Steve crawled on his stomach to the edge of the ridge and lifted binoculars to his eyes. Mint and Bradley had positioned themselves away from him. They formed a grid that boxed David in and would allow them to tighten the noose. Steve didn’t care if the man walked away from this or not. It only mattered that they got Rachel back. That she was alive to be able to heal.
Adrian shuffled up beside him.
Below, in the few dwellings that remained here after the destruction so long ago, there was little movement. People had scattered. One resident had told them about the gunman and the woman with him who’d been tied up. Which structure were they in?
Steve said, “Update?”
The fed settled flat beside him. “An agent took a look at Rachel’s computer. There was a resignation letter on it, one we think Ellayna started typing to make it look like Rachel planned to leave.”
Steve said, “She would never give it all up.”
“I don’t know,” Adrian said. “Things have been crazy lately. Maybe she wanted to get out.”
Steve didn’t know, and couldn’t without talking to her. If they got her out of this, then he’d find out. “Whatever they had planned, it didn’t work. We weren’t fooled.”
The radio in Steve’s ear crackled. A woman’s voice. “I’m in position.”
“Copy that,” he replied to Megan.
Five of them. What was left of Double Down’s team, plus Adrian who refused to let them go without him.
“I figured you’d have stuck with her instead of me,” Steve said, considering Megan’s recent injuries. “Babysitting me so you can report back to the FBI?”
“What if I am? You want to skirt the lines of legality being here, am I really going to make much difference? I’m hardly a restraining force.”
Steve’s hold on restraint was thinning with every minute Rachel was down there. The only things that had held him together all these years, through countless missions and top secret operations, were his honor and a loose hold on morals. Lately he’d come back to the closer relationship with God he’d had when he’d been a chaplain.
But with Rachel now in danger, his tenuous hold on restraint was being tested. His faith was being tested. He wanted to walk down there, gun raised, and just shoot his way through whatever obstacles he faced. And he’d have done it, if he didn’t think David would put a bullet in Rachel’s head. Too many variables made the operation a tricky one. David had been trained as Steve had—to eliminate those variables as soon as they grew too out of control.
The quickest way to do that would be to kill her.
“I’m here to help,” Adrian said. “I know you don’t trust me—”
Steve shook his head. “I just don’t know you. But if Megan vouches for you, and I figure she does since you two are together, then that’s good enough for me.”
“So I get to stick by you just because I’m the unknown, then.”
That worked for Steve. “My team functions well because we know each other. You, I’ve never been on an op with.”
Adrian nodded. “That’s fair. I’m just here to help get Rachel back. Saving her is what we all want. Especially after what she’s been through.”
“She didn’t need this,” Steve muttered as he stared at the dwellings and waited for some sign of movement. An indication as to what was happening.
“That’s for sure.” Adrian blew out a breath. “Praying for her on the plane was good. But I’m ready to do more now.”
“I know what you mean.”
Prayer had been all they were able to do on the plane. Hours of waiting, what else was there to focus on than giving it all up to God and asking Him for wisdom? It had helped them not feel useless, like they weren’t doing anything.
Now it was time for action.
Steve keyed his radio. “Buckle up.”
Mint replied, “Copy that. Ready.”
Megan said, “Ready.”
They all waited.
Steve said, “Bradley?”
He was ready to give the order to move. What was the former SEAL doing?
“Hold.” Bradley’s one word was clipped and even with that Steve could hear the frustration in his tone.
They all waited.
A minute later, Bradley’s voice came over the comms. “Contact.”
“Report.” Steve was already scanning the area with his binoculars. He saw the man walking before Bradley replied.
“The vice president’s brother. Coming in from the southwest.”
“Copy that.” Steve was watching him move. A confident stride, like he knew exactly where he was going. Blank face. No weapons visible, but his heavy coat could disguise a lot.
The vice president’s brother stopped twenty feet from the dwellings.
He called out, “I’m here, Sanders!”
Bradley said, “I have a shot.”
