“Thank you, Simon,” she said, her voice coming in clearly across the communication device in his ear.
Spider held still as the man crooked his elbow then led her away. He listened as the two exchanged pleasantries.
“You’re up,” Tank said beside him. “Mojo, you in the kitchen yet?”
“Just ditched my uniform. Our gear’s in the utility closet.”
Spider blew out a breath then withdrew to his truck parked alongside the road and started it. He followed the long drive, pulling in behind a line of vehicles. When he reached the entrance, he noted that one of the “greeters” eyed his vehicle then spoke into a radio. “They were watching for me. I’m getting ready to hand off my keys to the valet.”
“I’m inside the banquet hall, near the stage,” Jessie whispered.
“I’ll find you, offer my congrats, then fade away,” he said. He’d be leaving her with Cassidy, something that made his shoulders tighten with rejection.
“Cutter and I are in the arrivals line,” Tank said. “See you inside.”
Spider put his vehicle in park and left the motor running as he exited. He tipped his head to the guy with the radio and passed him, walking through the revolving door into the reception area of the office building. He followed the line of partygoers, dressed in formal wear, making their way past the desk to the corridor to the right. The sound of music playing and conversations among the hundreds of people attending the reception grew louder.
Once he passed the doors of the large hall, he glanced around, noting the security staff in their plain dark suits. Several looked his way then past him, as though they believed he wasn’t aware they were tracking his progress. He headed toward the raised dais at the far side of the room, stopping every now and then to offer a smile, but not pausing to talk to anyone along the way. He found Jessie standing beside the man who’d escorted her inside, looking poised and beautiful in a strapless navy dress that swept the floor, diamond earrings, and a large engagement ring on her left hand.
The dress and heels she’d purchased off the rack in Roanoke the day before. The ring and earrings she’d retrieved from the glovebox of her car, parked in a parking garage near Langley.
As he strode toward her, he noted that her gaze locked with his and the barest trace of a smile tipped the corners of her mouth, but then she glanced to the man beside her. “Do you know where Malcolm is?” she asked him.
“He’s on his way,” he said, his expression not giving a clue to what he was thinking.
Spider stopped in front of her and offered her a polite smile. “Ms. Tamberlin, you look well.”
“I am. Thank you so much.” She let go of Simon’s arm and reached for the hand Spider offered.
As they shook, he gave her hand a squeeze.
“Simon, this is Spider Longren. Spider, Simon Pritchard. He’s a former Marine and works for MCT.”
Although it galled him, he smiled at Simon. “I was a SEAL. Maybe we crossed paths.”
“I doubt it,” the other man murmured.
Spider raised his eyebrows and turned back to Jessie. “I just wanted to thank you for the invitation and wish you well.”
“Thanks for everything,” she said, her gaze lingering on him.
Then he left, straightening his tie as he walked toward one of the banquet tables to grab a flute of champagne, so he could pretend he wasn’t aware of every plain dark suit surrounding him and forcing himself not to look back at Jessie, because if he did, he’d give away his concern.
He raised a glass to his mouth. “Still no sign of Cassidy,” he whispered.
“We’re just entering the hall,” Tank said. “Almost didn’t make it past the bouncers at the door. Don’t think my suit was up to snuff.”
Spider’s mouth twitched. Finding Tank a tux off the rack had been impossible, so they’d hit a big and tall men’s store for a charcoal business suit.
A commotion near a side door announced the arrival of Cassidy. He walked in accompanied by a contingent of ex-military bodyguards. He was a tall man with salt-and-pepper hair, cut military short, although the man had never served a day. He smiled blandly as friends surrounded him, but his gaze kept scanning the crowd until it landed on Jessie, who lifted her chin and gave him a faint nod.
His mouth firmed, and he must have said something about getting to his bride-to-be because the crowd tittered around him then gave him space to walk toward her.
Spider held his breath as the man bent to kiss Jessie’s cheek. Her cheeks flushed pink, but she didn’t demur when he reached for her hand and held it. Spider was sure he must have held it too tightly because Jessie betrayed a wince.
“Easy, Spider,” Tank whispered in his ear. “Keep on task.”
Spider cleared his throat, threw back the rest of his drink, and set the flute on a small round table.
A band filed onto the dais, and the canned music bled away. At the first notes of a waltz, Cassidy raised his and Jessie’s clasped hands and led her to the center of the room, where he began to dance her around the room while his many “friends” smiled.
“Time to play,” Cutter said.
“Heading for the north exit,” Tank said.
The northern exit led to the offices that housed the project labs. He’d try the doors to the offices and then backtrack to the stairs leading to the executive suite—a decoy move to get security moving in the opposite direction. Tank would handle spraying the lens of the camera in the corridor with black paint to prevent anyone watching monitors from seeing them.
Spider gave the dancing couple one more glance then moved toward the corridor leading to the restrooms and the side door that opened below the stairwell.
He moved with purpose, pausing to reach into his pocket for a small canister of black paint that he sprayed on the lens pointed at the second-level doorway before stepping through it. Then he made his way directly toward the utility closet.
