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James and Gerald shot back outside to where Tyler waited.
“Update,” said James.
“Rollins, inside with both agents. They’re hog-tied, and he’s three-quarters prone, unrestrained. Broughton okay?”
“Should be.” Especially if the green liquid was an antidote and not something else.
“We going in?” asked Tyler.
“Negative. We still have no clue about what he did in there, but worst case scenario, he contaminated the place with the paralytic so Rollins would touch or ingest it. Do we have an ETA on the Steed?”
Tyler put a hand to his ear. “Five minutes. Where do you want her to put down?”
“The open field behind the barn, so she’s not visible to Kelton and Bellows.”
Gerald tipped his thumb to where the pair were holed up. “You just going to wait and see what happens in there?”
“We’ll wait until Angie arrives. The Steed has hazmat gear and breathers on board. I’ll suit up before going in. Meanwhile, we need to secure Rollins just in case he starts coming around, because we have no way of knowing exactly what he was given.”
“We could just hit him over the head.” They spun toward where Broughton was leaning on the helo, and James strode over to him.
“You okay?”
“Getting tired of that question.”
“Jeez,” said Gerald. “I thought you were down for the count.”
“I did too, especially when Kelton slapped me with the first stuff. Felt it there on my cheek, then the body just folded. But he must’ve spilled some of the green shit on me when he was pouring it into the tube.”
“Saw it there, but was afraid it was what’d knocked you out. Good to know we have our hands on the antidote instead,” said James.
“I can’t wait to get it to Alexandra.”
James nodded. “Don’t forget she had something injected as well, so Eve will have to do tests before she uses this stuff on her. And you were only down minutes, not days, so her recovery might not be as fast and easy as yours.”
A sound had them all turning their attention to the cabin. A small window had been cracked open. “You idiots ready to deal?” shouted Bellows.
“To make a deal, we’d have to need something in your possession.”
“What are you, stupid? I have Dr. Kelton. I’ll trade you for Rollins and safe passage to the helo.”
James laughed. He wasn’t the stupid one. Not that he wanted to underestimate this woman. She’d been very successful so far, and now they knew she would kill. Had killed.
“Call off the Steed,” said Broughton.
James spun. “Negative. I’m getting you out of here. This could be a very long siege.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’ve been injured.”
“I sure the fuck have, and bringing the Steed in right now will be too much distraction.”
“We can handle it.”
“She killed two federal agents. Don’t think for one minute she won’t take out one of this team just for sport, or to show how serious she is. Her back’s to the wall.”
James stared down Broughton. “You’re a hundred and ten percent sure you’re firing on all cylinders?”
“Affirmative, and you know how much I want Alexandra to get that magic potion right now. Tyler, cancel the Steed.”
***
Julia nearly growled aloud. Through the video feed, everyone at HQ had witnessed Broughton jamming his knee when he came down from the tree, then just now, the effort it had taken to hobble out and lean on the helo, and he was obviously counting on HQ not informing James.
Broughton could barely walk, so how the hell could he run if he had to? Would his lack of mobility endanger the others? Should she apprise James?
In her gut Julia believed Broughton was a critical part of the operation, so she shook her head at Gage, who was currently manning the com center and waiting for her decision. “Leave it be.” Broughton and James had a history of working together on hostage negotiations, and this struck Julia as a perfect recipe for success.
She tapped a message to Tyler.
B’S KNEE BAD—NEED TO KNOW ONLY.
That would cover her ass, and everyone else’s. Because if the info became relevant, Tyler would share.
That handled, now they needed more intel on Bellows. For starters, why the hell would she want Rollins? Hadn’t she agreed to testify against him?
Weeks earlier, when Bellows held several of the Meyers family hostage, she claimed she’d been under Rollins’s orders, but now she’d escaped custody, she was again trying to manipulate Meyers. And a safe house? What a ridiculous move on behalf of the feds. She must have something on someone a very long way up the food chain, or she’d be in jail where she belonged.
“We need Logan on this. Hook me up with Angie.” Julia went over to a satellite map with a moving red dot slightly northeast of Luna.
Gage keyed the mic. “Base to Steed, over.”
“Hey,” said Angie.
Julia shook her head. So much for radio protocol. “What’s your status, hours and clock?”
“Two of fuel, I’m heading for Hundred Mile now to top up. Five left on the clock.” On an op they’d stretch allowable airtime, but only if absolutely necessary.
Julia stared the map. At top speed the Steed was an hour away from Mountain House, and five more from HQ. “We need Logan at Luna. Contact Base after fueling for details.”