“Negative,” Steve replied. “Do not take that shot.” They probably all had an angle on the vice president’s brother, given he was standing out in the open. Bradley was the only one with a high-powered rifle that could fire the round far enough to cross the distance and hit the man with any kind of accuracy. But he was too close to the structure, and Steve didn’t want David retaliating by shooting Rachel.
Steve palmed his Sig and said, “Close in. Fifty feet, under cover.”
Adrian followed, finding his own spot to hide behind. They didn’t need to be seen.
The material covering an opening to one of the riverside dwellings shifted. David moved so Steve could actually see his body and not just his head in the doorway. Someone else would have a better angle, maybe even one where they’d be able to see his face.
“Bradley.” It came out before he really thought about it.
His friend said, “No shot,” frustration even more evident in his tone now.
David stuck a hand out, holding a weapon. He used it to wave the vice president’s brother inside. He wanted a meeting? Steve had figured he would just shoot the man. It was what he’d wanted to do. David evidently had other plans.
If their theory tracked, he wanted both Steve and the vice president’s brother dead. And then he was going to disappear where anyone looking for the assassin who’d killed the vice president would never find him.
The older man walked with a steady pace to the dwelling, then ducked his head to go inside. Why was he even here? Had the man really been lured by Rachel’s having been captured? That meant he had some kind of draw to her.
Every way Steve spun that in his mind, it wasn’t good. Who knew what the hacker/blackmailer wanted with her. Whatever it was, Steve wouldn’t let it happen. No way. No how.
“We need eyes in there.” He said it to himself, not airing his frustration over comms. They didn’t all need to be sucked under by his feeling powerless. Especially Bradley. It was a tie as to who wanted Rachel back more. But then it wasn’t a competition, either.
Steve heard raised voices, but couldn’t make out what they said.
A shot rang out. Light flashed in the gaps between the fabric and boards that made up the structure.
A scream rang out. High and clear. A woman.
Rachel.
Steve got up and started running. “Move in. Now!”
Rachel sucked in a breath and touched her thigh, either side of the gunshot wound. Her head swam, and she swayed to the side before she caught herself. Put pressure on it, right? She could hardly see straight, let alone find something to push on the wound.
The thought made bile rise in her throat. She tried to think past the pain.
David had shot her.
The vice president’s brother roared. He rushed toward the gunman and barreled into him. They hit the ground, shaking the entire house. Someone’s home. And it was going to come down right on top of them.
Rachel shifted backwards so she could get as far away from them as possible. Black spots filled her vision and she gritted her teeth. She left a smear of blood. Had the bullet gone through her leg? Wasn’t that important to know?
David and the vice president’s brother rolled around on the floor.
Her back hit the wall, and she exhaled. It came out as a pained whimper that sounded horrible to her own ears. Where was everyone? She needed help. Bradley. Mint. Adrian. She would even take Steve, if he was willing to come.
Words tumbled from her mouth, a desperate prayer for help. She didn’t want to promise God she would be one of His children just so He would get her out of here. But she wanted to. It was a temptation she wasn’t sure she could withstand.
The two men rolled close enough they hit her leg. Rachel cried out. She heard something outside, but didn’t know what it was. Help? The two men in here didn’t seem to notice, so maybe she was just kidding herself. Filling the last moments of her life before she bled out onto the dirt in Venezuela with wishful thinking.
The gun went off.
Her whole body flinched, and she let out another cry. David’s body went limp. The vice president’s brother was still for a moment, and then he started to shove at David to get the dead man off him.
“Rachel!” The cry came from outside.
She knew that voice. “Steve!” He was here? Gratefulness rushed through her, and for a moment her leg didn’t hurt so badly. She was going to be rescued.
The vice president’s brother rolled to sit up. He lifted the gun and pointed it at the door. Before she could scream, “No,” or warn them in some way, he pulled the trigger.
A barrage of shots. So many. Too many for her to count. She waited for the gun to click empty. It didn’t. He shot holes in the material that covered the door.