Inside, Tank was already opening cases. Spider and Tank shed their jackets and slipped long-sleeved black tees over their dress shirts, donned masks, then strapped holsters to their thighs.
Tank grabbed a rucksack and gave Spider a nod to let him know he was ready.
“Mojo’s watching the landing.”
Outside, Cutter converged on them, then they crouched and moved swiftly, weapons drawn as they made their way to Cassidy’s suite.
As they approached the door, a man in a security guard’s uniform turned the corner and drew up short. Before he could reach for the weapon at his hip, Mojo came up behind him and pressed his gun against his side. “Don’t be a hero, buddy.”
Spider tapped the code, unlocking the outer door to Cassidy’s suite, and Mojo pushed the guard inside. After securing him with duct tape, Mojo went back out to the landing, and Cutter kept watch at the secretary’s station.
Tank and Spider went to Cassidy’s door, used another code to enter, then made their way to Cassidy’s desk. Tank pulled a cord from his pocket and plugged one end into the USB port and the other to his phone. “You’re up.”
Spider sat at Cassidy’s desk and typed in the password, holding his breath until the computer opened. He went to Cassidy’s files, following the trail to the files Jessie had identified, then copied them to the “cloud.”
“Done,” he said, pushing back from the desk. “Jessie, we have the files copied to my Dropbox. Give us five, and then get out of there.”
“Copy,” she whispered.
“Still clear,” Mojo said.
They moved swiftly through the office and out into the hallway. When Mojo, who had point, entered the stairwell, he tilted his head. “They’re coming up the stairs.”
They backed away then passed the suite and headed to the corridor where more offices were located. According to Jessie’s map, a utility stairwell was located at the far end.
“Halt or we’ll shoot!” came a shout from behind them.
“Jesus,” Jessie whispered in his ear.
“We’ve got
this,” he whispered back. “Just get the hell out! We don’t make it out, you’re our only hope!”
“Dammit, Spider.”
“I know, baby. Just go!”
…
With the sounds of shouts and heavy breathing in her ear, Jessie could only imagine the SEAL team’s plight. She had to fight to conceal her panic. The band had drowned out her responses to Spider, and she’d hid the movement of her lips behind her drink.
They’d talked about what might happen if they were caught. Spider had been sure that if they surrendered to Malcolm’s men, they still might stand a chance. But only if she could make it out to alert authorities quickly. Cassidy and his mercenaries might not be squeamish about killing them, but they’d wait to see whether they’d contained the situation first.
At the moment, she was surrounded. Cassidy still held her arm as he talked to some of his congressional fanboys, men he’d supported during their campaigns, who were loyal to him. To a point. She sighed and leaned against Malcolm’s side. “I need to make a trip to the ladies’ room,” she said, standing on tiptoe to whisper in his ear.
He gave her a rather hard stare then his mouth stretched into a false smile. “Simon will escort you.”
Just as she walked away with Simon, one of his security detail hurried to Malcolm’s side, no doubt to tell him about the break-in. She didn’t dare look back and instead giggled and reached out to place her glass on the table, only to miss. It shattered on the floor, and she giggled again, weaving a little. Simon cupped her elbow and guided her to the corridor with the restrooms.
She entered the ladies’ room and checked the stalls for any occupants, but thankfully the room was empty. Returning to the door, she cracked it open to find Simon standing a few feet away, his finger pressed to the listening device in his ear. No doubt he was finding out about the intrusion, so while his attention was elsewhere, she slipped through the door and edged her way with her back against the wall to the exit at the end of the hall.
Once there, she slipped into the stairwell, reached under her skirt for the small blade Tank had given her, slipped it from the scabbard strapped to her ankle, and cut away her skirt, kicked off her heels, then pushed through the door and into the darkness.
Armed men were moving around the grounds. Dressed in black utility uniforms, they kept to the shadows. She ducked beneath a retaining wall and crouched there, waiting until they moved into the stairwell and made their way upstairs.
The earpiece she wore had gone silent, and she suspected that Spider and his friends had removed them so she wouldn’t hear what was happening to them, but the silence frightened her all the more.
Once she detected no more movement around her, she crouched low and ran barefoot toward the tree line, ignoring the pine needles and rocks digging into the soles of her feet. She flew, knowing she was their only chance. She paused when she reached the private road that surrounded the campus, glancing both ways to make sure she was clear, and then she raced across the road into the woods on the other side until she reached the street beyond. She’d overshot the vehicles they’d parked, so she ran again, keeping just inside the tree line until she found Tank’s old beater truck.
Once inside, she slapped down the visor, fumbled for the keys, then turned them in the ignition. Not until she turned onto the highway did she breathe a little easier. Then she reached for Spider’s cell phone tucked into the cushion behind her. First, she called 911 to report a break-in and shots fired at MCT. Then she called the number she’d preprogrammed for the FBI office nearest to MCT.
The person who answered the call was skeptical at first but then must have heard the news of the break-in at MCT and told her he’d be waiting for her at the entrance.
When she pulled in front of the building ten minutes later, she left the door to the truck open and ran for the man standing there. “Agent Espinoza?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She gripped his arm. “Before I tell you my story, can you make sure the Navy SEALs inside that building are okay?”
