Charity was holding her phone out toward O’Neill. “Agent O’Neill, there’s a phone call for you.”
Remaining motionless, O’Neill flicked his eyes toward the phone and then leveled them at her. He curled his eyebrows downward before returning to his standoff with Hardy.
Charity lifted the phone higher. “Trust me. You’re going to want to take it.”
After several tense seconds, O’Neill relaxed his body, stood straight and snatched the phone out of her hand. Glaring at Hardy, O’Neill pointed at him. “This isn’t over.” He stormed away, speaking into the phone. “This is Agent O’Neill.”
Charity took a couple steps forward, spun around and faced Hardy, grinning. “Oh, I think it’s over.”
Hardy broke his stare with the back of O’Neill’s head to study Charity. “What did you do, Cherry?”
“While you three were exchanging insults,” she raised her eyebrows at Dahlia before including Hardy and Cruz, “and picking fights, I thought it best to go over Agent O’Neill’s head…way over his head.”
Everyone stared at her.
She motioned toward O’Neill. “Listen,” she said.
Hardy, Cruz and Dahlia trained their ears on O’Neill’s conversation.
“Yes, sir, Mr. President...Yes, sir…I understand, sir…No…I will…Yes, Mr. President…Yes, sir—” O’Neill took the phone away from his ear to see the screen. He put the phone back to his ear. “Mr. President?” The Commander in Chief had ended the call without any formalities. O’Neill stared at the phone, while he made his way back to Hardy.
Before O’Neill was within earshot, Hardy smiled at Charity. “Nice,” he said, to which Cruz and Dahlia echoed similar assents.
O’Neill had not stopped staring at the phone. “I don’t know who the hell you people are, but I’ve just been ordered by the President of the United States to assist you in any way possible.” He stuck out his arm toward Charity, her phone in his hand. When she had taken the device, he crossed his arms over his chest. “What can I do for you folks?”
Hardy could see it was taking every ounce of O’Neill’s willpower to be polite. To his credit, he was succeeding. Not wanting the situation to deteriorate again, Hardy was respectful. He pointed toward the building. “Agent O’Neill, I need to get in there and have a look around.” He wagged his finger and examined the scene. “Can you tell me what agencies are here as well as what happened?”
O’Neill motioned with his arm for Hardy and his team to follow him. “Let’s walk. I can fill you in on the way.” He took a few steps, heading for the shop. “I’m with the Department…”
Hardy asked Charity to inform the Hostage Rescue Team to stand down before he caught up with O’Neill. “I’m sorry, could you start over.”
O’Neill nodded and began again. “I’m with the Department of Homeland Security and these are my men. I was told an hour ago that Ashar Yamadi was hiding in this store with two hostages. I got the order to go in, take him out and rescue the hostages, one of whom is the President’s daughter.”
“Was she in there? Do you have her?”
O’Neill shook his head. “Negative,” he said. “My men were met with resistance,” O’Neill paused and got the attention of one of his agents. Lifting up the badge around his neck with one hand, he held up four fingers from his other hand. When the agent nodded, O’Neill finished his sentence. “They swiftly took out the targets. There were no other casualties.”
“Who was killed?”
O’Neill glanced at Hardy. “If you’re asking if Yamadi was one of them,” he shook his head, “the answer is no. Neither of the men matches Yamadi’s description.”
“Who gave you your orders?”
“The Secretary, himself,” replied O’Neill. The group reached the front door of the store. “He wanted us to move quickly. I believe he used the words ‘hard and fast’ when he gave the orders.”
Hard and fast. Hardy could feel his pulse quickening, thinking of Secretary Gillespie and his decision to storm the building. Thank God, Abby was not here. She could have been killed in the crossfire. Gillespie was not thinking of the hostages. He was concerned only about his career and his standing with the President. Another example of a soldier turned politician.
Jogging, an agent approached from behind and gave O’Neill four ID badges. O’Neill handed one to Hardy, Cruz and Dahlia before giving the last one to the man standing guard at the door. “A woman in a red jacket and skirt will be here to get this. Let her though.”
Taking the badge, the man acknowledged his superior.
Once inside the shop, Hardy saw several agents shuffling around main showroom. Some held clipboards and were writing, while others had plastic bags, picking up items with their gloved hands and placing the items into the bags. Ahead of him, Hardy caught sight of two lumps on the floor, covered with white sheets. Squatting, he pulled back the sheet and examined the body. A few seconds later, he threw the sheet over the body and stood. He joined Cruz, who was inspecting the other corpse. When she confirmed it was not Yamadi, Hardy addressed O’Neill. “Have you found anything that might be useful?”
“Come with me.” O’Neill led everyone to the back of the store, through a doorway and down a flight of stairs. Once they were in the basement, he took them down a hallway, turned left and continued a short ways. Stopping at a door, he had a brief conversation with an agent before entering the room.