“Copy. Steed out.”
Gage was frowning. “That’ll put her too far away from Luna if they need her fast.”
Julia started to reach past Gage and stopped herself. “Get me Kyle.”
Gage nodded, pushed buttons.
“Hello, HQ.”
“We need Logan at Luna. Kelton’s been taken hostage. What are the chances you could meet Angie partway?”
His sucked-in breath was audible, and nothing but silence followed.
Finally Julia said, “Kyle?”
“Sorry, first time I’ve been asked to do active, since...” Since his spinal cord injury.
“You interested?” She caught herself before she said it was okay if he didn’t feel up to it.
“Hell, yeah.”
“You okay with leaving Lissa alone?”
“No, I’ll bring her along. She weighs about the same as my chair and all, so it can stay behind, and she’ll just have to look out for me if things go south.”
Lissa’s voice came through the speaker. “Nothing’s going south but you with that kind of talk.”
“How long until you can get off the ground?”
“Fifteen.”
“Ten if we take the emergency slide,” said Lissa. There were two emergency exits for someone incapable of getting out under their own steam. One went directly outside, and the other to where the helicopters were housed.
There was a click on the line. “We’re on portable now and heading down. Where will we meet Angie?”
“She’ll be coming from Hundred Mile. Set your course for there, and I’ll get back to you with exact coordinates. Wind aside, what’s your top speed fully loaded?”
“One-fifty.”
With the Steed going three hundred, they could shave twenty minutes off Angie’s trip each way, and she’d also never be more than forty minutes from Luna.
Julia put her finger on the map. “Small town called Fauquier is my best guess, but Angie will pick a spot for the transfer.”
“On our way. Over.”
“Over and out.”
Gage turned to look at her. “You had no idea what you were offering him.”
She should have known, dammit. “I didn’t. But I get it now. I thought we’d given him everything by setting them up to run the safe house, by James getting him into the program for an exoskeleton, but I’d missed what was at the core of it all. His pride. Being able to pull something off that no one else could at that moment. Not just being a team member, but being an integral part of the team.”
“If it’s any help, he likely didn’t know either until you asked him to step up.”
For a woman at the helm, she missed an awful lot. Maybe it was time for her to retire so her husband and children could run the business. “But you knew, didn’t you?”
His smile was a bit twisted. “My wife pointed it out to me. She gets people, and she knows what it’s like to not be in control. To be dependent on others, which is so opposed to who she is. Kyle was a commander when his helo went down.”
Julia nodded. “We were thrilled he’d survived, but that’s not what mattered to him. We celebrated every milestone, no matter how minor. Getting a full spoon of food to his mouth, brushing his teeth, holding a razor, or sitting up without help.”
“It was all essential to him, but only because it was leading back to where he wanted to be.”
“I thought they were happy at Mountain House, that the electronic work he did from his own location was significant and fulfilling for him.”
“It was, but maybe he’s ready to tackle more.”
Julia was shocked when a lump formed in her throat. She went to the window to stare outside while she gathered herself. “I hate—”
“Surprises,” Gage finished for her. “You always have. You prefer to be mentally ahead of everyone, and usually you are.”
“I had no clue Kelton would go rogue. I never liked him, but always attributed that to his pompous, better-than-all-other-beings, attitude. Even when he told us about his brother’s death and I felt sorry for him, I still didn’t like him.”
“Makes me wonder how many lives were changed because of his need for revenge and—
“Steed to Base.”
“Base here.”
“Will be refueled and in the air in ten.”
“Logan’s on his way with Kyle. He’s pointed at Fauquier for now, but you coordinate with him and keep us in the loop on your decisions.”
“Copy, switching channels, and out.”
Aside from happiness, Grace’s emotions rarely showed, but she was clearly unhappy when she joined them, and Julia recognized disquiet in her expression. Great. Julia berated herself for having made the executive decision to send Grace’s husband into a hot situation without saying a word to her. But she hadn’t been in here. If she had, it would’ve been different. Come to think of it, had she asked Logan if he wanted to go help at Luna?
Her gut soured. She hadn’t asked, or even given him an order. She’d simply asked Kyle to take him there. But that was the way an op ran. She gave orders. It was what she did, dammit. Why was everything getting so fucking complicated lately?
“Grace, I—”
“Sarah’s on her way here.”
Kelton’s wife. “That’s good.” Grace’s half-sister could be a useful negotiating tool if they needed one.
“I can’t tell you how hard it is to hear her this way. When I fell apart after Isaac was murdered, she was my rock, counseled me, and held me together when I couldn’t seem to make a rational decision for myself.”