“Ma’am, the PD is inside.”
“Did they cordon off the campus?”
“As far as I know.” His gaze swept her hacked-up skirt, diamonds, and dirty feet. “You come inside.”
Jessie realized she was trembling, her breaths coming so fast she thought she might pass out. “I have to know—”
He reached for her hand and placed it inside the crook of his elbow. “Come with me.”
The firmness of his voice broke through her panic. She allowed him to guide her past the security stand to the elevators beyond. They traveled upward and were met by more people when they stepped out, who ushered her toward a conference room, already filling with more people.
She glanced around then back at Espinoza. “What’s happening?”
He cleared his throat. “We had our own people inside that reception. We monitored everything. Malcolm Cassidy has been under investigation for a while. We needed proof before we could subpoena his bank records and raid his offices.”
“I might be able to help you with that,” she said faintly. “All I need is a computer.”
A laptop was produced, and she quickly signed into Spider’s cloud account and pulled up the files he’d copied. As she opened the documents, they appeared on a large screen built into the wall, one after another. The agents inside the room were soon smiling. They knew what she had—proof of doctored invoices, accounting documents, bank records.
“I wasn’t 100 percent sure what I’d discovered,” she said. “But when I tried to run away, I knew it was bad because of who he sent to retrieve me. His…persistence…couldn’t have been all about the fact I’d jilted him.”
“No, ma’am,” Espinoza said. “Malcolm Cassidy is a felon and a traitor.”
She pushed back the laptop. “I have to know if the men who helped me are all right.”
At that moment, multiple voices sounded outside the conference room, then the door opened. Four tall, burly men walked inside, still clad in their black tees. Spider strode straight toward her and caught her the moment she hurled herself toward him.
His kiss was hard, and his strong arms caged her so tightly she couldn’t breathe, but she didn’t care.
When the kiss ended, she glanced at the agent. “Are we in trouble?”
Espinoza sighed. “We would have preferred that you didn’t try to do this on your own.”
Spider straightened and pulled free of her embrace. He faced the agent. “We broke into his offices and copied his files, and we may have pulled a weapon on a security guard and restrained him. I’m sure those actions aren’t legal.”
“And Spider and I…” She paused to clear her throat. “We killed two men who attacked me in the forest where I was hiding.”
“We know.”
Jessie blinked and drew a sharp breath.
Espinoza shrugged. “We have someone on the inside. He heard the chatter about the two guys who were sent to bring you back or make sure you wouldn’t be a problem ever again.”
“So, again,” she said, “are we in trouble?”
“We’ll take your statements. And we’ll need you to testify. But we won’t be drawing up any charges against you. However,” he said, eyeing the men, “I can’t promise there won’t be repercussions from the Navy.”
All four nodded.
“We knew what we were facing going in,” Tank said. “It was worth it to take down that bastard.”
“Cassidy was picked up at the airport. His people tried to whisk him away the second he realized what was happening.”
“But they caught him?” she asked.
Espinoza grinned. “He’s already lawyered up. I have no doubt he’s going to try to work a deal. He wasn’t the one who concocted this whole operation. He had contacts inside DOJ and Congress.”
“But he’ll do time, right?” she asked. The thought that he might get to walk after everything he’d done made her blood boil.
“He’ll do time
. How much…?” Espinoza shook his head.
Jessie blew out a breath. “What happens now?”
His gaze went to the men. “Your commander is sending military police to take you back to base.”
Spider’s mouth tightened, but otherwise, he remained stoic.
The agent glanced back at her. “I can have an agent take you back to your house.”
“If they can drop me at my car, I can make my way back. I’ll need my keys.”
Espinoza nodded. “In the meantime, I’ll be in contact.” He gestured to a young woman who hovered by the doorway. “She’ll show you out.”
They trailed the woman back to the elevator. Military police were waiting in the lobby when they arrived at the first floor.
Jessie turned to Spider. She opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say.
He glanced down at her, his expression remote. “Guess this is it.”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry for all of this. For getting you and your friends in trouble.”
“We wouldn’t have had it any other way, Jessie,” he said softly.
“This can’t be it…” she whispered.
He closed his eyes then opened them again and gave her a smile. “You get some rest. See to those feet.”
“But—”
He pressed a finger against her mouth then moved back and executed an about-face. She watched as all four Navy SEALs walked toward their escorts, their shoulders squared.
Her heart broke at the sight of the four brave men as they were led away.
“Miss Tamberlin?” her escort said beside her.
Jessie found it hard to look away from the men as they exited the building, but once they were gone, she turned to the woman.
“I’ll drive you back to your car.”
She nodded. Words were beyond her at this point. Exhaustion settled over her like a heavy cloak. “I’m ready.”
Chapter Seven
Two weeks passed and still no word.
Other than trips to the FBI building to recount everything she knew and everything that had occurred—in the woods and during the night of the break-in—she remained home. Reporters had filled her driveway for the first few days, but after she’d pointedly ignored them, they’d left her alone.
Men In Uniform Anthology Page 49