Reyna brought two cups of coffee over to the table and handed Jase one.
“Thanks.” He smiled up at her appreciatively. After their narrow escape from the thugs outside of Aspen Grove, his adrenaline was working overtime. He was desperate to get back to Aaron’s place and find out the contents of the encrypted file.
While Reyna settled down beside him, Jase grabbed one of the extra burner phones he’d stashed in his backpack and video conferenced Aaron to explain what had happened at the coffee shop.
“I can’t believe it,” Aaron said. “That’s incredible. Let’s hope whatever’s in this file will put the pieces of the puzzle together, because so far, I have no idea what’s going on.”
“You’re not the only one.” Jase inserted the drive into the laptop and sat back, amazed. “It looks like there are several files contained within the one.” He clicked the first file. The second it opened, he realized it was going to be a long day.
“What are those?” Reyna asked, her eyes widening in surprise when she saw the numbers.
Jase stared at what appeared to be a page of numbers grouped in sets of twos and then it hit him what he was looking at. “They’re longitude and latitude coordinates. Hang on a second, Aaron. I need to check something on my phone.”
He typed the first coordinate into the phone. “It brought up a location in Islamabad, Pakistan,” he told Aaron. “Nowadays, Islamabad is a dangerous place. Terrorist groups are vying for control of the city.”
“Do you think the coordinates are leading to where the weapons are being stored?” Reyna asked.
“Maybe,” Jase said doubtfully. Something about that theory didn’t add up. He brought up another coordinate and then it dawned on him. “They’re the locations of US embassies.”
Reyna shook her head. “I don’t understand the significance.”
Jase didn’t, either.
“Why isn’t the military going after the missing weapons more aggressively?” Reyna asked in frustration. “Besides the cost factor of losing so many weapons, I can’t imagine what would happen if they were to be used against us.”
The thought was sobering. “It could be...catastrophic,” Jase said, and opened the next file. It took him a few seconds to accept what he was seeing. “I can’t believe it. Aaron, I’m looking at a list of CIA safe houses across Afghanistan.” How had such confidential files come to be on the laptop? The implication was terrifying. Had someone within the CIA supplied the information?
“The CIA strictly guards those locations,” Aaron put in. “Their agents’ lives depend on it. So how did it end up in the hands of a possible terrorist?”
“That, my friend, is the million-dollar question.” Jase’s pulse pounded at the possibility of someone from the CIA being corrupt.
He opened the third file. “Oh, man, I can’t believe what I’m seeing,” he said in shock. “Aaron, it’s a list of CIA agents working in Afghanistan.” Jase recognized many of the names on the list. He’d worked with them personally.
It took a second for Aaron to answer. “Brother, that doesn’t sit well with me.”
Jase opened the next file and what it contained was even more shocking. “It’s a list of foreign assets the CIA has cultivated since the war began. If the names fell into the wrong hands these people’s lives could be in jeopardy.”
Aaron let out a long whistle. “Sounds like Eddie may have uncovered a possible mole within the CIA.”
Shocked, Reyna turned to Jase. “Do you really think that’s true?”
“As much as I don’t want to believe it, I think Aaron may be right.” Jase opened the next file, which didn’t seem to fit with the rest. He frowned as he stared at the information. “Oh, wow. I’ve seen this type of document before. When I was active, we used to get these updated lists on a weekly basis.”
He showed the document to Aaron. “It’s a list of the CIA’s top ten terrorists operating around the world—several in the area where Eddie died. It has their aliases along with where they are supposed to be operating. Their lieutenants. Even the names of their family members. This information could be a valuable commodity to someone. The question is, who?”
“You think we have a new player in the game? Someone who the CIA doesn’t know about yet?” Aaron asked. “Someone wanting to take down the rest of these guys?”
Jase hesitated. “It’s possible, but I’d say it’s more likely one of these guys on the list is gathering the information.” He scanned the list of names. Several were dead or had been captured. Most didn’t have the influence to bribe someone in the CIA to help them with their plot. He had an uneasy feeling this was the handiwork of one man in particular.
Jase opened another file and the contents all but confirmed the truth. Someone was planning a major attack.
“What are those?” Reyna queried as she looked at the information before them.