The vice president’s brother stopped firing.
Silence.
She wanted to scream. To call out and ask if Steve was alive. Surely he’d make some kind of noise if he was. Right?
A whimper crawled up her throat. Steve. Had he come all this way, to rescue her, only to die? Tears rolled down her face.
Harlem Anderson clambered to his feet and looked around. Figuring out what to do? Rachel opened her mouth to scream for help.
He pointed the gun at her. “Quiet.”
She swallowed. The pain in her leg made her thoughts stutter until she couldn’t string two things together.
From outside the call came. “This is the FBI.” Adrian’s voice rang out, though she could hear an edge of nervousness. “Come out with your hands up and surrender.”
The vice president’s brother climbed to his feet. He moved to the doorway and called out, “I’ll kill her if you come near us!”
“There’s no way you get out alive if you do that.” Bradley.
Emotion rolled through her. Just a rush of feeling that overwhelmed Rachel.
They had come for her. God had brought them here.
Thank You.
Peace washed over her, despite the fact she was still in a hostage situation. She looked around, trying to figure out if there was a way to do something.
The Bible was great and all, and she would read it later, but it wouldn’t help her against a crazy man with a gun. Right? She kept looking around. David’s body wasn’t something she wanted to look at. She forced herself to do it anyway.
Jacket. Cargo pants. She’d seen him stuff things in there. One pant leg was hiked up. Strapped to his ankle was a revolver.
Rachel had always been purposely neutral on the subject of gun control. Bradley had taught her how to use them to defend herself and made sure she had one at home. Now she wasn’t so sure. She’d never used one on a person, only at the range.
Could she do it now, fire a gun with the intent to kill? It was easy to preach about her God-given rights—or government-given anyway—but this wasn’t talk. This was action. Like when she’d stabbed that man, defending herself. When push came to shove, and she had to aim at something other than a paper target, could she do it?
Pushing aside the fear, she decided to trust what her brother had instilled in her. The drive to save the people she loved that had steered them all here. For her.
If she didn’t do this, then the team could get hurt.
The people she cared about most.
Her family.
She shuffled herself across the floor, dragging her injured leg. Teeth gritted, she held back what she wanted to say. It was impossible to do so silently, but she also shouldn’t let on what she was doing. Every breath she pushed out she used to shove the pain from the forefront of her mind. She got close enough to reach the gun strapped to David’s ankle.
But the vice president’s brother saw her.
She froze.
He figured out what she was doing. Started to lift his gun.
Rachel pulled the strap and tugged the revolver free. She swung it around, already firing. Two bullets punched holes in the wall. The third hit him. She kept firing.
He’d already pulled the trigger on David’s other gun.
It hit her, dead center.
Her entire body jolted. Rachel blinked up at the ceiling. Tried to figure out what had happened. Several people were yelling. She was lying on her back. Her entire body a mass of pain. Damp under her fingers, warm and wet.
There was a rush of feet, and someone dropped to their knees beside her. Too close. She moaned, unable to keep the pain inside.
A heavy weight landed on her chest and pain tore through her again. He was pushing on her chest. “Why did you do that?” Bradley’s face swam in front of her. “Why, Rach?”
She drifted in and out. “Help.” They weren’t the only ones who could save the day. She wasn’t going to be a victim, not anymore.
Someone said, “He’s down.”
“She needs a chopper. Now.”
Rachel couldn’t tell the voices apart. Consciousness was like trying to catch a snowflake. Cold. She was so cold. It moved through her with a shudder. Pain was like a knife. She was jostled and had to blink against the bright sun.
Wasn’t it December in DC? She should be cold. Instead, sweat ran down her face.
“We’re losing her!”
She didn’t want him to sound so scared. “Steve.”
“I’m here.” Hands touched her face. “I’m right here, Rach.”
“K.” Love you. She did and whether he returned that feeling or not she didn’t know. He’d never said anything. But she’d thought…
Rachel was lifted. Pain exploded everywhere.
The world went black.