25

 

Katie scanned the straight stretch of highway behind them. “There’s no one following us, Josh. I’m calling Peterson now. We need protection and we’ve got to get the FBI involved to shut down this operation before they pull the trigger.”

“The cat’s out of the bag, Kate. It might force the terrorists to start the attack now. But Peterson’s not going to be happy about—”

“I know.” She paused before pushing the call button. “I’ve never so blatantly disobeyed his orders.”

“What about at Key Arena?”

“That was different. But I did point the business end of an AK-47 at him once.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Josh glanced at her. “You’re not, are you?”

“No. But somehow crossing the border into Canada seems a lot worse.”

“It wouldn’t if you were the person on the business end of the assault rifle. Just call him, Kate. We’re only about five minutes from the border.”

She pushed the call button and waited for the reaction of a man whose disobedient understudy was waking him at 1:30 AM to deliver the wonderful news about her violation of his orders, and an imminent terrorist attack that could kill millions of people. Katie shuddered as she pressed the green call icon.

Four rings and she hadn’t been transferred to voicemail yet. After the fifth rang, a raspy, sleep-filled voice spoke. “Peterson…and this had better be really important, Katie, or—”

“Just listen for a minute. You can get mad and do anything you want afterward. But hear me out first.”

The voice went from sleep filled to sharp edged. “I’m listening.”

“Josh and I detected more terrorist communications.”

“But you promised—”

“And you promised you would listen, first.”

“Blast it! Katie can’t you ever…” There was a long pause. “OK. I’m listening.”

Katie took a deep breath and explained how she and Josh had found the Whistler duo in Burnaby. “There were indications they were switching to a peer-to-peer network for communications and that they were going to launch the attack. The only way we could determine the nature of the attack was to—”

“To hack them.” Peterson growled. “I’m the godfather of two cute twins and a world-class hacker.”

Katie decided to wait for him to end his rant before she dropped the bomb.

“Just tell it to me plain, Katie. What have you done, and what did you find out?”

“I got on the Wi-Fi and—”

“Wi-Fi? Where are you, Katie?”

“Headed south on Highway 13 about three miles from the Lynden border crossing.”

“Blast it all to blazes! You’re in Canada! I’ll have you arrested at the border—”

“Not unless you hurry. At the speed Josh is driving—”

“Are you being chased?”

“We were. But when they pulled out an assault rifle, Josh—”

A loud expletive blasted through her cell phone. She jerked it away from her ear. “We got away…at least for the moment.”

“Stop at the border, Katie. I’ll call them and have you two protected there.”

“But the scale of the attack is—”

“Tell me about it when I get there. I’m taking the chopper. I’ll be at the Lynden crossing in about an hour and a half. Can it wait that long?”

“Yes. We can wait that long, but not any longer.”

“Good. When you reach the border, don’t leave. Mind the police. I’ve got to call them now.” Before the call ended, she heard Peterson muttering something about handcuffs.

Josh used both hands to steer through a sharp curve, and then took her hand. “It didn’t go well, did it?”

“Actually, I thought it went really well. All except for the stuff he mumbled about handcuffs.”

“Great! They’re going to arrest us at the border. If that happens, you can forget your career with the FBI.”

She looked at Josh and flashed him a smile. “That’s exactly why it won’t happen. Peterson wouldn’t end my career before it even started. He’s the one who promised me a job.”

“One of these days, Kate…” He squeezed her hand, “…you’re not going to escape from one of your escapades smelling like a rose.”

She returned his hand squeeze. “I’ve never been into roses. Sweet, white lilies maybe, but—there’s the border. Better get in the middle lane. And let me handle the police.”

“Yeah. No way big, old, dumb Joshua West could handle them.”

“I think a sweet young woman will evoke more sympathy.” She grinned at him.

He gave her a coy smile in return. “You’re sweet, Kate. Very sweet.” He pulled up to the guard station. “But, despite that, you’ll have to pretend really hard to look innocent.” Josh rolled down the window. “Good luck.”

Kate was already out of the car and walking to the guard’s window…and drawing a serious scowl from the man in the booth.