“Her husband has changed completely. I understand some of that.”
“It’s worse. You at least love James. Have a solid background and beginning with him. Sarah has none of that. She’d thought she was past the age of being swept off her feet, but remembers feeling like she had no choice but to be with him, felt compelled to marry him. I thought compelled was an odd choice of words, but apparently if fits very well.”
“Are you saying—”
“Yes. She suspects that she was his choice, but he’s not necessarily hers. She’s contemplated leaving him dozens of times, but over the past year or so, she’s seen so little of him that she just drifted along, left things the way they were. That, too, is hard for her to admit, and so unlike the woman she used to be. However, recently she began studying him objectively, and says he fits the classic description of Machiavellianism.”
“Cold, selfish, manipulative.” Quinn’s voice coming through the speakers startled Julia at first, because she’d forgotten that although he was over at Haven, he was still wired in. “Cunning is one of the descriptors most often used, and a good fit for Kelton.”
“I’ll say,” said Grace.
Julia hated to add to her burden, but needed to make sure she was aware her husband was headed into the field. “Have you heard from Logan?”
“Yes. He’s on his way to Luna, which is a good thing. I’m glad you sent him.” Her smile was wan. “So quit beating yourself up. You’re in a hell of a spot here, and handling it well.”
Grace was the one person who could read her almost as well as James did.
Eve came in then. “Updates?”
After Julia filled her in she said, “Sucks that we can’t get our hands on the antidote yet, but the bright green color could help, because it would stand out in any medical lab. If it was created at ETC, maybe someone would remember the color being added.”
She grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge at the back of the room. “Currently, Matt is overseeing things while Dhillon is trying to get Alexandra to flex her calf muscles. One minute at a time, with five minute breaks in between, and Matt’s monitoring Dhillon’s blood pressure just to be safe. He doesn’t think it’s necessary, and neither do I, but with Angie not being there for the decision-making, Matt says he’s not taking any chances.”
“Smart man,” said Gage.
“Dhillon’s pretty stoked about having actual healing powers. Rachel and Matt sat him down and gave him all the facts about how he can do himself damage if he’s not careful, and that he’d have excruciating headaches if he overused his gift.”
“Just the thought of those days before I learned how to harness and block the energy—and I wasn’t even a healer—makes my head hurt,” said Grace.
“Alexandra may have some extra abilities of her own she hasn’t harnessed yet, being one of Francesco’s and all,” said Eve.
“Have we heard anything back from him?” Julia asked Grace.
“Katerina said they’d let us know if they came up with anything at all about a botanical paralytic,” said Grace.
Gage held up his hand. “James has a question for Eve.”
He flicked speaker mode and the squeaky sound of footsteps in dry snow filled the room. “Rollins has been drugged for nearly two hours now. Is there something we should be doing for him?”
“You could give him a swift kick or two for me,” said Gage.
Eve scowled at him. “Obstructed breathing and hypothermia are the only concerns.”
“Any more demands from Bellows?” asked Julia.
“No. The boys are rearranging the cameras so we’ll have an all-sides view of cabin three—where Kelton is. We’re set up in two with our prisoners and rotating watch. Broughton also disabled Bellows’ helicopter, just for good measure.”
“Logan should be there in under an hour,” said Grace. “And Sarah’s on her way here, so she’ll be close at hand if you need her.”
***
Waiting made up at least half the job when you worked in security, whether at the international level or in someone’s backyard. The other constant was adjusting to local conditions, and here they had more than enough snow and ice to contend with. That meant they were dependent on heavier clothing than James was used to, and gloves instead of having his hands free to feel everything he touched. Even the air.
Now that things had been quiet for more than an hour, he began to wonder what was going on inside the cabin. Was Bellows trying to get Kelton to swing over to her side? To help her escape? Probably. Either that, or they’d both tripped Kelton’s booby traps and were lying in there paralyzed. Wouldn’t that be a funny development? Perhaps they should put a nano-drone down the chimney to have a look around.
He’d wait until Logan arrived. It had been a smart move on Julia’s part to get him headed their way. Hell, James should have asked for him. Slipping, old man.
Maybe it was time to retire. Let the kids run the business. Jeezus, he’d have to stop calling them kids and boys, because, hello, business? It needed—hell, get real man—it was already being run by savvy men and women who happened to be his children. Their children.
Julia had done the work. Made most of them what they now were. She molded them, led with dignity and self-assurance—just like who she’d been below the surface from the minute they met.
