In the kitchen, Sarah explained the situation to Slim and his children. “When I first made the catering arrangements, I thought we’d just be feeding the wedding party, the general’s aides and the senator’s speechwriter, which is ten people. Then the band showed up and I added another three.”
“Si, trece,” Slim said. “Thirteen.”
“But now, the twins and the stripper are staying. So it’s sixteen. And, of course, you’re going to need to eat.”
“We can work it out,” Marisol assured her. “If you’ve got heavy drinkers, we might run short on wine. Otherwise, we’ll spread the portions around.”
“Feel free to use anything in the pantry,” Sarah said.
“We don’t like to get into our clients’ supplies,” Marisol said. “But we might need to, especially if we’re snowed in all day tomorrow.”
She didn’t even want to consider that possibility. If they were stuck here after Sunday, she’d claw her way out with her bare hands. Pasting on a smile, she turned to Emily, who she was dragging along with her to help with preparations. “Next problem is finding somewhere for everyone to sit. We’re going to be really crowded around the dining room table.”
“Send the band and the twins into the game room to eat,” she said. “I would say to send Honey with them, but the boys will drool all over her food.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Together, she and Emily arranged the dining table with her best china, a fragrant white rose centerpiece and several candles. Other candles were scattered around the room, creating a romantic glow as they glistened on the silver. Sarah stepped back and took a look at their handiwork. Beautiful! She remembered why they were here: to witness a wedding. Rituals were important, even more so in the presence of danger and threat.
“I’m so happy for you, Emily.”
“It’s really pretty, isn’t it? I’m glad we didn’t run off to Vegas.”
If this had been a more typical wedding, this fancy dinner would have come after the rehearsal for the ceremony. But they didn’t have a justice of the peace, and the ceremony wasn’t going to be anything more than Emily and Jeremy stating vows they had written while Ollie and the Dewdrops played in the background. Not much practice was required.
Blake and Jeremy strode into the dining room together. Both wore guns at their hips. Their matching expressions were preoccupied and concerned and aggressively masculine.
“Ladies,” Blake said, “is everything under control?”
“I believe so,” Sarah answered.
Emily checked her wristwatch. “We have just enough time to dress for dinner.”
Sarah didn’t want to bother. “I can wear this.”
“No way,” Emily said. “You had a spa day. Your nails are gorgeous. And you’re wearing makeup. You need to dress appropriately for a five-star dinner of crab cakes with a beet salad, beef bourguignon with fresh-made pasta, peas and pearl onions and chocolate mousse dessert.”
“Do you think the food will care if I wear jeans?”
“That’s fine if you wear a nice top,” Emily said. “I think the gray silk.”
The two couples went through the front room where the Dewdrops and the stripper were sitting by the fireplace waiting for the feast. Sarah wasn’t sure where the others were and wondered how Blake was keeping track of the suspects. Or if he had narrowed the list. While Jeremy escorted Emily into their room, she went with Blake into hers and closed the door.
As soon as they were alone, he held her and kissed her hard. The muscles in his arms tensed. Her breasts crushed against his hard chest. He held her so tightly that she could hardly take a breath, and she liked his strength. His fierce need matched hers. She wanted him.
All afternoon, she’d been pretending that nothing was wrong, and the strain of holding back her emotions was nearly unbearable. She was angry, furious that they were caught in this situation through no fault of their own. And she was scared, desperate to escape.
She wanted to absorb herself into Blake, to bring him inside her. There wasn’t enough time. They should get back to the others, to make sure they didn’t kill each other.
Forcibly, she disentangled her arms. Breathing in heavy gasps, she looked up at him. His blue eyes were on fire.
Hoping to lighten the mood, she reached for the tip of his nose. Before she could honk, he grasped her wrist. “Don’t,” he said. “I don’t want to relax. I need to stay alert.”
She didn’t argue. “What have you learned this afternoon? Who do you suspect?”
“Everybody,” he growled. “And nobody.”
“Frustrating.”
“You’re damned right it is.” He paced across her bedroom and sank into a chair by the small round table. “I’m inclined to let Ollie and the Dewdrops off the hook. We checked them out before we lost communication, and Kovak ran them through his criminal database. I guess there’s a chance that they’re using fake identities, but Alvardo has good sources.”
“His name comes up a lot,” she said. “Alvardo has the internet connections. He keeps track of the threats to the general. He’s like a big, fat spider sitting in the middle of his web.”
“I’m more suspicious of him than anyone else.” He flexed his shoulders and stretched. “Alvardo goes for a run every morning, which would be a time when he could sabotage the terminal or rendezvous with other conspirators. He could be using his internet connections to chat with just about anyone.”
“But he’s the general’s aide, a lieutenant.”
“A job he’s held for almost a year,” Blake said. “And he works at the Pentagon, which means he’s gone through some pretty intense security checks himself. If the threat is connected to any known terrorist organization, Alvardo isn’t a part of it. I can guarantee that.”
“And Maddox?”
“He has two older brothers who served under General Hamilton and credit the general’s leadership with saving their lives. Maddox fought to win his position as the general’s aide, and he says he’d do anything for him.”
“Do you believe him?”
Blake scowled as he considered. “My gut tells me that Maddox is loyal.”
“Your gut is good enough for me.” She crossed the room, sat on his lap and breathed into his ear. “Do we have time to make love before we join the others?”
“I’d like nothing more.” His hand cupped her breast. “Every time I see you, I want you.”
“I know.” She nipped his earlobe, agilely jumped from his lap and went to her closet. “Getting dressed for dinner seems ridiculous.”
“Come on, princess. You like being beautiful.”