Jase blew out a sigh. “It’s a list of the same US embassies across Europe I just looked at. Only this time the document has blueprints for the secret emergency exits and how to disarm the security systems. Other than the Pentagon, only high-ranking embassy personnel and the CIA detail attached to the embassy would have access to these.” Turning toward Reyna, he gave her a grim look. “Aaron’s right. Someone in the CIA is leaking this information. That explains Eddie’s warning in the letter. I’m guessing the only reason the information hasn’t been used yet is because it hasn’t gotten into the hands of its prospective buyer. I believe we have Eddie to thank for that.”
Reyna stared at him wide eyed. “I can’t believe it.”
“There’s only one person I can think of who has enough power to either turn or blackmail a CIA agent,” he said, pointing to the first name on the list. “This has to be the work of the Fox. He’s planning on taking out the competition so that he can have full control of the area.”
Nodding, Aaron confirmed what Jase had just said.
“Who’s the Fox?” Reyna asked innocently.
“Only the CIA’s most deadly terrorist leader working today,” Jase told her. “He operates one of the largest cells in the world. The Agency has been tracking him for years and yet he is always just one step ahead of them. And he just happens to be the one the CIA believes was responsible for Lena’s death.”
“That’s horrible,” Reyna breathed the words aloud.
Jase considered the possibilities. What if the person who compiled the lists had intended to sell them to the Fox? The information contained there would be an invaluable asset to him. He thought about what he knew about the Fox. The man was crafty, he’d give him that.
“Why is he called the Fox?” Reyna asked curiously.
Jase ran a hand over the back of his neck. “The CIA nicknamed him that because of his ability to keep his identity secret. No one had ever seen him. He has countless safe houses spread out across several continents. He’s gotten good at operating in the cloak of anonymity. He has hundreds of soldiers doing his bidding so that he doesn’t have to get his hands dirty,” he said with disgust. “The CIA discovered that once a soldier fulfills his mission, the Fox has them killed. His identity is kept hidden with the blood of his followers.”
Reyna stared at him in horror. “He sounds ghastly. I can’t believe anyone would follow such a person.”
That was something Jase couldn’t wrap his mind around, either. How did bad people like the Fox end up having followers who would give up their lives for him? “It’s unbelievable, I know.” He tried to make sense of what they’d uncovered so far. “So, if the Fox were the intended target for the information, the damage he could do would be astronomical.”
“It makes sense in some weird way. Why not take out the competition and gather enough information on the CIA operatives to either kill them or avoid the areas where they operate?” Aaron surmised.
Unfortunately, Jase had to agree. He remembered something he’d read after he moved to Defiance. It was about the death of one of the men named on the list of terrorists. The CIA suspected he might have been executed by a rival terrorist group.
“Not to mention exact retribution on the assets cooperating with the CIA,” he added. It certainly seemed to add up, but it was still just a working theory. They were missing a key piece of the puzzle: How did Eddie get the laptop and who had compiled it?
Jase scrolled down through the list of agent names and realized there was another page. His fingers froze on the mouse when he saw one name in particular. His. He was on the hit list.
Reyna leaned over his shoulder and saw what he did. Her hand shot to her mouth. “They’ve known you were alive all this time? Why didn’t they come after you before now?”
Stunned, he shook his head, his thoughts jumbled. “I’m sure they tried. But without knowing the alias I was using, they wouldn’t be able to find me.”
“Until I led them right to you.” She came to the same conclusion he did.
He squeezed her hand. “This isn’t your fault. This has been in the works since long before you found me.”
“If they’ve been looking for you all these years, they won’t give up easily. These men are hard-core assassins,” Aaron said in amazement.
Jase pointed to the name below his. “Kyle’s name is here, as well. Aaron, he’s my former handler. They know he lives outside DC. They even mention his sister’s name. And the thing is, I haven’t heard from Kyle in a long time, and when Reyna tried to reach out to him, he never called back.”
“You think something’s happened to him?” Aaron asked in concern.
“I don’t know.” His fears for Kyle’s safety doubled. He couldn’t believe all this time they’d been hunting him and Kyle.
