Ace slipped through the door, his gun drawn in preparation for whatever he might encounter. He hadn’t expected to find baby dolls flying through the air. He ducked just in time to avoid the first one, but the second clipped his left shoulder.
He started to return fire only to see his target was the man whose photos appeared in the back of his favorite novels, one of the people he was here to save.
“Knock it off,” Ace called to him. “I’m on your side.”
“I’ve heard that before.” Jake hurled another doll through the air in a blur of pink.
Ace ducked just as Xi Cheng popped into view and a gunshot whizzed past his right ear. Ace dropped to his knee and pulled the trigger of his own weapon.
Cheng fell with a thud to the floor.
Jake must have changed his mind about Ace’s loyalties, because he called out, “On your left!”
He rolled to his right as two more gunshots sounded. Another doll flew through the air, this one wearing purple. Ace sighted Owen, whose attention was torn between Jake and him. Ace squeezed off a shot, once more hitting where he aimed.
Owen crumpled to the floor with a groan of pain, and Ace quickly closed the distance between them to disarm him. The loss of blood indicated the bullet had hit an artery, and already the man was fading out of consciousness. Ace couldn’t worry about whether the man would live or die. He had other lives that had to take priority at the moment.
“Get the other one’s gun,” Ace called out to Jake.
Jake did as he was told, his voice unsteady when he called out, “I think he’s dead.”
“Where’s Charlotte?” Ace asked, then quickly corrected himself. “Hannah. Where’s Hannah?”
“The storage room in the back.”
Ace didn’t give Jake time to give any further explanation. He raced in the direction Jake had indicated, hearing the other man’s footsteps pounding right behind him.
* * *
Tears filled Charlotte’s eyes when she heard the gunshots followed by silence. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened.
“There’s always the chance a doctor could still help him,” Phil said with the same tone one might use when scolding a small child. “It’s up to you now to decide if he gets that chance.”
The urge to run to Jake, to find out if he was indeed still breathing, was so strong she nearly followed it despite the gun barrel still pressed to her head. Phil’s hand gripping her shoulder ultimately prevented her from following through.
Her eyes stared straight ahead, the computer screen blurring in front of her. She was going to die. It was possible Jake was already dead. She put her fingers on the keyboard and started to type in a password.
“That’s more like it.”
Thoughts and memories merged together as she took a deep breath, a breath that was likely her last. She hit the enter key, and the grip on her shoulder tightened painfully when the computer screen displayed a familiar flashing image: “System override. Failsafe system initiated.”
“No!”
A gunshot echoed through the small room, and blood splattered onto the screen. Charlotte heard her own scream and felt the moisture of blood on the back of her neck and arms, but it took her a second to realize she was still alive.
“Hannah!” The sound of Jake’s voice shocked her enough to cause her to push out of her chair and turn. Immediately behind her, Phil’s body was crumpled on the floor, blood pooling beneath it.
Her knees nearly gave way at the sight, her surprise heightening further when she saw Ace standing in the doorway beside Jake. Relief and surprise fused with her lingering adrenaline and fear and spilled over as tears.
The intensity in Jake’s expression appeared to mirror her own emotions. He swept into the room, taking her unwounded hand and tugging her toward him. Then he was hugging her so fiercely she could barely breathe.
She was vaguely aware of Ace checking Phil for a pulse, but she kept her eyes averted from the man she had been so certain was going to kill her. “Where are the other two?”
“One’s dead, and the other is wounded,” Ace said. “Kade is only a few minutes behind me. He’ll coordinate with the local authorities and our friends at Langley.”
Her good arm still gripping Jake around the waist, Charlotte shifted to face him. “Phil said there was a possible friendly fire scenario between a CIA operative and a group of Navy SEALs. He showed me a signal on his phone that it was supposed to happen a few minutes ago. Any truth to that?”
“I doubt it,” Ace said, “but I’ll have Kade check it out. Most likely he set up a fake signal. He would have the tech skills to do it.”
Charlotte faced him more fully now. “How in the world did you find us?”
“I followed the images from the camera you put on the front of their car.”
“I didn’t put a camera on their car.”
“Actually, that was me,” Jake said.
“What? How?” Charlotte asked.
“I grabbed one when I picked that fight with Cheng.”
Understanding dawned. “You lost on purpose and pretended to trip when he was dragging you toward the car.”
“Yeah. I put a hand on the car by the headlight and hoped someone would figure out where we were.”
“That was brilliant,” Charlotte said, impressed.
“It really was,” Ace agreed. He reached out a hand, and Jake released Charlotte long enough to shake it. “You may never know how many lives you saved tonight. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.”
“I’m just glad it all worked out.” He glanced at Phil’s body. “For us, anyway.”
Ace squatted down and looked at the face of the man he’d shot and killed. “At least now we know where the leak came from.”
“I thought it was from Owen Werthcamp.”
“Owen knew about the guardian program from his father, but I couldn’t figure out how he’d been able to use that information to find your dad.” Ace straightened before he continued. “This is Phil Campbell, the NSA liaison to Senator Spalding’s office.”
“I thought the senator didn’t use any of his staff when dealing with our funding or anything else regarding the guardians.”
“He doesn’t. My guess is this guy got a job with the senator for the express purpose of gaining access to the senator’s private files.”
“How long has he been working for the senator?” Jake asked.
“Five years, give or take.”
“That’s a long time to wait for gaining access.”
“Senator Spalding had a bout with pneumonia a few months ago. I’m guessing that’s when Phil finally managed to find what he was looking for.”
“Do you think he had anyone else working with him?”
“I don’t know. That will be one of our top priorities once we go back online: to send someone in to find out.”
Charlotte looked back down at the man’s body and shuddered.
“Come on. Let’s get you out of here,” Ace said, leading them from the room and into the store. The displays looked like a tornado had hit; toys were scattered everywhere.
The front door opened, and Charlotte braced herself. A breath of relief escaped her when she saw Kade walk in.
“You’ve got one wounded over there, assuming he’s still alive,” Ace told him, not bothering with a greeting.
Kade immediately began tending to the unconscious man. “I’ve already got an ambulance on the way. You’d better get out of here.”
“Can you handle the cleanup on your own?”
“Yeah,” Kade said. “I have a friend from CIA who owes me a favor. She’ll be here in a few minutes, and she’ll help me create the cover story for the authorities.”
“The guardian equipment is in a back room. I want to get it up and running first thing tomorrow morning,” Ace said. “Also, check to see if we have any Navy SEALs on the move tonight, going after an al-Qaeda cell.”
“I’ll take care of it. Where do you want to meet?”
“Charlottesville. I’ll call you with a location later tonight.” Ace passed by Kade, leading Charlotte and Jake outside. A few minutes later, they were all in his car, and Charlotte prayed she and Jake would be able to leave the nightmares of today behind.