctly as I could, ending with the gun whipping and the shots. The fact that I had a welt on my temple that was growing added credence to the story. The EMTs checked on me at Danvers’ insistence and gave me a somewhat clean bill of health. They suggested rest and relaxation for a few days. However, I had a wedding to attend before that would happen.
He hadn’t uttered a word about the fact that Lenora had been a spy and used him for whatever information she could glean from him. I chose not to rub it in at this point either.
Land stepped into the room and ran to me. He kissed me all over my face and neck, carefully avoiding the knot on my temple. “I heard all of that conversation. I recorded it on my phone,” he said by way of greeting. “I would have never sent you over here if I’d known you’d be in trouble.”
“I would have come anyway,” I said truthfully. I leaned on him a little as the adrenaline seeped out of my body. A rest sounded good about now.
Danvers interrupted. “We have Carona in custody already. She was willing to give up Lenora without much of a fuss.”
“So what was all this about?” I asked. “Why all the clues and running around?”
“They wanted the police to shut down those operations, so they could buy them and reopen them as a base of operations for their own purposes. Carona figured she would be safe in Capital City after the assassination. So they just brought enough suspicion on the companies so that they would suggest improprieties that would shut them down. Plus, it used some of her old tricks, so she thought it would lead Land in the wrong direction.”
We heard cheering down below on Government Square, and an officer spoke up. “The ambassador just left the podium. Just like clockwork.”
Land put an arm around my shoulders and marched me out of the space. “Come on, you have a rehearsal tonight.”
I tried to play it off as if I was fine, but about halfway through the practice ceremony I nearly collapsed. My mother took me by the arm and sat me down in a folding chair. The rest of the wedding practice went on without me, which felt surreal. I managed to get through two practices before going to bed.
Chapter 13
I looked out over the sea of heads in the audience as I walked down the aisle. The veil had been artfully arranged with Sabine’s help so that it didn’t touch the welt on my temple, but it covered all traces of it with white lace. I felt tired after yesterday’s events, but I was so glad to have that wrapped up by the time that the wedding began. Two hours of make-up and hair, followed by an hour of pictures, and now finally the ceremony.
“Dearly Beloved…” the officiant began as soon as I finished walking up the aisle. My father had given my hand over to Land, which I’d felt had been entirely sexist, but they both wanted that moment, so I went along with it. I was giving myself at this wedding. However, it was at their home, so I gave in where I could.
I took a gulp as I looked at Land, who looked devastatingly handsome in his tux. The tails and white shirt set off his dusky skin, and I had a hard time concentrating on the officiant’s words for a few minutes. Danvers was standing behind Land and saw every move that I made, so I was not going to cry or show any emotion in his presence. Despite the fact that I’d helped to save the ambassador’s life, he had once again taken all the credit for the capture of the women involved. There was buzz on the street that he would be up for a promotion soon.
The one thing that I didn’t hold against him was the fact that he’d expedited all of our interviews and statements, so that we could be at the rehearsal last night and rested for the next day.
He’d even been nice to Sabine. I wondered if his extraordinary bad ta
ste in his latest relationship had given him a change of heart. In any case, he’d even stood with his arm around her for pictures.
Sabine had not entirely forgiven him, but at the same time, she wasn’t shooting daggers at him either. I wasn’t sure about a reconciliation; apparently Grandmother Mendoza had had a few choice words to say about the kinder attitude.
“If you would have the foundation of your union be the love you have for each other, not just at this moment, but forever, then cherish the hopes and dreams that you bring here today,” the officiant intoned.
I looked around the small crowd of people in the audience. Chairs had been set out on both sides of the aisle. On my side, my parents were the only family that I had. However, a number of friends had sat on my side to even things out. Carter and Aaron sat in the front, since they were practically family at this point. Gina and her husband were there. The one jarring moment I had was when I saw a member of Big Tony’s gang in the back row. He was tall and thin with dark hair, and I’d seen his photos in the newspapers a few times. No one had invited him, and though I’d solved Big Tony’s murder, I did not take this as a good sign. He had come for a purpose known only to himself. A chill ran up my spine that was not anticipation.
The officiant spoke his words to me. “I, Maeve, give to you, Land, this ring as a symbol of my commitment to love, honor, and respect you. With this ring, I thee wed.”
I repeated the words verbatim and slid the ring on Land’s finger. I was so nervous that I could barely put it on.
Then the officiant looked to Land, who was obviously paying more attention than I was at this point. “Repeat after me: I, Land, give to you, Maeve, this ring as a symbol of my commitment to love, honor, and respect you. With this ring, I thee wed.” Land slid the ring on my finger, holding my hand gently so I didn’t shake. I was more nervous about this than I had been about confronting killers.
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