“I’m sorry, Jase. I hope you’re wrong. Is there anyone else? We need to get you two out of there as soon as possible,” Aaron told them. “If the Fox is behind this plot, you are both in serious danger. The people chasing you can’t afford to let you live even if they get the laptop back. It’ll be your life or theirs.”
Jase could feel Reyna’s uneasiness growing and he understood why. “Jase, we can’t. Remember Eddie’s warning...”
He took her hands in his. “You’re absolutely right. Eddie had his reasons for not wanting you to trust anyone from the government, but we need help...and I need you to trust me.”
He could see all her misgivings in her expressive green eyes. After what felt like the longest moment in his life, she lifted her shoulders in defeat. “I do trust you. I trust you completely.”
“Thank you,” he said humbly while reciting a silent prayer that his trust in his former employers wouldn’t end up costing them their lives.
A thought occurred to him. “Even if something did happen to Kyle, I believe the secure email address he gave me to use in an emergency will still be monitored for any activity. I know Kyle. He’ll have a backup plan in place.” He gave Aaron the email address. “When you contact him, type this message. ‘Need something removed. Can you suggest a surgeon?’”
Aaron jotted it down and then promised, “I’ll do it right after we hang up.”
Next to him, Reyna tried to stifle a yawn. He glanced at his watch, amazed to find it was almost midnight. They’d been at it for hours. He was exhausted. He knew Reyna must be, too.
“Keep working, Jase. Let’s pray something key will jump out. I’ll try and get in contact with your former handler. In the meantime, I’ll see if my friend Tim, who lives near Eldorado, can get you to a safer location for the time being. There’s a landline phone on the desk in the corner. Tim’s number is posted next to it. You can reach him anytime that way and it’ll be the most secure way to talk. Take care of yourselves. I’d say get some rest, but we both know you need to connect the dots on those files soon or...”
Jase understood what his friend had left unsaid. His and Reyna’s time was running out.
Reyna lay in bed struggling to fall asleep, but it was an elusive hope. She couldn’t get Jase out of her head no matter how hard she tried and she just didn’t understand it.
She shoved her fist against her forehead. “Stop it.” The only thing happening between them was just the raw emotions coming to a boiling point for two people caught up in a desperate situation. Facing life and death, things came to the surface. Old longings...
The word stuck in her head. Longings? Why had she thought that? Jase was just trying to protect her out of a sense of loyalty to Eddie. He’d kissed her that one time because... Well, it certainly didn’t feel like a man trying to comfort a woman and neither did her reaction to it. No point in denying she was attracted to Jase. Rugged, blond haired and a bit rough around the edges, he was so completely opposite Eddie in looks but so much like him in personality. They were cut from the same cloth. All the more reason she couldn’t let her fascination with Jase get in the way of figuring out the truth. She owed Eddie that and so much more.
Reyna stared out the window at the night sky darkened by clouds. She felt as dreary as the world outside. She rolled on her side.
The snow reminded her of the last Christmas she and Eddie spent together. They had gone to the Wintergreen Resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains. They’d stayed in a little cabin. It snowed the whole time they were there. It had been wonderful.
She smiled at the memory. For a time during that trip, he’d been like the old Eddie. Carefree. Happy. He’d actually laughed. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him so content.
Reyna closed her eyes. Then he’d left and she didn’t see him again until he came home on leave after his mother passed away from cancer. She barely recognized him he’d changed so dramatically.
To this day, she didn’t understand why he gave up on the CIA. She had begged him to tell her why he wanted to leave. He still worked in the Clandestine Service division, but he was home every night. Why would he want to go back to a war zone? Eddie refused to talk to her about it. He’d just told her it was something he had to do.
None of her husband’s actions before his death added up. After he went back on tour, every time she spoke to him he sounded more afraid than the time before, and it was as if a little bit more of Eddie disappeared with every mission.
She stared at the wall in front of her. She was so confused. She loved Eddie, and yet she felt something for Jase. Was it just because of the circumstances they faced...or did her feelings run deeper? At this point, she wasn’t sure which she wished for the most.
A noise shook him from a light sleep. Jase had fallen asleep on the sofa in the great room. He didn’t remember lying down, he’d been so exhausted.