She didn’t change out of her jeans or boots, figuring that if she was sitting at the table nobody would notice the lower half of her body. If she was up and running around, helping serve or fetching more wine, the jeans and boots were appropriate. Inside her closet, she yanked her sweater over her head. The gray silk blouse Emily had suggested flowed over her skin with a subtle whisper. She added a fitted, black velvet jacket for warmth.
She stepped out of the closet and posed for him. “Ta-da!”
“Nice,” he said.
She sashayed across the room toward him. “Give me one last kiss before I put on my lipstick.”
She heard a loud popping noise.
The lights went out.
* * *
IN NEARLY TOTAL DARKNESS, Blake leaped to his feet and reached out for her. The instant his hand made contact with her arm, he pulled her protectively against his chest. His gun was drawn.
“Wait,” she said. “Over here on the dresser, there’s a flashlight.”
He’d noticed the plastic flashlight. “Were you expecting a blackout?”
Taking his hand, she led him across the bedroom and picked up the flashlight, which she immediately turned on. “I thought with the phone lines down, the electricity might go next. I had the twins put flashlights all over the house.”
“What’s the procedure for when the power goes down?”
“I don’t know. It’s never happened when I was in charge. We should start in the basement. The fuse box and the generator are down there.”
Outside her bedroom, several people were calling out to each other. A flashlight beam appeared from across the hall, and Blake saw Emily and Jeremy.
“Stick with us,” Blake said. “Let’s get everybody rounded up and settled in the front room near the fireplace.”
With Sarah and Emily holding the flashlights, they climbed to the second floor and went down the hall to the general’s room. Jeremy knocked, “Dad? Are you in there?”
“We’re here,” Maddox answered for him. “Is it safe?”
Blake appreciated the caution. “We’re gathering everyone in the front room.”
The door cracked open and Maddox stepped back, his handgun held at the ready. The general, clad in his uniform with a chest full of ribbons and medals, stepped into the hallway. “What happened?”
Sarah answered, “A power line might have blown down.”
“I heard a snapping noise just before the lights went out. Have you checked for fire?”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Sarah said. “Blake, we need to get down to the basement right away.”
At the other end of the hall, the senator and Rebecca waved flashlights. “What’s going on?” Hank asked. “Is everyone all right?”
“Come with us,” Emily said.
From downstairs, they heard a huge crash, followed by a shout, a scream and another crash. Moving as quickly as possible, they descended the staircase. The beams of their flashlights showed the shattered remains of the beautifully set dining room table. Skip and one of the Dewdrops stood yelling at each other. It wasn’t clear which of them had stumbled first, but Sarah’s best china had taken the brunt of their clumsiness.
“Make sure all the candles are out,” Sarah ordered as she hurried through the dining room into the kitchen. He followed her into the mudroom and down the staircase into the basement. The pitch darkness in the windowless room was intense. Sarah’s thin flashlight beam barely made a difference.
“I don’t see a fire.” Relief was obvious in her voice. “We need more light down here.”
In his rental SUV, he had a heavy-duty, high-beam light, which he should have brought inside before the snow became impassable. “Didn’t you say you had camping gear stored down here?”
She turned her beam toward the shelves beyond the laundry area. “I have Coleman lanterns.”
Another flashlight beam shone down the staircase. One of the twins called down, “Have you checked the fuse box yet?”
“I need more light,” Sarah said. “Would you come down here and help me with these lanterns?”
They carried three lanterns and the container with fuel back up to the kitchen where the Ramirez family was trying to keep cooking with no stove and no burners. Blake left the twin and Sarah in the kitchen to prepare the lanterns and went to the front room where everyone had gathered.
A quick head count showed him that they were two short. In the weird illumination of the flashlights, he saw expressions of excitement, anger and confusion. “We’re missing two people—Ollie and Alvardo. Has anyone seen them?”
“Ollie was taking a nap upstairs,” said a Dewdrop. “Should I go look for him?”
Blake didn’t want to start sending people off on solo missions. “Go with John Reuben and Maddox. Find Ollie and bring him down here. Now, where’s Alvardo?”
“I was talking to him,” Honey said as she wrapped a multicolored shawl around her neck and shoulders. “Then the lights went off, and I don’t know where he went.”
They’d have to organize a search. Alvardo could have disappeared due to a perfectly logical reason, like falling and hitting his head. Or Alvardo could be lying in wait, taking advantage of this moment of confusion.
“When the boys get back with Ollie, we’ll search. In the meantime, make yourselves as comfortable as possible. We’ll try to get the generator working.”
Back in the kitchen, he was pleased to see all three lanterns with mantles burning brightly. He gave one to William Reuben. “Take this into the other room. Keep an eye on the people in there and don’t let anybody wander off.”
“Yes, sir.”
“We’ll leave another lantern in the kitchen,” he said.
“Gracias,” Slim said. “We can finish dinner.”
Blake gave the third lantern to Sarah and headed back toward the basement. The light flared brightly around them as they descended the staircase and crossed the concrete floor. When he touched her arm, he felt her tremble.
“It’s going to be all right,” he said.
“You don’t know that for sure.”
Her fear was natural, and her doubt. “I need for you to be strong.”
“I’ll do my best.”
He remembered how she’d handled their first chase and how she’d managed to climb down the rocks to rescue Franks. If anyone could hold it together in a tense situation, it was Sarah.
The door on the large metal fuse box hung open. Burn marks streaked across the concrete wall. Shards of plastic and metal wires scattered on the floor. From his years in the Middle East, Blake had dealt with a variety of bombs, and he recognized this setup. There had been a small, targeted explosion at the fuse box.
The blackout wasn’t a result of the power lines going down. The power had been deliberately sabotaged. Someone wanted them in the dark.