Feisty and smart. Scared and brave. Far older than her years, yet younger in as many ways. She’d been such great fun to tease and to laugh with, and be serious with, and then there was the day the game ended and it all became real. Changed his life forever.
She’d been freaked out when her mom put her foot down about the prom. Said she had to go, because if she didn’t, one day she’d look back on one of the milestones of her life and wish her mother had pushed.
Julia had been so miserable he’d offered to go shopping with her. They toured about a dozen thrift shops, him holding up the ugliest dresses he could find to make her laugh while she painstakingly combed through the racks for one she didn’t hate.
“All the girls will be wearing frilly stuff. Pink and purple and lace.” She shuddered.
“Like this?” He held one up. It was shiny, with multiple layers of pink—reminding him of the crocheted doll-thing stuffed with a roll of toilet paper in his aunt’s bathroom.
“Gag me with a soup ladle.”
He found similar in blue. “More your color.”
“Ha ha.” Then she’d yanked out one in navy blue that looked like something his grandmother would wear.
“Sky. Just no.”
The day had dragged on without success, and once they’d exhausted all the local shops, he drove her across town, promising that if she’d just try one more store today, he’d take her to the city the next day if she still hadn’t found a dress.
“Prom’s in a week,” she conceded.
The place he parked in front of was huge. “Only an hour until closing. Here’s an idea. You go to the change room and strip down, and I’ll bring you everything there is in your size. Just keep tossing them on, then into two piles, one for maybe, the other for not in this lifetime. I’ll pick three from the maybe pile to retry. Sound fair?”
“I guess.” She didn’t move. “I really don’t want to go to prom.”
“Tell me why. Truth.”
“I’ve only been at this school since the fall, and hardly know anyone. Where will I sit? Who will I talk to? The other girls all stare at me.”
“I thought you liked being different.”
“I do. But prom, and prom dresses, I’ll just look like one of them, and I’ll feel stupid.”
“You want to stand out?”
“Yeah.”
“Come on. Let’s do this.”
He pulled her into the store and shoved her in the direction of the changing rooms, went to the rack of her size and grabbed the three that stood out as different from the rest. A bright yellow, a shiny white, and a very dark orange. He tossed them over his shoulder, then grabbed all the rest that would fit. About twenty of them.
She tried on and hated each and every one, because they were pretty much like everything else she’d seen. Then he handed her the ones he’d set aside. She showed him the yellow, and it wasn’t bad, but the orange looked terrific on her. It took forever for her to open the curtain and let him see the white one, and his breath caught in his throat.
“It’s beautiful. You’re beautiful.”
She blushed.
“Won’t it make my date nervous?” She shoved her hair back. “Will he think it’s too much like a wedding dress and run for the hills?”
“Depends. You still haven’t told me who your date is. They pair you up, like my school did last year, right?”
“Not exactly. But you didn’t answer my question.”
“No guy on a first date will worry about the wedding thing. Not unless he’s an idiot.”
“What if it wasn’t a first date?”
“It looks fantastic with your tan. And there’s nothing frilly about it.” He liked how she looked in it, a lot, but then he’d think that if she was wearing an old sack. She was like the other half of him. The half he liked best. “You’ve dated this guy before?”
She looked away.
“Who is he?”
“Um, I haven’t asked him yet. I’m afraid he’ll turn me down.”
“No guy is going to turn down an opportunity to go to a dance with you. You’re a knockout, Sky, and even though you never notice, I’ve seen the guys stare.” And he didn’t mind them looking, because he knew she loved him as much as he loved her. Did he hate that some guy he didn’t know was going to be her prom date? Yep. But he’d get over it. Didn’t have much choice, did he?
Their eyes met in the mirror and the lightbulb went on.
“Would you be my prom date, James?”
His heart pounded and time stood still. “How old will you be on prom night?”
“Eighteen.”
“Your mom’s right, it’s important to go. But how would you feel about a long drive afterwards? Like across state line. It would be a shame to waste that white dress, and we could find a justice of the peace.” He took her hand and waited for her answer.
“If you’re asking what I think you’re asking, you need to do a better job of it.”
He laughed. “Will you marry me? Elope?” She looked as stunned as he felt.
“On one condition.”
“And that would be?”
“If I have to wear the fancy dress, you have to wear a tux.”
Shit. He glanced around the store. Not likely to find one here. “I’ll rent one.”
“Deal.” She flung her arms around his neck, and he kissed her until he thought waiting until their wedding night was going to be a challenge.
“Steed’s five minutes out.” Credit to his steely nerves he didn’t jump, even though Broughton’s voice had jolted him out his thoughts. Memories.
Good ones, for a change.