He sat up quickly and listened. It was a phone ringing. Someone was calling on the landline.
Jase went to the desk and picked up the receiver. Before he could answer, a man’s voice came on the line.
“My name is Tim and I’m a friend of Aaron’s.” There was no mistaking the panic in Tim’s voice.
“Is something wrong?” Jase asked in concern.
“Yes. I’ve been monitoring the ham radio for a while and you need to get out of there. They’re coming for you,” Tim warned. “They know where you are at. I’ve been trying to get to you for a couple of hours but I finally gave up. There are roadblocks everywhere and I just overheard a message come across one of the channels. They’re broadcasting the latitude and longitude coordinates for Aaron’s place. They’ll be there soon. Get out of there now.” Outside, a loud noise drew Jase’s attention from what the other man was saying. It sounded like...a chopper.
“They’re here now.”
“Okay, listen to me carefully,” Tim said urgently. “Aaron has a four-wheeler stashed in the red barn at the far corner of the place. If you can reach it, head east. The easiest place to cross the mountain is there. You won’t be able to make it all the way over on the four-wheeler, but it’ll give you a head start.” He paused to catch his breath. “Once you summit, there’s a ranch in the valley about five miles on the other side. It’s owned by an older couple, Don and Linda Warren. Tell them Aaron sent you. They’ll help you. They’re good Christian folks.”
Jase abruptly dropped the receiver back into its cradle and glanced up the stairs. Reyna stood at the top of them, fully dressed with the tote slung on her shoulder and fear etched all over her lovely face. She took the stairs two at a time. “What is that?” she said in a panicked tone.
He raced to the door and jerked it open. Then he stepped out onto the front porch and listened. In the distance was the sound of chopper blades cutting through the thin mountain air. He’d been right. They were almost here.
He slammed the door shut. “A chopper, and it’s close. They’ve found us. We have to leave right now. Are you ready?”
“Yes, I’m ready.”
“That’s my girl.” He managed a weak smile for her sake. After he stuffed the laptop bag inside his backpack, they hurried out the back door. The chopper was almost right on top of the house now. He could see the barn up ahead of them. Just a few more yards. “We’re almost there,” he yelled over the noise.
Reyna stared up at the sky. “I don’t understand how they keep finding us.”
“That’s a good question.” It was something that puzzled Jase, as well. Had they run every single Jeep in the state of Colorado as Aaron suggested? It was a long shot that he didn’t buy. But, if not, how could they have known to search near Aaron’s place? He’d destroyed both their phones. There would be no way to track her unless...
The bag.
Other than the watch, which, according to Reyna, hadn’t left her possession, it was the only thing left that she’d brought with her. Jase grabbed her bag, dumped the contents and quickly searched through each item. There was nothing out of the ordinary. He picked up the bear key chain and examined it closely. On the bottom of the animal it looked as if someone had cut a hole in it. Jase ripped it open and found what he was looking for. A small tracking device. He yanked it out.
“That’s how they found us. It wasn’t your phone after all. They planted a tracking device on your key chain. You said they searched your house. They must have done it then.” He tossed the device into a snowbank.
“Then why didn’t they find us before now? Especially since we’ve been at Aaron’s cabin for a while?” Reyna asked, perplexed as they continued to walk at a fast pace.
“The mountains have a way of playing havoc with signals, especially when the weather turns ugly like it has recently. They probably couldn’t pick up the signal until now.” Jase glanced up as the chopper’s light found them and followed their every move. He grabbed her hand. “Run, Reyna. We have to get to that barn over there where Aaron stored his four-wheeler. It’s our only chance to escape.”
They had barely cleared the front of the workshop when the sky lit up like lightning and the earth around them rumbled and shook, then exploded with shock and awe.
The dust and debris from the explosion mushroomed in all directions, covering everything in an ash-gray veil. Reyna couldn’t see more than the distance of her hand in front of her.
Jase.
She stumbled to her feet. Fear pumped adrenaline through her body. She’d lost sight of him in the chaos that had ensued after the explosion from above had propelled her backward some ten feet in the air. It reduced the garage and workshop that was behind the house to a pile of rubble in a matter of seconds. Reality settled in. She and Jase should be dead.
Pain shot up her arm. Her wrist was severely sprained and swelling by the second. Her hair was matted with blood, and she was scraped and bleeding in several places, but she was alive and in one piece.
She ignored her pain. All she could think about was finding Jase. As the dust began to settle, she spotted him lying in a crumpled heap a few feet behind her. She ran to his side.
“Jase!” He was bloody and lying at an awkward angle. The blast had embedded bits of shrapnel in his face. Reyna shook him hard and he opened his eyes.
“Are you hurt? Can you move?” She did a cursory exam of his limbs. Nothing was broken.
“I’ll be okay,” he rasped. “We have to reach the barn, Reyna—” Before he could finish, a series of explosions rocked the earth beneath them, taking out the barn. She screamed as it went up in a blaze of fire.
Reyna covered Jase’s body with hers until the immediate danger had passed.
They stared at the raging inferno that had now become their world.
“Jase, they took out our only means of transportation,” she whispered in dismay.
“We have to keep going. We can’t give up. We can’t let them win.”
He struggled to stand and Reyna draped his arm over her shoulder and slowly helped him to his feet. He leaned heavily against her.
The chopper circled back around and began to search the ground below.
“We have to reach that tree coverage over there. They won’t be able to find us in it. Thankfully, the backpack survived the explosions.” Jase grabbed it and heaved it onto his shoulder, and then he noticed the way Reyna cradled her injured wrist against her body. “You’re hurt.” He touched her wrist and pain blurred her vision.
“It’s just a sprain,” she said through gritted teeth. “Let’s keep going.”
He obviously didn’t believe her, but their options were limited.
The chopper’s light continued to pan the surrounding area. It found them and honed in.
“Run, Reyna,” Jase grabbed her uninjured arm and urged her toward the trees while the spotlight mirrored their every move.
They reached the edge of the tree line as a round of bullets fired from an automatic weapon whizzed past their heads, kicking up the ground around them. Reyna shrieked and Jase pulled her along behind him into the thick trees. He glanced up at the chopper, which had temporarily lost sight of them in the dense growth. “It’s looking for a place to land. They’ll have troops on the ground within minutes. Reyna, there’s only one way out of here. We’ll have to cross over that mountain.” He nodded toward the looming monster before them.
Traversing the mountain meant they’d be facing even more treacherous weather conditions, including subfreezing temperatures, and Reyna would be going into it with an injured wrist.
She drew in a breath. The pain in her wrist had become excruciating. “Do you have something we can use as a sling? That will help keep it immobile.”
Jase quickly took off his jacket and ripped part of the liner out, then tied it around her neck in a makeshift sling. “Better?”
“Much. Thanks.” It actually was. She’d do what she had to do, bear the pain with as much grace as she could, because she wanted to bring Eddie’s killers to justice.
“Let’s keep moving. It’s our only chance. As cold and as miserable as the weather is, it’s probably the only reason we’re not in custody or dead by now,” Jase said.
God had been watching out for them. They were truly blessed to be alive.
“At least we shouldn’t have to worry about them tracking us. We just have to get across that mountain somehow. There’s an older couple on the other side who can help us.”
That would be the hardest challenge of all. Reyna peered back over her shoulder at the death trap they’d narrowly escaped. She could see the lights of what she assumed were four-wheelers coming their way. There were men on foot, also.
Jase saw it, too. “Listen to me,” he said with a raw urgency in his tone. “We have to stay one step ahead of them long enough to find out the names of the killers and bring them to justice. Can you make the hike?”
She tried to sound more confident than she felt. “Yes, I’ll keep up.”
He managed a weary smile. “Good. This looks like the spot Tim mentioned. It should be the easiest place to cross. We can’t afford to use any lights so it won’t be easy.”
“It doesn’t matter. Let’s get out of here.” She couldn’t stand looking at the carnage behind them any longer.
Something akin to admiration flashed in his eyes and he smiled. “Okay. This way.”
On the other side of the mountain range was another set of problems. Where could they possibly run that these people wouldn’t find them?
Reyna wasn’t sure which was the lesser of two evils. Staying and facing the traitors behind them or summiting that mountain range. She prayed they weren’t signing their death certificates.